WASHINGTON: Hundreds of ethnic Tamil immigrants converged on the White House Monday, imploring US President Barack Obama to pressure Sri Lanka into ending a "genocide" on the island. "President Obama, you are our only hope!" chanted the demonstrators, many of whom held placards bearing the image of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Earlier Monday, the government of majority-Sinhalese Sri Lanka declared an end to its decades-old war with the Tamil Tigers -- one of Asia's oldest and most brutal ethnic conflicts -- after routing the remnants of the rebel army and killing Prabhakaran and his deputies.Waving red and gold LTTE flags and holding posters with graphic photographs of women and children apparently wounded in the Sri Lankan army's offensive, the protesters crowded in front of the White House denouncing a civilian slaughter and Colombo's refusal to allow relief agencies or journalists into the war zone. Senthan Nada traveled from Toronto, home to hundreds of thousands of Tamil Canadians, to urge Obama to help "stop the genocide" which demonstrators insisted is continuing despite the end of combat operations. "The war has ended, but the ethnic cleansing and the killings are still happening... and the world knows it," Nada told media.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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