Tag: Sri Lanka
Big Airbus
TOULOUSE, France, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) – Airbus was to make the first delivery of its A380 superjumbo jet on Monday to Singapore Airlines, with elation and relief expected at a ceremony in southern France to mark the occasion. The heads of both companies were expected to hail a major advance in air travel as […]
” solution to conflict
NEW DELHI, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse on Saturday said Colombo remained open to a “negotiated and sustainable” solution to the island’s escalating ethnic conflict.Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the eruption of the decades-old Tamil separatist insurgency which has grown deadlier since the collapse of a […]
Sri Lankan fighting kills 12
Oct 12, 2007 (AFP) – At least 11 Tamil Tiger rebels and a government soldier were killed in clashes across Sri Lanka’s embattled northern region, the defence ministry said Friday.Six members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the soldier died in the Wanni region while four more guerrillas were killed further north […]
Sri Lanka country-wide inflation rockets to 21%
Oct 12, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s country-wide inflation has rocketed to 21 percent in July 2007 even as authorities derided a more widely watched price index that measures prices in the capital Colombo as being outdated. In July the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) only showed a 17.6 percent increase over the previous 12-months […]
Sri Lankan minority party members rejoin Cabinet
Oct 11, 2007 (LBO) –Members of a Sri Lankan political party, Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), whose support was considered important to keep the ruling coalition in power, rejoined the cabinet Thursday. CWC leader Arumugam Thondaman was sworn back in to his previous portfolio as Minister of Youth Empowerment and Socioeconomic Development by President Mahinda Rajapakse […]
”
Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) – A former Sri Lankan foreign minister on Thursday accused the government of failing to investigate extra-judicial killings and using “terrorism” to fight Tamil Tigers rebels.Government lawmaker Mangala Samaraweera said an ongoing visit to the island by the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, underlined the international focus on […]
Oil Hunt
Oct 11, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Petroleum Ministry said Thursday that 42 companies including seven oil majors attended a series of road shows held to promote exploration off the island’s west coast. Petroleum minister A.H.M. Fowzie said in a statement that three road shows were held in London, Houston and Kuala Lumpur in September […]
Sri Lanka gross borrowings to rise by Rs85bn next year
Oct 10, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will have to borrow 740 billion rupees in 2008, to bridge the budget deficit and roll-over existing debt in 2008, a bill put before lawmakers this week showed. Last year the government got parliamentary nod to raise 655 billion rupees but lack of cheap concessional debt has pushed […]
Sri Lanka plans record defence spending
Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka plans to hike overall defence spending by 20 percent to a record 1.48 billion dollars amid a rise in fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels, according to a bill tabled in parliament on Wednesday.More than 5,500 people have been killed since December 2005, after a 2002 Norwegian brokered truce […]
Sri Lanka plans arms dealing restrictions: report
COLOMBO, Oct 10, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government is planning to introduce a blanket ban on its nationals’ involvement in officially authorised arms dealing, a state-run newspaper said Wednesday.The new restrictions appear to be part of an effort by Colombo to centralise its own burgeoning weapons purchases, which in the past have been conducted […]
Power Plan
Oct 09, 2007 (LBO) – Fresh legislation to regulate the power sector is being readied after Sri Lanka’s highest court said an earlier plan to break up the utility was unconstitutional, officials said. Although the state electricity monopoly Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) won’t be ‘unbundled’ or broken up in to generating, long distance transmitting and […]
Sri Lanka spy scandal prompts calls for Indian intelligence revamp
Oct 09, 2007 (LBO) – The recent recall of India’s top spy in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo has prompted calls for greater oversight and transparency in Indian intelligence agencies, a media report said. Absence of such oversight, and an apparent unconcern that responsibility may be fixed for failures, had led to instances like the […]