Tamil Nadu Government to take decision on Nalini's release within two weeks
[ ANI ][ Mar 12 02:24 GMT ]
The Tamil Nadu Government on Thursday said that it will take a decision on the plea for premature release of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassin Nalini Sriharan in two weeks time. This was informed to the Madras High Court by the counsel for the State Government. The government also submitted the Prison Advisory Board report on the plea to the High Court. "Hopefully we should be able to report the decision before March 29, but the truth of the matter is the government has asked for certain additional details from the board and collector. [ full story | comments
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Sarath Fonseka to face three charges at court martial but not for coup plot
[ Times ][ Mar 11 23:56 GMT ]
General Sarath Fonseka, the former Sri Lankan army chief arrested last month, will face a court martial next week on three charges, but not for plotting a coup as expected, officials announced yesterday. The soldier-turned-opposition-leader will be charged with “conduct unbecoming” an officer of his rank, maintaining contact with opposition politicians while head of the army and unfairly granting an arms tender to a company run by his son-in-law. [ full story | comments
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Transparency International calls for protection of civil society organisations in Sri Lanka
[ Transparency International ][ Mar 11 23:42 GMT ]
Transparency International (TI) is alarmed by the intimidation tactics and public allegations threatening civil society organisations in Sri Lanka, and in particular those against the TI chapter, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) . TI is gravely concerned about the safety and reputation of TISL Executive Director J.C. Weliamuna and the chapter staff following a negative campaign in the media aimed at undermining the credibility of TISL’s anti-corruption work. [ full story | comments
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SLanka's former army chief 'to face three charges'
[ AFP ][ Mar 11 12:44 GMT ]
Former Sri Lankan army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka will face three charges in a military court, including "conduct unbecoming an officer," a source said Thursday. "There will be three charges against him," said the military source, who declined to be named. In addition to the "conduct unbecoming" charge, he will also be accused of maintaining contact with opposition politicians while being head of the army and unfairly granting an arms tender to a company run by his son-in-law. [ full story | comments
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Christmas Island detention centre riot charges vindictive, says refugee group
[ News ][ Mar 11 10:21 GMT ]
CHARGES against 11 asylum seekers over a riot at the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre are vindictive and should be dropped, a refugee action group says. The men, all Afghans and Tamils aged between 21 and 36, have been charged with rioting and possessing weapons over the November incident, which allegedly involved 150 detainees from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said the asylum seekers appeared in the Christmas Island Magistrates Court today. [ full story | comments
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Chola era temple excavated off Jaffna
[ ExpressBuzz ][ Mar 11 04:24 GMT ]
The History and Archeology Department of Jaffna University has excavated a temple of the Chola era in Nedunthivu or Delft Island, off the Jaffna coast. The leader of the team, Prof P Pushparatnam told `Express’ over the phone on Tuesday that the 40-ft long 10-ft wide temple belonged to the era of Raja Raja Chola or 10th Century BC. Raja Raja Chola, one of the most powerful rulers of the Chola dynasty, ruled the Thanjavur-Cholamandalam area from 985 to 1014 CE. [ full story | comments
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Indian team from Jaipur to help Sri Lanka amputees
[ BBC ][ Mar 11 04:15 GMT ]
An Indian charity has sent a team to northern Sri Lanka to provide 1,000 amputees with artificial limbs. Workers from the BMVSS charity, which makes the so-called "Jaipur foot", will spend a month in the town of Vavuniya. The Jaipur foot is regarded as the most inexpensive and cost effective artificial limb in the world. [ full story | comments
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Sri Lanka: End Witch Hunt Against the Media and NGOs
[ HRW ][ Mar 11 02:53 GMT ]
The Sri Lankan government should end its harassment of journalists and activists and take steps against those making threats, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said in a joint statement today. "The Sri Lankan government is conducting a carefully coordinated witch hunt aimed at discrediting critics of the government," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "This is extremely dangerous and irresponsible in a country where journalists and activists have often been threatened and killed." "This smacks of retaliation for reporting on violations during the presidential election," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director. [ full story | comments
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Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success
[ GTF ][ Mar 11 02:43 GMT ]
After the brutal and treacherous killings of tens of thousands of innocent people during the final stages of the war, after detaining 300,000 Tamils including children elders and the invalid under inhuman conditions in concentration camps, without any international humanitarian assistance and behind closed doors of the media, the Sri Lankan government still continues to hide the truth of this inhumane situation from the international community, arrogantly refusing to allow international assistance to the victims. Thousands of youth who surrendered are still held in jails without proper inquiry or legal representations and without any contact even with the ICRC. [ full story | comments
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China to build new international airport in Sri Lanka
[ BBC ][ Mar 11 02:18 GMT ]
China is to lend Sri Lanka about $200m (£133m) to build a second international airport in the south of the island. Another $100m from Beijing will help boost the island's railway network, Sri Lanka's foreign ministry said. The new airport will be near a vast sea port which is being largely funded with Chinese money. China is financing a growing number of such projects in Sri Lanka, which some see as an attempt to undermine Indian influence in the region. The two countries are vying for contracts in Sri Lanka following the end of more than 20 years of civil war. [ full story | comments
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Dengue spread slows in north
[ IRIN ][ Mar 12 00:04 GMT ]
