THE Australian government went to Sri Lanka this week bearing gifts in the hope of winning co-operation in its bid to reduce asylum-seeker numbers.

A run-down of other reports that made the news in the past fortnight

Sri Lanka delivered its formal response to a European Union probe that found it in breach of international human rights laws and said it was hopeful of retaining a lucrative trade concession with the bloc

Sri Lankan Chief of Defense Staff General Sarath Fonseka fled the United States, hours before he was due to attend a meeting with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to discuss allegations of war crimes against Gotabhaya Rajapaksa

Joining international calls for a full independent investigation into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, a group of British Parliamentarians welcomed the initiatives taken by the United States in this regard and urged the UK government to support Washington’s efforts.

The US House of Representatives passed a motion calling on the Sri Lankan government to respect its commitments to care for and ensure the speedy return of civilians displaced by the fighting.

Sri Lanka Police and Sri Lanka Army soldiers beat a mentally ill Tamil youth and forced him to drown near Bambalapitya, Colombo on Thursday October 29.

The 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall has just been celebrated. For many, that momentous event marked the so-called end of history and the final victory of the West.

 

A young boy was drowned in broad daylight this week. Though not a single newspaper carried it, I’m told B. Sivakumaran was his name.

“I viewed what happened on the beach below through the lens of a camera recorder from the seventh floor of a building located next to the Bambalapitya railway station”, Assistant News Editor of TNL News channel

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has appointed a five-member high-level committee to look into a US Congress report that alleged human rights violations by both the Army and LTTE during the last phase of the 30-year-old civil war.

The IMF has warned Sri Lanka against issuing government bonds in order to build up foreign currency reserves, as Sri Lanka received the second instalment of a $2.6 billion loan.

This country enjoyed a warm glow early in the life of the previous Government when it relieved Australia of some of the so-called Tampa refugees.

 

Australia on Sunday, November 8, urged Sri Lanka, having defeated the Tamil Tigers in May, to now embrace political reform and reconciliation to stem the flow of asylum seekers leaving the country