By Dinouk Colombage Following the United Nations Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva, Sri Lankan state media and members of the government have been on the offensive against human rights activists and independent media groups calling them ‘traitors’. Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, acting Minister of Mass Media, in an interview with The Sunday Leader says he ...

aHSBC has partnered Asia Exhibition and Conventions to hold the biggest exclusive lifestyle fair, ‘The Big Deal,’ scheduled to be held from 23-25 March at the BMICH. This comes in the wake of the bank’s latest campaign, ‘Wake Up!’ which inspires customers to live their unspoken dreams with the assistance of a Lifestyle Loan.   ...

(Srilankamirror) - Former chief justice Sarath N. Silva says any suspected war criminal could be taken before The Hague despite not being a signatory to the Rome convention. He has refuted opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s claim that no Sri Lankan could be hauled before the International Criminal Court as he had not signed the convention as the then prime minister. Speaking to...

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 ...

(Srilankamirror) - Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe says the mobs who hurled stones at him at Sirikotha on December 19 missed their target and hit the Buddha statue in front of the party headquarters building. At a media briefing at his office yesterday (Dec. 20), he displayed one of the rocks, which he said was aimed at him, and said it was thrown by Keli Rajamahendran. As a Christm...

Sarath Fonseka was found guilty on the first charge in an indictment filed in the High Court of Colombo, consequent to an article carried in The Sunday Leader on December 13 2009 -  front page under the caption “Gota Ordered Them To Be Shot - Gen. Sarath Fonseka.” The case was heard at a Trial-at-Bar before ...

“There is a tide in the affairs of men.  Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life  Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures.” – Brutus, in Julius Caesar, Act 4 Winning ...

The Ceylon Continental Hotel recently hosted the very popular Continental Weddings Exhibition. One of the highlights of this exhibition was the raffle draw that allowed a lucky couple to win an all paid for dream wedding.   Ceylon Continental Director Sales and Marketing Harsha Samaranayake (centre) draws a winner watched by Amaya Resorts and Spas ...

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...

The Media Organizations Collective says it unreservedly condemns the arrest of Sirasa TV journalist Indika Sri Aravinda, who was taken to Moratuwa Police Station, where his recorded video footage was deleted. It says in a statement that the journalist faced the incident yesterday (Oct. 05) after he had videoed the mourning relatives of a dead man, who was one of the suspects in the killing of...

Six Media organisations today condemned the action of the Police for forcing a TV journalist to delete pictures he had taken in relation to a news item he had covered in the Moratuwa area. The organizations said that a Sirasa TV journalist Indika Shri Aravinda had videoed the family members weeping over the death of a suspect who died in Police custody when the Police had taken him to the Moratuwa...

Two-day exhibition will grant a lucky bride and groom the prize of a lifetimeOn the 1 and 2 October, Ceylon Continental Hotel will host a Wedding Exhibition showcasing new trends, well-known leading suppliers and the latest wedding ideas and inspirations at the recently renovated Sapphire Ballroom. It is the first time in Sri Lanka that ...

On 1 and 2 October, Ceylon Continental Hotel will host a Wedding Exhibition showcasing new trends, well known leading suppliers and the latest wedding ideas and inspirations at the recently renovated Sapphire Ballroom. It is the first time in Sri Lanka that a five star hotel is gearing to organize an exhibition of such scale ...

The UNP’s tumultuous Working Committee meeting on Wednesday resulted in many allegations and jibes thrown back and forth between senior party members. Rosie Senanayake yesterday together several UNP members held a press conference at the Bodhi Ranasinghe Foundation Narehenpita following a dispute with the UNP Working Committee. She alleged that the UNP Working Committee was ...

JVP politburo member and DNA parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake today (24) charged that the government has used emergency regulations suppress the people’s rights and to silence dissent. Dissanayake speaking during the debate on the extension of emergency regulations in parliament has called on the government to relax the emergency regulations. He has also spoke of ...

by Harim Peiris Last week Sri Lanka commemorated her 63rd anniversary of freedom from colonial rule and Sri Lankans rightly celebrated the achievement of our political independence and democratic rights as a free and sovereign nation. That freedom and sovereignty...

By Harsha De Silva I am generally not the street-protesting type. I try to articulate my arguments with facts and figures, be it writing, speaking or engaging in debate. But the other day, I was in a demonstration and this...

By Tisaranee Gunasekara “People want their freedom. People want their bread. People want to stop their lousy dictators from looting their countries”. — A Jordanian Dissident (New York Times – 30.1.2011) Tunisia and Egypt, in revolt, are at the end...

Lasantha’s Killers Still Walk Free By Frederica Jansz A year ago, a high profile investigation into the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge and the attacks on Editors Upali Tennekoon, Keith Noyahr and Namal Perera got underway as senior sleuths attached to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and the Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) sifted through a smattering ...

Vogue Jewellers and Sirasa TV join hands to make wedding dreams a reality! Colombo. Tuesday 04 January 2011. “Mangala Sihinaya”, Sri Lanka’s first-ever wedding reality show hits local television screens this month as Vogue Jewellers and Sri Lanka’s premier television channel Sirasa TV, join hands to both reward and entertain hundreds of thousands of television viewers across the country. Billed...

The Free Media Movement (FMM) unequivocally condemns Tuesday’s (7th December) attack on journalists at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) and views it as yet another serious blow to media freedom, ethical and democratic right to impartial reporting. Lanka E News...

Mega Star Or Mega Joke? For many years, I have been a loyal fan of Swarnavahini. For the past one year, I have been a keen viewer of their reality show Mega Star, which finally turned out to be a ‘Mega Joke’.  Practically, every right thinking citizen of Sri Lanka and any person who has ...