Tag: Sri Lanka
‘s death
NEW DELHI, May 18, 2009 (AFP) – India is to ask Sri Lanka for scientific confirmation of the death of the Tamil Tigers leader so it can close a case connected to the murder of former premier Rajiv Gandhi, police said Monday. Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, his intelligence chief Pottu Amman and rebel women’s […]
IMF loan for Sri Lanka not appropriate right now: Clinton
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2009 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said here Thursday it “is not an appropriate time” to consider a massive International Monetary Fund loan for Sri Lanka. Clinton told reporters that the United States has been “trying to convince both sides,” the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger guerrillas, […]
Sri Lanka needs IMF loan: Strauss-Kahn
May 15, 2009 (LBO) – International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Sri Lanka needs the help of the multilateral lending agency and talks were still underway on the IMF loan.He told a news conference Friday that Sri Lanka, which has asked for a 1.9 billion dollar IMF loan, was a “special situation”. Strauss-Kahn […]
Sri Lanka dismisses US threat to hold back IMF loan
May 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka dismissed Friday a US threat to link a nearly two-billion-dollar IMF bailout package to ending the war-torn island’s humanitarian crisis. Despite Clinton’s remarks, Cabraal said he was confident the rescue package would be approved. “There are conflicts in many countries and I don’t think the IMF will set […]
Sri Lanka central bank “deeply distressed”‘s IMF remarks
May 14, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it was “deeply distressed” over doubts raised by Britain’s foreign minister about the use of money from an expected International Monetary Fund loan. IMF money goes into the balance sheet of the central bank, which is a separate entity from the finance ministry. Through the […]
Sri Lanka working on alternatives to IMF money: CB Governor
May 14, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is working on a back-up plan with other countries to boost foreign reserves in addition to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, Central Bank governor Nivard Cabraal said.“All of us must have a plan A, plan B, plan C and plan D if possible and we are working […]
Sri Lankan youth in former war zone get US training
May 14, 2009 (LBO) – The US Agency for International Development (USAID) said it is providing training scholarships to 500 young people from Sri Lanka’s north and east which is recovering from decades of war.The scholarships are given through the agency’s Unlimited Potential Partnership program (UPP) which currently provides workforce training programs in three key […]
Sri Lankan migrants intercepted off Indonesia
BANDA ACEH, May 14, 2009 (AFP) – Fifty-five Sri Lankan migrants were intercepted Thursday off the coast of western Indonesia as they tried to reach Australia to look for work, police said.Fishermen found the migrants, men aged from 25 to 30, aboard a damaged wooden boat two kilometres (just over a mile) from the coast […]
” by civilian deaths in Sri Lanka
WASHINGTON, May 11, 2009 (AFP) – The United States is “deeply concerned” about civilian deaths in strife-torn Sri Lanka, a State Department spokesman said Monday, calling on the Colombo government and Tamil Tiger rebels to end their fighting.“We’re deeply concerned,” said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly, when asked to comment on reports that more than […]
Sit-down Tamil protestors arrested in London
LONDON, May 11, 2009 (AFP) – British police said they arrested 45 Tamil protestors Monday after they blocked traffic with a sit-down protest outside parliament in London, in response to the killing of civilians in Sri Lanka. The arrests were made as police tried to move protestors off the road at one of the British […]
Australia announces new people-smuggling fight
CANBERRA, May 12, 2009 (AFP) – Australia on Tuesday announced what it called the largest surveillance operation in the country’s history to fight people-smuggling amid a surge in refugees making for its shores.Unveiling the annual budget, the government committed an extra 1.3 billion Australian dollars (990 million US) to strengthening border security, including two additional […]
Sri Lanka submits seabed claim to UN
May 12, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka formally presented its claim for sovereignty over an extended continental shelf around the island under international law to the United Nations last Friday, government officials said. The claim will be considered at the 24th session of the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf to be […]