The U.N. country chief in Sri Lanka, recalled to New York in a spat over demonstrations outside the U.N. office in the capital, Colombo, will go back to his post, the world body said on Friday.

Neil Buhne "will conclude his visit to New York this week and he will return to Colombo," U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recalled Buhne last week and ordered the closure of a U.N. regional center in Colombo during protests against a U.N. [...]

Sri Lanka’s president and opposition leader have struck a broad deal on constitutional changes, chief of which is a plan to return the Indian Ocean island nation to leadership by an executive prime minister.

Here are some questions and answers about the agreement:

IS THIS A FINAL AGREEMENT?

Not at all. It’s a broad agreement in principle. President Mahinda Rajapaksa enjoys sweeping and largely unchecked powers, but has long promised to reduce them.

With a big parliamentary majority, he needs only six opposition votes [...]

The United Nations in Sri Lanka closed on Wednesday when a hardline presidential ally led a protest outside for a second day, vowing to stay until Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dissolves a war crimes panel.

On Tuesday, police clashed with protesters led by Engineering Services and Construction Minister Wimal Weerawansa, after they stopped officers from escorting trapped U.N. staff out of the building in the capital, Colombo. [nSGE6650GC]

Weerawansa, who holds enough sway with President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government that he was able to [...]

Sri Lanka presented its long-awaited 2010 budget in late June, aiming to cut its deficit and position its perennially underperforming economy to take maximum advantage of post-war optimism and opportunity.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave its blessing to the plans to boost revenue and cut expenditure, releasing a $408 million loan tranche held back until the budget was presented.

Following is a summary of key risks to watch in Sri Lanka:

* FISCAL REFORM

Although the IMF gave an encouraging nod to the [...]

There is no reason for the Sri Lankan government’s angry reaction to the formation of a U.N. advisory panel on possible war crimes at the end of Sri Lanka’s war against rebels, the U.N. chief said on Wednesday.

Last week U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named a three-member panel chaired by Indonesia’s former attorney general, Marzuki Darusman, to advise him whether war crimes were committed in the final months of Sri Lanka’s war against the separatists Tamil Tigers, which it won [...]

The European Commission on Wednesday rejected Sri Lankan accusations that a letter it sent urging the south Asian country to comply with conditions tied to a trade concession agreement was politically motivated.

The European Union’s executive wrote to Colombo on June 17, requesting the government fully comply with and implement provisions of international human rights agreements and the United Nations convention against torture.

For more than a year Sri Lanka has defied Western pressure over accountability for potential war crimes and human [...]

The International Monetary Fund will pay out the delayed third tranche of a $2.6 billion loan to Sri Lanka, saying the government was planning to tackle its weak finances in the 2010 budget to be announced on Tuesday.

The IMF in February had delayed the payment after the government missed its 2009 deficit reduction targets and said that domestic budget borrowing — consistent with a deficit target of 7 percent of gross domestic product — was exceeded by a substantial amount.

"Despite [...]

Sri Lanka on Wednesday blasted the U.N. chief’s naming of a panel to advise him on war crimes at the end of a quarter-century separatist war, a decision that has full U.S. support, as a violation of its sovereignty.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday named a three-member panel chaired by Indonesia’s former attorney general, Marzuki Darusman, to advise him whether war crimes were committed in the final months of Sri Lanka’s war last year. [ID:nN22526612]

The government had been urging Ban [...]

Sri Lanka’s president on Friday criticized foreign pressure for a probe into war crimes allegations as "sympathy towards terrorism" and said soldiers had committed no rights violations.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa took aim at his critics during a military parade to mark the one-year anniversary of Sri Lanka’s victory over the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), delayed by a month due to monsoon rains.

"It is understood by all that we carried out this great humanitarian operation only to eliminate terrorism," [...]

Japan on Wednesday urged the world not to dictate to Sri Lanka amid post-war reconciliation efforts and renewed calls from the West for a probe into possible war crimes.

Sri Lanka last month celebrated the first anniversary of its victory against Tamil Tiger separatists, ending 25 years of civil war, and rights groups used the occasion to push for an international war crimes investigation.

They blame the government for tens of thousands of civilian deaths. The government denies the charges.

Japanese peace envoy [...]

The U.N. political chief will visit Sri Lanka this week, the United Nations said on Monday, amid a dispute between the world body and Colombo over who should investigate alleged human rights abuses.

Lynn Pascoe will discuss with Sri Lankan leaders the aftermath of last year’s government victory over Tamil rebels, including political reconciliation, resettlement of refugees and human rights, U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said.

During his visit on Wednesday and Thursday, Pascoe will meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa, other government [...]

During "Space," the dreamy future-shock ballad that closes her upcoming third album, M.I.A. repeatedly coos, "My lines are down/You can’t call me," over a gently percolating beat that sounds like a Sega Genesis practicing its pillow talk. It’s just one of the many observations on our data-drenched Infotainment Age that crop up throughout "/\/\ /\ Y /\," a more-or-less self-titled effort from the 34-year-old Sri Lankan native, born Maya Arulpragasam.

Yet in a recent telephone interview with Billboard, the lyric [...]

India has agreed to lend $1 billion to fund Sri Lanka’s infrastructure projects, mainly in former war zones in the country’s north and east, the island nation’s treasury secretary said on Thursday.

"India assured us $800 million for the reconstruction of railway and a further $200 million for a power plant," P.B. Jayasundera, the secretary to the treasury and the ministry of finance, told Reuters in a mobile phone text message from India.

"It is a 20-year credit at an absolutely low [...]

An independent United Nations expert accused the main U.N. rights forum on Friday of turning a blind eye to killings in much of the world while concentrating on alleged abuses by Israel.

Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, said the 47-member-state Human Rights Council was losing credibility for mainly taking action against alleged violations in the Palestinian territories.

"I certainly regret the fact that the council itself has developed such a single-minded focus on violations in just one particular area [...]

Sri Lanka has just celebrated the first anniversary of victory over the Tamil Tiger separatists, which ended a three-decade war and ushered the Indian Ocean nation into the ranks of Asia’s emerging frontier markets.

Recently re-elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa has a powerful parliamentary majority and is now turning his attention to long-awaited economic and political change.

Following is a summary of key risks to watch in Sri Lanka:

* UNCERTAINTY OVER IMF LOAN

Earlier in May, the International Monetary Fund said it was encouraged [...]