08/17/2010
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Reuters
Sri Lanka said on Tuesday that the army did all it could to avoid civilian casualties in the war with Tamil rebels and blamed the United Nations as failing to halt the rebels’ use of civilians as human shields. Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who led the army to victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam last year, justified the troops’ conduct in the final days of the fighting. Speaking on civilian deaths, into which Western countries and the United Nations had called for an independent inquiry, Mr. Rajapaksa said the government fought with a zero-casualty policy and most of those killed in the rebel-held area were separatists. Mr. Rajapaksa, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother, was testifying in Colombo before the state-appointed Commission on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation. Rights groups have questioned panel’s credibility.
08/13/2010
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Reuters
(Reuters) - Canadian authorities unloaded a cramped cargo ship on Friday of nearly 500 Tamil asylum seekers from Sri Lanka whose arrival has sparked a national debate over the country's immigration and refugee laws.
08/11/2010
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Reuters
(Reuters) - Sri Lanka vowed on Wednesday to investigate the conduct of the war against Tamil separatists, but critics dismissed the inquiry as a whitewash after authorities rejected an international probe into possible war crimes.
08/01/2010
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Reuters
The war's over, but men with guns remain in Sri Lanka's former battle zone in the north, where recovery is wobbling along despite few basic services and too little lending. Small, green shoots of Sri Lanka's recovery from a 25-year war are beginning to show in the form of microfinance loans for people displaced by the climax of the battle between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
07/31/2010
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Reuters
BRASILIA July 31 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's central highlands and a protected marine area in Hawaii, the only habitats of several endangered plant and animal species, have been added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites, the U.N. body said on Saturday.
07/17/2010
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Reuters
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. country chief in Sri Lanka, recalled to New York in a spat over demonstrations outside the U.N. office in the capital, Colombo, will go back to his post, the world body said on Friday.
07/13/2010
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Reuters
(Reuters) - Sri Lanka's president and opposition leader have struck a broad deal on constitutional changes, chief of which is a plan to return the Indian Ocean island nation to leadership by an executive prime minister.
07/09/2010
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Reuters
COLOMBO, July 9 (Reuters) - Protests led by a Sri Lankan minister against a U.N. war crimes panel have widened a rift with the world body, after Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recalled the top U.N. Sri Lanka official and closed an office in retaliation.
The protests outside the U.N. offices in Sri Lanka entered a fourth day with the minister continuing his hunger strike and demonstrators marching to the Russian embassy to thank it for its support against a panel many see as a prelude to a full probe.
Here are some questions and answers about what's fuelling the fury on the Indian Ocean island nation:
07/09/2010
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Reuters
* U.S., Europe warn Sri Lanka over protest
* UN's Ban blasts Sri Lanka, recalls envoy
* Minister enters second day of hunger strike
* Minister's resignation rejected by president
* (Recasts, adds diplomatic statement)
07/09/2010
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Reuters
COLOMBO (Reuters) - The European Union and nine countries Friday warned Sri Lanka that a protest against a U.N. war crimes panel that blocked the world body's office could harm its international reputation.