Sri Lanka’s property market to withstand tsunami onslaught: analysts

The tsunamis that ravaged Sri Lanka are unlikely to dampen the island nation’s booming property market in the months ahead as foreigners hopefully sniff out bargains and aid floods in, analysts said. Property prices on the palm-fringed island nation have risen dramatically in the past three years, due partly to a February 2002 truce in…

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As Sri Lankan schools resume, teachers brace for emotional roll call

As students traumatised by the Asian tsunami return to school in Sri Lanka Monday, teachers braced for an emotional rollercoaster and the beginning of a long process of psychological recovery. Vice-principal of Sudhamma College S.K. Weerasuruya, standing among dump trucks and volunteers frantically clearing debris ahead of school opening, told AFP that the focus of…

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Sri Lankans thrilled, oblivious to Powell’s lightning visit

Sri Lankans in the tsunami-hit southern city of Galle were either thrilled or oblivious to US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s lightning visit Friday, but hoped regardless that his presence would lead to more aid. Amid a thin crowd waiting at a security line looped around the makeshift helipad where Powell touched down, tuk-tuk driver…

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