Tag: business

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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,” […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Mar. 22 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy detained a fishing trawler operated by suspected Tamil rebels off the island’s troubled northern waters Wednesday while troops and guerrillas exchanged fire in the Jaffna peninsula. The crew were being questioned by security forces after they were arrested while operating in a restricted zone off the island’s north, […]