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Source: Reuters COLOMBO, Jan 29 (Reuters) — Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday pledged safe passage to thousands of people trapped by fighting in the island nation’s north, and urged the Tamil Tigers …

Jan 29, Colombo: Expressing grave concern over the plight of the civilians held by the LTTE rebels in the conflict areas in Sri Lanka the European Union today called for a window of ‘cessation of hostilities’ to allow civilians to leave the combat zone.

Jan 29, Colombo: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels today released the two UN expatriates they were holding and allowed to return the government controlled areas..

Jan 29, Colombo: Sri Lanka government has taken measures to send a special medical team to Vavuniya hospital to fulfill the emergency requirements.

Jan 29, Colombo: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa today assuring safe passage to a secure environment for all the civilians trapped in the conflict zone urged the LTTE to allow the civilians to freely move to safety within the next 48 hours.

Jan 29, Colombo: Ahead of the upcoming North Western and Central provincial council election in Sri Lanka, complaints of using public property for polls campaigns has risen, the Election Secretariat said.

Unidentified armed men abducted a Tamil youth 9 January around 8:30 p.m in Kalmunai police division as he was returning home with his mother in a three-wheeler, being just released by Kalmunai police who had arrested him in a cordon and search operation the same day in the Rest House area in Kalmunai police division [...]

Jan 29 Dehiwala: Sri Lanka security forces have found a suicide jacket in Dehiwala, a suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo this morning.

Jan 29, Colombo: The Belgian government has offered its assistance to Sri Lanka’s demining efforts in the recently liberated areas of the Northern region, Foreign Affairs Ministry said.

A young Tamil activist burnt himself to death in front of the Shastri Bhavan, the Indian Central Government’s Chennai Head office Thursday, reports from Chennai said. The activist, Mr. Muthukumar, from Thooththukkudi, who works for Pe’n'nea Nee feminist magazine as typist and also writes articles, doused himself with petrol and set himself afire, condemning [...]

Jan 29, Vavuniya: The International Committee of Red Cross today managed to transfer a group of sick and wounded civilians from the rebel held areas to the government controlled area in Vavuniya.

Jan 29, Colombo: Sri Lanka government today regretting a recent statement made in Geneva by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said the organization fails to note current ground realities in Sri Lanka.

Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar, conspired to send electrical components to the LTTE Kingston Crown Court heard.

(Lanka-e-News, January 29, 2009, 6.35 PM) Minister of Health and Nutrition Nimal Siripala de Silva says that the power of the executive was further proved with the rescinding of Judiciary order to ban fuel hedging…

Concerned by New Delhi’s inaction and driven by the need to bring about change in the prevailing tragic scenario in Vanni, five leaders of prominent Tamil Nadu parties, Vaiko, Dr. S. Ramadoss, Nedumaran, Thirumavalavan and D. Pandian, jointly launched the Eezham Tamils Protection Movement (ETPM) following a consultative meeting in Chennai Wednesday. Top leaders of [...]

Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Political Head B. Nadesan said Thursday that the Tigers have ..

Source: Reuters CHENNAI, India, Jan 29 (Reuters) - A Tamil man in southern India died on Thursday after setting himself on fire outside government offices with a jar of kerosene to protest against Sri Lanka’s …

Source: Reuters GENEVA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay accused Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels on Thursday of committing grave violations and decried the mounting …

The patients accompanied by family members travelled in three ambulances and four buses.

Source: Reuters By Krittivas Mukherjee

NEW DELHI, Jan 29 (Reuters) - After decades of strong-arming tiny neighbour Sri Lanka, India finds itself jostling for influence as the civil war nears an end, its power …

(Lanka-e-News 29Jan2009 4.45PM) 10 Gajaba Regiment troops under the command of Major Janaka Uduowita in hot pursuit of LTTE in Mullaittivu have captured a 152mm artillery gun..

MULLAITTIVU, Sri Lanka, Jan. 29 (UPI) — A United Nations convoy evacuated as many as 300 wounded civilians, including about 50 children, from the Sri Lanka war zone Thursday, officials said.

The government is “deeply concerned” by the ongoing unrest in northeast Sri Lanka, where Sri Lanka troops and Tamil rebels are locked in a fierce conflict, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon said.

More than 10,000 French Tamils participated in a demonstration protesting against the killing of several hundred civilians by Sri Lanka military in the past week, and urging Pakistan to stop military and other assistance to the Sri Lanka Government to prosecute war against Tamils, sources in Paris said. The protest was organized by the [...]

NEW DELHI, Jan. 29 — The United Nations evacuated hundreds of wounded civilians from a war-torn section of Sri Lanka on Thursday as demands increased for the government and warring rebels to allow humanitarian aid to flow more freely in the country.

The United Nations evacuated hundreds of severely wounded civilians from behind rebel lines in Sri Lanka on Thursday as government troops fought to secure final victory over the Tamil Tigers.

The UN in Sri Lanka says they have managed to evacuate hundreds of wounded civilians after lengthy negotiations with Tamil tigers

Sri Lanka’s prime minister said Thursday government forces will not suspend an offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels, rejecting calls for a cease-fire by donor countries concerned by reports of growing civilian casualties.

Sri Lanka’s prime minister said Thursday government forces will not suspend an offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels despite reports of a growing number of civilian casualties in the northern war zone.

The last hospital in Sri Lanka’s shrinking war zone was evacuated Wednesday as Red Cross staff and wounded civilians fled attacks that apparently included cluster munitions.

