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Colombo, Feb 12 - Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Friday allowed the hearing of a petition seeking the release of General Sarath Fonseka, the former army chief, who is being held on allegations of conspiracy against the government.The petition was filed by Anoma Fonseka, his wife, on behalf of her husband ...

Colombo, Feb 10 - Supporters of defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka were attacked Wednesday by pro-government crowds and the police, an opposition spokesman said.The supporters had gathered near the Supreme Court in Colombo to protest the arrest of Fonseka Monday, allegedly for leaking se ...

Colombo, Feb 9 - Parliament in Sri Lanka has been dissolved with effect from midnight Tuesday ahead of new elections, officials said.The vote for the 225-seat legislature is likely to be held in April, but an official announcement is expected by the Commissioner of Elections in the next few days. Tw ...

Colombo, Feb 9 - Sri Lankan opposition parties Tuesday protested the arrest of former army commander Sarath Fonseka, who led the military victory over the Tamil rebels before unsuccessfully running in last month's presidential election.'The general who fought the terrorists was forcibly dragged away ...

Colombo, Feb 8 - Former Sri Lankan Army chief Sarath Fonseka was arrested Monday and will be court-martialled for military crimes, an official said.Lakshman Hullugala, director general of the Media Centre for National Security, told state television that Fonseka will be court-martialled. Fonseka has ...

Colombo, Feb 8 - Former Sri Lankan Army chief and defeated presidential poll candidate Sarath Fonseka has been arrested, his family told reporters here Monday.Fonseka was arrested by the military police, sources said. Fonseka's media secretary Senaka de Silva was also arrested, the Daily Mirror of ...

Colombo, Feb 8 - Former Sri Lankan Army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka was arrested, his family told reporters here Monday.Fonseka was arrested by the military police, sources said, Xinhua reported. ...

Colombo, Feb 4 - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Thursday spoke out in defence of the hard line he adopted towards foreign interference during the years of conflict with Tamil rebels.He acted in his country's best interests by rejecting international accusations of human rights abuses, he sai ...

Colombo, Feb 3 - Opposition parties rallied to protest what they said were irregularities in last week's presidential election that gave incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa a second term.Losing candidate and former army commander General Sarath Fonseka vowed to campaign against the irregularities which he s ...

Colombo, Jan 30 - A Sri Lankan anti-government newspaper was shuttered Saturday after its editor was arrested on allegations of publishing details of an ongoing investigation against a former Tamil rebel now in custody, police said. The Lanka newspaper, published by the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Pe ...

Colombo, Jan 29 - Police in Sri Lanka Friday raided the office of defeated presidential candidate and former army commander General Sarath Fonseka. Fonseka has claimed since Tuesday's loss that he is being harassed by the government. He lost by 1.8 million votes to incumbent President Mahinda Raja ...

Colombo, Jan 28 - The defeated candidate in Sri Lanka's presidential election, former army commander General Sarath Fonseka, expressed fear for his life Thursday after accusing the government of endangering his security. General Fonseka told a news conference that his 80-member security cover and ...

Colombo, Jan 28 - The security measures provided for Sri Lanka's defeated presidential candidate General Sarath Fonseka have been withdrawn, a military spokesman said Thursday. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said two days after the presidential election that four vehicles, including a bullet-resistan ...

Colombo, Jan 28 - The US has congratulated Sri Lanka for the first nationwide election in decades and President Mahinda Rajapaksa on winning the presidential contest. 'We look forward to continuing the partnership between our two countries and working with the government and the people to support ...

Colombo, Jan 28 - The Sri Lankan government has begun preparing to conduct parliamentary elections shortly, a minister said Thursday. 'Parliament will be dissolved and elections will be held shortly,' senior cabinet minister Maithripala Siirisena told DPA. The 225-seat parliament's term officiall ...

New Delhi, Jan 28 - Defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka should not leave Sri Lanka as he needs to answer 'a lot of allegations against him', President Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother said Thursday. 'He should remain in the country,' Basil Rajapaksa, who advises the president on political af ...

Colombo, Jan 27 - Mahinda Rajapaksa, who defied the odds to vanquish the Tamil Tigers last year, was Wednesday re-elected Sri Lankan president with a thumping majority as the opposition cried foul and main challenger Gen Sarath Fonseka found himself under siege with his hotel surrounded by the army ...

Colombo, Jan 27 - 'I am not afraid,' Sri Lankan presidential candidate and former army chief Sarath Fonseka said Wednesday after heavily armed soldiers threw a tight circle around his hotel.'...Their - plan is to deploy troops around my house, my office, the broadcasting corporation, the national te ...

Colombo, Jan 27 - The official result would come only later in the day but Mahinda Rajapaksa's victory in the Sri Lankan presidential poll had been secured, a Presidential Secretariat official said Wednesday. Rajapaksa had taken an early lead in the first presidential election since the Tamil Tige ...

Colombo, Jan 27 - Mahinda Rajapaksa Wednesday won the Sri Lankan presidential election, Xinhua news agency quoted officials as saying. ...

Colombo, Jan 27 - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Wednesday took a comfortable lead in the first presidential election since the Tamil Tigers were vanquished after 26 years of bloody war. As the vote count was on, heavily armed soldiers encircled the hotel where their former chief and Rajapa ...

Colombo, Jan 27 - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa took an initial lead early Wednesday over his main rival former army commander General Sarath Fonseka in the counting of the votes for the presidential election. With over 1 million votes counted by 6 a.m, Rajapaksa recorded 689,261 votes ag ...

Colombo, Jan 26 - Polling in Sri Lanka's presidential election ended Tuesday with a turnout of more than 70 per cent as heavy security was deployed to prevent violence. Election observers reported sporadic incidents of violence and intimidation but said they did not disrupt overall polling. The e ...

Colombo, Jan 26 - Polling in Sri Lanka's presidential election ended Tuesday with a turnout of more than 70 percent despite incidents of violence, explosions in the north and intimidation of voters, officials and poll observers said. A series of explosions in northern Sri Lanka ahead of voting low ...

Colombo, Jan 26 - A series of explosions in northern Sri Lanka ahead of voting in the presidential election lowered turnout in the region, but the rest of the country reported brisk voting, election officials said Tuesday. Voting in the first national election since the defeat in May of Tamil sepa ...

Colombo, Jan 26 - Polling in Sri Lanka's presidential elections opened Tuesday morning in the first national election to be held in the country since the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels in May. Voting began at 7.00 a.m. in some 11,000 polling stations with 14 million people registered to vote. Po ...

Colombo, Jan 12 - The US said Tuesday that it was 'deeply concerned' over the escalating violence linked to the Jan 26 presidential elections in Sri Lanka. Referring to a fatal shooting, an American embassy statement urged the authorities 'to conduct a full investigation of this and other acts of ...

Colombo, Jan 12 - A female supporter of the former army commander who is standing for president was shot dead by political rivals in southern Sri Lanka Tuesday, police said. A bus carrying supporters of General Sarath Fonseka in Ranna, Tangalle town, 220 km south of the capital, was sprayed with g ...

Colombo, Aug 2 - A senior civil administration official in the Sri Lankan government has been arrested for alleged links with the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels, police said Sunday. Nagalingam Vethanayagam, the government agent of Kilinochchi, was arrested Friday following information from an arreste ...

Colombo, July 31 - The Sri Lankan government has closed down a peace secretariat that was set up to facilitate reconciliation talks with the Tamil Tiger rebels, an official said Friday. The government had taken the decision to close down the secretariat by July end, Rajiva Wijesinghe, head of the ...