Category: Politics

COLOMBO, May 3, 2007 (AFP) – A worsening climate of violence against the press in Sri Lanka has resulted in de facto censorship, the island’s main media rights group said Thursday as it marked international press freedom day.With seven journalists murdered over the past year and two more still missing, the Free Media Movement (FMM) […]

SYDNEY, May 2, 2007 (AFP) – Australia Wednesday played down a suggestion that it was a major source of funds for Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers, after two local businessmen were charged with channelling money to the rebels.The two Melbourne men have been accused of sending cash raised under the guise of tsunami relief to the […]

NEW YORK, May 1, 2007 (AFP) – Press freedom around the world deteriorated last year due to coups, attempts to stifle political opposition and regulate use of the Internet, a leading watchdog said in a report Tuesday.The survey gave 74 countries out of the 195 included the “free” rating and 63 the “not free” label.The […]

NEW YORK, May 1, 2007 (AFP) – Press freedom around the world deteriorated last year due to coups, attempts to stifle political opposition and regulate use of the Internet, a leading watchdog said in a report Tuesday.The survey gave 74 countries out of the 195 included the “free” rating and 63 the “not free” label. […]

May 2, 2007 (AFP) – Two Tamil civilians and 13 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in northern Sri Lanka as the country marked the holiest Buddhist anniversary, military officials said on Wednesday. Unidentified gunmen short dead the two civilians on Tuesday night, the start of the Wesak festival marking the birth, enlightenment and death of […]

April 30, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels said Monday that they hit a military war plane on a bombing mission over their territory with anti-aircraft fire.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they attacked the Israeli-built Kfir jet Monday as it flew over the rebel-held Kilinochchi district, but that the aircraft […]

May 01, 2007 (LBO) – The murder of a reporter working for a Tamil newspaper in Sri Lanka has been condemned by the international media rights organization, Reporters without Borders. Selvarajah Rajivarnam, a reporter working for the Uthayan newspaper, was gunned down on his bicycle near the newspapers office in the northern Jaffna peninsular. He […]

May 1, 2007 (AFP) – The new capability of the Tamil Tigers to carry out airborne attacks has not only made them a rarity among the world’s guerrilla outfits but has also badly shaken an entire country. Sri Lanka’s defence ministry has acknowledged that the Tigers may be operating at least five light aircraft, used […]

MELBOURNE, May 1, 2007 (AFP) – Two suspected members of Sri Lanka’s separatist Tamil Tiger rebel group were Tuesday arrested in Australia and charged with funnelling money to a terrorist organisation, police said.The Tamil Tigers have waged a 35-year battle for independence that has claimed more than 60,000 lives in Sri Lanka. The men, 32 […]

April 30, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police stepped up security in the capital Monday as political parties prepared to stage May Day rallies a day ahead of the rest of the world, officials said. Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels launched a suicide bomb attack in 1993 during a ruling party May Day rally and assassinated […]

April 29, 2007 (LBO) – Fire engines were called to put out a fire in a gas terminal complex north of Colombo following a suspected Tamil Tiger aircraft air raid, officials said. . Updated Shell Gas’s media manager, Chamani Herath Pathirage told AFP that there had been an explosion in their facilities and buildings had […]

April 29, 2007 (AFP) – A Shell building in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo caught fire early Sunday following a suspected aeriel attack by Tamil Tigers, an official with the energy group said.Shell, which acquired a 51 percent stake in the state-owned Colombo Gas Company when it was privatised in 1995 for 37 million dollars, […]