NYT highlights satellite evidence of Sri Lanka’s criminal culpability: Reproducing satellite imagery and analysis produced by the Washington D.C. based American Association of Advancement of Sciences (AAAS), New York Times in the Thursday edition said the images “show dozens of structures that appear to have been destroyed between last Wednesday and Sunday, and multiple craters that appear to reflect the impact of heavy weaponry,” pointing to AAAS analysis. During the said period, local workers reported heavy shelling by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) killing more than 1200 refugees. FULL ARTICLE
‘Safety zone’ in smoke, close-quarter fighting is on: The entire safety zone area is in smoke since the early hours of Friday as shelling by the Sri Lanka Army was destroying all the structures within a narrow strip of coastal land which is densely populated with tens of thousands of people. 75% of the population remains under bunkers as close quarter fighting was heard. Hundreds of civilians are being killed and maimed in the carnage caused by the SLA, which attempts to enter the remaining part of the so-called safety zone before the election results are published in India. FULL ARTICLE
British Tamil contests seat for European Parliament: Ms. Janani (Jan) Jananayagam, a Sri Lankan born, and British, French educated young professional, who immigrated with her teacher parents to UK, has submitted her papers to contest for the June 4th elections to the European Parliament (MEP) as an independent candidate for London, campaign organizers in London said. She becomes the first Tamil to aspire for high-level political office in the UK. Tamil political observers in the UK say, the second generation, technology savvy Tamil, with fluency in both English and Tamil, can mobilize the support from the wider Tamil community currently vocal, and engaged in mass rallies and civil action, the immigrant communities, as well as appeal to the broader section of the British public to support her quest for the EU office. FULL ARTICLE
More than 100,000 civilians in safe zone, ICRC suspends Vanni missions: “Unless an external humanitarian intervention is carried out without delay, it would be difficult to avert an inhuman catastrophe,” said a volunteer doctor appointed by the LTTE to serve the civilians within the so-called safety zone, Friday afternoon. “The ICRC has abandoned its missions, there is no food, no proper access to potable water to tens of thousands of civilians who are forced to stay under the bunkers, surrounded by dead bodies and wounded civilians who are dying without medical help,” the medics doctor told TamilNet through a satellite phone. The Sri Lankan forces are deploying superior fire power and advancing along the coastal line deploying cluster munitions and shells causing immediate fire. FULL ARTICLE
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