News stories by Feizal Samath, page 4

As a wife of a rice farmer and mother of two children aged nine and two, Sanjeevani Bandara’s days are packed with chores. Yet while she used to be able to keep up with all she has to do in a day, this Sri Lankan mother now finds herself struggling to accomplish even the most basic tasks.

Local and foreign non-governmental organisations have had a liberal existence in Sri Lanka, but this may not last for much longer under the government’s plans to amend a 1980 law that would tighten control over them.

Sri Lanka is rejecting claims that some 11,000 people who surrendered as suspected Tamil rebels just before the rebels were defeated in May 2009 are being held incommunicado or risk being tortured.

Under pressure over accusations that ill-gotten money would be siphoned out, Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has put the lid on a plan to allow a free flow of foreign currency in and out of the country.

When the global financial crisis struck in 2008, expectations were high that the Sri Lankan economy would be severely affected. But as it turned out, the number of job losses was not as bad as anticipated.

Dozens of Sri Lankan migrant workers languishing under a flyover in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, claiming to be stranded, exemplify the crisis of migration that Sri Lankan authorities have faced over the years.

By January 2010 they will be returning to their homes in war-torn areas.

Political developments are rapidly unfolding as the public eagerly awaits the President’s announcement on Sunday of the date for the next presidential or parliamentary polls—an event widely expected to bring about a new leadership that could bring to fruition the people’s collective yearnings for a return to law and order as well as discipline.

With parliamentary and presidential elections just a few months away, conditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in an ongoing 2.6-billion U.S. dollar loan facility could be swept aside if Sri Lanka’s opposition captured power.

Sri Lanka has reacted strongly to a European Commission (EC) probe on its human rights record, saying it is politically motivated.