Tag: Sri Lanka
Japanese envoy warns Sri Lanka of aid cut
TOKYO, Jan 31, 2008 (AFP) – Japan, Sri Lanka’s top donor, warned Thursday it could cut off aid if violence continued to escalate but said it hoped to provide long-term support to bring peace.“We could be forced to review our aid policy if military action keeps escalating, although Sri Lanka wants Japan to continue it,” […]
Sri Lanka journalists in danger, media rights groups say
Jan 30, 2008 (LBO) – The safety of journalists in Sri Lanka is in jeopardy with increasing attacks and threats against them that are meant to stifle freedom of opinion, international media rights groups have said. Attacks against journalists were bringing the government into disrepute and eroding democracy in the island, the International Federation of […]
Sri Lanka union veteran bemoans muted voice of workers and lost freedoms
Jan 30, 2008 (LBO) – A veteran Sri Lankan trade unionist says the voice of the working class is now muted and people are battling to survive as prices are rising and terrorism is spreading to all corners of the land. “This is a great misfortune to the country. If there is no voice for […]
‘s Jaffna peninsula sees heavy fighting
Jan 30, 2008 (AFP) – Heavy fighting gripped Sri Lanka’s Jaffna peninsula Wednesday with both Tiger rebels and government forces claiming they had the upper hand after smashing each other’s fortifications.The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they resisted a pre-dawn three-pronged assault in the area, one of several points from where government […]
Sri Lanka state tv news chief replaced
Jan 29, 2008 (LBO) – The news chief of Sri Lanka’s state television station, who was assaulted by a government minister who stormed the newsroom in the company of thugs last month, has been replaced. “There have been repeated threats and after the incident it was difficult for me to carry out my duties,” former […]
Sri Lanka court orders burial for mass grave victims
Jan 28, 2008 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan judge Monday ordered the state to carry out dignified burials for 16 people who had been killed execution-style and dumped in shallow graves within a government-controlled part of the island. A magistrate in the area where the bodies were found asked the top district administrator and the […]
Sri Lanka to get hi-tech naval radar from Canada: report
Jan 29, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is installing a hi-tech radar capable of detecting small boats of the type used by the Sea Tiger rebels as well as small aircraft, a media report said. The high-frequency (HF) surface wave radar, developed at a cost of 39 million Canadian dollars by Ottawa defence scientists and […]
Sri Lanka troops advance, 69 dead: military
Jan 29, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government said Tuesday its soldiers had advanced into territory held by the Tamil Tigers in the north of the island, with the death toll from two days of fighting at 69.Troops smashed 16 guerrilla bunkers in the district of Mannar on Tuesday after killing at least 22 rebels, […]
Airport Link
Jan 29, 2008 (LBO) – India’s Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) says it is interested in building an airport in southern Sri Lanka and a delegation is visiting the island this week for talks. Sri Lanka has proposed a second international airport in the southern town of Weerawila in the Hambantota district. CIAL said its […]
US presidential hopeful Ron Paul slams stimulus package, Fed rate cuts: report
Jan 27, 2008 (LBO) – Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul has slammed a US economic stimulus package based on tax-refunds and called for fiscal prudence and less Federal Reserve money printing, which caused the current turmoil in the first place. . Related video: Ron Paul taking on Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Paul says the actual […]
Sri Lanka risks credit downgrade from US fallout: S&P
Jan 28, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is at risk of a credit downgrade from a recession in the United States, especially if domestic policies become more expansionary, the ratings agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) said. Sri Lanka has a B+ rating with a ‘stable’ outlook. “Sri Lanka would face the global slowdown from a […]
Sri Lankan bodies in mass graves hard to identify: hospital
Jan 26, 2008 (AFP) – The bullet-riddled bodies of 16 men found dumped in shallow graves in a government-controlled area in Sri Lanka were hard to identify because they were badly decomposed, a hospital official said. A separate government probe found 430 civilians had been killed during a five-month period up to February 2007, though […]