Feizal Samath

MEDIA: Asia’s Only Public Broadcaster Struggles to Stay Alive

Seven years after the launch of Asia's only public broadcaster, the pioneering station is struggling to stay alive because corporate sponsors shy away from support, pushing it to become increasingly dependent on U.N. agencies and other supporters.

SRI LANKA: Balancing Cost, Benefits of Migration a Touchy Task

By Feizal Samath

Despite growing concerns about the human cost of overseas migration, Sri Lankan experts are cautious about tightening the procedures for working abroad and say this has to balanced with the risk of undercutting the economic benefits of the labour exodus.

SRI LANKA: Balancing Cost, Benefits of Migration a Touchy Task

By Feizal Samath

Despite growing concerns about the human cost of overseas migration, Sri Lankan experts are cautious about tightening the procedures for working abroad and say this has to balanced with the risk of undercutting the economic benefits of the labour exodus.

SRI LANKA: Scepticism Looms over Tamil Tigers’ Softened Stance

By Feizal Samath

The scepticism that has greeted the Tamil Tigers' softening of their positions in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict shows the challenge that the government faces in getting acceptance of any peace deal between the rebels and the state.

SRI LANKA: Scepticism Looms over Tamil Tigers’ Softened Stance

By Feizal Samath

The scepticism that has greeted the Tamil Tigers' softening of their positions in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict shows the challenge that the government faces in getting acceptance of any peace deal between the rebels and the state.

SRI LANKA: Political Squabbles Will Not Undercut Peace Talks

By Feizal Samath

Political squabbling between Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Chandrika Kumaratunga is feeding fears of instability, but analysts say it is unlikely to undercut peace talks with Tamil rebels that will enter their second round on Oct. 31.

SRI LANKA: Political Squabbles Won’t Undercut Peace Talks

By Feizal Samath

Political squabbling between Sri Lankan Prime

SRI LANKA: Political Squabbles Will Not Undercut Peace Talks

By Feizal Samath

Political squabbling between Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Chandrika Kumaratunga is feeding fears of instability, but analysts say it is unlikely to undercut peace talks with Tamil rebels that will enter their second round on Oct. 31.

SRI LANKA: Tamil Leader Defends Work in Children’s Homes

By Feizal Samath

A controversial welfare organisation in Sri Lanka's northern Vanni region, widely believed to be controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), on Thursday fended off allegations that the children's homes it runs were feeding recruits to the rebel army.

SRI LANKA: Tamil Leader Defends Work in Children’s Homes

By Feizal Samath

A controversial welfare organisation in Sri Lanka's northern Vanni region, widely believed to be controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), on Thursday fended off allegations that the children's homes it runs were feeding recruits to the rebel army.

SRI LANKA: Scepticism of Tigers’ Position Reveals Deep Divisions

By Feizal Samath

One week after Tamil rebel negotiator Anton Balasingham said the Tigers have scaled down their long-cherished goal of a separate state, many Sri Lankans and commentators on both sides of the ethnic conflict are far from convinced about his statement.

SRI LANKA: On Eve of Talks, Cricket Helps Soothe Wounds of War

By Feizal Samath

If there is one issue that has bonded communities in war-ravaged Sri Lanka, it is cricket - one of whose biggest international tournaments is underway here as the peace talks between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels start Monday.

SRI LANKA: On Eve of Talks, Cricket Helps Soothe Wounds of War

By Feizal Samath

If there is one issue that has bonded communities in war-ravaged Sri Lanka, it is cricket - one of whose biggest international tournaments is underway here as the peace talks between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels start Monday.

/REPEAT/POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Hopes, Fears High on Peace Talks with Tigers

By Feizal Samath

Sri Lanka's two main ethnic communities have high hopes for next week's peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels, but the country's Muslims, though supportive, are also worried they could end up a "minority within a minority" after the negotiations.

POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Hopes, Fears High on Peace Talks with Tigers

By Feizal Samath

Sri Lanka's two main ethnic communities have high hopes that next week's peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels, but the country's Muslims, though supportive, are also worried they could end up a "minority within a minority" after the negotiations.

SRI LANKA: Business Came Late but Made a Difference in Peace Calls

By Feizal Samath

When widespread rioting against minority Tamils broke out in July 1983, a top Sri Lankan minister shook his head in despair and said: "There goes away our dream of being another Singapore."

SRI LANKA: Business Came Late,but Made a Difference in Peace Calls

By Feizal Samath

When widespread rioting against minority Tamils broke out in July 1983, a top Sri Lankan minister shook his head in despair and said: "There goes away our dream of being another Singapore."

LABOUR-ASIA: Migrant Workers Want More Action, not Talk

By Feizal Samath

A stirring call from a former migrant worker from the Philippines, pleading for action and not "just talk" to protect female labourers from abuse, marked the opening of an Asian summit on foreign migrant domestic workers here Monday.

SRI LANKA: Furore over Dead Worker Shows Migration Risks

By Feizal Samath

The bizarre case of the body of a Sri Lankan domestic worker in Kuwait, which arrived home without some of her organs, is the latest grim reminder of the vulnerability of thousands of women working in unknown lands.

POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Stakes for Peace Rise as Peace Talks Near

By Feizal Samath

With peace talks between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels starting next month, most Sri Lankans believe this is where the hard bargaining starts -- but still hope and pray that the talks will not break up and end in yet another cycle of violence.

SRI LANKA: Labour Reforms are Friendly to Industry, Not to Women

By Feizal Samath

The Sri Lankan government is easing restrictions on overtime work for women, in a move that it says will help dismantle archaic labour laws that inhibit foreign investment but which trade unionists say would push female workers into forced labour.