Eastern University students clash with police during protest fast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2008, 13:27 GMT]
Eastern University students observing a protest fast in the university campus Thursday around 9:00 a.m. against the detention of two fellow students, raised strong objections when two Sri Lanka Intelligence officials who had come with the police tried to video film the protesters, sources in Batticaloa said. When the students tried to expel the two officials, police who had accompanied them opened fire on the ground, the protesting students said. The police, however, claimed that one of their men’s gun had accidently gone off.
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SL embassies to seek foot powder for soldiers from Sinhala expatriates

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2008, 12:33 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence (MoD), through a request forwarded through the foreign ministry, has urged SL missions abroad to supply a medicine required to control foot infections caused by fungi and bacteria to the Sri Lankan soldiers engaged in an offensive war with the mission of occupying Tamil territories.
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Visit of 'strategic partners'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2008, 12:19 GMT]
The Defense Advisers/Attaches of seven countries, USA, UK, Japan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives were taken on a one day tour to Vanni by the Colombo government on Monday. Suffering from heavy military debacles and facing serious economic crisis, the Colombo government is badly in need of parading strategic partners and abettors to attract means and justification for its genocidal war before time runs out, note political observers. The visitors represented three of the Co-Chair countries, USA, UK and Japan and four South Asian countries having maritime boundaries.
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2 SLA soldiers killed, 2 injured in Vaakarai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2008, 13:17 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched a grenade attack Wednesday around 7:30 p.m on a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sentry post in Vaakarai police division in Batticaloa district killing two soldiers and seriously injuring two, LTTE officials in Batticaloa said. The four soldiers were in the sentry post in Thaddumunai in Vaakarai when the attack took place.
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Robert Blake: U.S. 'development' doesn't seek majoritiarian inroads to East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2008, 09:35 GMT]
Responding to an article that appeared in TamilNet on U.S. enthusiasm in 'developing East' to link it with markets in Western province, ignoring the Tamil perspectives on development, the U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake, in an article that appeared in U.S. Embassy's blog has defended that the U.S. development program has a goal of "fostering economic development, good governance and stability while preserving the existing ethnic balance in the east." Disagreeing with the perspective shed by the Batticaloa district TNA parliamentarian Ariyanethran, the U.S. Ambassador says that meaningful development can take place in the East before a political solution is agreed upon.
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SLA, LTTE clashes continue in Northern Front

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2008, 07:51 GMT]
Clashes between Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) erupted again Wednesday around 4:00 a.m. along Ki'laali and Mukamaalai Front Defence Lines (FDL) and lasted till 10:00 a.m. Artillery duels raged while LTTE launched shells fell and exploded in SLA High Security Zone in Mirusuvil and Usan in Thenmaraadchi where many SLA bases and camps are located. Details of casualties or injuries are not available.
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12 Tamil civilians arrested in Katunayake

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2008, 15:33 GMT]
Twelve Tamil civilians including five women were taken into custody in cordon and search operations conducted in the security zone of the Katunayake international airport on Monday night. Several houses and lodges were searched during the operation, police said.
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SLA death toll hits 170 in Vanni, hundreds wounded, 36 bodies recovered - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2008, 02:08 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials on Wednesday said that 130 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed in the multi-front offensive push by the SLA in Ki'linochchi on Tuesday. More than 300 soldiers were wounded in the heavy battle that raged throughout the day till 4:00 p.m. on five main localities and along a wide stretch of the frontiers in Ki'linochchi. Meanwhile, in Ki'laali, 40 SLA soldiers were killed and more than 120 sustained injuries. 36 dead bodies of the SLA soldiers have been recovered so far, 28 in Ki'linochchi and 8 in Ki'liaali, in the clearing missions following Tuesday's fighting. There are young recruits of the SLA, including child soldiers, engaged in the front by the SLA in Ki'linochchi.
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Tamils chosen as Left Front party candidates for provincial elections

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 17:13 GMT]
The Left Front, led by Dr.Wickremabahu Karunaratne, has decided to contest the Central Provincial Council election, and nominated Nadarajah Janakan as its chief candidate. Dr.Karunaratne said the election propaganda would be mainly based on advocating immediate ceasefire.
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Maheswaran murder accused refused bail

