Sri Lanka Tests on despite blasts, England says

KANDY, Sri Lanka, Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) – England’s cricket test series in Sri Lanka will go ahead despite two deadly bomb attacks blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels that killed at least 19 people, officials said Thursday.The British High Commission (embassy) told team management, preparing for Saturday’s first Test in Kandy, the travel advisory warning […]

Japan looks at everyday use of robots

TOKYO, Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) – Japan, which has taken the lead in developing a generation of high-tech if quirky robots, is now getting down to reality by looking at what humanoids can actually do for people.Some 200 companies and more than 50 organisations from Japan and abroad are taking part in the 2007 International […]

Political Wages

Nov 29, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s large tea plantations have slammed state interference in wages that saw unions effectively egged onto breaking a legal wage deal and plantations firms forced into a new agreement. The Planters Association (PA), an industry body representing tea farms said the companies “were literally forced to accept the government […]

Sri Lanka to raise milch cows on grazing land freed from Tigers

Nov 29, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is trying to make use of grazing lands freed from the grip of Tamil Tiger rebels in the island’s east to increase domestic fresh milk production. . The initiative would help meet domestic demand and reduce imports at a time when global milk prices have doubled owing to […]

Small Finance

Nov 28, 2007 (LBO) – Fitch Ratings Lanka has assigned a ‘B+(lka)’ National Long-term rating to Sri Lanka’s Vallibel Finance Ltd. (VFL) with a stable outlook. VFL, a small registered finance company with a single office in Colombo, has managed to improve growth and shift to more profitable businesses since it was acquired by Dhammika […]

UN calls for action to stop climate change catastrophe

Nov 28, 2007 (LBO) – The United Nations Development Program says climate change has become the central challenge of development. UNDP has just released its Human Development Report in which Sri Lanka is ranked 99 out of 177 countries. This is a message from UNDP administrator Kemal Dervis Climate Change and Development: The central challenge […]

Sri Lanka makes progress despite war, UN says

Nov 28, 2007 (LBO) – A new report by the United Nations says that Sri Lanka is doing well according to human development indicators despite the disruption and suffering caused by a long-running ethnic war. The United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report for 2007 indicates that Sri Lanka is making steady progress in human […]

Sri Lanka says Iran to give 1.5 billion dollars aid

Nov 28, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president secured 1.5 billion dollars worth of financial aid from Iran for infrastructure projects while on a three-day visit to the country, his office said on Wednesday. President Mahinda Rajapakse concluded his trip to Iran on Tuesday by signing eight memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with his Iranian counterpart […]

Sri Lanka, rebels ready for war: analysts

Nov 28, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka appears set to slide back into full-scale war with both the Tamil Tigers and the government washing their hands of a tattered truce, analysts and diplomats say.In an annual policy speech broadcast Tuesday from the rebel-held north of the island, Tamil Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran said trying to […]

Sri Lanka suicide bomb attack in capital Colombo

Nov 28, 2007 (LBO) – A female Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew herself up Wednesday morning in front of the office of a minority Tamil political party in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, the Defence Ministry said. It gave no other details. The blast came a day after a speech by Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran […]

Sri Lankan minister targeted by Tamil Tiger suicide bomber

Nov 28, 2007 (LBO) – A female suicide bomber blew herself up in the Sri Lankan capital on Wednesday, wounding at least three security men outside a minister’s office, the AFP news agency quoted police as saying. The bomber tried to enter the heavily guarded building housing the offices of welfare and social development minister […]

Sri Lanka suburb south of capital rocked by blast

Nov 28, 2007 (LBO) – An explosion ripped through a suburb south of the Sri Lanka capital Colombo shortly before 6.00 pm local time, residents said. The explosion occurred at a busy shopping district in the Nugegoda area. Earlier in the day a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew herself up near the office of […]

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