A street has been named after one of the two Tamil Jaffna University students who were shot dead by Sri Lankan police officers earlier this year. Twenty-four year old Sulakshan was killed along side his friend and fellow arts student, Nadarasa Kajan on October 20th by officers, prompting widespread protests and call for an inquiry into the shooting.
A Sri Lankan court lifted a travel ban imposed on the former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and 6 others who were reprimanded for their complicity in the floating armoury case, reports Colombo Page. The Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilaptiyaa lifted the travel ban imposed on former navy commanders and former defence secretary. The suspects were charged with allowing the company Avant Grande to maintain a floating armoury and make unlawful profits.
Thousands of Danish Tamils attended Maaveerar Naal commemorations in the cities of Herning and Holbaek.
The French Agency for Development(AFD) has recently approved a 52 million Euro loan to Sri Lanka to finance the Anuradhapura Integrated Urban Development Project. The financing agreement was signed last week at the Ministry of Finance in the presence of France’s Ambassador to Sri lanka. The project is part fo the Strategic Cities Development Program (SCDP) and seeks to develop a more integrated approach to urban planning while preserving the cultural and natural heritage of Anurapdhapuram. The AFD identified multiple priorities such as water management, integrated urban mobility and the...
A merger of the North-East will not be immediately possible said TNA spokesperson and MP, MA Sumanthiran on Friday. Speaking to journalists from his home in Jaffna, Mr Sumanthiran said the option of a merger found in the 13th amendment will continue in the new constitution. Mr Sumanthiran said a form of a mechanism such as an Apex Council that sees the Northern and Eastern provinces working on certain issues together may be included, which they believe would build trust and cooperation, and then the two provinces could be merged after some time. However, he warned that such a method would...
Thousands of Tamils in Toronto, Canada commemorated Maaveerar Naal at a number of events across the city, including a large one at Markham Fairgrounds.
Sri Lanka's finance minister, Ravi Karunanayake said hotels and holiday homes run by the military and state agencies will be consolidated under one corporate entity. Suggesting this would better guide such investments, Mr Karunanayake added the current administration plans to sell-off non-strategic investments, including hotels.
Cabinet Ministers have approved a proposal for a National Defence College to be established in Sri Lanka. Government sources said the institution "is proposed to be established in Sri Lanka with the view of connecting Sri Lanka with the world strategically, gathering Sri Lankan and foreign academics in one knowledge hub, and providing a proper training for military and civil officers on defence strategies and methods.” It is likely that the college will be located at the ‘Mumtaz Mahal’ premises in Colombo.
Residents in Othiyamalai on Friday remembered the massacre of 32 Tamils by the Sri Lankan military in 1984. Lighting lamps, families who had lost their loved ones came together to remember. Sithambarapillai Sagunthararasa, then a five-year-old boy, who lost his father and five uncles during the massacre, gave the following account : "My father was listening to the radio. It was only when they caught him that we realized they were the SLA. They caught our uncle at our house. They tore up his shirt in front of us and tied his hands. Like this, the SLA went in twos and threes to every house and...
Indian government officials will meet with their Sri Lankan counterparts this month in the hope of expanding trade deals between the two, reports PTI . The discussions will revolve around the expansion of a free trade agreement (FTA), which currently only applies to certain goods. India has been keen to push for implementation of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, with negotiations having started in February 2005. It has yet to be put in place. However talks have been hampered by staunch opposition to the deal, especially from Sinhala Buddhist nationalists. India currently has a...