(Speech of Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of the Opposition at the Business Today TOP TWENTY FIVE awards ceremony)

After a series of attacks on the judiciary the Mahinda Rajapaksa government is now reported to be engaged in preparing papers for the impeachment of the Chief Justice (CJ). While the accusation against the CJ is not known the determination of the government to impeach her has been highly publicised. The state media have been mobilised to make a concerted attack on the judiciary.

The military intelligence unit is reportedly engaged in taking photographs and registering details of families that have resettled in Mullivaikkal West and Ambalavan Pokkanai.

Mannar Bishop, Rev. Rayappu Joseph says that Sri Lanka needs to be changed in a manner where all communities could live with dignity.

The Chief Justice’s husband, former Chairman of the National Savings Bank (NSB), Pradeep Kariyawasam is to reveal many secret when the case filed against him before the Colombo Magistrate’s Court is taken up for hearing, it is learnt.

Senior SLFP minister have expressed their objection to the impeachment motion against the Chief Justice and have refrained from placing their signatures in the blank document that is to carry the impeachment motion.

Former Chief Justice Ashoka de Silva is trying to use Supreme Court Judge Shirani Thilekawardena against Chief Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake saying she would be appointed as the chief justice after Bandaranayake’s removal.

The Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association (IBAHRI) says that the reported attempt by the Sri Lanka government to impeach Chief Justice is perceived as a politically motivated move to curtail the independence of the judiciary.

Former Chief Justice Asoka de Silva who is now advising the President to impeach present Chief justice and former supreme court judge Jagath Balapatabendi are close relatives.

The Military Intelligence Corps (MIC) is like the heart of a country’s defence force. In the Eelam war, this particular unit in the Sri Lanka Armed Forces made a painstaking effort to gather and retrieve information about the activities in Tiger controlled areas and about their leaders. It was because of the unique talents of these men, hard core LTTE leaders like “Newton” got disappeared in the streets of Colombo. It was the MIC which terrorized the terrorists.

The Sri Lankan government Sunday said there was never an ethnic conflict in the country but only a war against terrorism.

The old adage ‘nature is the great equaliser’ no longer holds true in countries like Sri Lanka, where the poor bear the brunt of extreme weather events.

The Sri Lankan government’s Appropriation Bill for budget expenditure for the year 2013 has allocated 290 billion rupees ($US2.2 billion) to the combined defence and urban development ministry.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse has spoken to Uthayan, during his trip to India, regarding his stance on the 13th Amendment, and questions of demilitarisation in the North. Extracts translated below:

The Lawyers' for Democracy are concerned about the ongoing unprecedented mudslinging campaign and all forms of attacks against the Judiciary. This has far reaching and repercussions on the rule of law.

In an earlier article we asked the question, "Can the legislature declare all automobiles to be rickshaws?" We must simplify the question by asking whether legislators have the right to be silly when they are legislating.

BTF and its partner organisations are actively working to bring awareness of the Sri Lankan situation in the 14th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) UPR is a good tool to debate Human Rights records of a country; but it can only do very little in the case of Sri Lankan State’s oppression of the Tamils.

Mahinda Rajapaksha Regime has resorted to the ugliest attack in Sri Lankan on the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice this week by using the state media as a slander machine and being mean to introduce manufactured slanders letters to the parliament solely with the purpose of abusing the parliamentary privilege for based purpose.

Pavalochini and her husband Ravikumar make a living selling bicycles. They sell them for Rs.49 a kg, for scrap is what the bikes are: rusted, twisted, bent out of shape, the tyres long gone after three years out under the scorching sun at the “bicycle graveyard” near Mullaithivu.

The Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP) general secretary demanded that the former military commander explains what type of government will be in place after the proposed abolition of executive presidency in Lanka.

Colombo, October 24, 2012. With the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) fast approaching, in marking the 67th United Nations Day this year, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon highlighted the need to prepare a bold and practical post 2015 agenda.

The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) yesterday urged the Sri Lankan government not to engage in futile propaganda exercises to deceive the international community ahead of the forthcoming Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.

Australian PM Julia Gillard has outlined a major foreign policy plan aimed at improving Asian ties.

NfR Sri Lanka, a net work of journalists and human rights defenders makes this urgent and open appeal to the members of UN Human Rights Council in the context of up coming second circle of the Universal Periodic Review on Sri Lanka. Human rights situation of Sri Lanka will be reviewed on 1st November 2012, in a week's time.

UNITED NATIONS, October 25 -- The UN system's Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions has inevitably dealt with Sri Lanka for some years, given the mandate.

The Dragon’s shadow is lengthening over Sri Lanka with every passing day. China has committed since 2005 contracts and investments worth US$ 6.4 billion, as per treasury records. So far, $ 3.6 billion has been disbursed. Projects worth $ 2.8 billion are waiting to be signed. In another three years, the Chinese investment in Sri Lanka will nearly double and touch $ 12 billion.

Transitional Government of Tamil Eelam invited people for special political conversation schedule to held in France on Sunday (28.10.2012). Prime Minister of the TGTE government R.Rudhrakumaran would hold video conference and respond to the questions raise by the people.

The appointment of Manjula Thillkaratne, as the Secretary to the Judicial Services Commission, was done in violation of the Constitution, External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris said in Parliament yesterday.

In the bloodbath that ended the 26-year civil war in Sri Lanka in 2009, tens of thousands of civilians lost their lives in a few terrible months. The world's politicians looked the other way. Some governments even praised Sri Lanka for its "victory over the terrorists", in reference to the defeat of the rebel Tamil Tigers. The UN Human Rights Council passed a remarkable resolution that praised the Sri Lankan government's "commitment to promotion and protection of human rights".