Tag: lbo

Dec 31, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan media rights group Monday slammed President Mahinda Rajapakse for not taking action against a junior minister who allegedly rampaged through a state television station and assaulted its news director. It also urged the government to free the state print media from its control and to “re-establish state […]

COLOMBO, Dec 31, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s top military commanders have vowed to escalate attacks against Tamil rebels in the New Year to achieve a “turning point” in the decades-old separatist war, a state-run daily said Monday. Army chief Sarath Fonseka expressed the hope that government forces would be able to dislodge the Liberation […]

Dec 30, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s security forces and Tamil rebels were locked in fierce fighting Sunday in the island’s north with both sides claiming to have inflicted heavy losses against the other. The defence ministry said troops killed at least 33 members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and wounded another […]

Dec 30, 2007 (AFP) – The assassination of Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto is the latest deadly chapter plaguing South Asia’s dynasties and shows violence has become entrenched in the region’s political culture, analysts say. Ruling families from the Bhuttos of Pakistan to the Gandhis of India, the Bandaranaike family of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh’s Rahman family […]

Dec 29, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s defence secretary said the government should formally pull out of a ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels amid escalating fighting in the island, a state-run daily reported Saturday. A 2002 Norwegian-brokered truce began to unravel in December 2005 and both sides have blamed each other for the mounting violence […]

ISLAMABAD, Dec 27, 2007 (AFP) – Thursday’s assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is one of a long series of political assassinations which have taken place in southern Asia since the end of the colonial era and the partitition of India in 1947. INDIA – January 30, 1948: A Hindu extremist kills Mahatma […]

Dec 28, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka condemned Friday the assassination of Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and said it underscored the need for “absolute commitment” to fight terrorism.“This brutal assassination, underlines the need for the absolute commitment to fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, in order to make it unacceptable in […]

Dec 28, 2007 (AFP) – At least 25 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in fresh military attacks along the de-facto border of territory held by the guerrillas, the defence ministry said Friday. The members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed in four separate attacks in Vavuniya district on Thursday, the ministry […]

Dec 28, 2007 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan judge reprimanded police Friday for failing to thoroughly investigate a minister who sparked a riot at the state-run television channel after allegedly assaulting a journalist.Colombo Chief Magistrate Mohamed Macky said he was not happy with a police report into Thursday’s alleged assault by Labour Minister Mervin Silva […]

Dec 27, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military announced air strikes inside rebel-held territory on Thursday, a day after a sea battle left a large number of combatants dead, according to both sides.He said security forces had already scored major victories against the guerrillas in the past year and hoped to build on them. War […]

Dec 27, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan junior government minister stormed into the state-owned Rupavahini television station with armed thugs and assaulted its news director a short while ago, journalists said Thursday. International media rights organization have described Sri Lanka as the third most dangerous place for journalists in the world after Iraq and […]

Dec 27, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka sent a crack commando unit into the state-run television station Thursday to rescue a government minister kidnapped by journalists for allegedly assaulting a colleague, officials told AFP.An anti-hijacking and hostage rescue squad of army commandos was already at the Rupavahini state television network to free Labour Minister Mervin […]