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Circular Delay
June 15, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government has decided to call for fresh tenders for the Greater Colombo Urban Transport Development Project as previous bids were too high. The project, meant to ease traffic jams in Colombo, is funded by a 223 million US dollar loan from Japan, the finance ministry said in […]
Sri Lanka military says Tiger sub found
June 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops have recovered the first submarine believed to have been used by the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels, the military said Monday.Troops found the 24-foot (7.2-metre) submersible on the coast of the northeastern district of Mullaittivu, where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were defeated last month, ending […]
India crash, Sri Lanka suffer Irish scare
LONDON, June 14, 2009 (AFP) – Defending champions India crashed out of the World Twenty20 on Sunday while Sri Lanka stayed on course for the semi-finals but only after surviving a scare by Ireland. India lost by three runs to England at a packed Lord’s, a result which left Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s highly-rated team to […]
” US recovery in mid-2010 but big risks
WASHINGTON, June 15, 2009 (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund projected Monday the United States would make a “solid” recovery from recession in mid-2010, but warned of major risks including the real-estate crisis and rising interest rates.In its annual report on the world’s biggest economy, the IMF projected US gross domestic product (GDP) would shrink […]
Sri Lanka 1Q state revenues down 8.2-pct
June 15, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state revenues fell 8.2 percent to 144.9 billion rupees in the first quarter of 2009, while rising expenses have ballooned the gap in the current account of the budget to an unprecedented level. In the first two months of 2009 revenues fell 10.6 percent with tax revenues falling […]
Sri Lanka water utility still cannot cover costs
June 15, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s national water supply and drainage board (NWS&DB) has given 34 percent of the population pipe-borne water, but it still cannot recover costs, a finance ministry report said. The percentage of population covered by the Water Board’s pipe-borne schemes increased to 34 percent in 2008 from 32 percent in […]
Fund Flow
June 14, 2009 (LBO) – A part of the pension funds of Sri Lanka’s private sector workers may be diverted as unemployment benefits to those who lose jobs in the current economic crisis, a media report said.The Sunday Times newspaper said authorities are set to take out billions of rupees of unclaimed Employees Provident Fund […]
Desert Tragedy
RIYADH, June 13, 2009 (AFP) – Nineteen men, most of them foreign workers, were incinerated when a Saudi bus caught fire after crashing into a truck during a blinding sandstorm, a transport official said on Saturday. No one escaped from the burning bus when it hit a slow-moving truck entering the road from the shoulder […]
Major Tamil Tiger arms cache found in Sri Lanka: govt
June 14, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops have unearthed the largest haul of weapons and ammunition discovered since the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels last month, the government said on Sunday. Military officials said the discoveries made over the weekend formed the largest haul since the government’s recent victory over the Tiger rebels ended […]
‘s World Cup hosting rights hang in balance
LONDON, June 14, 2009 (AFP) – World cricket chiefs are working out a middle path to resolve the controversy over Pakistan’s right to remain co-hosts of the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent. Top officials of the International Cricket Council, including president David Morgan of England, will debate the matter at a meeting here on […]