Reuters: Russia’s golden girl Maria Sharapova spent only 64 minutes disposing of an American qualifier to reach the third round of the Australian before setting her mind on a life-long goal to win a medal for Russia at the Olympics. With three grand slams, 24 WTA titles and $16 million in prize-money, Florida resident Sharapova ...

Reuters: The International Monetary Fund is seeking to more than double its war chest by raising $600 billion in new resources to help countries deal with the fallout of the euro zone debt crisis, but the United States and other countries are throwing up roadblocks. The United States and Canada said on Wednesday Europe must ...

Reuters: The global economy will grow by only 0.5 per cent in 2012, effectively shrinking on a per capita basis, unless there is rapid action to create jobs, prevent sovereign debt distress and shore up fragile banks, a United Nations study said on Tuesday. The annual UN World Economic Situation and Prospects report forecast average ...

Reuters: Airbus outsold Boeing almost two-to-one in 2011 after gambling on a revamped fuel-efficient jetliner and delivered more jets than its rival for the ninth year running, while admitting it may struggle to keep its order crown this year. Figures released by the European planemaker on Tuesday confirmed the popularity of narrowbody jets offering significant ...

International tourist arrivals grew by 4.4% in 2011 to a total 980 million, up from 939 million in 2010, in a year characterised by a stalled global economic recovery, major political changes in the Middle East and North Africa and natural disasters in Japan. By region, Europe (+6%) was the best performer, while by sub ...

How the key industry progressed last yearBy Cheranka Mendis Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, which saw a 30.8% growth over the previous year in 2011, has been driven by key markets India, UK and Germany and is likely to be the foremost contributor in 2012 as well. Named as ‘Visit Sri Lanka year,’ 2011 saw the ...

Reuters: Sri Lanka may be a minnow in the oil world, but a near total reliance on Iranian crude imports means it has more reason than most to find a way to avoid being caught in the clutches of US sanctions. The island’s only refinery – the 50,000 barrels-a-day Sapugaskanda refinery – is almost entirely ...

MOSCOW (AFP): Russia’s growth ticked up to 4.2 percent in 2011 from 4.0 percent in 2010, making it one of the three best-performing major economies in the world, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday. “Russia is in third place among the major economies of the world, behind only China and India,” said Putin who also ...

Sri Lanka will be holding two fresh bilateral trade sessions today in Hyderabad – one with India and the other with the United Arab Emirates. The talks will be held at Andra Pradesh Hyderabad International Convention Centre in Hyderabad. Minister of Industry and Commerce Bathiudeen is currently in Hyderabad as a member of the Sri ...

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) has responded to a key discussion paper from the International Integrated Reporting Committee, asserting that a new approach to corporate reporting is required in a changing global landscape. Formed in 2010, the IIRC is an influential cross section of global leaders from the corporate, investment, accounting, securities, regulatory, ...

World famous and leading carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) yesterday emphasised its optimism over prospects in Sri Lanka and renewed its longstanding commitment to promote the destination in addition to continuing with superior service. The reiteration of positivism was when SIA announced its new General Manager for Sri Lanka Aldrin Arumugam succeeding Melvin Ng, who will ...

International tourist arrivals grew by a healthy 4.5% in the first eight months of 2011 according to the latest data from UNWTO. Europe (+6%), surprisingly, showed the strongest growth amid continuing economic uncertainty. January-August 2011: Positive note despite increased uncertainty International tourist arrivals grew by 4.5% in the first eight months of 2011 to a ...

Another Royal visit took place in Sri Lanka recently with the arrival of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. They were here on a private visit which paved the way for them visit a few tourist attractions in Sri Lanka. Prince Michael was accompanied by Princess Michael during the tour in Sri Lanka. Among the ...

Ends 2011 with record 855,975 arrivalsBy Cheranka Mendis The high-flying tourism industry closed the year with a record 855,975 arrivals, marking a rise of 100,000 from the original target for the year. Statistics revealed by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) yesterday noted that the figure reflects a 30.8% increase from the previous year. ...

It will take more than Facebook to heat up the tepid market for initial public offerings. As conditions remain fragile, the backlog of public offerings has continued to grow. More than 200 US companies are now waiting to go public, the highest number in roughly a decade, according to Renaissance Capital, an advisory firm. Demand ...

