Category:
Disgraced Marion Jones hands over Olympic medals
LOS ANGELES, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) – Disgraced sprinter Marion Jones has been stripped of her gold medals from the 2000 Olympics and asked repay more than 100,000 dollars in prize and bonus money, said the United States Olympic Committee.Jones, who admitted in a US court last week to using performance-enhancing drugs, has returned the […]
Sri Lankan media rights watchdog slams government intimidation
Oct 09, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan media watchdog body Tuesday said it was “shocked and dismayed” by government attempts to prevent critical reporting of the war and the military. The Free Media Movement (FMM) said in a statement it condemned a remark by a government official heading the military’s information outfit calling the […]
Sri Lanka spy scandal prompts calls for Indian intelligence revamp
Oct 09, 2007 (LBO) – The recent recall of India’s top spy in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo has prompted calls for greater oversight and transparency in Indian intelligence agencies, a media report said. Absence of such oversight, and an apparent unconcern that responsibility may be fixed for failures, had led to instances like the […]
Power Plan
Oct 09, 2007 (LBO) – Fresh legislation to regulate the power sector is being readied after Sri Lanka’s highest court said an earlier plan to break up the utility was unconstitutional, officials said. Although the state electricity monopoly Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) won’t be ‘unbundled’ or broken up in to generating, long distance transmitting and […]
Sri Lanka starts selling sovereign bond
Oct 08, 2007, (LBO) – Sri Lanka is starting road shows in a number of financial centres to sell its maiden sovereign bond with teams from the finance ministry and central bank already having left the island, officials said. The government said in July that the it was hoping to raise 500 million dollars through […]
Fitch gives Sri Lanka sovereign bond BB- rating; warns against bad budgets and war
Oct 08, 2007 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings has given a speculative BB- rating for Sri Lanka’s upcoming sovereign bond but warned that a worsening conflict could cause a credit downgrade and called for lower inflation and better budgets. “Steering inflation back down to single digits will be essential for sustaining strong economic growth and containing […]
” bond: Fitch
Oct 08, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s opposition United National Party is not expected to “willfully default” a proposed 500 million dollar sovereign bond if the party comes power in the future, Fitch Ratings has said. The 500 million dollar proposed bond ran into controversy after UNP leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said […]
Expensive Road
Oct 08, 2007 (LBO) – A new elevated highway connecting Colombo’s Fort areas with Malabe, a fast developing suburb will cost nearly 40 billion rupees, a Malaysian firm that is charged with studying its feasibility has said. Meanwhile a senior Sri Lankan official said the priority now was to push through a light rail project […]
” in tourism promotion
Oct 08, 2007 (LBO) – French travel agents are visiting Sri Lanka on a tourism promotion which includes what’s billed as a treasure hunt where they search for clues and discover the island’s hidden charms, the Tourist Board said Monday. Sri Lanka received 559,603 visitors the whole of last year. The visit by over 40 […]
Sri Lanka tea exports fall but earnings rise
Oct 08, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan tea exports up to August this year were sharply lower than in the same 2006 period but export earnings were higher, a tea broker said. The island exported a total of 200.8 million kg of tea in January-August 2007, 15 percent lower than the 218.1 million kg shipped […]
Church protest at Philippines condom plan
MANILA, Oct 8, 2007 (AFP) – A proposal by the Philippine parliament to spend 22 million dollars buying condoms and birth control pills has been condemned by the Roman Catholic Church, it was reported Monday.The president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, told the Manila Standard Today that the money […]
‘s dysfunctional communications family
Oct 08, 2007 (LBO) – It’s a strange question. It has always been Posts AND Telecom, even back in the bad old days when it was an inconsequential Ministry given to a junior/marginal Minister. It has been one of the few constants in the ever-changing kaleidoscope of Ministry nomenclature. But it is a choice. A choice, […]