Maheswari Velautham, an advisor of EPDP leader Douglas Devandanda, was shot and killed at her residence at Navi'ndil near Nelliyadi in Vadamaraadchi in Jaffna Tuesday around 6:30 p.m., initial reports from Jaffna said. Ms. Maheswari, whose association with Tamil militancy dates back to late 1970s, narrowly escaped from a group of Tamil prisoners who attacked Mr. Douglas Devananda when he visited Kalutara prison in June 1998 with her. She is a lawyer by profession.

Twenty nine year-old Tamil youth Balasingham Balamohan was abducted by unidentified persons from his house Monday night in Ve'ppankulam in Vavuniyaa, according to complaints lodged with the Vavuniyaa police by his relatives.

The inaugural event of the new political party Jathika Nidahas Peramuna (JNP), formed by dissident parliamentarians of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) led by Wimal Weerawanse, is to be held in Colombo Wednesday, May 14, at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH), party sources in Colombo told the media. The symbol of the new party is "Crown" and its color "Gold."

An upcountry Tamil youth, Selvathurai Kannan, 28, was abducted from his residence in Aattupatitheru in Colombo by unidentified armed men Saturday night, his relatives said in a complaint filed with teh Colombo police. The abductors came in a van and forcibly removed him from his house, according to complaints.

The Sri Lankan government would not sign any ceasefire agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at any stage as the time has come to wipe out terrorism from Sri Lanka completely, said Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, at an event held Tuesday in Colombo.

Politics between powerful states have always been integral to the dynamics of war and peace in Sri Lanka, several contributors to a collected volume exploring the international dimensions of the island’s protracted conflict say. The study by the Centre for Just Peace and Democracy (CJPD) published this year comprises papers presented by academics and analysts at a conference held in Switzerland last June along with extracts of the subsequent discussions.

The ICRC has managed to airlift 1,500 of the patients in Jaffna in need of urgent and special treatment to Colombo, after September 2006, when the A9 highway which links Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the island was closed down, the Jaffna branch of the organisation assisting the victims of war said in a media release issued to media in Jaffna. The ICRC also provides year round assistance to 23 hospitals. The ICRC was contributing to more than 50 health assistance projects in the districts of Noth and East.

The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Mannaar has ordered the displaced Tamil civilians from Musali division in September 2007, to present themselves at the 21-5 SLA Brigade High Quarters at Ilanthaimoaddai, on a village-by-village basis on allocated days, to obtain details of every individual and interrogate them for alleged participation in training given to civilians by the Tigers when their native division was under the control of the Liberation Tigers prior to September 2007.