All Blogs
Tamil rebels kidnap 23 students in Sri Lanka: military
Dec 19, 2006 (AFP) – Tamil guerrillas seized 23 students and two teachers and took them to a military training facility in eastern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said Tuesday. The teenagers, who were attending a night tuition class in Ampara district were taken on Monday to a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) training […]
Floods swamp Sri Lanka ahead of tsunami anniversary
COLOMBO, Dec 19, 2006 (AFP) – Floods have displaced at least 40,000 people in Sri Lanka as the country prepares to commemorate the second anniversary of the Asian tsunami disaster, an official said Tuesday. The districts of Hambantota and Ampara, two of the worst hit by the December 2004 tsunami, were under water, sadi National […]
Tamil rebel factional fight leaves three dead
COLOMBO, Dec 19, 2006 (AFP) – At least three Tamil rebels were killed in a skirmish between rival factions in northern Sri Lanka on Tuesday, police said. Members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the breakaway “Karuna” group clashed in Vavuniya district. “Three people have been killed and we are trying to […]
Green Business
December 19, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lankan businesses are cashing in on a booming market for carbon finance, selling carbon credits at increasing prices to developed countries struggling to meet climate change commitments. Developed countries who are signatories to the Kyoto protocol have agreed to cut carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming, to […]
Consumer goods giant Singer goes for LKR300 mn debenture
December 18, 2006 (LBO) – Consumer goods giant Singer (Sri Lanka) is issuing a 300 million rupee debenture to support its growing hire purchase business. The unsecured four-year issue will not be listed but will carry a A+(lka) rating from Fitch Ratings Lanka Ltd, Singer’s Company Secretary, Asoka Pieris said Monday. Earlier in the year, […]
Setting Sail
Dec 18, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse Monday kicked off a million dollar project to expand the Colombo port, which will triple existing capacity and enable it to service larger vessels in the future. The 1.2 billion dollar project, the largest port development undertaken so far, will add four terminals, each with […]
Striking estate workers to go back to work, wage talks to resume
December 18 (LBO) – Striking estate workers have been asked to get back to work, with the Ceylon Workers Congress agreeing to resume wage talks with plantation companies, officials said Monday.“The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) feels that this situation has gone too far and we cannot wait for others to deliver,” R Yogarajan, Vice President of […]
Hollow Warning
BANGKOK, Dec 18, 2006 (AFP) – Nearly two years after the tsunami, a regional warning system is beset by squabbling and inaction, officials and experts say, as individual countries instead scramble to implement their own schemes. Thailand this month released a US-funded deep-sea warning buoy into the Indian Ocean, while Indonesia plans to install about […]
Lost Aid
COLOMBO, Dec 18, 2006 (AFP) – Corruption and ethnic violence is blocking a flood of foreign aid for Sri Lanka’s tsunami survivors two years after the massive disaster, according to official records and whistle-blowers. President Mahinda Rajapakse admitted a year ago the country had failed to do enough to help the victims of the towering […]
Sri Lanka spins to victory over New Zealand
WELLINGTON, Dec 18 (AFP) – A superb spell of spin bowling by Muttiah Muralitharan secured a comprehensive 217-run win for Sri Lanka over New Zealand in the second cricket Test here Monday to level the series 1-1.Muralitharan finished with six for 87 to claim an impressive ninth five-wicket haul for the year, as Sri Lanka […]