• Calls for demilitarisation in North-East are 'redundant' - National Freedom Front

    Jan 05
    A member from the Sri Lankan National Freedom Front (NFF) party, a constituent of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) coalition, today stated that heightening calls to remove army camps from the North-East were ‘redundant.’
  • Sri Lanka and Palestine strengthen ties

    Sri Lanka has strengthened its relationship with Palestine following a Sri Lankan delegation visit, led by Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday.

    The Sri Lankan President met with Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the State of Palestine, at the Presidential Palace in Ramallah where he was awarded the ‘Star of Palestine’, the highest honour award by the Palestinian state.

    A Sri Lankan press release described the meeting as “friendly and warm”, and went on to quote Abbas as telling Rajapaksa,

    "I am honored to receive you… Our two countries maintain good relations and I wish it will improve more and more".

  • 8 more human remains found at Mannar mass grave
    Photograph Tamilwin
  • Rape-related killings on the rise in Jaffna - Uthayan

    More and more rape victims are being murdered in Jaffna, reports Uthayan newspaper.

    According to a legal official at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, rape and sexual abuse is increasingly being followed by murder.

  • Tropical storm ‘One’ hits North-East
    A tropical storm struck the North-East in the early hours of Sunday  morning, battering the area with sustained winds and causing evacuations from coastal areas.

  • Indian minister reiterates call for halt of training of SL forces

    India’s Union Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan has reiterated his call for India not to train Sri Lankan forces.

  • Hip-Hop rap duo express solidarity with the Tamil liberation struggle
    Addressing crowds on their world tour, at a concert in Melbourne, the world renowned  hip-hop rap duo Dead Prez, condemned the death of 'almost 100,000' Tamil civilians at the hands of the Sri Lankan government in 2009 and pledged solidarity with the Tamil struggle for liberation.
  • Jaffna army commander celebrates 'achievements'

    The Sri Lankan Army’s commander for Jaffna, Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe, will take up a new post from Monday.

  • Tamil diaspora misusing tourist visas - Gotabhaya
    Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, warned that the Tamil diaspora was misusing the "freedom to arrive in Sri Lanka on a tourist visa". (See here for report published on Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence website). 

    "At present, it is very difficult to obtain a visa to go to Western countries such as Canada and the United States of America. In contrast, foreigners have the freedom to arrive in Sri Lanka on tourist visa and enjoy their visit. However, we can observe that the Tamil Diaspora is trying to misuse this freedom," said Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

    Adding that there 'people involved in terrorism and manufacturing of bombs, who are now trying to speak about human rights', he said,
    "We cannot allow people to go about projecting false propaganda on human right violations against the country. These people don't even know the meaning of the term human rights."
  • More skeletons unearthed at Mannar mass grave
     
     Photographs Tamilwin
  • US war crimes ambassador to visit SL
    The United States Ambassador at-large for War Crimes Issues, Stephen J Rapp, will visit Sri Lanka next week, announced a State department spokesperson.

    Ambassador Rapp’s visit spanning between January 6th-11th, will involve meetings with government officials, political and civil society leaders on a range of issues including justice accountability and reconciliation.
  • Mahinda to receive 'Star of Palestine'

    The Palestinian Authority will confer the president of Sri Lanka with its highest accolade, the ‘Star of Palestine’, reported the DailyMirror.

    President Mahinda Rajapaksa is due to visit Palestine tomorrow, where he will meet with President Mahmoud Abbas, and will receive the award for showing solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle.

  • British Tamil Conservatives reject TRC, call for travel bans

    The British Tamil Conservatives have called on the British government to impose travel bans and seize foreign assets on Sri Lankans suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, reported The Island.

  • Canadian MP ‘safely out’ of Sri Lanka
    Canadian Member of Parliament Rathika Sitsabaiesan has reported that she is “safely out” of Sri Lanka and arrived in India, after being subjected to “political intimidation” when visiting the North-East of the island earlier this month.

    Sitsabaiesan tweeted from her account earlier today that she had left the island and would be releasing more details about her trip soon.

  • Do not import Iranian oil - US to Sri Lanka

    Talks between the US and Sri Lanka on importing Iranian crude oil have been unsuccessful, according to a Sri Lankan official.

    Petroleum Resources Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said that several rounds of talks were held both in Colombo and in Washington, but no agreement was found and that the US informed Sri Lanka that it cannot import Iranian oil, in line with sanctions imposed on Teheran.

    Non-compliance would mean that Sri Lankan banks would be cut off from the US financial system.

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