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☆ Sri Lanka's Marxist-leaning Dissanayake in early lead to become president
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A man waves Sri Lanka's national flag after climbing a tower near presidential secretariat in Colombo on July 11, 2022, after it was overrun by anti-government protestors. (Photo by ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images)Sri Lanka's Marxist-leaning leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, grabbed a commanding early lead on Sunday in his bid to become the next president of the debt-ridden country seeking to elect a leader to bolster its fragile economic recovery. Dissanayake won about 53% of a million votes counted so far in the election, Sri Lanka's Election Commission data showed. "Though I heavily campaigned for President Ranil Wickremasinghe, the people of Sri Lanka have made their decision, and I fully respect their mandate for Anura Kumara Dissanayake." This was Sri Lanka's first election since the economy buckled in 2022 under a severe foreign exchange shortage, leaving the country unable to pay for imports of essentials including fuel, medicine and cooking gas.

Persons: ARUN SANKAR, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Dissanayake, Sajith Premadasa, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Peremuna, Ali Sabry, Ranil Wickremasinghe, Kumara Dissanayake, Lanka's, Gotabaya Rajapaksa Organizations: Getty Images, Marxist, Sri, National, Power, JVP, International Monetary Fund, IMF Locations: Colombo, Sri Lanka's, Saturday's, Sri Lanka

☆ Heavily indebted Sri Lanka votes in election to decide economic future
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A man waves Sri Lanka's national flag after climbing a tower near presidential secretariat in Colombo on July 11, 2022, after it was overrun by anti-government protestors. Rathnayake, the head of Sri Lanka's election commission, told Reuters. Buttressed by a $2.9 billion bailout programme from the International Monetary Fund, Sri Lanka's economy has posted a tentative recovery but the high cost of living remains a core issue for many voters. "Use your vote wisely so Sri Lanka can continue its recovery and move forward towards a sustainable and prosperous future." Sri Lanka's ranked voting system allows voters to cast three preferential votes for their chosen candidates.

Persons: ARUN SANKAR, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sajith Premadasa, Kumara Dissanayake, Sri, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Ali Sabry, Lanka's Organizations: Getty, Citizens, R.M.L, Reuters, International Monetary Fund, IMF Locations: Colombo, Lanka's, Sri Lanka's, Sri, Sri Lanka

☆ Sri Lanka's path to debt sustainability: Minister says diversifying exports is among key steps
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailSri Lanka's path to debt sustainability: Minister says diversifying exports is among key stepsAli Sabry, Sri Lanka's foreign affairs minister, discusses the country's economic crisis and what it's doing to avoid having to resort to another International Monetary Fund program.

Persons: Ali Sabry Organizations: Monetary Fund

☆ Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is about to fly people to space for the first time in 2 years. Here's why it took so long.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-17 | by ( Jessica Orwig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Read previewJeff Bezos' private space company, Blue Origin, recently announced its plans to launch a crew of six aboard its New Shepard rocket this Sunday. Still, late last year, Jeff Bezos told Lex Fridman on Fridman's podcast that "Blue Origin needs to be much faster." About one minute into the flight, Blue Origin lost the first-stage booster due to a faulty nozzle in the booster's engine. Blue OriginVirgin Galactic and Blue Origin are both in the suborbital space tourism business. Bezos says Blue Origin's culture isn't fast enoughJeff Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000.

Persons: —, Jeff Bezos, Sara Sabry, Lex Fridman, Shepard, New Shepard, That's, ULA, Ted S, Warren, Bezos, Fridman Organizations: Service, Shepard, Business, Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, Origin, Federal Aviation Administration, Italian Air Force, Virgin, Glenn, United Launch Alliance, Rocket, NASA, US Space Force, AP Locations: Texas, New, Glenn, ULA

☆ ‘I’ve dedicated my life to this mission’: Sara Sabry on making space exploration more accessible
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Arya Jyothi | Maheshpreet Narula | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Last year, Sara Sabry made history when she became the first Egyptian, the first Arab woman and the first African woman in space. CNN spoke to Sabry at Dubai Airshow last week to find out more about her experience going to space, and why she started Deep Space Initiative. CNN: How did you feel when you heard that you were selected to go to space? Sabry was chosen to join the Blue Origins flight by the non-profit Space for Humanity Blue OriginCNN: What did you feel when you first saw Earth from space? CNN: Why did you set up the Deep Space Initiative?

Persons: CNN —, Sara Sabry, you’re, Sabry, wasn’t, ”, we’re, it’s Organizations: CNN, Humanity, University of North, Sabry, Dubai Airshow, Humanity Blue Origin CNN, ” CNN Locations: University of North Dakota, Colorado, Egypt, Africa

☆ Crisis-hit Sri Lanka invites Japan to resume investment
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-29 | by ( Uditha Jayasinghe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

COLOMBO, July 29 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka on Saturday invited Japan to resume investment in projects including power, roads and ports, after the Japanese foreign minister wrapped up the first high-level visit to the crisis-hit country in nearly four years. Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said his country was seeking Japanese investment in sectors such as power, infrastructure, dedicated investment zones as well as in the green and digital economies. Japan's Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is in Colombo as part of a multi-country diplomatic tour including India, South Africa, Uganda and Ethiopia. Sri Lanka, which lies along key shipping routes in the Indian Ocean, has become a hot spot for influence between India and Japan on the one side and China on the other. Japan is Sri Lanka's second biggest bilateral lender, after China, with about $2.7 billion in outstanding loans, according to latest finance ministry data.

