Lanka News – Lanka Gazette – Sri Lanka News Portal

The Media Ministry is only acting according to judgments given by the Supreme Court in connection with registering websites. The Media Ministry merely requests websites to register with the ministry and has not banned any websites so far. Over 42 websites had been registered with the ministry, Acting Media Minister and Acting Cabinet Spokesman Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said.

Addressing the weekly Cabinet press briefing at the Government Information Department Auditorium yesterday, he said another 24 websites got registration later. “The registration included a code of ethics developed by journalists themselves. Nothing has been imposed by the Media Ministry on journalists or websites. The Supreme Court judgment made it clear that freedom of the wild ass cannot exist for websites.”

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HSBC acted as Joint Book-runner and Joint Lead Manager on Bank of Ceylon’s debut US $ 500 million 144A/Reg S 5-year Bond offering that was successfully concluded in April 2012 followed by a comprehensive global roadshow covering, Singapore, Hong Kong, the UK and the USA

Ahead of the issuance, Bank of Ceylon secured its first international ratings of BB-/B1 (Fitch/Moody) with HSBC acting as Joint Ratings Adviser.

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Tamil Nadu has intensified security along its entire coastal belt based following intelligence reports of increased smuggling between India and Sri Lanka. It is also aimed at preventing Indian fishermen from crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) between the two nations.

As an initial step to curb enhanced smuggling, 30 more marine police stations are being set up in Tamil Nadu to bring the state’s entire coastal belt under close vigil, a top police official in the State said.

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The government’s efforts to improve higher education has paid off with six universities in the country being ranked among the top 100 universities in South Asia.

According to the international grading of universities, six Sri Lankan universities, namely, Colombo, Peradeniya, Sri Jayawardenapura, Jaffna, Rajarata and the Open University have been upgraded, Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. Sunil Jayantha Nawaratne said.

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In a human smuggling operation gone sour, around 200 Sri Lankan refugee claimants hoping to come to Canada are stranded in West Africa.

The BBC is reported that 200 Sri Lankans left their country and travelled through India and Ethiopia before a smuggler abandoned them in Togo instead of taking them on to Ghana and then Canada.

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President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday ordered the External Affairs Ministry to reopen the Sri Lankan mission in Iraq immediately .

According to Presidential Spokesman Bandula Jayasekera, the President had made this announcement at a meeting with correspondents of foreign media agencies based in Colombo at Temple Trees yesterday.

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Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report will not be presented by the Sri Lankan Government at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in March this year , External Affairs Minister G. L. Peiris said. (DS)

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Rameswaram (TN): A Sri Lankan court on Monday extended by 14 days the remand period of five fishermen from Tamil Nadu, arrested on drug smuggling charges on November 28, an official said.

U Arulanandam, state coordinator of 'Alliance for the release of innocent fishermen', told reporters from Sri Lanka, here on an invitation by the state government, that Mallagam court Judge Gajanidhi Balan extended to January 30 the remand of the fishermen when they were produced in court today.

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A Sri Lankan housemaid, who was not paid for over 15 years, says her constant pleas to send her home from Saudi Arabia has been ignored by the authorities, the BBC reported.

Kusuma Nandani, a mother-of-two who has been in Saudi Arabia since 1993, says that she has been cut off from the family.

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The British government yesterday said that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report has many constructive recommendations for post conflict reconciliation and urged the government of Sri Lanka to implement its recommendations soon. British Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Alistair Burt in a statement to the British Parliament expressing the government’s views on the LLRC report said,

The British government yesterday said that the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report has many constructive recommendations for post conflict reconciliation and urged the government of Sri Lanka to implement its recommendations soon.

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