Scurried pact for oil off Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2008, 13:22 GMT]
Cairn India, a subsidiary of Cairn UK Holdings Limited, on Monday signed a Petroleum Resources agreement to explore for oil and natural gas in the Mannaar Basin. The signing took place in front of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees between the Sri Lankan Minister for Petroleum and Petroleum Development Resources A.H.M Fowzie and the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Executive Director of the Cairn India, Indrajit Banerjee, who gave USD one million as signature bond to Rajapaksa government, according to informed sources.
Full story >>

Tigers target SLAF bomber over Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 14:37 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) MiG-27 fighter jet was forced to return after it sustained damage in anti-aircraft fire over Ki'linochchi area in Vanni Sunday afternoon, LTTE officials told media in Vanni. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) officials in Colombo, admitting that an aircraft had a troubled landing at Katunayaka military airbase in Colombo after carrying out an air strike, said that the fighter jet had 'skidded off' the runway while landing.
Full story >>

Court extends remand for Maheswaran murder suspect

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 17:44 GMT]
The Colombo Chief Magistrate, Ravindra Premaratne, ordered further remand for the first suspect in the Colombo district parliamentarian T.Maheswaran till July 14 when he was produced in court Thursday, legal sources in Colombo said. Three other suspects in the case were released on an earlier date as the police informed court that there was no evidence to implicate them in the crime.
Full story >>

Fernandopulle murder suspects' detention extended

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 17:42 GMT]
Colombo Chief Magistrate Friday ordered the continuous detention of the sixteen suspects in the Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle murder case in the custody of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Sri Lanka Police when they were produced in open court, legal sources said.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka, a case of political inequality

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 16:38 GMT]
Striking a sharp contrast to Colombo's portrayal of Eezham struggle as a terrorist issue, Frances Stewart, the director of the Oxford based Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity (CRISE), looks at the crisis as a case of inequalities in political power between the Tamils and Sinhalese. In an interview that appeared in Human Rights Tribune, on Thursday, she said: "Horizontal inequalities have political, economic, social and cultural dimensions… Inequalities in political power, which are very important, where one group may have total dominance of the political system, and another group does not have any access, which is the situation more or less in Sri Lanka."
Full story >>

3 policemen, 2 civilians injured in Claymore attack in Ea’raavoor

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2008, 16:37 GMT]
A Claymore attack on the train from Batticaloa to Colombo Thursday around 8:15 p.m near Ea’raavoor Railway station injured three policemen and two civilians including a student. The train left Batticaloa Railway station at 7:30 p.m.
Full story >>

UPFA seeks TMVP candidates to woo Tamils in Polonnaruwa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2008, 11:05 GMT]
The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) said Thursday that will include members from the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) as UPFA ticket for Polonnaruwa district in the forthcoming North Central Provincial Council elections, party sources said.
Full story >>

Collecting Bank account details, violation of privacy, court says

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2008, 01:40 GMT]
Sri Lankan Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva, while presiding over a Fundamental Rights submission on Monday, said that privacy of individuals was fundamental and warned those responsible for abuses such as asking for bank account numbers from civilians during search operations. Counsel M.A. Sumenthiran had submitted to court that directions given by the court were not being carried out during search operations. The CID officers were asking for bank account numbers from the civilians during the operation.
Full story >>

Tamil political prisoners in Mahara prison launch protest fast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2008, 00:43 GMT]
Thirty-five Tamil political prisoners transferred to Mahara Prison began a protest fast Wednesday demanding to be sent back to Colombo Remand Prison. The prisoners said they will continue fasting until their demand is met by the authorities.
Full story >>

Media institutions hold protest demonstration in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2008, 14:41 GMT]
Five media organizations and prominent political leaders staged a protest demonstration Wednesday around 12:30 p.m. at Colpetty Junction, condemning the attacks let loose on journalists and media men. The demonstrators called on the Sri Lankan government to immediately appoint a ministerial sub-committee to conduct inquiries into the Monday attack on Media Director of the Sri Lankan Press Institute (SLPI) Namal Perera and the British Embassy officer Mahendra Ratnaweera.
Full story >>

