யாழ் திரைகடலோடி

Shambo slaughter backed by court The Court of Appeal has overturned a decision to block the slaughter of Shambo, the "sacred" temple bullock. The six-year-old animal, which is kept in a Carmarthenshire temple by Hindu monks, has tested positive for TB. The Skanda Vale community said it was "devastated" by the decision and vowed to continue to find ways of saving him. The Welsh Assembly Government said there was no timetable but it wanted to act with "the minimum of distress to the animal and its carers." The community has fought a hard campaign since the TB test returned positive in April, saying they were guarding against Shambo infecting ot…

Youths corroborate SLA complicity in abductions. Youths recently released after being abducted corroborated the alleged involvement of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in the recent wave of abductions of youth in the Jaffna peninsula using Buffel Armoured Personnel Carriers. The abductions are carried out at night by armed men operating in white vans. The abductees are then taken to SLA military bases in the area, and later transported in Buffel APCs to the High Security Zone (HSZ) garrison in Palaali, blind folded and with hands and legs tied, according to the youths who were released after torture. A mother who lost her child cursing the Sri Lanka Army …

Danish aid group says staffer killed in Sri Lanka 23 Jul 2007 10:10:13 GMT Source: Reuters Alert Me | Print | Email this article | RSS [-] Text [+] COLOMBO, July 23 (Reuters) - A gunman shot dead a Sri Lankan staff member of the Danish Refugee Council in the island's army-held far northern Jaffna peninsula, the aid group said on Monday, the latest in a series of killings of humanitarian staff. "One of our national staff in Jaffna was murdered this morning," said Charles Macfadden, head of the group's Sri Lanka mission. "We know nothing. He was on his way to work, we understand he dropped (off) his wife, stopped and had a chat with someone and some…

Heavy fighting erupts at Mannaar FDL - LTTE [TamilNet, Sunday, 22 July 2007, 14:34 GMT] Liberation Tigers have put up stiff resistance against the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) that has launched a fresh offensive near Mu'l'likku'lam along the Forward Defence Line in Mannaar, LTTE Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told media in Ki'linochchi. The fighting broke out around 3:00 p.m. Sunday, according to Mr. Ilanthiryan. Further details are not available at the moment. http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=22808

A Little Thing Called Love Author: Anonymous Love is a many splendored thing, they say, And I believe it when you looked my way, Out of the blue, things seemed to happen By chance or destiny, is the question. Living my life so long, without knowing your existence, Then came a day we felt each others presence, Guess what's meant to be will always find a way, Love creeps into hearts and decides to stay. A love so exquisite, yet so intricate, In a world of only "you and I" A love we can't even demonstrate, A secret we have to keep for life. I love you, honey, and its from my heart, I hope you know that youre no beggar from the …

12th day Hunger strike in UK Immigration Removal Centre! CAN YOU HELP THEM? Subramaniyam Alosius Jude Christie, (44) Male Jaffna Sillalay, Sri Lanakan Is on the 12th day Hunger strike in Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre. He has been given deportation order and says can't go back as there is no hope without peace talks. He has been arrested and detained in the Sri Lankan military 'Boossa camp' which is well known camp used by the Sri Lankan military to torture Tamils. He paid ransom to officers for his release from the camp and escaped to UK for his safety. Since coming to this country he has been in the Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre. His appli…

India and USA largely dictate the so called international community’s (IC’s) policy on the Sri Lankan conflict. India and USA increasingly have common objectives to counter regionally and internationally making them strategic partners of the future. The conflict in Sri Lanka is no different when it comes to their partnership; in-fact they stand together to gain from it. Then... India as the regional bully/mercenary attempted the containment policy through a temporarily merged North-East back in 1987 in return for maintaining a military presence in parts of the island. In the process India dictated through military muscle of IPKF a weak and cosmetic political soluti…

Etihad pulling out of Lanka COLOMBO: Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways said yesterday that it was pulling out of Sri Lanka, citing a sharp drop in tourist traffic to the tropical island due to ongoing fighting between government and rebel forces. "After extensive market analysis, we have decided to discontinue our services between Colombo and Abu Dhabi from September 9," the airline's manager for Sri Lanka, Kumar de Silva, said. Tourist arrivals in Sri Lanka plunged 30 per cent to 30,810 in June as compared with 44,066 a year earlier. For the six months through June, overall tourist arrivals were down nearly 25p to 224,791 visitors, compared to the same per…

