Tag: lbo

Sri Lankan police clamped indefinite curfews and troops poured into a central tea-growing region Thursday after two people were killed in ethnic violence, officials and residents said.rn A curfew was imposed on the picturesque Kandapola region after clashes between the Tamil and Sinhalese communities that left more than 20 shops destroyed, officials said.rn rn They […]

With total State revenue falling by around 18 percent last year, the Asian Development Bank asked the government to pay closer attention to closing tax loopholes and streamline its tariff policies.Unveiling its 2004 Asian Development Outlook, the Manila based bank said government revenue fell to around Rs.248 bn from the projected figure of Rs.303 bn […]

Sri Lanka lacks lquote sufficient organised public outrage to bring about any meaningful changes, say civil advocacy groups, about the abuse of public property during the April elections.ldblquote What we lack in Sri Lanka is sufficient organised public outrage, dblquote said Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, from the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), at the launch […]

Sri Lankas new government held its first talks with neighbouring India Thursday ahead of plans to revive stalled peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebelsLakshman Kadirgamar, the foreign minister in President Chandrika Kumaratungas government, met Indian leaders on a brief visit to New Delhi before Norwegian peace brokers begin a trip to Sri Lanka at the […]

The United Nations refugees agency said Thursday Sri Lanka risked losing international financial support if it did not pay more attention to resettling nearly 400,000 internally displaced people.A top official of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Dennis McNamara, said the agency expected the new government to pay “renewed attention” to resolve the […]

The Asian Development Bank revised growth targets downwards to 5 percent this year and 5.5 percent in 2005, providing also that politics does not derail economic reform.rnrn A persistent drought, reliance on expensive thermal power and a slowdown in economic and key legislative reforms due to the elections were largely to blame, ADB said in […]

Officials in Kumaratungas Freedom Alliance said four members of the Marxist JVP, or Peoples Liberation Front took their oaths while another four were sworn in as deputy ministers. rn rnThe inductions raised to 35 the number of ministers in the cabinet. rn The JVP said they accepted a compromise offered by Kumaratunga to end a […]

The Norwegian government will send a high level team on Saturday to explore possibilities of reviving the stalled peace process.The delegation will include Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen and Special Envoy Erik Solheim, the Norwegian Embassy said Wednesday.rn rnDuring their stay, the team will meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga and S P Thamilselvan the Political Wing […]

The economy, politics and human life itself is in for harder times predict astrologers, as a lunar eclipse, two meteor sightings and a meteor shower coincide. The unique astro combination was last seen in 1911, set off the World War I. This year, it takes place next Monday. Sri Lanka has a front seat view […]

Norway said that it had conditionally agreed to resume its role as mediator between the government and armed rebels in Sri Lanka, at the request of President Chandrika Kumaratunga. In a statement on Friday, the office of Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik said it would only resume its work if the Tamil Tiger guerrilla […]

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) says it is ready to work with the Alliance government on a clean slate and support issues in Parliament on a case-by-case basis. The clergy however did not support the governments first test in Parliament in appointing a Speaker yesterday on the claims that two of its members were influenced […]

The vote to elect the speaker to the new Parliament closed minutes ago, with initial reports indicating the race between the two key candidates was neck and neck. Sources in parliament say the seven Saffron robed ministers abstained from the vote and only the two lquote missing monks voted with the UPFA.rn rnHectic political manoeuvring […]