Tag: lbo
Sri Lankan president urges calm after bus blast
Feb 2, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse blamed Tamil Tiger guerrillas for a bomb Saturday on a bus that killed at least 20 people, urging citizens not to be provoked by the rebels “brutality.” The parcel bomb went off as the crowded bus, carrying many Buddhist pilgrims belonging to the ethnic Sinhalese […]
Refined Product
Feb 01, 2008 (LBO) – Two UAE petroleum firms have won Sri Lankan government approval to build the island’s second refinery with an investment of 1.2 billion dollars, a senior minister said. . Trans Asia Gas International LLC and Star Petro Energy LLC of the UAE plan to build a 100,000 barrels-per-day refinery in the […]
Offshore Wealth
Feb 01, 2008 (LBO) – An oil exploration block nearest to India off Sri Lanka’s northwestern coast has become hot property with three petroleum firms chasing after it, the petroleum ministry said. The southernmost block of the three offered by Sri Lanka in the Mannar Basin, stretching from the coast to the maritime boundary with […]
Sri Lanka warring parties human rights violations unchecked: HRW
NEW YORK, Jan 31, 2008 (AFP) – Global concern is mounting over Sri Lanka’s worsening human rights record, but action by key international players has been “slow and lacked cohesion,” Human Rights Watch said in its annual report. The group said Sri Lanka managed to head off censure in the UN Human Rights Council by […]
Sri Lanka troops, Tigers in gunbattle, 18 rebels dead: officials
Feb 1, 2008 (AFP) – Security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels have traded heavy artillery fire in northern Sri Lanka, killing 18 rebels, officials said Friday, a day after Japan warned it may stop aid unless fighting subsided. Backed by war planes and heavy guns, the military smashed several rebel bunkers and killed at least […]
Oil Search
Jan 31, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is evaluating bids for offshore oil exploration in the island’s north-east from firms in Cyprus and India, petroleum minister A H M Fowzie said. The island has put three exploration bids on offer in the Mannar basin area. The bids closed today. ONGC Videsh and Cairn India from […]
Sri Lanka Tigers protest to UN
Jan 30, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels Wednesday lodged a formal protest with the United Nations alleging that security forces bombed a school bus and killed 18 civilians, mostly children, and accused them of targeting non-combatants. Among those dead on the bus were 12 children between the ages of eight and 16, […]
Sri Lanka blast kills four: officials
Jan 31, 2008 (AFP) – At least four people were killed in a powerful explosion in Sri Lanka’s embattled northern peninsula of Jaffna on Thursday, officials said.The explosion at Thirunelveli was believed to be the work of a suicide bomber, a military official here said, adding that initial reports said four civilians had been killed. […]
Japanese envoy warns Sri Lanka of aid cut
TOKYO, Jan 31, 2008 (AFP) – Japan, Sri Lanka’s top donor, warned Thursday it could cut off aid if violence continued to escalate but said it hoped to provide long-term support to bring peace.“We could be forced to review our aid policy if military action keeps escalating, although Sri Lanka wants Japan to continue it,” […]
Sri Lanka journalists in danger, media rights groups say
Jan 30, 2008 (LBO) – The safety of journalists in Sri Lanka is in jeopardy with increasing attacks and threats against them that are meant to stifle freedom of opinion, international media rights groups have said. Attacks against journalists were bringing the government into disrepute and eroding democracy in the island, the International Federation of […]
Sri Lanka union veteran bemoans muted voice of workers and lost freedoms
Jan 30, 2008 (LBO) – A veteran Sri Lankan trade unionist says the voice of the working class is now muted and people are battling to survive as prices are rising and terrorism is spreading to all corners of the land. “This is a great misfortune to the country. If there is no voice for […]
‘s Jaffna peninsula sees heavy fighting
Jan 30, 2008 (AFP) – Heavy fighting gripped Sri Lanka’s Jaffna peninsula Wednesday with both Tiger rebels and government forces claiming they had the upper hand after smashing each other’s fortifications.The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they resisted a pre-dawn three-pronged assault in the area, one of several points from where government […]