President says election win a mandate for war
against Tamil rebels
May 11 (AP)
President on Sunday hailed his party's election
victory in the country's tense Eastern Province as a mandate to push
ahead with his war against Tamil Tiger rebels in the north. "I note that
the people of the east have given a clear mandate for peace through the
defeat of terrorism, the strengthening of democracy and the development
of the country," President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in a statement. |
Military says 18 rebels killed in latest clashes
May 11 (AP)
New fighting near the Tamil Tiger rebels' stronghold
in northern Sri Lanka left 18 insurgents dead, the military said Sunday.
A military official said the clashes occurred Saturday in the northern
Jaffna, Vavuniya, Mannar and Welioya regions. The official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because of government rules, said a few soldiers
were wounded in the battles. Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan was not
immediately available for comment |
Mervyn Silva seizes Russian Embassy-owned prime land
May 11 (LD)
Labour Minister Mervyn Silva and his supporters have
seized a prime plot of land at Bauddhaloka Mawatha in Colombo owned by
the Russian Embassy in Sri Lanka, 'Irida Divaina' reports. The newspaper
quoted a government spokesman as saying that the seizure was now likely
to become a diplomatic issue between the two countries. The four-acre
plot close to the BMICH had been purchased in 1986 by the then
government of the Soviet Republic. |
Weerawansa Group gets Govt. perks
May 11 (SAMN)
The secret dealings between the government and the 10
dissident JVP MPs have been revealed following the large number of perks
afforded to the JVP defectors at state expense after the split. The JVP
defectors who earlier claimed that they would function as independent
members in parliament have now requested for special privileges and
perks usually enjoyed by government ministers |
Govt banks on defectors to beat Tigers
May 11 (AFP)
K. Nanthakopan is a marked man, being roughly the
political equivalent of a top Al-Qaeda member who has defected to
Washington. The 38-year-old is part of a group of Tamil Tiger rebels who
in 2004 split away from the movement to set up a splinter group, helping
the ethnic Sinhalese-dominated government win control over the island’s
east last year. On Saturday he is standing in provincial council
elections as an ally of Colombo’s hawkish government, almost certainly
viewed by his former comrades as a traitor who should die |
2 LTTE militants held, explosives seized
May 11 (TT)
The coastal security wing of the Tamil Nadu police
has seized explosives shipment meant for the LTTE and arrested two
suspected militants off the coast of Rameswaram, 600 km from here.
Additional director-general of police (coastal security) Jagan Sheshadri
said, “During our operations since last night we came across a boat off
the Rameswaram coast in the Palk Bay containing chemicals and
detonators. Two suspected militants were arrested”. |
Sri Lanka holds crucial vote in war-torn east
May 10 (AP)
Residents in Sri Lanka's war-ravaged east voted for
the first time in two decades on Saturday in an election the government
hopes will endorse its war to defeat Tamil Tiger rebels. Voting began
hours after a "Black Tiger" rebel suicide squad sank a naval ship in the
eastern port of Trincomalee. On Friday, a bomb exploded in a crowded
cafe also in the eastern Sri Lanka, killing 12 people an injuring 29 |
Tamil rebels sink navy ship on east coast; new
ground fighting kills 26
May 10 (AP)
Tamil Tiger rebels bombed and sank a navy cargo ship
off eastern Sri Lanka early Saturday with no casualties reported, and
infantry clashes in the embattled north killed 24 rebels and two
soldiers, the military said. The attack on the ship took place just
hours before residents of eastern Sri Lanka began voting in a critical
provincial election in a formerly rebel-held region. |
Rights group unhappy that Britain did not charge
former rebel for alleged abuses
May 10 (AP)
Amnesty International complained that Britain
released a former Sri Lankan rebel leader without prosecuting him for
alleged war abuses including killings, abductions and using child
soldiers. Despite six months of investigation Britain failed to find
sufficient evidence to charge former Tamil Tiger leader Vinayagamoorthi
Muralitharan, the London-based human rights group said in a statement
received in Sri Lanka Saturday after being issued Friday |
UNP will win 19 seats at free, fair EPC election -
Attanayake
May 10 (Island)
Nineteen out of the 35 seats at stake in today’s
Eastern Provincial Council Election will be won by the UNP-SLMC
alliance, provided the government permits a free and fair poll to be
held, UNP General Secretary, Tissa Attanayake said. Attanayake said that
