Category:
Tele Cricket
February 12, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s second largest mobile phone operator on Thursday agreed a three-year deal worth nearly five million dollars to sponsor the island’s cricket team, Sri Lanka Cricket said. The Sri Lankan team, led by outgoing captain Mahela Jayawardene, leaves for Pakistan on Saturday for a two-Test series, which begins on […]
Medicine Men
LONDON, February 12, 2009 (AFP) – International aid agency Oxfam urged the World Bank and rich nations Thursday to stop “wasting” donations and possibly risking lives by backing unproven private healthcare programmes in poor countries.While Lebanon spends twice as much as Sri Lanka on healthcare, its infant and maternal mortality rates are 2.5 and three […]
Space Debris
WASHINGTON, February 12, 2009 (AFP) – Two satellites collided in space hundreds of miles (kilometers) above Earth, destroying an Iridium commercial satellite in a crash that may result in disruption of service, the US company said Wednesday.“This satellite loss may result in very limited service disruption in the form of brief, occasional outages,” it said, […]
Sri Lankan troops declare new civilian safe zone
February 12, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops declared a new safe zone for civilians Thursday as they battled to finish off the island’s drawn-out ethnic conflict, the defence ministry said. Concern has mounted for tens of thousands of non-combatants trapped in the war zone, with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) saying […]
Sri Lankan troops kill 28 Tamil Tigers: military
February 12, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops killed 28 Tamil rebels and seized a cache of weapons and ammunition in their latest push for victory in the island’s drawn-out ethnic conflict, the government said Thursday.The Red Cross carried out a similar sea evacuation of 240 patients on Tuesday, saying the group had been stranded […]
Sri Lanka treasuries yields ease after rate cut
Feb 11, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Treasuries yields fell less-than-expected across maturities following a 50 basis point cut in the island’s de facto policy discount rate, dealers said. Since Friday the market had already partially discounted the rates cuts, they said. The Central Bank cut the 17.0 percent unrestricted ‘penalty’ reverse repo rate, which […]
Sri Lanka fund manager to arbitrage risk anomaly
Feb 11, 2009 (LBO) – A fund management firm founded by senior Sri Lankan bankers say it can bridge the gap between low yielding bank deposits and risky high yield assets, by arbitraging an anomaly in the risk to reward structure in the island. Chief executive of Wealth Trust, Dhammika Ranawana, who counts years of […]
Sri Lankan shares dip
Feb 11, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks had mixed fortunes on Wednesday as high value stocks like Bukit Darah and Carson Cumberbatch dragged the market down on low volume transactions while selected blue chips gained, brokers said. The All Share Price Index ended down 0.22 percent (3.95 points) at 1,761.93 while the more liquid […]
Sri Lanka lures East Europeans
Feb 11, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s national airline has teamed up with the tourism authorities and trade to lure visitors from what is seen as a lucrative market in Eastern Europe.Sri Lankan Airlines said in a statement a series of carefully targeted campaigns were done recently in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic targeting […]
Sri Lanka tourism outlook brightens as war ends
Feb 11, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s long-suffering hotel industry faces better prospects as the ethnic war that has kept visitors at bay is almost at an end, while depressed valuations and investment needs may trigger take-overs, an equities researcher has said. Srimal Liyanage of Lanka Securities said he believes the hotels listed on the […]
Sri Lanka govt denies shelling that killed 16 patients
February 11, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military on Wednesday denied shelling a makeshift hospital where 16 patients were killed as concern mounted for the safety of non-combatants trapped in the island’s ethnic conflict.Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said security forces were not involved in the attack, which the International Committee of the Red Cross […]
Sri Lanka shelling kills 16 at hospital: ICRC
February 10, 2009 (AFP) – Sixteen patients at a makeshift hospital in Sri Lanka’s war zone were killed when the facility was shelled, the Red Cross said Tuesday, as Colombo accused Tamil rebels of gunning down 19 civilians.The news of Monday’s attack on the hospital in northern Putumattalan came as non-combatants poured across the frontlines […]