SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels say they have decided to "silence their guns"
after government troops surrounded them in a small enclave in the
country's north.
In a statement published Sunday on pro-rebel Web site TamilNet, the
rebels' international relations chief says their battle has reached
what he called "its bitter end".
Selvarasa Pathamanathan says the rebels decided to stop fighting to
remove what he said was the government's "last weak excuse" for killing
Tamil people. He says rebel pleas for international intervention had
fallen on "deaf ears".
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa returned to the country Sunday
from a visit to Jordan, where he said the military has defeated the
rebels after a quarter-century of conflict.
MIDEAST-PEACE: Israel's new prime minister is in Washingtonfor talks with U.S. officials on Israeli-Arab peace prospects and Iran's nuclear program. Israli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington early
Sunday. He has said future Israeli-Palestinian peace talks should focus
on economic and security matters rather than Palestinian statehood, a
concept he has not endorsed.
KUWAIT ELECTIONS: Officials results from Kuwait's general election show four women have
won seats in parliament for the first time in the Gulf state's history.
The results from Saturday's election also were a setback for Kuwaiti
Islamists, whose share of the 50-member assembly fell from almost half
to just 16.
Kuwait has led the Gulf region in granting its citizens political
rights. Women earned the right to vote and run for parliament in 2005
but had failed to win any seats in two previous elections.
The four winning female candidates include former health minister
Massouma al-Mubarak, a minority Shi'ite who was appointed Kuwait's
first female minister in 2005. The others include liberal activists
Aseel al-Awadhi and Rola Dashti and university teacher Salwa al-Jassar.
CROATIA ELECTIONS: Croatians are voting Sunday in nationwide municipal elections viewed as a referendum of the ruling party's popularity.
Eligible voters will for the first time have the opportunity to directly elect their local representatives.
The ruling conservative coalition led by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader's
Croatian Democratic Union has been challenged by the global economic
crisis and growing social discontent.
Croatian teachers went on strike for a day this past week to protest a
six-percent cut in wages. They returned to work after the government
agreed to restore the previous salary when economic growth returns.
BURMA-SUU KYI : Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she is in good health
and ready to defend herself against new charges filed by the military
government.
National League for Democracy spokesman Nyan Win says the Nobel Peace
Laureate made the comments when she met Saturday with her lawyer (Kyi Win) at Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison.
Aung San Suu Kyi and two female assistants are charged with violating
the conditions of her house arrest after an American intruder, John
Yettaw, sneaked into her lakeside house. If convicted, she faces up to
five years in prison.
ວັນເສົາ, ໒໗ ກໍລະກົດ ໒໐໒໔
