Sri Lanka jets bomb Tiger territory

Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military said Thursday it had bombed the rebel-held north of the island and caused “heavy damage” to Tamil Tiger targets, but rebels said the attack only sparked panic among civilians.More than 5,400 people have been killed in the fighting in the past 21 months following the breakdown of […]

Sri Lankan police want pet dogs to fight terror

Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police on Thursday launched an appeal for the public to donate their pet dogs to help the fight terrorism and crime on the war-torn island.“Make your pet a hero… to curb terrorism and make our motherland Sri Lanka a country with a new facelift,” the police department said […]

Sri Lanka economy slows to 6.2% in 1H2007

Sept 13, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s economy expanded 6.4 percent in the second quarter clocking up a 6.2 percent growth for the first half, coming off record highs in 2006, the government’s statistics office said. The growth in gross domestic product (GDP) has slowed compared to an expansion of 7.8 percent in the first […]

Price War

Sept 13, 2007 (LBO) – The bunker fuels subsidiary of John Keells Holdings, a top money-spinner of the group, looks set to face heightened competition with a rival supplier in Colombo port threatening to cut prices. The Sri Lanka Shipping Group, which sells ship fuel through its bunkering subsidiary, Lanka Maritime Services, has said it […]

Peak Price

SINGAPORE, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) – Crude oil prices weakened in Asian trade Thursday on profit-taking after scaling new peaks on concerns over tight US supplies and hurricane worries, dealers said. At 10:35 am (0235 GMT), New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for October delivery dropped 25 cents to 79.66 US dollars a barrel […]

Gas Market

Sept 13, 2007 (LBO) – Lanka Auto Gas and Fuel Systems (LAUGFS) plans to set up a gas storage terminal in southern Galle at a cost of 12 million dollars, a top official said. Laugfs decided to build their own terminal because the liquid petroleum gas market was growing and also because of difficulties in […]

Sri Lanka issues tsunami alert; no warning

Sept 13, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has issued a tsunami alert following an aftershock of a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale in Indonesia at 05.19 am local time and asked people to await further instructions. Following are the message definitions used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States […]

Sri Lanka calls for Red Cross escorts for food ships to Jaffna

Sept 13, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process has urged the international Red Cross to resume escorting vessels taking supplies and passengers to the northern Jaffna peninsula by sea. It said in a statement that it was keen to reduce restrictions on movement between the north and south and to […]

Sri Lanka gets USAF help to mop up rotten teeth in newly captured areas

Sept 13, 2007 (LBO) – A team of U.S. Air Force medics has helped treat patients in territory recently captured from Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka’s east, the United States embassy in Colombo Thursday. “A nine-person team of USAF medics recently completed a medical/dental humanitarian assistance mission that benefited civilians living in the recently-liberated eastern […]

Sri Lanka buffer zone forces fisher folk into other work: survey

Sept 12, 2007 (LBO) – A controversial buffer zone that banned re-building of homes of Sri Lankan victims near the coast after the December 2004 tsunami has forced fisher folk out of their traditional livelihood, a survey has found. “But there is urgent need to look around us not only look forward. There are still […]

Sri Lanka issues tsunami warning; magnitude revised to 8.2

Sept 12, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s department of meteorology has issued a tsunami warning to the country’s eastern, northern and southern coastal regions following an earthquake in Indonesia. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii issued a watch bulletin. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said if a tsunami is generated waves could reach Sri […]

Norway confident stalled Sri Lanka talks will start again

OSLO, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) – The main mediator in Sri Lanka’s peace process, Norwegian Erik Solheim, expressed confidence Tuesday that stalled talks between the army and Tamil Tiger rebels would one day start again. “It’s very clear that again they will come back to the table” of negotiations, Solheim told reporters in Oslo. “We […]

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