July 4, 2016 Reading Time: 2 minutes
Indrajit Coomaraswamy appointed as new Central Bank Governor. Image credit - newsfirst.lk
Reading Time: 2 min read
Indrajit Coomaraswamy appointed Central Bank Governor
President Maithripala Sirisena has sworn in the new Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy. Dr. Coomaraswamy graduated from the University of Cambridge and received his doctorate from the University of Sussex.
He previously served as Director of Economic Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat, and in Sri Lanka at both the Ministry of Finance and Planning, and the Central Bank. Dr. Coomaraswamy’s appointment has been widely received as a positive development.
Land ownership given to families in north
The Minister of Prison Reforms, Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Hindu Religious Affairs, D. M. Swaminathan, has presented land ownership certificates to 190 families residing in the northern town of Vavuniya, on 30 June.
At the event, Mr. Swaminathan assured the gathering that the government has the well-being of the Tamil community in mind, when implementing projects in the north.
President condemns international terror attacks
President Maithripala Sirisena has condemned the terror attacks in Dhaka and Baghdad last week.
According to the Sri Lankan mission in Bangladesh, the two Sri Lankans present at the time of the attack in Dhaka have been rescued unharmed.
EU extends economic sanctions on Russia
The EU has chosen to extend economic sanctions against Russia until 31 January 2017. The EU made this decision due to Russia’s failure to fully implement the Minsk agreements.
These sanctions include: limited access to EU capital markets for five major Russian state-owned financial institutions, a ban on trade in arms, and a ban on Russian access to certain oil production technologies.
China to hold military drills in South China Sea
The Chinese government’s Maritime Safety Administration has announced that China would hold military drills around the disputed Paracel Islands from 5 – 11 July. It has further stated that all other ships would be prohibited from entering the waters around the islands.
The drill will be held ahead of an expected ruling on 12 July by the Permanent Court of Arbitration on a case brought by the Philippines against China regarding overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea. These claims concern a different group of islands including the Spratly Islands.
Austrian presidential elections overturned
Austria’s constitutional court has overturned the results of the Presidential elections held on 22 May, citing irregularities in postal votes in several counting centres.
The court said that 77,926 votes were affected, which could have changed the outcome of the election, as the two major presidential candidates were separated by only around 31,000 votes. The new president was scheduled to take office on 8 July.
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