Sri Lankan official says president meets with top Indian officials to discuss recent fighting

June 2nd, 2009 NEW YORK - The UN Security Council plans to meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon this week to discuss the situation in Sri Lanka for the first time since fighting ceased in the island nation, the council's president said Tuesday. Ban will brief the 15-nation council behind closed doors on Friday and it will be an "unofficial, interactive dialogue," said Turkish Ambassador Baki Ilkin, whose country presides over the body in June.

May 21st, 2009 COLOMBO - India's National Security Advisor M.K.Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon will meet Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapakse on Thursday over breakfast. Their discussions will mainly focus on the humanitarian needs and rehabilitation of the lakhs of people displaced during the ethnic civil war in Sri Lanka.

May 16th, 2009 COLOMBO - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Saturday declared that the Tamil rebels have been defeated militarily. 'I am proud to announce that my government with the total commitment of our armed forces has, in an unprecedented humanitarian operation, finally defeated the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) militarily,' Rajapaksa said.

May 1st, 2009 COLOMBO - At least 23 Tamil Tigers were killed when the Sri Lankan Navy destroyed their boats off the coast of northeastern Mullaitivu district, an official said Friday. Navy spokesman Mahesh Karunaratne said two rebel suicide boats and an attack craft were destroyed at around 1 a.m.

April 25th, 2009 COLOMBO - Expressing deep concern over human rights violations and rising civilian causalities in Sri Lanka, the United States has called for an immediate ceasefire in the North-Eastern region of the country. According to the BBC, United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes is travelling to the island country to urge the Lankan Government to provide more aid to people trapped in the combat zone.

April 24th, 2009 COLOMBO - India's Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan landed here Friday and flew straight to President Mahinda Rajapaksa's residence Temple Trees by helicopter for a discussion on the situation in Sri Lanka.

April 24th, 2009 COLOMBO - Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan Friday held talks with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and then flew back home, with Colombo hinting that the offensive against the Tamil Tigers will continue.

March 26th, 2009 COLOMBO - Principal secretary to the Indian prime minister T.K.A. Nair, on a four-day visit to the island nation, met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa here Thursday.

March 4th, 2009 COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan national cricket team returned to the country Wednesday morning after several cricketers were injured in a shootout in the Pakistani city of Lahore Tuesday, airport officials said. The cricket team arrived at the airport at about 3.50 a.m.

February 21st, 2009 COLOMBO - At least 10 Indian fishermen have been arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy, a naval official said Friday. The fishermen were arrested off the island's north-western coast of Thalaimannar.

February 19th, 2009 COLOMBO - At least 10 Indian fishermen have been arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy, a naval official said Friday. The fishermen were arrested off the island's north-western coast of Thalaimannar.

February 4th, 2009 COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan military Thursday said that it has captured the last sea base of the Tamil Tiger rebels. Officials said the Tamil Tiger base in Chalai was captured by the troops of the 55 Division Thursday afternoon.

January 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI/COLOMBO - Hours before leaving for Sri Lanka, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Tuesday that India would never tolerate the Tamil Tigers but was worried about Tamil civilians caught in the war between the rebels and Colombo. 'We are for the fight against terrorists and all sorts of terrorism.

January 22nd, 2009 COLOMBO - Sri Lankan Navy has arrested at least 22 Indian fishermen with six boats while fishing illegally in Sri Lanka's northern sea waters off Kankesanthurai (KKS), official sources said here Friday. The sources told IANS that the Sri Lankan Navy has arrested these Indian fishermen trespassing into the Sri Lankan territorial waters late Thursday and handed them over to the KKS police for investigation.

January 16th, 2009 COLOMBO - Visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon Saturday held talks with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, a day after India announced the second instalment of humanitarian assistance amounting to 40 million (Sri Lankan) rupees for the war-affected Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka's north. Official sources told IANS that the meeting took place in the morning in the central hill district of Kandy where Rajapaksa and Menon discussed 'issues of bilateral interest and exchanged views on the current developments' in the war-ravaged north, where troops are fighting the Tamil Tigers in their last bastions.