Tag: Sri Lanka
Northern Hunt
Dec 20, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka plans to invite oil companies to explore for petroleum deposits in new areas in the north of the island, a senior minister said, where Tamil Tiger rebels are active. The petroleum ministry has been given the government nod to kick off exploration in the Sri Lankan side of […]
Sri Lanka has chance for political settlement now: US Ambassador
Dec 20, 2007 (LBO) – One of the best ways to combat poverty and inequality in Sri Lanka is to complete the all party process and the government has been given that opportunity with the passing of the budget, the United States envoy in Colombo said. Completing All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) will also lay […]
Sri Lanka economy expands 7.0 pct in third quarter
Dec 19, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economy has expanded 7.0 percent in the third quarter up from 6.4 percent in the second quarter, putting the country on track to clock up 6.7 percent growth in 2007, officials said. However, growth slackened from the 7.7 percent for the same quarter in 2006 with a downturn […]
Sri Lankan industrialists demand protection
Dec 19, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan industrialists and leftwing politicians have called for protection as an opening economy that is integrating with the world threatens to give cheaper goods to consumers and put them out of business. However, Commerce Department officials said the opening up of the economy in recent years had given the […]
Sri Lanka police say blast near train
Dec 19, 2007 (AFP) – A trackside blast hit a passenger train in northeastern Sri Lanka Tuesday, but there were no casualties, police said.The incident occurred at Kantalai in the port district of Trincomalee, a police official in the area said by telephone. “There was some sort of an explosion by the side of the […]
Sri Lanka climate change may ravage agriculture, coast areas
Dec 18, 2007 (LBO) – Rising temperatures over the next couple of decades will ravage Sri Lanka’s dry zone agriculture and a possible sea level rise will affect the coastal economy a top climate change expert has warned. A temperature rise in the next few years is feared even if big polluters decide to cap […]
Sri Lanka says more than 30,000 homeless after floods
Dec 18, 2007 (AFP) – Heavy monsoon showers have driven more than 30,000 people from their homes in eastern Sri Lanka, authorities said Tuesday, and delayed the start of a key cricket match with the visiting England team.Incessant weekend rains made some roads impassable, while rice fields were flooded, the national disaster management centre said. […]
Sri Lanka ticks off UNICEF envoy
Dec 17, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Monday summoned the head of UNICEF operations here and expressed Colombo’s “concern” over his visit to rebel-held territory in the island’s north, the foreign ministry said.The government insists it is working on a political package aimed at addressing the demands of ethnic Tamils, but at the same time […]
Sri Lanka deadliest place for journalists after Iraq and Somalia: CPJ
NEW YORK, Dec 18, 2007 (AFP) – Sixty-four journalists were killed on assignment in 2007, making it the deadliest year for reporters since 1994, the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a report published Tuesday. One of the most widely reported media deaths of 2007 was that of Japanese video journalist Kenji Nagai, filmed […]
Red Cross worker abducted and killed in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, Dec 17, 2007 (AFP) – The International Red Cross Monday said one of its workers had been abducted and murdered by unidentified gunmen in Sri Lanka’s tense government-controlled northern Jaffna peninsula.Sooriyakanthy Thavarajah, 40, a volunteer with the Jaffna branch of the Sri Lankan Red Cross, was taken from his home on Friday and his […]
Sri Lanka has no alternative but to print money: minister
Dec 17, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has no alternative but to print money because the government cannot move into a framework of limiting expenditure, a senior minister has said. Speaking to the British Broadcasting Service’s Sinhala language Sandeshaya program, consumer affairs minister Bandula Gunewardene said it had become necessary to print money because the […]
Sri Lanka talks with Russia, India on arms buys
Dec 16, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will meet with Indian and Russian delegations this week on possible arms purchases including air defence weaponry as clashes with Tamil Tiger rebels escalate, press reports here said Sunday. Defence officials from India and Russia will hold separate talks with Sri Lankan authorities on improving systems used against […]