February 4 2008 is the Sri Lankan Independence Day, but since that day 60 years ago, the Tamils inhabiting that island have only witnessed discrimination, suffering, torture and genocide at the hands of the Sri Lankan government.Tamil Youth Organisation of Australia encourages you to wear a black armband to work/school/uni on Monday Feb 4 in solidarity with the native Tamils of NorthEast Sri Lanka, and explain to your collegues that whilst many other countries celebrate their independence, the Tamils of the NorthEast are mourning this day as it was day that they were granted their death sentence. They have seen nothing but death, discrimination and destruction over the last 60 yrs.

BBC UK News
Sri Lanka's powerful Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, 'arranged everything' for him to come to UK using a diplomatic passport, Karuna has told British immigration authorities. Karuna sat behind a protective screen inside the courtroom  Reading Karuna's statement at the open court, the prossecution said President's Rajapaksa's younger brother was known to him since he defected from the LTTE. The prosecutor said he pleaded guilty to a criminal offence under British immigration law, but said it was the Sri Lankan government that arranged a diplomatic passport for him.

Greg Combet, the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement, announced that tomorrow the Air Force will accept its fourth C-17A Globemaster III aircraft during a ceremony at Boeing’s plant in Long Beach, California.Just two years after Australia decided to purchase four Globemasters for the heavy air lift role, the accelerated acquisition program has delivered the giant aircraft on time and on budget.

British Tamils Forum (BTF) has organised a campaign by Tamils in the UK to boycott travel by Sri Lankan airlines flights to Colombo and other destinations.  BTF is an umbrella organization representing a confederation of several Tamil organisations in the UK. There are around 300,000 Tamils from Sri Lanka living in the UK and it is estimated that some 30,000 of them travel each year to Colombo to visit their relatives. It is reckoned that Sri Lankan airlines earns about £12million a year in foreign currency revenue from Tamils traveling from London and this adds to the war chest of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL).