Category:
Filling Gaps
A fast track program to give non-tech graduates jobs in the IT field has paid off, with a first batch of students finding full time work in top companies. The four month program by the Moratuwa University gives graduates from other fields marketable skills like computer programming, web design, networking and business know how. Surveys […]
‘s top Nordic peace envoys to visit the island next week
Mar. 29 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Nordic peace envoys will visit the island next week for a series of meetings with the government and the Tamil Tiger rebels, the Norwegian embassy said Wednesday. New special envoy Jon Hanssen-Baur will make his maiden visit to the island on Monday April 3 for four-days. Hanssen-Baur, a Middle […]
Tsunami helped to create peace, say UN experts
BONN, Mar.28 (AFP) – Wars were one of the main problems hampering efforts to save lives in natural disasters but catastrophes like the Asian tsunami have helped to promote peace, UN experts said here on Tuesday.The death toll in Sri Lanka, one of the countries hit by the December 2004 tsunami, was aggravated by the […]
Sri Lanka vows talks despite sinking of navy craft
Mar. 29 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government Wednesday pledged to continue talks with Tamil Tiger rebels despite the killing of eight sailors in a suicide blast and fears the island could slip back to full scale war.Colombo’s chief peace negotiator Nimal Siripala de Silva said Sri Lanka’s government will go ahead with talks next month […]
Choices: BPO or KPO?
Mar. 28 (LBO) – I was at a meeting in Delhi in early March when I first heard the acronym KPO, of course without being spelled out.From the context, I figured it meant knowledge process outsourcing and started using it immediately. One cannot afford to be slow on the draw with acronyms! The key point […]
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 mediator to meet rebel negotiator
OSLO, Mar. 28 (AFP) – The top mediator in Sri Lanka’s peace process, Erik Solheim of Norway, will meet with the rebels’ leading negotiator in London on Wednesday to discuss peace progress on the war-torn island, the Norwegian government said.Solheim and Tamil rebel negotiator Anton Balasingham will prepare the groundwork for a meeting between 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 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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]