The spread of Dengue fever has eased in Sri Lanka's conflict-affected north, but health officials warn continued vigilance is necessary. Since the beginning of this year, more than 2,000 cases of the mosquito-borne infection have been reported in Jaffna and Vavuniya districts, fuelled largely by late monsoon rains at the end of 2009. "It's a significant drop and we feel that the trend will continue," Hasitha Tissera, a government health official at the unit told IRIN in Colombo. "The number of infections is likely to go down this month." [ full story | comments
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Sri Lanka Garners Support Against U.N. Probe
[ IPS ][ Mar 11 23:55 GMT ]
”The Non-Aligned Movement strongly condemns selective targeting of individual countries, which it deems contrary to the founding principles of the Movement and the United Nations Charter,” said Ambassador Maged Abdelaziz of Egypt, in a letter to Ban. The letter followed a NAM meeting which unanimously agreed to protest the secretary-general's action. ”As you are surely aware, the president of Sri Lanka has already confirmed in public his intention to appoint a domestic mechanism to address accountability issues, voluntarily,” the NAM chair said. [ full story | comments
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From Richard De Soysa to Ekneligoda: The Slide
[ Daily Mirror ][ Mar 11 12:47 GMT ]
The 24th of February marked the first month anniversary of the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda, the Lanka E-News journalist. Two special Police teams are said to be on the case. They have however, not come up with any information as to Ekneligoda’s whereabouts. Ekneligoda’s disappearance is yet another statistic of shame in the long list of disappearances, abductions and extra-judicial killings that have targeted the media in particular over the last four years. His disappearance, it should be noted, took place in the course of a presidential election campaign the first post –war island-wide electoral contest in this country for two decades. [ full story | comments
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OHCHR’s Damning Silence: It needs a new approach to speak out
[ AHRC ][ Mar 11 10:24 GMT ]
The position of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights(OHCHR) sits uneasily with that of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon who once again reiterated on 9 March 2010 his intension to establish an expert panel to advise him on “setting the broad parameters and standards on the way ahead on establishing accountability” for alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka during the conflict between the government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).[2] This is welcome. [ full story | comments
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Sri Lanka looks east to China for funding and support
[ The National ][ Mar 11 04:26 GMT ]
The Sri Lankan president’s decision to shift foreign policy “eastward” after persistent and damaging human-rights abuse allegations from the West was confirmed last week when China emerged as the island’s biggest financial donor in 2009. Europe, Japan and the United States have been the biggest donors until a few years back when the president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, was compelled to rely on China, India, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Libya for support after intensive battles between government troops and Tamil rebels triggered civilian deaths and strong protests from the West. [ full story | comments
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Rajiv Gandhi's assassin's plea in court today
[ NDTV ][ Mar 11 04:19 GMT ]
The Madras High Court will take up the case of Nalini's Sriharan's premature release as the Tamil Nadu government will produce the Prison Advisory Board report on her in court today. The board was constituted to consider the plea for premature release by Nalini, serving life term in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Nalini's original death sentence was commuted to life in prison after Sonia Gandhi intervened. Gandhi, whose husband, Rajiv, was killed by Nalini, asked for the reprieve for Nalini after the assassin had a baby daughter. [ full story | comments
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Why UN reports have no effect on Sri Lanka?
[ TCHR ][ Mar 11 04:09 GMT ]
So far over 150,000 have been killed, thousands and thousands have been multiply internally displaced and several thousand arbitrarily detained without any charges for many years. Another 600,000 or more have sought asylum in foreign countries. Press freedom and freedom of expression are in peril in Sri Lanka. Journalists are arrested, tortured, abducted, disappeared and killed over-night. Misinformation is heavily used internally and internationally by the government to distort the real picture of what is happening in Island. [ full story | comments (1)
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Sri Lanka gets US$250mn in loans from Japan for power, roads
[ LBO ][ Mar 11 02:50 GMT ]
Sri Lanka will get 22.5 billion yen in loans (250 million US dollars) from Japan for hydro power, water supply and provincial road development in former war torn areas in the east, a government minister said. The Japan International Co-operation (JICA) will loan 5,522 million yen (50 million US dollars) for the second stage of a hydro power complex in Upper Kotmale in Sri Lanka's central hills, minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris told reporters. [ full story | comments
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Sri Lanka asylum seekers in limbo
[ Al Jazeera ][ Mar 11 02:30 GMT ]
For more than five months a group of nearly 240 Sri Lankan asylum seekers have been stranded in an Indonesian port. The stand-off began when their boat was intercepted by the Indonesian navy following a tip-off from Australia. The boat people, who are virtually cut off from outsiders, say they want to be resettled in Australia or overseas. But Australia argues that the boat was intercepted in Indonesian waters so the people are Indonesia's problem. Al Jazeera's Step Vaessen reports. [ full story | comments
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Sri Lankan attorney general assures exiled journalists
[ CPJ ][ Mar 11 02:16 GMT ]
In a meeting with a CPJ delegation today, Sri Lankan Attorney General Mohan Peiris said he was prepared to offer protection to any of the nation’s journalists who return to the country from exile. "Speaking for myself, and I’m fairly sure the government will back me up on this, there is no question that the government needs our journalists,” Peiris told the delegation in his office. “They must come back and work with us and help set up the structures so that we can work together and we can respect each other. We must work with these institutions because we need them. We know if they stay outside and attack the government that is not useful.” [ full story | comments
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