Author: lbostgadmin
Post-tsunami boat building not up to par: FAO
ROME, Mar. 28 (AFP) – Thousands of replacement fishing vessels constructed since the Asian tsunami of December 26, 2004 are unsafe and flat-out dangerous, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization warned Tuesday.Tsunami-affected countries must “redouble their efforts to ensure that fishing boats built to replace those destroyed during the 2004 disaster meet minimum safety standards,” […]
Sri Lanka bans fishing after gunboat sinking
Mar. 27 (AFP) – Sri Lanka banned deep-sea fishing off its troubled northern coast from Monday, two days after Tiger rebels blew up a navy gunboat and killed eight sailors, a defence official said.The ban would apply to all fishing trawlers and vessels would need written permission from navy chief Wasantha Karannagoda to enter the […]
Damage Control
Mar. 27 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may impose a cess of up to 10 percent on imports to plug a loss in tax revenues, when import tariffs are lowered in April under the Indo-Lanka free trade deal.“Cesses will be used in the future to mitigate the negative impact of the increased preference for imports from […]
Sri Lankan begins probe in to suicide sinking of gunboat
Mar.26 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy Sunday began a probe into a Tamil rebel attack on a gunboat that left eight sailors missing, presumed dead, military officials said. The defence ministry said the gunboat was blown out of the water as it approached a suspected Tamil Tiger trawler off the island’s northwestern coast on Saturday. […]
Monitors say gunboat sinking could push Sri Lanka back to war
Mar. 26 (AFP) – Scandinavian truce monitors have said that an alleged Tamil Tiger suicide attack which sank a navy gunboat and killed eight sailors could push Sri Lanka back towards war.The Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said they could not accept a denial by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of […]
Audit Protest
Mar.26 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government auditors are threatening industrial action against chronic inaction by authorities and the parliament to crackdown on corruption and other shortcomings highlighted by them.The angry tones follows a statement attributed to the treasury secretary, which appeared in a Sunday weekly, criticising the audit report for having brought disrepute the public […]
Eight Sri Lankan sailors presumed dead in Tamil Tiger Suicide blast
Mar. 25 (AFP) – Eight sailors from the Sri Lankan navy were presumed killed Saturday when a group of suspected Tiger rebels blew themselves up and sank a navy gunboat that approached their trawler, the military said.Six suspected rebels were killed in the blast. The defence ministry said the sinking of the navy craft was […]
Sri Lanka on path to cut interest rates later this year
Mar. 24 (LBO) — Sri Lanka is likely to cut interest rates later this year, in a backdrop of declining inflation, a top bureaucrat who plays a key role in the country’s fiscal and monetary policies said Thursday. “There has been a consecutive drop in inflation over the past few months, which leaves room for […]
Sri Lanka taps international markets to change debt profile
Mar. 24 (LBO) — Sri Lanka is working on changing its debt profile, replacing old concessional loans with overseas borrowings and re-allocating low yielding foreign loans to other projects, the treasury secretary said Thursday. Treasury Secretary P B Jayasundara said the island was floating an international bond this year to raise between US$500 million to […]
Rights group concerned about Sri Lanka audit chief
Mar. 23(AFP) – The Asian Human Rights Commission Thursday said it was “gravely concerned” at public criticism of Sri Lanka’s audit chief who has exposed government corruption including mishandling of tsunami relief aid. The Hong Kong-based rights group in a statement said the organisation had asked President Mahinda Rajapakse to prevent any attempts to undermine […]
Tigers say Colombo curbs undoing Swiss talks
Mar 23(AFP) – The Tamil Tiger rebels Thursday accused Sri Lanka of endangering efforts to end ethnic bloodshed by imposing fresh conditions on their political activity.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said the government had forbidden the rebels from flying their own flags on offices they want to re-open in military-held areas of the […]
Joint Power
Mar. 23 (LBO) — Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers had approved a deal for the state-owned Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to team up with India’s National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) in a joint venture coal plant, Power Minister John Seneviratne said Wednesday.The cabinet has approved the provisions of a draft Memorandum of Understanding, which will […]