Salem-News.com Media articles Page 12

United Nations: URGENT APPEAL: Renowned Tamil Poet Arrested and Detained

A Sri Lanka Police Spokesman told the BBC Tamil Service, that he was arrested as he was ‘disrupting the ethnic harmony in the country.’

(JAFFNA) - Shanmugampillai Jayapalan, famously known as VIS Jayapalan in the Tamil literary world, was born in Uduvil, Jaffna in north of Sri Lanka. He began his writing in the 70s while studying at the University of Jaffna and published his first anthology in 1986. Since then he has published at least 12 anthologies of poetry and short novels.

As the war escalated, he fled Sri Lanka in 1988 and was granted asylum in Norway.

Court in Jaffna Dismisses SL Military Claim on Tamil Memorial Site at Theeruvil

No civilized army or government will ever destroy the memorials of the dead, but Sri Lanka will do it. Here is a Sinhalese government that not only destroyed the memorial, but also claimed the property as their own, fit only for Sinhalese colonization. - Visvanathan Sivam

(JAFFNA TamilNet) - District Court of Point Pedro in Jaffna on Wednesday dismissed the claim by the Sri Lankan military that the land, which the Urban Council of Valveddith-thu’rai (VVT) had chosen to build a public park at Theeruvil was a property that should belong to the SL military.

Legal sources in VVT said the civic body could now proceed with building the park which is situated at a key memorial site...

Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, a Blight for Orange County Taxpayers

No veterans cemetery for my fellow Marines, no people's park, and if sports facilities do get built Irvine residents/groups will get first dibs. This is at minumum false advertising, a failed and lapsed warranty under basic consumer laws. - Salem-News.com's Roger Butow, comment in LA Times article on El Toro.

(IRVINE) - An Editorial in The LA Times called Irvine's Pretty Decent Park outlines the dilemma now facing the Irvine City Council with the now closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

A housing developer, FivePoint Communities, has offered to construct a park that varies greatly from what was presented to Orange County voters.

Afghan Newspapers Back Security Pact with U.S.

Iran and Pakistan are against inking security pact between Kabul and Washington, believing that U.S. bases in Afghanistan threaten national security.

(KABUL Xinhua) - Afghan newspapers on Monday expressed support for the proposed security pact known as Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the United States.

"Inking security agreement between Afghanistan and the United States of America would not pose any security threat to the neighboring countries; rather helps to have long-term U.S. support which is necessary for having viable security in the country," the daily Etilaatroz writes...

London`s Tamils Want to Share Their Horror Stories with David Cameron

There is a structural problem in the Sri Lankan constitution: Tamils just aren’t recognised as equal.

(LONDON Vice) - If you've heard anything about the persecution of Tamil people in Sri Lanka, it's likely you've only been exposed to the tip of a very large, very depressing iceberg.

The country's authorities have systematically attacked the Tamil population for over 60 years, engaging in a prolific campaign of sexual and human rights abuses, most notably the murder of at least 40,000 Tamil civilians in 2009. The Tamils believe that their people have been the victims of a genocide.

Portland AIDS Activists Named to `POZ 100` List

National list of "Unsung Heroes" all live with HIV.

(PORTLAND, OR) - POZ magazine, an award-winning print and online brand for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, today announced the fourth annual POZ 100.

This year, POZ asked individuals and organizations to nominate an HIV-positive person in their community who is an unsung hero in the fight against AIDS.

An Open Letter to Sri Lankan Journalists

Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. So many people gave us secret thumbs-ups or whispered, winked or nodded their support. Sometimes in the most surprising places.

(COLOMBO) - I definitely detected a delicious sense of “schadenfreude” from among you brave – but mischievous - Sri Lankan journalists, over the relentless harassment of me and my Channel 4 News colleagues by state intelligence, police and immigration officers.

I’m not referring to the ranting rottweiler “reporters” who do the regime’s clunky propagandist bidding, although I have no doubt that they enjoyed it too.

SRI LANKA: Uprooted Trincomalee Tamils Demand Justice for Genocide

The uprooted people have not even provided refugee relief allowance for the last several months...

(CHAMPOOR TamilNet) - A section of uprooted Tamil families from Champoor, now staying at one of four so-called welfare centres in Trincomalee, staged a protest on Saturday carrying slogans that demanded justice for genocide and urged global attention on the continued refusal by the Colombo government in allowing them to resettle in their own lands in Moorthoor East.

On Friday, a day before the protest, the occupying Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives, went on a house-to-house and camp-to-camp round instructing the Tamils not to take part in any protest during the ‘Sri Lanka CHOGM’.

Cameron Calls for Independent Sri Lanka War Crime Investigation, Rajapakse Remains Defiant (GRAPHIC PHOTOS)

Cameron had words of hope, but it is clear that he is appalled over the treatment of media in Sri Lanka.

(SACRAMENTO) - The disappointment in British Prime Minister, David Cameron's decision to attend CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) this year rang sharply through the world's Tamil communities.

But in the end he made clear that Sri Lanka's lackadaisical regard for its own war crimes will not be enough to thwart an independent, international war crime investigation.

Press TV: Death Threats on Sri Lanka Government Radio

The problems began on 25 October, when Fernando was interviewed by The Island newspaper in Colombo. She discussed the condition of sex workers in Sri Lanka.

(SACRAMENTO) - A well-known and highly regarded Sri Lankan human rights activist received death threats live on state radio last week.

Ms. Nimalka Fernando knows journalists and activists who speak out against the government are murdered and disappear with mind-numbing consistency in Sri Lanka, but the discussion of her murder live on state radio was shocking even for this seasoned veteran activist.