they expect to win seven seats from Ampara and six each from Trincomalee
and Batticaloa |
President Rajapaksa condemns LTTE's barbaric attack
May 10 (AT)
President Mahinda Rajapaksa condemned the barbaric
act of the LTTE of exploding a bomb targeting innocent civilians at a
cafe in Ampara town. He said he was confident that the people of the
East would not be intimidated by this low degrading act of the Tigers
and the political parties supporting the outfit, at a time the people
were about to enjoy the fruits of democracy by electing a true leader to
guide their destinies |
Minister Devananda Initiates Programs to Uplift
Living Standards in Killinochchi and Mullaittivu
May 10 (AT)
Minster Douglas Devananda, Chairman of Presidential
Special Task Committee, appointed for resettlement, Rehabilitation and
Developmental activities in the Northern Province, is in the process of
collecting information for commencing accelerated development work for
the upliftment of living conditions of the people of Jaffna, Mullaitivu,
Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Mannar Districts. |
Sri Lanka military captures town
May 9 (Reuters)
Sri Lankan troops backed by warplanes captured a town
in the northwest of the island on Friday after killing 31 Tamil Tiger
rebels in a battle, the military said, as it pressed on with an
offensive in the region. Three soldiers were killed and another five
were missing from the fighting in Mannar district, the military said. A
pro-rebel website, www.tamilnet.com, said Tamil Tiger fighters inflicted
heavy casualties on the Sri Lankan military, |
UK transfers renegade Tamil Tiger
May 9 (BBC)
A former leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels who
was jailed in the UK in January has been transferred to an immigration
detention centre. Col Karuna was sent to jail in January for identity
fraud after being arrested in London late last year. He was carrying an
apparently genuine Sri Lankan diplomatic passport issued under a false
name. It is not clear if he will be deported. Human rights groups want
him charged with war crimes. |
Suspected terrorists held, ammunition seized in
Tamil Nadu
May 9 (IANS)
Increased surveillance of Tamil Nadu's southeastern
coast have resulted in the arrest of two suspected terrorists and the
seizure early Friday of a boat laden with contraband ammunition bound
for northern Sri Lanka, police said. The consignment recovered off the
coast of Rameshwaram, about 600 km from state capital Chennai, consisted
of explosives, batteries and camouflage attire |
Army boots seized from bus
May 9 (Island)
The Anuradhapura Police and Military Police personnel
in a joint raid seized 113 pairs of Army boots while being transported
in a private bus to Anuradhapura from Colombo yesterday. The driver and
conductor of the bus were arrested. Acting on a tip off they set up a
road block at Pandulagama and stopped the bus carrying the boots packed
in fertilizer bags. The crew had told the police that the stock of boots
were handed over to them at |
TMVP in polls overshadow all issues
May 9 (SAMN)
The entry of the breakaway LTTE faction to mainstream
politics and its decision to contest the first ever election to the
Eastern Provincial Council on the government ticket is the hottest issue
in the May 10 election. The unprecedented relationship between President
Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government and the Eastern Tigers, styling
themselves as the TMVP, overshadows other issues as the UNP-SLMC combine
and |
Manoj Gunawardene appointed CEO of SriLankan
May 9 (LD)
SriLankan Airlines has appointed Manoj Gunawardene,
the airline's former head of worldwide sales as its chief executive
officer, the company said in a statement. Gunawardene has been with the
airline for 25 years and 17-years in sales and commercial divisions. He
had been regional manager UK, Europe and Americas, from 2005 until
taking over worldwide sales in May 2006 |
Election charade in eastern province
May 9 (wsws)
The provincial council election scheduled for
Saturday in war-ravaged eastern Sri Lanka is an attempt by the Colombo
government to dress up its military occupation with a democratic façade.
The real character of the poll is revealed by the government’s alliance
with the paramilitary Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) and the
presence of large numbers of troops and police to intimidate voters. |
IPL will improve skills: Mahela
May 9 (Hindu)
boyish face that masks nerves of steel. A small frame
that packs a punch with the bat. Mahela Jayawardene is a man of many
parts strung together by a thread of genuine warmth. The Sri Lankan
skipper, a key player in the Yuvraj Singh-led Kings XI Punjab, believes
that the DLF-Indian Premier League will enhance cricketers’ skill-sets.
