Author: lbostgadmin
Ranatunga seeks to clean up Sri Lankan cricket
Jan 2, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s new cricket chief Arjuna Ranatunga took up his post Wednesday, vowing to stamp out corruption in the running of the sport. The 1996 World Cup winning captain said an independent audit group would scrutinise the accounts of the cash-rich Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) body before he took responsibility […]
France bans smoking in restaurants to reduce tobacco deaths
PARIS, Jan 1, 2008 (AFP) – France began 2008 under a new smoking ban in cafes and restaurants that drove smokers out into the street to light up their cigarettes as bar owners put away ashtrays. The ban signals a sizeable cultural shift for one of Europe’s last smokers’ bastions, particularly in Paris where cafe […]
Kenyans burnt alive in church as unrest toll tops 300
NAIROBI, Jan 1, 2008 (AFP) – At least 35 children and adults sheltering in a church were burnt alive by an angry mob in Kenya Tuesday, as an eruption of election violence threatened to tip over into a full-scale tribal conflict.The darling of foreign investors in east Africa, with an average annual growth over five […]
Sri Lankan seamen school to take foreign cadets
Jan 02, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Mercantile Seamen Training Institute (MSTI) in the southern port of Galle plans to open its doors to foreign aspirants in 2008. The company offers seagoing opportunities for trainees on board its own ships and is building a pool of trained seamen to supply its own ships as well […]
Sri Lanka raises hotel rates amid bomb attacks: officials
Jan 2, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s luxury hotels raised their rates on Wednesday despite an escalating ethnic civil war that triggered a 20 percent drop in tourists. The Yala National Park was shut for 10 weeks after seven soldiers were killed in a rebel attack on the popular tourist destination, home to leopards, elephants […]
Sri Lanka treasury rates flat ahead of policy speech
Jan 02, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Treasury bill yields were flat at Wednesday’s auction ahead of a key monetary policy speech by Governor Nivard Cabraal, the government’s debt office said. Three month treasury yields remained at 21.30 percent, 6-months 19.99 percent and 12-months 19.96 percent. The debt office, which is run by the Central […]
Sri Lanka quantity targeting exercise fails; lessons for 2008
Jan 01, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank says it met the milestones of an ill-fated reserve money targeting exercise in 2007, though inflation went out of control during the year, showing up the pitfalls of quantity targeting. The bank said it achieved the year end target of 267.6 billion rupees with room to […]
Sri Lanka gunmen open fire in Hindu temple: eyewitness
Jan 01, 2007 (LBO) – Gunshots were heard inside a Hindu temple in the Kotahena area of the Sri Lanka capital Colombo, eyewitnesses said. A witness at the scene said he had heard half a dozen gunshots sending devotees stampeding for cover. .. For updates on this story go to the news front page at […]
Sri Lanka Tamil lawmaker shot
Jan 01, 2008 (LBO) – Gunmen shot a Tamil parliamentarian inside a Hindu temple in the Sri Lankan capital Tuesday morning, eyewitnesses and police said. T. Maheshwaran was rushed to hospital, police said. He had previously survived an assassination attempt by the Tamil Tigers when he represented the United National Party, now in the opposition. […]
Sri Lanka Tamil lawmaker shot dead
Jan 01, 2008 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan Tamil parliamentarian has died after being shot inside a Hindu temple in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo Tuesday morning, police and hospital officials said. T. Maheshwaran was rushed to hospital in a critical condition but succumbed to his injuries soon after, Colombo hospital director Hector Weerasinghe told […]
Gunned down Sri Lanka Tamil lawmaker did not ask for more security: defence secy
Jan 01, 2008 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan Tamil parliamentarian who was assassinated Tuesday morning had not asked for additional protection, the island’s top defence bureaucrat has said. T. Maheshwaran, an opposition United National Party (UNP) lawmaker, was gunned down by unknown gunmen at a Hindu temple in a suburb north of the capital Colombo. […]
Sri Lanka arrests alleged assassin of opposition lawmaker: defence ministry
Jan 01, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan police have arrested a suspected gunman alleged to have shot dead a Tamil parliamentarian at a Hindu temple in the capital Colombo Tuesday, the defence ministry said. The suspected gunman had been wounded when a bodyguard of assassinated lawmaker T Maheshwaran returned fire during the attack, the ministry […]