In brief
Credit
In January, Britain placed Sri Lanka on a list of 63 countries which are excluded from receiving export credits to buy arms from the United Kingdom. British officers say that hereafter export credits will be limited to projects which are aimed at economic improvement in these countries.
Invalid
The Supreme Court declared on 3 February that the expulsion of five MPs from the UNP in November was invalid. The UNP sacked the MPs, including Sarath Amunugama, Wijepala Mendis and Nanda Mathew, after they declared support to Chandrika Kumaratunge in the presidential election.
Sentence
A special court in Tamil Nadu sentenced AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha on 2 February to an year’s rigorous imprisonment for criminal misconduct when she was Chief Minister of the southern Indian state. In the violence that followed the sentencing, four girl students were killed when a bus was set alight in Dharmapuri.
Convention
Sri Lanka was among the six nations that signed the Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism on 10 January. The new Convention, adopted by the UN on 9 December, aims at international co-operation to prevent funding for terrorist activities.
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