Tamils in Toronto commemorate Maaveerar Naal

Thousands of Tamils in Toronto, Canada commemorated Maaveerar Naal at a number of events across the city, including a large one at Markham Fairgrounds.

Sri Lanka to corporatise military hotels

Sri Lanka's finance minister, Ravi Karunanayake said hotels and holiday homes run by the military and state agencies will be consolidated under one corporate entity. Suggesting this would better guide such investments, Mr Karunanayake added the current administration plans to sell-off non-strategic investments, including hotels.

Sri Lankan cabinet ministers approve National Defence College

Cabinet Ministers have approved a proposal for a National Defence College to be established in Sri Lanka. Government sources said the institution "is proposed to be established in Sri Lanka with the view of connecting Sri Lanka with the world strategically, gathering Sri Lankan and foreign academics in one knowledge hub, and providing a proper training for military and civil officers on defence strategies and methods.” It is likely that the college will be located at the ‘Mumtaz Mahal’ premises in Colombo.

Othiyamalai massacre of 32 Tamils by Sri Lankan military remembered

Residents in Othiyamalai on Friday remembered the massacre of 32 Tamils by the Sri Lankan military in 1984. Lighting lamps, families who had lost their loved ones came together to remember. Sithambarapillai Sagunthararasa, then a five-year-old boy, who lost his father and five uncles during the massacre, gave the following account : "My father was listening to the radio. It was only when they caught him that we realized they were the SLA. They caught our uncle at our house. They tore up his shirt in front of us and tied his hands. Like this, the SLA went in twos and threes to every house and...

India and Sri Lanka set for more talks on Free Trade Agreement

Indian government officials will meet with their Sri Lankan counterparts this month in the hope of expanding trade deals between the two, reports PTI . The discussions will revolve around the expansion of a free trade agreement (FTA), which currently only applies to certain goods. India has been keen to push for implementation of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, with negotiations having started in February 2005. It has yet to be put in place. However talks have been hampered by staunch opposition to the deal, especially from Sinhala Buddhist nationalists. India currently has a...

Adayaalam takes note of Centre-Periphery Relations report with 'cautious optimism'

In a brief released today, the Jaffna-based Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research (ACPR) took note of the Centre-Periphery Relations Constitutional Sub-Committee report with cautious optimism, noting that its recommendations "had the potential to positively contribute to a genuine restructuring of the State that accommodates the concerns of the numerically smaller populations vis a vis the current state of the provincial council system and more broadly, the desire of the Tamil people for a genuine form of self-government within a united Sri Lanka." Regarding the Law and Order Sub-Committee...

Tamils in Doha mark Maaveerar Naal

Tamils in Doha, Qatar, marked Maaveerar Naal (Tamil national remembrance day) this weekend, creating a shrine of remembrance with photographs of fallen Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre. See video here .

US State Dept runs trade seminars in Colombo

The US State Department held a series of seminars on trade policy from Novemebr 29 till December 1st. Over 70 key decision makers and technical experts from various Sri Lankan ministries, agencies, research institutes, trade policy think tanks, and Chambers of Commerce were present, the US embassy said . The seminar also included experts from the US International Trade Administration Office of Trade Negotiations and Analysis, the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the World Bank. “Sri Lanka can count on the United States as a partner to help unleash the trade potential of Sri Lankan...

Tamils in Indonesia commemorate Maaveerar Naal

Tamils in Indonesia on Sunday marked Maaveerar Naal (Tamil national remembrance day) with the lighting of lamps and laying of flowers by the photographs of fallen Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre.

French Tamils remember fallen heroes on Maaveerar Naal

The Tamil community in Paris gathered to mark Maaveerar Naal on Sunday, with thousands attending a commemoration ceremony. Relatives of fallen fighters were amongst those that came to pay their respects to the lives lost, in a ceremony that saw song and dance acts performed in tribute.

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