For years, ships from other countries, laden with oil, machinery, clothes and cargo, sped past Hambantota, Sri Lanka, a small town near India as part of the world’s brisk trade with China.

A well-administered election day but challenges in the pre-election period, was the concludsion of the Commonwealth Expert Team that monitored the Sri Lankan Presidential polls on January 26.

Sri Lanka’s crackdown on the media have deteriorated over the last few months, with yet more journalists arrested, kicked out of the country or shut down.

This is the text of the speech delivered at the announcement of the referendum results on January 31 at the Park Lane hotel in central London.

The Sri Lanka government is guilty of crimes against humanity, was the conclusion of a war-crimes tribunal, conducted by Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) based in Milan, which held hearings from 14 to 16 January in Dublin, Ireland.

British Tamils made a united democratic call for the independence of Tamil Eelam in a nationwide referendum held over the weekend of January 30 and 31.

Tamils in another three mainland European countries have mandated Eelam at referenda held in January.

Sri Lanka’s military massacred as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians in the final onslaught against the Liberation Tigers in 2009, according to a former United Nations official with detailed knowledge of events, press reports said.

President Rajapakse’s crackdown on political opponents, including the arrest of the defeated opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka, is not as unexpected or as surprising as many commentators are suggesting.

Writing just before the Sri Lankan Presidential polls, the author, who served on the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons, argues that the chances for true investigation into war crimes allegations in the country is remote.

As a video prompts UN calls for an inquiry into war crimes by Sri Lankan troops, Tamils are in no mood to play kingmaker

According to elections officials, only 1 in 9 persons classed as internally displaced had heeded the call to register to vote in the January 26 presidential elections by the deadline.

Tamil activists in America have been rapidly stepping up a boycott campaign, urging consumers to make an ethical choice and refuse to purchase goods made in Sri Lanka.

The United Nations has turned down a request from Sri Lanka to send observers to monitor the country's presidential election later this month because of lack of time, a UN spokesman said.