Politics

Canada takes hard line on Tamil migrants

VANCOUVER, August 17, 2010 (AFP) - A Canadian tribunal on Tuesday ordered continued detention for the first person interviewed in a group of 492 Tamil asylum …

Canada probes who paid for Tamil refugees’ travel

VANCOUVER, August 17, 2010 (AFP) - Canadian authorities are investigating whether Sri Lankan rebels financed the passage of nearly 500 Tamil refugees to Canada …

Sri Lanka war hero’s party to appeal conviction

August 15, 2010 (AFP) - Sri Lanka's former army chief Sarath Fonseka will appeal against a court martial conviction that stripped him of his rank, pension and …

Sri Lanka Tamil on ship bound for Canada died at sea: Tamil Congress

MONTREAL, August 15, 2010 (AFP) - A Tamil man who travelled with hundreds of other Sri Lankan migrants aboard a cargo ship bound for Canada died during the …

Sri Lanka Tamil migrants in good condition: Canada

ESQUIMALT, August 14, 2010 (AFP) - Hundreds of Sri Lankan Tamil migrants who arrived aboard a rusty cargo ship were in good condition after their three-month …

Sri Lanka Tamil migrants sail to uncertainty in Canada

VICTORIA, August 14, 2010 (AFP) - Hundreds of Tamils seeking asylum from Sri Lanka sailed into Canada on Friday under the scrutiny of authorities, who vowed to …

Sri Lanka strips former war-hero of pension and prestige

August 14, 2010 (AFP) - Sri Lanka's president has formally stripped former army chief Sarath Fonseka of his rank, medals and pension after his conviction by a …

Sri Lanka refugee ship boarded by Canadian navy

VANCOUVER, August 12, 2010 (AFP) - The Canadian navy on Thursday intercepted a cargo ship carrying up to 500 Sri Lankan asylum seekers and prepared to screen …

Sri Lanka’s ex-army chief convicted by court martial

August 13, 2010 (AFP) - A court martial convicted Sri Lanka's former army chief Sarath Fonseka Friday of dabbling in politics and stripped him of his rank and …

Ship full of Sri Lankan refugees nears Canada: reports

MONTREAL, August 11, 2010 (AFP) - A ship full of Sri Lankan refugees was less than 320 kilometers (200 miles) from Canada's western shores and could be …

Sri Lankan president sacks minister over dengue row

August 10, 2010 (AFP) - Sri Lanka's president Tuesday sacked a maverick minister who had tied a state official to a tree as punishment for failing to control …

Sri Lanka war: US urged to press for international probe

WASHINGTON, August 10, 2010 (AFP) - A group of US lawmakers is urging the Obama administration to push for an independent international investigation into …

Sri Lanka’s war probe panel to start work

August 10, 2010 (AFP) - Sri Lanka announced the government-appointed panel looking into the island's civil war that ended last year would hold its first public …

All white on the night for Australian elections

SYDNEY, August 8, 2010 (AFP) - Despite its Aboriginal roots and a large Asian population, Australia's politics are almost exclusively white with just a handful …

US, Canada monitor ship said full of Sri Lankan refugees

WASHINGTON, August 4, 2010 (AFP) - The United States and Canada said Wednesday they are monitoring a ship said to be packed with Tamil refugees bound for …

Sri Lankan president boosted as MPs defect

August 5, 2010 (AFP) - Two opposition lawmakers in Sri Lanka defected to the ruling party on Thursday, bringing President Mahinda Rajapakse closer to altering …

Sri Lanka arrests over 1,500 Tiger suspects: PM

August 3, 2010 (AFP) - Sri Lankan troops arrested over 1,500 Tamil rebel suspects during July, more than a year after the separatist guerrilla group was …

Global statesmen decry Sri Lanka’s peace without justice

August 3, 2010 (AFP) - A group of global statesmen, founded by Nelson Mandela, Tuesday criticised the Sri Lankan government for failing to build on peace …

Sri Lankan war refugees remain homeless: Tamil party

August 2, 2010 (AFP) - Thousands of men, women and children displaced by Sri Lanka's civil war are living in the open air 15 months after fighting ended, the …

US, Russia, China, Israel stay out of cluster bomb treaty

GENEVA, August 1, 2010 (AFP) - A landmark international treaty to ban cluster munitions took effect on Sunday, requiring signatories to stop the use, …