Tamils around the world today remember the 12th anniversary of the massacre of 53 school girls by the Sri Lankan air force.
On August 14th, 2006 four Sri Lankan air force jets flew over the Vanni and dropped sixteen bombs were dropped over the Sencholai children's home for orphans, killing 53 school girls and 3 teachers.
To date, no-one has been held to account for the deaths.
Tamil News
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Tamils in the North-East have joined calls across Tamil Nadu for the release of May 17 movement leader Thirumurugan Gandhi, who was arrested by Indian police last week.
Last Thursday, the Central Crime Branch of the Chennai police arrested Mr Gandhi at the Kempegowda International Airport in...
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Sinhalese settlers in Nayaru, Mullaitivu left the area on Thursday with a heavy police escort, after tensions in the area over ongoing disputes about their illegal fishing activities boiled over this week.
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Sri Lankan military intelligence officers harassed Jaffna Municipal Council workers who were putting up a barrier around the Thileepan memorial in Nallur, Jaffna on Tuesday.
The plain clothes military intelligence officers threatened the workers that they could be detained in future, forcing the workers to stop work and return to the Municipal Council office out of fear. They refused to go back.
The council was forced to hire private workers to complete the barrier.
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Emirates airlines announced this week that it would be suspending two flights operating between Singapore and Colombo from October.
Flights EK348 and EK349 would cease service from October 28.
“Passengers with flights originating from Dubai or Singapore with a layover in Colombo will be rebooked on to alternative flights and notified accordingly. Customers booked only on the affected flights between Singapore and Colombo should contact the travel company where their original...
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A Sri Lankan military truck hit and killed a Tamil man riding his motorcycle in Kilinochchi on Wednesday.
The man, identified as a 51-year-old resident of Bharathipuram in Kilinochchi, was reportedly pronounced dead at the site of the collision, at the 155th milestone.
Sri Lankan police are reportedly investigating the incident.
Sri Lankan military vehicles have frequently caused accidents in the North-East, leading to the deaths of several Tamils in the region.
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A mother and her 4-year-old son have been found dead inside a well in Vavuniya this morning, Sri Lankan news sites reported.
The deceased were identified as Mayuran Rajini and her child Mayuran Saswin.
Sri Lankan police are reported to be currently conducting investigations into the deaths.
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Sri Lanka's navy chief, Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne gave Rs 500,000 in cash to help the former navy lieutenant commander, wanted over the abduction and murder of 11 Tamil youths, escape arrest last year, the Colombo magistrate was told Wednesday.
“There is incriminating evidence against Admiral Wijegunaratne’s role in allowing the accused to evade arrest,” the police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) was quoted by local papers as saying to the magistrate.
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Tamil villagers in Amparai staged a protest this week, demanding resettlement in their land which is currently being occupied by the Sri Lankan military.
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Sri Lanka's former navy lieutenant commander, Prasad Chandana Hettiarachchi, alias 'Navy Sampath' has been remanded in custody until August 29, the Daily Mirror reports.
Lieutenant Commander Hettiarachchi was arrested this week over the abduction and murdering of 11 Tamil youths from 2008 to 2009.
He had been evading authorities ever since he was released on bail earlier this year. He was reportedly arrested at Lotus Road in Colombo with a false identity card.
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India's Consul General in Jaffna opened eight new school buildings across the Northern Province last week.
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A court-imposed ban on journalists entering a mass grave site in Mannar has been lifted after journalists challenged the injunction.
Lawyer P. Deniswaran said that the judge accepted that the court order had contained errors and confirmed that journalists could visit the site to collect news without being disturbed.
Registered journalists could obtain permission from the police officer on duty at the mass grave excavation site, the judge said.
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Sri Lanka’s deputy minister of national integration, reconciliation and official languages has claimed that Tamils who fled the island should return as peace now prevailed.
