Assuring strong support, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday hoped all shades of political opinion in Maldives would get together to find a way forward as President Mohamed Waheed expressed to him his deep commitment to democracy and conduct of elections.

Come forward and contribute for the development of the motherland, urged K.T.Rajasingham, Chief Editor of Asian Tribune at a function, organized by the Agricultural Department of the Northern Provincial Council, held at the Auditorium of the Thirunelvely Agricultural Reseach Centre, Jaffna.

François Hollande swept to victory on Sunday, becoming the first Socialist to become president of France since François Mitterrand re-election in 1988.

The United States has the historic habit of abandoning its friend or allies. It once abandoned Pakistan. It was with Kurds but them left it to the brutality of Iraq's Saddam Hussein. In his unannounced and surprised visit to Afghanistan on May 1 to sign a ten-year cooperation agreement the U.S. president Barack Obama clearly gave the massage to the world that his nation will stand by Afghanistan for its quest for rebuilding.

Sampanthan has told the Indian Parliamentary delegation that he is not in favour of the Separation of Sri Lanka, but he wants a political resolution workable and durable through dialogue.

Asian Tribune concludes that the sensationalized news report “UN finds cluster munitions in Sri Lanka,” is a canard and nothing else. I personally took the trouble to contact all those involved in that news report and to go into the bottom of it - I spoke to Ravi Nessman, AP Bureau Chief For South Asia based in New Delhi, who filed the News item.

Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) judges in The Hague delivered on Thursday the Court’s long anticipated verdict in the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, finding him unanimously guilty of all charges against him on grounds that he knowingly aided and abetted rebel forces in Sierra Leone and that he planned attacks during which atrocities had occurred.

In Rome I met Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa. I remember that was in June 2008 and the Sri Lanka President was in Rome to participate in the FAO Conference.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa held a summit meeting in Seoul Tuesday to discuss ways to strengthen and promote economic and other cooperation between the two countries.