The body of a 3 year old girl was found on Sunday in the Ellakkaadu Sakthipuram region of Uruththirapuram village in Kilinochchi district. It is believed to be that of a 3 year old girl named Yatsika, who was reported missing last month after going bathing with her mother.
Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa slammed Sri Lanka’s current prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for allowing the “North” to be in “chaos.” Speaking at the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) inaugural rally, Rajapaksa accused the new government of trying to “sweep away the Rajapaksa’s” like the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did. Stressing that his government was able to free the country from "terrorism", Rajapaksa added, “Not even six months have passed since the UNP came into power and the North is in total chaos. Some have even said that the LTTE rule is preferable to the situation that prevails in the North today.”
Sri Lanka is seeking cheaper funding sources to replace its debt of billions with Chinese banks, reports Reuters. Maithripala Sirisena’s new government is currently engaged in talks planning to replace 70 percent of its $5 billion debt with cheaper loans, unnamed finance ministry officials have said. The Chinese embassy in Colombo said it was unaware of the government’s move to replace loans, adding that current loan terms between China and Sri Lanka were unnegotiable. Sirisena’s new government has halted several Chinese funded infrastructure project proposals, and placed them under review,...
A 19 year old Tamil girl was found dead in the Kalmunai region of Amparai on Saturday, BattiNews reported. The girl, a student at Carmel Fatima High School, has been identified as R. Saranya. Her body was found by police officers and transferred to Kalmunai hospital for post-mortem investigations.
The National Freedom Front's Wimal Weerawansa said at the UPFA's inaugural campaign rally that youngsters "deployed" by the current government to "discredit" former president Mahinda Rajapaksa should have boiling hot water thrown on them. Speaking at the rally in Anuradhapura, ahead of Rajapaksa, the former minister said foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera had recruited 5,000 youngster's to attack the opposition. "There was one such person slating Mahinda Rajapaksa at a restaurant," he said. "The restaurant owner was angry over this and pretended to accidentally spill boiling hot water on...
The Reserve Bank of India today signed a “Special Currency Swap Agreement” with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The deal allows Sri Lanka to withdraw up to $1.1 billion for a maximum period of six months. The new agreement is in addition to the existing Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for members of the SAARC regional bloc. In March the RBI signed a currency swap agreement with Sri Lanka, worth $400mn and valid for three years. The swap arrangements are intended to provide a backstop line of funding for countries that are part of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to meet any balance of payments and liquidity crises till long-term arrangements are made.
The Asian Development Bank says private investors are reluctant to make new investments due to the continuing political uncertainty in Sri Lanka. In its annual Asian Development Outlook report , the ADB said, “political transition in Sri Lanka causes private investors to take a wait-and-see approach to new investment”. The report says that forecasted GDP growth in Sri Lanka has been retained at 7% for 2015 and 7.3% for 2016. Overall the economic outlook for South Asia is also one of growth, at 7.3% for 2015 and 7.6% for 2016.
Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO,) in their annual corporate report on Sri Lanka, noted that “some concerns” remained despite a number of positive steps in undertaking legal reforms by the new government. Citing local contacts in the North-East, the FCO report highlighted issues of land grab and militarisation, stating, “Challenges remained, including those related to high levels of militarisation, such as military involvement in civilian life, and the continued occupation of land by armed forces. There were also concerns over women’s security as well as reports of journalists...
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will not being joining the alliance led by the United National Party (UNP) - the United National Front (UNF) for Good Governance, said the party's spokesperson. Speaking to Ceylon Today, Mr Suresh Premachandran, denied rumours that the TNA was going to join the alliance, but said the party was open to discussions with whoever came to power. "We are actually waiting until the election is over to decide. We will not form an alliance with any political party. After the election we will discuss with the party that comes into power," Mr Premachandran was quoted as saying.
The political secretary to the British High Commission to Sri Lanka Tom Sofer met with the Northern Provincial Councillor T Ravikaran on Thursday morning in Mullaitivu.