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Jan 30, Colombo: Sri Lankan wildlife authorities today reopened two famous wildlife parks in the Southeast that have been closed for four years due to threat of terrorism.

Jan 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka police shut down the office of the Marxist party tabloid today following the arrest of its editor yesterday.

Former military spokesman Major General Daya Ratnayake has been appointed the Chief of Staff (CoS) of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) with immadiate effect on Saturday, defense sources from Colombo said. Major General Daya Ratnayake was earlier the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation.

Colombo A Sri Lankan anti-government newspaper was shuttered Saturday after its editor was arrested on allegations of publishing details of an ongoing investigation against a former Tamil rebel now in custody, police said. The Lanka newspaper, publis…

Initial reports indicate close to a thousand votes have been cast in the first hour of voting in the referendum being held in the UK this weekend. British Tamils are holding the referendum to re-mandate the Vaddukoddai Resolution passed in 1976, demanding an independent state of Tamil Eelam for the Tamils living in the island [...]

The office of ‘Lanka ‘ newspaper in Sri Lanka was sealed off by officials of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) this afternoon

COLOMBO (AFP) - Police in Sri Lanka shut down the offices of an opposition newspaper on Saturday, the weekly said, as international rights groups accused the authorities of a vendetta against critical media.

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) which had relaxed their various restrictions in Jaffna peninsula prior to president election have begun to impose them again actively, sources in Jaffna said. These restrictions include the checking of passengers travelling within the peninsula and to the islets of Jaffna besides access to their places [...]

Eelam Peoples Democracy Party (EPDP) supporters set fire to a Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) bus Saturday morning in a shutdown protest demanding Minister Douglas Devananda not to resign his post, sources in Jaffna said. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers forced open the few shops in Jaffna town which had been closed in fear of [...]

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP): An international human rights group is urging the Sri Lankan government to stop what it says is postelection harassment of journalists and news media.

Jan 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka Election Secretariat has dismissed the allegations by the opposition parties that computer manipulation of votes took place during the counting process of last Tuesday’s presidential election, the Island newspaper reported.

Jan 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka is to hold this year’s Independence Day celebrations on a grand scale in the hill capital of Kandy under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Jan 30, Colombo: Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, Major General Daya Ratnayake has been appointed as the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army effective immediately.

To the Editor: Regarding “The 31 Places to Go in 2010″ (Jan. 10): I am surprised you included Sri Lanka as one of the 31 places to visit. It appears your newspaper seems to have forgotten the innumerable human rights violations committed by successive Sri Lankan governments, the worst being by the present regime. Journalists [...]

(Lanka-e-News 2010.Jan.30 11.30AM) Two days after he was declared the winner of this week’s election, Reporters Without Borders appealed today to President Mahinda Rajapaksa to put a…

Jan 30, Colombo: The two crossed-over opposition stalwarts, Minister Johnston Fernando and former Deputy Mayor of Colombo Azath Salley urged all the political parties to support President Mahinda Rajapaksa to steer the country towards prosperity.

Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa has won a re-election reaping the rewards of his military victory over the Tamil Tigers. But can this wartime president lead his country in an effort to win peace?

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) which had relaxed their various restrictions in Jaffna peninsula prior to president election have begun to impose them again actively, sources in Jaffna said. These restrictions include the checking of passengers travelling within the peninsula and to the islets of Jaffna besides access to their places [...]

Christchurch, Jan 29 : West Indies batsman Yannic Cariah scored a magnificent unbeaten century to guide his side to a thrilling four-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in a high-scoring third/fourth position play-off match of the ICC U-19 World Cup here today.

Christchurch, Jan 29 : West Indies batsman Yannic Cariah scored a magnificent unbeaten century to guide his side to a thrilling four-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in a high-scoring third/fourth position play-off match of the ICC U-19 World Cup here today.

The Election Secretariat yesterday dismissed Opposition allegations that the government and the elec..

According to the International Monetary Fund, Sri Lanka has walked itself out from the league of poo..

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday emphasized that proposals contained in his second manifesto Ma..

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka Police raided the office of Sri Lanka`s defeated presidential candidate Sarath ..

Pyongyang, January 29 (KCNA) — Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly, Thursday sent a congratulatory message to Mahinda Rajapaksa, on his reelection as president of Sri Lanka.

Robert Evans, former Member of European Parliament from Britain and Labour politician, urged the diaspora Tamils in UK to participate in the referendum this weekend, saying that the message should go to Mr. Rajapaksa and the Colombo government should know what the diaspora thinks. Meanwhile, Conservative Parliamentary candidate Andrew Charalambous, strongly supporting the referendum, said: [...]

Source: Human Rights Watch (New York) - The Sri Lankan government should
immediately end its post-election harassment of media outlets and ensure protection of journalists from attack, Human Rights Watch said today.
…

ColomboPage is seeking an experienced reporter to join us in providing news from Sri Lanka. You must have a good understanding of the written English language, have an hour or two to spare per day and be able to quickly send the news that meet our standards.

Chandana Sirimalwatte, the editor of the pro Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna
(JVP) Sinhala language weekly ‘Lanka’ was taken into custody by the
police Friday morning in connection with an article carried in the
paper on January 26.

The office of the defeated opposition common presidential candidate
General (retd) Sarath Fonseka was under siege Friday afternoon by
Special Task Force (STF) of Sri Lanka Police. About two hundred STF
personnel surrounded the office of Fonseka which is located near Royal
College in Colombo along Rajkeeya Mawatte. Some masked STF
personnel entered the office and started searching the premises,
sources [...]

