Tag: Sri Lanka
Commonwealth defends Pakistan suspension
KAMPALA, Nov 23, 2007 (AFP) – The Commonwealth defended its decision to suspend Pakistan on Friday as leaders from 53-nation grouping opened a summit in Uganda and shifted the focus to climate change and other issues.Islamabad reacted angrily to Thursday’s suspension, describing the decision as “unreasonable and unjustified” and threatened to pull out from the […]
‘s Tamil Tigers honour fallen cadres
Nov 24, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels have begun commemorating nearly 20,000 of their men and women killed fighting for an independent homeland, the guerrillas said Saturday.There was no immediate reaction from the military to the Tiger losses.The military has admitted losing over 15,000 security personnel in the conflict. The Liberation Tigers […]
Sri Lankan researcher questions MDGs, notes backward trends
Nov 24, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan researcher has questioned the importance of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) saying they did not reveal reasons for poverty and that some showed an alarming trend in the wrong direction. Priyanthi Fernando, executive director, Centre for Poverty Analysis, said MDGs and other economic indicators were good for making […]
Sri Lankan demands withdrawal of UNICEF staff
Nov 23, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan has demanded the withdrawal of members of the international staff of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Colombo who had taken part in a public demonstration. A Foreign Ministry statement said Friday the demand was made at a meeting with UNICEF’s Country Representative at which it expressed […]
‘s suspension of Pakistan
Nov 23, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Friday strongly objected to the Commonwealth’s decision to suspend emergency-ruled Pakistan despite having earlier supported the move.President Mahinda Rajapakse expressed “strong objections of Sri Lanka at the decision taken to suspend Pakistan from membership of the Commonwealth at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting,” his office said in […]
Sri Lanka tightens monetary policy; discount rate 19-pct from December
Nov 23, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has tightened monetary policy by restricting access to a discount window and creating two policy rates, days after the Central Bank again failed to hike rates, despite raging inflation.The Central Bank loosened monetary policy in April 2007 despite criticism from independent analysts and printed 45.2 billion rupees for […]
Sri Lanka says 17 Tamil Tigers killed in coastal raid
Nov 23, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan forces killed at least 17 Tamil Tiger rebels on Friday repulsing a guerrilla attack on a police post in the northwest, the defence ministry said. . The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) despatched seven boats to attack the Pesalai police post on the coast of Mannar district, […]
Sri Lanka record money printing revealed
Nov 22, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has engaged in an unprecedented money printing and reserve appropriation drive running into 45 billion rupees to bridge a widening budget deficit that sent inflation skyrocketing in 2007, newly released data has revealed. By September 2007 total central bank credit to government (printed money) had risen to a […]
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Nov 22, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government is to outlaw a charity believed to be a front organisation for separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, media minister Anura Yapa said Thursday.Ministers met Wednesday and decided to proscribe the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) whose bank accounts were frozen by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka last year, […]
Sri Lanka independent newspaper press set on fire; rights body outraged
Nov 21, 2007 (LBO) – An armed group wearing masks that entered the premises of an independent Sri Lankan newspaper house has set on fire and destroyed its printing press early Wednesday morning.“FMM urges civil society and political society who uphold freedom of expression to come forward at this time in defence of people’s right […]
Sri Lanka editor says torching of press is cowardly
COLOMBO, Nov 21, 2007 (AFP) – Unidentified gunmen stormed a pro-opposition newspaper office in Sri Lanka on Wednesday and set fire to the printing presses, police said.More than a dozen armed men started the blaze after breaking into the Sunday Leader newspaper building — which is within a high-security air force complex on the edge […]
Sri Lanka central bank promises vigilance over liquidity as inflation rages
Nov 20, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it is countering a liquidity shock to the monetary system from a dollar bond issue, though policy rates frozen at 12.0 percent remained negative compared to raging 19.6 percent inflation. A sudden conversion of 500 million dollars worth state borrowings in late October drove up […]