By Matthew Russell Lee UNITED NATIONS, March 8 -- After a weekend during which Sri Lanka's president and ruling party attacked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for saying he will name a panel to advise himself about possible war crimes in Sri Lanka, Inner City Press asked Mr. Ban for his side of th... [More]

  Pilgrims who returned from Paalaitheevu after attending the lent period prayers in St. Antony’s church Sunday said that they had seen many Chinese Tents and food packets with Chinese writing on them during the annual festival held Saturday and Sunday. Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) occupies many of the... [More]

Sri Lanka's former army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka has threatened to go on a hunger strike to protest against his detention, his wife said Sunday. Fonseka will begin his fast unless allowed to telephone their two daughters studying in the United States, Anoma Fonseka ... [More]

  U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon plans to ask a panel of experts to advise the world body on "accountability issues" relating to possible human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, Reuters reported quoting spokesperson Martin Nesirky as saying. Ban has said an investigation of war crimes a... [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]

Whereas the Tamils democratically gave the mandate for the independence of their own country Tamil Eelam by endorsing the Vaddukoddai Resolution of 1976, in the 1977 general elections, the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) calls upon the international community, governments, leaders and the UN to conduct a U... [More]

During the popular Diane Rheme show in Washington's National Public Radio (NPR) Friday, responding to a question on the muted response of Obama administration to the slaughter of civilians in Sri Lanka, NPR's commentator Gjelten said, "When people feel that their suffering is not acknowledged ... [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]

"The United States for historical reasons has almost no economic relations with Iran," French Ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud said on Thursday night, explaining the U.S. push for sanctions on Tehran. In a dig at the U.S. position, Araud paraphrased a French philosopher, that "you ar... [More]

Eezham Tamils in Switzerland will democratically elect their representatives to form Swiss Council of Eezham Tamils on March 28, announced Tamil Election Switzerland (TES) it its official website. The constitution of the council will be based on the democratic mandate given by the diaspora Tamils of... [More]

With the result of next month’s parliamentary election almost a certainty, the focus has shifted to the floods of candidates overwhelming voters at the ballot box. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ruling party is expected to romp to victory in the poll, which will see a total of 7,520 contestants v... [More]

While Colombo plans allotting lands for ‘retired’ Sinhala army personnel in the so-called 'resettlement' schemes of Tamil North and East of the island of Sri Lanka, China and India compete in proving who is the best facilitator of Colombo in its demographic onslaught, Eezham Tamils circles said. Ch... [More]

Sri Lankan police are to question dozens of military intelligence officers in connection with the internationally condemned assassination of a senior editor, a spokesman said Tuesday. Investigations into the January 2009 slaying of Lasantha Wickrematunga, chief editor of the anti-establishment Sun... [More]

U.S. Supreme Court will hear "war-crimes charges" against former Somali Defense minister and Prime Minister Mohamed Ali Samantar in a civil case this Wednesday, legal sources in Washington said. Samantar, 74, currently lives in Fairfax, Virginia, after fleeing his native country in 1991 to... [More]

Even before the war between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan Government came to an abrupt end in May last year, serious allegations of war crimes were flying thick and fast between both sides. Dateline reporter, Ginny Stein, recently travelled to Sri Lanka and to New York to test the claims of ... [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]

Noting that "there is a natural affinity between Tamils in Britain and our [Conservative] Party," William Hague, the British Shadow Foreign Secretary, in his speech to the inaugural launch of Global Tamil Forum, warned that the "continued confinement [of thousands] will simply sow th... [More]

British Foreign Secretary David Milliband, Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague and Liberal Democrats Shadow Foreign Secretary Ed Davey all addressed the Global Tamil Forum’s inaugural meeting in London on Wednesday, 24 February. The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) launch saw delegates from... [More]

The British government defended Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s decision to address a meeting of the Global Tamil Forum here saying that Britain would “engage” with all members of the Sri Lankan community who shared its view that a peaceful political solution was the only way to achieve lasting ... [More]

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court refused Tuesday to order the release of detained opposition leader and former army chief Sarath Fonseka as it deliberates a petition challenging his arrest by the military. Fonseka, 59, has been held at a naval detention centre since his arrest on February 8, sparking int... [More]