Tag: Sri Lanka
Rights report slams Sri Lanka over child soldiers
Jan 24, 2007 (AFP) – A leading human rights group Wednesday slammed Sri Lanka for conscripting hundreds of child soldiers to fight against Tamil rebels, saying the police had turned a blind eye to the practice for years.New-York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused the government of “hypocrisy”, saying in a 100-page report that Colombo […]
Roadside blasts kills 2 in northern Sri Lanka
Jan 23, 2007 (AFP) – Two roadside bombs exploded in northern Sri Lanka Tuesday, killing two people and wounding 10, while suspected Tamil Tiger rebels hijacked a truck with six construction workers, police said.The blasts occurred in the besieged government-controlled Jaffna peninsula, while the workers were kidnapped by suspected Tiger rebels in the northern town […]
Graft-buster campaigns to track down Sri Lanka tsunami corruption
Jan 23, 2007 (AFP) – An international graft-buster Tuesday kicked off a campaign for survivors of Sri Lanka’s December 2004 tsunami to report allegations of corruption involving local and international aid. Transparency International, an international anti-corruption group, set a five-month timetable to give tsunami victims a chance to voice any charges of graft when aid […]
Talking Up
MUMBAI, Jan 23, 2007 (AFP) – India’s largest private phone company, Bharti Airtel, posted Tuesday a third quarter net profit surge, which more than doubled and was above analyst forecasts as demand for telecom services rose.The company said net profit was up to 12.15 billion rupees (274 million dollars) in the quarter ended December 31, […]
Sri Lanka journalists protest killings, abductions of their colleagues
COLOMBO, Jan 23, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan journalists Tuesday protested the killings and abductions of colleagues during a rally in the capital that called for the government and Tamil rebels to halt the violence.“Hands off journalists,” said a banner carried by a reporter. “Report Card 2006-2007: Eight journalists killed,” said another placard. Activists at […]
Crossover pressure mounts in Sri Lanka as opposition runs out of options
January 23, (LBO) – Around 18 opposition parliamentarians will crossover to the government by Monday in the first round, if a cabinet re-shuffle takes place over the weekend, a United National Party ‘Karu’ faction official said. The LTTE also split in two after it stopped fighting the government during the ceasefire agreement. Parliamentarian Rajitha Senaratne […]
Indonesian wounded in Sri Lanka ship attack
Jan 22, 2007 (AFP) – An Indonesian chief engineer was wounded in a suspected suicide bombing of a cargo vessel off Sri Lanka’s northern coast, a spokesman for the ship’s owners said Monday.The merchant vessel, the MV City of Liverpool, was attacked off the Jaffna peninsula late Sunday by Tamil Tiger suicide bombers, according to […]
Violence claims 10 lives in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO, Jan 22, 2007 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels shot dead two soldiers and two policemen in Sri Lanka’s embattled northeast as security forces dug in at a town seized from the guerrillas, the defence ministry said Monday.The two soldiers were shot on Sunday night in the eastern district of Batticaloa, where troops captured the […]
Sri Lanka rubber prices up; considerable profits despite recent wage hike
Jan 22, 2007 (LBO) – Plantation companies are likely to post sizeable profits this year, though a recent wage hike will eat into earnings, analysts say. The price of a kilo of rubber, which was at 175 rupees in November, has crept up steadily to 190 rupees this January. Rubber prices moved up on top […]
Sri Lanka troops take Tiger town
Jan 19, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan security forces Friday captured the main rebel stronghold in the island’s embattled eastern province after weeks of heavy fighting, the defence ministry said.z The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fled the town of Vakarai in the face of the military advance, the defence ministry said in a […]
Jaffna Power
January 18, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s power utility has signed up a new independent power supplier for the northern Jaffna area, and extended the contracts of two existing emergency suppliers, a senior government minister said. Sri Lanka based Cool Air has operated a 15 MW plant in Jaffna from 2002. Agrekko set up its […]
Sri Lanka bids to recover swindled millions
Jan 18, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka plans to sue heads of state agencies where crooked deals and kick-backs are believed to have cost the government over a billion dollars, the government’s chief whistle blower said Thursday. The head of the parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises, or COPE, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, said the state will try […]