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 ...

Sri Lankan marathon runner has qualified in London to represent the country at 2012 London Olympics. Anuradha Indrajith Cooray, the first ever Sri Lankan to compete in London Marathon, qualified as he clocked two hours 17 minutes and 50 seconds, just 10 seconds less than the qualifying standard time. National badminton champion, Niluka Karunarathne, is ...

Relatives and friends of Sri Lankan Tamils who risked their lives in search of a better future abroad after the end of the war in May 2009 are desperately seeking information as to their fates. Thousands of Tamils migrated from the country to escape the violence of the 30-year civil war, which ended with Sri ...

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 ...

A gallery of images depicting the story of how the Nature Trails team headed by Chitral Jayathilake and Head Naturalist Nilantha Kodithuwakku, launched whale watching in the Eastern coast; was displayed at Chaaya Blu Trincomalee recently. Once approval was obtained by relevant authorities, the Nature Trails team headed out from Chaaya Blu Trincomalee in their ...

By Nita Bhalla It was with a heavy heart I read the press release this morning. A desperately needed aid programme run by the charity Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) – in English, Doctors without Borders – in Sri Lanka’s war-torn North has shut down after only 18 months of operation. I had visited the project ...

BBC: Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath who has moved up the ICC Test rankings to fifth says he is delighted to be awarded for his performance in two -Test series against England. Herath who took 6-133 and 1-37 in the second Test and adjudged man of the match after securing 12 wickets moved

million. But Sports Minister Mahindananada Aluthgamage told BBC Sinhala ...

  Sri Lankan batsman Thilan Samaraweera wrote his name into the cricket history books against England by scoring the two millionth run in Test cricket. He brought up the milestone with a nudged four to fine leg off Steve Finn at the end of the 10th over of the day on Tuesday. The 35-year-old went ...

Let’s accept it, Sri Lanka made a statement to the world that we are open for business with Expo 2012, even though it had its limitations like the faulty air conditioner at the launch that grabbed media attention. Whilst some can say that the shine was taken off the event due to the very uncomfortable ...

By Firdous Syed DNA India: There seems to be no moral justification behind the United States-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council. The massacre of ‘40,000 civilians’ and continued persecution of Tamils is a fit case for international censure; even an international intervention could be justified. That the US, motivated, or ...

  England lost their last six wickets for 31 runs as they collapsed to a 75-run defeat in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle. Chasing a record 340, England seemed well set as Jonathan Trott (112) and Matt Prior took them to 233-4. But Prior’s dismissal to Rangana Herath (6-97) for 41 sparked ...

A group of world leaders formed by Nelson Mandela has urged Sri Lanka to try and avoid another showdown in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by adhering to the recent resolution adopted by the body, BBC reports.

A group of world leaders formed by Nelson Mandela has urged Sri Lanka to try and avoid another showdown in the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) by adhering to the recent resolution adopted by the body. Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson told BBC Sandeshaya that The Elders

  A cultured unbeaten 168 from Mahela Jayawardene lifted Sri Lanka to 289-8 after the opening day of the two-Test series against England in Galle. Sri Lanka were 15-3 after three wickets fell in 10 balls, Kumar Sangakkara out first ball to James Anderson (3-56). The skipper survived four chances, two badly spilled late on ...

BBC: England chased 359 to beat the Sri Lankan Development XI by four wickets in their final warm-up game ahead of the two-Test series against Sri Lanka. The home side declared their second innings on 199-4 at lunch to give England a run-chase of 359 in 64 overs. England’s Ravi Bopara (2nd

Two hundred bogus asylum seekers from Sri Lanka are reportedly stranded in West Africa, according to a BBC news report.

Women who have lost their husbands and sons in Sri Lanka’s decades-long conflict have been forced to turn to prostitution, say women’s rights activists. Geetha Lakmini of World Fisherfolk Solidarity Movement said over 85,000 women were widowed in the north and east after the war. “One village in Madhu area is infamous for prostitution because ...

  The sports minister in Sri Lanka says that exclusive broadcasting rights of 2012 Olympics obtained by state-owned Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) will not be sold to private channel as reported by media. The Sunday Leader newspaper said the Carlton Sports Network (CSN), reportedly owned by President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s family, has sought the broadcasting ...

Almost three years after the end of the civil war, Sri Lanka is still dogged by allegations of human rights violations. Amid fresh moves in the UN's Human Rights Council to hold Sri Lanka to account, the BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo reports on a rise ...

By Cheranka Mendis As you walk in to the children’s ward at the National Cancer Institute of Maharagama you cannot help but feel a lump in your throat, tears threaten to spill over and sobs have to be choked back. Turning towards you will be these little faces – eyes big as saucers, lips sometimes ...

Below are excerpts of a 38 page paper by Brian Senewiratne (MA. MD. FRCP.FRACP) of  Brisbane, Australia titled UN Human Rights Council Meeting – Another Farce. Excerpts: “This is not a document for easy reading, nor is it meant to be. It is a reasonably comprehensive record of the abysmal record of the UN and the UN ...

Former UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes has said that the United Nations did not succeed in rescuing the innocent Tamil civilians used by the LTTE as human shields. Mr. Holmes emphasized that the United Nations had no authority under whatever circumstances to forcibly interfere in the internal affairs of a sovereign ...

The director of a British documentary on last stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war has accused the West and the UN of failing to take any “effective action” to prevent alleged war crimes by the country’s security forces BBC Sandeshaya reports.

In May, 2003, I travelled around Iraq reporting on its oil industry. Before reaching Baghdad, I got in touch with Marie Colvin, who was there covering the war and its aftermath for the Sunday Times, where I worked from 1986 to 1993. She wrote back to say that she was staying at a hunt club in ...

  Girls as young as seven have been sexually abused and sexual violence against women is on the increase in northern Sri Lanka, say health officials. According to a senior health official in Jaffna peninsula 32 incidents of child abuse and sexual abuse have been reported during the last two months. Dr S Sivaruban, the ...

Sri Lanka s human rights issue are causing huge divisions in the United Nations. The member st..

BBC: The International Cricket Council’s chief executives’ committee (CEC) has suggested that an associate or affiliate member such as Ireland could host a ICC World Twenty20 tournament. The CEC said non-Test-playing countries “should consider submitting a detailed proposition

The only Sri Lankan sportsperson to have qualified for London 2012 Olympics has called on the country’s authorities to plan ahead to get the best out of sportsmen and women. Niluka Karunaratne, the national badminton champion for the last ten years, told BBC Sandeshaya that otherwise Sri

The British Embassy in Colombo today monitored the return of a group of failed asylum seekers who had been deported from Britain. According to the Embassy, the British Deputy High Commission in Sri Lanka Robbie Bulloch monitored the return of 52 failed asylum seekers at the Katnayake airport. “I visited Colombo airport today to observe ...