“We haven’t played a big deal in the Twenty20 format and this tournament
will improve our skills, not just in Twenty20 but in all versions of the
game |
An open letter to Western envoys
May 8 (DN)
A foreign journalist who phoned a head of a European
Mission in Colombo, after the terrorist attack at Piliyandala, had
inquired as to whether the position of his Government and that of other
Western Governments had changed with regard to the war against the LTTE
terrorists, and the response, as recorded, has been as follows: "Our
position on the need to suspend the war and to engage in talks remains
the same.........". |
Roads to prosperity in the East
May 8 (DN)
The Eastern province was praised for its natural
beauty before terrorism emerged. This region was best known for
agriculture and fishing sectors, being one of the prominent agricultural
districts in the country. Terrorism disrupted the development of the
East and its future turned into a question mark due to terrorism. The
Government is now rebuilding the entire province after it was liberated
from the control of LTTE. |
Indian intervention only if LTTE agrees
May 8 (SAMN)
India should intervene in the conflict in Sri Lanka
only if the LTTE agrees to it, an influential former Chief Justice of
India said yesterday but expressed scepticism of such a move as a
majority of the population in Tamil Nadu are Tamils. The Government
Peace Secretariat however said Sri Lanka had no intention of inviting
India to actively take part as mediator nor does India have any
intention of doing so after its involvement in 1987 which had adverse
repercussions |
Minister Bogollagama appraises UN Chief of
situation in Sri Lanka
May 8 (GDI)
Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama met with UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as part of the Government's policy of
maintaining regular dialogue to apprise the United Nations of recent
developments in Sri Lanka, particularly with regard to the unfolding of
the road map for restoration of democracy in the Eastern Province. He
also briefed the Secretary General on the Task Force set up to expedite
development of the North, foreign media reported on Thursday (08).
|
US, Canada
relentless in hunting the LTTE down in North America
May 8 (DFK)
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a terrorist
organisation whose suicide bombings and political assassinations have
killed 4,000 people in the past two years, have quietly established a US
presence to help bankroll and equip its brutal secessionist campaign in
Sri Lanka, authorities said. |
Sri
Lanka Marxist party says the prorogation of parliament is to silence
opposition voice :
May 08,(CP)
Sri Lanka Marxist party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)
charged the government that its decision to prorogue the parliament has
been taken to silence the opposition's voice, particularly against
election violence in the Eastern Province. |
Sri Lanka balances ties with US and Iran
May 7 (NIP)
In the run-up to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s
state visit to Sri Lanka last month, the Mahinda Rajapaksa government
found itself in a cleft stick. The US had expressed concern over growing
ties between Sri Lanka and Iran, particularly because of a report on a
secret military dimension. While Sri Lanka needed Iran’s friendship to
meet its energy needs, it could not develop relations with Iran at the
expense of ties with the US, whose help |
Rajapaksa challenges Prabhakaran to direct clash
May 7 (IANS)
President Mahinda Rajapaksa Tuesday challenged the
elusive leader of the LTTE Velupillai Prabhakaran to 'clash with him
directly' and declared that his government would continue in its bid to
flush rebels out of their stronghold in the north. 'I will challenge
Prabhakaran to clash with me directly if possible without engaging in a
killing spree of targeting innocent civilians, parliamentarians and
ministers,' |
Sri Lanka military says battles across north kill 35 rebels, 2 civilians
May 7 (AP)
A series of battles between government forces and Tamil
separatists across the embattled northern region killed 35 rebels while
a blast blamed on rebels killed two civilians, the military said
Wednesday. The latest infantry clashes continued throughout Tuesday
along the front lines in the regions of Mannar, Welioya and Vavuniya
bordering the rebels' de facto state in the north |
Being "a man in
a hurry" is not a bad thing after all - Mahinda
May 7 (Island)
President Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday that
accusations of him being "a man in a hurry", were unfounded because the
Eastern people are on the verge of voting at a Provincial Election for
the first time in twenty years. Participating in an interaction with
people in Kinniya from Temple Trees via satellite last night, Rajapaksa
said that if he was in fact "a man in hurry" it was not a bad thing,
because "the East had been cleared of the LTTE and |
New railway station opened in East
May 6 (SAMN)
UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe handed over the East
to the LTTE, but now the UPFA, after liberating the East, has gifted it
