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China has agreed to lend $290mn to Sri Lanka for a new airport and to revive the country’s railway network, the island nation’s foreign ministry said yesterday.

Permanent Under-Secretary of the British Foreign office, Peter Rickett, left, shakes hands with Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign affairs Rohitha Bogollagama during a two-day visit in Colombo yesterday.

COLOMBO: India and Sri Lanka on Wednesday signed a Line of Credit agreement for $67.4 million to fund the second phase of upgradation of the Southern Railway Line from Colombo to Matara.

New York, Mar 10: The United Nations is setting up mobile health clinics and distributing hygiene packs and maternity kits to women and children returning home to former conflict zones in northern Sri Lanka.

China is to lend Sri Lanka just under $200m to build a second international airport in the south of the island.

An Indian charity sends a team to Sri Lanka to provide 1,000 amputees in the war-ravaged north with artificial limbs.

China has completed arrangements through its funding arm, Exim Bank, to provide $290m in concessionary development loans to Sri Lanka, Reuters reported. $190m of the loan is to develop a second airport in Matara and the other $100m is to improve the railways. China was the largest foreign funding source for Sri Lanka in 2009 [...]

China has loaned 290 million dollars to the Sri Lankan government to build an airport and expand the island’s railway network, the foreign ministry in Colombo said on Wednesday.

Trincomalee electoral candidates led by Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) leader Mr. R. Sampanthan, Tuesday visited the camps in Kiliveddi and Paddiththidal in Moothoor DS division where hundreds of internally displaced Tamil families from Champoor, Kooniththeevu, Choodaikkudaa and Navaratnapuram in the High Security Zones declared by the Sri Lanka Army after the eviction of LTTE [...]

COLOMBO, March 10 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals jumped by nearly 70 percent in February compared to a year earlier to its highest level in over two years, boosted by the end of a 25-year war, the tourism board data showed on Wednesday.

COLOMBO, March 10 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals jumped by nearly 70 percent in February compared to a year earlier to its highest level in over two years, boosted by the end of a 25-year war, the tourism board data showed on Wednesday.

COLOMBO - China has agreed to lend US$290 million ($405.5 million) to Sri Lanka to build a new airport and revive its railway network, the island nation’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

While India is said to be seriously considering opening a branch of its High Commission for Sri Lanka in Jaffna, Chinese contractors are actively engaged in planning the broadening of five major roads in the peninsula in keeping with the agreement entered with Sri Lanka President, Mahintha Rajapakse, sources in Jaffna said. A conference presided [...]

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander Lt. Gen. Jegath Jeyasooriya officially opened the SLA Civil Administration Head Office Tuesday and inaugurated its Website in a public building on Jaffna Hospital road, taken over by SLA for this purpose, sources in Jaffna said. In the past SLA civil administration offices had been used by the government to [...]

Source: Reuters COLOMBO, March 10 (Reuters) - China has agreed to lend $290 million to Sri Lanka for a new airport and to revive the country’s railway network, the island nation’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday …

COLOMBO, March 10 (Reuters) - China has agreed to lend $290 million to Sri Lanka for a new airport and to revive the country’s railway network, the island nation’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

COLOMBO, March 10 (Reuters) - China has agreed to lend $290 million to Sri Lanka for a new airport and to revive the country’s railway network, the island nation’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Kendrapada, Mar 9: In a bid to understand the migration patterns of sea turtles in the Northern Indian Ocean, the wildlife Institute of India(WII) and Orissa forest Departments(OFD) fitted five satellite transmitters on Olive Ridley and Green sea turtles on the south East coast of Sri Lanka last month.

Sri Lanka’s defeated presidential candidate and former Army chief General Sarath Fonseka will be produced before the Court Martial this week as the gathering of evidence has been concluded, the Army said on Tuesday. Military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe, who declined to mention a specific date, said Fonseka would be produced at any given date during [...]

Colombo, March 10 : Sri Lanka’s former army chief General Sarath Fonseka, arrested over the charges of conspiring to topple the government, has called off his hunger strike after being allowed to speak to his daughters via his wife’s mobile phone.

Sri Lanka’s defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka ended a hunger strike after just one day when he was allowed to speak to his daughters, his party said yesterday.

Sri Lanka’s outgoing parliament yesterday approved the extension of a state of emergency until after next month’s legislative elections, giving sweeping powers to police and troops.

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s former army chief General Sarath Fonseka, arrested over the charges of conspiring to topple the government, has called off his hunger strike after being allowed to speak to his

Sri Lanka’s former army chief General Sarath Fonseka, arrested over the charges of conspiring to topple the government, has called off his hunger strike after being allowed to speak to his daughters via his wife’s mobile phone.

New York, Mar 9: United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Monday expressed concerns about the lack of progress on political reconciliation, the treatment of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the setting up of an accountability process in Sri Lanka since the United Nations signed a joint statement with the Government last year in the wake [...]

FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010 file photo, Sri Lanka’s defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka waves to supporters during a protest in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Fonseka, Sri Lanka’s d…

Sri Lanka’s parliament votes to extend the state of emergency until after next month’s general elections.

Executive directors of two NGOs, the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a Colombo-based think tank, and Transparency International, Sri Lanka (TISL), have written a protest letter to Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse complaining about a news report in a Colombo website that “[Sri Lanka] state intelligence agencies have been compiling a list or lists of [...]

Sri Lanka’s detained opposition leader has ended a hunger strike after just one day after authorities allowed him to use a telephone again, a party official said Tuesday.