Speaking at an alumni meet in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, Deputy Minister Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana said that the Sri Lankan government was taking steps to facilitate those who want to return to Sri Lanka, especially Tamils who want to return to the North-East, but claimed some Tamils were hesitant as they were ‘settled down...
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The United States Naval Special Warfare unit announced that it had completed a four week long exercise with Sri Lankan troops in Trincomalee this week, as military ties between the two governments continue to increase.
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Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe pledged to continue with the preservation of Buddhist sites across the island, as he slammed the former regime for claiming to be ‘Sinhala Buddhist’ without spending as much on archaeology as the present government has.
ColomboPage reports Mr Wickremesinghe as stating “it is no use of claiming 'Sinhala Buddhist' to obtain the votes without...
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Sri Lanka's CID has summoned the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa over the abduction and assault of the associate editor of The Nation, Keith Noyahr in May 2008.
Mr Rajapaksa has been summoned to the CID office on August 17 to record a statement.
The summons was delivered to his official residence on Sunday by the Organized Crimes Investigation Unit.
Mr Noyahr was beaten after writing an article criticising the then army commander, General Sarath Fonseka and his...
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Anger has been mounting in Mullaitivu after arson attacks in Nayaru devastated hundreds of thousands of rupees worth of fishing equipment of Tamil fishermen from the area.
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Two Tamil men have been arrested on suspicion of carrying out a sword attack three months ago, Koppay police said.
A 24-year-old and a 28-year old were arrested on Tuesday in connection with a sword attack in Neerveli in May.
Initially three Tamil youths had been arrested by Koppay police in connection with the attack but witnesses did not identify any of them during the identity parade. A further two arrests were made. All five were kept in remand for a month and then released...
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The Sri Lankan president has promised to personally intervene in the issue of Sinhalese fishermen fishing illegally in Mullaitivu, which has caused tension in the areas, Minister Mano Ganesan has said.
“At Cabinet, I raised the issue of violence at Semmalai, Mullaitivu between Fishermen factions of North & South. President promised to hold special discussion to permanently settle the conflict when he visits North on 22nd,” Mano Ganesan said on Twitter.
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The Sri Lankan army declared that it had renovated and built a series of buildings and a war memorial statue, at a military camp in Vanni this week, as it continues to consolidate its presence in the North-East.
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Former Sri Lankan Navy Lieutenant Commander Prasad Chandana Hettiarachchi, alias 'Navy Sampath', has been arrested by Sri Lankan authorities after skipping bail earlier this year.
Lieutenant Commander Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi is the main suspect in the case of the Sri Lankan navy abducting and murdering 11 Tamil youths from 2008 to 2009. He had been evading authorities ever since he was released on bail earlier this year. He was reportedly arrested at Lotus Road in Colombo with a...
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The Tamil National People’s Front held an event to mark 12 years since the Sencholai massacre, at their Batticaloa office earlier today.
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The massacre of 53 schoolgirls in Mullaitivu on August 14, 2006 by the Sri Lankan airforce was remembered today at the site of the bombed Sencholai school in Vallipunam.
Local residents gathered at the site 12 years on and lit a lamp in memory of the girls and their three teachers who were also killed in the attack.
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The UK will provide £1 million in funding for families resettling back into their lands following the release of land from military occupation in Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Batticaloa.
"The funding will help those returning to their homes in the Jaffna, Killinochchi, Mullaithivu and Batticaloa districts by contributing towards roads, wells and sanitary services, and help re-establish access to local government services as well as local civil society organisations," the UK...
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Families of the 53 massacred schoolgirls, who were killed in a Sri Lankan air force bombing raid 12 years ago, gathered in Mullaitivu today, where a community event was held to mark the anniversary of the Sencholai massacre.
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The massacre of 53 Sencholai schoolgirls by the Sri Lankan air force on August 14, 2006, was remembered today in Mullaitivu.
The Northern Provincial Council member T Ravikaran led a remembrance event, where a lamp was lit...
