Tag: news
Sri Lanka president leaves on sudden trip to Britain
Aug 29, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse left here Tuesday on a sudden visit to London for talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair, official sources said.Rajapakse and Blair were expected to discuss Sri Lanka’s collapsing ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels, officials here said. The trip comes amid international efforts to salvage the […]
Red Ink
August 29, 2006 (LBO) – Indian fuel retailer Lanka IOC Ltd reported a net loss of 584.0 million rupees for the three months to June on Tuesday, citing unpaid subsidy payments of 116.0 million rupees due from the Sri Lankan government. A unit of the Fortune 500 Indian Oil Corp. the Sri Lankan unit ran […]
Sri Lanka hunts for fugitive executive facing US fraud charges
Aug 28, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police said Monday they were hunting alleged fugitive executive Jacob “Kobi” Alexander after reports he fled fraud charges in the US for a fishing village hideaway in the island nation.Detectives were investigating a claimed sighting of the 54-year-old after he failed to appear in court in the United […]
Heavy fighting in Sri Lanka as troops move to secure port
Aug 28, 2006 (AFP) – At least four Sri Lankan soldiers were killed and 41 wounded as security forces launched a ground offensive Monday to push back guerrilla artillery threatening a strategic naval port, officials said.More than 60,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka’s drawn out Tamil separatist conflict and political talks on ending […]
Top Offers
August 28, 2006 (LBO) – Just over ten foreign and local firms put in bids for a license to market lubricants in Sri Lanka, when offers closed on Monday, a top official said. Sri Lanka threw open its lubricant market in July, calling for bids from interested investors to blend lubricants locally or import and […]
Oil Options
August 28, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is trying to terminate an agreement with Norwegian survey company TGS Nopec and buy up three years worth of seismic data on potential oil deposits off the island’s coast for 10 million dollars. In an agreement between the government and TGS Nopec signed in 2002, the company would […]
New clashes in Sri Lanka as foreigners head for safety
Aug 27, 2006 (AFP) – The Red Cross ferried 150 foreign nationals to safety from the embattled Jaffna peninsula Sunday as the Sri Lankan military claimed fresh fighting left 12 Tamil Tiger rebels dead.Aid agencies complained they have been unable to reach many of the 200,000 who have fled fighting from across the island’s northeast […]
‘s mission impossible
Aug 27, 2006 (AFP) – The new head of Sri Lanka’s truce monitors takes over a team cut by nearly half this week amid warnings by his predecessor of “mission impossible” to satisfy both sides in the vicious separatist conflict. Former Norwegian army chief Lars Solvberg will run a 30-strong group after members from the […]
Explosion kills six in Sri Lanka as foreigners prepare to ship out
Aug 26, 2006 (AFP) – A bomb killed six Sri Lankan soldiers and wounded 11 Saturday as they cleared up after fierce fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels in the besieged northern Jaffna peninsula, a military source said. In some areas fuel was being sold at four times the normal price and piped water was available […]
Sri Lankan rebels release policeman after nearly one year
26, 2006 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan policeman was released Saturday after being held for nearly a year by Tamil Tigers when he pursued a suspected British paedophile into rebel-held territory, ceasefire monitors said. The officer and two others were seized in September last year after they went into the jungle and crossed into the […]
UN says food running out in parts of Sri Lanka
Aug 25, 2006 (AFP) – The United Nations said Friday food was running out in strife-torn parts of Sri Lanka with the government stalling the entry of the organisation’s aid convoys into rebel-held areas.The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it was unable to get to northern parts of the country held by the Liberation […]
Aid ship docks at Jaffna as five killed in Sri Lanka clashes: military
Aug 25, 2006 (AFP) – A food relief ship began unloading in northern Sri Lanka Friday to lift a two-week siege of the Jaffna peninsula as fresh clashes left five rebels dead, the defence ministry said.Workers began the slow task of unloading 1,500 tonnes of food for the 350,000 civilians trapped by fierce fighting between […]