Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency and soldiers searched homes and vehicles for suspects yesterday following the assassination of the country' foreign minister, which put the island's fragile peace process at risk. At least seven people were detained over the killing.
The government said yesterday it had not taken any action that would violate the ceasefire with the Tamil Tiger rebels, whom the military blames for the fatal attack on Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, 73. The Tigers deny any role in the killing.
Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil who led efforts to ban the Tigers as a terrorist organization but later backed peace efforts, was shot in the head and chest at about 11pm on Friday and died in the National Hospital after midnight.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga declared a state of emergency after the attack, empowering authorities to detain without charge anyone suspected of taking part in terrorist activities and to search and demolish buildings.
She appealed to Sri Lankans "for calm and restraint in the face of this grave and cowardly attack" on Kadirgamar.
Troops took up positions around the capital, Colombo, and military spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake said the military was checking all vehicles coming in and out of the city.
Military aircraft patrolled over rebel-held territory, monitoring any movement by the insurgents, and navy patrol boats guarded the coastline, some of which is Tiger-controlled, the military said.
Ratnayake has blamed the rebels for the killing.
"We have reasons to believe that he was killed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam," he said, using the Tigers' official name. "He was always under threat."
But the rebels denied involvement, claiming the military took part in the slaying to undermine the peace process.
"We also know that there are sections within the Sri Lankan Armed forces operating with a hidden agenda to sabotage the ceasefire agreement," said the Tigers' political chief, S.P. Tamilselvan.
He urged Colombo thoroughly investigate the killing.
India called the assassination a "terrorist crime" and reiterated its support for Sri Lanka's fight against forces seeking to undermine its unity.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denounced the assassination as "a vicious act of terror, which the United States strongly condemns," and urged Sri Lankans not to let the incident lead to a resumption of civil war.
Elite soldiers and policemen late Friday cordoned off the area where the killing occurred and conducted house-to-house searches.
Police officer Nimal Lewke said Kadirgamar was killed by two snipers who hid in a building near his heavily guarded home in Colombo's diplomatic district and fired through a ventilation hole in an upper floor. He was shot while emerging from his swimming pool.
Police found cheese and chocolates the alleged snipers ate while waiting for their target, along with a grenade launcher, apparently intended as a backup weapon.
Kadirgamar, an Oxford-educated lawyer, had led an international campaign against the Tigers, who remain on terrorist lists in five countries, including the US and Britain.
Kadirgamar was appointed foreign minister in April last year. He also held the position from 1994 to 2001.
The Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. The conflict killed nearly 65,000 people before a ceasefire was brokered by Norway in 2002.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
RSS