The Sri Lankan military has announced it is putting defeated presidential candidate and former army chief Gen Sarath Fonseka on trial next week. The general faces court martial proceedings on charges of engaging in politics while in uniform and also for breaking army procurement rules. Gen Fonsek... [More]

China is to lend Sri Lanka about $200m (£133m) to build a second international airport in the south of the island. Another $100m from Beijing will help boost the island's railway network, Sri Lanka's foreign ministry said. The new airport will be near a vast sea port which is being largely funde... [More]

An Indian charity has sent a team to northern Sri Lanka to provide 1,000 amputees with artificial limbs. Workers from the BMVSS charity, which makes the so-called "Jaipur foot", will spend a month in the town of Vavuniya. The Jaipur foot is regarded as the most inexpensive and cost eff... [More]

The recent arrest of Sri Lanka's former army chief and defeated presidential candidate, Gen Sarath Fonseka, along with some of his supporters, has raised fears among rights groups in the country. The authorities accuse the general of having worked with what they call anti-government forces Here p... [More]

Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is due to arrive in neighbouring Sri Lanka for a three-day visit involving talks with top officials. Details have not been revealed, but the diplomats may discuss a political solution to the grievances of the Tamil minority in the island state. Sri Lanka's P... [More]

The Sri Lankan election commission has ordered that all posters and cardboard cut-outs of candidates be removed in keeping with electoral regulations. It said such rules were widely flouted in January's presidential poll, in which President Mahinda Rajapaksa won re-election. The ruling comes one... [More]

A Sri Lankan Muslim woman who has been internally displaced in the north of the country for 20 years has won a top award from the US state department. Majeed Jensila is one of 10 worldwide recipients of the state department's International Women of Courage award for 2010. She heads a group calle... [More]

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met delegates of the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) conference in London where the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband addressed the gathering. Delivering the inaugural address of the GTF conference held at the British parliamentary complex on Wednesday the forei... [More]

When Mahinda Rajapaksa was re-elected president of Sri Lanka in January, media organisations and human rights groups said they hoped the suppression of dissenting voices would end. But those hopes have not materialised. The recent arrest of defeated presidential candidate, Gen Sarath Fonseka, is... [More]

Defeated Sri Lankan presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka - currently detained in military custody - is to stand in April's parliamentary polls. Party sources told the BBC that he would lead a new opposition alliance. Sri Lanka's authorities have meanwhile announced a raft of possible civilian ch... [More]

The Supreme Court in Sri Lanka has refused to order the immediate release of defeated presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka. He is currently being held in military detention at the navy's headquarters. The court was responding to a petition lodged by Gen Fonseka's wife. The government wan... [More]

The wife of a Sri Lankan journalist who disappeared mysteriously almost a month ago has appealed to the authorities to do more to find him. Prageeth Eknaligoda, who wrote for a news website that carried dissenting views, went missing two days before the presidential election last month. The webs... [More]

Sri Lanka's top runscorer in one-day international cricket is going to contest the forthcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for 8 April. Sanath Jayasuriya, now retired from Test cricket, told the BBC Tamil service he will stand in the southern district of Matara, where he was born. He will ... [More]

Sports and business must grow simultaneously if they are to play a role for reconciliation and nation-building to succeed in post-war Sri Lanka, experts say. The civil war, which ended in 2009, cast a long shadow on the sporting activities in the island nation. Sri Lanka had a popular sporting c... [More]

Sri Lanka's Buddhist clergy have called for the release from custody of former army chief and defeated presidential candidate Gen Sarath Fonseka. In a rare political move, leading monks told President Mahinda Rajapaksa they did not support the arrest of a man who risked his life to serve the count... [More]

Security is tight in Sri Lanka's capital as the Supreme Court prepares to hear a challenge to the arrest of the losing presidential candidate. Gen Sarath Fonseka was arrested on conspiracy charges on Monday, provoking clashes between his supporters and re-elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The ... [More]

Defeated Sri Lankan presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka is appealing for calm, his wife has announced. He made the plea through her after more violent clashes on Thursday linked to his arrest on conspiracy charges. Anoma Fonseka was granted access to her husband at the naval detention centre w... [More]

Government supporters and thousands of opposition activists have clashed in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo. At least eight people were hurt in the violence near the Supreme Court, officials said. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds. The opposition is angry at the arrest of losing presi... [More]

Sri Lankan opposition parties have said they will mount a legal challenge to the detention of defeated presidential candidate Gen Sarath Fonseka. Gen Fonseka was arrested on Monday, accused of working with anti-government forces and planning a coup and assassinations. He denies the charges. His ... [More]

With parliament dissolved, Sri Lanka must hold a general election by April. The opposition is now in huge difficulties, with its one recent figurehead incarcerated. The security forces' dramatic removal of Gen Sarath Fonseka from his office building late at night - dragged by his hands and feet, a... [More]