Two local government members killed in eastern Sri Lanka

Ayyathurai Pushpanadan (27), the Deputy Chairman of the Eruvilpattu, Kaludavil Pardeshiya Sabha (local council), and Arasakoon Pullei Mohandas (30), a member of the same local council, were murdered by unidentified gunmen at Kalawanchikudi, Batticaloa, in this afternoon.

According to police sources, two motorbike-riding gunmen shot at the victims, who were traveling in a three-wheeler around 12.30 PM today. Both victims were members of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), a political party that had emerged victorious at the recently-held local government polls in the Batticaloa district.

TMVP spokesperson Asad Maoulana said the party strongly condemns the violence committed against its political activists.

Police are conducting further investigations.

Extracted from,
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_08/June2134231JR.html

Japan may export rice to Sri Lanka

Japan is mulling a request from Sri Lanka to export up to 200,000 tonnes of its imported rice supplies to help Colombo ease acute food shortages, a Japanese foreign ministry official said Monday.

"We are considering their request," said the official, who declined to be named.

"It is still unknown in what form we can provide foreign rice, for example, as grant in aid or by selling it at reasonable prices," the official said.

The World Bank said last week it was considering giving Sri Lanka a crisis loan to tackle galloping food prices as the island battles 30 percent inflation and over three decades of separatist war with Tamil Tiger rebels.

Japan is also considering selling 200,000 tonnes from its 1.5 million tonnes of imported rice to the Philippines, officials have said previously.

Read more,
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=120383

Pulidevan arrested on Prabhakaran's orders?

Seevaratnam Pulidevan, the Director of LTTE peace secretariat in Killinochchi, has been arrested by the LTTE intelligent services, headed by Chief Pottu Amman, according to sources from the Thamil Broadcasting Corporation (TBC), a London-based media outlet.

According to TBC, Pulidevan has been accused of providing vital information to Government intelligent services regarding the movement and whereabouts of key figures of the LTTE hierarchy.

According to the Sri Lanka Guardian, London, the agency which first reported this story, there had been strong speculation that information provided by S Pulidevan had led to the killing of SP Thamilselvan, then chief of the LTTE's political wing. It is also believed that the killings of Lt. Col. Kalaialagan, who was responsible for the international co-ordination, and the intelligent deputy Charles was a direct result of the information provided by S Pulidevan. He is also being held responsible for the recent air force attacks in Wanni targeting the main cadres of LTTE.

The funeral of Balraj, senior member of the LTTE, was attended by all key figures of the LTTE hierarchy, including Prabhakaran, Intelligent Chief Pottu Amman, Political Chief Nadesan and head of the navy Soosai and Balakumaran and Pulidevan's absences has been a matter of surprise to political analysts. His absence has increased speculation regarding his arrest, according to the report.

Read more,
http://www.news.lk/index.php?
Photo,
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=19217

Heavy rains cause floods, displaces over 100,000

Heavy rains over the past few days have caused flooding and landslides has wreaked havoc in several parts of the country, leaving at least four people dead and displaced over 100,000 people.

The Government yesterday allocated Rs 15 million as an initial sum for the flood affected.

The Met Department issued a warning yesterday (June 2) that there was a risk of more landslides and floods as heavy rains would accompany the onset of the Southwest Monsoon.

National Coordinator, Disaster Management Centre, Colonel K. Ekanayake said four deaths had been reported from Matara, Galle, Kalutara and Kegalle districts with the flood prone Ratnapura being the worst affected with more than 4,000 families already seeking temporary shelter.

According to Colonel Ekanayake the situation in Ratnapura was getting worse with the waters of the Kaluganga beginning to swell alarmingly. He said that steps were being taken to evacuate people living along the river bank. Navy boats had been deployed to evacuate the affected.

read more,
http://www.news.lk/index.php?

University awarded terrorism just part of Business 101 in Canada?

Canada holds a different opinion about Tamil Tiger terrorists than do the European Union and the United States.

