• Batticaloa and Puttalam worst hit by rains

    Heavy rains that began on 16th December have had a devastating effect on the North-East, with Batticaloa and Puttalam the worst affected, said IRIN on Friday.

    The rains and ensuing floods have displaced at least 31,000 people and killed 39, according to the Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Centre.

  • Body of missing 4 year old found

    The body of a four year old girl who went missing in Jaffna, was found on Friday evening, reported Tamilwin.

    Suthanthini Surenthiran was reported missing by her parents on Thursday.

  • Rajapakse offers Sri Lankan doctor’s services to Chavez

    The Sri Lankan president Mahinda rajapakse has offered the services of a Sri Lankan doctor to ailing Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, saying that the doctor will be “significantly instrumenta” to his recovery.

  • Former diplomat calls on Commonwealth to 'take a stand' on Sri Lanka
    Responding to a piece written by Sri Lanka’s Consul General in Sydney Bandula Jayasekara, former Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh has called on the Commonwealth to “take a stand against rampant abuses”. 

    Extracts of his piece “Diplomats paint one-sided picture of Sri Lanka” have been reproduced below. See the full piece here.
    “It is interesting that Jayasekara is being put forward as the Sri Lankan representative in Australia to defend the indefensible, an acknowledgement that the Sri Lankan high commissioner, Thisara Samarasinghe, has singularly failed to get his message across.”

    ”Australians are quite used to weighing the facts, they saw through the propaganda of the South African apartheid regime, the lies over East Timor and weapons of mass destruction and it is only a matter of time before the truth will out on the treatment of Tamils and the political enemies of the corrupt Rajapaksa regime.”
  • Terrorism Investigation Division summons TNPF leader

    The president of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF), Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, has received a summons by the Terrorism Investigation Division of Vavuniya and a note written entirely in Sinhalese, instructing him to present himself at the TID office on 29th December at 11am.

    The TNPF leader is reported to be outside the island at present.

  • Hundreds of Australians protest against Sri Lankan cricket tour

     

    Several hundred Australians gathered outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground to protest against Sri Lanka’s cricket tour of Australia, calling on cricketing authorities to boycott the country.

  • 45 former LTTE cadres arrested by TID

    Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Division arrested 45 former LTTE cadres, it was announced on Wednesday.

    The arrests occurred as part of search operations in Jaffna reported Sri Lanka’s police.
    Superintendent Prishantha Jayakodi stated that,

  • Iran keen to expand judicial ties with Sri Lanka

    The government of Iran has expressed its willingness to further boost links with Sri Lanka, by looking to expand ties in the judicial fields.

    Sri Lanka’s Minister of Justice and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Rauf Hakeem went to meet Iranian Justice Minister Seyed Morteza Bakhtiari  in Iran earlier this week, with Bakhtiari stating that he hoped to transfer Iran’s legal experience over to Sri Lanka.

  • Army builds hotel on shores of Nanthikadal Lagoon

    The Sri Lankan Army has completed the construction of another hotel, this time on the shores of the Nanthikadal Lagoon.

    The Lagoon’s Edge is a luxury hotel, built entirely of teak and was built in a "place where thousands of war heroes, terrorists and others died", according to Sinhalese newspaper Mawbima.

  • SL military does Christmas in Kilinochchi

    Christmas came to Kilinochchi this year courtesy of the Sri Lankan Army.

    Photographs of the festive joy are reproduced from off the Ministry of Defence (and Urban Development) website:

    In addition to an 80 ft Christmas tree, the Tamil women recruited into the Sri Lankan army sang Christmas carols.

  • Russian ambassador slams Sri Lanka critics

    The Russian ambassador to Sri Lanka says that countries criticise Sri Lanka’s human rights violations, while ignoring their own record.

    “Sometimes people point at a speck in the others eye without knowing a whole lot about the board in theirs,” Alexander Karchava said in an interview to the Daily News.

  • Rajapaksa's Christmas cheer

    Mahinda Rajapaksa on Christmas day...  

    "The teaching of love and understanding that brings the spirit of sharing, which marks the celebration of Christmas, can help in strengthening the bridges of peace, tolerance and reconciliation that are being built in our country."

    "The birth of Jesus Christ in a stable at Bethlehem shows the world the importance of love extending to all, moving beyond all barriers, extending from the highest to the humblest in society, to all beings who share this earth with us, and to nature that sustains us all."

    Here's a round-up of articles on Christianity and Sri Lanka from 2012:

    Monks attack pastor and vandalise church (13 Dec 2012)

    Church and mosque vandalised and burnt (27 Oct 2012)

  • Chauvinism in Sri Lanka's trade policies - international economist

    An economist from Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy says Sri Lanka has been withholding trade from India, most notably the neighbouring Southern states, "for a combination of chauvinistic reasons and defensive economic reasons of some [local] business."

  • Flooding continues to affect North-East

    Flooding has continued to affect parts of the North-East, including Batticaloa and Vavuniya, following heavy rains over the past few days.

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