• Govt dismisses US call for progress

    Jan 28

    Responding to the prospect of another resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Sri Lankan government said that they had already made "substantial progress".

    The country's Foreign Secretary Karunathilaka Amunugama said on Tuesday:

  • SL accuses US diplomats of being spies

    A Sri Lankan government Minister has accused the visiting United States State Department Deputy Assistant Secretaries, of being spies.

  • 4,000 armed personnel to be deployed in Trinco
    Over 4,000 police and army personnel will be deployed in Trincomalee for Sri Lanka's Independence day celebrations, due to be held in the city.
  • Seized African ivory tusks gifted to Buddhist temples
    359 ivory tusks from African elephants worth millions of dollars, which were seized by Sri Lankan authorities last year, have been gifted to Buddhist temples.

    The tusks were seized by customs officials last year, but following a request from the Presidential Secretariat, they have now been handed over to Buddhist temples.
  • Ministers galore

    Adding to an already burgeoning Cabinet, five new ministers were sworn in before President Mahinda Rajapaksa this morning at the Cabinet reshuffle. (See here).

    The grand total now stands at 67 Cabinet ministers, and 97 ministers within a 225 member parliament.

  • US to sponsor UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka

    US officials have confirmed that it will move a new resolution on Sri Lanka at the 22nd session of the UN Human Rights Council.

    "The US has decided to sponsor a procedural resolution at the March 2013 sessions of the UNHRC," James R Moore, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, told reporters in Colombo.

  • Govt withdraws funding in Northern Province

    The government has withdrawn over Rs 560 million worth of funds ear marked for development in the TNA controlled Northern Province, reports the Sunday Times.

    According to Jaffna's Local Government Assistant Commissioner S Jeyaharan, the directive to withdraw the funds came from the Ministry of Local Government.

  • Sri Lankan Air Force helicopters to be used for oil exploration

    The Sri Lankan Air Force’s commercial wing, Heli Tours, has been chosen as the official ‘Air Logistics Operations’ provider for Cairn Sri Lanka’s oil exploration off the coast of Mannar.

  • Arrests made over 'Buddha Bar' meal
    Sri Lankan police have arrested two hotel managers after they arranged a dinner for French tourists at their premises, which played music from the 'Buddha Bar' collection and was described as a 'nirvana-style' buffet.

    The two men are being held in custody until Monday for 'causing offence to Buddhists' said Police Spokesperson Prisantha Jayakody.

    The arrests follow the hotel premises being raided by the Buddhist group 'Bodu Bala Sena' (Buddhist Power Force), accusing the hoteliers of insulting Buddhism. The organisation's leader Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero, allegedly told members of the media that his group would shut down the event if needed, as their menu was named 'nirvana'.

    The 'Buddha Bar' is an international chain of restaurants in locations across the world including London, New York, Beirut and Egypt. The Paris-based chain also released its own lounge music collection, having sold over a million copies worldwide (See the link on Amazon here).

    However, t    he music has been slapped with a ban by Sri Lanka, where the albums are illegal. It is alleged the hoteliers were playing music from the forbidden albums.

    Sri Lanka's constitution states that Buddhism has "the foremost place" on the island and it is the "duty of the state to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana", which the island's Buddhist community has been increasingly aggressive in doing.
  • Turkey wishes to 'learn from Sri Lanka'

    Turkey's first ever ambassador to Sri Lanka has stated that his country will have a lot to learn from Colombo on how to combat "terrorism", stating that Sri Lanka is "far ahead" of Turkey on the issue.

    With the opening of the Turkish Embassy in Sri Lanka this month, ambassador Iskender Okyay stated in an interview,

  • GSP+ withdrawal has hit Sri Lanka factories - Daily Mirror

    A number of factories in Sri Lanka have closed down after the withdrawal of the EU's Generalised System of Preferences (GSP+) mechanism, which made export to EU members cheaper for Sri Lanka.

    The Organising Secretary of the Inter Company Employees Union B.I. Abdeen told the Daily Mirror that 2000 jobs of direct employment had been lost due to the closure of two factories on January 2, 2013 alone.

  • Sri Lankan General barred from US military training

    The United States has refused an application for military training of Sri Lankan Army General, prompting the country's Defence Secretary to slam the decision as "wrong".

    Major-General Sudantha Ranasinghe was refused entry into the US for military training, with speculation that it may be on grounds that Ranasinghe is suspected of overseeing human rights violations.

  • Army probes into TNPF members' wherabouts

    The Sri Lankan Army appeared at the house of TNPF member Selvarajah Kajendran's house in Jaffna and proceeded to enquire about his wherabouts earlier this week.

    Publishing from his personal Twitter account on the 24th of January, Kajendran said,

  • Gota says no civilians went missing

    The Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse has claimed that no civilians at all went missing during the final phase of the armed conflict and that ICRC records tallied with those of the army, reported the Daily Mirror.

  • Bilingual anthem is against constitution - JHU
    Buddhist monks within the government's coalition party - the JHU, said that the inclusion of Tamil verses in the national anthem would violate the country's constitution.

    Speaking to the media, the JHU Deputy General Secretary Udaya Gammanpila said that the national anthem should only be sung in Sinhala during national ceremonies as Sinhala is the native language of Sri Lanka.
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