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Sri Lankan Parliament reconvenes to extend emergency
hindu,
march 10.
COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan Parliament, which had been dissolved, was reconvened for a short while on Tuesday to extend emergency laws by another month.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa had earlier signed a proclamation extending the emergency. The validity of the emergency regulations extended by Parliament, which was dissolved on February 10 in the run up to the general election scheduled on April 8, expired on March 1.
Emergency laws can be passed only by Parliament and are valid only for one month. Any presidential proclamation extending emergency laws is subject to approval by Parliament.
On Tuesday, the state of emergency was extended with 93 votes in support and 24 against. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, the United National Party and the Tamil National Alliance voted against the extension of emergency.
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Published: Tue Mar 9 22:02:21 EST 2010
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Sri Lanka's ex-Army chief to be court martialed this week
Xinhua,
March 10.
Sri Lanka's defeated presidential candidate and former Army chief General Sarath Fonseka will be produced before the Court Martial this week as the gathering of evidence has been concluded, the Army said on Tuesday.
Military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe, who declined to mention a specific date, said Fonseka would be produced at any given date during this week.
"He will face five or more charges under the Army Act," said Samarasinghe.
Though he is detained at a navel base since Feb. 8, two weeks after the presidential polls, the government has not announced the exact charges against him so far.
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Published: Tue Mar 9 21:59:22 EST 2010
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Water Woes Fall on Women’s Shoulders
IPS,
march 10.
COLOMBO, Mar 9, 2010 (IPS) - 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.
Blame it on the weather, which has been causing water shortages that force Bandara to spend more and more time fetching water for her family, farther away from home.
While the volume of annual rainfall in Sri Lanka has not changed, agriculture specialist Champa Navaratna says that weather patterns are changing to high-intensity rain for short periods, causing floods, landslides and long periods of drought – which in turn result in water problems.
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Published: Tue Mar 9 22:04:24 EST 2010
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Soldiers 'victimised by government'
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