Category: Politics

WASHINGTON, March 13, 2009 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday to express her “deep concern” over mounting deaths in a government safe zone, a US official said.With the exception of the International Committee of the Red Cross, aid agencies face many restrictions in their efforts […]

March 14, 2009 (AFP) – Charges by the United Nations that 2,800 civilians had been killed in Sri Lanka in recent weeks were “unsubstantiated,” Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said on Saturday.The minister denied that government forces were firing into a demarcated “safe zone” for civilians and accused UN human rights chief Navi Pillay of […]

March 13, 2009 (AFP) – At least 32 Tamil Tiger rebels have died in the latest push by Sri Lankan government troops into the rebels’ shrinking fiefdom, the island’s defence ministry said Friday.It has rejected calls for another truce, saying troops now have the upper hand in the decades-old conflict and are close to crushing […]

GENEVA, March 13, 2009 (AFP) – United Nations’ human rights chief Navi Pillay said Friday she feared both sides could be guilty of war crimes in the Sri Lanka conflict and that more than 2,800 civilians could have been killed since late January. “Certain actions being undertaken by the Sri Lankan military and by the […]

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka needs true devolution of power to minority Tamils if it wants to permanently end its long-running ethnic war, Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said Wednesday. Menon, who was in Washington for talks, said the United States and the Sri Lankan government itself both agreed with regional power […]

March 12, 2009 (AFP) – Security forces captured more territory in northeastern Sri Lanka after heavy fighting that killed at least 12 rebels, the military said Thursday. Troops took control of the abandoned Puthukkudiriruppu hospital following Wednesday’s clashes, a military official said. “At least a dozen LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) terrorists were killed […]

March 11, 2009 (AFP) – The United Nations on Wednesday accused the Tamil Tigers of siphoning off food meant for severely malnourished children in Sri Lanka’s embattled north.The defence ministry says troops are on the verge of defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who have been fighting for a separate homeland since 1972. […]

NEW DELHI, March 11, 2009 (AFP) – It was less than a year ago that Indians watched inflation shoot to dizzying 13-year highs but now they are worried about deflation as growth slackens in Asia’s third-largest economy. Deflation — in which falling prices prompt consumers to delay buying, deepening a downturn — has become a […]

March 10, 2009 (AFP)- At least 10 people were killed Tuesday and another 25, including two ministers, were wounded in a suicide bomb attack in southern Sri Lanka, a local police official said. Telecommunications minister Mahinda Wijesekara and Cultural Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena were wounded, the official said.He said Wijesekera was in intensive care at […]

March 10, 2009 (AFP) – At least 15 people were killed Tuesday and another 60, including a government minister, were wounded in a suicide bombing in southern Sri Lanka blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said. The attacker targeted politicians attending a function at a mosque in the town of Akuressa, and came as the […]