Category: Politics

UNITED NATIONS, April 13, 2011 (AFP) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is studying an expert report into thousands of deaths during Sri Lanka’s 2009 military drive against Tamil rebels, as calls grow for an international probe. Ban has given himself just days to decide on recommendations made by a panel of experts which handed […]

April 7, 2011 (AFP) – The editor of a pro-opposition Sri Lankan news website was released on bail Thursday, a week after his arrest sparked protests from international media rights groups. Bennet Rupasinghe had been taken into police custody on charges of allegedly threatening a suspect wanted for a January arson attack on the offices […]

WASHINGTON, April 5, 2011 (AFP) – The United States said Tuesday that future cooperation with Sri Lanka depended on improvements in its human rights record and an accounting of the bloodshed at the end of the island’s civil war. With its strategic location and contributions to global peacekeeping, Sri Lanka “is poised to be a […]

April 1, 2011 (AFP) – International media rights groups Friday asked Sri Lanka’s government to release the editor of a pro-opposition news website, a day after he was remanded in police custody for a week. A total of 17 journalists and media employees have been killed in Sri Lanka in the past decade. Police arrested […]

NUSA DUA, March 30, 2011 (AFP) – Asian countries pledged Wednesday to take a collective approach to people smuggling and asylum seekers including a possible regional processing centre, after talks in Indonesia. Ministers from around the Asia-Pacific region signed a non-binding framework agreement to tackle smuggling networks and humanely process the large numbers of irregular […]

SYDNEY, March 21, 2011 (AFP) – Australia said Monday it would reduce the number of asylum seekers at an overcrowded detention centre on Christmas Island but would not abandon the camp which has endured days of riots and escapes. But Bowen said whatever their frustrations, violence was unacceptable. Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said the government […]

March 19, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president said Saturday his party’s landslide victory in local elections was an endorsement of the government’s focus on rebuilding rural areas after decades of civil war. The Tamil National Alliance, a party of minority Tamils, won 12 councils after fielding candidates in the island’s former war zones. The […]

March 19, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president said Saturday his party’s landslide victory in local elections was an endorsement of the government’s focus on rebuilding rural areas after decades of civil war. Results showed that Rajapakse’s United People’s Freedom Alliance swept 205 of the 234 councils that went to the polls Thursday, the first […]

SYDNEY, March 16, 2011 (AFP) – Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday defended the police reaction to riots at the remote Christmas Island detention centre after “bean-bag bullets” and tear gas was used. The facility, which houses some 2,539 boat people, has been hit by a series of disturbances this week involving hundreds of […]

Mar 16, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankans travelling to India will be required to apply for visas online from March 25, the Indian High Commission said in a statement. “Henceforth, applicants will be required to apply online at www.indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa,” it said. Applicant will be required to download the filled-in application, sign and submit it with […]

SYDNEY, March 15, 2011 (AFP) – Australia’s remote Christmas Island detention centre was hit by a second night of riots on Tuesday, with up to 200 asylum seekers destroying closed-circuit television cameras. It followed a “significant and serious incident” on Monday when police used tear gas to quell a protest of 300 detainees. “We saw […]

NEW DELHI, March 14, 2011 (AFP) – The Indian navy has captured 61 suspected Somali pirates and rescued 13 fishermen after a firefight with a pirate mothership in the Arabian Sea, a navy spokesman said Monday. “A total of 74 men have been apprehended of which 61 are suspected to be Somali pirates,” Indian navy […]