Questioning the need for "a seven-man presidential Commission costing millions of rupees for platitudinous recommendations that the government will ignore," Prof. Kumar David, in an opinion column in Lakbima says, "[t]his game [LLRC] is not being played for reconciliation with the Tamils....

While official sources have attributed the trip to other reasons, informed media circles in Colombo told TamilNet that Mr. Nasheed is there to endorse the LLRC report, While official sources have attributed the trip to other reasons, informed media circles in Colombo told TamilNet that Mr. Nasheed is there to endorse the LLRC report.....

An increasing number of refugees are being detained in Canada, with an average 5.4 per cent of the detainees being held for at least 90 days, says a UN report. The number of detainees was up steadily from 4,475 in 2004 to 5,961 in 2008, says the study prepared for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) has criticised Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission Report for failing to provide “the thorough and independent investigation of alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law that the UN and other partners of Sri Lanka have been asking for” during the Eelam War IV.

India today said it expected Sri Lanka to "act decisively" to achieve meaningful devolution of powers to its provinces in the backdrop of the military operation against the LTTE. In its first comments on the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), India also asked Sri Lanka to set up an "independent and credible" mechanism to probe allegations of human rights violations.

Sri Lanka's main Tamil party TNA has said it wants to see a "positive conclusion" to the current dialogue with the government to address grievances of the minority ethnic community.

The LLRC Report does make the point that the government must attend to Tamil grievances but did we need a seven-man presidential Commission costing millions of rupees for platitudinous recommendations that the government will ignore? The real substance that locals and the international community were waiting for was whether war crimes were committed and human rights trampled in the closing stages of the war.

Sri Lankan Colonial Governor of the Northern Province, Major General (retired ) G.A.Chandrasiri, has diverted a portion of India-donated aid, meant for ‘resettled’ Tamil civilians in the five districts of North, once again as in the case of the India-donated tractors.

More than one hundred villages in fourteen DS divisions in the Batticaloa district are under water since the outbreak of torrential rain with gale, according to district secretariat sources. About seven hundred and fifteen have been displaced and sought refuge in Chiththaa'ndi Mahaa Viththiyaalayam as the houses in wards 3rd and 4th in Chiththaa'ndi village in Ea'raavoorpattu Chengkaladi DS division are under water.

Sri Lankan Defence Ministry has set afoot plans for grabbing the lands of Palaali Teachers Training College, one of the two key academic institutions of Tamil teachers in the North, for military purposes.