Sri Lanka England tour opener ends in draw

Nov 22, 2007 (AFP) – England drew their first match of the Sri Lanka tour on Thursday after gaining useful batting practice at the Colombo Cricket Club. The tourists, replying to Sri Lanka Cricket XI’s mammoth 500-5 piled over the first two days of the practice match, scored 315-6 on the final day before the […]

Nov 22, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government is to outlaw a charity believed to be a front organisation for separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, media minister Anura Yapa said Thursday.Ministers met Wednesday and decided to proscribe the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) whose bank accounts were frozen by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka last year, […]

Sri Lanka record money printing revealed

Nov 22, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has engaged in an unprecedented money printing and reserve appropriation drive running into 45 billion rupees to bridge a widening budget deficit that sent inflation skyrocketing in 2007, newly released data has revealed. By September 2007 total central bank credit to government (printed money) had risen to a […]

Sri Lanka treasuries yields shoot up as dollar honeymoon ends

Nov 21, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s benchmark 3-month Treasury yields shot up 33 basis points to 16.07 percent Wednesday, ending a near month long honeymoon from a sovereign bond that made markets liquid and sent rates plummeting. Due a flaw in Sri Lanka’s monetary law the Central Bank could be used by the government […]

Vital Links

Nov 21, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is in danger of losing an opportunity to emerge as a logistics hub for the south Asian region unless it acts to improve port efficiency, fast track infrastructure projects and cut red tape, officials said Wednesday. “Apart from peace, the most important requirement for Sri Lanka is logistics,” […]

KE Strategy

Nov 21, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka could boost economic activity and social well-being through a knowledge economy (KE) strategy that makes better use of ‘grey matter’ the World Bank has said. “With globalization and the technological revolution of the last few decades, knowledge has clearly become the key driver of competitiveness and is now […]

Dubai port firm nets 4.96 billion dollars in IPO

DUBAI, Nov 21, 2007 (AFP) – Dubai port operator DP World said on Wednesday that the proceeds of its initial public offering (IPO) totalled 4.96 billion dollars, making it the largest ever in the Middle East. The world’s fourth largest container port operator said the IPO priced its shares at 1.30 dollars — the top […]

Oil prices breach 99 dollars

SINGAPORE, Nov 21, 2007 (AFP) – Oil prices rose above 99 US dollars per barrel in Asian trade on Wednesday, within striking distance of the 100-dollar level as the greenback slumped further, dealers said. Concerns over tight global supplies was also helping push prices up, they said. In early morning trade New York’s main contract […]

Sri Lanka hammer England in tour opener

Nov 21, 2007 (AFP) – England’s bowlers got a taste of the perils that await them in the upcoming Test series as Sri Lanka’s second-string battered them in a practice match here on Wednesday.The Sri Lanka Cricket XI batted through the second consecutive day to take their overnight total of 218-3 to 500-5 declared by […]

Sri Lanka editor says torching of press is cowardly

COLOMBO, Nov 21, 2007 (AFP) – Unidentified gunmen stormed a pro-opposition newspaper office in Sri Lanka on Wednesday and set fire to the printing presses, police said.More than a dozen armed men started the blaze after breaking into the Sunday Leader newspaper building — which is within a high-security air force complex on the edge […]

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