Misery and death stalk Sri Lanka's north JAFFNA, Sri Lanka: The nights are broken again by artillery fire across the black lagoon. The road out of this peninsula has been closed since last August, making the area nearly inaccessible. Today, though food and fuel manage to arrive, the town market shuts by afternoon, and shopkeepers are reluctant to keep stocks, not knowing when they might have to close up and run. By 7 p.m., barely sundown, stray dogs have the run of the streets of Jaffna. Its people are indoors, doors locked, well before an 8 o'clock curfew, which is the most liberal in 10 months. Sri Lankan soldiers linger in the edges of the alleys. Flashl…

Call for immigrant amnesty in UK Half a million illegal immigrants should be given the right to stay in Britain, a think tank has said. The Institute of Public Policy Research says such an amnesty would bring in £1bn in extra taxes, and save costs of £4.7bn needed to deport people. It is urging Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to adopt the move, saying a large scale deportation would never happen. The Home Office said an amnesty was unnecessary and would create "a strong pull for waves of illegal migration". It is not known how many illegal immigrants are in the UK, with estimates varying widely from 300,000 to 900,000. We would notice it …

Sri Lanka warns Indian fishermen NEW DELHI, July 16 APP: The Sri Lankan government has warned Indian fishermen from crossing the international maritime border line. Media reports quoting officials said the warning, which would be effective from Monday, had been sent to the Indian High Commission in Colombo. The fishermen, who cross international maritime border and enter Sri Lankan area would be arrested and their boats seized, Sri Lanka warned. In the meanwhile, the Indian Navy is in a process of installing seven state-of-the-art radars along Tamil Nadu’s eastern coast to monitor movement of boats and to prevent Indian fishermen crossing into Sri La…

Friday, July 06,2007 COLOMBO: Despite attempts by the Sri Lankan army to patch up differences Karuna, who is hoping to be the leader of the eastern Tamils, has declared war on the Tamils from Jaffna, informed sources said, adding that this new move sharpens the regional differences among Tamils and brings a new element of Tamils fighting Tamils on a regional basis to the ongoing war. Karuna broke away from the LTTE blaming discrimination against the eastern Tamils by the rebel group dominated by Jaffna Tamils. Karuna’s first move in this latest twist is to issue an order to the parents of the members of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) led by Minister Doug…

Sri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tiger rebels are marking the 20th anniversary of their suicide bombing campaign. They are remembering the 322 Black Tigers - members of the suicide wing - who have killed themselves in attacks since 1987. The bombers have killed hundreds of people, mostly government troops, in their fight for a separate state in the north-east of Sri Lanka. More than 60,000 people have died since the conflict began in 1972. A ceasefire signed in 2002 between the government and the Tigers has been undermined by deadly violence that escalated last year. Garlands Rebels and residents of the town have been placing garlands on po…

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A roadside bomb tore through a NATO vehicle on Wednesday, killing six soldiers and their Afghan interpreter in a southern Afghan region that has recently seen heavy fighting, a NATO statement said. ADVERTISEMENT NATO did not release the soldiers' nationalities or the location of the attack, but Afghan police said it happened in Kandahar province's Zhari district. The majority of the troops in Kandahar are Canadian. Canadian Defense Department spokeswoman Sarah Kavanagh said had no information on the incident. The attack was the deadliest against foreign troops in Afghanistan since May 13, when seven troops were killed — fiv…

Sri Lanka conflict More COLOMBO, July 1 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's only international airport is to resume night flights for the first time since air raids by Tamil Tiger rebels forced their suspension seven weeks ago, an airport official said on Sunday. "We have permitted all the airlines to operate 24 hours a day from today," the duty manager at Bandaranaike International Airport said by telephone, saying he was not authorised to give his name. "We are satisfied that the security situation is normal and we have permitted each and every airline to operate at night. The air force will provide all the facilities to operate." But it was not immediately clear…

London police avert car bomb 'carnage'. A car bomb planted in central London would have caused "carnage" if it had exploded, police sources have said. A controlled explosion was carried out on the car, packed with 60 litres of petrol, gas cylinders and nails, in Haymarket, near Piccadilly Circus. An ambulance crew saw smoke coming from the green metallic Mercedes, near the Tiger Tiger nightclub at 0130 BST. Later part of London's Park Lane was closed to traffic after reports of a suspicious vehicle. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said that Park Lane was closed at Marble Arch to Hyde Park Corner and a 200m cordon put in place. It would also…

Only CFA can save Sri Lanka: Thamilchelvan. S.P Thamilchelvan, head of the Political Division of the LTTE, in an interview with TamilNet on Monday said that to bring peace and pave the way for talks, the international community should come forward to "support the struggle for rights of the Tamil people and force the Sri Lankan Government to implement the ceasefire agreement in full. Characterizing the efforts to bring a united position among the southern parties as the "same old drama," that has gone on throughout the Tamil people’s struggle for their rights, he said only the CFA can save the island from the disaster. Welcoming the timely meeting by the Co-chai…

