Tag: Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka navy gets US radar, boats
Nov 08, 2008 (LBO) – The United States has given Sri Lanka’s navy more equipment to improve maritime security against the Tamil Tigers while urging a negotiated settlement to the ethnic conflict. US Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr. handed over the equipment to navy commander Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda at a ceremony in eastern Trincomalee […]
” bonds to get land tax break
Nov 07, 2007 (LBO) – Foreign resident Sri Lankans who will buy a special bond would be allowed to buy land in the country without a penal 100 percent transfer tax, President Mahinda Rajapakse said. The bond to be called ‘Homeland Development Bond’ would have maturities from 1 to 5 years and would be sold […]
Sri Lanka says rupee will appreciate and interest rates will fall
Nov 06, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan rupee would appreciate to 110 to the US dollar and interest rates and inflation would fall further, Treasury Secretary P B Jayansundera said Tuesday. His comments come as the tiny island’s monetary system was overwhelmed by a 500 million dollar injection and the central bank struggled to […]
Sri Lanka awash in dollar liquidity, country wide inflation at 22.1-pct
Nov 06, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s country-wide inflation shot up to 22.1 percent in September, the latest data shows, while the monetary authority is grappling with a liquidity shock from foreign borrowings that has flushed the system to unprecedented levels. Sri Lanka’s most widely watched index, the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) hit 19.6 […]
Sri Lanka counts cost of war with new budget
Nov 6, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is expected to unveil its biggest ever war budget this week, as a government military campaign to crush the Tamil Tiger rebels takes a heavy toll on the island’s balance sheet. The government plans to increase defence spending by 20 percent to a record 1.45 billion dollars in […]
Top Dog
SHANGHAI, Nov 5, 2007 (AFP) – PetroChina became the world’s largest company by market value Monday, worth nearly one trillion dollars — double the value of ExxonMobil — as its shares surged in their debut on the Chinese mainland. The milestone underlined the ongoing boom on Chinese markets, which have been flooded with ready cash […]
Sri Lanka braced for more war after top Tiger killed
Nov 4, 2007 (AFP) – The killing of a top Tamil Tiger rebel in a Sri Lankan government air raid is likely to strengthen hawks on both sides of the bitter ethnic divide and herald more violence on the troubled island, analysts say.The already dim hopes of salvaging a moribund peace process took another blow […]
Sri Lanka tightens security ahead of Tamil Tiger funeral
Nov 4, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan security forces on Sunday increased already tight security ahead of a funeral planned in rebel territory for a top Tamil Tiger leader killed in a air strike, officials said. Checks at all entry points into Colombo were intensified and snap road blocks set up within the city of […]
Sri Lanka tightens security as Tigers vow war
Nov 4, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan security forces stepped up patrols and roadblocks Sunday, fearing reprisals after the death of a top Tamil Tiger leader in a government air strike. They boosted their presence in and around the capital Colombo as the Tigers’ overall leader vowed to step up the long and bloody battle […]
” arrested in Britain
LONDON, Nov 2, 2007 (AFP) – Colonel Karuna, the leader of a breakaway faction of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers rebel group, has been arrested in Britain and is being held in immigration detention, the interior ministry said Friday.A 2002 truce brokered by Norway began to unravel in December 2005, and since then more than 5,400 […]
Sri Lankan peacekeepers sent home over Haiti sex scandal
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 2, 2007 (AFP) – More than 110 Sri Lankan peacekeepers serving with the UN mission in Haiti are to be sent back home over charges that they paid for sex, the United Nations said Friday, in the latest such scandal to besmirch the world body. Most of the nearly 100,000 troops serving […]
Sri Lanka braced for retaliation as Tigers honour slain chief
Nov 3, 2007 (AFP) – The elusive leader of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels on Saturday paid his respects to his slain deputy and five others who died in a government air raid, as security was stepped up across the island.Velupillai Prabhakaran honoured S.P. Thamilselvan, head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE) political […]