Category: Politics

PARIS, September 12, 2011 (AFP) – The main economies in the world are set for a general slowdown, the OECD said on Monday on the basis of its leading index of underlying signals in its member countries. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, which already warned of potential pockets of recession last week, said […]

September 12, 2011 (AFP) – US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake arrived in Colombo Monday for talks that coincide with a UN meeting in Geneva that is set to discuss alleged war crimes during Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict. Blake, the top US diplomat for South and Central Asia, would raise the allegations with all […]

GENEVA, September 12, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Monday took issue with a planned UN move to forward a damning report on the country to the Human Rights Council, complaining that Colombo was not notified about the action. Sri Lanka Minister of Plantation Industries Mahinda Samarasinghe claimed that at a briefing on September 9 […]

September 10, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka said Saturday that Amnesty International comments on the island’s probe into its military victory over Tamil rebels, were an “interference” in the country’s sovereignty. Amnesty International on Wednesday said Sri Lanka’s inquiry panel was “flawed at every level” and no substitute for an international war crimes investigation. The […]

Sept 09, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will start diplomatic relations with El Salvadore, a small state in Central America, deputy economic development minsiter Lakshman Abeywardene, said. He said Sri Lanka’s envoy to Brazil will also be accredited to El Salvador. Abeywardene said over the past five years trade between the two countries has started […]

September 8, 2011 (AFP) – The Human Rights Watch lobby group on Wednesday urged Sri Lanka to scrap draconian detention laws and free thousands of people held under the regulations. The New York-based body said Sri Lanka’s ending of a decades-long state of emergency last week would have little effect as separate anti-terror laws still […]

September 7, 2011 (AFP) – Amnesty International on Wednesday said Sri Lanka’s inquiry into its military victory over Tamil rebels was “flawed at every level” and no substitute for an international war crimes investigation. The human rights watchdog issued a 69-page report slamming the work of the government’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) ahead […]

Sep 05, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s ruling party mayoral candidate for the capital intends to organize job fairs for unemployed youth and promised decent housing for squatters uprooted from prime land being cleared for commercial development. Milinda Moragoda said he œwill bring in a professional and capable administration, which will help ensure that Colombo […]

Sep 02, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s large trade have criticized a report by a UN panel alleging human rights abuses in a civil war that ended in 2009, and warned against international economic sanctions. The panel called for probes in to allegations of war crimes by both sides of the conflict in the latter […]

CHENNAI, August 27, 2011 (AFP) – Three men convicted of the 1991 assassination of then Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi will be hanged early next month, a senior jail official has said. The announcement late Friday that the executions would be carried out on September 9 came after India’s president rejected mercy pleas from the […]

August 25, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president announced on Thursday that he was scrapping draconian emergency laws imposed nearly 30 years ago to deal with the armed Tamil separatist movement. The move, which was welcomed by the United States, comes as Sri Lanka faces growing pressure — led by Washington — over its human […]

August 26, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s main opposition, which is bedeviled by a string of electoral defeats and an internal battle to oust its leader, says its door-to-door campaign is haunted by a phobia among voters about ‘grease devils’. ‘Grease devil’ is a colloquial term used to describe peeping toms and other mischief makers […]