“Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa was sharply critical of international organizations in his final meeting with Ambassador. Rajapaksa said the ICRC’s job was essentially finished now that the conflict was over. He said the GSL is unhappy with the UN and ICRC for being critical of the GSL when they should have been working with the government to help resolve the conflict and address the challenges Sri Lanka faced. The Defense Secretary said the GSL doesn’t want the ICRC and UN involved in identification of those kil

All Lankan producers will no longer carry the Halal logo on their products unless requested by their foreign consumer, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce said a short while ago. Meanwhile it was stated that for export purposes companies could obtain the Halal certification free of charge from the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU).

In a press release the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce(CCC) added that it had wide ranging consultations with members of the Buddhist clergy and the ACJU and consequently came to the above decisions.

While the country is struggling to speak with credibility at the ongoing UNHRC Sessions, the Leader of the Sri Lankan delegation, Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, has earned the displeasure of the Council members for his hard hitting speech, where he slammed the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay, as having targeted Sri Lanka unfairly. Samarasinghe also told the Council the internationalization of Sri Lanka's domestic issues would hamper reconciliation efforts within, clearly showing the country's annoyance at th

In a late night swoop, police removed eight students of Chennai's Loyola College, who were on a fast-unto-death on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue and admitted them to a hospital, police sources said.

The move came amidst growing support for them from various political parties, including the DMK and BJP, and three days after the students embarked on the fast pressing for various demands including an independent probe against Colombo for alleged war crimes. .

“The government has been cackling for several days to lay the egg of increased bus fares and electricity fares. However, this egg the government is about to lay is definitely a pressure bomb released on the masses of this country.  The country is faced with such a situation due to the wrong socio-economic policies followed by the government. The crisis has been deepened due to the national wealth being concentrated between 2% of the population instead of it being distributed among the masses. Also, theft, waste, fraud and unsu

A severe shortage of Metformin, in State and Provincial Council-run hospitals, has put the lives of nearly 4 million diabetic patients at risk, a JVP union said yesterday.

General Secretary of the All Ceylon Health Services Union (ACHSU) Gamini Kumarasinghe alleged that the deliberate restriction of allocations for the import of drugs had done more harm than good to the patients. About four million diabetic patients, who were on metformin tablets, were in danger due to the shortage. Even the hospitals run by the provincial cou

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi on Sunday criticised External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid for his observations on the resolution to be moved in the United Nations Human Rights Council against Sri Lanka and accused him of siding with the adversary.

A few days ago, Mr. Khurshid told reporters that he had asked the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister to engage with the United States and keep that country informed of the steps it might have taken to improve human rights so as to arrive at a draft acceptable to all.

The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to seek technical assistance from India to implement the national plan aimed at making all the citizens of the country competent in all three languages. Under an initiative of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka last year launched an ambitious 10-year plan to make the country a trilingual nation declaring 2012 the ‘Trilingual Year’.

The Presidential initiative for Trilingual Sri Lanka aims to make every Sri Lankan citizen knowledgeable in Sinhala, Tamil and English. The

A joint Saudi committee composed of representatives of the ministries of interior, justice and health is mulling the replacement of beheading with firing squads for capital sentences due to shortages in government swordsmen, Ahram Online quoted the Saudi daily Al-Youm as saying on Sunday.

The committee argued that such a step, if adopted, would not violate Islamic law, allowing heads – or emirs – of the country’s 13 local administrative regions to begin using the new method when needed.

The final draft which will be submitted by US against Sri Lanka at the Geneva Human Rights Council sessions would be strong, is the expectation of Tamil National Alliance was said by parliament member M.A.Sumenthiran.
 
UN Human Rights Council 22nd sessions are held in Geneva. The draft of the resolution against Sri Lanka government was submitted by United America last Thursday.