Sri Lanka has begun to feel the effects of the loss of the GSP plus facility, after the closure of number of factories and reduction of export orders, Daily Mirror learns.

The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP+) Plus is a mechanism that gives preferential access to the markets in the European Union for exports from number of countries.  

However, the European Union excluded Sri Lanka from the list of beneficiary countries on February 16, 2010 due to the non-implementations of certain good governance regula

Amidst widespread criticism from political groups, human rights activists and the legal community, Parliament on Tuesday, 22 January,  debated and passed the ‘Code of Criminal Procedure (Special Provisions)’ Bill with the expected majority votes, 77 to be precise.

This legislation, among many other things, will enable the police to detain a person who has been arrested without a warrant, for 48-hour before producing him or her before a Magistrate.

Tamil/English weekly Oru Paper interviewed Ravi Kumar, a senior leader attached to British Tamils Forum. Ravi Kumar,  who has been in Tamil Politics for over 30 years, is currently the coordinator of British Tamil Forum. He was in the LTTE negotiation team which  had several rounds of Talks with Chandrika’s government in 1994. Following are the excerpts of a telephone interview with Ravi.

Oru Paper: Your recent conference which was held in the British parliamentary complex was attended by some leading fig

Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya said that more Tamil nationals would be recruited to the Army based on their qualifications.

He said that Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has told the Army to look for Tamil nationals from North and Eastern Provinces.

“We have about two or three senior Brigadiers who are Tamils and currently serving in the Army, we do not have restrictions like that and we are in the process enrolling more of them in near future,” he said.

The Mahanayake of the Ramanna Nikaya Most Venerable Napana Premasiri Thera said that reconstituting the National Anthem with Tamil verses would only give rise to unnecessary problems in the country.

The Thera speaking at a ceremony at the Udalanka Pirivena in Madawala, Ulpatha said that he was expressing strong dislike of the Maha Sangha regarding any such move.

“Unnecessary problems would be created in this country by adding Tamil verses to the National Anthem. The National Anthem of Sri Lanka was created in

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has told the Government Medical Officers’ Forum (GMOF) that he is ready to appoint a Competent Authority (CA) or a Health Council (HC) to streamline health ministry operations.

The GMOF received the assurance at a meeting held at Temple Trees recently.

A senior spokesperson for the GMOF told The Island that the President had given that assurance after the deteriorating situation in the health sector was brought to his notice.

An attempt was being made to deprive senior Sri Lankan military officers of an opportunity to follow top level command courses in the US on the basis of unsubstantiated war crimes allegations, authoritative government sources alleged.

They said that the government was aware of moves to reject senior military personnel citing the ‘Leahy Law,’ which prohibited US military assistance to foreign military formations that violate human rights.

Australian Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop will lead an opposition delegation to Sri Lanka to talk about people smuggling.

Ms Bishop will be joined on the trip which starts on Sunday by immigration spokesman Scott Morrison and border protection spokesman Michael Keenan.

The group will meet with senior Sri Lankan government officials and opposition parliamentarians to talk about the people smuggling trade.

Sri Lanka appears to have avoided the prospects of an emergency meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), but the country would feature in the regular CMAG meeting scheduled for March and the forthcoming visit by the Commonwealth Secretary General would set the tone for the CMAG response, well-placed government sources said.

Sources suggested the delay in the emergency meeting was to facilitate the visit by Commonwealth Secretary General, Kamalesh Sharma, who is expected to be here, next month.

Sri Lanka will update its petroleum exploration law to bring the rule in line with the latest international practices, information minister Keheliya Rambukwelle said.Amendments to Sri Lanka's Petroleum Resources Act, No. 26 of 2003, have been approved by the cabinet of ministers, he said.

The changes proposed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa seeks to improve governance in the oil and gas industry and meet international standards, minister Rambukwelle said.