Category: Legal

MIAMI, April 13, 2010 (AFP) – US police backed by helicopter units swooped on a group of illegal immigrants smuggled in from the Bahamas, arresting 15 from Haiti, Jamaica and Sri Lanka, smuggled in by sea by Cubans, authorities and local media said Tuesday. The Bahamas are a frequent stopover point for human trafficking operations […]

SYDNEY, April 9, 2010 (AFP) – Australia on Friday stopped accepting new Afghan and Sri Lankan asylum seekers as it cracks down on people smuggling to thwart an influx of boatpeople, Immigration Minister Chris Evans said. “Today I want to announce that the government is implementing an immediate suspension on the processing of all new […]

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31, 2010 (AFP) – Malaysia on Wednesday launched a national plan against human trafficking as the country moves to quash its image as a transit point for traffickers. Home minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the five-year plan would strengthen anti-trafficking legislation and training and improve border security among measures to tackle the problem. […]

SEOUL, March 18, 2010 (AFP) – North Korea has executed a top financial official blamed for a bungled currency revaluation that triggered chaos in the communist state, South Korean news reports said Thursday. The redenomination last November 30 forced people to swap old banknotes for new at a rate of 100 to one, but restricted […]

BERLIN, March 5, 2010 (AFP) – German authorities said Friday that police have arrested six people suspected of raising funds for the Sri Lankan separatist group the Tamil Tigers. The German and Sri Lankan nationals aged between 22 and 58 were arrested on Wednesday in raids on eight premises including the Tamil Coordination Committee (TCC) […]

Feb 05, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will fast-track legislation related to the economy when a new parliament convenes on April 22 after national polls, international trade minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris said. “We have an opportunity to develop the economy we have not had for more than 20 years,” minister Peiris told reporters. “It is […]

February 19, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka said Friday it plans to release all detained Tamil Tiger child soldiers by the end of May and re-unite them with their families. Government forces defeated the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May last year, ending their 37-year fight for a Tamil homeland in the […]

February 18, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police on Thursday seized 28 kilos (62 pounds) of heroin worth 780,000 dollars in a major blow to smugglers who are believed to be use the island as a drug trafficking route from India. The narcotics were found during a raid early Thursday in the northwestern fishing village […]

February 12, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear a challenge to the arrest of defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka, as opposition parties stepped up a campaign for his immediate release. The court accepted a petition by Fonseka’s wife requesting that his arrest be ruled illegal, and ordered the state to […]

January 30, 2010 (AFP) – Police in Sri Lanka shut down the offices of an opposition newspaper on Saturday, the weekly said, as international rights groups accused the authorities of a vendetta against critical media. Police went to the offices of the Lanka weekly and sealed the premises, a day after taking its editor into […]

WASHINGTON, January 23, 2010 (AFP) – A New York court sentenced two men to 14 and 26 years in prison Friday for providing support to the Tamil Tigers separatist group, the Justice Department said Friday. Government troops killed the LTTE leadership and declared the total annihilation of the separatist guerrillas on May 18, ending Asia’s […]

WELLINGTON, January 19, 2010 (AFP) – New Zealand has agreed to take 13 Sri Lankan refugees who spent weeks refusing to leave an Australian customs boat in Indonesia last year, the government said Tuesday. New Zealand originally did not want to take any of the Tamil refugees who refused to leave the Oceanic Viking, but […]