Tag: lankabusinessonline
Sri Lankan presidential contender woos Tamil voters
January 2, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s former military chief Sarath Fonseka took his presidential campaign Saturday to the ethnic heartland of the Tamil Tiger rebellion he helped crush last year. The retired four-star general, who is seen as the main challenger to President Mahinda Rajapakse in polls slated for January 26, visited the northern […]
Sri Lanka president accused of illegal campaign funding
December 31, 2009 (AFP) – Anti-graft campaign group Transparency International accused Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Thursday of using state property and public cash to illegally finance his re-election bid.The Sri Lanka branch of the Berlin-based watchdog said armed forces, police and public servants were being deployed to campaign for the ruling party in […]
Fickle Pricing
Dec 30, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lanka unit of Indian Oil Corporation said it is likely to make losses on petrol sales after the dominant state-owned oil refiner slashed retail prices barely a month ahead of presidential polls. Last month on petrol sales we made a profit of one rupee per litre, said K […]
Gas Call
Dec 30, 2009 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan unit of the Shell gas multinational said it was holding domestic prices of liquid petroleum gas cylinders despite higher import costs as the government had cut taxes. The announcement came as the Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry said the other supplier Laugfs Gas will cut its prices […]
76 journalists killed in 2009: watchdog
PARIS, December 29, 2009 (AFP) – The number of journalists killed because of their work rose to 76 this year from 60 in 2008, the media rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders said Tuesday. “The authorities in these countries have understood that by encouraging journalists to leave, they considerably reduced the pluralism of ideas and the […]
Fuel Cost
Dec 29, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-owned refiner, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, said it will cut fuel prices from midnight Tuesday. It said in a statement that the price of a litre of 90 Octane petrol will be reduced to 115 rupees from 130 rupees now while 95 octane petrol will be sold at […]
Sri Lanka takes more time to study war crimes charges
December 28, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president has given legal experts four more months to study a US State Department report cataloging alleged war crimes on the island, the presidency said in a statement Monday.President Mahinda Rajapakse extended the December 31 deadline of the panel he appointed in November to formulate a response to […]
Sri Lankan migrant dies in Indonesia: official
JAKARTA, December 27, 2009 (AFP) – The body of an asylum seeker who died of a suspected stomach infection in Indonesia will be returned to Sri Lanka this week, a foreign ministry official said Sunday. The man, identified by Indonesian authorities as Jacob Samuel Christian, 29, died last Wednesday in hospital. His body will be […]
‘s war heroes battle for a clean image
December 20, 2009 (AFP) – A presidential election in Sri Lanka next month will see two former allies from the country’s bitter civil war slugging it out, but their record on corruption, not the battlefield, might swing the final vote.President Mahinda Rajapakse and his former army chief Sarath Fonseka are set to face each other […]
Asylum seekers leave Indonesia: official
JAKARTA, December 20, 2009 (AFP) – Fifteen of the Sri Lankan asylum seekers who spent weeks refusing to get off the boat that rescued them near Indonesia have left the country, a foreign ministry official said Sunday.“They left Indonesia yesterday. Two were flown to Australia and the other 13 were taken to an evacuation centre […]
Sri Lanka presidential rivals hand in nominations
December 17, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and his main rival in elections next month, former army general Sarath Fonseka, handed in their poll nomination papers on Thursday.Rajapakse and Fonseka, both dressed in white national dress, were among 22 candidates whose papers were accepted by the national Election Commission. Rajapakse has called […]
EU gives six million euros to help Sri Lanka refugees
BRUSSELS, December 16, 2009 (AFP) – The European Commission on Wednesday granted more aid for tens of thousands of people who fled fighting between Sri Lankan forces and Tamil fighters, voicing concern for their lack of protection.The commission is “concerned by the lack of protection for the internally displaced, especially for female-headed households and single […]