to its "inheritors", and the transport problems faced by the people in
the East will be solved gradually, Transport Minister Dallas
Alahapperuma said after opening a new railway station at Ganthalawa
recently. Minister Alahapperuma said that people travelling from the
Trincomalee station would be able to reach Colombo via |
Lanka rejects US charges
May 6 (SAMN)
Sri Lanka said Monday allegations against the
government, included in the US State Department country report on
terrorism released last week, were a sad effort to divert attention –but
the US said it was standing by its report. Foreign Ministry Secretary
Palitha Kohana said he believed the US report was not accurate. “This is
an attempt by the US to divert attention from the issue at hand, when it
is the LTTE that is banned as a terrorist organisation in more than 27
countries, including the US”. |
SC bans eviction of Tamils from Colombo
May 6 (LD)
The Supreme Court yesterday declared the eviction of
Tamils from Colombo or preventing them from entering and staying in any
part of the city were an infringement of fundamental rights and should
not be repeated in future unless in accordance with the law and with a
judicial order. The SC bench comprising Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva,
Justices Andrew Somawansa and Jagath Balapatabendi heard the FR petition
filed by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and |
Sri Lanka to start building new port on east coast
May 6 (LBO)
Construction work on a new port in Oluvil on Sri
Lanka's east coast is to start on Tuesday as part of government efforts
to revive the region's economy, the Port Ministry said in a statement
Monday. The main objective of the project is to develop a harbour with
appropriate shore facilities to cater to general cargo vessels required
to supply the current needs of the area, including costal passenger
transport, it said. |
LTTE: Rising
Desperation
May 6 (ICT)
Two light aircrafts of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) carried out an air attack on the security forces (SFs)
forward positions in Welioya, 280-kilometre northeast of Colombo in the
morning of April 27, 2008, but no injuries or damages were caused in the
‘air raid’, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara disclosed,
adding, "The LTTE planes have returned safely to their hideouts in the
Wanni after dropping three bombs." |
Sri Lanka rebels say 11 troops killed
COLOMBO (AFP) — Separatist
rebels said they killed 11 government troops and wounded 20 during
clashes in northern Sri Lanka on Monday. |
Sri Lankan Air Force pounds rebel target
Xinhua, China -
COLOMBO, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan military said
Sunday that its Air Force successfully bombed a target of Tamil Tiger
rebels |
Sri Lanka to start building new port on east coast
Lanka Business Online, Sri Lanka
May 05, 2008 (LBO) – Construction work on a new port in
Oluvil on Sri Lanka's east coast is to start on Tuesday as part of
government efforts to revive the ... |
Govt. to initiate fresh peace moves
May 4 (LNP)
The government is likely to initiate fresh peace
moves soon and is expected to give the green light to the Norwegian
facilitators to commence peace moves between Wanni and Colombo once the
election for the Eastern Provincial Council concludes. According to
government sources, Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hansen Bauer is to visit
Sri Lanka shortly to work out the necessary modalities between the
government and the LTTE. |
After Muhamalai debacle, war on free media
May 4 (ST)
At least for members of the JVP, all roads led to the
Town Hall grounds in Colombo last Thursday. A big turnout made theirs
the largest attended May Day rally. That apart, fears that a section of
the party would yet take a different road from the majority in their
party's political journey became clear on May Day. It is now certain
that the breakaway faction led by their parliamentary group leader,
Wimal Weerawansa, backed by eleven other MPs, would form a "Patriotic
National Front." |
'Ranatunga
should have acted more maturely'
May 4 (CI)
Samantha Algama, Sri Lanka Cricket's (SLC) media
manger who was sacked recently, said the interim committee chairman
Arjuna Ranatunga could have avoided all the unnecessary bad publicity he
was bringing to SLC if only he had shown some courtesy in asking him to
resign. Ranatunga's untimely sacking of Algama became an international
issue with the ICC also expressing their concern. |
JVP
claims it has Weerawansa confessions
May 4 (ST)
At least for members of the JVP, all roads led to the
Town Hall grounds in Colombo last Thursday. A big turnout made theirs
the largest attended May Day rally. That apart, fears that a section of
the party would yet take a different road from the majority in their
party's political journey became clear on May Day. It is now certain
that the breakaway faction led by their parliamentary group leader,
Wimal Weerawansa, backed by eleven other MPs, would form a "Patriotic
National Front." |
Mihin
Air grounded until further notice
May 4 (LNP)
The troubled budget carrier Mihin Lanka has been
