The 200 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees stranded in West Africa are enduring miserable conditions in Togo, the BBC reported. They say they are living on meagre rations and face the prospect of imminent deportation home. The refugees say they are being detained by the army in an open sports stadium

 In a human smuggling operation gone sour, around 200 Sri Lankan refugee claimants hoping to come to Canada are stranded in West Africa, the BBC reported The BBC  reports that 200 Sri Lankans  travelled through India and Ethiopia before a smuggler abandoned them in Togo instead

Two hundred Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka are stranded in West Africa, BBC reports, after the human smuggling ring they hired to bring them to Canada marooned them in Togo. The BBC says the contingent travelled by ship from Sri Lanka to India, then on to Ethiopia before flying to Togo

Some two hundred Sri lankan refugees stranded in the tiny West African state of Togo have told the BBC that they fear for their life if they are deported back to their country. .

Stranded refugees from Sri Lanka, in the tiny West African state of Togo have told the BBC that they fear for their life if they are deported .

“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 ...

News Pre-premiere of ‘Silenced Voices – Tales of Sri Lankan Journalists in Exile’ and panel debate   The Fritt Ord Foundation invites the public to a debate and film screening of Silenced Voices – Tales of Sri Lankan Journalists in Exile on Thursday 9 February 2012, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Vika Cinema (Vika 2) in Oslo. There will be ...

Abu Dhabi: Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott had joked in his match commentary on the third day of the Abu Dhabi Test that he would sell his three houses if his side lost the match. Little did he know that Day 4 would turn the fortunes in Pakistan’s favour. Pakistan got an unassailable 2-0 lead ...

BBC WS speak to Shehan Karunatilaka whose debut novel set in Cricket-mad Sri Lanka won the DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.

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BBC: At least 31 people have been injured in clashes between guards and rioting inmates at Welikada prison yesterday. Most of the injured are prisoners who were shot by guards. Police deny claims that three inmates were killed. Several buildings were set alight in the remand wing of Colombo’

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 ...

Sri Lanka has reportedly ordered 161 foreign Muslim preachers to leave the country for flouting visa regulations. A senior immigration official was quoted as saying that the clerics had no right to preach in mosques because they had arrived on tourist visas, BBC reports. .

It’s December 2010, and two young law students are sitting for their exam. The one is in a hall full of students, who are being monitored closely by the examiner to make sure they’re following the rules: no phones, no electronic devices, no cheating. The other, meanwhile is taken to a private air conditioned room with a computer ...

The newly elected president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has once again has predicted that at least five years will be needed to resolve its financial crisis. Upali Dharmadasa, who was elected uncontested on 03 January, said the SLC will get a considerable amount of income from future tours of other Test playing nations by ...

By Tisaranee Gunasekara “Nothing is closer to the law of the jungle than a system of distorted laws and procedures” Haaretz Editorial (2.1.2012) President Rajapaksa won the Eelam War, with the help of countless others (including the imprisoned Gen. Fonseka). In fairytales, the hero who saves a country from some deadly peril is rewarded with ...

The Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover’s sensational new SUV – a car that won 34 international awards in the three months after its first production model came off the line in September 2011 – has arrived in Sri Lanka. The smallest, lightest, most fuel-efficient Range Rover ever produced, the Evoque has been described as ‘one ...

Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna is to make an official visit to Sri Lanka on 16 January to discuss bilateral relations and security in the region. The Government web site news.lk said that in an interview given to the Indian Journal Business Standards, Krishna has said that the Indian Government has never provided overt or ...

Below is an interview with Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleke published in the French Diplomatic Review – La Lettre Diplomatique (The Diplomatic Letter) Two years after the end of a three decades conflict, the lifting of the emergency rule in late August 2011 confirmed the beginning of a new era for Sri Lanka. With the recent discovery of ...

BBC: Hoteliers in a popular tourist destination in Sri Lanka have accused a local politician of blackmailing them and demanding ransom from hotels at the peak of a tourism season. The Hikkaduwa Hoteliers Association (HHA) told BBC Sandeshaya that the town’s Mayor, Winnie Kariyawasam

(Srilankamirror) - Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has denied the Sri Lankan government was under pressure from India to devolve more powers to the provinces. "No no no no, there was no pressure. Neither India nor other country can dictate how our country is governed," he has said. Mr. de Silva, who is heading the SLFP delegation to talks with the TNA, was responding to a question...

The head of a UK charity that sent a consignment of wheelchairs to Sri Lanka has condemned the decision to impose customs duties of over $8,000 (£5,180), the BBC reported. Peter Thompson, of the Yorkshire-based PhysioNet charity, said the shipment for Tamil war victims

“…by clever and persevering use of propaganda, even heaven can be represented as  hell to the people, and conversely the most wretched life as paradise”. Hitler (Mein Kampf) By Tisaranee Gunasekara Impunity is illimitable.   If the law was allowed to take its normal course after the Kolonnawa mini-war, the Christmas Eve murder of a ...

The head of a UK charity has condemned the imposing of a customs duty of over US$ 8000  for a consignment of wheel chairs that were sent to Sri Lanka for war victims, the BBC website reported. Peter Thompson, of the Yorkshire-based PhysioNet charity, said the shipment for war victims

More than 26,000 displaced people are yet to be allowed to resettle in their ancestral lands occupied by high security zones (HSZ) in Jaffna, according to Sri Lanka's main Tamil political party, the BBC reported.   The BBC reported that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has submitted a report

Tributes have been paid to a "committed" Red Cross worker who died after being attacked on Christmas Day while on holiday, the Press Association reported Khuram Shaikh, 32, from Manchester, a physiotherapist working for the International Red Cross in the Middle East, was killed in the tourist resort of Tangalle, about 100 miles south of the capital Colombo.   Unmarried Mr Shaikh was t...

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 ...

A British man killed on holiday in Sri Lanka has been described as a “committed” Red Cross worker. Khuram Shaikh, 32, from Manchester, was a physiotherapist working for the International Red Cross in Gaza. He died early on December 25 after an attack on him and a colleague in the tourist resort of Tangalle. Four people have ...

A shocked leisure industry yesterday decried the deadly attack on tourists in Tangalle over the weekend as the biggest setback for the sector which was rebounding following the end of the war. They urged the Government and law enforcement authorities to ensure harshest punishment against those responsible whilst calling for adequate measures to ensure safety ...

(Srilankamirror) - Upali Dharmadasa, the main contender for the presidency of Sri Lanka Cricket has said that he was confident of taking the cash-strapped body back on track if he wins the elections on January 03. He has told BBC Sandeshaya that the main reason for the SLC to be “