அமெரிக்காவில் புலி ஆதரவு அமுக்கக் குழுக்களுக்கு ஒபாமா அரசு எச்சரிக்கை

புலிகள் அமைப்புக்கு ஆதரவு வழங்கக் கூடாது : அமெ. அரசு தெரிவிப்பு வீரகேசரி இணையம் 10/1/2009 11:09:54 AM -

விடுதலைப் புலிகள் மற்றும் குர்திஸ் தொழிற் கட்சி ஆகிய தடை செய்யப்பட்ட இயங்கங்களுக்கு ஆதரவு வழங்கப்படக் கூடாது என ஒபாமா அரசாங்கம் சுட்டிக் காட்டியுள்ளது. குறித்த இரண்டு அமைப்புக்களுக்கும் ஆதரவு வழங்கப்பட வேண்டுமென லொஸ் ஏஞ்சல்ஸை மையமாகக் கொண்டு இயங்கி வரும் மனித உரிமை அமைப்புக்கள் அமெரிக்க நீதிமன்றில்
மேன்முறையீடு செய்துள்ளன.
எனினும், இந்த முறைப்பாட்டை ஏற்றுக்கொள்ள முடியாது எனவும் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள் மற்றும் குர்திஸ்தான் இயக்கத்திற்கு ஆதரவு வழங்கப்படக் கூடாது எனவும் அமெரிக்கா அறிவித்துள்ளது.
இந்த மேன்முறையீட்டு மனு தொடர்பான விசாரணைகள் எதிர்வரும் ஜனவரி மாதம் நடைபெறவுள்ளதாகவும், 2010ஆம் ஆண்டு ஜூன் மாதமளவில் இந்த வழக்கு விசாரணைகள் மீதான தீர்ப்பு வழங்கப்படும் எனவும் தெரிவிக்கப்படுகிறது.
இவ்வாறு பயங்கரவாத அமைப்புக்களுக்கு ஆதரவு வழங்குவோருக்கு 15 ஆண்டுகள் முதல் ஆயுட் காலம் வரை சிறைத்தண்டனை வழங்கப்பட முடியும் என்பது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.
சர்வதேச பயங்கரவாதத்திற்கு எதிராக மேற்கொள்ளப்பட்டு வரும் நடவடிக்கைகளுக்கு இந்தச் சட்டம் மிகவும் முக்கியமானதென அரசாங்கம் சுட்டிக்காட்டியுள்ளது.
எனினும், குறித்த இரண்டு அமைப்புக்களுக்கு ஆதரவு வழங்குவதைச் சட்ட ரீதியாக அங்கீகரிக்குமாறு அமெரிக்க மனித உரிமை நிறுவனம் வலியுறுத்தி வருகின்றமை குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.
சட்ட அங்கீகாரம் வழங்குமாறு தெரிவித்து குறித்த நிறுவனம் நீதிமன்றில் வழக்குத் தாக்கல் செய்துள்ளது.

Supreme Court to decide terrorism support law

Wed Sep 30, 2009 1:37pm EDT James ViciniWASHINGTON (Reuters) -

The U.S. Supreme Court said on Wednesday it would hear an Obama administration appeal defending part of the Patriot Act, which has been criticized by civil liberties groups
for giving the government broad powers.
The justices agreed to review a U.S. appeals court ruling that struck down as unconstitutionally vague a law that makes it a crime to provide support to a foreign terrorist group.
The law, first adopted in 1996, was strengthened by the USA Patriot Act supported by then-President George W. Bush and approved by Congress right after the September 11 attacks in 2001. It was amended again in 2004.
The high court is expected to hear arguments in the case early next year, with a decision likely by June. It will be the first time the court will consider part of the Patriot Act.
Convictions under the law, which bars knowingly providing any service, training, expert advice or assistance to a designated foreign terrorist group, can result in sentences of 15 years to life in prison.
The law does not require any proof that the defendant intended to further any act of terrorism or violence by the foreign group.
"The material support law resurrects guilt by association and makes it a crime for a human rights group in the United States to provide human rights training," said David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor and the lead attorney challenging the law.
"We don't make the country safer by criminalizing those who advocate nonviolent means for resolving disputes. Congress can and should draw a clear line between assistance that further terrorism and that which does not," Cole said.
The Obama administration appealed to the Supreme Court and called the law "a vital part of the nation's efforts to fight international terrorism."
Since 2001, the United States has charged about 120 defendants with the material support of terrorism and about half have been convicted, the Justice Department said.
"Many of those prosecutions potentially prevented substantial harm to the nation," Solicitor General Elena Kagan said in the appeal. Defendants have been charged under the law with "providing al Qaeda with martial arts training and instruction" and "medical support to wounded jihadists."
The challenge had been brought by groups and individuals who want to provide support to the Kurdistan Workers Party in Turkey and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka. The State Department designated both as foreign terrorist groups.
The Humanitarian Law Project, a human rights group in Los Angeles, previously provided human rights advocacy training to the Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, and the main Kurdish political party in Turkey.
The Humanitarian Law group and others sued in 1998 in an effort to renew support for what they described as lawful, nonviolent activities overseas.
© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

