Journalist hacked to death in Sri Lanka: rights group

May 29, 2008 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan journalist working in the war-torn northern region and his friend have been hacked to death, a media rights group said Thursday.P. Devakumar, 36, a correspondent for the privately-run Sirasa television, was murdered on Wednesday, the influential Free Media Movement (FMM) said. Devakumar is the ninth media worker […]

Wobbly Bubble

May 28, 2008 (AFP) – Oil prices slipped back under 127 dollars on Wednesday, falling further from record highs amid concern about the strength of US energy demand while traders digested Indonesia’s exit from OPEC.“The global economy is facing the third great oil shock of recent decades,” Brown wrote in the The Guardian newspaper. “It […]

Sri Lanka business chamber condemns assault on media

May 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s main business chamber Wednesday condemned recent attacks on journalists and called on the government to bring the culprits to book instead of merely promising investigations. “The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce condemns these crude attempts at violating press freedom and implores that democratic principles relating to responsible coverage by […]

Unilateral

May 27, 2008 (LBO) – Lanka IOC, the Sri Lanka unit of the Indian Oil Corporation is raising diesel prices by 20 rupees a litre from midnight Tuesday, the company said. Wheat prices peaked in February, gold in March and rice in April. Oil however is still buoyant hitting a new high of 135 dollars […]

Sri Lanka train blast near capital

May 26, 2008 (LBO) – A blast ripped through a train in a suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo during the evening rush hour, police said. Updated For updates on this story go to www.lbo.lk front page or www. For updates in Sinhala go to www.vimasuma.com Police spokesman Ranjith Gunesekera said a number of passengers […]

Sri Lanka train blast kills seven, scores injured

May 26, 2008 (LBO) – A blast ripped through a train in a suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo during the evening rush hour, killing at least seven and injuring 62, the security media centre said. Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said the blast went off near the Dehiwela station south of the capital. An official […]

Targeting Exercise

May 26, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is developing a scheme to pay fuel subsidies to bus operators that may cost the exchequer 7.0 billion rupees a year, officials said, after a steep rise in diesel pushed up fares. Sri Lanka has a practice of under-pricing diesel because authorities believe that inflation is a petroleum […]

Sri Lanka told by US to practice what it preaches

May 25, 2008 (LBO) – The United States has said Sri Lanka’s government must do more to stop abductions and “disappearances” and that having laws alone is not enough without ensuring actual protection of human rights. “Sri Lanka has the necessary institutional framework in place, but it needs to empower its institutions to carry out […]

” for peace, reconciliation: scholar

May 24, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka should commemorate the 25th anniversary of the July 1983 riots and put forward its best offer to the Tamil people as part of a political offensive to end the war and find peace and reconciliation, a US scholar said. William Grassie, a senior Fulbright Fellow, said the commemoration […]

Steep Rise

May 24, 2008 (LBO) – After dragging their feet for months Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) jacked up diesel prices by an unprecedented 37 percent and petrol by 23 percent, while a unit of Indian Oil Corporation said it would follow suit. An International Monetary Fund study said this week that commodity markets […]

Sri Lanka senior journalist found assaulted

May 23, 2008 (LBO) – A senior Sri Lankan journalist was found severely assaulted in the early hours of Friday after being abducted from his home the previous night, colleagues at his newspaper said. Keith Noyahr, deputy editor of the Nation newspaper, was abducted from near his home in a suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital […]

Sri Lankan rights group condemns assault on journalist

May 23, 2008 (AFP) – A Sri Lanka media rights group Friday condemned the abduction and assault of a senior journalist, saying it was motivated by his criticism of the government’s war against Tamil Tiger rebels. Most of the victims are Tamil journalists working in the island’s embattled north and east.Sinhalese journalists working in the […]

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