Krishna Saravanamuttu, a Tamil activist and spokesperson for the National Council of Canadian Tamils, has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his work with Canada’s student movement and as an advocate for justice for Eelam Tamils.

He was nominated for the award by Glen Murray, the minister in charge of universities.

Speaking to TamilNet, Glen Murray praised Krishna’s activism and hailed him as one of Canada’s emerging leaders.

“Krisna has provided outstanding leadership in Canada's student movement, in his advocacy with the United Nations for justice for Tamils around the world and his leadership in building youth organizations committed to social justice and human equality.”

“He is one of our countries emerging leaders and demonstrates the personal integrity that has earned him the trust of so many and allowed him to accomplish so much,” Glen Murray said.

In his first news conference since his release form prison on the 21st May, General Sarath Fonseka, vowed to "topple" the Rajapaksa government.

The general, who is one of the key architects of the massacre of 2009, described the Rajapaksa administration as "dictatorial" and "corrupt".

Whilst he is banned from running for presidency for another seven years (due to his jail sentence), Fonseka pledged to lead the opposition.

Fonseka said:

"We have initiated a discussion of a program to help Sri Lanka get deeper into a middle-income level country." 

Addressing a business foum organised by Sri Lanka's division of the UK Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, the chair of Laugfs Holdings, criticised the on-going practice of expropriation by successive governments.

The chair, W.K.H. Wegapitiya said:

"We have done lot of blunders and it's still happening,"

The American reggae band ‘Big Mountain’ have refused an invitation to perform at a reggae festival in Sri Lanka, citing concerns over “systemic violence” towards “indigenous populations” in the country.

The band stated that whilst they were keen to spread their message of peace, a performance in the country at such a time would serve to “gloss over or legitimate” their concerns of violence that transpired during the war in the country.

In a statement published on their Facebook site yesterday, the group said:

The home of Dr Jeyakumar, a cancer specialist at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, was attacked a masked gang on Wednesday night, reports TamilNet.

See here for article on TamilNet and photographs of the crime scene.

The gang entered the house, smashing windows and destroying the place, before dousing Dr Jeyakumar's home in oil. The intruders fled after the family awoke and neighbours became alerted by the family's screams.

Repeating a common falsehood, Sri Lanka’s President Rajapakse recently lambasted the Tamil diaspora as not having spent a penny on helping the Tamils of the Vanni.

After announcing the closure of a number of embassies in Europe deemed as not serving Sri Lanka's interests, Sri Lanka has appointed an ambassador to Turkey - Bharthi Wijeratne.