Posts tagged "Sri Lanka"

Java Graphite Swirl 14" Oval Platter

037725343235 A clean simple banded design in shades of gray, black and gold on a fine, white porcelain body with a wide array of accessories in square and fluid shapes. Features: -Part of the Ambience Collection -Color: Multi Color -Cleaning and Care: Dishwasher Safe -Oven, microwave, and freezer safe -Cook – serve – store practicality Specifications: -Pattern number 9313 -Material: Porcelain -Made in Sri Lanka
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Mass sporting events and teams hit by attacks

A glance at some sporting events and teams that have been affected by attacks and threats:

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Sept. 5-6, 1972 — Palestinians going by the name of “Black September” kill 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

April 21, 1987 — A car bomb kills more than 100 people at a bus station in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The blast came during a tour of the country by the New Zealand cricket team. The three-Test tour was cut to one.

Feb. 11, 1996 — Cricket teams from Australia and the West Indies refuse to play preliminary World Cup matches in Sri Lanka a week after a huge bomb blast in Colombo killed 80 people and injures 1,200.

July 27, 1996 — Centennial Park bombing at Atlanta Olympics. The attack took place during a nighttime music concert at the Centennial Olympic Park. The explosion killed one person and injured over 100 others.

April 5, 1997 — The Grand National, the most famous horse race in England, was abandoned after two coded bomb threats were reportedly received from the IRA. Sixty-thousand spectators (including Princess Anne), jockeys, race personnel and local residents were evacuated, and the course was secured by police. The race was run two days later.

May 1, 2002 — Hours before the Champions League semifinal between Real Madrid and Barcelona, a car bomb was detonated near Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid. Seventeen people were injured. UEFA made security checks before going ahead with the match.

May 8, 2002 — A suicide bomber killed 14 people outside the hotel where the New Zealand cricket team was staying in Karachi, Pakistan. Fourteen people died in the attack and the New Zealand team returned home.

2006 — Iraqi sportsmen and women were targeted three times. On May 17, 15 athletes and officials of the Iraqi taekwondo team were kidnapped as they headed to Jordan for a training camp. None of the athletes were seen alive again. On May 26, gunmen shot and killed the Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players. The final attack on July 16 involved 50 gunmen who attacked a sports conference in Baghdad. They kidnapped 30 athletes and officials, including the head of Iraq’s Olympic Committee, Ahmed al-Hadjiya.

April 9, 2008 — A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber detonated a device at the start of a marathon celebrating the start of Sri Lanka’s new year. Highways minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, former Olympic marathon runner KA Karunaratne and the national athletics coach, Lakshman de Alwis, were among the dozen people killed.

Jan. 4, 2008 — The Dakar Rally was canceled for the first time in its 30-year history. The threat of an attack from al Qaeda made the race too risky for the organizers.

March 3, 2009 — The Sri Lankan cricket team bus was attacked by masked gunmen as they traveled in their team bus outside a stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. Seven people were killed in the attack and six of the Sri Lankan cricket players were wounded.

Jan. 8, 2010 — Assistant coach Abalo Amelete and communications director Stanislas Ocloo of the Togo soccer team were killed when gunmen fired on the team’s bus in Angola, site of the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament. The Angolan driver was also killed and nine members of Togo’s party were wounded including Togo’s reserve goalkeeper.

April 15, 2013 — Two bombs exploded in the crowded street near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing two people and injuring more than 130 others. The explosions occurred about four hours into the race and about three hours after the men’s winner crossed the line. By that point, more than 17,000 of the runners had finished the race, but thousands of others were farther back along the course.

ICC World T20 2012: England opt to bowl against Sri Lanka in Super Eights …

By CricketCountry Staff. Pallekele: Oct 1, 2012. England captain Stuart Broad won the toss and elected to bowl first against Sri Lanka in the Super Eights match of World T20. Their semifinal chances hanging by the thread, defending champions England …
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Jury picked for NYC insider trading trial of ex-P&G, Goldman board member

A jury was selected Monday at the insider trading trial of a former Goldman Sachs board member after prosecutors told a judge they expect to call a current Goldman board member as one of their first witnesses.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff informed potential jurors in federal court in Manhattan that the highly anticipated trial of Rajat Gupta will last about a month. Opening statements were set for later Monday afternoon.

Before the potential jurors were assembled, prosecutors said they planned to call Bill George, a Harvard Business School professor who serves on Goldman’s board, as a government witness. The jury includes a grade school teacher, a psychiatric nurse and a nonprofit executive.

Gupta, 63, is also a former director of Procter & Gamble Co., one of the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones industrial average and the owner of many well-known brands including Bounty, Tide and Pringles.

The Westport, Conn., resident has pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and five counts of securities fraud stemming from his communications with convicted former hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam. Gupta remains free on $10 million bail.

A key to the case is a July 29, 2008, phone call between Gupta and Rajaratnam that began with the old friends exchanging mild pleasantries, but then quickly turned serious and — by the government’s account — criminal.

Rajaratnam asked about a rumor that Goldman Sachs “might look to buy a commercial bank.” On the other end of the phone, Gupta confided there was a “big discussion” on the subject at a recent meeting.

Prosecutors will try to convince a jury that the intercepted call shows Gupta was providing inside tips that gave Rajaratnam an illegal edge in massive stock maneuvers.

Defense lawyers say they’ll argue Gupta was a straight shooter who only shared public information with the billionaire hedge fund boss. They also say he was devoted to raising money for charity as to Goldman’s bottom line.

The 24-minute phone call that’s central to the Gupta case helped convict Rajaratnam last year in the same courthouse. The Galleon founder is serving an 11-year prison sentence, the longest ever given in an insider trading case.

Rajaratnam, who was born in Sri Lanka, has been the biggest catch so far in a wide-ranging insider-trading investigation by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara that’s resulted in more than two dozen prosecutions of white collar defendants. But based on Gupta’s standing in the world of finance, his trial could draw more attention, and a potential conviction could resonate farther.

Aside from his role at Goldman Sachs, the Indian-born Gupta is the former chief of McKinsey & Co., a highly regarded global consulting firm that zealously guards its reputation for discretion and integrity.

Prosecutors in effect previewed their case against Gupta at the Rajaratnam trial.

Jurors in that case heard testimony that at an Oct. 23, 2008, Goldman board meeting, members were told that the investment bank was facing a quarterly loss for the first time since it had gone public in 1999.

Prosecutors produced phone records that they said show Gupta called Rajaratnam 23 seconds after the meeting ended, causing Rajaratnam to sell his entire position in Goldman the next morning, saving millions of dollars.

Rajaratnam also earned close to $1 million when Gupta told him that Goldman had received an offer from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to invest $5 billion in the banking giant, prosecutors said.

Also played at trial was the tape of Rajaratnam grilling Gupta about whether the Goldman Sachs board had discussed acquiring Wachovia or an insurance company.

“Have you heard anything along that line?” Rajaratnam asked Gupta.

“Yeah,” Gupta responded. “This was a big discussion at the board meeting.”

Prosecutors sought to maximize the impact of the Gupta tape by calling Goldman Sachs chairman Lloyd Blankfein to testify that the phone call violated the investment bank’s confidentiality policies. Prosecutors say Blankfein will return to the stand at Gupta’s trial.

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Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister contributed to this report.