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Sri Lanka to keep original budget gap despite floods: IMF mission
Feb 18, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan authorities want to keep the budget deficit target of 6. 75 percent of gross domestic product for 2011 despite the additional flood related expenditure, IMF mission chief Brian Aiken said. “Addressing the impact of the floods may require some re-allocation of budget resources, but the authorities felt that […]
Sri Lanka set to meet budget deficit target: IMF
Feb 18, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government is likely to be able to meet the 2010 target for its budget deficit of eight percent of gross domestic product, a visiting International Monetary Fund official said. Brian Aitken, chief of the IMF review mission, said the island’s economic growth remained strong and there were no […]
US researchers hopeful for dengue vaccine
SAN JUAN, February 17, 2011 (AFP) – Promising advances have been made in the testing of possible vaccines to prevent the mosquito-borne dengue virus, which kills 25,000 people every year, researchers said Thursday. “There’s been tremendous progress,” he said. “There are a number of vaccines that are now in clinical trials and there’s now very […]
Rail Paradise
Feb 17, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s first high-speed locomotive not only covered its inaugural journey in record time, but also maintained a centuries-old tradition of being late. However, the locomotive on the inaugural run was not the one that was supposed to be there in the first place. Maintaining another tradition, the authorities used […]
Study claims link between human activity and higher rainfall
PARIS, February 16, 2011 (AFP) – Global warming driven by human activity boosted the intensity of rain, snow and consequent flooding in the northern hemisphere over the last half of the 20th century, research released Wednesday has shown. Members of the public interested in lending computing power can find information at climateprediction.net, which is currently […]
Family deaths hit Sri Lanka curtain raiser
February 17, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lankan batsman Chamara Silva is likely to miss his team’s opening World Cup match, due to a death in his family, an official said Thursday. Sri Lanka, the 1996 champions and 2007 runners-up, face Canada in their first match at the newly-built Mahinda Rajapakse Stadium in the southern town […]
Curtain up on cricket World Cup
NEW DELHI, February 17, 2011 (AFP) – Canadian rocker Bryan Adams helps kickstart the 2011 cricket World Cup on Thursday at the tournament’s opening ceremony, marking the start of a gruelling six-week sporting marathon. The 10th edition of the showpiece event is being launched in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, joint hosts of the 14-team competition […]
Minnows capable of World Cup heroics
NEW DELHI, February 17, 2011 (AFP) – 8. 2-6-7-3. Those are not the bowling figures of Australian leg-spin wizard Shane Warne or Pakistani fast bowling great Wasim Akram, but of a one-time tennis player in a World Cup match. Kenyan left-arm spinner Aasif Karim, who also represented his country in the Davis Cup, was 39 […]
On Track
Feb 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka inaugurated a rail track on the south coast upgraded with Indian aid to enable train speeds of up to 100 kilometres an hour, reducing travel time, Wednesday, a statement said. The Galle-Matara track of 42 kilometres has been up-graded by India’s state-owned IRCON to world standards, the Indian […]
Japan, India sign free trade pact
TOKYO, February 16, 2011 (AFP) – Japan and India signed a free trade pact Wednesday under which the high-tech nation and the South Asian giant pledged to scrap tariffs on 94 percent of goods within a decade. But Japan — the only country to have suffered atomic bombings, and a key voice in global denuclearisation […]
Sri Lanka north gets Japan, ADB grant for water
Feb 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s former war zones in the north of the island will get a two million dollar grant from Japan and the Asian Development Bank to provide safe water and sanitation for rural people. A 30-year war ended in the area in May 2009. ADB said the new grant will […]
Sri Lanka shares fall sharply
Feb 15, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares fell sharply Tuesday, with the main index losing most of Monday’s gains, with oil palm shares of the Carson group that had driven it to a new high, coming down, brokers said. The All Share Price Index closed at 7,607. 79, down 2.61 percent (204.03 points) while […]