The question has arisen since Mr. Rajapaksa advanced the presidential election by two years. The Third Amendment to the Constitution empowers the President to hold elections at the end of four years of the six-year term.

Interpretation of the Amendment was challenged in the Supreme Court in 2005. The court ruled while disposing of a case on the date of commencement of office of the then President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, that her second stint commenced from the day she was declared elected.

The contention of the petition was that since her first term commenced in 1994, the second term must end in November 2006. More...Discuss this story Published: Sat Jan 30 19:26:40 EST 2010

Police went to the offices of the Lanka weekly and sealed the premises, a day after taking its editor into custody for questioning over reports that criticised a top government official, the newspaper said.

"The Criminal Investigations Department officers have surrounded the Lanka office and sealed it today," the web edition of the paper said. More...Discuss this story Published: Sat Jan 30 16:28:42 EST 2010

New-York based Human Rights Watch said that since Tuesday's presidential election, authorities have detained and questioned several journalists, blocked news Web sites and expelled a foreign journalist. At least one journalist has been assaulted and several have been threatened.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa won a resounding victory in the balloting, beating former army chief Sarath Fonseka by 17 percentage points. More... Discuss this story Published: Sat Jan 30 16:26:34 EST 2010