யாழ் திரைகடலோடி

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Optimism Our correspondent says that there is a sense of something new developing in Nepal and a mood of optimism that the former rebels - who have moved from the battlefield to forming a likely government in less than two years - can give Nepal the new start that it needs. Sectors previously wary of the former rebels are now putting out feelers towards them. A senior army figure, Brigadier General Shiva Ram Pradhan, has expressed the willingness of the military to work with the new government. The chairman of the country's chamber of commerce has praised Maoist leaders for their promise to listen to the private sector when working out economic pol…

A Calendar is conceived and designed by logic and astronomy rather than emotions and myths of politics. If people don’t understand the calendar they follow, educate them. If any section of the society thinks that the calendar is its prerogative, liberate the calendar, rather than mutilating it or abandoning it. If there is any problem in the calendar it has to be investigated and corrected by a forum of astronomers, climatologists and environmental scientists, sitting along with traditional astronomers historians and Tamil scholars. Any society, which doesn’t care to investigate and understand its own heritage of science, is not going to make any progress. It will always …

Tigers Infiltrate Amnesty International ! An Amnesty International-organized demonstration held in front of the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN in New York on Friday, 11th April was blatantly infiltrated by sympathizers of the LTTE living in the US and Canada. Amnesty International billed this demonstration as an effort to protest to the Sri Lankan Government against harassment and killing of several media personnel in Sri Lanka, claiming that most victims were Tamils. Over 200 Americans, mostly students assembled near the Permanent Mission on Third Avenue, near UN Headquarters, noisily protesting against the Government of Sri Lanka. Making use of …

Tamil New Year [TamilNet, Sunday, 13 April 2008, 02:30 GMT] The Tamil New Year day falls on Sunday, 13th April, since 2008 is a leap year. On other years, it is 14th April. It is not only the Tamil New year, but also the New Year of Sinhalese and Malayalis. It is not appropriate to call it a Hindu New Year since vast majority of Hindus in India don't celebrate it a New Year. Yet, it is an auspicious day called Mesha-samkraanti for them. In Orissa, it is observed as Paana-samkraanti. It is also equally inappropriate to call it a Buddhist New Year, as Buddhists other than the Sinhalese don’t celebrate it. The calculation for the commencement of this New Year and the cal…

Balance of power: West v East Seda Punkt - 4/12/2008 World dominant is in question. West, namely, US, EU, and Canada are on one side, East-namely, Russia, and China, are on the other front, where India is increasingly aligning itself with Russia. The breakup of USSR was one of the US's major foreign policy achievements. Now, the lone Russia with Chechnya, is not much of a threat. Tibet, and Xinjiang can give long term headache to China, but breaking up Russia and China is very difficult. But India. Powerful India is a growing trouble for the West, and the solution is breaking up India. India is very similar to Yugoslavia; the 30% of the Hindi spea…

COLOMBO: Ironically enough, the leader of the radicals in a Sri Lankan party which espouses the cause of the island’s Sinhalese community is a Tamil. According to the Daily Mirror, the recent attacks on the moderates in the Sinhalese-Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) were inspired by a senior Tamil leader of the party who had just arrived from Australia after a long exile. The paper did not name the leader, but quoted a dissident MP to say that it was this person who had swung the JVP’s alliance with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1988, when both the JVP and the LTTE were fighting Indian intervention in the island’s ethnic conflict through…

Fordømmer norsk dokumentar Oslo (ANB-NTB): Sri Lankas regjering vil forby den norske dokumentarfilmen «Min datter terroristen», som handler om to kvinners liv blant Tamiltigrene (LTTE). Det srilankiske forsvarsdepartementet har gått ut med en pressemelding der de skriver at de har lagt press på det amerikanske utenriksdepartementet og FBI for å stoppe visninger av den norske dokumentarfilmen, skriver Oslo Dokumentarkino. Myndighetene på Sri Lanka mener filmen, hvor vi møter to kvinnelige selvmordssoldater, er med på å promotere terrorisme og frykter at den vil gjøre stor skade. Filmen har blitt forsøkt stoppet i USA i forbindelse med dokumentarfilmfestival…