Presenting systematically the procedures for conducting the referendum in UK this weekend, Tamil Referendum Committee (TRC) has released a 24-page handbook, worked out by a group of young legal practitioners. Meanwhile, 66 polling stations has been announced throughout the country. In the polling booths outside of the M25 limits of London city, the voting will [...]

Jan 30, Colombo: The United Nations Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon once again appealed to Sri Lanka’s political parties to exercise restraint and abide by the laws of the land.

Jan 30, Colombo: A healthcare review meeting led by the Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva has decided to hand over the healthcare services at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps to the Northern Province Governor.

Jan 30, Colombo: Sri Lankan government is taking measures to improve the healthcare facilities in the rural areas of the country, the Health Ministry said.

Sri Lanka government orders Swiss journalist to leave the country within 48 hours

Police raided the office of Sri Lanka’s defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka and arrested 15 of his staff Friday, after officials accused the former army chief of plotting to overthrow the government and assassinate his victorious rival.

Swiss national radio says one of its journalists has been ordered to leave Sri Lanka after asking critical questions at a postelection news conference earlier this week.

The opposition coalition which has rejected the election result says it will explore the possibility of taking legal action, says the leader of the opposition Ranil Wickremasinghe.

Jan 29, Colombo: India is planning to open a consulate soon in Sri Lanka’s Tamil-dominated Jaffna to accelerate the reconstruction of the war-battered region, Indian officials have said.

Malinga Bandara, the Sri Lankan legs pinner, has been signed Kent as their overseas player for the second half of next season. Bandara, 30, has played eight Tests, 31 one-dayers and four Twenty20 Internationals for Sri Lanka. Bandara will arrive in May in time for the first Twenty20 match of the season-JNW

Police raided the office of Sri Lanka’s losing presidential candidate on Friday and arrested 15 ex-military members of his staff, aides said, two days after troops surrounded his hotel on suspicion of a coup plot.

Jan 29, Colombo: Global Marketing Network (GMN), the worldwide professional membership association for marketing and business professionals announced that it will launch its operations in Sri Lanka in May.

Chandana Sirimalwatte, the editor of the pro Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Sinhala language weekly ‘Lanka’ was taken into custody by the police Friday morning in connection with an article carried in the paper on January 26.

Jan 29, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has revoked the visa of a Swiss radio correspondent based in New Delhi, India and ordered her to leave the country by February 1, Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) reported.

Jan 29, Brussels: The European Union congratulated Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa today on his re-election to a second term and offered support for his efforts to bring a sustainable peace to all the Sri Lankans.

The referendum on Tamil Eelam scheduled to Saturday and Sunday in UK, organized in unison by all main stakeholders of Eezham Tamil nationalism, is going to be very significant, said diaspora circles. Apart from the size of Eezham Tamil population in UK, the significance actually lies in how the public spirit is going to be [...]

Jan 29, Colombo: The Criminal Investigations Department of Sri Lanka has taken in the Chief Editor of the ‘Lanka’ newspaper Chandana Sirimalwatte today for questioning.

Jan 29, Colombo: Sri Lanka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Special Task Force officials have raided the office of the common opposition candidate General Commander Sarath Fonseka today and arrested 13 suspected army deserters.

The office of the defeated opposition common presidential candidate General (retd) Sarath Fonseka was under siege Friday afternoon by Special Task Force (STF) of Sri Lanka Police. About two hundred STF personnel surrounded the office of Fonseka which is located near Royal College in Colombo along Rajkeeya Mawatte. Some masked STF personnel entered the office [...]

President Mahinda Rajapaksa stands triumphant in Sri Lanka.

VOTING patterns in Sri Lanka’s turbulent presidential elections have underscored the destructive ethnic divisions that fuelled decades of civil war.

The Colombo campaign office of defeated Sri Lankan presidential candidate Gen Sarath Fonseka has been raided, his supporters say

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - An opposition official says police have raided the office of Sri Lanka’s defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka.

“Diaspora Tamils live in established liberal democratic states with freedom of the press and where the rule of law is invariably observed. This weekend’s referendum in Britain provides us with a chance to prove that the demand for Tamil Eelam is, as it always was, the well reasoned conclusion of rational, free-thinking, independent individuals. By [...]

Source: Reuters * Police commandos seen outside beaten candidate’s office

* Former army commander was once aligned with president

* Editor of pro-opposition paper said to have been arrested

(Adds observer …

The Special Task Force (STF) in Sri Lanka has raided defeated Presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka’s office, media reports from Colombo have said.

Sri Lanka’s defeated presidential candidate will contest a parliamentary seat during general elections later this year, an opposition activist said on Friday. Sarath Fonseka will challenge President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s party in parliamentary elections after losing the presidential race earlier this week, said Mano Ganeshan, an opposition official.

Ki’linochchi police recovered the body of a youth, hand and legs bound behind, tied to a stone and dumped into a well in Aananthapu’ram in Ki,’linochchi where some people have been permitted to resettle, sources in Ki’linochchi said. The youth, staying with his parents in one of the camps in Vavuniya, had gone to his [...]

Source: Reuters COLOMBO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan police raided the office of losing presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka on Friday, an aide said, two days after troops had surrounded him inside a hotel …

Sri Lanka’s defeated presidential candidate will contest a parliamentary seat during general elections later this year, an opposition activist said Friday.