Fishermen in the Sri Lankan port of Trincomalee hoped the end of the island’s civil war would bring prosperity, but dynamite and corruption now threaten their livelihoods.

Trincomalee, on the northeast coast, has one of the world’s finest natural harbours and was fiercely fought over during the war until government troops finally defeated the rebel Tamil Tigers in May last year.

"The problem we have now is that although we have the freedom to go out and work, the fish are being [...]

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Tuesday began assessing a draft bill that would amend the island’s constitution to allow President Mahinda Rajapakse to run for office for a third term.

Registrar of the Supreme Court said the five-judge bench would give their decision to the president and speaker of parliament within 24 hours, with a vote in parliament then expected to take place next week.

On Monday, the cabinet approved a proposal to scrap the two-term limit for presidents, which would enable [...]

A Sri Lankan housemaid has returned home from Saudi Arabia with 24 nails embedded in her body after allegedly being tortured by her employer, officials said Wednesday.

A government minister said police were investigating a complaint from L. T. Ariyawathi, 49, that her Saudi employer tortured her and drove nails into her body as punishment.

"We are conducting an investigation and we will coordinate with Saudi authorities to have the suspects arrested," Economic Development Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told reporters.

The woman travelled [...]

Sri Lanka’s former army chief Sarath Fonseka said Thursday he expects the government to put him behind bars to end his political career after a court martial convicted him.

Fonseka, who led troops to victory in the island’s 37-year ethnic conflict last year, said the government was seeking revenge for his decision to stand against the president at January polls.

He was arrested two weeks after President Mahinda Rajapakse won re-election and he faces a plethora of charges ranging from corruption [...]

Sri Lanka’s powerful defence chief Tuesday staunchly defended the government’s human rights record, saying troops suffered heavy losses to avoid civilian casualties during last year’s assault on Tamil Tiger rebels.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said foreign diplomats and aid agencies had lauded his measures to protect civilians during the major military campaign against the Tigers, who were crushed in May last year.

Rajapakse told a government-appointed Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission 6,000 troops were killed and 30,000 wounded during the "humanitarian [...]

The authorities are investigating whether Sri Lankan rebels financed the passage of nearly 500 Tamil refugees to Canada last week, officials said before the start of detention hearings.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, speaking to The Globe and Mail daily in an article Monday, said passengers were charged up to 50,000 Canadian dollars (48,000 US dollars) for travel aboard the cargo ship MV Sun Sea.

Members of Canada’s 300,000 Tamil community may have helped fund their passage and the outlawed Liberation [...]

Sri Lankan exporters braced for hard times as the EU’s withdrawal of import concessions took effect Sunday after Colombo’s refusal to allow scrutiny of its human rights record.

Sri Lanka has long been a preferred source for top high streets brands and its garment, china and other exports enjoyed lower European Union tariffs under a concession known as the Generalised System of Preference Plus (GSP+).

But when the concession came up for renewal last year, Sri Lanka’s hawkish government refused EU [...]

Sri Lanka’s president has formally stripped former army chief Sarath Fonseka of his rank, medals and pension after his conviction by a court martial, officials said Saturday.

President Mahinda Rajapakse ratified Friday’s verdict of the controversial tribunal, which found Fonseka guilty of dabbling in politics while heading the military last year.

"The president as commander-in-chief of the armed forces has today confirmed the findings and the punishment handed down by the court martial," a military source said, asking not to be [...]

The Canadian navy has intercepted a cargo ship carrying almost 500 Sri Lankan asylum seekers and prepared to screen them, fearing some belonged to the defeated and banned Tamil Tiger rebels.

After days of tracking by Canadian and US authorities, Canadian Forces and Canada Border Services Agency personnel boarded the MV Sun Sea after it appeared to veer from its expected destination in the Vancouver area Thursday.

The frigate HMCS Winnipeg "attempted to hail the Sun Sea several times and, after [...]

A government-appointed panel probing the final stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war began work in Colombo on Wednesday, but rights bodies and lawmakers in the United States accused it of lacking credibility.

The eight-member panel will hear testimony from witnesses on five separate days in the capital and for two days in Vavuniya, near the former war zone.

The panel has been asked to report to President Mahinda Rajapakse within six months on why a 2002 truce broke down and to [...]

A group of US lawmakers is urging the Obama administration to push for an independent international investigation into alleged war crimes that occurred during Sri Lanka’s civil war.

In a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the members of Congress called for such a probe saying panels set up by the Sri Lankan government to probe the allegations "lacked the needed credibility."

These panels have "also delayed criminal investigations and in several instances members of these commissions have [...]

Sri Lanka’s president Tuesday sacked a maverick minister who had tied a state official to a tree as punishment for failing to control the spread of dengue fever in the country, an official said.

Highways minister Mervyn Silva was dismissed and his ruling party membership suspended pending a disciplinary inquiry, an official at the president’s office said.

"The president removed minister Silva from his post with immediate effect," the official said without elaborating.

Silva raised a storm of public protest after he [...]

Two opposition lawmakers in Sri Lanka defected to the ruling party on Thursday, bringing President Mahinda Rajapakse closer to altering the constitution to allow him to retain power.

The two MPs, both from the minority Tamil community, joined the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) led by Rajapakse, who oversaw the military offensive in which troops defeated separatist Tamil Tiger rebels last year.

Rajapakse won a second presidential term in January elections and consolidated his power in parliamentary elections in April.

After the [...]

Sri Lanka is expected to earn a record 1.4 billion dollars from its tea exports this year thanks to a bumper crop, an official said Thursday.

Tea, Sri Lanka’s biggest cash crop, earned 71.3 billion rupees (635 million dollars) in the first six months of 2010 compared with 58.2 billion rupees in the corresponding period last year.

"We are forecasting about 1.4 billion dollars in export earnings for this year. The fourth straight year to exceed a billion dollars in exports," Sri [...]

The United States and Canada said Wednesday they are monitoring a ship said to be packed with Tamil refugees bound for Canada as they flee post-war persecution in Sri Lanka.

David Poopalapillai, a spokesman for Canadian Tamils, dismissed what he called mere allegations that the asylum seekers included members of the separatist Tamil Tigers, outlawed as terrorists by both Ottawa and Washington.

Interviewed by AFP, Poopalapillai expressed concern for the health and safety of the Sri Lankan passengers, most of them [...]