Sixty-five Indian fishermen in nine trawlers have been detained by the Sri Lankan navy for allegedly violating the international maritime border.
President Maithripala Sirisena's government in Colombo has clearly decided to restore some balance in its diplomatic outreach, which presents a great opportunity for India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit former LTTE-stronghold Jaffna in Sri Lanka's Tamil-dominated north and address the Parliament in Colombo during his 3-day visit to the country next week.
Bruce Fein, a former US deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan Administration, has filed a 12-count indictment against Sri Lanka's defense secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the country's army commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, for perpetrating genocide against Tamil civilians with US Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice.
In the first post war elections in Sri Lanka after the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a pro-Tiger party on Sunday won the municipal poll in Vavuniya, an indication that the separatists still attract popular support, even as President Mahinda Rajapaksa's coalition won the prestigious Jaffna local elections.
Maithripala Sirisena is expected to meet his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee besides holding talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi
With the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam wiped out, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday offered equal rights for Tamils through a political solution, but stressed that it won't be 'imported'. He said the government does not accept the military solution as final and that his aim was to provide equal rights to all communities. Rajapaksa said it was necessary to give the Tamil people the freedoms that are the right of people in all other parts of the country.
Padma Vibhushan awardee Murthy has stepped down as Infosys CEO but continues as its chief mentor and board chairman.
During the two-day visit, Mukherjee will meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama and discuss the latest situation in the northern part of the island nation, sources said. Mukherjee is expected to impress upon Rajapaksa government the need for finding a political solution to the ethnic problem to ensure lasting peace.
Colombo's enduring interests suggest the relationship between the Sri Lanka and China will only strengthen, says Nitin Pai.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam led by its supremo V Prabhakaran had aspired to carve out a big Tamil elam state extending from near Colombo to the southern part of Sri Lanka, the island nation's top defence official has said.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised the United Nations that his forces would protect Tamil civilians as it pushes ahead with its offensive to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Rajapaksa gave this assurance over telephone to UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon, as his forces overran the last base of the sea Tigers near Mulaittivu, cutting off all their escape routes.
More than 35,000 trapped Tamil civilians on Monday made a dramatic breakout from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam-controlled areas in Sri Lanka's embattled north, with President Mahinda Rajapaksa handing out a last 24-hour deadline for Tiger supremo V Prabhakaran and his top aides to surrender. Proclaiming that the mass exodus indicated that a 'complete defeat' of the Tigers was imminent, Rajapaksa warned that after this, his forces would make an 'all out' bid.
In a no-holds barred address, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has dared Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Velupillai Prabhakaran to a one-on-one clash with him. He said that he would challenge Prabhakaran to clash with him directly to avoid a killing spree targeting innocent civilians, Parliamentarians and Ministers.
Claiming that rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were 'receiving an unprecedented defeat,' Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday vowed that government troops would flush out the Tigers from their Wanni heartlands in the north.
At least 38 Indian fishermen lodged in Sri Lanka's Jaffna prison for alleged poaching are on a fast unto death demanding their early release.
Gunathilaka's knock of 57 runs helped Sri Lanka post a score of 165/5 in the allotted twenty overs after being asked to bat first.
Foreign Heads of State and governments on Friday congratulated Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on his party's victory in the Lok Sabha polls and said they were looking forward to working with him.
'We have seen the SLC statement, but are not privy to any information or intelligence report relating to safety of the SL team. The PCB reiterates its commitment to provide complete safety and security to the SL side and in this relation will continue to work with the SLC'
Pompeo, who became the Trump administration's highest ranking official to visit Sri Lanka, said that the US and Sri Lanka shared a vision for democracy to build a relationship and the "freedom to hold democratic elections".
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday expressed satisfaction over External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit.
Five fishermen from Tamil Nadu, who were sentenced to death in Sri Lanka for alleged drug trafficking but set free after President Mahinda Rajapaksa pardoned them, arrived in Chennai on Friday.
Protests rocked different parts of Tamil Nadu for the second day on Friday against the capital punishment awarded by a Sri Lankan court to five Indian fishermen for alleged drug trafficking.
Many world leaders on Monday condoled the death of former president Pranab Mukherjee, saying they have lost a true friend who made immense contributions to the strengthening of India's relations with their countries.
Tigers assassinated a senior Sri Lankan army general a day after the government offered a direct deal.
590 cricketers -- including 370 Indian players and 220 overseas players -- will go under the hammer during the two-day mega auction in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13.
With some countries like Britain and Canada seeking to bring alleged human rights violations in the Sri Lankan civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam under the scanner during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting summit, President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday asked member nations not to turn the Commonwealth into a "punitive and judgmental" body and desist from introducing bilateral agendas.
China remains the elephant in the room and has to be tamed, which the United States alone is unable to do and therefore calls allies to come on board.
Sri Lanka has welcomed a whopping Rs 1,372 crore Indian housing assistance programme to build around 4000 homes in the country's eastern province.
In a goodwill gesture, Pakistan freed 59 Indian fishermen of the eve of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to India to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi.
A United States court has asked a Sikh rights group to serve summons on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by June 18 or face dismissal of a case of alleged human rights violations against him.
The selection of a woman Senator with an Indian background as the Democratic party's vice-presidential nominee should normally be a matter of elation in India, especially for those who boast of their nationalistic credentials such as the BJP followers, notes Amulya Ganguli.
Objecting to a Sri Lankan minister's announcement that Lankan fishermen would rally against their Indian counterparts, Dravida Munetra Kazhagam chief M Karunandihi on Monday described it as a 'planned strategy' by Colombo to divert off attention from the 'tyrannies' of Rajapaksa government.
The Sri Lankan Navy on Thursday arrested 32 Indian fishermen for alleged illegal fishing off the east coast, taking the total number of fishermen arrested during the last two days to nearly 70.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagamchief M Karunanidhi on Wednesday said Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa's statement -- that Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's cadres were still trying very hard to revive the conflict -- was aimed at diverting the world's attention from the alleged human rights violations in the island republic.
India on Friday disapproved of a top Sri Lankan official's reported remark about it regarding terrorism in that country, saying the armed conflict there was a result of Colombo denying rights to Tamils there.
Pakistan on Thursday hailed Sri Lanka's efforts in tackling terrorism, saying there was a "marked difference" in the country in its post-conflict phase of development. Jalil Abaas Jilani, visiting Pakistani foreign secretary, made the comments during his meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday morning.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday sacked the country's first woman Chief Justice Shirani Bandarnayake after ratifying her impeachment by Parliament which held her guilty of corruption, notwithstanding widespread protests by lawyers and others.
Sri Lanka has described the adoption of its periodic review of human rights at Geneva's United Nations Human Rights Commission sessions without a division as a victory and an acknowledgment of its rights progress.
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko and his supporters were on Friday detained when they tried to march towards the prime minister's residence in protest against the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the country. Vaiko and scores of his supporters have been protesting at Jantar Mantar in Delhi since morning, demanding that India close down the Sri Lankan High Commission in the capital.
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