Sri Lanka's disappeared: Gang demands Tamil exiles pay ransom for kidnapped relatives The government-backed Karuna Faction militia is using abduction as a fundraising tool at home and abroad. Dan McDougall reports Sunday, 6 April 2008 For some refugees, finding asylum in Britain is not the end of the nightmare, but the beginning. And no one knows this better than Tamils such as Ariyathas Pushpathas. Ten years ago, as a 17-year-old, he fled Sri Lanka after his sister died in an air-raid. Six months ago, his brother and cousin were kidnapped in Colombo by "agents" claiming to act on behalf of the island's Karuna Faction militia, now a de-facto exten…

குர்திஷ் பிரிவினைவாத குழுவை பயங்கரவாதிகள் பட்டியலில் இருந்து நீக்க ஜரோபிய நீதிமன்றம் உத்தரவு........ EU-Hof haalt PKK van EU-terreurlijst Uitgegeven: 3 april 2008 12:05 LUXEMBURG - Het Europees Hof van Justitie heeft de Koerdische Arbeiderspartij PKK geschrapt van de Europese lijst van terroristische organisaties. Bij de plaatsing op de lijst in 2002 ontbrak namelijk een opgave van redenen. Dat oordeelde het hof donderdag in een zaak die de PKK had aangespannen tegen de Europese Unie. Naar verwachting zal de EU de procedurele fout direct herstellen door een nieuw besluit. Het Hof haalde eerder om dezelfde formele reden een groep Iraanse vr…

A Sinhala-language movie about Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels has provoked a row between Indian Tamil activists and the film's director. The activists, who sympathise with the Tigers, were involved in a scuffle with the director, Tushara Peiris, in the south Indian city of Madras (Chennai). The scuffle broke out at a studio where the film, named Prabhakaran after the Tigers' leader, was being processed. Mr Peiris has now demanded government help to ensure his film rolls are safe. He told the BBC he was going on a hunger strike to make the Indian and Sri Lankan governments guarantee that the prints of his film - believed still to be at the studios -…

Source: Reuters By Rob Taylor COLOMBO, March 27 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka has launched a mystery poster campaign inviting would-be Tamil Tiger suicide bombers to phone a government helpline in exchange for 10 million rupees ($92,000) and a new life overseas. "Why should you die with a scattered body?" the red-and-yellow posters, placed in Tamil-dominated areas of the capital, Colombo, asked readers contemplating becoming members of what the rebels call elite "Black Tiger" suicide squads. "You also were born to live. Why should you carry bombs?" the posters said alongside a fuzzy black-and-white photograph of a suicide bomber's severed head. Sri Lanka's …

American Jewish World Service American Jewish World Service, an international development organisation inspired by Jewish ideas of social justice, works to alleviate poverty, hunger and disease worldwide regardless of people's race, religion or nationality. Active in the field Funding and other support Region or province: Trincomalee Where exactly:Batukachchiya, Kantale CAFOD CAFOD, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, is the official development and relief organisation of the Catholic Church in England and Wales and has been running projects in developing countries since 1962. Funding and other support Caritas Caritas encompasses 162…

Sri Lanka Worst Country in the World- Human Rights Watch Report

Amidst soaring electricity rates, the Government is giving priority to the proposed multi-million dollar mega undersea power transmission line with India. Power and Energy Minister John Seneviratne said yesterday he or a senior official from his ministry would lead a delegation to India for this purpose. A preliminary feasibility report has already been completed. The $450-million project involved the laying of a 200-km long submarine cable to enable India to export electricity to Sri Lanka and would connect Madurai in Tamil Nadu with Thalaimannar, Mannar and Anuradhapuara, The Sunday Times learns. The plans to expedite the export of electricity from India com…

general secretary Vaiko on Tuesday said that the Indian Government’s approach to the Sri Lanka situation amounted to `assisting the genocidal Sri Lankan Government.’ Even as the Tamils in Lanka were dying of starvation, the chief of Lankan Army, Sarath Fonseka was given a red carpet welcome by Indian Government, “with all undeserving honours,” said Vaiko in his letter to the Prime Minister. Indian Navy officials were suppressing the real facts about firing at Indian fishermen, he charged, adding that the failure of the Government to protect fishermen from Tamil Nadu was a betrayal of Tamils. Hitting out at the training given to the armed personnel of Lankan…

The European Union says it has "serious concerns" about reports of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. A six-member delegation, representing a range of EU bodies, released the statement at the end of a three-day visit to the country. The EU also criticised the Tamil Tiger rebels over alleged rights violations. Abductions, extra-judicial killings and disappearances have risen in Sri Lanka since the military and rebels resumed attacks on each other in December 2005. The US state department and New York-based group Human Rights Watch have also recently criticised Sri Lanka's rights record. "The EU continues to harbour very serious concerns about c…