forced to suspend operations indefinitely, from the beginning of this
month, for want of aircraft, as exclusively reported in The Sunday Times
last week in a story titled Mihin Air craftless? Several attempts over
the past few days to reach Mihin s head of operations Athula Dissanayake
for comment have failed. Mr Dissanayake had left a message to say he
could not talk because he was out of the country, but |
Repeating Old Errors in Muhamalai and in the East
May 4 (LG)
Muhamalai, an avoidable mistake with horrendous
consequences, represents the quintessence of Rajapakse rule. Muhamalai
is a logical outcome for an administration with a penchant for
forgetting the past and for living in an imagined reality. Muhamalai is
symbolic of the place Sri Lanka is headed to, if the regime persists in
refusing to learn from its past errors |
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Public servants told to use UL, Mihin
May 11 (SAMN)
Sri Lanka’s public sector officers travelling
overseas on official tours have been ordered to travel on SriLankan
Airlines or Mihin Lanka with immediate effect, irrespective of the
source of financing such travel. A senior official of the Finance
Ministry said this directive was issued to promote the national carrier
and Mihin Lanka. He noted that a similar procedure was followed 10 years
ago and when Air Ceylon was in operation. |
Karuna likely to be deported to Lanka
May 11 (SAMN)
Britain is on the verge of deporting LTTE rebel
leader Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Col Karuna to Colombo after he
was prematurely released from prison last week. Karuna, an embarrassment
to the British government from the time it was known that he had
travelled to Britain on a Sri Lankan diplomatic passport issued under
another name, was serving a nine month sentence when he was given an
early release and transferred to an immigration detention centre,
believed to be at Harmondsworth. |
Questions
over NIC tender conditions
May 11 (SL)
The National Identity Card (NIC) is one of the
greatest vulnerabilities in the country's national security system. In
the last year, several LTTE cadres who were caught - not to mention some
who blew themselves up taking scores of innocent civilian lives - have
all been found to be using forged NICs. In this light it is commendable
that the government is getting underway a programme of replacing our
ageing NIC with a new 'eNIC' which |
Voters in eastern Sri Lanka worry about future
May 10 (AP)
A climate of fear hung over elections in Sri Lanka's
tumultuous east Saturday following a series of attacks blamed on the
rebels and accusations of intimidation against a breakaway rebel group
backing the ruling party. The government promised the provincial
elections would herald a "new dawn" for the embattled region, which was
under rebel control for 13 years, was badly hit by the 2004 tsunami and
then suffered through a wide-ranging war |
EP polls unveils Tamils as partners in governance
May 10 (DN)
The Eastern Provincial Council elections to be held
today will make the Tamil-speaking community of Sri Lanka true partners
in the country’s governance for the first time in history, the
Government said yesterday. Addressing the final pre-election media
briefing of the UPFA, Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said the
historic poll will also mark the demise of the LTTE and Prabhakaran’s
dream of an Eelam. |
Devolution of power to territorial entities in Sri
Lanka - an overview
May 10 (LG)
Offering the LTTE increased autonomy in the 1995
Proposals as an incentive was like offering a bigger dowry to a man who
was not interested in marriage! I am thankful for this invitation to
make a brief presentation on the subject of devolution of power for your
deliberations at the Synod of the clergy of the Diocese of Colombo of
the Church of Sri Lanka. There has been a significant revival of
interest in this subject in recent days |
Sri Lankan election in former rebel area marred by
accusations of violence
May 9 (AP)
Arumugam Jagan, an opposition candidate in Sri
Lanka's Eastern Province elections, can barely campaign. His posters are
torn down or covered in tar. He says he has been threatened by former
rebels allied with the ruling party, and his supporters have been
attacked as they handed out fliers and threatened with retaliation after
Saturday's vote. |
Sri Lanka to hunt for oil onshore after gas find
May 9 (LBO)
Sri Lanka is to start searching for oil onshore after
the accidental discovery of gas seeping from the ground, government
officials said. Petroleum minister A H M Fowzie said Friday the
government has received technical support from Egypt to start the
initial exploration work. The accidental discovery of signs of gas were
near the Munneswaram Kovil, a famous Hindu temple, in the northwestern
Chilaw area, adjacent to the waters of the Mannar Basin |
Negotiating with the Tigers
May 9 (LG)
When the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE signed a
cease-fire agreement (CFA) in 2002, it was welcomed by war-weary Sri
Lankans across the ethnic divide. There was deep scepticism, of course.