At least 52 civilians were killed in the past day’s fighting between Tamil rebels and government forces in northern Sri Lanka, and cluster bombs struck near the war zone’s last functioning hospital Wednesday, the U.N. said.

At least 52 civilians were killed in the past day’s fighting between Tamil rebels and government forces in northern Sri Lanka, and cluster bombs struck the war zone’s last functioning hospital Wednesday, the U.N. said.

The United Nations says 52 civilians have been killed and 80 injured in the past one day in Sri Lanka’s northern war zone.

Sri Lanka’s military said it captured the last remaining Tamil Tiger-controlled airstrip Tuesday, effectively grounding the rebels’ tiny air force in a new setback to the insurgency already on the brink of defeat.

Patients who could walk fled one of last functioning hospitals in Sri Lanka’s northern war zone Tuesday after it was hit by artillery shells, while the Red Cross negotiated for the evacuation of those severely wounded.

Patients are fleeing a hospital that was hit four times by artillery shells in the war between Tamil Tigers and government forces in northern Sri Lanka this week, the Red Cross said Tuesday.

A mother and father lay on the floor, their two young children cradled between them. Floral pillows and other bedding were strewn about: They were apparently sleeping when an artillery shell hit their makeshift shelter in northern Sri Lanka, instantly killing them all.

Rare images of suffering civilians trapped in Sri Lanka’s war zone emerged Monday: Dead parents still cradling their children. A teenage boy with no arms crying in despair. A severely crowded hospital with many patients lying on mats under already full beds.

Sri Lanka’s president declared Monday the army is on the verge of crushing the Tamil Tiger rebels after a 25-year war, as images from the war zone showing scores of dead and wounded civilians surfaced.

Artillery shells slammed into an overcrowded hospital in Sri Lanka’s northern war zone, killing at least nine patients, officials said Monday as the army claimed it found an abandoned luxury hideout of the elusive rebel leader.

Three artillery barrages struck a hospital in Sri Lanka’s chaotic war zone, slamming into its pediatrics ward and its women’s wing and killing nine patients, the Red Cross said Monday.

A hospital in the chaotic war zone in northern Sri Lanka was hit late Sunday by a series of artillery shells that killed five patients and wounded many others, the top health official in the region said.

Sri Lanka’s army declared Sunday that rescuing civilians trapped by its offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels is now one of its top priorities, and said it captured two camps used by suicide squads.

Sri Lanka’s military captured two camps used by the Tamil Tigers’ suicide squad, killing 12 rebels and seizing a large number of weapons, officials said Sunday amid mounting concern for civilians trapped in the war zone.

A Sri Lankan government deadline for Tamil Tiger rebels to let civilians leave the northern conflict zone ended Saturday with only about a hundred reaching safe areas.

The Sri Lankan military claimed it destroyed a Tamil Tiger suicide boat Saturday, hours after the government ruled out a cease-fire in the northern war zone where hundreds of thousands of civilians are reportedly trapped.

Sri Lanka ruled out a cease-fire with Tamil Tiger rebels Friday despite reports of casualties among masses of civilians trapped in the northern war zone, as the military pushed ahead to recapture the last remaining territory from the insurgents.

Sri Lanka’s president has urged the Tamil Tiger rebels to allow the estimated 250,000 civilians trapped in the northern war zone to flee to safety following reports of heavy casualties among noncombatants stuck in the shrinking territory.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa appealed Friday to the Tamil Tiger rebels to allow the estimated 250,000 civilians trapped in the northern war zone to flee to safety in the next 48 hours.

Sri Lankan forces captured several jungle bases from Tamil Tiger rebels including a bunker complex with a luxury room, advancing deeper into the rapidly shrinking territory under the insurgents’ control, the military said Thursday.

Sri Lankan forces captured a key northern crossroads and several bases from the Tamil Tiger rebels, the military said Thursday, while the United Nations evacuated hundreds of wounded civilians who had been trapped in the war zone.

(Lanka-e-News, Jan. 29, 2009, 11.15 AM) Troops of the 58 Division after hours of fierce fighting that ensued with LTTE have reached the Vishwamadu junction, yesterday afternoon (28). According to latest reports received, troops have now gained total control over…

(Lanka-e-News, Jan 29, 2009, 3.00 PM) Media Center for national Security says that the Army Special Force – 3 has recovered a LTTE submarine and a career used to transport it from Udayarkattukulam north of Puthukudirippu…

(Lanka-e-News, Jan 29, 2009, 3.00 PM) Pro-LTTE Puthinam website reported that senior LTTE adviser and former leader of EROS (Ealam Revolutionary Organization of Students) K.P. Balakumar had sustained serious injuries…

COLOMBO (AFP)–The U.N. evacuated hundreds of severely wounded civilians from behind rebel lines in Sri Lanka on Thursday as government troops fought to secure final victory over Tamil separatists.

Reports emerging from Sri Lanka suggest that government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are violating the laws of war by targeting civilians and preventing them from escaping to safety.

Colombo - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa tonight gave a 48-hour ultimatum to LTTE to release the civilians believed to have been kept by the Tamil Tigers as human shields in the embattled north.

The security forces have found a submarine belonged to the LTTE terrorists in Udayarkattukulam in Mullaittivu.

VISAKHAPATNAM: With the LTTE on the run in Sri Lanka following the fall of its last strong-hold Mullaittivu, the Union Government has put the entire eastern coast, including the Visakhaptnam harbour and port, on high alert.

One of Sri Lanka’s leading sports promoters Singer has decided to pull out from all sports sponsorships for the year 2009 citing the global financial crisis.