Feizal Samath

DEVELOPMENT-SRI LANKA: Gulf Jobs Have Steep Social Price

The dirt road leading to this hamlet in north-central Sri Lanka winds past lush green paddy farms. Brightly coloured lilies sprout along a big water tank by the roadside.

DEVELOPMENT-SRI LANKA: Transnationals Worry Chicken Farmers

By Feizal Samath

Debt-ridden chicken farmers in Sri Lanka are pleading for government help to take on transnational companies they accuse of trying to grab the country's lucrative poultry business.

POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Many Takers for Indian Peace Bid

By Feizal Samath

India's offer to help find a political solution to the nearly two decade-old ethnic insurgency in Sri Lanka is being seen here as a new chance for peace for the Indian Ocean island nation.

RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: Breaking Jail Walls for Petty Offenders

By Feizal Samath

Madduma Champika has seen the inside of a prison on many occasions. A habitual drug peddler and user, the 33-year-old homeless woman has often been nabbed by the police.

POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Oslo Peace Bid Hit by Tamil Rebel Advance

By Feizal Samath

A series of stunning battle wins by Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebels have put on hold a Norway-brokered bid for a political solution to one of the world's longest running internal conflicts.

POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Citizens For End to Poll Violence

By Feizal Samath

Basnayake Chandrawathie will never forget that January day a year ago in a northern Sri Lankan village, something she had been too embarrassed to talk about till now.

//REPEAT//EDUCATION-SRI LANKA: Scandalous Rush For Prestigious Schools

By Feizal Samath

A respectable computer engineer had no compunctions about forging a fake residency certificate and paying a hefty bribe to secure admission for his son in a prestigious government school.

EDUCATION-SRI LANKA: Scandalous Rush For Prestigious Schools

By Feizal Samath

A respectable computer engineer had no compunctions about forging a fake residency certificate and paying a hefty bribe to secure admission for his son in a prestigious government school.

RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: Public Anger Grows Against Defence Lawyers

By Feizal Samath

A spate of brutal killings and rapes of women and children have triggered growing public anger against lawyers appearing for the accused.

DEVELOPMENT-SRI LANKA: Govt’ Bans Genetically Engineered Foods

By Feizal Samath

Sri Lanka has joined a growing number of countries opposed to genetically engineered (GE) foods by imposing a ban on imports this week.

DEVELOPMENT-SRI LANKA: Govt’ Bans Genetically Engineered Foods

By Feizal Samath

Sri Lanka has joined a growing number of countries opposed to genetically engineered (GE) foods by imposing a ban on imports this week.

POLITICS-SRI LANKA: UN Body Slams Govt’ On Missing Persons Issue

By Feizal Samath

A UN Human Rights group has slammed the Sri Lankan government for slow and ineffective action against perpetrators of past disappearances and urged the creation of an independent body to probe persons missing in recent years.

POLITICS-SRI LANKA: UN Body Slams Govt’ On Missing Persons Issue

By Feizal Samath

A UN Human Rights group has slammed the Sri Lankan government for slow and ineffective action against perpetrators of past disappearances and urged the creation of an independent body to probe persons missing in recent years.

DEVELOPMENT-SRI LANKA: Think-tank Finds Ethnic Conflict Costly

By Feizal Samath

A 17-year-old separatist campaign by Tamil militants and military operations against them have cost Sri Lanka nearly two years worth of its annual gross domestic product (GDP) estimates a leading think-tank.

ENVIRONMENT-SRI LANKA: Massive Protest Against U.S Mining Project

By Feizal Samath

Scientists, trade unionists and priests joined farmers from a northeast Sri Lanka village on Thursday in a massive protest in the capital against government plans to hand over phosphate mines to a US-based transnational company (TNC).

EDUCATION-SRI LANKA: Small Schools Close, Increasing Drop Outs

By Feizal Samath

Dozens of small government schools across Sri Lanka are set to close this year under a new scheme to maximise the use of limited financial resources, while the students are to be transferred to other schools.

HEALTH-SRI LANKA: Children Want HIV/AIDS Education in Classrooms

By Feizal Samath

AIDS is a "four letter" word that is taboo in many schools in Sri Lanka, say children from urban and rural schools who attended a youth symposium on AIDS here.

TRADE-SRI LANKA: Farmers Fight Back Against Cheap Food Imports

By Feizal Samath

In September last year, Ratna Gamage and six other Sri Lanka tea factory owners walked into the World Bank office building in Washington and threatened to launch a hunger strike against unfair trading practices.

HEALTH-SRI LANKA: Model Cure for Alcoholism on Tea Plantations

By Feizal Samath

Children on this Sri Lankan tea estate have vividly captured alcohol abuse in paint and prose -- drunk father hitting mother, shouting at the kids or breaking the pots and pans and children not being able to study.

LABOUR-SRI LANKA: Survey Shows Fewer Than Present Child Domestics

By Feizal Samath

The success of a media campaign against child labour and growing awareness that it is illegal are reasons for the under-reporting of the extent of domestic child labour in a new government survey in Sri Lanka, experts say.

MEDIA-SRI LANKA: Right to Information Clipped By Gag on Officials

By Feizal Samath

A running feud between the Chandrika Kumaratunga government and Sri Lanka's independent media has again intensified, after authorities last week reminded public officials that they are barred from speaking to the press.