The Sri Lankan cabinet has approved proposals by the government to obtain loans from China totalling over $1 billion.

Minister of Finance and Planning Mahinda Rajapakse, who is also President, Minister of Defence, Minister of Ports and Aviation, and Minister of Highways and Road Development, forwarded the proposals to the cabinet.

Delivering the keynote address at a university symposium, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa claimed that Sri Lanka was experiencing a “national revival that will restore it to its rightful place on the world stage” and that the government’s challenge was to “facilitate this resurgence”.

“There remain significant unmet humanitarian needs among communities in the north.

These range from basic assistance such as clean water, shelter and food security in resettled areas to more sophisticated issues such as sustainable assistance to obtain livelihoods, rights and return to more normal life as part of durable solutions on par with international standards”.

The Sri Lankan government has shut down most universities on the island, after an ongoing row over government interference saw widespread strikes by teachers.

The Minister for Higher Education S.B. Dissanayake announced the decision after consultation with university officials not involved in the trade union action and accused the FUTA (Federation of University Teachers Association) of trying to provoke a political crisis in order to get regime change.

He said the government had already met five of FUTA’s six demands, but their spokesman denied this.

The representative of the Japanese government for peace building, rehabilitation and reconstruction in Sri Lanka, Yasushi Akashi, held discussions with External Affairs minister, GL Peiris, to review the progress of the reconciliation process and other issues related to the conflict.

Sri Lanka arrested 69 asylum seekers on Tuesday, pushing the total number of people arrested by the navy this year to over 1,000.

The latest arrests took place off the town of Negombo, with those on board being handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Out of the 69 arrested on the fishing trawler, 48 were Tamils.

See our earlier post: Undeterred and still looking to escape (19 August 2012)

The faulty Norochcholai power plant has allegedly broken down 12 times, since its opening in March last year.

A document tabled by Minister of Power and Energy Patali Champika Ranawaka revealed the extent of the issues plaguing the Chinese-built plant, blamed on “quality issues” earlier this month.