Yet, the truce, the silencing of the guns – albeit temporarily - and the
pace at which the negotiations proceeded did generate considerable
excitement in Sri Lanka. But that was not to last. Before long, the LTTE
was accusing the government of not delivering on its pledges |
Dr Jayalath Jayawardene meets Dirty Sethu
May 9 (LG)
The LTTE’s sewage media head Nadarajah Sethurupan
alias Dirty (Oothai) Sethu had a private meeting with Dr Jayalath
Jayawardene when he visited Oslo last month for a secretly arranged
conference. The purpose of the meeting with Dirty Sethu was not known,
but sources in Oslo said it was part of Dr Jayalath Jayawardene’s effort
to keep in touch with hardcore LTTE activists |
LTTE cadre commits suicide
May 9 (LNP)
The man who died after swallowing a cyanide capsule
when he was arrested in Kotmale was an LTTE cadre who had fled Kandy to
evade arrest, Police said. The deceased, Gajendran Kumar was arrested
along with another LTTE cadre said to be from Mannar. They had been in
Kandy but fled when the police launched a search for Gajendran Kumar to
question him about the purpose of his visiting Kandy. |
Four charged in Britain with helping Tamil Tigers:
police
May 8 (AFP)
British police have charged four men with conspiring
to support Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels, Scotland Yard said Thursday.
The four were arrested under anti-terror laws and are accused of owning
computers, radio equipment and high-power magnets for terrorist
purposes. They were to appear in court in London later in the day, said
a spokesman. The men were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 in the
last two weeks as |
Anandasangaree - Will Talk with LTTE alone solve the
ethnic problem in Sri Lanka?
May 8 (AT)
V. Anandasangaree, President of the TULF has posed a
most pertinent question to the Heads of Diplomatic Missions in Sri
Lanka, Will Talk with LTTE alone solve the ethnic problem in Sri Lanka?
He said that a resolution was unanimously adopted on the 24th of April
at the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, calling upon the Central
Government of India to intervene and to help to initiate talks between
the two warring parties, to bring back Peace to Sri Lanka. |
2 LTTE weapons
recovered by security forces- Trincomalee
May8 (DFK)
Two T-56 assault riffles were recovered by troops
engaged in a search operation conducted in the 9th Colony area at
Mollipothna , Trincomalee this evening |
Sri
Lanka main opposition continues to protest against former rebel leader
Pillayan
May 08,(CP)
Sri Lanka's main opposition, the United National Party (UNP)
continued its protest against the government backed Pillayan group or
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil People (TMVP) for the second day
yesterday |
LTTE forced Canadian Tamils to sign pre-payment forms
May 7 (IANS)
Canadian police have seized documents showing Tamil
Tigers leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran soliciting money from Tamils here
for his armed struggle in Sri Lanka. The documents, seized by the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in raids on the offices of the World
Tamil Movement in Toronto and Montreal, show a 2002 letter by
Prabhakaran, asking Tamils in Canada to send him 15 of the "100 crore"
rupees he needs for his armed struggle. |
Lanka's
record undermines claim for a place in UN rights body
May 7 (PTI)
Alleging that Sri Lanka's human rights record has
worsened and the country has failed promises to improve, a coalition of
over 20 NGOs on wednesday said these factors undermine its claim for a
place on the UN Human Rights Council. The United Nations General
Assembly is scheduled to hold elections on May 21 to replace the
retiring members of the 47-member Council, the United Nations' leading
human rights body. |
All Govts. exploited state funds to win elections: Minister
May 7 (DM)
Export Promotion Minister, Navin Dissanayake says that
all governments since independence exploited state resources to win
elections and Mahinda Rajapaksa government is not an exception. Mr.
Dissanayake said his father the late Mahaweli Development Minister,
Gamini Dissanayake dispatched hundreds of vehicles and employees of the
Mahaweli Development Authority to Ratnapura to assist the UNP
by-election campaign against late Mr. Nanda Ellawala |
Food crisis
and an attitude change
May 7 (DN)
The web connects us all. The looming hunger is going to
connect us all. The climate change definitely will connect us all
whether we are in the North South or near the Equator. Climate change is
going to trigger droughts and floods in unexpected places at unexpected
times. This in turn will affect food production. Hence there will be
food shortage for the poor, the down-trodden, those who are affected by
wars. So what is the solution? |
Police raid pirate software dealers
May 7 (SAMN)
Officers of the Colombo Crime Division with the
assistance of representatives of the Business Software Alliance (BSA)
conducted criminal raids against distributors of illegal business
software in Colombo marking the beginning of greater focus and crackdown
on business software piracy distribution and business software
under-licensing in Sri Lanka. A total of 3 outlets at a leading shopping
centre in Bambalapitiya were raided |
Eastern Polls: campaigning to end at midnight tomorrow
May 6 (GDI)
Campaigning for the Eastern Provincial Council
Elections, scheduled to be held on May 10 will end at midnight on
Wednesday (7th), sources from the Elections Department told www.news.lk.