15 Tamils from Batticaloa, Ampaa’rai arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2008, 13:07 GMT]
Kurunthuwathe police arrested nine Tamils from Batticaloa and six from Ampaa’rai districts Tuesday around 7:30 a.m at Narahenpitya in Colombo when they were on their way to appear for an interview examination for clerical service appointment, according to information given by one of the arrested. They were released after interrogation Wednesday afternoon.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka Army chief says victory date now mid-2009

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2008, 09:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka this week again revised his timetable for defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam; to mid-2009, from an earlier estimate of June 2008. Saying that the LTTE had lost its conventional fighting capacity, he told international correspondents Monday that, within a year, most of the remaining Tigers would be dead. Saying that the objective of the LTTE was to capture the entire island and wipe out the majority Sinhalese community, he vowed: "we will not allow that at any cost, we will fight them."
Full story >>

US condemns attack on British Embassy officer, SLPI Director

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2008, 13:46 GMT]
The United States Embassy in Colombo on Tuesday condemned the attack on a staff member of British High Commission and a director of the Sri Lankan Press Institute (SLPI) on Monday in the heart of Colombo. The attack on Media Director of the SLPI Namal Perera and the British Embassy officer Mahendra Ratnaweera was carried out at Narahenpitya in Colombo near the Sri Lankan Department of Information by a group of attackers, who came in a white van Monday evening. The attack came a few days after a government paper alleged that the SLPI had sent members connected to LTTE to a course in Denmark under Journalist label.
Full story >>

VVIP helicopter of Rajapaksa's fleet comes under attack in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2008, 10:11 GMT]
A VVIP helicopter of the fleet of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa came under fire, presumably a rocket attack, in the airspace over Ullai in Ampaa'rai district around 2:00 p.m. Tuesday. The helicopter had an emergency landing. Nobody was hurt, but the chopper was damaged, according to available information.
Full story >>

Media organizations demonstrate against detention of journalist Tissanayagam

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 June 2008, 15:26 GMT]
Members of five media organizations staged a peaceful demonstration Monday around 10.30 a.m demanding the release of senior journalist J. S. Tissanayagam who is held in the custody of Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) of Sri Lanka police for the last 115 days, in front of Colombo District Court. The Court extended the detention order served on Tissanayagam and two other Tamils, V. Jasikaran and Ms. V. Valarmathy until September 5 on request made by TID.
Full story >>

U.S. Embassy reopens for normal operations

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 June 2008, 10:08 GMT]
The U.S. Embassy in Colombo, which has been closed to the public since June 25 after a suspicious powder was found, will reopen for normal operations Tuesday, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo.
Full story >>

3 killed, 5 missing, train derails in Hikkaduwa

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 June 2008, 08:08 GMT]
Three passengers were killed and several wounded when a Matara bound train from Madawaachchi, derailed at Seenigama in Hikkaduwa near the Southern port town Galle Monday afternoon, initial reports said. Five persons were reported missing as the train slided into a river, gintota, after the derailment.
Full story >>

Two Tamil youths reported missing in Kotahena

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 June 2008, 18:53 GMT]
A 37-year old Tamil flower-vendor and his assistant are missing from Kochchikade in Colombo since June 26, according to complaints lodged with the Kotahena Police and Rajagiriya Police by their relatives, sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Australian socialist conference highlights Tamil rights

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 June 2008, 12:20 GMT]
Tamil youth activists addressed a packed audience, who attended 'Resistance 2008', an annual conference of Australia's largest socialist youth organisation, held at the University of Technology in Sydney this weekend. At a workshop on Saturday the Tamil presenters urged the socialist activists in Australia to voice support for the right to self determination of the Eezham Tamils.
Full story >>

Maanippaay police arrests Jaffna HRC driver

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 June 2008, 09:32 GMT]
Maanippaay police arrested the driver of the vehicle belonging to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office Saturday, claiming that weapons were found hidden in the vehicle that was parked in a motor repair garage in Maanippaay, sources in Jaffna said. Two employees of the garage were also arrested by Maanippaay police Saturday.
Full story >>