Sri Lankan troops shell “safe zone” for civilians

By pearlaction | January 22, 2009 |

[AP] The Sri Lankan military shelled a village and a makeshift hospital inside a government-declared “safe zone” for civilians in the north Thursday, killing at least 30 people and wounding scores, local health officials said. The military denied hitting the hospital and said it was taking precautions to protect civilians. Health officials said that at…

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Money, not war will hurt Sri Lanka tourism in ‘09

By pearlaction | January 17, 2009 |

[Reuters] The world financial crisis will cut 2009 tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka to their lowest level in seven years, potentially stripping gains expected as a 25-year war nears an end, tourism officials said on Friday. Tourism is the Indian Ocean island nation’s fourth-biggest source of foreign exchange after garments, remittances, and tea, and is…

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Refugee stream from Sri Lanka’s war zone picks up

By pearlaction | January 16, 2009 |

[Reuters] Increasing numbers of refugees are fleeing Sri Lanka’s war zone, which is rapidly shrinking as the military bears down on the Tamil Tiger rebels’ last remaining territory, the military and the Red Cross said on Friday. “Families heading westward in search of safety are encountering other families moving eastward with the same aim,” ICRC’s…

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Sri Lanka Army Corners Rebels

By pearlaction | January 16, 2009 |

[Wall Street Journal] Sri Lankan armed forces have surrounded a shrinking number of Tamil Tiger rebels in the northeastern part of the country in a bid to crush the separatist movement and end Asia’s longest-running civil war. On Thursday, the army built on recent advances, taking control of a makeshift airstrip used by Tamil Tiger…

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