The bulk of the independent media was prevented from covering the arrival of the six Sri Lankan fishermen who arrived at the Bandaranayake International Airport (BIA) earlier today, 10 days after they were rescued by Spanish marines from the captivity of Somali pirates. The free media was informed by a fisheries ministry official at the BIA that there were orders to prevent them from the coverage...

Muslim heavy weights in Mahinda Rajapakse’s government –  Urban Affairs (Senior) Minister AHM Fowzie and Governor Western Province Alavi Moulana came out strongly against the government’s plan to relocate the Muslim mosque at Kandalama in Dambulla yesterday. They told the Lanka Standard that under no circumstance will they agree to a proposed plan to relocate the ...

Burma Leader Thein Sein In Japan To Talk Investment Burmese President Thein Sein has arrived in Japan for a five-day visit expected to focus on financial aid and debt relief. His visit, the first to Japan by a Burmese leader in 28 years, comes as EU nations prepare to ease sanctions. Thein Sein’s administration has ...

Emmanuel Ray, winner of Fashions Finest’s Fashion Icon of the Year award (2011), has been asked to officially open Gibraltar Fashion Week commencing 19 April 2012. Emmanuel will meet with fashion designers, press and a selection of important members of the Gibraltarian government. Reene Weston, designer and organiser had the following to say about why she chose ...

Reporters Without Borders calls on all members of the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council, which began its 19th session yesterday, to pass a resolution condemning the Sri Lankan government’s violations of freedom of information and to demand an end to threats and violence against news media and human rights defenders in Sri Lanka. “For ...

To commemorate the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, the Prefects’ Guild and senior students of the Colombo International School present ‘Smike: The Musical’ on 9 and 10 March. ‘Smike’, a pop musical based on Dickens’ novel ‘Nicholas Nickleby’, was created by composer Simon May, in collaboration with Roger Holman and Clive Barnett in 1973. It follows ....

To commemorate the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, the Prefects’ Guild and senior students of the Colombo International School present ‘Smike: The Musical’ on 9 and 10 March. ‘Smike’, a pop musical based on Dickens’ novel ‘Nicholas Nickleby’, was created by composer Simon May, in collaboration with Roger Holman and Clive Barnett in 1973. It follows ....

“Undercover Princes”: If the title makes you think of dashing Hohenzollerns trading secrets in romantic locales, think again. For one thing, the reality dating series of this title, beginning on Tuesday on TLC, is set not in Venice or Gstaad or even London but in the chip shops and seaside pubs of Brighton, England, which looks ...

Media organisations in Sri Lanka have urged the authorities to investigate all recent attacks on media personnel and institutions. The watchdogs say they will stage a protest on 25 January in Colombo against a series of attacks against media personnel in recent years. It will especially mark “Black January” during which many prominent media personnel ...

The Tamil hit song ‘Kolaveri di’ has become a hit in India and Sri Lanka thanks to its catchy beat and words. Now a Sri Lankan born British singer Arjun Coomaraswamy has released an English remix of the track in London and it has reached almost 2 million hits on YouTube. The English version of ...

Reuters: Sky television will launch a dedicated pay TV Formula One channel in Britain next year with live coverage of every race in high definition (HD) and without the interruption of advertisements, the broadcaster announced on Friday. Sky said it would show every practice and qualifying session live on Sky Sports F1 HD when the ...

An enjoining order against TNL TV and Isira Radio, and its chairman Shan Wickremesinghe was issued by the Colombo District Judge Ranjith Wathupola preventing them from carrying any ‘defamatory statements’ against managing director of Triad (Pvt) Ltd., Dilith Jayaweera. Jayaweera has sent a letter of demand of Rs500 million to Shan Wickremesinghe and his co-host Sudath Jaysundera for making defama...

(Reuters) – Embattled FIFA president Sepp Blatter apologised for his controversial comments about racism on Friday but said he would not be resigning despite a growing clamour in Britain for him to step down. “It hurts and I am still hurting because I couldn’t envisage such a reaction,” the 75-year-old head of world soccer’s governing ...

