Nineteen fishermen, who ventured into the sea from Pudukottai district of Tamil Nadu, were on Thursday arrested by the Sri Lankan navy when they went for fishing in the Palk Strait, officials said.
Sri Lanka on Tuesday claimed to have found slain Tamil Tiger chief Vellupilai Prabhakaran's personal gun and body armour, seven months after overrunning the last Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam bastion in the decisive battle at Nanthaikadal lagoon off the northern coast.The arms used by Prabhakaran were found buried 15 feet under the ground at Vellamulliwaikkal area in Mulaittivu along with scores of suicide kits and several anti-aircraft guns.
The Indian authorities have to reconfirm that Prabhakaran is dead. It may require seeking assistance from Interpol and also involve the re-opening of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, and more so, the investigations, formally or otherwise, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
But, inspired by him so much, Patheerana has emotionally requested Dhoni to continue at least for one more season.
Seeking to inject life into the defunct Tamil Eelam Supporters' Organisation, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Sunday charged the Sri Lankan army with running a "state of Emergency" in Tamil areas.
Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned last month in the face of a popular uprising against his government for mismanaging the island nation's economy.
US Under Secretary Victoria Nuland, who met Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, raised concerns about the upcoming visit of the Chinese research vessel 'SHI YAN 6'
A Chinese Navy warship capable of surveillance has docked at the Colombo port, nearly a year after another spy vessel berthed at a strategic port in the country and raised concerns in India.
Ppolitical experts in Colombo said the ministers came under intense pressure from the public over the government's alleged "mishandling" of the economic crisis, triggered by the shortage in the foreign exchange reserve.
In a statement in Chennai, he said the MDMK would not have "any issue in sacrificing two of its MP posts over the Sri Lankan Tamil issue." "The Centre should stop all military assistance to the island nation and ask the Lankan Government to continue peace talks (with LTTE) with the help of the Norwegian government to end the ethnic strife and establish a United Nations Office at Colombo," he said.
Sri Lankan troops are in full control of the airstrip from where Tamil Tigers launched many a surprise air raids deep into government controlled areas including the capital Colombo. Nothing is known about the fate of air force of the LTTE. Sri Lankan army liberated the sensitive Iranamadu, known for LTTE airstrips, located a few kilometers away from its defacto capital Kilinochchi. But apparently the Tigers had moved their Czech made fighters.
'They wanted the army commander to arrest me and he told the air force commander to put air force people at their airport take over their airport they sent the army to all broadcasting stations and television stations... they sent all the people on leave; they had only some people and the army these were indications of a military coup,' Fonseka told television channel NewsX.
The Sri Lankan government has ruled out unregulated access to the Internally Displaced Persons' camps in the island nation, arguing that such a step may threaten 'peace and tranquility' in these camps.Thousands of Tamil civilians, who had fled their homes after the fighting between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan army escalated after a decades-long civil war, are still living in these camps.
The Indo-Sri Lanka joint statement issued at the conclusion of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's visit to India is "biased against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam," Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Vaiko said in Chennai Sun.
LTTE's political wing chief, V Nadesan, on Thursday said that the group was ready for a ceasefire now, while accusing the Sri Lankan government of 'abrogating' the six-year-long ceasefire, which came to an end early this year.
A Sri Lankan military court on Friday stripped the country's war hero and former army chief Sarath Fonseka of his rank and medals after finding him guilty of dabbling in politics while in service. The General was convicted by a three-member military court which began deliberations five months ago. The court verdict has to be ratified by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the Sri Lankan media reported.
Is the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Prabhakaran dead? If the Sri Lankan Army is to be believed, Prabhakaran's body was found dead. There are also reports that a huge explosion was heard outside where the LTTE chief was reportedly hiding.
We present to you a special series that we had done 10 years after the IPKF withdrew from the island nation
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Vaiko on Monday, dubbed the photographs released by the Sri Lankan army which shows him with Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam chief V Prabhakaran as old ones and said there is an "ulterior motive" behind it.
