Occult Politics

February, 17 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s is supposedly a vibrant democracy with its political destiny decided by a population that got universal suffrage in 1931, but the island’s leaders seem to believe their future is controlled by sublime forces of the occult. Sri Lanka’s former foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera newly-sacked from the government, is said […]

Bursting Point

February 16, 2007 (LBO) — SriLankan Airlines says it is running out of cargo space at Colombo’s international airport, while a newly-built facility lies empty over a rent dispute.The issue is likely to remain a sticky point as the government drags its feet to over the renewal of SriLankan’s management agreement with Emirates which is […]

Easy Customs

Feb 14 (LBO) – Traders and businessmen could easily navigate through Sri Lanka’s plethora of taxes and customs regulations, through a single searchable database being rolled out for public use in March, officials said. The new database will hold all of the country’s customs regulations, related laws, taxes and other levies as well as preferential […]

Mango Friends

February 14 (LBO) – Former tourism Anura Bandaranaike may come back to the government with the aviation portfolio, a senior government minister said. vimasuma.com Newsdesk Updated . Bandaranaike Wednesday met President Rajapakse in the company of Minister Dinesh Gunewardene and Western Province Governor Alavi Moulana a spokesman from the presidential secretariat said. The meeting was […]

Safe Deal

February 12 (LBO) – Sri Lanka wants an investment protection agreement with the Maldive Islands, visiting Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapakse said, while calling for expansion of bi-lateral trade and joint action on tourism. The islands need foreign labour to run its booming low-inflation economy. . Sri Lanka’s top business conglomerates, such as John Keells and […]

Alien Invasion

Feb 12, 2007 (LBO) – In the deep south of Sri Lanka, native vegetation at a fragile wetland nature reserve is being chocked-out by an implacable foreign invasion. The Bundala national park, designated a globally valuable resource under the Ramsar convention on wetlands, covers 3698 hectares of scrub jungle and water bodies bordering the coast […]

Political Storm

February 9 (LBO) – Three ministers in President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government has been removed from their posts, officials and state television said.Anura Bandaranaike lost the tourism ministry in last month’s cabinet re-shuffle and has been publicly expressing his displeasure. Bandaranaike is former President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s brother. Sri Lanka Freedom Party strongman Mangala Samaraweera who held […]

Health Cover

Feb 03 (LBO) – Large numbers of refugees in Sri Lanka are at increased risk of insect borne diseases and failing health, with officials looking for new and novel ways to fight off infection. The number of Sri Lanka™s internally displaced people (IDP) has gone up by 2.8 percent between April 2006 and the end […]

Feed Line

February 09 (LBO) – A ship carrying essential foodstuff from India is due to reach the Jaffna peninsular next week, an official said. The first ship had brought of 3,200 tonnes of essential foods and this ship would have 1,000 tonnes of rice, 500 tonnes of sugar among its cargo, Nalin Fernando, chairman of the […]

Jumbo Records

February 8, 2007 (LBO) – Guinness World Records could start a new record category on jumbo sized cabinets of ministers if a formal request is made, a Guinness official said. Rajapakse’s former ally, the Marxist JVP or People’s Liberation Front, said the huge cabinet for a country of 19.5 million people had made Sri Lanka […]

Wrong Country

GENEVA, Feb 6, 2007 (AFP) – A group of Sri Lankans who paid for jobs in the Gulf were locked into a building site in Iraq for two weeks before they realised they were in the wrong country, an international agency said Tuesday.The 17 Sri Lankan migrant workers, who had paid 2,000 dollars each to […]

Musical Chairs

February 02 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s 54-member jumbo cabinet is causing logistical headaches for parliamentary staff, with senior members who crossed over from the United National Party, being entititled to the available meeting rooms officials said.Perks for each cabinet minister include an office space in the parliament complex, but the facility only has about three […]

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