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Sri Lanka tsunami aid misappropriated: watchdog
AFP,
Dec 26.
Nearly half a billion dollars in tsunami aid for Sri Lanka is unaccounted for and over 600 million dollars has been spent on projects unrelated to the disaster, an anti-corruption watchdog said Saturday.
Berlin-based Transparency International demanded an audit of the money received by the Sri Lankan government to help victims of the Asian tsunami which hit the island on December 26, 2004, killing 31,000 people.
The group's Sri Lankan chapter said the public have a right to know how the aid money was spent as the tropical nation marked the fifth anniversary of the tsunami.
The group alleged that out of 2.2 billion dollars received for relief, 603.4 million dollars was spent on projects unrelated to the disaster.
Another half a billion dollars was missing, the group said.
"There is no precise evidence to explain the missing sum of 471.9 million dollars," the Transparency International statement issued in Colombo added.
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Published: Sat Dec 26 22:52:50 EST 2009
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Dangerous pitch may cost India bid
CNN,
December 27, 2009.
India's hopes of staging matches in Delhi at the 2011 World Cup may be in jeopardy following the abandonment of the final one-day cricket international against Sri Lanka on Sunday due to a dangerous pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground.
The fifth match in the series, in which the hosts already had an unassailable 3-1 lead, was called off after only 23.3 overs with Sri Lanka on 83-5 as wildly varying bounce made life a nightmare for the batsmen.
The tourists' captain Kumar Sangakkara, who was earlier dismissed for one run, called his players off the field and the match was finally ended after a meeting with both teams and the match officials.
The International Cricket Council has indicated that it will investigate the matter after receiving a report from match referee Alan Hurst, who released a statement later on Sunday.
"The decision to abandon the match was taken by myself, in consultation with the on-field umpires Marais Erasmus and Shavir Tarapore, and both captains, as it was clear that the pitch had extremely variable bounce and was too dangerous for further play," he said.
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Published: Sun Dec 27 17:58:19 EST 2009
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'Winning for Sri Lanka is what I enjoy the most'
CricInfo,
Dec 26.
Twenty years into an extraordinary international career, Sanath Jayasuriya looks back at his humble beginnings and the people who made his rise possible
You made your international debut in the same ODI as Mark Taylor and Taylor retired 10 years ago. How have you kept going?
I retired from Test cricket recently to play ODIs a little bit longer. I have always enjoyed my cricket. I'm still enjoying it and I've worked hard on it. And I still want to perform. The sad thing is, I don't know whether the Sri Lankan cricket board is even aware that I'm completing 20 years today!
Where do you get your hunger to perform?
That has come naturally. I know how hard it was for me to come into the Sri Lankan side. I was just a normal person, coming from a poor background. We did not have anything. I know how hard that life was. So once I started to play for the country, I understood I had to work harder and play longer. I never had anything to play with when I started cricket in school. I never thought I would play for Sri Lanka. I had never heard about any cricketer who had come from a village like mine, Matara.
My mother was very strict when I was starting seriously with cricket because we couldn't afford anything. My father was the only breadwinner then - he worked as a health supervisor in the town's urban council. So it was a very tough life for me and my elder brother Chandana. But our school principal, GL Galappathi, was very supportive and he encouraged and pushed me to play cricket and even convinced my parents to allow me to chase my dreams.
I started at Under-11 and moved up the ladder. Luckily I was selected for the U-19 World Cup in Australia and that's when I was noticed.
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Published: Sun Dec 27 18:08:25 EST 2009
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Rajapaksa leads Lanka in mourning 2004 tsunami tragedy
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