Sri Lankan spin sensation Ajantha Mendis will turn up for Rajasthan in the forthcoming Ranji Trophy season.
Images from the 1st ODI between India and Sri Lanka in Colombo on Friday.
Dubbing as "unfortunate" the Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi's invite to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for his May 26 swearing-in, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today said the "ill-advised" move could have been avoided as it amounted to "rubbing salt into the wounds of the already deeply injured Tamil psyche."
Nearly 200 people were feared to have been buried alive in Sri Lanka after a devastating landslide triggered by rains destroyed the homes of mostly Indian-origin plantation workers, as heavy machinery was deployed on Thursday in rescue operations involving the army.
The LTTE has been conducting multi-pronged war exercises at the facility when it was hit by the jets, the defence ministry said. "The LTTE's Kilinochchi leadership is yet to reveal losses," the army said citing intercepted communication.
Sri Lanka is currently processing a request by China to allow a research ship to dock in the country, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday, a year after a visit by a Chinese spy vessel to the Island nation raised security concerns in India.
The 73-year-old leader on Thursday emailed his resignation letter to the Speaker soon after he was allowed by Singapore to enter the city-state on a "private visit".
Political analysts said Sirisena's move to install Rajapaksa as the prime minister could lead to a constitutional crisis as the 19th amendment to the Constitution would not allow the sacking of Wickremesinghe as the premier without a majority.
The prime minister should have visited Sri Lanka, armed with a critique of the Rajapakse government based on nuance and fact, says Sreenivasan Jain
The elusive LTTE chief made a rare public appearance. It was not mentioned when the photograph was taken. The picture -- published by a website-- also scotched rumours that the LTTE leader was seriously hurt in a recent attack by the Sri Lankan Army.
"India would have loved to get more involved in Sri Lanka positively -- helping us to fight terrorism. Now, remember, India suffered a lot in the sense, it lost its leader -- Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by the LTTE. That is something, which India can never forgive nor forget," says Razik Zarook, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's Counsel.
Heavy gun battles on Wednesday left at least 17 Tamil Tigers dead, while rebels claimed they killed over two dozen soldiers in Sri Lanka's embattled north.
Advancing Sri Lankan troops today made further inroads into tiger strongholds capturing the strategic town of Mankulam just adjacent to their prized goal of Kilinochchi as reports said a worried LTTE was sending its top commanders to the battlefront.
Pakistan government pledged the same level of security to Sri Lankan cricketers as is provided to visiting heads of state.
Fourteen years after the Sri Lankan government announced his death, a veteran Tamil nationalist leader claimed in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, on Monday that Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of Eelam Tamils in Sri Lanka, is doing well and said a conducive atmosphere prevails for him to appear now.
The Yuan Wang 5 can easily monitor the Indian coast while operating in international waters. She does not have to enter a port in Sri Lanka to fulfill this mission, points out Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
'We believe that one of the suicide bombers studied in the UK and maybe later on did his post-graduate in Australia, before coming back to settle in Sri Lanka'
In a major boost to the presidential campaign of former top Sri Lankan army general Sarath Fonseka, the dominant Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance on Wednesday announced support to him.
At least 56 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadre and ten soldiers were killed in clashes between the Sri Lankan Army and the Tamil Tigers in rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi even as Lankan fighter jets sank an LTTE vessel and bombed rebel targets. "56 LTTE rebels were killed and 87 Tigers injured during the army offensive against the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi," Army spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said.
'If there is to be real peace in Sri Lanka, the end of Prabhakaran has to be brought about by the Tamils themselves and not by the Sinhalese army.'
Pushing ahead with their final assault on the beleaguered Tamil rebels, Sri Lankan troops on Sunday entered the garrison town of Mullaittivu, the last urban stronghold of the LTTE and were engaged in fierce fighting to recapture the area after 12 years.
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