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 17:07 GMT]
Colombo High Court Judge, Sunil Rajapakse, Monday refused bail for the accused in parliamentarian T.Maheswaran murder case, and fixed the inquiry for April 27th next year, legal sources in Colombo said. The accused Johnston Collin Valentine was produced in court under heavy security. Maheswaran was shot dead on January 1 morning this year while he was attending New Year prayer poojah in Colombo Ponnambalavaaneswarar Temple.
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SLA suffers third debacle in Ki'linochchi, 100 killed, 250 wounded - Puleedevan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 16:51 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Tuesday repulsed a major push by the Sri Lanka Army, killing at least 100 SLA soldiers and causing injuries to more than 250, said S. Puleedevan, the director of LTTE's Peace Secretariat, quoting Tiger commanders who were in charge of the Tiger defensive fronts in Ki'linochchi district. "According to the emerging details, a multi-front push towards Ki'linochchi from Malayaa'lapuram, Kugnchupparanthan, Mu'rika'ndi and Pulikku'lam, was repulsed by the LTTE defensive formations that have seized weapons and recovered at least 10 corpses of the Sri Lanka Army," Mr. Puleedevan told TamilNet citing the military officials of the LTTE.
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Tigers recover 8 SLA bodies, seize 18 weapons in Ki'laali fighting

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 15:36 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) said Tuesday that they seized two Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launchers, one AK-LMG, fourteen T-56 assault rifles and a 40 mm Grenade Launcher after repulsing an SLA-initiated offensive push that lasted for 9 hours from 1:20 a.m. Tuesday. The Tigers have earlier claimed that at least 40 SLA soldiers were killed and more than 120 sustained injuries. Information from Jaffna also indicates heavy casualties on SLA-side. The latest debacle of the SLA in Jaffna comes after a recent by the SLA commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka and the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
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STF abducts Tamil family man in Ea'raavoor

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 15:24 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos arriving at the house of a Tamil family man in Ea’raavoor police division in Batticaloa district Tuesday around 2:00 a.m took him away at gunpoint, according to his relatives.
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Artillery duel in Northern Front, SLA closes roads to transport casualties in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 15:07 GMT]
Clashes between Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which began with an SLA offensive advance through Ki’aali Tuesday around 1:20 a.m continued through the day with artillery duels and gunfire exchanges, sources in Jaffna said. Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopters were seen engaged in transporting casualties and injured soldiers while Kandy road and Palaali road were blocked several times during the day enabling ambulances to carry the dead and injured to Palaali SLA hospital. The SLA has suffered considerable loss of lives and injuries to many, sources close to SLA said.
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Themaraadchi residents flee shelling

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 14:20 GMT]
Residents of Mirusuvil and Usan areas in Thenmaraadchi fled from their houses when shells fired by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) targeting the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) bases in the said areas fell and exploded, Tuesday around 5:00 a.m, according to civil sources in the area. The shelling began following the Tuesday clashes between the SLA and the LTTE.
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Fein responds: Professorial Nonsense on Stilts

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 12:35 GMT]
Responding to the note on Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) website by the Secretary General Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha on the model genocide indictment against Sri Lanka officials, the former U.S. Deputy Associate Attorney General Bruce Fein, says, the "Professor never denies the Rajapaksa-Fonseka genocides," but, "delivers an indictment against the LTTE as a purported defense to the Rajapaksa-Fonseka genocides." Fein adds: "The genocide prosecution sought against Sudanese President Omar Bashir has rejected such a defense theory to a charge of genocide."
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SLA push thwarted in Ki'laali, 40 killed - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 10:30 GMT]
More than 40 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and at least 120 soldiers wounded Tuesday morning when the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) repulsed an offensive push by the SLA along the Forward Defence Line in Ki'laali, Tiger officials in Vanni told TamilNet. The LTTE has claimed to have seized weapons and recovered dead bodies of the SLA.
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CID withdraws application to impound passports of 3 TNA MPs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 09:41 GMT]
Sri Lankan Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Tuesday withdrew the application filed at Colombo Magistrate Court to impound the passports of three Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians S. Jeyanandamoorthy, P. Ariyanethran and S. Gajendran, who have been grilled by the CID on allegations that they violated the Sri Lankan Constitution and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in speeches that they made at a Pongku Thamizh event held in Germany.
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Police detain 8 Tamil youths in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 December 2008, 17:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police, assisted by paramilitary men, arrested eight Tamil youths in a joint cordon and search conducted Sunday night in Kokkaddichchoalai, Batticaloa town, Kaaththaankudi and Ea’raavoor police divisions. More than 900 houses were searched while nearly 4000 persons were interrogated during the operation, police media spokesman said.
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Sri Lanka's credit rating cut

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 December 2008, 13:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s credit rating was cut to five levels below investment grade by Standard & Poor’s, citing mounting public debt and political and security concerns, Bloomberg reported Monday. The new rating places the country on par with Burkina Faso and Cameroon. The other key ratings agency, Moody’s Investors Service, does not have a rating for Sri Lanka. The announcement comes shortly after the government comfortably won a budget including raising external borrowing by 25%. Sri Lanka’s external debt amounted to $12 billion at the end of 2007, almost 40 percent of gross domestic product, according to the central bank.
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