Sri Lanka claims billionaire trader funded terrorists

Raj Rajaratnam, the New York-based billionaire and hedge fund manager charged in an alleged insider trading scheme on Friday, was funding the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is considered a terrorist group by the US, the Sri Lankan government claimed on Sunday. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, spokesman for the Sri Lankan defence ministry, told the Financial Times that the government had been monitoring Mr Rajaratnam for several years.

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Colombian president sees ‘signs of corruption’ in rebel prison break

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Thursday demanded that his ministers of the interior and defense get to the bottom of how a jailed top rebel leader escaped in the northeastern city of Arauca, Colombia. Gustavo Anibal Giraldo Quinchia, also known by his alias, “Pablito,” was freed Wednesday morning when a group of gunmen presumed to be rebels attacked a convoy transporting the prisoner to a court hearing

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A Post-Mugabe Zimbabwe: Still Slow in Coming

For years, much of the debate over Zimbabwe has been preoccupied with how much, and how publicly, to criticize its despotic longtime leader Robert Mugabe. In the past, the West routinely harangued the ailing 85-year-old dictator, a former liberation hero who has ruled for 29 years.

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Sri Lanka expels UNICEF official, agency says

The Sri Lankan government has ordered a UNICEF official to leave the country, accusing him of spreading propaganda supporting Tamil rebels, the agency — the United Nations Children’s Fund — told CNN Sunday. UNICEF denies the allegations against its spokesman in Sri Lanka, James Elder, an Australian citizen, and officials with the agency are scheduled to meet with government officials on Monday in hopes of keeping Elder inside the country, said Sarah Crowe, UNICEF spokeswoman for South Asia

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Floods hit Sri Lanka refugee camps

Flash floods have inundated refugee camps in northern Sri Lanka, endangering more than 16,000 Tamil refugees who only months ago survived cross-fire in the country’s two-decade civil war, the United Nations says. Three days of heavy rains have damaged or destroyed nearly 2,000 shelters housing the refugees in the Vavuniya District and in Menik Farm, according to the U.N.

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