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Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) continued to attack Mu’l'li-vaaykkaal shore since Wednesday 4:00 p.m., killing and maiming many. Meanwhile, Liberation Tigers of Tamlieelam (LTTE) Sea Tigers confronted the SLN vessels sinking a water jet gun-boat and Dvora Fast Attack Craft (FAC) around 2:45 p.m. Thursday.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is funding a two-year program called Supporting Regional Governance (SuRG) to strengthen local governance in conflict-affected areas of the East. Participating local authorities from the Eastern Province recently signed a memorandum of understanding with SuRG to launch the partnership.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Trincomalee district MP and parliamentary group leader, R. Sampanthan, and parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran told the visiting British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, that 7,000 Tamils in Vanni have been killed and 14,000 injured in the last three months, but the International Community has remained inactive without taking any action to stop the [...]

Students and public continued their agitation for the second day Thursday in Batticaloa town and its suburbs demanding the immediate release of the eight-year-old girl student of Batticaloa Koaddaimunai Junior Viththiyaalayam who had gone missing mysteriously Tuesday, sources in Batticaloa said. Students of all the schools in Batticaloa town and its suburbs have boycotted classes [...]

A report by United Nations Institute for Training and Reseach (UNITAR) surfaced on April 27th confirmed the heavy use of artillery and aerial bombing of civilian safety zone (CSZ) by the Sri Lankan armed forces. The 10-page document, initially made public, was later blocked by UNITAR for preventing incriminating evidence of Sri Lanka Army [...]

Food parcels were thrown to people after making them run like dogs, and two children were killed in the melee in the barbed-wire camp at Menik Farm, Vavuniyaa. A 12-year-old boy on Monday and a 7-year-old boy on Tuesday were crushed to death in the melee, media sources in Vavuniyaa said. Meanwhile, around 300 Tamil [...]

COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's president on Thursday ruled out halting the military's offensive against the Tamil Tigers, and warned the rebels that they must give up or be killed.

(Lanka-e-News, April 30, 2009, 7.25pm) The leader of the parliamentary group of the JVP Anura Kumara Disanayaka says that there is a contradiction between the Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse’s initial statement that…

(Lanka-e-News, April 30, 2009, 7.25pm) The government says that the first group to be resettled in north after the fourth Ealam war will be resettled in their own villages in Mannar…

(Lanka-e-News, April 30, 2009, 7.25pm) The Defense Ministry says that 15 LTTE cadres were killed and 20 were injured in fighting between the LTTE and the security forces…

The Government has decided to abolish the price control on sugar and dhal effective from midnight yesterday under a gazette notification, Trade, Consumer Affairs and Co-operatives Minister Bandula Gunawardhana said.

Apr 30, Colombo: Thousands of civilians still trapped in the no-fire zone due to the on going war between the Sri Lankan troops and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) need more food and medicine, the ICRC said today.

Leading menswear specialist Hameedia launched “The Grooms’ Studio”, Sri Lanka’s first-ever such facility which offers prospective bridegrooms a total solution under one roof.

Sri Lanka’s honorary consul-general in Wellington, Aruna Abeygoonesekera, has congratulated the Maori Party for blocking a parliamentary motion even though the Maori Party leans towards the Tamil Tigers. A motion moved by Progressives…

World Vision - Asia Pacific International community urged not to lose once-in-a-generation opportunity to help heal Sri Lanka

Aid agency World Vision is urging the international community to seize a once-in-a- …

Apr 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s annual average inflation rate declined to a recorded 16.7 percent in April, from its level of 18.6 percent in the previous month, the Central Bank reported today.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Thursday his government had no intention of a cease-fire with Tamil Tiger rebels, telling international critics the military’s actions constituted a “humanitarian operation.”

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Thursday his government had no intention of a cease-fire with Tamil Tiger rebels, telling international critics the military's actions constituted a “humanitarian operation.”

Apr 30, Colombo: The domestic LP gas prices in Sri Lanka are to increase once again with effect from midnight today.

Apr 30, Mount Lavinia: Mount Lavinia Magistrate Courts today extended the interim order against Sunday Leader newspaper preventing it from carrying out a news item on Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Apr 30, Mannar: Sri Lanka government today took the first step to resettle some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Mannar after completing the demining process of several areas in Mannar.

Apr 30, Vavuniya: The mobile hospital donated by the French government has commenced its operations at Chettikulam in Vavuniya yesterday.

Apr 30, Colombo: The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) with the assistance of Sri Lanka Navy ferried another batch of sick and wounded civilians yesterday by the sea route.

Press freedom declined worldwide in 2008 as even once-unfettered nations such as Israel and Italy imposed new limits on media coverage, according to a report by media analysts.

Apr 30, Ambilipitiya: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa today said that the only remaining option for Tamil Tigers is to lay down arms and surrender to the forces within next four or five days.

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Thursday his government had no intention of a cease-fire with Tamil Tiger rebels, telling international critics the military’s actions constituted a “humanitarian operation.”

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Thursday his government had no intention of a ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels, telling international critics the military’s actions constituted a “humanitarian operation.”

