Category: Politics

COLOMBO, April 4, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops have shot dead six Tamil Tiger rebels in clashes in the island’s embattled northern and eastern regions, the defence ministry said Wednesday. More than 4,000 people have been killed in the latest upsurge of fighting that began in December 2005 despite a truce arranged in 2002. […]

COLOMBO, April 4, 2007 (AFP) – A court sentenced Sri Lanka’s former cricket chief Thilanga Sumathipala to two years in jail Wednesday for breaking the island’s immigration laws, officials said. Sumathipala was charged with taking an alleged underworld leader named Dhammika Amarasinghe to England on forged travel documents to watch the 1999 cricket world cup. […]

April 4, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Parliament Wednesday witnessed an uproar over President Mahinda Rajapakse’s proposal for a single currency for SAARC nations. However, amidst differences over trade, the region continues to clock an average of eight percent economic growth. Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe demanded a Parliamentary debate over Rajapakse’s statement at the SAARC […]

April 04, 2007 (LBO) – A rebel parliamentarian who re-joined Sri Lanka’s opposition after a brief stint as a deputy minister, told parliament Wednesday that he was receiving death threats, while his former fellow rebels labeled the move as childish. œIf he joined the government only for the glory of a position and the attached […]

COLOMBO, April 3, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops killed at least 12 Tamil Tiger rebels in clashes in the northwestern district of Mannar, the defence ministry said Tuesday.More than 4,000 people have been killed in the latest upsurge of fighting that began in December 2005 despite a truce arranged in 2002.The clashes erupted near […]

April 03, 2007 (LBO) – Former United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Edward Gunasekera, who crossed over to the government and became deputy minister of railways, crossed back to the opposition UNP Tuesday. His move created an uproar that caused the Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara to adjourn parliament. Gunasekera tried to make a statement in the House […]

NEW DELHI, April 3, 2007 (AFP) – South Asian nations must “root out terrorism” to turn around the fortunes of their underperforming trading bloc, the countries’ leaders told a regional summit here on Tuesday. Economic progress in the troubled region, home to nearly 1.5 billion people or one-fifth of humanity, is impossible without overcoming security […]

April 3, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan security forces have killed at least 23 Tamil Tiger rebels in fresh fighting in the island’s east following a deadly bus bombing, the defence ministry said Tuesday.“In the limited humanitarian operation on the west and south of Batticaloa, we have found 10 bodies of the LTTE cadres,” spokesman […]

GENEVA, April 3, 2007 (AFP) – The international Red Cross on Tuesday condemned a bus bombing on Sri Lanka’s eastern coast which left 16 people dead, including three children, and injured 25 others. “The International Committee of the Red Cross deplores the civilian casualties caused by an attack yesterday on a civilian bus in Ambalangoda, […]

COLOMBO, April 2, 2007 (AFP) – At least 15 people, including a child, were killed and 25 wounded when a bomb ripped through a crowded bus in eastern Sri Lanka Monday, officials said. The defence ministry immediately accused Tamil Tiger rebels of setting off the bomb, while the rebels denied they were responsible. Passengers were […]

April 1, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka protested Sunday against an Amnesty International campaign at the cricket World Cup drawing attention to human rights abuses on the island. The London-based rights group has been calling for Sri Lanka to ‘Play by the Rules’ in its conflict with Tamil rebels by persuading thousands of fans to […]