January 28, 2016 Reading Time: 2 minutes
Residents of Mannar meet the Minister of Industry and Commerce, with regard to allegations of poaching. Image credit - www.news.lk
Reading Time: 2 min read
World Food Programme to assist in providing for nutritional needs
The World Food Programme of the United Nations has entered into an agreement with the government of Sri Lanka to provide food aid for two years through the Country Programme Action Plan 2016/17.
The aid will provide nutritional security as well as protect vulnerable sections of the population against climate-induced adversities.
Formal condemnation of cross-border poaching
Mannar District Development Council has adopted a regional resolution condemning cross-border poaching, following a series of complaints filed by the residents of Mannar about deprivation of their means of livelihood from this practice.
Incidents of illegal poaching by Indian fishermen reportedly exceeded 35,000 in 2015.
Index records reduced levels of corruption in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has moved up by two spots in 2015 from the previous year according to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.
Among South Asian countries, Sri Lanka was ranked third, after Bhutan and India.
Sudan opens up its border to South Sudan
The President of Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, has decreed the reopening of Sudan’s border with South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in 2011.
The decree marks a restoration of ties between the two states, which was previously strained.
Sweden to expel asylum seekers with rejected applications
Sweden seeks to expatriate up to 80,000 asylum seekers who arrived in 2015 and whose applications have since been rejected.
Interior Minister, Anders Ygeman, announced the impeding expulsion, underlining a more stringent national policy in respect to immigration laws.
Zika virus predicted to become a dangerous pandemic
Scientists in the United States of America warn that the Zika virus holds the potential to become an “explosive pandemic”, and have urged the World Health Organisation to take prompt action.
Meanwhile, President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, has commissioned 220,000 personnel to destroy the breeding grounds of mosquitoes which cause the spread of the virus.
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