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- Brannavy Jeyasundaram
It was August 14, 2006; two years after the earth-shattering tsunami had ravaged Sri Lanka, leaving its people in destitute. The North-East was particularly vulnerable, with limited...
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Students and staff at the University of Jaffna today remembered the massacre of 53 schoolgirls in Mullaitivu on August 14, 2006, when the Sri Lankan air force bombed their Sencholai school.
...
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Tamils around the world today remember the 12th anniversary of the massacre of 53 school girls by the Sri Lankan air force.
On August 14th, 2006 four Sri Lankan air force jets flew over the Vanni and dropped sixteen bombs were dropped over the Sencholai children's home for orphans, killing 53 school girls and 3 teachers.
To date, no-one has been held to account...
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The Sri Lankan Army is to discuss diaspora at its upcoming Defence Seminar in Colombo, in a topic titled “Diaspora Communities amidst Peace and Conflict.”
The two keynote speakers of the topic will be the Sri Lankan security forces’ Mullaitivu Commander, and Radhika Coomaraswamy, former United Nations Under-Secretay-General, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
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Sri Lankan Army intelligence is monitoring ‘changes taking place’ on social media, the country’s Army Commander said last week.
Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake said the Army Intelligence Unit was monitoring changes “due to the fact that could have an impact on the security of the people and the country”, Daily News reports.
The commander said that this would be a topic...
World News
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The United States imposed sanctions on Myanmar's military and police on Friday over the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.
“Burmese security forces have engaged in violent campaigns against ethnic minority communities across Burma, including ethnic cleansing, massacres, sexual assault, extrajudicial killings, and other serious human rights abuses,” the US Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Sigal Mandelker was quoted by...
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The United States has criticised attempts by the Republika Srpska Government to annul a report that acknowledged that Bosnian Serb troops were responsible for the massacre of thousands of Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995.
“International courts have concluded that genocide occurred in Srebrenica in 1995,” said a US State department statement. “The August 14 session of the Republika Srpska National Assembly is a step in the wrong direction. Attempts to reject or amend the report on...
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Over 700 schools run by the United Nations for Palestinian refugee children are set to open on schedule despite US funding cuts, the UN said on Thursday.
Over half a million children attend the schools, which are situated in sites across the Palestinian territories, as well as Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
Earlier this year the Trump administation announced it would be stopping hundreds of millions of dollars of funding to the UN.
The UN Relief and Works Agency for...
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A large Taliban offensive has killed at least 40 Afghan soldiers and police in Afghanistan's Baghlan province, reports Al Jazeera, as intense fighting continues between the two sides.
The attack on the military outpost, launched in the early hours of Wednesday, is the latest in a series of assaults launched by the Taliban across the country. It comes after the Taliban overran a military base in the northern Faryab province on Monday, killing at least 17 soldiers.
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Saudi Arabia announced it will hold an investigation into the “collateral damage” after an airstrike killed at least 40 Yemeni children in Saada province last week.
The airstrike, which Saudi Arabia initially said was a “legitimate military operation carried out in accordance with humanitarian law”, struck a bus carrying schoolchildren from a summer camp. At least 51 people were killed in the strike and a further 79 injured.
A mass funeral took place for the children this week...
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Six people, inlcuding three Chinese workers were injured on Saturday when a Baloch fighter detonated an explosive device on a bus in Balochistan, killing himself.
The bus was transporting engineers working on a mining project in the Dalbandin region.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for the attack, posting a video on social media that it said was of its fighter taken before the attack.
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The Republic of Vanuatu is seeking support from other Pacific islands towards a UN General Assembly resolution calling for the right to self-determination for West Papua, to be presented at the 74th session in September 2019.
The draft text was presented last week at the Pacific foreign ministers' meeting in Apia, by Vanuatu's foreign minister, Ralph Regenvanu.
According to the Daily Post, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji expressed reservations about the draft resolution...