Persons: Ali Sabry, Sabry, Yoshimasa Hayashi, Uditha Jayasinghe, Lincoln Organizations: Saturday, Sri Lanka Foreign, Japan's, Thomson Locations: COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Japan, Colombo, India, South Africa, Uganda, Ethiopia, Maldives, China, Sri

☆ China will continue to support Sri Lanka in debt restructuring, Sri Lanka minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailChina will continue to support Sri Lanka in debt restructuring, Sri Lanka minister saysAli Sabry, Sri Lanka's foreign affairs minister, says conversations between China and Sri Lanka have been "very, very fruitful" and cordial.

Persons: Ali Sabry Organizations: China, Sri Locations: Sri Lanka, China

☆ Private astronaut crew, including first Arab woman in orbit, heads for splashdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File... Read moreMay 30 (Reuters) - An all-private astronaut team of two Americans and two Saudis, including the first Arab woman ever sent into orbit, headed for splashdown off Florida's coast on Tuesday, capping an eight-day research mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The SpaceX Crew Dragon vessel carrying the foursome, undocked from the ISS late on Tuesday morning to begin its 12-hour return flight. The return flight concludes the second space station mission organized, equipped and trained entirely at private expense by Axiom Space, a 7-year-old Houston-based company headed by NASA's former ISS program manager. In August 2022, Sara Sabry became the first Arab woman and the first Egyptian to fly to space on a brief suborbital ride operated by the Blue Origin astro-tourist venture of Jeff Bezos. NASA furnished the launch site at its Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and assumed responsibility for the Axiom crew during their stay aboard the space station, orbiting some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

Persons: Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Ali Alqarni, Joe Skipper, Read, NASA's, Rayyanah Barnawi, Sara Sabry, Jeff Bezos, Barnawi, Sultan Alneyadi, Elon Musk, Steve Gorman, Howard Goller Organizations: International, Kennedy Space Center, REUTERS, Space, SpaceX, ISS, NASA, U.S, Royal Saudi Air Force, United Arab, Twitter, Tesla Inc, Thomson Locations: Saudi Arabia, Florida, U.S, Florida's, Gulf of Mexico, Panama City , Florida, Houston, Alaska, Saudi, Gulf, United Arab Emirates, California, Cape Canaveral , Florida, Los Angeles

☆ India says it is committed to boosting investment in crisis-hit Sri Lanka
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Uditha Jayasinghe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"We count on the government of Sri Lanka to provide a more business friendly environment to create a powerful pull factor." India has told the global lender that it strongly supports Sri Lanka's debt restructuring plan, with Sri Lanka owing about$1 billion to its nearest neighbour. We extended financial assurances to the IMF to clear the way for Sri Lanka to move forward." China is Sri Lanka's largest bilateral lender and the last remaining major creditor to yet to agree to the plan. Sri Lanka owed Chinese lenders $7.4 billion, or nearly a fifth of its public external debt, by the end of last year, calculations by the China Africa Research Initiative show.

[1/3] Drivers push auto rickshaws in a line to buy petrol from a fuel station amid Sri Lanka's economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 29, 2022. India's foreign ministry did not respond to questions from Reuters on its plans and strategic aims in Sri Lanka. New Delhi has long been concerned about China's clout in its neighbourhood, including Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. "And as far as Sri Lanka is concerned, we don't want to contribute to any escalation of tension between any countries." "Sri Lanka has clearly benefited from being the closest neighbour to the most powerful country in the region.

☆ Sri Lanka's economy shrinks 11.8% in second-worst quarterly performance
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Uditha Jayasinghe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

COLOMBO, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's economy shrank 11.8% in the July-September quarter from a year ago, government data showed on Thursday, the second-worst quarterly contraction ever for the country going through a severe financial crisis. Economic mismanagement and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have left Sri Lanka short of dollars for essential imports including food, fuel, fertilisers and medicine. "This is the second-worst contraction Sri Lanka has experienced in a quarter after a 16.4% contraction in the second quarter of 2020," said Dimantha Mathew, head of research at First Capital. Sri Lanka's central bank estimates the economy will contract by about 8% in 2022. The economy had contracted 8.4% year-on-year in the second quarter, one of the worst performances in the island of 22 million people.

☆ Exclusive: Sri Lanka expects up to $8 bln more in loans, asset restructuring
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Uditha Jayasinghe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Ali Sabry speaks during an interview with Reuters at his office, in Colombo, Sri Lanka December 14, 2022. Sabry said Sri Lanka was still waiting for "letters of assurance" for debt restructuring from its largest bilateral creditor China, as well as India. The two countries have backed the restructuring efforts and Sri Lanka has shared documents and data with them, he said. Overall, Sri Lanka's economy has improved with essential imports such as fuel and food becoming regular, Sabry said. "So that should start in the next quarter of next year with the IMF loan coming in, other multilateral agencies coming in.

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