All Blogs
Biofuels may speed up, not slow global warming: study
CHICAGO, February 14, 2009 (AFP) – The use of crop-based biofuels could speed up rather than slow down global warming by fueling the destruction of rainforests, scientists warned Saturday. Once heralded as the answer to oil, biofuels have become increasingly controversial because of their impact on food prices and the amount of energy it takes […]
Sri Lanka Tiger chief still on island: report
February 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s elusive rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is still on the island and has been preparing his Tamil Tiger fighters to launch last-ditch counter attacks, a news report said Sunday.Prabhakaran, 54, and his eldest son Charles Anthony have blended in with about 100,000 civilians trapped in the conflict zone, the […]
Sri Lanka braces for bloodier Tiger battles
February 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government hoped Tamil Tiger rebels could be defeated in days, but both sides are now warning bloodier battles may lie ahead — and civilians are likely to pay a heavy price. Security forces have cornered the retreating Tigers in the north of the island after over three bloody […]
Sri Lanka ruling party wins landslide local vote: results
February 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s ruling party headed for a landslide victory in local elections seen as a referendum on the government’s military campaign against Tamil rebels, official results showed Sunday. President Mahinda Rajapakse’s Freedom Alliance won 36 seats out of 58 in the Central Provincial council. The alliance also had collected nearly […]
Tight Ownership
Feb 14, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has tightened phone ownership rules by presidential order with mobile and wireless phones to be registered by an April 30 deadline, a media report said. The rules have to be implemented on or before April 30, the newspaper said. The Daily Mirror newspaper said Sri Lanka’s court of […]
Sri Lanka shelling kills four more civilians: official
February 14, 2009 (AFP) – Four civilians died when artillery shells fell on a home for the elderly inside a demarcated safe area within Sri Lanka’s war zone, a doctor said Saturday. Many elderly people were also injured in the shelling on Friday in the northeast Puttumattalan area, said T. Satyamurthy, a doctor working out […]
Sri Lanka Tigers attack bus carrying war refugees: military
February 14, 2009 (AFP) – Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels lobbed a grenade and opened fire at a bus transporting civilians out of Sri Lanka’s war zone on Saturday, killing one woman and wounding 13, the defence ministry said.Sri Lanka has resisted calls for a “no-fire period,” amid claims from relief agencies that a “humanitarian catastrophe” […]
Sri Lankan hostage sighted in Philippines
ZAMBOANGA, February 14, 2009 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan peace activist seized by an armed gang in the southern Philippines has been sighted with his kidnappers, a government official said Saturday.Red Cross staffers Andreas Notter of Switzerland, Italian Eugenio Vagni and Filipina Mary-Jean Lacaba were abducted on January 15 and are still being held by […]
Sri Lankan dies in self-immolation protest in Switzerland
GENEVA, February 13, 2009 (AFP) – A British resident of Sri Lankan origin burnt himself to death outside the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva in protest at the south Asian conflict, local police said Friday. Police were alerted by passers-by and UN security late Thursday after the man doused himself in petrol and set himself […]
”: Britain
LONDON, February 13, 2009 (AFP) – Former colonial power Britain fought off Friday angry objections from Sri Lanka over London’s appointment of a special envoy to address the humanitarian needs of the war-torn country. Britain’s Foreign Office said Thursday’s appointment of former defence secretary Des Browne was not made unilaterally and insisted discussions with the […]