Category:
‘s Muralitharan returns to haunt Bangladesh
June 23, 2007 (AFP) – Muttiah Muralitharan resumes his quest to finish as Test cricket’s most successful bowler when Sri Lanka take on Bangladesh in a three-match series starting on Monday.The prolific off-spinner, with 674 wickets from 110 Tests, is only 35 scalps away from surpassing the world record tally of 708 wickets by retired […]
Sri Lanka – Australia cup final bunglers rapped
LONDON, June 22, 2007 (AFP) – All five officials involved in the bungled end to the World Cup final will not feature in September’s inaugural World Twenty20 tournament in South Africa, the International Cricket Council announced Friday. Australia’s victory against Sri Lanka in the showpiece match in Barbados on April 28 was overshadowed by a […]
Sri Lanka top donors in new efforts for peace
June 23, 2007 (AFP) – International donors will meet in Oslo next week to review Sri Lanka’s worsening bloodshed and look for a way to revive a moribund peace process.But even without international help, Sri Lanka earns 2.5 billion dollars annually from nationals employed abroad, helping to sustain high defence spending in a country where […]
Zimbabwe currency crashes while Sri Lanka regains stability
June 23, 2007 (LBO) – Zimbabwe’s currency has started to freefall with heavy money printing to finance state expenses reports said, while Sri Lanka’s central bank has maintained some stability despite a widening budget deficit. Analysts are now predicting that Zimbabwe may soon see the end of a populist regime headed by Robert Mugabe that […]
Sri Lanka tourism plummets in May
June 22, 2007 (LBO) – Visitors to Sri Lanka plummeted 40 percent in May with Europe and East Asia showing steep falls, as an intensifying conflict, travel advisories and air raids on the capital scared away foreigners. Most listed hotel firms are reporting losses, but major operators who have operations in the Maldives have managed […]
Sri Lanka tea trade wins demand on export tax usage
June 22 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea trade has won a greater say in how funds raised from a tax on tea exports are spent by the government, a senior industry official said. . Colombo Tea Traders’ Association (CTTA) chairman Tyeab Akbarally said the government had acceded to industry demands and agreed to give it […]
Women Power
June 22, 2007 (LBO) – More women are joining the construction industry, attracted by the higher wages that have risen with the boom in building activity, a senior industry official said. Dakshitha Thalgodapitiya, Secretary General of the Chamber of Construction Industry (CCI), said new training centres being set up by the organisation were attracting female […]
” by printing money to 1.5 million percent inflation: US
LONDON, June 22, 2007 (AFP) – Zimbabwe’s government is “committing regime change on itself” with its failing economic policy which has sapped faith in the regime from the population, the US ambassador to Harare said in an interview published Friday. Mugabe however blames the woes on targeted sanctions imposed on himself and members of his […]
University regrets giving doctorate to money printer
NEW YORK, June 21, 2007 (AFP) – The University of Massachusetts on Thursday rebuked Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who was awarded an honorary degree by the university in 1986.The university board cited in a statement Mugabe’s award of an honorary degree by the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1986 “for his actions as a ‘humane […]
China to cut exports, boost consumption and relax exchange controls
BEIJING, June 22, 2007 (AFP) – A rise in the value of China’s currency will not in itself be enough to narrow the nation’s yawning trade surplus, a senior central bank official was quoted as saying in state media Friday.The licence scheme, know as qualified domestic institutional investors (QDII), has so far been restricted to […]
Sri Lanka top opener bowled out of upcoming matches
June 21, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan left-hand opener Upul Tharanga injured a foot and has been ruled out of the first two Tests against Bangladesh compounding problems to secure the top order, an official said Thursday. “Tharanga was hit on his foot by a Lasith Malinga delivery this morning,” Sri Lanka Cricket Secretary Kangadaran […]
Is Sri Lanka running in place or falling behind?
June 22, 2007(LBO) – A little over a year ago, I wrote a column called “The Sri Lankan state: Failed, failing or maligned?” It was about a comparative ranking on countries on the likelihood of them becoming failed states. At the end of a critical assessment of their methodology, I concluded that “Notwithstanding these methodological problems, […]