Sri Lanka stocks up, bonds steady, after war, rate cut

May 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks rose 4.25 percent in morning trade Thursday following a national holiday to celebrate the end of an internal war, while bonds yields remained steady following a rate cut, dealers said. On Tuesday at the weekly auction of treasury securities 12-month bill yields fell 32 basis points to […]

Russia welcomes Sri Lanka defeat of Tamil Tigers

MOSCOW, May 19, 2009 (AFP) – Russia on Tuesday welcomed Sri Lanka’s announcement of the Tamil Tiger rebels’ defeat, saying it supported the Asian government’s “fight against terrorism.” Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse on Tuesday announced the final defeat of the Tamil Tigers, even as rebels insisted their leader was still alive and vowed to […]

UN rights body to hold special meeting on Sri Lanka

GENEVA, May 19, 2009 (AFP) – The UN human rights council will hold a special session next week on the situation in Sri Lanka after the end of Asia’s longest running civil war, a statement said Tuesday. “It is hoped that the holding of this special session will contribute towards the cause of peace”, said […]

Sri Lanka needs new power sharing deal to end conflict: US

May 20, 2009 (LBO) – The United States said a new power sharing deal and tolerance was required to achieve lasting peace in Sri Lanka and truly defeat terrorism.“The United States welcomes the cessation of fighting in Sri Lanka and the apparent conclusion to its long-running conflict,” a statement issued by the US embassy in […]

Sri Lanka fugitive Tigers shot as nation celebrates victory

May 20, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka celebrated victory over the Tamil Tigers with a national holiday on Wednesday as the army hunted down fugitive rebels, shooting dead eight thought to have escaped from the final battle.Under international pressure to reach out to the Tamil minority, President Mahinda Rajapakse vowed on Tuesday that a political […]

Indian industry looks to new government to boost growth

MUMBAI, May 20, 2009 (AFP) – The newly elected Congress-led government needs to move swiftly and decisively to restore blistering economic growth in India, even if that means higher inflation, industry leaders here say. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh prepares for a second term of office, business executives said they hoped the government would announce […]

Red Ink

May 20, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Dialog Telekom said its broadband and pay TV units continued to lose money in the March quarter, contributing to a group loss of 1.86 billion rupees but that a turnaround in the group’s fortune’s was visible as overall revenue stabilised. Dialog, the island’s dominant mobile phone operator, said […]

No More

May 20, 2009 (LBO) – A man who ran an illegal Ponzi-style ‘investment’ scheme in Southern Sri Lanka, offering high interest rates until its collapse last year when he failed to repay investors, has been shot dead, police said. Piyadasa Ratnayake, from the southern Sri Lankan township of Hungama was abducted in the early hours […]

Sri Lanka urged to move quickly on relief, rights

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka must step up relief efforts and provide its Tamil minority political autonomy, governments and relief agencies urged after Colombo said it had finally routed the Tamil Tiger rebels.As the military mopped up in the far northeast, the European Union demanded an independent inquiry into allegations of human […]

Sri Lanka president calls for investment to revive war-battered economy

May 19, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse called for private sector investment and the return of the island’s diaspora to revive the economy of the country which he said had finally been freed of terrorism with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers. “The main obstacle to private sector investment, which had been […]

Japan PM welcomes end of Sri Lanka war

TOKYO, May 19, 2009 (AFP) – Japan, Sri Lanka’s largest aid donor and the holder of two thirds of its foreign debt, on Tuesday “welcomed the end of the civil war” in the island-nation, the prime minister’s office said. Prime Minister Taro Aso spoke by telephone with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, who had earlier […]

Tamil Tigers decimated, Sri Lanka president to give victory speech

May 19, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse is to deliver a victory speech to parliament Tuesday following the bloody defeat of the Tamil Tigers and their decades-old war for an independent ethnic homeland. Government commandos on Monday stormed into the last tiny patch of jungle held by the guerrillas, killing Tamil Tiger […]

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