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Sri Lanka's rupee was quoted weaker around 131.40/50 to the US dollar in the spot market Tuesday while bond yields were flat from a day earlier, dealers said.
The rupee has weakened from around 129 rupees to current levels the US dollar over the past three weeks as rupee liquidity levels remained high particularly after a large unsterilized dollar purchase.
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By R. K. Radhakrishnan | The Hindu
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The Foreign Office summoned the British High Commissioner here on Monday, taking exception to his comments on the “disproportionately high military presence in north Sri Lanka”.
“Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris made it clear that the British envoy John Rankin's comments were unacceptable and constituted interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka,” said a senior official.
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By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal | Reuters .............................................................................................................................................................................................
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered the early release from jail of his highest-profile political rival Sarath Fonseka, the president's spokesman said on Sunday, in an apparent bid to quell international criticism of the government's human rights record.
The authorisation for Fonseka's release will be sent to the justice ministry on Monday, spokesman Bandula Jayasekara said. The former general is expected to be free soon afterwards, but will not be able to leave the country.
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By Ramanan V.
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Three painful years have passed since the end of the bloody ethnic war. While the hawkish government of Sri Lanka is busy celebrating its military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), hundreds of thousands of Tamil people who have lost their loved once to the bloody war are forced to mourn silently. Mourning publicly is considered a traitorous act and a threat to the national security.
As usual, military parade in the Galle Face Green in the heart of the capital city is the highlight of the day’s events this year too. Foreign dignitaries and Colombo-based diplomatic heads of missions were seen shamelessly occupying the front seats of the celebrations, witnessing the military might of Sri Lanka.
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AFP | Khaleej Times
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The United States said Sri Lanka had on Friday put forward “a very serious” reconciliation plan for the island nation following a 27-year civil war.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris held 45-minute talks here with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who kept up pressure on Colombo to probe alleged war crimes, the State Department said.
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By Associated Press | The Washington Post
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Sri Lanka’s president rejected international calls to remove military camps in the former northern war zone, as the island nation marked the third anniversary of the end of its civil war.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa said his government was not prepared to undermine national security by removing camps in the north because remnants of the separatist Tamil Tigers remain active.
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Sri Lanka will officially protest against UNHRC chief Navi Pillay, accusing her of violating her mandate over adoption of a resolution that censured Colombo on its rights record during the war against Tamil rebels.
The nation's protest against Pillay is to be based on the role she and her staff played in adopting the resolution against Sri Lanka in late March, according to a report in the 'Daily Mirror' here today.
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Sri Lanka's Central Bank may return to intervening in the exchange rate if inflows fluctuate significantly, a top official said here on Tuesday.
Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivaard Cabraal failed to rule out the possibility of intervention in the exchange rate during a press conference insisting that if necessary the monetary organization will intervene to control the rupee.
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AP via PTI | Deccan Chronicle
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Dozens of Buddhists led by monks joined a demonstration on Monday urging Sri Lanka's government to proceed with plans to dismantle a mosque located in a sacred Buddhist area.
The protesters marched peacefully through Kalutara town, south of Colombo. Last month, thousands of Buddhist monks and lay supporters stormed the mosque in the central town of Dambulla, saying it was constructed illegally.
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By R. K. Radhakrishnan | The Hindu
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At the end of a short-lived war waged through the media by a few diplomats, the Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry on Tuesday said that it had transferred its Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Tamara Kunanayakam, and appointed “team player” Ravinatha Aryasinha as the new Ambassador.
Mr. Aryasinha, is now the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union. Ms. Kunanayakam, a Tamil, has been posted to Cuba.
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By Dr Kumar David | South Asia Analysis Group
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It is alarming,
what is happening to the Muslims in Sri Lanka. There is a 50:50 chance it will
blow up into unrest and instability – I will explain anon why I have hedged my
bets. However, there is a disease these events have exposed about which there
can be no doubt. This is a deep animosity towards Muslims, which remained
buried during the civil war against the Tamils, and has now broken out into the
open. Explicit expressions proliferate on the web and in the media – even
international sites like Youtube are used for an outpouring of hate mail. Here
are two printable quotes from the web to convey the gist of it – I cannot quote
more juicy examples littered with obscene expletives, or because they are in
Sinhala.
Quote 1: “My Muslim
brothers. Plz remember this is not a islamic republic where ‘sharia’ law is
practised…
Sri-lanka is a majority sinhala country where 74% of the population are
sinhalese.. YOU HAVE MORETHAN ENOUGH PREVILAGES HERE. NO PANIC PLZ….WE WILL NEVER LET YOU TO EAT INTO OUR HERITAGE AND OUR RELIGION..”
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P.K.Balachandran | Express News Service
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There are up to 90,000 war widows in the Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka, according to the latest report of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Human Rights and Democracy.
The report for 2011 released by Foreign Secretary William Hague on Monday noted that disappearances and abductions continued in 2011 with a sharp rise in the number of disappearances towards the end of the year.
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