Fearing the presence of other powers in the strategic port region, India aceepts controversial site ignoring Tamil concerns.

Even as the global food shortage worsened and price of essentials hit record levels, the UN food agency, World Food Programme (WFP) announced it is cutting down on its rations to one million Sri Lankans it is feeding in the war-torn North and East of Sri Lanka.

How Sri Lanka’s leading state-owned newspaper saw the new Iran - Sri Lanka partnership

New challenges and opportunities for the Tamil freedom struggle.

‘Peace is founded not only on respect for human rights but also on respect for the rights of peoples, in particular the right to independence’ - Vatican’s Social Doctrine

The strategic significance of Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean region.

In a visit to Sri Lanka, Marks & Spencer’s boss has hailed the country’s “ethical standards” and assured that he will he do ‘everything possible to support Sri Lanka’s application for the GSP+ concessions’.

Chief Executive Officer, Sir Stuart Rose told Sri Lankan ministers Professor G. L. Peiris and Dr. Sarath Amunugama: "I deeply appreciate Sri Lanka’s ethical standards and her splendid performance in the apparel sector"

The strong relationship between Iran and Sri Lanka was on show last week with the high profile visit of Iranian President to Sri Lanka and the red carpet welcome that was extended to him by the Sri Lankan state.

The Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) is a formal system of exemption from the general rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) aimed at encouraging developing countries to export by allowing their products preferential access to the markets of developed countries.

ECONOMIC Times, one of India's leading business dailies, on Sunday revealed that in spite of possible "political and diplomatic ramifications", the Indian Government was "finalizing a soft loan package of $100 million for Sri Lankan defence department to buy arms and ammunition." The newspaper went one step ahead and dubbed this move "the India fund for fighting Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka."

As violence surges in Sri Lanka, so does the number of abductions and disappearance of mostly Tamil men. That is the assessment of human rights activists and international aid groups operating in the Indian Ocean nation.

The United States in a significant change in its policy towards organizations included in the State Departments Foreign Terrorists Organization (FTO) list, made its first official diplomatic contact with the leader of Nepal's former rebel Maoists, BBC report in Kathmandu said.

US ambassador to Nepal Nancy Powell met Maoist leader Prachanda on Thursday, a statement from the US embassy in Kathmandu said, according to the report.

OVER two thousand Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and four thousand wounded in the battles of 2007, the commander of the SLA, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka told a conference at Army Headquarters last week, the Sunday Times reported. He claimed over five thousand Tamil Tigers were also killed last year. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government has forbidden military officials from giving interviews and launched a hunt for those leaking details to the media.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has vowed to end Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s (LTTE) domination in the north of the country soon and urged the people to vote for the government-backed paramilitary group in the upcoming Provincial Council elections in the east.