Author: lbostgadmin
Sri Lanka seize 18 vehicles in Jaffna area carrying explosives
May 28, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police Sunday detained the drivers of 18 vehicles trying to smuggle explosives across a de facto frontier post into the government-controlled part of the Jaffna peninsula, officials said.The private vehicles were stopped at the Muhamalai checkpoint after dogs sniffed out plastic explosives during a routine check, a military […]
Sri Lanka peace hopes dim as Norway fails to clinch talks deal
May 28, 2006 (AFP) – Hopes of ending Sri Lanka’s ethnic bloodshed have hit rock bottom after peacebroker Norway failed to arrange talks on saving a collapsing ceasefire, diplomats and officials said Sunday.Oslo’s efforts were complicated by a looming European Union ban on the Tamil Tiger rebels, who threatened to respond by scrapping the truce […]
Donors take stock as dead bodies pile up in Sri Lanka
May 28, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s key foreign aid donors will meet to reevaluate the troubled nation’s faltering peace process this week at a meeting in Tokyo as blood continues to be spilt in the south Asian nation. Japan’s peace envoy Yasushi Akashi is to host a meeting of the United States, the European […]
‘s Tamil Tigers on its terror list Monday
VIENNA, May 27, 2006 (AFP) – The European Union is expected to put Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers on its list of terrorist groups next week, a spokesman for the EU’s Austrian presidency said Saturday. The Palestinian group Hamas, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the armed Basque separatist group ETA are on it.The EU move, […]
Norway seeks fresh talks in Sri Lanka to save truce
May 27 (AFP) – Peace broker Norway Saturday asked Tamil rebels and the Sri Lankan government to attend a meeting next month to discuss the role of Scandinavian monitors observing a troubled ceasefire, rebel sources said.The SLMM last week asked for more monitors to boost its 60-member unarmed force. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil […]
” looming in Sri Lanka
NEW DELHI, May 27, 2006 (AFP) – Norway’s top peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Eric Solheim, said Saturday a major crisis was brewing in the tropical island and that it could be headed back to full-scale civil war. Norway was committed to its role as facilitator despite the problems in the situation, he said. “We […]
Sri Lanka could be heading for war: Norwegian envoy
May 27, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka could be heading back to all-out war, the top Norwegian envoy to the island warned Saturday, saying the peace process was more difficult than he had believed. Erik Solheim made the comments in New Delhi after his deputy, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, met the head of the rebel Tamil Tigers […]
World press chiefs tackle terrorism and Internet rise
EDINBURGH, May 27, 2006 (AFP) – Journalism in the modern, high-tech age and the perils of reporting on terrorism will be the key topics thrashed out at the International Press Institute’s annual world congress, which opens here Sunday. The three-day conference in the Scottish city brings together some 450 participants from 60-odd countries to tackle […]
Goodie Bag
May 27, 2006 (LBO) – Investors off-shoring business to Sri Lanka will get special tax breaks from the Board of Investment, under a revamped incentive list out in a few weeks. Sri Lanka is trying to pry away some of the business for Business Process Outsourcing(BPO) and other Information Technology enabled services away from neighbouring […]
Norway in fresh bid to avert full-scale war in Sri Lanka
May 26, 2006 (AFP) – Norway’s top peace envoy held lengthy talks with Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse Friday in a fresh bid to stop the island from drifting back to war, diplomats said.More than 60,000 people have been killed in the island’s Tamil separatist conflict since 1972.Oslo’s International Development Minister Erik Solheim arrived Friday […]
Sri Lankan rebels say children freed from their ranks
May 26, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers have released 16 youths who lied about their age to join the guerrilla movement, the rebels said in a statement received Friday.The Tigers maintain that their fighters are volunteers.“During the period of April and May, LTTE released 16 youths aged 15, 16 and 17 back to […]
‘s Banyan Tree launches IPO
SINGAPORE, May 26, 2006 (AFP) – Singapore-based luxury resort and spa chain the Banyan Tree on Friday launched an initial public offering (IPO) worth up to 407 million Singapore dollars (259 million US). The resort and spa chain is issuing some 380 million shares at a maximum price of 1.07 dollars each and will make […]