On September 27 2005, the European Union declared its “condemnation of the continuing use of violence and terrorism by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam” (LTTE) (and the) “continuing recruitment and retention of child soldier cadres by the LTTE.”

The EU has banned members of that organization from visiting any European Union member state and the United Kingdom, the United States and India have designated the LTTE, better known as Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organization.

Former Prime Minister Paul Martin and several of his MPs have broken bread with the Tamils in Toronto on a couple of occasions, during actual LTTE fundraising events.

There is little room for error in significant financial support coming from Canada for the LTTE.

Before he was assassinated in August of 2005, the late Lakshman Kadirgamar, Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka wrote in a report: “At one time it was reported that the LTTE raised approximately $200,000 a month from the Tamil community in Canada” and “the argument that banning the LTTE would hamper the peace process does not stand.”

In Canada, the support of LTTE terrorism, it would seem, has now seeped down to the university level.

Read more,
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/3321

Sri Lanka cannot negotiate with LTTE, says diplomat

A negotiated end to Sri Lanka's dragging conflict is still possible but not before the Tamil Tigers are "verifiably demilitarised and democratised," says one of the most high-profile diplomats of that country.

Dayan Jayatilleka also said in an interview that the conflict would only end when Velupillai Prabhakaran, the elusive and feared leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), gets "demilitarised one way or another".

Jayatilleka, who enjoys a close rapport with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was asked if there was any room for a possible negotiated settlement to end a war that has claimed over 70,000 lives since 1983 and still rages.

"Yes but not with the Tigers, and certainly not with Prabhakaran," the 51-year-old said over email from Geneva, where he is Sri Lanka's permanent representative to the UN and other international organisations based in Switzerland.

Read more,
http://www.newkerala.com/one.php?action=fullnews&id=67470

Monks Recall Horror at Aranthalawa Some 21 Years Ago

EXACTLY, twenty-one years ago, the tiny rural hamlet in Aranthalawa shattered as some 45-member group of Buddhist monks, headed by Ven Hegoda Indasara Nayaka Thero were cold-bloodedly butchered by Tiger terrorists while all of them were proceeding for a religious mission on 2nd June 1987.

The most vicious incidence of blood-letting of unarmed mendicants, perhaps never heard in the second half of the 20th century, caught headlines in the international media as Sri Lankans and Buddhists all over the world started shedding tears. There were more than thirty-eight novices (Samanera) of less than twelve years of age in the group.

“…….The time was 7.15 in the morning of June 2nd 1987. The young monks had just boarded a bus from the Mahavapi temple with their mentor seated in front and were on their way on a pilgrimage to Kelaniya. Having just passed Nuwaratenna when they reached Arantalawa, the bus driver P. G. Samarapala noticed some wooden logs placed across the road obstructing their path. Sensing danger, the driver began to turn the bus when all of a sudden a group of about 20 Tiger terrorists, clad in commando military fatigues emerged from the jungle thicket brandishing swords, knives and machine guns. Two Tigers boarded the bus and gave the driver orders to drive into a jungle path. There was pin-drop silence until they reached a thick growth of teak trees.

Read more,
http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=13659
Photo,
http://www.army.lk/editor/images/2008-01/Aranthalawa_Incident_2.jpg

Bangladesh hotel blast injures at least 30

Blasts at a multi-storey hotel in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka has injured more than 30 people, police said.

They said two explosions rocked the nine-storey Orchard Plaza hotel at the city's Nayapaltal area late on Sunday night (local time), setting two upper floors on fire.

Firefighters said the victims included one Sri Lankan national. They said the fire was apparently caused by "gas explosions".

"It's not a bomb," one fire official told reporters.

The injured were being treated at hospitals for multiple burn injuries.

"We are checking the whole place. Bomb or gas, it's a serious incident and we taking it seriously from security point of view," said a senior police officer on the scene.

In recent years Bangladesh has been repeatedly hit by bomb blasts, mostly blamed on Islamist militants, which have killed dozens of people and injured hundreds.

Extracted from,
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/02/2262582.htm?section=world