LTTE similar to Libyan Rebels - Lawyer for Accused Tiger Supporters tells Dutch Court
Sept. 15 - A defense lawyer for five Sri Lankans who are on trial in a Dutch court accused of supporting the LTTE said his clients were not terrorists and drew parallels between them and the Libyan rebels.
Prosecutors accuse the men — all Sri Lankan Tamils who live in the Netherlands — of illegally funding the group, which has been branded a terrorist group by the European Union, and membership of an international terror organization.
A defense lawyer said say the men were just collecting money for Tamil victims of the bloody conflict and rejected the assertion that the Tamil Tigers are a terrorist group. Instead, he drew comparisons with Libyan fighters who battled to oust Moammar Gadhafi and received support from the international community.
"There has not been any proper legal debate about whether the LTTE is a terrorist organization or whether they are a group such as the Libyan rebels now," defense attorney Victor Koppe said outside court.
The hearing opened September 15 with a judge reading out transcripts of interviews with witnesses while the five suspects sat listening through headsets to simultaneous translations, the Associated Press reported.
Court documents, published by Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, say that the Tamil Tigers systematically extorted large sums of money from Dutch Tamils. If they refused, they were threatened with reprisals.
Tens of thousands of Tamils live in the Netherlands. The majority came to the country after the Tamil separatist war broke out in the mid-1980’s. The Tamil Tigers have been listed as a terrorist organisation in EU-countries such as the Netherlands since 2006.
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Sri Lanka's GDP Growth Accelerates to 8.2% on Higher Investment
Sept. 15- Sri Lanka's economic growth accelerated in the second quarter on higher investment and as the central bank avoided the interest-rate increases that have contributed to a slowdown elsewhere in Asia.
Gross domestic product rose 8.2 percent in the three months ended June 30 from a year earlier, the statistics office said on its website in Colombo today. That compares with a 7.9 percent gain in the previous quarter. The median of four estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was for an 8.4 percent gain.
Source: Bloomberg
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French national, driver among those killed in Sri Lanka's train collision, 27 injured
Colombo - Three people, including a French national, were killed in a train collision that also injured 27 near Alawwa.
A passenger train rammed into an observation car at the back of another train Saturday evening near a railway station in Alawwa, about 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of capital, Colombo. Police spokesman Maxi Proctor said a French national was among the dead but did not give his name.
The driver of the train and his assistant were also killed. Police are investigating the cause of the accident.
Proctor said 18 people are still hospitalized.
Prosecutors accuse the men — all Sri Lankan Tamils who live in the Netherlands — of illegally funding the group, which has been branded a terrorist group by the European Union, and membership of an international terror organization.
A defense lawyer said say the men were just collecting money for Tamil victims of the bloody conflict and rejected the assertion that the Tamil Tigers are a terrorist group. Instead, he drew comparisons with Libyan fighters who battled to oust Moammar Gadhafi and received support from the international community.
"There has not been any proper legal debate about whether the LTTE is a terrorist organization or whether they are a group such as the Libyan rebels now," defense attorney Victor Koppe said outside court.
The hearing opened September 15 with a judge reading out transcripts of interviews with witnesses while the five suspects sat listening through headsets to simultaneous translations, the Associated Press reported.
Court documents, published by Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, say that the Tamil Tigers systematically extorted large sums of money from Dutch Tamils. If they refused, they were threatened with reprisals.
Tens of thousands of Tamils live in the Netherlands. The majority came to the country after the Tamil separatist war broke out in the mid-1980’s. The Tamil Tigers have been listed as a terrorist organisation in EU-countries such as the Netherlands since 2006.
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Sri Lanka's GDP Growth Accelerates to 8.2% on Higher Investment
Sept. 15- Sri Lanka's economic growth accelerated in the second quarter on higher investment and as the central bank avoided the interest-rate increases that have contributed to a slowdown elsewhere in Asia.
Gross domestic product rose 8.2 percent in the three months ended June 30 from a year earlier, the statistics office said on its website in Colombo today. That compares with a 7.9 percent gain in the previous quarter. The median of four estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was for an 8.4 percent gain.
Source: Bloomberg
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French national, driver among those killed in Sri Lanka's train collision, 27 injured
Colombo - Three people, including a French national, were killed in a train collision that also injured 27 near Alawwa.
A passenger train rammed into an observation car at the back of another train Saturday evening near a railway station in Alawwa, about 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of capital, Colombo. Police spokesman Maxi Proctor said a French national was among the dead but did not give his name.
The driver of the train and his assistant were also killed. Police are investigating the cause of the accident.
Proctor said 18 people are still hospitalized.