Tag: Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka says no quick-fix to Tamil conflict
WASHINGTON, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka cannot be pressured by the international community to bring about a political solution to its long-running separatist conflict, its foreign secretary T.B. Kohona said. He said the government was searching for a political solution broadly acceptable to all the stakeholders while continuing to encourage Tamil separatists to […]
Female Flyers
Oct 03, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may boast of having had the world’s first woman prime minister and her daughter as the island’s first female president, but few women have made a career in aviation. The country’s first female military pilot flew Spitfires in World War 2 but an attempt by a young woman […]
Sri Lanka Tamil Tigers deny taking bribe to rig elections
Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels Tuesday rejected lingering allegations that they cut a lucrative deal with President Mahinda Rajapakse to ensure his election victory nearly two years ago.The Tigers are leading a drawn-out campaign for independence, and the island’s mainstream political leaders have often been accused of cutting deals with […]
Zimbabwe hikes rates by 15,000bp as Sri Lanka holds rates steady
Oct 02, 2007 (LBO) – Zimbabwe has hiked overnight discount rate by 15,000 basis points to 800 percent while the rate at the unsecured last resort window has been upped to 850 percent, a market day after Sri Lanka froze policy rates. “These levels will be reviewed regularly without prior warning,” Zimbabwe’s central bank governor […]
Six rebels killed in Sri Lanka: army
Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military has killed six suspected Tamil Tiger rebels along front lines in the northwest of the island, the defence ministry said Sunday. The military suffered no casualties in the confrontation, which took place in the Kallikulam area in Mannar late Saturday, the statement added. No independent confirmation was […]
Deadly Sri Lanka clashes spike ahead of rains
Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops claimed Thursday they have killed 45 Tamil rebels in the past week as they step up attacks ahead of monsoon rains that will make fighting harder. Security forces have been trying to push into territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the past week […]
Sri Lankan media rights group slams action against state TV journalists
Sept 28, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan and international media rights watchdogs Friday strongly criticized action by a state television broadcaster to suspend four journalists for distributing a leaflet that said their professional rights had been harmed. State-controlled Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) has sent four of its journalists on compulsory leave after they submitted […]
Sri Lanka inflation jumps in September
Sept 28, 2007 (LBO) – Consumer prices in Sri Lanka’s capital jumped 1.1 percent in September keeping the 12-month increase in consumer prices at 17.3 percent, the government’s statistics office said. The 12-month moving average of the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI), which is an average over 24-months to flatten seasonal fluctuations, rose to 17.5 […]
‘s average inflation hits 17 year high, policy rates frozen
Sept 28, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka held policy rates steady in September and pointed fingers at commodity prices as average inflation hit a 17-year high in the island and central bank credit to government zoomed to new highs. The 12-month moving average of the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) hit 17.5 percent, the highest […]
Northern Power
Sept 27, 2007 (LBO) – A Malaysian firm which has bought a listed construction firm in Colombo has said it had bought an independent power producer (IPP) which will supply Sri Lanka’s northern Jaffna peninsula. MTD has also been interested in an expressway Sri Lanka hopes to build between its capital Colombo and the central […]
Sri Lanka tells UN military campaign is to get Tigers to resume talks
Sept 26, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has told the United Nations that his government’s military campaign was aimed at convincing the Tamil Tigers they cannot achieve a military victory in their campaign for a separate state. Addressing the UN General Assembly at its headquarters in New York Tuesday, Rajapakse called on […]
Sri Lanka says human rights criticism is neo colonialism
Sept 26, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has rejected criticism of its human rights record by Western countries saying it was being unfairly targeted in a campaign reminiscent of colonial era exploitation and domination. “Human rights must not be regarded as a new version of the White Man’s Burden,” Dayan Jayatilleka, Ambassador and Permanent Representative […]