அயோக்கியர்களின் அறிக்கை

Let Our People Free: Joint Statement of Tamil and Muslim Parties
Full Text of Statement
The Tamil speaking peoples of Sri Lanka have suffered great hardships for many decades since Independence. They have faced discrimination and had to suffer ethnic riots, pogroms and ethnic cleansing; in the pogrom in 1983 sections of the state were involved. In the last thirty four years Sri Lanka was consumed by an ethnic civil war in which the Tamil and Muslim people and others in the North and East and elsewhere were victims.
The Tamils in particular bore the brunt of the suffering. During the last stages of the war the people of the Vanni suffered traumatic pain which, despite the conclusive end of the war, has still not abated.
While we are deeply concerned about the human rights violations everywhere in our island such as death threats, the killing of civilians, and the disappearance of journalists and others, we feel the need to prioritise in this communiqué such collective and unbearable pain of large numbers of our population as compels immediate intervention.
We the undersigned affirm the following and call for an immediate end to these intolerable conditions, and in particular:
• We state that the forcible detention of hundreds of thousands of Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka in camps for Internally Displaced Persons is illegal,
without basis in the Constitution and in gross violation of international human rights norms.
• These people should be released immediately to return to their homes and permitted to resume without hindrance their traditional livelihood activities such as farming and fishing, or to take up residence with friends and relatives, or to exercise their lawful right to abode elsewhere at their discretion. Those likely to face criminal charges should be produced in a court of law without further delay.
• We strongly urge that the camps, for so long as they exist, should be open torelatives, religious functionaries, parliamentarians, provincial councillors, civil society, UN agencies, journalists, and national and international aid and humanitarian organisations.
• We urge that immediate arrangements be made to allow the Muslim people who were evicted from the North and have suffered acute hardships for nearly two decades to return to their homes and to resume their economic and social activities without hindrance.
• Similar arrangements must be made to re-settle in their original homes all those in the East, who remain displaced and continue to suffer greatly.
• The restrictions on movement in and out of the Northern Province and somelocations in the East should be lifted and the need for permits to enter or leave should be rescinded forthwith. In particular, any form of quarantine of the Northern Province is a violation of basic rights and
should be lifted.
• The curfew and other restrictions on normality in many parts of the Northern Province and elsewhere are unjustified and we demand that normality be returned without delay. People in certain parts of the country live in fear, avoid even essential travel, and are inhibited in employment related and social activities.
• We call for an end to military administration and restrictions placed on civilians, and we urge the restoration of full civilian administration to facilitate return to economic and social normality.
V.AnandasangareeLeader, TULF, Mano Ganesan, M.P.Leader, DPF,Rauff Hakeem, M.P.Leader, SLMC, Dr. K. VigneswaranLeader, AITUF, R. Sampanthan, M.PLeader, ITAK, Leader, TNA

Op Green Hunt: பாரத அரசு கட்டவிழ்க்கும் பச்சைப் பயங்கரப் பாசிசமே!

