Tag: lbo
Sri Lankan President says own steps under way to probe killings
GENEVA, June 15, 2007 (AFP) – President Mahinda Rajapakse of Sri Lanka and senior Sri Lankan officials said Friday that they were taking their own steps to find the truth behind recent killings of humanitarian workers and alleged rights violations.However, Rajapakse stopped short of responding directly to an appeal Amnesty International made to him Thursday, […]
Off-Grid
June 15, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will be able to light up 60,000 rural homes and also connect new private-sector renewable energy to the urban power grid with a new World Bank credit, the multilateral lender said. Only three-fourths of households in Sri Lanka have grid-connected power and it is too expensive for the […]
Filipino aid worker for US charity in Sri Lanka shot
June 14, 2007 (AFP) – A Filipino aid worker has been shot and wounded in northeastern Sri Lanka, a hospital spokeswoman said Thursday. Antonio Villeomour, of the US charity Mercy Corps, was being treated at Colombo’s National Hospital, spokeswoman Pushpa Soysa said. “He is conscious and not in a critical condition,” she told AFP. Villeomour […]
Sri Lankan defence official slams West over rights outcry
COLOMBO, June 13, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s top defence official has accused Western nations of bullying his government over human rights and defended the eviction of ethnic Tamils from the capital, a report said Wednesday.Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse also rejected warnings from Britain that the former colony risked international isolation over the deteriorating rights […]
Power Blast
June 12, 2007 (LBO) – A blast ripped through a vital high voltage electricity transmission line in a suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo, but it failed to disrupt power supplies, officials and police said. It was not known who carried out the latest attack, but Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger guerillas had earlier bombed a […]
Close Shave
June 12, 2007 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger saboteurs came close to cutting off a large chunk of Sri Lanka’s electricity supply Tuesday by skirting tight security and setting off a bomb against a key power line, officials said.The device, which was rigged to a timer, was attached to a steel pylon located between a key […]
No lifting of Tiger ban but human rights in Sri Lanka must be respected by all parties: UK minister
June 12, 2007 (LBO) – Britain’s minister for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Kim Howells says his country will not lift the ban on the Tamil Tigers, and has called on both sides to the conflict to respect human rights. Dr Kim Howells MP Minister of State Foreign and Commonwealth Office June 12 2007 Howells […]
Sri Lanka to study critical rights report
June 12, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president has called for “careful study” of a critical report that said the island is failing to investigate grave human rights abuses, a spokesman said Tuesday. President Mahinda Rajapakse was speaking after an international panel said a commission appointed to investigate 16 high profile cases, involving murder and […]
Foreign experts slam Sri Lanka over slow rights probe
June 11, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka was Monday accused of dragging its feet despite a promise to tackle major human rights violations, as Western diplomats warned they will deny visas to security personnel linked to abuses.An 11-member panel of international experts said a presidential commission of inquiry into cases including the massacre of aid […]
Britain asks Sri Lanka to end military campaign
June 11, 2007 (AFP) – Britain Monday asked its former colony Sri Lanka to end its military campaign and resume peace talks with separatist Tamil Tiger guerrillas.“The situation in Sri Lanka looks darker now than my last visit in February, where there were many hopes of an all-party political solution that would create a basis […]
Oil Oil everywhere…
TEHRAN, June 6, 2007 (AFP) – Iran hopes to begin a much-delayed plan to ration petrol in the next two weeks amid continued uncertainty over its launch date, officials said on Wednesday. The plan, aimed at reducing colossal subsidies paid by the state to finance oil-rich Iran’s frenzied petrol consumption, envisages forcing consumers to pay […]
Precipice
June 10, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is on the brink of the dangerous path of petrol and diesel rationing, which will give set amounts of subsidized fuel to users, reports said. Related Story Rata Perata: Oil-rich Iran to ration petrol to get out of subsidy fiasco Updated The weekly Nation newspaper said the government […]