Category: Politics

Nov 21, 2007 (LBO) – An armed group wearing masks that entered the premises of an independent Sri Lankan newspaper house has set on fire and destroyed its printing press early Wednesday morning.“FMM urges civil society and political society who uphold freedom of expression to come forward at this time in defence of people’s right […]

COLOMBO, Nov 21, 2007 (AFP) – Unidentified gunmen stormed a pro-opposition newspaper office in Sri Lanka on Wednesday and set fire to the printing presses, police said.More than a dozen armed men started the blaze after breaking into the Sunday Leader newspaper building — which is within a high-security air force complex on the edge […]

Nov 20, 2007 (AFP) – A media rights group on Tuesday asked the government to help find a Sri Lankan Tamil journalist based in embattled Jaffna who it believed was kidnapped by paramilitary forces. Vadivel Nimalarajah, a proof reader with the Jaffna-based Uthayan newspaper, was “abducted by an unidentified group” in the state-controlled northern town […]

Nov 19, 2007 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government won a crucial vote in parliament to pass its budget for 2008 on Monday afternoon after days of speculation. The decision came after much speculation about the fate of the government if it failed to muster enough votes to have the budget passed by parliament. If […]

Nov 18, 2007 (AFP) – A Tamil guerrilla leader accused of involvement in war crimes is becoming a major embarrassment to Sri Lanka’s government following his arrest in Britain.Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, the leader of a breakaway faction of the Tamil Tigers rebel group, was detained in London earlier this month on a charge of entering the […]

CHENNAI, India, Nov 15, 2007 (AFP) – The leader of a southern Indian state is facing allegations of treason after writing a poem mourning the killing in nearby Sri Lanka of a senior rebel and fellow ethnic Tamil. M. Karunanidhi, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu state, was last week so moved by the death […]

Nov 16, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan warplanes carried out bombing raids on suspected Tamil Tiger targets inside rebel-held territory on Friday, the defence ministry said.The raids were aimed at a boat manufacturing facility of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the northeast, the ministry said. There were no details of casualties. Officials […]

Nov 16, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan police questioned an opposition lawmaker and summoned two others Friday, drawing protests from the opposition leader, in the latest twist in political wrangling days ahead of a crucial vote on the government’s budget. United National Party (UNP) Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake, a businessman who was a former trade minister, […]

Nov 16, 2007 (LBO) – Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama Friday called on the international community to take action against front organizations of the Tamil Tigers after the United States froze the assets of a relief agency. “The US government becomes the first foreign government to take tangible action against an LTTE (Liberation Tigers […]

Nov 15, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan junior cabinet minister Thursday lashed out at an opposition party lawmaker who joined the government, revealing more cracks in the ruling coalition ahead of a crucial budget vote next week. Minister of Justice Dilan Perera, a so-called ‘non-cabinet’ minister in President Mahinda Rajapakse’s jumbo cabinet said he […]

Nov 15, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan opposition party lawmaker Thursday joined the government, a day after a ruling party parliamentarian defected to the opposition. Mahinda Ratnathilake, a member of parliament for the Ratnapura district in the main opposition United National Party (UNP) crossed over to the government soon after meeting President Mahinda Rajapakse […]

Nov 14, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka switched off electricity in the capital Colombo early Wednesday amid fears that Tamil Tiger rebels were flying their light aircraft for a possible attack, officials said.The power supply was cut off before dawn for nearly half an hour as the country’s air defence systems spotted two unidentified aircraft, […]