Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh says there is no change in India’s stand on the issue of reconciliation and devolution of political powers to ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka.

He told Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa that New Delhi will work towards ensuring that Tamils are “masters of their own destiny within framework of a united Sri Lanka.”

“There is absolutely no change in Government of India’s stand on the question of reconciliation and devolution of political powers in

The United States today said it will increase its support for reconciliation efforts in Sri Lanka.

In order to support further reconciliation of the Sri Lankan people, the U.S. Embassy, through its development office of USAID, is designing a new livelihoods project that aims to increase household incomes in the dairy, poultry and horticulture sectors.

This initiative seeks to reach women-headed households, those relocated due to the conflict, and other vulnerable groups.

The goal is to link household product

The All Ceylon Nurses' Union (ACNU) handed a petition to the Human Rights Commission yesterday, protesting the negligence related to the Nurses' Service Minutes.

Secretary of the ACNU, S.B. Madiwatta, said, "Since 1984 the Nurses' Service Minutes that were in operation had many shortcomings. However, the revised version that was prepared in 2010 with the promise of addressing these shortcomings is even more flawed."

The army says more troops have been pulled out from parts of Jaffna and transferred to the Palaly Cantonment.

Army spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said that a decision was taken to move troops from 13 small military camps located in the Walikamam sector in Jaffna District to the Palaly Cantonment.

He said that this will further reduce the presence of troops in that area.

He also said that the present locations, for which the army paid rent, will be handed over to the original owners.

Seventy Sri Lankans attempting to migrate illegally to Australia were rescued Wednesday after the timely intervention of the Navy, an official said.
The illegal migrants were rescued off a fishing vessel by merchant ships in international waters after the Sri Lankan Navy sent out messages, Navy Spokesman, Kosala Warnakulasuriya, told media.

Holding that there was no change in India's stand on the issue of reconciliation and devolution of political powers to ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has informed Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa that New Delhi will work towards ensuring that Tamils are "masters of their own destiny within framework of a united Sri Lanka."

"There is absolutely no change in Government of Indias stand on the question of reconciliation and devolution of political powers in Sri Lanka. "We have long a

The Sri Lankan Constitution paves the way for racism, as Section 18 states that Sinhala is the official language of Sri Lanka, JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe said yesterday.

However, section 19 states that Sinhala and Tamil are the national languages of Sri Lanka, he said adding that it must be changed.

Amarasinghe was addressing the launch of the JVP’s proposals to solve the national problem, titled ‘An Approach to the Solution of the National Question’, at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute.

Most people hate to see themselves as murderers. This influences the manner in which they perceive public and private tragedies, and memory often rejects the unpleasant and sanitises the true nature of the event. So it happened with Tamils in the way they sanitised and rationalised instances of Tamil violence against Sinhalese and Muslims. Several of these have been described in our reports over the years. The Sri Lankan State with its ideology is an institution, which most Sinhalese actively or passively empathised with. The fact that t

The Ministry of Buddha Sasana and Religious Affairs says that new religious places are built without any standards needed for the place.

According to the Ministry, they have been reported that the places are started as Dhamma schools, tuition class, library or social service centers and later convert them to religious places.

The Ministry states that there are individuals and organizations who are opposing these religious places and due to this there could be conflicts between the religions.

“….anyone who dresses or speaks differently is not simply a different person, but a different animal from a different sty with whom there can be no accommodation, and who must be hated and hounded out”. - Victor Klemperer (The Language of the Third Reich)

The spirit of Black July is not dead. It is alive; triumphantly, confidently and self-righteously alive.

The politico-economic and socio-psychological premises which enabled the shameful carnage of Black July did not emerge from a vacuum, instantly