India shrugs off Chinese influence in Sri Lanka

November 26, 2010 (AFP) – India has no worries about rival China’s expanding ties with Sri Lanka, India’s foreign minister said on Friday, a week after Colombo unveiled a 1. 5-billion-dollar Chinese-funded port. S.M. Krishna, who met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse earlier in the day, said Colombo’s ties with Beijing and other capitals would […]

‘s former war zone

November 27, 2010 (AFP) – India’s foreign minister visited Sri Lanka’s former war zone on Saturday after urging Colombo to share political power with minority Tamils following last year’s end to the ethnic conflict. Analysts have said New Delhi is concerned that a new port funded by Beijing is part of a Chinese policy to […]

Indian FM in Sri Lanka amid growing Chinese influence

November 25, 2010 (AFP) – Indian Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna was due in Sri Lanka Thursday to shore up bilateral relations amid growing Chinese influence on the island. Krishna is due to call on President Mahinda Rajapakse and also open two Indian consulates in the southern and northernmost parts of the island before leaving […]

Sri Lanka appoints 90 ministers and deputies

Nov 22, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa has appointed 59 ministers in addition to the prime minister and 31 deputy ministers Tuesday ahead of a budget for 2011 to run the administration during his second term in office. Among the large group of ministers was also a minister for productivity development. Rajapaksa’s […]

Sri Lanka orders Red Cross to quit former war zone

November 21, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government has ordered the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to close its offices in the island’s former war zone, the Geneva-based humanitarian agency said Sunday. The conflict ended when the rebels were wiped out in a military offensive that has since triggered allegations of war crimes. […]

‘s jailed ex-army chief in hospital: party

November 17, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s former military chief Sarath Fonseka, who is serving a 30-month jail sentence, was admitted to hospital after suffering breathing problems, his party said Wednesday. The ex-army chief has said the government is seeking revenge for his decision to stand against the president. The former general was unwell due […]

‘s powerful president settles in for the long-haul

November 18, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse kicks off a second term Friday, promising economic rebirth for the war-ravaged island with the help of nations who have snubbed Western calls for a war crimes probe. Rajapakse, who turned 65 Thursday, begins his fresh, six-year mandate from an unprecedented position of strength following […]

Drill Deal

Nov 16, 2010 (LBO) – Cairn Lanka, which bought Sri Lanka’s first offshore oil exploration block has hired a Japanese ship to start drilling wells from July 2011, the Japan Drilling Company had said. The firm will use the ship ‘Chikyu’, owned by Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (“JAMSTEC”) to drill three wells […]

US money printing lifts oil prices, for now: IEA

PARIS, November 12, 2010 (AFP) – Easy-money policy by the United States is pumping up the oil price to about 90 dollars, but medium-term growth of oil demand should slow and contain the price, the IEA said on Friday. “Physical market developments through October have stoked expectations of inexorably higher prices even though the framework […]

Gas Action

Nov 12, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan liquid petroleum gas supplier Laugfs Gas, whose share issue to raise 2. 5 billion rupees was oversubscribed, plans to acquire a vessel and build an unloading terminal in a new port, an official said. Laugfs managing director Thilak de Silva said the firm wants to be able to […]

Sri Lanka tightens grip on foreign aid workers: officials

November 10, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government said Wednesday it had ordered foreign and local aid workers to register with the defence ministry in a move to put them under greater state control. The government information department said there were 250 international and some 1,000 domestic aid agencies working in Sri Lanka, which would […]

Oil Plan

NEW DELHI, Nov 5 (Asia Pulse) – State-owned Indian Oil Corp is eyeing a contract to revamp and expand the sole refinery in Sri Lanka. IOC’s interest in upgrading and doubling capacity of Ceylon Petroleum Corp’s (CPC) Sapugaskanda Refinery to 4 million tonnes a year came up at a meeting between Indian Oil Minister Murli […]

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