Offering epic safari adventures, Chaaya Wild transcends expectations and enthrals nature enthusiastsBy Marianne David If there’s one message that Yala reinforces, it’s the fact Sri Lanka is so abundantly blessed – a miracle in many ways. Despite its rising position as a hotspot for leopards being temporarily halted in its tracks during the latter stages ...

‘World Chall-enge’ is a global contest conducted by BBC TV, Newsweek and Shell. During its six-year existence, Sri Lanka has been able to win the top prize not once, but twice. In 2006, it was ‘Maximus,’ a firm making paper out of elephant dung, that won this prestigious

Sri Lankan represents global team of entrepreneursAspirations Edu-cation’s General Manager Deepamala Abeysekera became the only Sri Lankan to represent a group of 30 entrepreneurs in the world from, USA, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa, to read for her postgraduate studies in entrepreneurship at the University of Cambridge. Cambridge has acquired an international reputation as an ...

OCTOBER 17, 2011: Status: Not Free Legal Environment: 23 Political Environment: 30 Economic Environment: 18 Total Score: 71 Despite the end of the government’s long-running war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel group in May 2009, media freedom remained restricted in Sri Lanka, with journalists subject to myriad forms of legal harassment and physical intimidation. Altho...

Gulf Air, the national carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, yesterday took delivery of its first A330-200 aircraft retrofitted with Panasonic Avionics Corporation’s (Panasonic) Global Communications Suite. The comprehensive communications and entertainment solution, ‘Sky Hub’, offers passengers onboard full broadband connectivity to access internet, mobile phone services and, for t...

According to latest report of Global Peace Index (GPI), Sri Lanka ranked 126 while Norway ranked in ninth place. Here we are talking about the riots that took place in UK recently and the same GPI ranked the UK in 26th place (100 places ahead of Sri Lanka). A series of incidents erupted in England ...

A son of Muammar Gaddafi, previously reported captured, made a surprise appearance with jubilant supporters in Tripoli overnight, urging loyalists to fight off rebels who say they control most of the Libyan capital. Saif al-Islam, seen as his father’s chosen successor, visited the Tripoli hotel where foreign journalists are staying to declare that the government ...

By S. V. Kirubaharan - in France Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.” — Julius Henry, Groucho Marx, American comedian and film star (1890-1977). When life is smooth and everything goes in the right direction, normal civilians can become President, Prime Minister ...

History proves the efforts made by Channel Four to get popularized by crafting controversial as well as programmes provoking the people. The report telecast by Channel Four villifying the Sri Lankan Government and the Security Forces is the talk of the day among various communities. Media institutions as well as many critics point out that ...

The Gay Movement In Sri Lanka By Sherman Anthony De Rose I am from a family of seven from the countryside of Kotahena. When I was young, it was a very crowded area where low class people, who earned only for their daily needs, lived. The area had very strong Catholic families, Colombo Chetties and ...

Extracts from report on Sri Lanka by advisory panel appointed by Ban Ki moon 2. Violations in the IDP Camps (a) Arbitrary detention of IDPs in closed camps 154. Civilians emerging from the conflicts zone were initially housed in a...

by Prof.Michael Roberts Sri Lanka’s comprehensive victory over New Zealand in the last match for Group A at Mumbai was marred by a controversial third umpire decision that reprieved Mahela Jayawardene when he was in his twenties. This verdict certainly...

By Izeth Hussain After quite some time allegations have once again surfaced that some Muslims have supported the Pakistan side against all others, including the Sri Lankan one at the recent World Cup match. I have been sent newspaper material...

by Tisaranee Gunasekara "When heads of state do not pay attention to the needs of their nation, the people take over”. Turkish Presiden Abdullah Gul (During the February 2011 visit to Iran) “As he launched a series of murderous attacks...

A state-run television station has made an “unconditional apology” to national cricket team, says the chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), BBC reports. .

Vice captain of the Sri Lankan cricket team Mahela Jayawardene is considering legal action against state owned Independent Television Network (ITN) in response to commentary which implied he was guilty of match-fixing, the BBC has reported today. The report states that a state television broadcast

Sri Lanka vice captain Mahela Jayawardene is considering legal action in response to commentary which implied he was guilty of match-fixing. A state television broadcast suggested Jayawardene deliberately played badly for financial gain in Saturday’s cricket World Cup defeat by Pakistan, BBC