Op Green Hunt;
பாரத அரசு கட்டவிழ்க்கும் பச்சைப் பயங்கரப் பாசிசமே!
புதிய தமிழர்கள் இவ் எதிர்ப்புரட்சி வேட்டையை எப்போதும் எதிர்ப்பர்.
ஆரம்பச் செய்தி (20 September 2009) :அடுத்த செய்திகள் இருட்டடிப்பு:தடையை மீறி தகவல்கள் வரும்.
Op Green Hunt puts Naxals in retreat mode
Vishwa Mohan, TNN 20 September 2009, 04:00am ISTNEW DELHI:
The massive anti-Naxal operation in the Chinta Gufa area of Dantewada district (Chhattisgarh) witnessed fierce fighting with six CoBRA commandos and nine Naxals being killed in three days before it drew to a close on Saturday. The Red ultras retreated deep inside the forest abandoning their Singhan Madagu hideout.
Security forces — CoBRA, CRPF and state police — continue to be in the area carrying out combing operations to find out bodies of killed militants and their arsenal. Inspector-general of police, anti-naxal operation (Chhattisgarh), R K Vij, told TOI that the operation was mainly aimed at busting a weapon manufacturing unit of Maoists and their Singhan Madagu hideout. The forces did it successfully and the next step is to “dominate” the area which is now under way, he added. Vij said: “Although this particular operation is over, we are in the process of launching similar intelligence-based and well planned pro-active operations in the entire state.”
The operation — Green Hunt — has, however, come with a price as the specialized anti-naxal central force CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) lost six personnel — two assistant commandants, one sub-inspector, one head constable and two constables.
The forces found the body of one of the assistant commandants, Manoranjan Singh, on Friday, while the bodies of the other five personnel, including assistant commandant Rakesh Chaurasia, were recovered on Saturday. On the other hand, the forces have so far retrieved only seven bodies of Naxals and sighted clear drag marks of two others amid indications that more Maoists could have been killed.
Vij, who have been in constant touch with the forces on the spot, said: “We have so far retrieved only seven bodies of ultras. We cannot give an exact figure of casualties as the Naxals usually drag back the bodies of their men to avoid any identification.”

The range of Iran's missiles

The range of Iran's missiles

The Shahab-3 and Sejil missiles tested by Iran have a range of about 2,000km, according to Iranian military officials.
The long-range missiles would enable them to target Israel, US bases in Gulf countries - such as Bahrain and Qatar - as well as some parts of Europe.

Source:Aljazeera

Land Ho! Indian companies head to Lanka for share of realty pie

The Economic Times:
Land Ho! Indian companies head to Lanka for share of realty pie
28 Sep 2009, 1135 hrs IST, Sachin Dave & Jessica Mehroin Irani, ET Bureau MUMBAI:
For nearly three decades,politicians from Norway to New Delhi were flying to Colombo to facilitate peace in Sri Lanka.
Now corporate executives from Larsen & Toubro’s AM Naik to Omaxe’s Rohtas Goel may join author-investor Jim Rogers in flying to the once war-torn Indian Ocean island to share a pie of the future prosperity.
L&T , Omaxe, Puravankara Projects are among those lining up to build projects anticipating an economic surge in Sri Lanka expected to happen after a bloody war. They are planning to build shopping complexes, residential homes and much more.
The island nation with hundreds of kilometres of beaches, hill-top plantations and a treasure of history from the ancient pandyas to portugals, is taking baby steps to revive its battered $40 billion economy. Delegates from the Sri Lanka board of investment met up with companies in New Delhi seeking investments . It aims to spend $20 million in promoting the nation once described where “history lies buried in its sands, and ghosts of romance lurk among its bastioned rocks’’ for global tourists.
“With the civil war over, we are seeing huge demand for housing,’’ said Purvankara group MD Ravi Puravankara which is planning to launch a villa project in Colombo. “We have already initiated the land acquisition process.” It is aimed at the Sri Lankan diaspora who may return to enjoy the long desired peace. But it will cost them around $2 lakh each. Thousands were killed and many thousands fled the island nation as its various governments fought a bloody war with the notorious Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, led by Velupillai Prabhakaran, since 1983. The war came to an end when the Lankan army succeeded in killing Prabhakaran last May triggering hopes across the world, including Jim Rogers, author of A Bull in China and a former business partner of billionaire George Soros.
The government led by Mahinda Rajapakse is targeting a foreign direct investment of $2 billion by 2010.
According to government statistics, Sri Lanka received $889 million in FDI in 2008 and $400 million so far this year. The Board of Investment declined to comment on how much it expects the Indian real estate developers to invest. It is not hot air. Larsen & Toubro has already laid the foundation stone for its commercial park in Colombo, it is all set to invest around $150 million for its residential and commercial projects in country with a population of around 20 million, about a fifth of Maharashtra.
The commercial complex, a 51 storey building in Colombo city with 15 lakh square feet will be called the Diamond Tower.
“We plan to make this the tallest building in Sri Lanka,” said C. Ignatius, director of the Sri Lanka board of investment. L&T has already laid the foundation stone for the project. Larsen declined to comment for the story.
The Sri Lankan government is doing its best to attract overseas investors, especially from India and has made the foreign direct investment rules simple. For an Indian real estate company to build complexes all it needs to invest is Rs 2 crore. Also, there is no lock-in period for the investors. They can cash out and repatriate the money to India anytime they want.
“We have carried out an extensive research in Sri Lanka and our research shows that the country has huge potential for the developers,” Omaxe chairman and MD Rohtas Goel told ET. But the company is yet to finalise its plans.
Sri Lanka with many plantations, beaches and a colonial past, could draw global hospitality and manufacturing companies.
“Many multinationals could also enter the country which would again increase the demand for commercial and office space,” said Cushman & Wakefield executive director Kaustuv Roy. But some developers who got burnt when the real estate market collapsed in the Middle East because of the global credit crisis are cautions.

