A United States judge has reduced the sentence handed down to three Tamils for allegedly conspiring to buy weapons for the LTTE due to the “injustice” of the case, reports the New York Daily News.

Federal Judge Raymond Dearie said that the case has “just taken over my head... To say that I’m troubled is to put it mildly”.

He went on to tell prosecutors and defence lawyers earlier this year:

The UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues Rita Izsák-Ndiaye met with ministers from the Northern Provincial Council on Thursday, where she discussed issues faced by the Tamil people of the North-East.

Ms Izsák-Ndiaye met with the NPC’s Minister of Education T Kurukularajah and the Minister of Health P Sathiyalingam, as part of her 10 day visit to the island.

Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Division has arrested a woman in Jaffna over the alleged distribution of posters bearing images of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Sri Lanka’s prime minister announced that he would be travelling to Brussels this weekend to engage in negotiations with the European Union to restore lost trade concessions.

“I am traveling to Brussels on Saturday to begin talks on restoring GSP plus,” Ranil Wickremesinghe told the World Export Development Forum in Colombo on Wednesday.

“Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were given GSP plus around the same time but we gave it up,” he added, noting that “Bangladesh kept it and experienced fast export growth”.

The Sri Lankan government announced that a draft version of proposed new counter terrorism legislation has been forwarded to the “Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security” for further discussions.

Sri Lanka is to sign an agreement to lease 15,000 acres of land in Hambantota in order to creat a Special Economic Zone in the region, Colombo Page reported. 

Announcing the proposed agreement, the State Finance Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told reporters in Colombo on Tuesday, the economic zone would create millions of jobs. 

See more here. 
 

The Sri Muthumari Amman temple in Anuradhapura was attacked by men carrying knives and clubs on Monday evening as Tamil devotees celebrated the Hindu festival of Navarathiri. 

One devotee, a father of one, Prabu was attacked by the thugs and is currently being treated at hospital for lacerations. 

Temple authorities said six men of Sinhala and Muslim identity together with one Catholic Tamil speaker forcibly entered the temple around 5.30pm on October 10th. 

The men proceeded to destroy the Karumari Amman statue, followed by the Murugan statue, before descrating all the pooja items. 

Sri Lanka’s President Mathripala Sirisena announced that retired army officers would be given posts as Technical Officers at the Presidential Secretariat, which works on formulating the national development plan reports Colombo page.

Stressing that the government was committed to protecting the dignity of the armed forces, Mr Sirisena said,

“Though some groups make various complaints stating that the government is not treating the war heroes well, the current government is acting for their welfare unlike any former government. The government is committed to protect their dignity.”

A former Sri Lankan Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) is alleged to have covered up evidence in the case of murdered Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam “Taraki” Sivaram, reports The Sunday Leader.

Sarath Lugoda, the former DIG and the ex-director of the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD), is alleged to have concealed evidence that the murder may have been ordered from authorities high up in the Sri Lankan government, and released the main suspects accused of the assassination. The Sunday Leader says that he is to face questioning shortly.

Today marks the 29th anniversary of the death of Lt Maalathy.

Maalathy was the first female fighter in the armed struggle against the Sri Lankan state oppression to lose her life. Malathy was killed at the age of 20, on the 10th of October 1987, during a confrontation with the Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF) in Jaffna.

The following account is told by a cadre that was by her side.