Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Minister Douglas Devananda yesterday accused the TNA of sabotaging the development process in the war battered North and East by describing themselves the champions of Tamil people’s liberation.

The minister replying in a debate on an adjournment motion moved by TNA Parliamentary Group Leader R Sampanthan said that the TNA could never achieve liberation of Tamils but only paved the way for their destruction.

The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) stated that it has never engaged in any promotion or compulsion of the Halal certificate and claimed that it was only meant to provide Muslims with easy access to permitted products.

In a statement issued to the media, the ACJU stated that its Halal Division had been carried out in a very transparent manner with access to any state institution for verification.

It explained that several Sri Lankan and multinational companies had obtained the services of the ACJU on a “to

In the wake of pro–LTTE factions lobbying against Sri Lanka, ahead of the UNHCR sessions in Geneva in March, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the Netherlands Buddhi Athauda revealed yesterday that the Tamil Diaspora in Netherlands was ready to hold protests in support of the country outside the forthcoming Human Rights sessions.

Athauda maintained that the LTTE and its sympathisers were fast fading in the Netherlands and several attempts made by them to raise money by holding fund raising campaigns had failed.

For the purpose of this article I would describe positive or genuine politics as the attempt of political parties and others involved in politics trying to improve the material conditions of lives of the citizens. By material conditions I mean food, which also would imply employment, shelter which would imply conditions of housing, and sanitation, and clothing, those necessities to allow the people to engage in social life with dignity. To this may be added the conditions of transport, which is in the modern context one of the most basic

Jayalalithaa cancels Asian Athletics Championships, says she won't host Sri Lankans
Chennai: Tamil Nadu will not host the Asian Athletics Championships scheduled for July, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said, because the Centre has not asked Sri Lanka to skip the event.

She cited the alleged war crimes by Sri Lankan defence forces as they defeated  the rebel LTTE in 2009, ending the island's lengthy civil war.

"Sri Lanka's participation would hurt people's sentiments in Tamil Nadu," s

The main Opposition United National Party (UNP) yesterday handed over a no-confidence motion against Foreign Employment Promotion Minister Dilan Perera for what the party called ‘his failure to secure clemency for Sri Lankan housemaid Rizana Nafeek who was beheaded in Saudi Arabia recently.

In the motion handed over to Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, the UNP said Rizana met with an untimely death because Minister Perera could not take necessary steps, through the Foreign Employment Bureau support, to present her case properly

Communist Party of India leader D. Raja on Wednesday termed the alleged cold-blooded killing of LTTE chief V. Prabakaran’s minor son further proof that the war in Sri Lanka was nothing but a “structural genocide” against the Tamil people. He demanded that India vote against Sri Lanka at the coming UNHRC session.

He was addressing a press conference here along with the former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, Rajinder Sachar, and representatives of May 17 Movement, an organisation to fight for the cause o

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's special envoy on human rights, Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, who served in that capacity for well over half a decade, has been dropped from the list of delegates attending the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva next month.

However, a high profile delegation comprising senior officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Attorney General's Department, along with Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Ambassador Ravinatha Ar

The government yesterday said plans are underway to introduce changes to the education system in the country and the Department of Examinations has already drafted a module making general examinations more student-friendly.


Minister of Education, Bandula Gunawardena told Parliament, he in fact, is planning to make a ministerial announcement in the House soon to reveal more details on the steps the Department is planning to take, with regard to reforming the process of examinations.

He also said the officials a

TNA MP and Lawyer MA Sumanthiran arguing for the CPA petition showed that the illegitimate impeachment process led to a fraudulent appointment to the office of Chief Justice against which legal challenges were a necessity. This type of conflict within the judicial setup could seriously erode public faith in the institution of the judiciary and its capacity for independence from the political system. On the other hand the petition brings to light the ridiculous situation that arises from the existence, in effect of two Chief Justices &nda