Foreigners allowed deposit accounts
Foreigners are to be allowed to deposit money with Sri Lankan banks in a move to promote investment in an economy which is short of domestic savings. The central bank said Sri Lankan citizens living abroad, corporate bodies incorporated outside Sri Lanka and foreign institutional investors will be allowed to invest in savings and time deposits in designated foreign currencies or in rupees with commercial banks. A deposit account will have to maintain a minimum balance of at least $10,000 or its equivalent and total foreign deposits. Previously foreigners could only invest in the treasury bond and treasury bill markets. Analysts said the move was to raise more money after the central bank had failed to assure dollar inflows in its previous attempts at liberalising capital markets. "This is a desperate move to raise more dollars in the economy," an analyst, who asked not to be named told Reuters. (Reuters)
Christians abducted
Christians in northwestern Sri Lanka have been subjected to an outbreak of abductions in recent days. The World Evangelical Alliance reports that a Sri Lankan pastor and his assistant were abducted on May 31. Pastor Kandiah Sivakumaran and his assistant Mariyappan Yuvaneswaran were abducted in Tabbowa, in the Puttlam District of Sri Lanka. The pastor was active in Christian ministry. The abductors, who have not yet been identified, arrived at the scene in a white van. The two men were released the following Monday. Restrictions on Sri Lankan Christians have been increasing. A new curfew law requires individuals to report where they are going and what they are doing, and another law attacks late night prayer meetings, Gospel for Asia reports. Gospel For Asia’s Bible college and its students have also been attacked and harassed. (Mission Network News)
PhD thesis in Tamil
For the first time, candidates will be able to submit their PhD thesis in Tamil, after Bharathiar University (BU) in Coimbatore decided to allow the submission of thesis, except for those on English literature, in Tamil. The decision facilitates candidates ‘to express’ their ideas more effectively and encourages more students to pursue research. “When Germans, Chinese and Japanese can do research in their respective mother tongue, why not a Tamilian in Tamil in this state," asked the Vice Chancellor of BU Professor G Thiruvasagam. “Language should not be a barrier for those who want to pursue research," he said. The Vice Chancellor claimed "no university in India allows a candidate to submit the thesis in his or her own mother tongue." However, there is no compulsion the thesis should be in classical Tamil. Notably, the BU is now preparing the list of examiners abroad who know Tamil to examine thesis copies for award of the doctoral degree or M.Phil. The varsity has instituted an award - Dr. Kalaignar Ariviyal Virudhu (Dr Kalaignar Science Award) - for the best thesis submitted in Tamil. (newindpress.com)
Mother detained as 2 killed in London
A Tamil mother suspected of stabbing two of her children to death and critically wounding her baby girl was lonely and depressed by her life in Britain, her relatives said. Police detained Sasikala Navaneethan, 35, under the Mental Health Act over the deaths of her son, 5, and his sister, 4. Their six-month-old sister remains in a critical condition after all three children were stabbed at their home in Carshalton, South London, late on May 30. Police refused to give details of the incident but press reports suggested that the throats of the older children had been cut. Neighbours described seeing a “tiny bundle” being carried out of the house. “It was obviously a child,” one said. The children’s father, Navarajah Navaneethan 39, was initially questioned but later released by the police. Speaking through an intermediary, a relative of Mrs Navaneethan said she had become depressed after her brother and his wife moved out of the house. (The Times)
