COLOMBO: Gunmen opened fire and torched the office of the main Tamil newspaper in northern Sri Lanka yesterday, the owner said, the latest in a wave of attacks against privately-owned media in the country.
Three armed men carried out the pre-dawn arson attack on the Uthayan office and printing press in Jaffna, the city and former war zone 400 kilometres north of Colombo, owner Eswarapatham Saravanapavan said by telephone.
“Employees preparing to deliver the morning newspaper fled as the gunmen stormed in... It has to be either the government or paramilitaries. Who else can carry firearms freely in Jaffna?” Saravanapavan said, adding there were no injuries but the printing press had been destroyed.
“Just last week we asked for security from the police after one of our offices was attacked elsewhere,” he said, referring to a previous incident at another Uthayan office in the north.
There was no immediate comment from the authorities.
Saravanapavan is an opposition Tamil National Alliance legislator.
Marcos son rejects US report
MANILA: Deposed Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ son has rejected a recently released US government account that his late father forced military chiefs to parade in drag at a party.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr said he had himself seen generals perform skits which were “meant to make the audience laugh”, but the account of them being made to dress in drag against their will was “like a stereotypical scene” from a Hollywood film.
According to secret cables published by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks this week, Marcos forced his military chiefs to parade as women during a birthday party planned by his wife.
The documents were among a series of criticisms of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos made by US ambassador to the Philippines in the mid-1970s, William Sullivan.
AFP