Apr 30, Colombo: Rejecting the media reports Sri Lanka Central Bank today announced that there was no any delay in the process of a US $1.9 billion loan sought from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Source: Reuters * No time for ceasefire now, President says

* Statement comes after international pleas

* U.S. wants loan delayed over civilian worries -officials

By Ranga Sirilal

COLOMBO, April 30 (Reuters …

Apr 30, Batticaloa: The school activities in Batticaloa city was brought to a halt today as the people have staged a protest campaign over the abduction of an eight-year-old school girl.

Aktion Deutschland Hilft e.V. - Germany Aktion Deutschland Hilft appeals for donations for those affected by the civil war

Bonn 30th April 2009. Aktion Deutschland Hilft, Germany’s Relief Coalition, is asking for donations for tens of …

(Lanka-e-News 30.April.2009 5.00PM) Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Michael Lord): We now move on to a debate on Sri Lanka, and I must advise the House-[Interruption.] Order. We have more…..

Apr 30, Colombo: The Japanese special peace envoy for Sri Lanka Yasushi Akashi is to visit the country today for a three-day visit.

Source: IRIN More than half the 170,000 civilians who have fled fighting in Sri Lanka’s north to government-controlled areas could be children needing care, relief officials warn.

Apr 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka government today urged the people in the country to avoid from taking unnecessary foreign visits to prevent contracting swine flu.

Sweden announced Tuesday it would recall its top diplomat in Sri Lanka because Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt had been refused to visit the country.

Cabinet Spokesman Information and Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said yesterday there were no discussions held with any party about a ceasefire and that Security Forces are on the verge of rescuing the remaining civilians in the No Fire Zone.

Source: IRIN More than half the 170,000 civilians
who have fled fighting in Sri Lanka’s north to government-controlled areas could be children needing care, relief officials warn.

India on Thursday joined the rest of the world in asking for better access for humanitarian agencies inside the hastily set up camps for the Tamil refugees who have come out of the 'no fire zone' (NFZ) in the last 10 days.

Apr 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services asked the people in the country to provide water bowsers…

The retail price of a 12.5 kg cylinder of Shell domestic LP gas has been increase by Rs. 191.00 and Laugfs gas by Rs. 238.00 per cylinder with effect from midnight today (April 30, 2009).(NLK)

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's consumer prices in April rose 2.9 percent from the same month a year earlier, its slowest pace in more than five years, the government said on Thursday.

COLOMBO : The Tamil Tigers said on Thursday they would never surrender to the advancing Sri Lankan forces and appealed to the international community to work harder for a cease-fire in the country's bloody civil war.

(Lanka-e-News 30.April.2009 3.30PM) The High Commissioner of India, Mr. Alok Prasad, today handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross Delegation a consignment of 40,000…

(Lanka-e-News 30.April.2009 3.45PM) The Peace Secretariat believes it is important to share with the world the manner in which the Sri Lankan government dealt with the problem of terrorism….

Sri Lanka’s president again rules out a ceasefire with rebels and rejects Western ‘lectures’, a day after a key EU mission.

Sri Lanka’s president again rules out a ceasefire with rebels and rejects Western ‘lectures’, a day after a key EU mission.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has again ruled out a ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels and says the West should not lecture him about it or believe “the propaganda of terrorists”.

China’s anti-people stand to consider the war in Sri Lanka as internal matter, despite open massacre and imprisonment of the Colombo government of its own civilians using even prohibited weapons, will block formal discussions taking place in the UN Security Council Thursday, news reports indicate. The stand of China and Russia sitting on UN security [...]

Pointing to the latest statement during the visit to Sri Lanka by British Foreign Minister, David Miliband that “”[t]his is a civil war that does have regional and wider ramifications…,” Professor Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, said that Miliband’s statement obligates Britain, as a Permanent Member [...]

Sri Lanka’s president rejected Thursday a cease-fire appeal from France and Britain, saying his government was working to protect civilians but that his forces would not end their fight against the Tamil Tigers.

Sri Lanka’s president rejected Thursday a cease-fire appeal from France and Britain, saying his government was working to protect civilians but that his forces would not end their fight against the Tamil Tigers.

Sri Lanka’s president rejected Thursday a cease-fire appeal from France and Britain, saying his government was working to protect civilians but that his forces would not end their fight against the Tamil Tigers.

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) View the PDF version of this map </p …

* Move designed to pressure Sri Lanka over civilians

* Move designed to pressure Sri Lanka over civilians

* Move designed to pressure Sri Lanka over civilians

Source: Reuters * Move designed to pressure Sri Lanka over civilians

* Colombo says loan process proceeding, in final stage

* Fighting continues as military squeezes rebels

By Arshad Mohammed and Ranga Sirilal …

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) View the PDF version of this map </p …

Four major internment camps meant for the civilians of Vanni and envisaged as long-term detention-villages as a part of Colombo’s structural genocide of Tamils, have been named after Sir Ponnampalam Ramanathan, Sir Ponnampalam Arunachalam, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy and Lakshman Kadirgamar. All four of them belonged to two aristocratic families of Jaffna that had settled in [...]