SRI LANKA: With End of War, Media Shifts Focus

These days, the front pages of mainstream Sri Lankan newspapers are dominated by reports of clashes between two Muslim groups, the drama of two baby elephants separated from their mothers and government efforts to ban porn sites and curb adult-only movies. This shift in news focus is a radical departure from the days when newspapers were choked with war coverage.

POLITICS: LTTE’s End Game in South-east Asia

Sri Lanka’s vanquished Tamil Tiger rebels suffered another major blow with the arrest of their new leader on August 5.

SRI LANKA: As Fighting Stops, Sri Lanka Hopes to Woo Back Tourists

Hope has once again returned to Sri Lanka’s resplendent beaches. Everyone, including hoteliers, boat operators, and beach boys, are hopeful that the end of a three decade old civil war will herald better fortunes.

RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: Gay Community Takes Heart in Indian Court Ruling

This month, Sri Lanka’s gay and lesbian community, long struggling for acceptance and respect in a conservative, majority-Buddhist country, cheered a landmark court ruling in neighbouring India.

SRI LANKA: Clinching a Crucial IMF Lifeline

After months of being at the receiving end of international criticism for human rights violations, Sri Lanka finally clinched a crucial agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday for a standby credit facility of $2.5 billion, which will help bolster the country’s foreign exchange reserves depleted by the sharp impacts of the global economic downturn and an expensive war.

SRI LANKA: Island Faces Key Test in Upcoming Elections

Elections in early August for local administrative bodies in Jaffna and Vavuniya, two Tamil-dominated northern towns, would be the first litmus test for the Sri Lankan government to restore normalcy in a region devastated by nearly three decades of war.

SRI LANKA: Aid Organisations Struggle to Operate in Post-war Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan government wants the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to scale down its operations in the country, but is sparing other international nongovernmental organisations amid questions over the post-war role for humanitarian workers.

SRI LANKA: Journalists Laying Aside Pens Once Again

Sri Lankan journalists are laying aside their pens once again and bracing for renewed confrontation with President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government after the revival of the repressive Press Council and fresh attacks on the media.

POPULATION: The Worst Places to Be a Refugee

Gaza, South Africa and Thailand are among the world's worst places to be a refugee, according to the latest annual World Refugee Survey released here Wednesday by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI).

RIGHTS: Sri Lankan Journalists Face Severe Persecution

At least 11 Sri Lankan journalists were driven into exile in the past 12 months amid an intensive government crackdown on critical reporters and editors, said a new survey from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released Wednesday.

SRI LANKA: Will Tamils Have A Say In Reconstruction?

For people in Sri Lanka’s war-torn North, for many years life has meant virtually living out of a suitcase while moving from place to place to escape the rigours of war and bloody combat.

SRI LANKA: Preparing For a New Chapter of Development

As Sri Lanka prepares for a new chapter of development after ending nearly three decades of conflict, ecologists among other experts here are calling for a ‘green’ revolution against the usual foreign investment, private sector-driven type of progress.

SRI LANKA: U.N. Urges Focus on Relief and Reconciliation

A United Nations team including Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon returned from a trip to Sri Lanka Tuesday, where they met with government leaders and inspected the battered conflict zones and refugee camps.

SRI LANKA: U.N. Probes Civilian Deaths as Guns Fall Silent

The Sri Lankan government, which has claimed military victory against a 26-year-old brutal insurgency in the country's northern and eastern provinces, will be battling charges of violating humanitarian law at a special session of the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva next week.

SRI LANKA: What’s Next For the Tamil Community?

Nearly three decades of war ended in Sri Lanka last week and a victorious President Mahinda Rajapaksa has extended a fresh hand of friendship to the minority Tamils, but most members of this community feel it will take a long time for the wounds to heal after years of mistrust and alienation.

SRI LANKA: Trade Partners Considering Economic Pressure

The United States, joined by the UK, France and other EU states, are stepping up economic pressure on Sri Lanka to stop killing of civilians during ongoing battles with Tamil guerrillas in the North. The countries are planning on using a proposed IMF bailout package and trade concessions as bargaining tools.

SRI LANKA: Intl Condemnation Mounts, Along With Body Count

As the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka takes a turn for the worse, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is sending one of his most senior officials to take stock of the situation in the war zone, where hundreds of civilians are being killed both by government and rebel forces.

SRI LANKA: Unions Strike Landmark Deal to Protect Migrant Workers

Trade unions from Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait came together with their Sri Lankan counterparts here to strike an unprecedented agreement on the welfare of migrant workers.

SRI LANKA: In Honour of Slain Editor, They Keep Writing

At the end of the long editorial room of ‘The Sunday Leader’ hangs a large sketch of Lasantha Wickrematunge, the late editor of the newspaper, who was assassinated on Jan. 7. He was shot in his car, just five minutes from his office.

RIGHTS: Recruiters of Child Soldiers Defy U.N. Pressure

The United Nations remains virtually helpless as an increasing number of armed groups - described as "non-state actors" - continue to exploit, abuse and deliberately harm children in battle zones in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

SRI LANKA: Media Kept on Tight Leash

As the latest round of Asia’s longest-running guerrilla war winds down, scores of journalists here are experiencing intimidation and harassment for being critical of the military campaign against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).