Author: lbostgadmin
Sri Lanka face aggressive England
Dec 8, 2007 (AFP) – England coach Peter Moores wants his team to be streetwise and aggressive as the tourists bid for a series-levelling win in the second Test against Sri Lanka starting on Sunday.England lost the first Test in Kandy by 88 runs despite holding a first innings lead of 93 runs and failed […]
‘s Ranatunga warns of talent drought
Dec 8, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s legendary cricketer Arjuna Ranatunga on Saturday expressed concern about the lack of new talent emerging to replace the island’s ageing superstars.“We do not see any top talent coming up to replace great players like Muttiah Muralitharan and Kumar Sangakkara,” Ranatunga said at a ceremony to commend Muralitharan on […]
US stock markets gain as rate cut sensed
NEW YORK, Dec 7, 2007 (AFP) – Wall Street enters the home stretch of 2007 in an upbeat mood as investors brace for a meeting of the Federal Reserve which is widely expected to yield a third straight cut in US interest rates. Bond prices weakened in the past week as investors moved into stocks. […]
In-flight e-mail makes US debut on JetBlue with Yahoo
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 7, 2007 (AFP) – JetBlue will begin offering passengers free e-mail access on one of its airplanes next week as Internet connections that have become ubiquitous on the ground begin taking to the skies.Industry analysts expect 2008 to be the year in-flight Internet begins to take-off. An Airbus-320 passenger jet called “BetaBlue” […]
‘s tape destruction
WASHINGTON, Dec 8, 2007 (AFP) – The White House faced another clash with Congress Saturday after furious Democratic lawmakers demanded a probe into the CIA’s destruction of tapes showing harsh interrogations of captured Al-Qaeda operatives.The Central Intelligence Agency’s admission that it destroyed tapes of at least two interrogations in 2005, at a time when Congress […]
Clemency
RIYADH, Dec 8, 2007 (AFP) – An appeal hearing was set to take place on Saturday in the case of a Sri Lankan housemaid condemned to death in Saudi Arabia, the Arab News reported.A three-judge panel will hear the appeal of Rizana Nafeek, who was convicted of strangling to death her employer’s four-month old baby […]
Best Behaviour
Dec 08, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s corporate sector has launched an initiative to encourage employers to adopt a code of conduct to combat sexual harassment in the workplace about which complaints are on the rise. Guidelines formulated by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) and the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) aim to promote […]
Japan cuts third-quarter growth estimate
TOKYO, Dec 7, 2007 (AFP) – Japan’s economy grew at an annualised pace of 1.5 percent in the third quarter of 2007, much less than an initial estimate of a 2.6 percent expansion, the government said Friday. But the world’s second-largest economy saw a recovery after shrinking in the second quarter, buoyed by brisk exports […]
US mortgage aid plan to ease housing slump, but at a price
WASHINGTON, Dec 6, 2007 (AFP) – A vast mortgage relief package brokered by the Bush administration is likely to ease the pain of the US housing slump but with an uncertain cost for markets and the financial system, analysts say.“That’s a loss for mortgage holders but it’s a smaller loss than would come from foreclosure,” […]
Sri Lanka tableware exporter goes niche
Dec 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tableware exporters Dankotuwa Porcelain has said it is shifting strategy away from mass production to focus on specialty designs for niche markets. The move is in response to growing competition from cheaper manufacturers in other Asian origins, especially those with access to cheap energy. “It is impossible to […]
Sri Lanka power fails island wide
Dec 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s national power system failed shortly before dawn Friday, plunging the island in darkness as a thermal generator tripped out of the grid, officials said. A combined cycle thermal power plant at Sri Lanka’s state-owned Ceylon Electricity Board’s (CEB) Kelanitissa thermal generation complex had tripped at 4.48 am local […]
Forewarned
Dec 07, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s private sector credit is slowing but lenders should tighten standards and improve risk management as interest rates continue to rise, the Central Bank has warned. In a report on the island’s financial sector stability, the regulator said private sector credit has grown around 24-26 percent in the first […]