Sri Lanka president rejects US court summons

[AFP] Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapakse has cited constitutional immunity and refused to go before a US court where he is being sued for $30 million over the killing of a Tamil man, an official said Sunday. A US-based Tamil lobby had filed the case claiming damages from him as commander-in-chief of the Sri Lankan…

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Robert Evans MEP: Who can protect Tamil civilians caught in the conflict?

[The Independent] The news that the Sri Lankan government has rejected Gordon Brown’s appointment of the former defence secretary Des Browne as special envoy comes as little surprise to anyone who has been following the situation there. The Sri Lankan government has become increasingly paranoid and defensive about all matters relating to the vicious civil…

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Ceasefire urged as 52 killed in Sri Lanka war zone

[Reuters] The United States and Britain urged a temporary cease-fire in Sri Lanka to evacuate casualties and allow relief into the war zone as the Island nation celebrates independence from colonial ruler Britain on Wednesday. President Mahinda Rajapaksa was due to preside at a parade of military might in the capital on Wednesday morning that…

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Tamil refugees shelled as army closes in

[The Sunday Times] MORE than 250,000 terrified Tamil men, women and children were trapped between rebel Tamil forces and the army in no man’s land in northern Sri Lanka last night as the 25-year civil war appeared to be nearing a violent conclusion. A 48-hour ceasefire was due to end after the government promised to…

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Chronicle of a death foretold

[Economist] THE good that men do is not always interred with their bones. This week saw the publication of a remarkable posthumous column by Lasantha Wickrematunge, a Sri Lankan newspaper editor. He had written it in anticipation of his own murder. That duly came on January 8th, when gunmen on motorcycles shot him on his…

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