LONDON has been named the dirtiest and most expensive European city in a new survey. The UK capital edged out Paris for the unwanted title of filthiest city in a survey of travellers from the TripAdvisor company. Paris was runner-up to London as the most expensive city but the UK capital fared far better in other categories being voted the best for nightlife and parks. Despite being considered pricey, London is second only to Paris for having the best shopping. The French capital is considered to have the most unfriendly hosts, followed by London and Moscow. Brussels - despite its beer, chocolate and chips - has been voted the most boring Europe…

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 18:15 GMT] Former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage this week urged sweeping changes to current U.S. foreign policy, arguing that the superpower needs to replace its almost exclusive focus on fighting terrorism with a broader agenda. "If your foreign policy is just organized around the global war on terror, you’re missing the bet. I think a new paradigm will emerge. I don’t know what it will be, but in the interim we need to engage with friends and frankly engage with our enemies. Actually, it might be more important to engage with our enemies," he told The Washington Diplomat journal. "We’ve been exporting our …

Take back Kachchatheevu: Indian Parliamentarians [TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 March 2008, 16:31 GMT] In a rare display of unity and concern, members of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Indian Parliament), cutting across party lines, urged the Centre to take back the Kachchatheevu island from Sri Lanka in the wake of continued killing and arrests of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lanka Navy. This is the first time when the demand to immediately take back the Kachchatheevu island has been made at the national level. The issue of Indian fishermen being repeatedly attacked by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) was raised by Congress MP V. Narayanasamy during question hour. He sai…

B.Raman on Anuradhapura raid by LTTE மிகவும் நடுநிலைமையோடு, நிதானமாக அலசி ஆய்ந்து எழுதப்பட்ட கட்டுரை. எல்.டி.டி.ஈ யின் நிலைமை முன்பை விட மோசமாக இருக்கிறது, கிழக்கில் கருணாவால் ஏற்பட்ட பின்னடைவிலிருந்து இன்னும் அவர்கள் மீளவில்லை, முன்பிருந்த நிலப்பரப்பு அவர்களிடம் இல்லை, 9/11 நிகழ்வுகளுக்குப் பிறகு உலகமே தலைகீழாக மாறிவிட்ட நிலையில் அவர்கள் முன்னெப்போதுமில்லாத அளவிற்கு பலவிதத்திலும் நெருக்கடிக்குள்ளாகியிருக்க

Local government elections in Batticaloa after 14 years Local government elections for nine Regional Councils including Batticaloa Municipal Council are to take place on Monday 10 March after a lapse of 14 years and all arrangements related to them have been made, Mahintha Desapriya, Deputy Election Commissioner said. 831 candidates representing 6 political parties and 22 independent groups will contest in these elections in which 101 members are to be elected. 2,70471 registered voters are eligible to vote in this election. The Special District Election Office has begun to function from Sunday morning at Batticaloa Hindu College and voting will tak…

Fighting erupts in Northern Front [TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2008, 20:32 GMT] Heavy exchange of gun and mortar fire was reported Sunday night for at least 3 hours from 10:00 p.m., sources in Thenmaraadchi said. The fighting continued till the latest update from the area at 1:00 a.m. Monday. Further details are not available at the moment.

People in Batticaloa are voting in the first polls since the government drove the Tamil Tigers from eastern Sri Lanka. The elections are for a municipal council and smaller local authorities in outlying areas. But the party that is expected to win - the Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal party (TMVP) - is made up of former Tamil Tiger rebels, and they have not laid down their arms. Pradeep Master is a leading candidate for political office, standing in Batticaloa's local polls for the TMVP. During the campaign he was out on the streets visiting shops and handing pamphlets to passers-by. But at the age of 16, he was carrying an AK-47 for the …

As Sri Lanka's government is named by Human Rights Watch (HRW) as one of the world's worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances, the father of someone who disappeared tells his story to the BBC. Jude (not his real name) is a young Tamil man who disappeared in the north of Sri Lanka in February 2007. Ever since then, his family have been desperately searching for any clue to what might have happened to him. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My son has been missing for one year. We have been searching for him for all over the place. We never really stop looking. One day he just failed to come ho…