PFLP: Obama's statements and actions serve only U.S/Israeli interests

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said, in response to U.S. President Barack Obama's statements at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City, that the U.S. position serves only U.S/Israeli interests and the ongoing strategic alliance between the major imperialist power and its Zionist colonial project partner.
By demanding that Palestinians engage in futile negotiations with the occupation state while the fascist Netanyahu regime continues its settlement project without even a freeze, the PFLP said on September 24, 2009, Obama's position reveals the U.S. support for Netanyahu's position and his extremism, racism and colonization, as it serves U.S./Israeli strategic interests, as the U.S. and Israel prepare for joint military exercises meant to intimidate the people of the region, raise tensions and instability and demonstrate strategic/military superiority of the occupation state. (More)

பிலிப்பைன்ஸில் கடும் மழை வெள்ளம்

வீரகேசரி இணையம் 9/26/2009 11:43:54 PM -

பிலிப்பைன்ஸில் கடும் மழையால் ஏற்பட்ட வெள்ளத்தால் ஆயிரக்கணக்கான மக்கள் கடும் அவதிக்கு உள்ளாகியுள்ளனர், ஐந்து பேர் பலியாகியுள்ளனர். கடந்த நாற்பது ஆண்டு காலத்தில் இதுவே மிக அதிக அளவு பெய்த மழையாகும்.
பருவகால சூறாவளியால் ஒரு மாத காலத்தில் பெய்ய கூடிய மழை, ஆறே மணி நேரத்தில் தலைநகர் மணிலாவில் கொட்டியுள்ளது.
உள்ளூர் தொலைக்காட்சிகளில், கூரை மேல் நின்று கொண்டிருந்த மக்கள் நீரில் அடித்து செல்லப்படுவது காண்பிக்கப்படுகிறது.
தலைநகர் மணிலா மற்றும் இருபத்து நான்கு மாகாணங்களில் அரசாங்கம் பேரிடர் காலநிலையை அறிவித்துள்ளது.

துர்ப்பாக்கிய 8 வயது அகதிக்கைதிச் சிறுமி மீது வவுனியாவில் துப்பாக்கிச் சூடு!

வவுனியாவில் அகதிக்கைதிகள் அரசபடையினர் மோதல்வவுனியா அகதி முகாம் பகுதியில் படையினர் - அகதிகள் நேற்று மோதல்!

Yall Uthayan 2009-09-27 06:41:37

வவுனியா முகாம்களில் தங்கியுள்ள அகதிகளுக்கும் படையினருக்கும் இடையில் நேற்று மாலை 5.30 மணியளவில் மோதல்கள் நடைபெற்றன.
அதன் காரணமாக பொதுமக்கள் மூவர் காயமடைந்ததாகத் தகவல்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன. அகதி மக்கள் ஒரு முகாமிலிருந்து இன்னொரு முகாமுக்கு விறகு எடுக்கச் சென்றபோதே அவர்களுக்கும் படையினருக்கும் இடையில் மோதல்கள் உண்டாகின என்று சொல்லப்படுகின்றது. இந்த மோதல்களில் எட்டு வயதுச் சிறுமி ஒருத்தியும் மற்றும் இருவரும் படையினரின் துப்பாக்கிச் சூட்டுக்கு இலக்காகி காயமடைந்து செட்டிக்குளம் ஆஸ்பத்திரியில் அனுமதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளனர் என்று தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டது.
வவுனியா இராமநாதன் முகாமிலிருந்து சிலர் அடுத்துள்ள ஆனந்தகுமாரசாமி முகாமுக்குச் செல்ல முற்பட்ட போது அங்கு காவல் கடமையில் ஈடுபட்டிருந்த பாதுகாப்புப் படையினர் துப்பாக்கிச் சூடு நடத்தியதாகச் சில தகவல்கள் தெரிவித்தன. ஒரு முகாமிலிருந்து மற்றொரு முகாமுக்குச் செல்ல முயன்றவர்களை பாதுகாப்புப் படையினர் தடுத்த போது, முகாமிலிருந்தவர்கள் பாதுகாப்புப் படையினர் மீது கற்களை எறிந்ததாகவும், அதையடுத்து தற்பாதுகாப்புக்காகப் படையினர் துப்பாக்கிச் சூடு நடத்தியதாகவும் இராணுவப் பேச்சாளர் உதயநாணயக்கார தெரிவித்தார்.

