Author: lbostgadmin
Sri Lanka says doubts rebels want talks to save ceasefire
Apr.15 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Saturday expressed “serious doubts” about whether Tamil Tiger rebels want to go ahead with talks due to be held in Swizterland that are aimed at saving a fragile ceasefire. The two days of talks were scheduled to be held in Geneva from April 24 after being postponed for five days […]
Sri Lanka truce talks dim as blasts kill seven
Apr. 15 (AFP) – Suspected Tamil Tigers detonated two mines in Sri Lanka Saturday, killing seven security personnel as both the government and the rebels cast fresh doubts over plans to resume truce talks. -Amal Jayasinghe: win98win@Â The first mine hidden in a parked farm vehicle was detonated as a bus full of troops drove […]
New Year Gift
Apr.15 (LBO) – Sri Lanka hikes fuel prices by Rs.8.00 from midnight Saturday after a 10-month lag as world crude oil prices raced to US$ 70 per barrel. Petrol at the pump will cost Rs.88.00, diesel, Rs.58.00 and kerosene Rs.38.50, Ceylon Petroleum Corp. (CPC) Chairman Jaliya Medagama said. The Rs.8.00 across the board hike also […]
Falling Short
WASHINGTON, Apr. 14 (AFP) – Rising fuel and materials prices and skilled labor shortages are expected to push reconstruction costs for the deadly December 2004 tsunami past 10 billion dollars, a US Congress report said Friday.“Although pledges of 13 billion dollars exceed initial damage estimates of 10 billion dollars, escalating costs may increase the amount […]
Norway clinches new dates for Sri Lanka talks
Apr.14 (AFP) – Peace broker Norway announced Friday that talks between the Sri Lankan government and Tiger rebels, under threat from a new wave of violence, would go ahead five days later than scheduled.The negotiations in Geneva were originally due to open on April 19, but the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said […]
‘s New Year
Apr.14 (AFP) – Two people were killed in fresh violence in Sri Lanka’s restive east on the traditional New Year day Friday and an indefinite curfew was clamped to maintain law and order, police said.The killing of a motorist sparked fresh rioting in the troubled port town of Trincomalee where police slapped the curfew after […]
Infrastructure: Back to basics?
Apr.13 (LBO) – In the famous five classes that the JVP used for recruitment in the years before the first insurrection of 1971, a story was told about tea. It was mostly false, but it was a simple, good and persuasive story. The story was that the imperialists forcibly displaced upcountry Sinhala villagers to make […]
Sri Lanka extends curfew after bloodshed
Apr.13 (AFP) – Police extended a night curfew in Sri Lanka’s northeastern port district of Trincomalee on Thursday, a day after a bomb blast at a vegetable market killed 17 people, officials said.Heavily armed security forces patrolled the streets after rioting that followed the bomb attack, police said, adding that investigations suggested that Tiger rebels […]
Sri Lanka Tigers seek to postpone Swiss talks
Apr.13 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels Thursday called for a postponement of ceasefire talks scheduled for next week in Switzerland amid an upsurge in violence that has killed 38 people this week.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said the three-day talks due to start next Wednesday cannot go ahead and they want […]
Sri Lanka accuses rebels of targeting civilians
Apr.13 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels have begun targeting civilians with a bomb attack on a crowded market that killed 17 people, the Sri Lankan government charged Thursday in a fresh battering for peace hopes.Government spokesman Rohitha Bogollegama said the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) hit the main vegetable market in Trincomalee on […]
Foreign remittances keep Sri Lanka floating
Apr.12 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s balance of payments (BOP) has recorded a US$142 million surplus for the three months to March, the Central Bank said Wednesday as it maintained key interest rates for the fourth straight month. The balance of payments is a record of the island’s total payments to foreign countries, including the cost […]
Two killed in Sri Lanka landmine blast
Apr. 12 (AFP) – At least two policemen were killed and another two wounded when their truck was caught up in a landmine blast in northeastern Sri Lanka on Wednesday, officials said. The victims were on their way to the port town of Trincomalee to buy provisions for policemen stationed further north of the main […]