The Sri Lankan Consulate in Jeddah says that the Saudi government is yet to make an official statement on their stance on allowing the Sri Lankans who are currently remaining in a stadium  to return to the country.

First Secretary of the consulate M.B.M. Sarukh said that Saudi authorities have held a discussion on Friday in this regard.

However, he said that he expects a favourable response from the Saudi government in this regard.

 

The man was exposed when amateur footage was screened on several television channels showing him abusing Sri Lankan maids in a room at a safe house in Saudi Arabia.

Mangala Randeniya, deputy general manager of the SLFBE, told Arab News from Colombo that the man was a sub-agent in Saudi Arabia. “As the incident happened in Saudi Arabia, the SLFBE is consulting with the Attorney General’s Department, seeking assistance on the charges that can be leveled against him,” he said.

Once again following the vote in Geneva, which made clear how influential the United States of America was, and how comparatively friendless we were, there is talk of re-establishing relations with the West.

Thankfully this year it has not taken the form of denigration of good relations with others, as happened last year when those elements in the Ministry of External Affairs, which would have been described in the Cold War days as the running dogs of imperialism, danced on the graves of Dayan Jayatilleka and Tamara Kuna

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird has condemned the decision to allow Sri Lanka to host the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in November as "accommodating evil".

Baird spoke out after his Commonwealth counterparts in London on Friday agreed to press ahead with the meeting despite strong criticism over Colombo's human rights record.

"We're appalled that Sri Lanka seems poised to host CHOGM (the Commonwealth heads of government meeting) and to be chair-in-residence of the Commonwealth

Ten Sri Lankans, including a minor, who were planning to illegally migrate to Australia were arrested by the police from a lodge here on Thursday night. The police are also trying to trace Ramesh, the agent who was allegedly helping the Lankans.

The arrested are Pradeepan, 18, Prakashan, 19, Kapil Rishanta, 19, Premnath, 21, Udanan, 32, Thiruselvam, 43, Kathirnathan, 42, Chandran, 33, and Thamizh Selvan, 34, besides the minor.

 

federal government believes Sri Lanka should still host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) this year despite Canada calling for the event to be moved because of human rights concerns.

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird condemned the decision on Friday by his Commonwealth counterparts in London to continue with the meeting despite strong criticism over Colombo's human rights record as "accommodating evil".

Is US Ambassador Sison trying to make SL the next ‘hotspot’?

In a clear breach of protocol, the US Embassy in Colombo has taken matters into their own hands and started investigating what are undoubtedly the internal affairs of this country.
Questions have arisen as to whether the US, which has a considerable and dubious history of exacerbating internal issues of other countries, is on a mission to create another hotspot in the world, cashing in on the present situation In Sri Lanka.

In July this year, 20 Sri Lankan student leaders from 11 schools will head for the USA to attend Leadership Summits at three prestigious Ivy League Universities. They are the Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, Stanford University in Palo Alto, California and University of Chicago in Illinois.

All delegates have been selected on the recommendation of their respective Head of School and thereafter a competitive interview process. Every delegate is sponsored by their parents. Most of these student leaders are children

The National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) has purchased sophisticated equipment to tap mobile and land phones, NIB sources revealed.

Source told The Sunday Leader that the equipment was purchased last year and can be used to tap phones without obtaining the assistance of any telecommunication company.

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) however said that such methods of phone tapping are illegal and can be challenged in Court.

Sri Lanka's punishing 26-year civil war ended in May 2009, but the story of the last six months of a brutal conflict will not go away.

Now alleged war crimes are being pushed onto the agenda of the Commonwealth.

"Bad things happen in war, but there has to be a full accountability by both the government and the opposition for war crimes," Canada's Foreign Minister, John Baird, told me on a visit to London for the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG).