newslanka.org

Source: UNHCR -

Apr 28, Colombo: Sri Lankan troops conducting operations in the no-fire zone (NFZ) fired at an explosive laden truck driven towards them by the LTTE today causing its explosion while capturing two LTTE-built earth bunds, the military said.

Source: IRIN Tens of thousands of people are in mortal danger within the fast-shrinking combat zone in Sri
Lanka’s north, John Holmes, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, warned.

Sri Lanka has refused to allow Sweden’s Foreign Minister to enter the country on a joint mission with his British and French counterparts to press for a ceasefire in the conflict with the Tamil Tigers.

(Lanka-e-News -28.April.2009 1.00PM -By Dr. Kumar Rupesinghe) The war is over. The Sri Lankan Armed Forces have taken full control of all the territory in the country. All wars come to an end and…

(Lanka-e-News, April 28, 2009, 2.45 pm) UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband and France Foreign Minister Bernard Kushner are to arrive in Sri Lanka tomorrow (29) morning to inspect the no-fire zone and the safety of the civilians living there,…

(Lanka-e-News, April 28, 2009, 4.15 pm) State media said that the Army today (28) entered the Vellaimullivaikkal, the adjacent village to Kalayamullivaikkal, where LTTE leader Prabhakaran is believed hiding…

Sri Lanka will host 12 World Cup games, India 29 while Bangladesh will stage eight along with the opening ceremony in 2011.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, April 28 (UPI) — Sri Lanka said Tuesday it has taken two key positions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the northeast part of the country.

Sri Lanka on Tuesday barred Sweden’s foreign minister from entering the island on a humanitarian mission, as diplomatic tensions mounted over the conduct of the war on the Tamil Tigers.

Swedish Foreign Minister has not been denied a visa, contrary to some reports, but can visit in May-Foreign Ministry-JNW

French & British Foreign Ministers to arrive tomorrow after govt invitation, they will meet President & visit IDP camps-Foreign Ministry-JNW

(Adds French confirmation, details, background.) LONDON (AFP)–U.K. and French foreign ministers David Miliband and Bernard Kouchner will visit Sri Lanka this week, despite Sweden’s Carl Bildt being refused a visa by Colombo, the U.K. Foreign Office said Tuesday.

Source: Reuters (Adds details)

LUXEMBOURG, April 28 (Reuters) - Sweden has recalled its ambassador to Sri Lanka after Colombo barred Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt from participating in a mission there with …

Sri Lanka has refused entry to Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who was to have joined a European diplomatic mission, Mr Bildt has said

Foreign Minister David Miliband and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner will visit Sri Lanka this week, despite Sweden’s Carl Bildt being refused a visa by Colombo, the Foreign Office said Tuesday.

The International Cricket Council has moved its 2011 World Cup headquarters to Mumbai and increased India’s allocation of matches after stripping Pakistan of co-hosting rights following a terror attack last month on the Sri Lanka team.

Source: Reuters LUXEMBOURG, April 28 (Reuters) - Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Tuesday Stockholm had recalled its ambassador to Sri Lanka after Colombo declined Bildt’s participation in a joint mission …

Sri Lanka refuses entry to Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who was to have joined a European diplomatic mission.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Tuesday he had been denied entry to Sri Lanka as part of a European delegation pressing for a cease-fire between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said Tuesday he had been denied entry to Sri Lanka as part of a European delegation pressing for a cease-fire between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.

Sri Lanka refuses entry to Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who was to have joined a European diplomatic mission.

Angelo Perera, Sri Lanka Under-19’s middle-order batsman, rescued his team after a top-order collapse on the first day of the second youth Test against Bangladesh Under-19 in Khulna.

The U.N.’s aid chief told Sri Lanka’s president on Tuesday of the world body’s concern over casualties and humanitarian needs among civilians trapped in the last pocket of Tamil Tiger resistance to government forces.

(Lanka-e-News 28.April.2009 11.30AM) Tamil Tiger supporters have attacked and smashed the windows, glass panels and caused damagers to the buildings at India High Commission, Aldwych, London and Sri Lanka High Commission,..

(Lanka-e-News 28April.2009 11.45AM) The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office in Geneva, in collaboration with the Geneva Press Club - Club suisse de…

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has pledged $50,000 to support victims of Sri Lanka’s civil war.

The LTTE couldn’t be party to any future political dialogue with Sri Lanka, authoritative government sources told The Island. Sources emphasised that President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government wouldn’t accept Velupillai Prabhakaran as a party to any settlement.

April 28 (Bloomberg) — Sri Lanka said the army’s halt to combat operations against Tamil Tiger rebels shouldn’t be “misinterpreted” as a cease-fire, as Tamils in the north accused the air force of continuing to conduct raids.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator ..

(Lanka-e-News, April 28, 2009, 10.00 am) UN humanitarian chief John Holmes who arrived in Sri Lanka to look into the humanitarian needs of the island visited the refugee village in Menik Farm, Vavuniya…

(Lanka-e-News, April 28, 2009, 10.00 am) The Defense Ministry of Sri Lanka says that the ‘media magicians’ have distorted the statement issued by the government yesterday (27) regarding war…

In Tangalle, four children die from Dengue in last three weeks, eight schools temporarily closed as preventive measure-Chief Min South. Prov.-JNW

Progressive leader Jim Anderton is upset a Maori Party MP blocked a parliamentary motion expressing concern about the humanitarian situation in northern Sri Lanka.

Source: Human Rights Watch (New York) - The United Nations Security Council should impose sanctions on
governments and armed groups for using child soldiers, sexual violence against children, and attacks on schools …

Prabhakaran, who roared in 2005 that he would carve out Eelam militarily and plunged the country int..

April 28 (Bloomberg) — Sri Lanka said the army’s halt to combat operations against Tamil Tiger rebels shouldn’t be “misinterpreted” as a cease-fire, as Tamils in the north accused the air force of continuing to conduct raids.

“What is the limit of IC’s appeasement with Colombo and what is the limit of IC in cheating Tamils,” asks Sri Navaratnam, on the 8th day of his hunger strike in Oslo, furious at the news of Colombo’s all out attack on Tamil civilians Monday night. “To facilitate the international community to deceive Tamils, Sri [...]

Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers continued heavy bombardment on Mu’l'li-vaaykkaal in five sorties unloading bombs 23 times, completely disregarding the announcement by the Colombo government that its armed forces were instructed to halt the deployment of heavy weapons. Latest reports indicate heavy barrage by the SLA targeted Mu’l'li-vaaykkaal area since 7:00 p.m., when [...]

Attempts made by Sri Lanka Electricity Board (SLEB) in Jaffna peninsula to supply 24 hours electricity supply to the schools where civilians from Vanni are brought by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and detained have failed due to the inability of the Chinese firm, ‘Northern Power’, which had entered into a contract with the Sri Lanka [...]

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) key officials informed Jaffna Secretariat that the possibility of bringing civilians from Vanni to Jafnna peninsula for detention appears limited, Jaffna Secretariat (JS) sources said. Action is being taken to detain Vanni civilians instead in the SLA occupied areas like Ki’linochchi, Ka’ndaava’lai and other indentified places constructing big concentration villages, sources [...]

The Tokyo-Co-chairs and other international actors have been duped in supporting the war aims of the Sri Lankan government, says Professor P. Ramasamy, Deputy Chief Minister of Penang, Malaysia, in an exclusive interview to TamilNet. “The LTTE is expression of Tamil discontent of the Sri Lankan government and the way the latter has dealt with [...]

Source: Human Rights Watch (New York) - The Sri Lankan government’s admission that it has been
using heavy weapons in an area crowded with displaced civilians underscores the need for an <a
href=”http://www.hrw.org/en/news/ …

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, April 27 (UPI) — Sri Lanka says although major combat operations have ended, troops were still sweeping a corner of the country to end the Tamil Tiger insurgency.

An unidentified armed gang shot and killed Monday noon a Tamil youth employed in a hotel in Monaragala town, Monaragala police said.

A gang of unidentified armed men entering the fishing harbour area in Paanama Ukanthai in Ampaa’rai district Sunday morning shot and killed five Tamil fishermen who had gone there Saturday night in their motor fishing boats, sources in Ampaa’rai said. Meanwhile, Special Task Force (STF) commandos arrested 12 Tamil youths including students in a search [...]

In a press release issued Sunday, the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T) said that the “final onslaught” in the safe zone by the Sri Lanka Government will result in “carnage if unimaginable magnitude,” and appealed to “Her Majesty’s Government, NGOs, and Governments around the world, to act immediately to prevent this devastation.”

“Only a joint show of might, without wasting any time by the IC, can stop Colombo. This is the last chance for the IC if it is really interested in seeing a post-conflict Sri Lanka,” writes a political commentator in Colombo. “Everybody knows how the current war in Sri Lanka has been perpetrated by the [...]

The United States said Monday it was “very encouraged” by Sri Lanka’s pledge to stop firing heavy weapons in its war zone, but urged the government to let aid workers enter the area.

Apr 27, Colombo: United Nation’s humanitarian agency, UNICEF has airlifted 50 metric tons of emergency relief supplies urgently needed for the Internally Displaced Persons in Northern Sri Lanka.

Source: Reuters By C. Bryson Hull

COLOMBO, April 27 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka on Monday promised to stop using heavy weapons in its fight to finish off the Tamil Tiger rebels, responding to mounting international …

Sri Lanka is refusing humanitarian access to its war zone where some 50,000 people are believed trapped, a top UN diplomat said on Monday, while welcoming a government move to slow down its military offensive.

Sri Lanka agreed to stop firing heavy weapons into the northern war zone to safeguard thousands of civilians trapped there, but resisted growing pressure Monday for a cease-fire in its war with the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Apr 27, Luxembourg: The Council of the European Union today urged an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to allow for a UN-assisted evacuation of those still trapped in the conflict zone.

Apr 27, Colombo: The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Sir John Holmes met Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa this evening at the Temple Trees to discuss the humanitarian situation in the North.

Apr 27, Colombo: Sri Lanka Health officials have taken measures to prevent a possible spreading of a viral fever, originated in Mexico and spread to US, Canada and some European countries.

Source: Reuters (For a related factbox click on [ID:nCOL443666])

By C. Bryson Hull

COLOMBO, April 27 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka must put in practice its latest pledge not to use heavy weapons as it …

The Sri Lankan government today ordered security forces to halt all combat operations against the LT..

The Sri Lankan government plans to turn the country`s war-torn northeastern region, which boasts of ..