California wildfire burns more than 200 homes. Firefighters are battling a raging wildfire near Lake Tahoe in California that has destroyed more than 200 homes and forced about 1,000 people to leave. Officials say 460 firefighters are tackling the blaze and they expect that number to double during the day. In Alaska, fire crews were working to protect hundreds of homes in the Kenai Peninsula as a fire which broke out last week continued to smoulder. The fire spread 81 square miles (210 sq km) before being slowed by rain. High winds were hampering firefighters as they tried to tackle the fast-moving fire near the town of South Lake Tahoe in Cal…

Gotabhaya gave orders to evict Tamils: Sunday Leader. Minutes of a Security Coordinating Conference held at the Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence on 31 May, attended by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, proved "conclusively that the order for the eviction of Tamil civilians from the city were given directly by Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa...The minutes also make the startling revelation that the Defence Secretary ordered for some of the evicted persons to be placed in IDP centres manned in the north and east," said Sunday Leader, a Colombo-based weekly in the weekend edition. The Minutes dated 4 June, signed by Lt Col N.M. Hettiarachchi, secretary to …

2ND LEAD [TamilNet, Thursday, 21 June 2007, 15:59 GMT] Unidentified attackers triggered a claymore device Thursday around 5:45 p.m., killing three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers and seriously wounding one at Eechchamoaddai coastal road area in the High Security Zone, 500 meters from Jaffna city. The SLA troopers were returning in a tractor to the main base at Eechchamoaddai after distributing food to their fellow men posted along Jaffna-Kandy road and Main street when the attack took place. Sri Lanka Army officials in Colombo said 3 SLA troopers were killed and one seriously injured in the attack. The injured trooper has been rushed to Palaali military hosp…

SLA extends fishing ban in Vadamaraadchi [TamilNet, Thursday, 21 June 2007, 18:02 GMT] Sri Lanka Army (SLA) extended the fishing ban imposed in Vadamaraadchi region in Jaffna district on Wednesday, in the wake of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Sea Tiger battle in Point Pedro seas. There was no supply of fish in Vadamaraadchi Thursday. Fishing in the area was already restricted to day time and only one km into the sea from the coast, an impediment cutting down fishermen's catches and income. The SLA fishing ban imposed Wednesday covered areas from Tho'ndaimaanaa'ru to Point Pedro Munai in Vadamaraadchi north and Ampan, Kudaththanai areas in Vadamaraadchi east. …

Friday June 22, 7:24 PM COLOMBO, June 22 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's rupee fell to a new life low on Friday on importer demand for dollars while shares fell as retail investors sold select stocks citing high interest rates and uncertainty due to renewed civil war, traders said. The rupee closed at a new all-time low of 111.00/111.02 per dollar, compared to Thursday's close of 110.96/110.99. "There was some demand for dollars in the market because of importers -- importer related transactions," a currency dealer said. The rupee, which hit a previous all time closing low of 110.95/111.00 on May 7, has depreciated around 3.36 percent so far this year, after w…

Sri Lanka blocking access to TamilNet, deeply disturbing: Free Media Movement. Noting that the access blocking of TamilNet in Sri Lanka is a significant turn in the erosion of media freedom in Sri Lanka and clearly demonstrates the extent to which media is censored and the free flow of information curtailed, without any accountability, transparency or judicial oversight, the Free Media Movement (FMM), in a media release issued Wednesday, called upon the Sri Lanka Government and relevant State authorities to immediately rescind the orders to block the access to TamilNet. Full text of the press statement by the Free Media Movement follows: The Free Media Movemen…

‘Anything is fair’ when fighting LTTE: Gothabaya Rajapaksa. Sri Lanka’s hardline Defence Secretary launched a bitter attack on the international community Tuesday, saying Sri Lanka was being bullied by Western states over human rights. We have to defend ourselves. I'm talking about terrorists. Anything is fair, Gotabaya Rajapaksa told Reuters and the BBC. He said the United Nations agencies had been infiltrated and misled by the Liberation Tigers over 30 years. Gotabaya, who is also President Mahinda Rajapaksa's brother, accused foreign powers of applying double standards when it comes to human rights violations, saying all measures were fair to defeat Trrorists…

Thousands protest outside UN headquarters in Geneva, demanding distinct Tamil state GENEVA (AP) - Thousands of protesters gathered from all over Europe on Monday to demand recognition of an independent Tamil state. Police said nearly 9,000 protesters assembled in the main square in front of the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, where they marched, waved flags and bandied placards. The protesters were "demanding that the international community recognize an independent Tamil state in the island of Sri Lanka," said Shan Thavarajah, vice president of the Swiss Tamil Forum, which organized the protest. The demonstration was planned to coincide with…