The Eastern PC Elections are being held for the first time in two
decades following the recent liberation of that province from the
clutches of the LTTE. In March, local government elections were held in
the Batticaloa District. |
New fighting in northern Sri Lanka kills 16 rebels, 2 soldiers
May 6 (AP)
Clashes broke out between government forces and
ethnic Tamil separatists across northern Sri Lanka, killing 16 rebels
and two soldiers, the military said Tuesday. In the worst of the
fighting Monday, nine rebels were killed during a series of battles in
the Vavuniya district, the military said in a statement. The military
also accused the rebels of targeting a leading Buddhist monk in the
north with a roadside bomb. |
Tamil terror group's manual revealed
National Post, Canada
MONTREAL - Inside the school auditorium, the Tamil Tiger
flag had been raised in a solemn ceremony and the audience of 600 people
had heard a taped address |
Sri Lanka's budget airline grounded by lack of planes
COLOMBO (AFP) — Sri Lanka's
state-run budget carrier has suspended operations indefinitely because
of a lack of planes, an aviation official said Sunday. |
Helicopter carrying Sri Lanka's opposition leader makes an ...
Colombo Page, Sri Lanka
May 05, Mahiyanganaya: Sri Lanka's main opposition party
leader Ranil Wickremasinghe had to stay at Mahiyanganya police station
for about an hour |
Rajapaksa
sticks with divide and rule policy
May 4 (NS)
Muhamalai and Piliyandala grabbed the headlines last
week despite the elections in the east and fracas in the Janatha
Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) as the LTTE sent another forceful message
against the continued prosecution of the Eelam war. Muhamalai was being
called a military debacle where the Sri Lanka Army reportedly walked
into a Tiger trap, losing a disputed number of lives in the process. |
39 Tamil rebels, 8 soldiers killed in heavy fighting
May 4 (AP)
Heavy weekend fighting between government troops and
Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka's contested north killed 39 rebels and
eight soldiers, the military said Sunday. The latest battles erupted
Saturday along the front lines in the Welioya, Mannar and Vavuniya
regions, the military said. In the worst fighting, soldiers killed 13
Tamil Tiger rebels in Welioya, said a Defense Ministry official. |
Quebec Tamil group used as front for Tigers: report
May 4 (NP)
Sri Lanka's terrorist Tamil Tigers control the
Montreal-based World Tamil Movement as one of their "foreign branches,"
in charge of raising funds for the war effort and spreading propaganda,
according to documents seized by the RCMP. In a 184-page affidavit
unsealed by the Federal Court yesterday, RCMP Corporal Shirley Davermann
details how the LTTE give instructions to Tamil activists in Canada, and
how money is collected in Canada for the Tiger cause. |
LTTE-held town in our hands: Army
Hindu, India
COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan military on Friday claimed to
have “gained total control” over the LTTE-administered Karukkakulama
town area, located North West |
Bunkers to
protect school children
May 3 (Island)
Following constant shelling by the LTTE on villages in Padaviya and
Welioya, the authorities have started to construct bunkers in school
premises in these two areas for children. Artillery and mortar attacks
from LTTE held areas on government held villages is the latest
phenomenon noticed in the North during the last three days, military
sources said. The Army said it was helping school authorities to
construct bunkers to safeguard school children from attacks during
school hours |
Sri Lankan police arrest UN aid worker for carrying pistol
 COLOMBO
(AFP) — Sri Lanka arrested a local staff member
attached to a United Nation organisation for carrying a pistol with him |
Ambulance driver relates tale of rescuing 13 civilians from LTTE
May 3 (DM) A
heroic ambulance driver who fearlessly stayed back in Mutur while
doctors and health officials fled the area recounts the story of how he
rescued 13 civilians from LTTE clutches after his ambulance was ambushed
and fired upon on August 2, 2006. The harsh sunlight danced on the dusty
red crosses, adorning the sides of the beat-up ambulances as the two
drivers, Upananda and Arjuna were trying carefully to manoeuvre their
vehicles over a road strewn with sharp edged boulders. |
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