The TMVP Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan said the state government has opened three offices in the region to look for child soldiers mentioned by the UNICEF.

"As a political party engaged in popular mainstream politics, Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) will never entangle itself with child soldier issues, and if there is an issue remaining, it will be resolved within three months," Mr. Pillayan said.

The Chief Minister who was speaking to reporters in Trincomalee on Thursday said that the TMVP has already handed over the child soldiers to their parents and relatives. "The UNICEF still accuses TMVP party saying that we still continue with recruitment. They even given us a list of 100 child soldiers recruited in the party. We have been streamlined into democracy recently, we have a duty More... Published: Fri Mar 20 08:13:32 EDT 2009

The army has ousted the Tamil rebels from all but one of their strongholds in an all-out offensive the government hopes will soon end the island's 25-year-old civil war.

The rebel holdouts — along with tens of thousands of terrified civilians — are confined to about 11 square miles (28 square kilometers) of jungle and beach near Mullaittivu on the northeastern coast.

A military statement said troops found the base of the Sea Tigers, the rebels' naval wing, Thursday near Puthkkudiyirippu, the last rebel-held town. A search revealed sophisticated communications equipment, satellite dishes, an improvised boat, a small underwater vehicle designed for one person and computers, it said. More...Discuss this story Published: Fri Mar 20 08:11:50 EDT 2009

Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Human Rights Minister, said that supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had staged protests, using Tamil Tiger symbols, in Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and Switzerland, right.

“The LTTE is a banned organisation in some of these countries. We are surprised these countries allow sympathisers to use the LTTE flags so openly in their protests against us,” he said.

Mr Samarasinghe said that Sri Lanka had asked its representatives in the countries to lodge protests over the demonstrations, which he described as “supporting terrorism”.

Protesters had set themselves alight in Tamil Nadu, the state in southern India that is home to thousands of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees. The minister said that he would not approach the Indian Government because the demonstrators there did not display Tamil Tiger flags. More... Published: Fri Mar 20 04:36:21 EDT 2009