Author: lbostgadmin
Eight killed in fresh Sri Lanka violence
May 4 (AFP) – Two policemen and six others were killed Thursday in separate clashes in northern Sri Lanka where a fragmentation mine also exploded but caused no casualties, officials said.Six men travelling in two three-wheeler taxis were shot dead by security forces when they tried to attack a military sentry point at Nelliyadi in […]
New effort under way to prevent graft in tsunami aid
BANGKOK, May 4 (AFP) – A top official for the UN’s tsunami recovery effort was meeting Thursday in Bangkok to launch a new drive to improve accountability for the 13 billion dollars donated to five countries hit by the deadly waves.“There was a great appreciation that accountability to donors, the affected populations, and to the […]
Media group gives bleak status report on press freedom day
PARIS, May 3 (AFP) – Governments and organisations around the world Wednesday made gestures of support for journalists on World Press Freedom Day, but at least one reporter was killed and dozens of leaders came under fierce criticism for infringing on free expression.The global media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF – Reporters Without Borders) in […]
Movie piracy costs Hollywood 75 pct more than feared
LOS ANGELES, May 4 (AFP) – Movie piracy costs Hollywood’s big studios about 6.1 billion dollars last year, far more than the 3.5 billion dollars the industry had previously conceded, a stunning report revealed Wednesday.A study ordered by the US film industry’s lobbying group, the influential Motion Picture Association of America, revealed that pirates were […]
Man charged with murder after attacks on south Asian stores in London
LONDON, May 4, 2006 (AFP) – An unemployed man has been charged with murder after two shop workers in one of three allegedly racially motivated firebomb attacks on Asian-run convenience stores in London, police said Thursday. Robert Torto, 32, is accused of killing shopkeeper Khizar Hayat, who was originally from Pakistani Kashmir, and his employee, […]
Text Box
May 4 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to test the limits of smart digital mesh boxes to connect 30 rural homes onto the World Wide Web, officials said. Costing just under 30,000 dollars, this pilot project is initiated by the ICTA the government’s key IT agency is due to kick off in July, giving free […]
Sri Lanka first quarter tea crop at a 5-year high
May 4 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s tea crop shot up to a five year high of 76.54 million kilos for the three months to March boosted by good rainfall, a commodity brokering house said Thursday. Production in March alone was up 17.5 percent to 29.14 million kilos, largely driven by a 26.1 percent growth in low […]
Forward Bookings
May 4 (Dow Jones)–Sri Lanka’s Colombo Dockyard Ltd.expects net profit to more than triple this year helped by growth in the company’s shipbuilding division, the company’s chief executive said. “We have already secured a couple of foreign contracts, which will help boost profits,” Mangala Yapa told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview. ¶ He expects […]
Limit Less
May 4 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-owned railway is trying to find money to make urgent repairs to dilapidated tracks, which is forcing trains to run slow. “Trains are getting delayed because of the bad rail track conditions,” General Manager of Railways, K A Pemasiri said. “We need to replace sleepers and carry out urgent […]
Gunmen storm Sri Lanka news office killing two
May 03(AFP) – Gunmen stormed a Tamil newspaper office in Sri Lanka’s Jaffna peninsula killing two people and further raising the toll in the bloodiest month since a 2002 truce took effect, officials said Wednesday.More than 60,000 people have been killed in the island’s drawn out Tamil separatist conflict in the past three decades. -Ian […]
Bullet-riddled bodies found in northern Sri Lanka
May 3 (AFP) – The bullet-riddled bodies of three men were found at a village in northern Sri Lanka Wednesday as tensions mount in the region, police said. The victims were dumped at Chettikulam in the Vavuniya district where government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels clashed in recent weeks. “We don’t know who these people […]
Sri Lanka vows punishment for killers of press workers
May 3 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse marked international press freedom day Wednesday vowing to punish killers of two newspaper workers at a pro-rebel Tamil daily.Gunmen stormed the offices of the Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital Colombo, Tuesday night, killing a manager and another employee, journalists […]