Vanni Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) allowed to resettle in some areas in Kilinochchi and Mannaar districts are being subjected to severe restrictions and harassment by occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA), according to the group of Catholic Bishops of six districts who visited the said areas in Kilinochchi and Mannaar recently. The Bishops, however, are reluctant [...]

Sri Lanka’s outgoing parliament Tuesday approved the extension of a state of emergency until after next month’s legislative elections, giving sweeping powers to police and troops.

“I made clear to President (Mahinda) Rajapaksa that I intend to move forward on a Group of Experts which will advise me on setting the broad parameters and standards on the way ahead on establishing accountability concerning Sri Lanka,” Ban told media-persons I New York, referring to a conversation he had with Sri Lankan President [...]

Sri Lanka’s defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka ended a hunger strike after just one day when he was allowed to speak to his daughters, his party said Tuesday.

A protest demonstration demanding immediate resettlement of people displaced from Valikaamam North occupied by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) as High Security Zone (HSZ) organized by the Welfare Organizations for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) on 1 March in front of Jaffna Secretariat had to be given up due to the strong opposition to it by Jaffna [...]

Expressing concerns on the lack of progress on “political reconciliation, the treatment of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the setting up of an accountability process in Sri Lanka,” United Nations Secretary General, confirmed that he intends to move forward on a group of experts which will advise him on setting the broad parameters and standards [...]

Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao urged Sri Lanka’s leaders to open a new era of stability after the island’s civil war by bringing minority Tamils into mainstream society, officials said yesterday.

Sri Lanka is the first Asian country which was granted Middle Income Country status by the International Monitory Fund (IMF) and India will be the second Asian country when it receive this status in future, Construction and Engineering Services Minister Rajitha Senaratne said.

The United Nations (UN) will not be able to cause any impact on Sri Lanka, Environment and Natural Resources Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said. No resolution will be passed against Sri Lanka in the Security Council or in the Human Rights Commission, he said.

Sri Lanka’s detained former army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka has mounted a hunger strike in order to be allowed to speak to his daughters, his wife said Monday.

Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao urged Sri Lanka’s leaders to open a new era of stability after the island’s civil war by bringing minority Tamils into mainstream society, officials said Monday.

People in Sri Lanka discuss the latest political developments as they prepare for general elections in April.

Sri Lanka’s former army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka will have to wait just a couple more days to find out exactly what charges he faces.

India’s external intelligence agency tried to undermine Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse at polls in January and wanted him defeated, a minister said in an interview published Monday.

March 8 (Bloomberg) — Sri Lanka plans to invite overseas and local companies this month to set up operations in a new $550 million tax-free port zone as the end of the island’s civil war boosts trade and investment.

India has promised to assist Sri Lanka in resettling war displaced civilians in the north of the island state, Sri Lankan president’s office said Sunday. The visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao told Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday that India appreciated the progress made in resettling war displaced civilians in the country since [...]

Sri Lanka conceding the first and second singles to New Zealand on Friday, in a best of five matches tie at the National Tennis Centre Courts - stormed into contention to liven hopes on the following day when the gallant doubles combination of Sri Lanka, Harshana Godamanna and Rajeev Rajapakse outplayed the Kiwi pair of [...]

Agencies Colombo, Mar 7: Sri Lanka has rejected a UN proposal to set up an advisory panel in the wake of alleged human rights abuses during the final phase of the war between government forces and the Tamil Tigers.

Pilgrims who returned from Paalaitheevu after attending the lent period prayers in St. Antonys 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 pilgrims halls behind the church and no [...]

/New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) India Sunday assured Sri Lanka of its support in resettling nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians displaced by the civil war in the island-nation and pushed for a political settlement when Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo.

Colombo/New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) India Sunday assured Sri Lanka of its support in resettling nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians displaced by the civil war in the island-nation and pushed for a political settlement when Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Colombo.

In the context of Sri Lanka government failing in its duty to provide assistance to the resettled Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Jaffna peninsula as promised, Asian Development Bank (ADB) has stepped in to help the IDPs, paying each of the 16,831 IDP families with the second stage payment of 25,000 rupees, sources in Jaffna [...]

Sri Lanka government is actively engaged in building police stations and magistrate courts in the districts of Kilinochchi and Mullaiththeevu in Vanni where Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are yet to be resettled, sources in Vanni said. Secretary to the Ministry of Justice made a sudden visit Wednesday to Kilinochchi and Mullaitheevu with the view to [...]

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.

Sri Lanka has rejected calls from the UN to look into alleged war crimes during the country’s civil war.

Three member delegation led by Indian Foreign Secretary Ms Nirupama Rao arrived in Colombo Saturday night around 10:30 on a three day official visit. She is scheduled to meet Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse and other government leaders and hold discussion on the resettlement of internally displaced Tamil families, and prospective political solution to Tamil [...]

Sri Lanka has rejected the UN proposal to set up an advisory panel in the wake of alleged human rights abuse during the final phase of armed battle between the government forces and the LTTE rebels in the country.

Sri Lanka’s president has rejected a proposed panel by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to look into alleged war crimes during the island’s civil war as ‘unwarranted and uncalled for’.

Sri Lanka has rejected the UN proposal to set up an advisory panel in the wake of alleged human rights abuse during the final phase of armed battle between the government forces and the LTTE rebels in the country.

Colombo, March 7 (IANS) Sri Lanka has rejected the UN proposal to set up an advisory panel in the wake of alleged human rights abuse during the final phase of armed battle between the government forces and the LTTE rebels in the country.

Colombo, March 7 : Sri Lanka has rejected the UN proposal to set up an advisory panel in the wake of alleged human rights abuse during the final phase of armed battle between the government forces and the LTTE rebels in the country.