As the rift widens between the Governor of the Northern Province and the recently elected Northern Provincial Council, the Tamil National Alliance has urged the central Government and the provincial bureaucracy to respect the verdict of the Tamil people at the September poll.
The TNA provincial administration is claiming it is being blockaded by the Northern Governor and ex Major General G.A. Chandrasiri who has the backing of the public servants in the province.
TNA Leader R. Sampanthan told Parliament last weekend that the NPC

Deputy Resettlement Minister Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman says minor issues still remain to be addressed on the resettlement of war displaced people.

Speaking in Parliament today, the Deputy Minister said the Government needs time to complete the resettlement process and it hopes to do that by the end of next year.

Muralitharan says after 30 years of war it is impossible for one to expect the entire resettlement process to be completed in four years.

Newsfirst received reports on another group of one hundred and thirty (130) Sri Lankans being harassed in Saudi Arabia.

The group who has been sent to Saudi Arabia by a private foreign employment agency located in Maradana about six months ago told Newsfirst that they have not been given the jobs that were promised of or their salaries.

The Democratic People’s Front (DPF) says that Sri Lanka is the most appropriate country in the world today to discuss the legacy of the late Nelson Mandela and that his history has many similarities with the Sri Lankan Tamils’ struggle.

 We need Nelson Mandela’s policies and principals to guide us more than any other country in the world, DPF leader Mano Ganesan said.

He stated that this is also the most appropriate time as Sri Lanka, in the post-war era, needs more and more sense of reconcili

Besides urging the Indian government to move a resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) seeking a credible international inquiry into killing of Sri Lankan Tamils, war crimes and human rights violations in the last leg of the civil war, the DMK’s general council meeting on Sunday wanted India to facilitate a referendum among the island nation’s Tamils to find a permanent political solution, the Hindu newspaper reported.

The Negombo Magistrate yesterday remanded UPFA Kelaniya Pradeshiya Sabha member Milroy Perera, till December 18, for sexually harassing an 18-year-old student of a leading school in Colombo.

Police media spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana told The Island that the middle-aged suspect had attended a get-together on December 10 where he had hugged and kissed the young girl while being under the influence of liquor.

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) today held several events to celebrate the International Human Rights Day across the country.

The HRCSL organized a national event and 10 regional events to mark the day. The special events were held on 10th December in Colombo, Jaffna, Ampara, Matara, Badulla, Vavuniya, Kalmunai, on 4th December in Anuradhapura, on 9th December in Trincomalee.

Special events will be held on 11th in Batticaloa and on 12th December in Kandy.

Colombo Archbishop, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith today urged the Government to fully implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

Speaking at a press briefing in Colombo, the Cardinal said that the international community must not interfere in Sri Lanka’s domestic affairs.

However he said at the same time the Government must not avoid addressing the core issues which are being used as the basis by the international community to push for an investigation in Sri Lanka.

UPFA parliamentarian Arundika Fernando today claimed in Parliament that journalist and cartoonist Pradeep Eknaligoda had gone overseas using a passport of a person in Kalutara.

The MP, who had on an earlier occasion said Eknaligoda was in France, today said that Eknaligoda had gone to Singapore and was very much alive.

He dismissed claims that Eknaligoda was “missing” and that there were reports he was now in Belgium.

Mangala Samaraweera’s personal case filed against MTV/MBC dismissed by the Matara additional judge, the Ada Derana reporter confirmed.  

On December  stated that the Chairman of Capital Maharaja is not required to be present at court on December is to decide on that date whether or not notice should be issued on him.