Tag: news

Sept 05, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s main English weeklies have slammed a proposed change to the country’s constitution as the latest in a long list of moves by rulers to destroy individual liberties and break remaining democratic institutions. The constitutional change will see the term limits for the President currently set at two being […]

August 31, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Tuesday began assessing a draft bill that would amend the island’s constitution to allow President Mahinda Rajapakse to run for office for a third term. Registrar of the Supreme Court said the five-judge bench would give their decision to the president and speaker of parliament […]

August 30, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s cabinet on Monday backed changing the constitution to allow President Mahinda Rajapakse to run for office for a third term, opening the way for a vote in parliament. Rajapakse, who oversaw the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels last year after decades of civil war, has a firm […]

SYDNEY, August 22, 2010 (AFP) – Australia was in political limbo Sunday after voters punished Prime Minister Julia Gillard for deposing her predecessor two months ago, leaving the nation facing its first hung parliament in 70 years. Both sides targeted marginal seats in resource-rich Queensland and western Sydney, where rapid population growth has put pressure […]

SYDNEY, August 21, 2010 (AFP) – Australia faced the “more and more likely” prospect of a hung parliament Saturday, with neither the government nor the opposition looking assured of an election majority, party officials said. Australia has not had a hung parliament since 1940, in the midst of World War II, but the election was […]

August 19, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s former army chief Sarath Fonseka said Thursday he expects the government to put him behind bars to end his political career after a court martial convicted him. Fonseka, who led troops to victory in the island’s 37-year ethnic conflict last year, said the government was seeking revenge for […]

REYKJAVIK, August 19, 2010 (AFP) – After Iceland’s near-economic collapse laid bare deep-seated corruption, the country aims to become a safe haven for journalists and whistleblowers from around the globe by creating the world’s most far-reaching freedom of information legislation. The project, developed with the help of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, flies in the face […]

VANCOUVER, August 17, 2010 (AFP) – A Canadian tribunal on Tuesday ordered continued detention for the first person interviewed in a group of 492 Tamil asylum seekers that reached Vancouver last week aboard a battered cargo ship. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, citing sovereignty, “significant security concerns” and “increasing” human smuggling for financial gain, said […]

VANCOUVER, August 17, 2010 (AFP) – Canadian authorities are investigating whether Sri Lankan rebels financed the passage of nearly 500 Tamil refugees to Canada last week, officials said Monday before the start of detention hearings. Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, speaking to The Globe and Mail daily in an article Monday, said passengers were charged […]

August 15, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s former army chief Sarath Fonseka will appeal against a court martial conviction that stripped him of his rank, pension and prestige, his political party announced Sunday. President Mahinda Rajapakse formally removed Fonseka’s rank and medals and stopped his pension on Saturday, a day after a court martial found […]