U.S., N. Korea agree to hold talks on sanctions March 7
February 23, 2006North Korea and the United States have agreed to hold talks March 7 in New York on the U.S. financial sanctions involving the North's alleged illicit activities, U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said Thursday. Li Gun, director general of the American Affairs Bureau of the North Korean Foreign Ministry, will visit New York and meet with U.S. State and Treasury Department officials, Ereli told reporters.
Sri Lanka gov't, Tamil Tigers face off on cease-fire agreement
February 23, 2006The Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tiger rebels on Wednesday expressed conflicting views on a four-year-old cease-fire agreement that ended more than two decades of civil war in the Indian Ocean island but agreed it was a foundation that could be built upon. In an opening statement at a meeting with the rebels in Geneva, the government delegation ''affirmed and emphasized'' that the cease-fire agreement signed four years ago by then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader Velupillai Prabhakaran ''is contrary to our constitution and law'' and ''prejudicial to the sovereignty and territorial integrity'' of the country.