Merkel wins, Germans opt for center-right coalition

Merkel wins, Germans opt for center-right coalition

By Noah Barkin and Madeline ChambersBERLIN (Reuters) - German voters gave Chancellor Angela Merkel a second term in an election on Sunday and a mandate to form a new government with the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) that is expected to cut taxes to boost growth.
The conservative Merkel has ruled for the past four years in an awkward "grand coalition" with her main rivals, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD).
The election result frees her from the shackles of that partnership and allows her to form the center-right coalition she has argued is best placed to nurture Europe's largest economy back to health following its worst post-war recession.
The next government faces major economic challenges. It will have to get a surging budget deficit under control, cope with rising unemployment and ward off a credit crunch as fragile banks rein in lending.
Together with the FDP, Merkel is expected to pare back the role of the state in the economy and extend the lifespan of German nuclear plants that are scheduled to be phased out over the next decade.
The parties, which last ruled Germany between 1982 and 1998 when Helmut Kohl was chancellor, will have to overcome differences on the size and timing of tax cuts in coalition talks over the coming weeks. Some analysts say, given budget constraints, such cuts will likely have to wait at least a year.
"We can really celebrate tonight, but afterwards we have a hard job ahead of us," Merkel, wearing a bright red suit, told cheering supporters.
Projections from ARD and ZDF public television showed Merkel's conservative bloc -- the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) -- on 33.6 percent, down from their score of 35.2 percent in 2005, and their second-worst result in the post-war era.
But the FDP, a party which saw its support rise in the wake of the financial crisis, compensated for those losses, surging to a record high of 14.6 percent and putting the center-right over the top.(More)

Carson’s Group negotiates $ 109 mn. in Singapore to expand plantations

Refinances existing term loan, gets revolving credit

Carson’s Group negotiates $ 109 mn. in Singapore to expand plantationsThe Sri Lanka incorporated plantation companies of the Carson’s Group with oil palm interests in Malaysia said in a Stock Exchange filing last week that they have negotiated a term loan facility of USD 109 million from Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), Singapore, ``for further expansion of current plantation projects.’’
Carson’s has in recent years been expanding its oil palm holdings in Indonesia and the majority holdings of the group’s oil palm companies were acquired earlier this year by a fully owned subsidiary, Goodhope Asia Holdings Ltd. (GAHL) incorporated in Singapore.
In addition to the USD 109 million term loan, refinancing an existing USD 81 million term loan facility outstanding and a revolving credit facility of USD 10 million has also been negotiated with SCB Singapore by GAHL set up to smoothen the group’s credit-raising ability among others.
Carson’s Chairman Tilak de Zoysa said in the company’s annual report for 2008/09 that ``the consolidation of plantation assets within the holding company would enable the business to command a more competitive position in this industry.’’
Carson’s shareholders have been told that it is important for the group to continue to expanding plantation extent when the industry is profitable. It would then be possible maximize profitability when palm oil prices peak in the next cycle.
The group also owns an undeveloped land bank available for expansion ``when resources for expansion gets priced higher.’’
``As rich nations rush to secure valuable developing country land banks for ensuring food security for their nations, investing in agriculture appears to be a healthy long term opportunity,’’ Carson’s said.
The group’s Malaysian interests, Shalimar Malay, Indo Malay, Selinsing and Good Hope all have investments in the two big plantation projects in Indonesia – PT Agro Indomas and PT Agro Bukit.