Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

Briefing Paper on Sri Lanka
Presented to British All Party Parliamentary Group
by Karen Parker, JD, June 18, 2007

In my view, the Tamil people have a far greater right to self-determination than the Kosovans - who according to the UK, should be granted independence from Serbia. In the case of the Kosovans,
they do not have the 2000- year presence in that area that the Tamils have had in the Tamil areas of the island of Ceylon. Further, the Kosovans have not suffered years of atrocities, massacres, and denial of rights that the Tamil people have suffered since independence from

A US judge is suing a dry cleaners for losing his trousers ? for more than US$65 million.

Roy Pearson started legal action claiming Custom Cleaners lost a pair of suit trousers he took in for $10 alterations two years ago.

The cleaners` lawyers offered to pay Pearson, an administrative law judge for the District of Columbia, as much as $12,000 to end the row.

But astonishingly Pearson is pressing ahead through the courts with the unbelievable claim for $65,462,500.

The picture of equality looks awfully strange to Kim Shamsky. The 47-year-old business owner pays her ex, a 65-year-old retired Major League Baseball player, thousands per month in temporary spousal support.

He`s not seeking alimony to help pay for the kids` birthday parties, since they don`t have children. Nor was he instrumental in building her business. They married seven years after she started a handful of staffing firms and amassed a small fortune on her own. The daughter of a New York City taxi driver, Shamsky started her first staffing agency at age 27 with the help of a 21% loan. Not only was she able to make her first business profitable, but she`s also worked furiously to ensure the success of all five businesses she`s started since. Small wonder she is outraged at having to pay thousands of dollars a month to her ex.

NZ airport snubs intimacyy Hawkins billboard
Thursday Jan 18 12:00 AEDT
By ninemsn staff and wires

The creators of a naughty advertisement featuring Jennifer Hawkins say they`re `bemused` by a New Zealand airport`s decision to ban their campaign.

Auckland International Airport has decided to banish the Lovable lingerie ad, in which scantily clad Hawko cavorts with a plush rhino next to the words `feeling horny?`


Lovable divisional manager Dianne Taylor said she always thought the campaign `was pushing at the boundaries a little bit`.

SYDNEY(AP) - A seven-year-old boy was at the centre of a Parramatta, NSW courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him.

The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible.

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him.

An Australian bank has apologised for issuing a credit card to a cat after its owner decided to test the bank`s identity security system.

The Bank of Queensland issued a credit card to Messiah the cat when his owner Katherine Campbell applied for a secondary card on her account under its name.

`I just couldn`t believe it. People need to be aware of this and banks need to have better security,` Campbell told local media on Thursday.

The bank said the cat`s card had been cancelled.