By Sarath de Alwis Tracing my roots to traditional marketing times in aviation and tourism, I am awed by the enormous potential of modern technologies that bring new frontiers to our doorstep; drop new vistas virtually on our laptops. Then I am appalled to see what unfolds. Global opportunities are whisked away from our grasp ...

The Top 100 Nation Brands have been ranked by Brand Finance plc with the USA, Germany and China topping the report Eurozone crisis affects the Nation Brand vales of Greece, Ireland and Japan who are ranked as the Top 3 biggest Losers  Further chaos in Europe has seen the brand values of Spain, Austria, Italy ...

A survey conducted last week on the health of the Sri Lankan economy revealed that almost 64% said that the Government had done its task but only 43% had said that there had been growth in the economy. Whilst some can say that this data is strange, a similar set of information was shared at ...

MOSCOW (Reuters): Oil output in Russia edged up 1.2 percent to reach a new post-Soviet high of 10.27 million barrels per day (bpd) last year, as the world’s top crude producer eased tax burden and launched pipeline flows to China, the Energy Ministry said on Monday. That is a bit more than the 10.26 million ...

Reuters: Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will meet this week after more than a year of deadlock in peacemaking, officials said on Sunday, but both sides played down prospects of any imminent resumption of talks. Yitzhak Molcho of Israel and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat will meet on Tuesday in Jordan alongside representatives of the Quartet of ...

Citrus Hikkaduwa, the maiden venture of the Dilith Jayaweera, Varuni Amunugama Fernando and Sarwa Ameresekere trio, opened for guests last week, heralding a new experience in the popular southern coast. Originally the 50-room Amaya Reef, following the takeover and rebranding Citrus Hikkaduwa is now a 97-room modern and up-market resort. The first guests were a ...

Attacked woman reportedly denies rape; blames on being in wrong place at wrong time; Family to be flown in at Sri Lanka Tourism expense for care By Cheranka Mendis The Government yesterday reiterated those responsible for the killing of British tourist and causing injury to his Russian partner will be severely dealt with as per ...

GENEVA (Reuters): The 153 members of the World Trade Organization agree on two things: We’re in a hole. And we must keep digging. The hole is the Doha Development Round, a decade-old negotiation that was billed as the next stage of trade liberalisation after the creation of the WTO itself. After repeated failures to clinch ...

Inspiration Events, the executors of exclusive parties that redefine Colombo’s nightlife and proprietors of Club Shimmer, Colombo, will be hosting their second annual New Year’s Eve party ‘Lifted 2012’ on 31 December along with Sun FM at the Taj Samudra North Lawn. James Murray, the lead DJ of the night from Ministry of Sounds – ...

Coonoor, Dec. 29:  The Tea Board fears that India’s exports in calendar 2011 would not reach last year’s level of 193 million kg (mkg). Till October, the latest period for which data is available, exports totalled 149.97 mkg against 163.17 mkg in 2010. This fall of 13.20 mkg marked a decline of 8.09 per cent. ...

NEW DELHI: Pakistan has emerged as a leading market for Indian tea, particularly the CTC variety of black tea, with India exporting around 20 million tonnes of the beverage to the neighbouring country in 2011. The inroads made by Indian tea into Pakistan this year have been helped by a decline in tea production in ...

Reuters: Iran threatened on Tuesday to stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz if foreign sanctions were imposed on its crude exports over its nuclear ambitions, a move that could trigger military conflict with economies dependent on Gulf oil. Western tensions with Iran have increased since a November 8 report by the ...

Special communiqué listing actions taken issued to travel and hotel trade as a confidence building measure Working closely with the defence authorities to ensure greater protection for tourists in possible vulnerable areas Both tourism and law enforcement authorities have thus far successfully handled the unfortunate gruesome attack on a tourist couple in Tangalle over the ...

The recommendations of Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) will make a great contribution to the acceleration of national reconciliation process as well as to the strengthening of peace on the island, Russia said. “We highly appreciate efforts of the Sri Lankan Government in solving the post-conflict problems on the basis of state integrity, multinational ...

Turkey (IANS): India squandered an opportunity to win the women’s world chess team championship losing 1-3 to Georgia while China won the title despite losing to Ukraine 1.5-2.5 in the eighth round. Among other contenders Russia beat South Africa 4-0 but that could only catapult them to second position with no chance of catching up ...