Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

http://www.rivira.lk/2009/11/08/deshapa2.htm

The IMF Executive Board, Friday, cleared the way for the release of just over $322 million for Sri Lanka. The Board reviewed the Sri Lankan government`s progress on the implementation of reforms agreed to last July, and the November 6th decision means the second installment of the country`s loan can proceed.

In July, the IMF approved a 20-month Stand-By Arrangement for Sri Lanka providing the South Asian island nation with a $2.6 billion loan to help overcome the effects of the global financial crisis and support the economy following the end of its extended conflict. The Sri Lankan monetary authorities received over $322 million as the first installment of the loan.

The price of gold hit a record high above 1,100 dollars an ounce in trading here on Friday following a report that Sri Lanka had joined India in purchasing the precious metal in favour of the US currency. Skip related content
`The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has announced that it is buying gold to diversify its reserves,` industry body the World Gold Council (WGC) said in a statement issued before gold struck a record high of 1,101.42 dollars.

he Sri Lanka Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia has informed the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry that `Alex` the spokesman of the suspected 255 illegal Sri Lankan migrants in Indonesia had been involved in human smuggling for a long time and it is believed that his office is based in India.

Alex also once belonged to `Kannan Gang` involved in street fights and was deported from Canada in 2003, after being arrested for trouble making. His date of birth is 6th January 1982.

ov 05, 2009 (LBO) - Sri Lanka`s central bank is planning to relax exchange controls allowing up to 500,000 US dollars to be taken out for investment purposes without approval of the central bank, a media report said.

Under Sri Lanka`s tough exchange control laws, investments abroad has to be examined case by case by the Central Bank and approval also sought from the finance ministry.

The source said KP is held in the Panagoda army camp in the outskirts of Colombo.

Uncooperative KP was severely tortured by the Sri Lanka Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) for maintaining silence. At one point, KP has fainted and breathless and the army paramedics had to be called in to revive him.

The source in the Defence Ministry reflected annoyance that TID officials are exerting excessive violence on KP. Since the medical treatment, KP is said to be facing subtle touring like slapping, arm twisting, ear pulling and finger knuckling in the process of their investigations.

The source said KP is held in the Panagoda army camp in the outskirts of Colombo.

Uncooperative KP was severely tortured by the Sri Lanka Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) for maintaining silence. At one point, KP has fainted and breathless and the army paramedics had to be called in to revive him.

The source in the Defence Ministry reflected annoyance that TID officials are exerting excessive violence on KP. Since the medical treatment, KP is said to be facing subtle touring like slapping, arm twisting, ear pulling and finger knuckling in the process of their investigations.

he US based LTTE activist Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, in an emailed statement, said that the moves are underway to hold elections in April 2010 to form the Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (PTGTE). He said that elections provide the best opportunity for the Tamil Diaspora community to exercise their democratic rights.

We wish to take this opportunity to clarify our position on a few matters that have been raised in recent weeks. As expressed in the first press statement in June 2009, the task of forming a Provisional

INDONESIA is threatening to enforce a deadline set for tomorrow for the removal of 78 Sri Lankans refusing to get off the Oceanic Viking as a diplomatic row with Australia looms.

Australian officials will not budge from their insistence that the asylum seekers were picked up in Indonesian waters and therefore are Jakarta`s responsibility.

However, the Sri Lankans will not get off the Australian Customs boat now anchored off the Indonesian island of Bintan - and so far nobody has been prepared to force them.

Toyota Motor was expected to announce Wednesday it is quitting Formula One, joining an exodus of Japanese automakers from the multi-million dollar sport due to the global economic crisis.

Toyota announced it would hold a briefing on its motorsports activities at 5.00 pm (0800 GMT) Wednesday, after Japanese media reported the world`s largest car manufacturer was set to leave the F1 circuit.

The company is expected to look for a buyer in Europe for its F1 team, the Kyodo News agency reported, citing unnamed sources close to the matter.

March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Until May 2007, Meera Devi rose before dawn each day and walked a half mile to a vegetable patch outside the village of Kachpura to find a secluded place.
Dodging leering men and stick-wielding farmers and avoiding spots that her neighbors had soiled, the mother of three pulled up her sari and defecated with the Taj Mahal in plain view.
With that act, she added to the estimated 100,000 tons of human excrement that Indians leave each day in fields of potatoes, carrots and spinach, on banks that line rivers used for drinking and bathing and along roads jammed with scooters, trucks and pedestrians. Devi looks back on her routine with pain and embarrassment.

VANCOUVER, Canada Several of a group of 76 Sri Lankan asylum seekers picked up off the Canadian coast last month have ties to the Tamil Tiger rebels and could pose a security risk, officials said Tuesday.

The Canadian government told an immigration hearing that the `Ocean Lady` freighter used to transport the migrants has been linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), panel spokeswoman Paula Faber told AFP.

Indonesia has set a deadline of a week for an Australian ship moored in its waters carrying 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers to leave, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Friday.



The fate of the asylum seekers rescued by an Australian customs vessel nearly two weeks ago has piled political pressure on Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a year out from an election. Australia insisted on Wednesday that the asylum seekers would not be taken to Australia. It has said there was an agreement with Jakarta for the Sri Lankans to go to Indonesia to be processed.

MARK COLVIN: In the Indonesian port of Merak the standoff continues. The spokesman for the asylum seekers docked on a wooden boat in West Java is called Alex.

I spoke to him a short time ago.

ALEX: Immigration has taken over our program, however there are still agreeing they will not forcibly take us off the boat.

MARK COLVIN: Let me clarify that. You say immigration - is that the Indonesian immigration department?

ALEX: Yes, that is the Indonesian immigration department.

This is hilarious :) look at this losers accent :) he is not from Vanni for sure :)