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The Bosnian Serb leader, Milorad Dodik yesterday rejected a government report which acknowledged the Srebrenica genocide as "biased" and called for it to be withdrawn, AP reports.
"The report is biased and does not mention Serb victims," Mr Dodik told parliament. His supporters voted to reject the report, arguing it was "not objective and is untrue".
The report was written in 2004 by the previous Bosnian Serb government.
Mr Dodik has consistently rejected UN reports...
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EU observers maintain that whilst there were irregularities there was not fraud, commenting on the recent runoff election in Mali between President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita and opposition leader Somalia Cisse.
Mr Cisse has rejected this arguing that the results were “neither sincere nor credible” and launched a legal challenge in Mali's constitutional court alleging "ballot box-stuffing”.
The election is the first time an incumbent president in Mali has had to face a runoff...
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A special tribunal in Bangladesh today sentenced five men to death for crimes against humanity and war crimes, including the rape, murder and torture of civilians during the country's war of independence in 1971.
The International Crimes Tribunal, led by Justice Shahinur Islam said the convicted men were part of the Muslim League and Al-Badr, who were working with the then occupying Pakistan army.
All convicts sentences to death have one month to appeal the decision at the...
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The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on Friday raised concerns over China’s internment of over one million ethnic Uighurs in secret camps and that an additional 2 million were admitted into “re-education camps for political and cultural indoctrination”.
The Uighurs, China’s Turkic speaking Muslim minority, number approximately 10 million and are primarily based in the Xinjiang where they make up around 45% of the population.
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Human Rights Watch called on South Sudan’s leaders to ensure that there must not be an amnesty for war crimes and crimes against humanity as a peace agreement was signed in the country between the warring sides last week.
“Amnesty for atrocities not only conflicts with South Sudan’s international obligations, but experience shows it is no way to build a lasting peace,” said Elise Keppler, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch.
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More than 50,000 Romanians, including thousands of diaspora members, took to the streets of Bucharest this weekend as part of an anti-government rally in Romania.
More than 450 were reportedly hurt, as protestors demonstrating against corruption, clashed with Romanian police.
The crowds shouted slogans including "Diaspora is with us!" and "Justice, not corruption". The rally was reportedly organised on social media under the motto "Diaspora at Home,"
Riot...
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The former Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet has been appointed as the next UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, to serve from September 1.
Ms Bachelet, who was hailed by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres as a "pioneer", said she was "deeply humbled and honored".
“Michelle Bachelet brings unique experience to the United Nations and to all of us, and is strongly committed to keeping human rights at the forefront of the work of the United Nations,” Mr Guterres...
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Colombia has become the last country in South America to recognise the state of Palestine, a decision made by the previous president during his last few days in office.
Former Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos announced the decision in a letter to the Palestinian representative in Colombia last week, stating he had decided to recognise Palestine as a “free, independent and sovereign state.”
Although the government of the new president Ivan Duque, who took office on...
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Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe’s former finance minister and one of the leaders of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has been arrested under charges of inciting post-election violence as well as “possession of dangerous weapons” and “subversive material”.
The arrest comes after the MDC contested last Friday’s election result which yielded a victory for Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Zanu-PF candidate, who took power in a military coup that ousted Robert Mugabe in November 2017.
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India's Supreme Court has deferred a hearing on repealing article 35A, which enables the Kashmir state legislature to define who are “permanent residents” and to safeguard special rights for these residents in public sector jobs, social schemes, property ownership and state aid.
State legislature is also immune from legal challenges on grounds of “violating the Indian constitution or any other law of the land”.
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The Bangladeshi cabinet was forced to toughen sentences for those convicted of dangerous driving after mass protests by students overwhelmed the capital for the ninth day.
Riot police have attempted to quash the protests with rubber bullets and tear gas being fired into the crowds.
The protests were sparked by the killing of two teenagers in Dhaka by a bus travelling above the speed limit.
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Twelve Kashmiri fighters have been killed in gun battles with Indian army officers in the disputed Himalayan region, as violence in the region continues to escalate.
