Casino Watch

June 21, 2013 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will look into the possibility of setting up a casino regulator, a government minister said responding to a call by a legislator of the island’s main opposition.“We respect that idea,” information minister Keheliya Rambukwelle told reporters Thursday at a weekly news briefing to announce cabinet decisions. “Let’s see […]

Work Practices

June 20, 2013 (LBO) – A minimum age for employment may be raised to 16 years from 14 if proposals in a national policy on youth are adopted, officials said. Sri Lankan children however have had problems, especially in the past, where school-going age children in poor families were taken out of school and sent […]

Freedom

COLOMBO, April 13, 2013 (AFP) – Gunmen opened fire and torched the office of the main Tamil newspaper in northern Sri Lanka on Saturday, the owner said, the latest in a wave of attacks against privately-owned media in the country.Three armed men carried out the pre-dawn arson attack on the Uthayan office and printing press […]

Agency

Apr 12, 2013 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan legislator has alleged that a public relations firm hired by Sri Lanka to lobby American politicians and others, has misled the US government in a mandatory disclosure by providing wrong information.Harsha de Silva, an opposition legislator said Thompson Advisory Group of Washington is being paid 100 million […]

Spreading Fear

Mar 25, 2013 (LBO) – Mob violence in Sri Lanka against Muslims and Christians and emerging attacks and humiliation of Muslim girls for their dress by Buddhist nationalists, was spreading fear among minorities, Friday Forum, a citizens group said.“The failure of the police to act swiftly and effectively in enforcing the law has encouraged individuals […]

Another Resignation

Mar 22, 2013 (LBO) – The director general of Sri Lanka’s securities regulator, resigned Friday, becoming the fourth top official to leave the regulatory body in controversial circumstances in the last three years. “Based on my principles, considering the present set up I decided to resign,” Hareendra Dissa Bandara said, closely echoing the words of […]

Justice Call

Mar 08, 2013 (LBO) – The brother of a British tourist murdered while holidaying Sri Lanka in 2011 is calling for justice saying his killers are still free 15 months after he was shot and attacked in full view of witnesses.Khuram Shaikh, a red cross worker was killed in the early of December 25, 2011 […]

Shooting

COLOMBO, Feb 16, 2013 (AFP) – Gunmen shot and wounded a Sri Lankan journalist near the capital Colombo, police said Saturday, the latest in a string of attacks on the island’s media.Faraz Shauketaly, a reporter with the privately-run Sunday Leader whose editor was shot dead in 2009, was rushed to hospital for surgery following the […]

No Visit

Feb 02, 2013 (LBO) – The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHARI) said visas for a delegation to visit Sri Lanka had been denied by authorities. IBAHARI said the delegation “has been forced to postpone a planned visit to Sri Lanka to assess the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary due […]

Senator Call

WASHINGTON (AFP) Two US senators on Tuesday renewed calls for an international investigation into potential war crimes in Sri Lanka, accusing Colombo of failing to address legitimate concerns.Senators Patrick Leahy and Bob Casey, prominent voices on foreign policy in President Barack Obama’s Democratic Party, said the island had failed to carry out recommendations from its […]

Resolution

Jan 28, 2013 (AFP) – The US will bring a fresh resolution to the UN Human Rights Council in a bid to force Sri Lanka to deliver on promises to probe its troops for war crimes, top US diplomats announced Monday after talks with Colombo.“The US has decided to sponsor a procedural resolution (against Sri […]

Concerns

Jan 17, 2013 (LBO) – The International Commissions of Jurists, an international rights body promoting rule of law has raised concerns about Sri Lanka’s newly appointed chief justice and asked for his controversially sacked predecessor to be re-instated. Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake was impeached by parliametn through controversial process which courts declared illegal and unconstitutional. […]

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