Tag: news
Sri Lanka to hold vote for Eastern provincial council
March 14, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Friday announced plans to hold provincial council elections for the first time in two decades in a former stronghold of Tamil Tiger separatists. Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dissanayake said he would receive nominations for the Eastern Provincial Council for a week from March 27. Voting was expected […]
Sri Lanka, U.S. in row over human rights report
March 14, 2008 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government Friday said it had summoned the American envoy to protest against a critical U.S. human rights report but the US embassy said it was standing by the report. A Foreign Ministry statement said it “strongly protests” the U.S. State Department’s Human Rights Report which criticised Sri […]
No Hike
March 13, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s petroleum utility will not raise retail fuel prices at least until the traditional April Sinhala and Hindu New Year festival, despite record crude oil prices, petroleum minister A H M Fowzie said. The state-owned petroleum utility Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) will use profits from overcharging hapless petrol uses […]
Sri Lanka journalist arrests troubles CPJ
Mar 12, 2008 (LBO) – An international media rights watchdog says it is troubled by the arrests of several Sri Lankan journalists, some of them from the ethnic Tamil minority and called on authorities to charge or release them immediately. Six people connected to Outreachsl.com, a news website was arrested by terror sleuths of which […]
Sri Lanka says 28 more Tigers killed in fresh fighting
March 11, 2008 (AFP) – At least another 28 Tamil Tiger rebels have been killed by security forces in fresh fighting across Sri Lanka’s embattled north, the defence ministry said Wednesday.More than 60,000 people have been killed in the separatist conflict which erupted in 1972.The overnight clashes were in the districts of Jaffna, Vavuniya and […]
Pricey Fuel
March 11, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-owned petroleum utility plans to tie up with global ship supplier GAC Ships to sell bunkers or ship fuel in Colombo port, its chairman Ashantha de Mel said. . The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s plans to re-enter the bunker market will likely bring down prices in Colombo. “We’re in […]
Former guerrillas sweep polls in eastern Sri Lanka
BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka, March 11, 2008 (AFP) – A pro-government Tamil rebel group won a majority in almost all the local councils that went to the polls in Sri Lanka’s volatile east, officials results showed Tuesday.The armed Tamil People’s Liberation Party (TMVP) secured 72 out of the 101 seats in Monday’s vote to elect officials […]
Sri Lanka blast in capital Colombo
Mar 10, 2008 (LBO) – A bomb had exploded in Wellawatte, a southern suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo during the morning rush hour Monday, killing at least one person, police said. The explosion came as residents in Sri Lanka’s East were preparing to go to regional polls. Updated Authorities said at least three persons […]
Bomb kills one, wounds six in Sri Lanka capital
March 10, 2008 (AFP) – A powerful bomb ripped through a commercial area of Sri Lanka’s capital during rush hour on Monday, killing at least one person and wounding six others, police said. The government casualty numbers and those given by the Tigers cannot be independently confirmed as Colombo bars journalists and rights groups from […]
‘s tense east goes to polls; Pillaiyan votes
VALACHCHENAI, Sril Lanka, March 10, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s volatile eastern district of Batticaloa on Monday held local council elections for the first time in 14 years with an armed Tamil group expected to win the vote.The government has thrown a security blanket over the coastal area, a former hotbed of factional fighting, pouring […]
Wild elephants hold up Sri Lanka vote: police
March 10, 2008 (AFP) – Security forces armed with loud hailers were deployed in eastern Sri Lanka Monday to drive away wild elephants blocking access to polling booths, police said.Villagers in Wellaveli told the authorities that they were unable to vote at the first local elections in 14 years because a herd of elephants had […]
Sri Lanka media rights body concerned over journalist arrests
Mar 09, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Free Media Movement (FMM) expressed concern over the arrest of several journalists connected to a news website and called on authorities to follow due process. “The right to retain lawyers at police stations while statements are being recorded and their right to inform family and colleagues as to […]