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Horror Movie
The government has finalised tax rates for imported movies, dramas, sitcoms and commercials, with a formal announcement expected on Thursday. Rates are likely to be 75, 000 rupees (750 dollars) for a 30 minute block that is not dubbed, going up to 90,000 rupees (900 dollars) for a dubbed half hour block. The Teledrama, Film […]
No military solution in Sri Lanka: outgoing US ambassador
July 5, 2006 (AFP) – There is no military solution to Sri Lanka’s separatist conflict, outgoing US Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead said, as daily bloodshed has raised fears of renewed war.Lunstead, who is leaving the country after three years, also said in a statement released Wednesday that a solution to Sri Lanka’s civil strife would require […]
Sri Lanka to study foreign devolution models to end fighting
July 5, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will study devolution models across the world before developing a power-sharing mechanism with Tamil Tiger rebels to end separatist violence, a senior minister said Wednesday. Rajapakse’s ruling party received crucial support from political hardliners, but has since angered his backers with his offers of talks with the LTTE […]
Violent death key to Tamil Tiger struggle
KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka, July 5, 2006 (AFP) – A tangle of fairy lights — reds, blues and greens — blink merrily around the photos of stern-faced Tamil Tiger cadre, staring grimly out into the world. These are the Tigers’ “martyrs”, young men and women, some of whom have blown themselves up, starved to death in […]
Sri Lanka braces for bloodshed as Tigers honour suicide bombers
July 5, 2006 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels Wednesday marked “Black Tiger Day” to honour 261 suicide bombers, as security was stepped up across Sri Lanka amid fears of more bombings, witnesses and officials said.The already tight security in the capital Colombo was bolstered with the closure of several roads in front of key military […]
Rights group call for impartial probe over latest journalist killing in Sri Lanka
Reporters Without Borders condemned the fourth murder of a media professional in Sri Lanka since the start of 2006 after freelance journalist Lakmal Silva, who specialised in defence questions was killed in a southern Colombo suburb.Reporters Without Borders voiced its fears on the subject, in June 2006, after pro-government media made threats against five Sri […]
Mine attack kills Sri Lanka soldier
July 5, 2006 (AFP) – Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a mine in northern Sri Lanka on Wednesday, killing a soldier, the defence ministry said.The victim was on a routine patrol along a main road in the district of Vavuniya when he was hit by a Claymore mine, defence ministry spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said.The […]
Tigers accuse Sri Lanka of preparing for war
KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka, July 5, 2006 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels run a de facto state in this northern town, but face increasing isolation and deadly battles with the Sri Lankan government which they contend is preparing for war.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been stung by a ban slapped on them by […]
Sri Lanka’s budget deficit expands to 3.2% by end April
July 4, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget deficit for the four months to April rose to 3.2 percent of GDP from 2.9 percent of GDP a year before as the government spent more on capital expenditure and salary increments for civil servants and subsidies, the Finance Ministry said Tuesday. The government raised about 100 […]
European Union to fund Sri Lanka’s war refugees
July 4, 2006 (AFP) – The European Union Tuesday announced seven million euros (8.9 million dollars) in aid for some 400,000 people displaced by the drawn-out separatist conflict in Sri Lanka since 1972.The money, channeled through 20 local and international relief agencies, will go to refugees mainly in the island’s embattled northern and eastern regions, […]