Clashes have taken place between locals and Indian army soldiers after soldiers descended on a funeral in the neighbouring village, which was being held for 5 of the fighters who were killed in Shopian.
Soldiers fired at residents who threw stones during the funeral. One person was killed and two wounded.
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The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) marked four years since the assault on the Yazidi people by the Islamic State (IS), labelling it “one of the most barbaric genocides of the 21srt Century”.
"Today is the anniversary of another genocide committed against the Yezidis by the Daesh terrorist organization,” said Nechirvan Barzani. “This genocide entered the history of the people of Kurdistan and humanity as one of the most barbaric genocides of the 21st century...
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The Canadian Museum for Human Rights announced that it will be removing Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi from a display, over her government’s treatment of the Rohingya Muslims.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have been displaced and thousands killed after Myanmar launched a massive military offensive last year. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees said the crisis was a form of “ethnic cleansing”, whilst other leading academics have called it a genocide.
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An Egyptian poet, Galal El Behairy, was sentenced to thee years in jail and a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds on Tuesday, for “insulting the military establishment”.
Mr Behairy was initially arrested on March 3, after the release of the song Balaha, which is allegedly to have mocked President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and appeared on Egyptian media.
During his first court appearance on May 6, he showed signs of torture and beating.
A panel of UN human rights experts have...
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The United States announced sanctions on Turkey's ministers of justice and interior over the detention of an American pastor Andrew Bunson.
Turkey's Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gul and Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu, who the US government state played “leading roles” in the arrest of Mr Bunson, have been hit by US Treasury sanctions.
"We believe he's a victim of unfair and unjust detention," said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders of Mr Bunson.
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Jean-Pierre Bemba, the former Vice-President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, returned to the country on Wednesday after being acquitted of war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court.
Mr Bemba was initially convicted by the court in 2016, after being found guilty of crimes committed in the Central African Republic from 2002 to 2003, including failing to prevent his troops from committing murder and rape. He was arrested in Brussels in 2008 and eventually handed an 18...
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Serbian police announced that they have arrested a former Bosnian military commander, over alleged war crimes committed against Serb civilians in Sarajevo.
The Bosnian embassy in Belgrade reported that the former soldier was arrested on a Serbian warrant.
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A US Court has heard the first oral argumentation between representatives of Namibian tribes and representatives of the German government in a case concerning reparations for Germany’s colonial genocide of Namibians between 1904 and 1908.
Around 100,000 Ovaherero and Nama people are estimated to have been killed in those four years as a result of a mass-extermination policy initiated by German colonial troops in South West Africa, currently known as Namibia, when the territory was a...
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The provisional voting rolls for New Caledonia's referendum on independence from France, which is set to take place on November 4 this year, have been published across town halls.
The voting registration has been restricted to only long-term residents of the Pacific archipelago, which at present remains a French overseas territory.
The referendum follows a 20 year agreement signed in 1998 which gave the region greater autonomy but also made provisions for a referendum on...
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Over nine months after the Kirkuk-Erbil road was closed following the Iraqi military take-over of Kirkuk, the Iraqi government and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have reached an agreement on its re-opening, Kurdistan 24 reports.
The Kirkuk governor made a statement announcing the opening of the road on Sunday and added that the re-opening would be dependent on the establishment of a customs checkpoint.
The road has been closed since October last year when the Iraqi...
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Thousands of Scots marched in Inverness yesterday to show their support for independence.
The march was part of a series of pro-independence rallies across Scotland organised by 'All Under One Banner'.
“Scotland will be free," protesters shouted.
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The Balochistan Awami Party garnered the most number of seats in Balochistan's assembly elections, which took place across four administrative provinces on Wednesday, and secured the support of three independent candidates, thereby becoming the region's largest parliamentary party.
“As the largest parliamentary political party, we have to be allowed to form the government in Balochistan,” said the BAP leader, Jam Kamal said.