Sri Lanka's war budget passed in parliament

Sri Lanka's parliament Monday approved the country's budget for 2008 with an unprecedented 1.51 billion dollars allocated for defence. Legislators voted 118 for and 102 against the budget when it was taken up for a preliminary vote in the 225-member assembly, officials said.
Two minority Tamil legislators were absent and complained they were prevented from attending parliament by a paramilitary group which had threatened to kill family members of lawmakers if they defeated the annual budget. The 2008 budget raised the country's defence spending to 166.44 billion rupees (1.51 billion dollars), mainly to battle the separatist Tamil Tiger guerrillas.