Category:
Sri Lanka town shuts down to mourn slain Hindu priest
Feb 9, 2007 (AFP) – A town in Sri Lanka’s embattled east shut down Friday as a sign of respect for a Hindu priest gunned down four days after he welcomed President Mahinda Rajapakse to a former guerrilla stronghold.Military officials said shops closed and transport was halted in Valachchenai to mourn Selliah Parameswar, who was […]
Alternative Fund
February 09 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will set up an agency to administer the renewable energy sector in Sri Lanka and also establish a fund to support newer forms of energy, a senior minister said. Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers had approved the setting up of Sustainable Energy Authority, but the draft law would have […]
Sri Lanka wants grow oil-bearing jatropha plants for bio-diesel
Feb 08, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is studying the feasibility of growing a new oil-bearing plant in marginal state land to make bio-diesel with private sector partners, an official said.Countries such as the United States have given tax-breaks for alternative fuels, and blended bio-diesel such as B5 with 5 percent vegetable based diesel is already […]
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 […]
Broader Access
Feb 08, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s largest mobile operator, Dialog Telekom which helped make mobile phones a ubiquitous device in the country, says it wants to do the same to the digital pay TV industry. “If I were to trace back ten years, we took that device that was considered a luxury – a […]
Rain stops India-Sri Lanka one-dayer
KOLKATA, India, Feb 8, 2007 (AFP) – Unseasonal rain turned into a torrential downpour, forcing the first one-day international between India and Sri Lanka to be called off here on Thursday.A sell-out crowd of 88,000 at the Eden Gardens returned home disappointed as the weather ruined what promised to be an absorbing contest. Sri Lanka […]
” by US peace envoy call
Feb 8, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Thursday said it was not ‘unduly worried’ over a proposal to US President George W.Bush by American lawmakers to appoint a special envoy to help bring peace to the embattled Indian Ocean island.Sri Lanka cabinet spokesman and Media Minister Anura Yapa said Colombo believed the US would continue […]
Hindu priest shot dead after welcoming Sri Lanka president
Feb 8, 2007 (AFP) – Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels shot dead a Hindu priest who welcomed President Mahinda Rajapakse to a former guerrilla bastion in the island’s east, military officials said Thursday. Selliah Parameswar was dragged out of his house in Batticaloa district and shot dead late Wednesday by a group of unidentified gunmen, officials […]
Not Funny
February, 08 (LBO) – A decision by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation to tender its liquid petroleum gas output in the open market will re-create an absolute monopoly, Sri Lanka’s second gas retailer has said. CPC which produces about 10 percent of the country’s annual L P gas requirements now sells its production to Laugfs Lanka, […]
‘s western province, bad policies worsen it elsewhere
February 08 (LBO) – Economic reforms has slashed poverty in Sri Lanka’s western province while backward policies that kept agriculture stagnant in rural areas were trapping people in poverty, researchers have found. Poverty in the western province fell from 19 to 11 percent between 1991 and 2002, with the region growing at twice or three […]
Sri Lanka government treasuries edge up in tight conditions
February, 07 (LBO) – Sri Lanka treasuries yields edged up by an average 24 basis points at Wednesday’s auction, the public debt office reported, but dealers said cut-off rates had moderated from a week earlier.The weighted average yield for all maturities went up to 13.64 percent from 13.4 percent a week earlier. Three month bills […]
Tech Assisted
Feb 07 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to get help from global Information Technology company Microsoft, to revamp local IT literacy skills, currently ranked lower than other South Asian countries. Director of public sector programs for Microsoft, Vincent Quah says, the ICT literacy level among Sri Lanka’s population is around 10 to 15 percent compared […]