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Media rights groups attacked Sri Lanka’s government for blocking domestic access to a website favouring the Tamil Tiger rebels and for saying it would like hackers to disable the site.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Colombo should immediately unblock the Tamilnet.com website.

“Sri Lanka’s Internet service providers have been blocking access to the website on the government’s orders since June 15,” RSF said. “The government must put a stop to this censorship and restore access to the site at once.”

A local rights group, the Free Media Movement (FMM), also criticised government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella over comments in which he said he would “love” to hire hackers to pull down Tamilnet.

The FMM said Rambukwella’s statement was “tantamount to government sanctioned cyber-terrorism against websites that do not toe its line.”

“The FMM seeks urgent clarification from the government as to whether Minister Rambukwella’s comments are indicative of official government policy to shutdown, disrupt or censor content and websites on the Internet.”

But Sri Lanka’s Media Minister Anura Yapa insisted his ministry had nothing to do with preventing users of Sri Lanka Telecom, the country’s main Internet service provider, accessing Tamilnet.

“It is unreasonable to level charges against the government,” Yapa told reporters here. “We have nothing to do with this.”

Military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said the security forces had not ordered the blocking of Tamilnet either.

“Security forces have not asked the Tamilnet to be blocked,” Samarasinghe said.

Despite the denials, Sri Lanka Telecom’s Internet service help desk told callers that the “government has asked to block Tamilnet.”

“You can access any other site, but you can’t access Tamilnet,” callers are being told.

The government owns just under 50 percent of Sri Lanka Telecom, which is run by NTT of Japan.

A Colombo-based editor of Tamilnet, Dharmaratnam Sivaram, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in April 2005. The killing remains unresolved.

Some Internet service providers, who have their main offices abroad, still allow access to the website.

Tamilnet is an influential source of Tamil views on the island’s separatist conflict, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives in a 35-year campaign by rebels for a separate homeland for minority Tamils.

Price: $350.00/ acre
District: Belize Dist
Contact Phone #: (501) 222-4256 / (501) 610-3910
For Sale By: Agent
Land Size: 1,000

Description:
This acreage of land is located on the Old Northern Highway. It was originally planted with over 300 all spice plants and is naturally rich with hardwoods such as mahogany and zericote, as well as many other beautiful and precious species plants as most of this property remains covered with virgin forest. It is not far from the sea docking facilities at Bomba, and only a few miles from the Mayan site of Altun Ha. The well known Maruba Resort is a short rider further up the same road.

This site was originally the home of a well known local family, so there are some buildings on the property as well as a couple ponds. However, they have not lived there for some time and have decided that it is no longer very practical for them to hold onto it although they still consider it a precious part of their lives. They are prepared to sell to someone who will make better use of it.

It would be suitable for a farm, resort, or some other type of development/project needing a large parcel. The asking price is $350.00 USD per acre
Location / Directions:
Mile 29 Old Northern Highway near Maskall Village

SAN FRANCISCO — If you’ve ever wanted to own a piece of San Francisco Bay, now’s your chance. Red Rock, the only privately owned island in the bay, is up for sale.

A Bangkok gem dealer and attorney, David Glickman, wants ten million dollars for the 5.8 acre, uninhabited island in the shadow of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

Glickman, who is 78, says he isn’t going to live much longer and wants to leave his wife in good shape financially.

Red Rock Island, which gets its name from the reddish-brown color of its soil, was privately purchased in the 1920s. After a few owners, Glickman, then practicing law in San Francisco, bought it sight unseen in 1964 for $49,500.

It is about eight miles north of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf at a point where the San Francisco, Marin and Contra Costa counties converge.

Any new owner who wanted to develop the island would also have to spend extra money and go through an approval process involving state agencies in one or more of the three counties that have jurisdiction over the island.

It is doubtful if cinema is sufficient for this; but, if the world has become a bad cinema, in which we no longer believe, surely a true cinema can contribute to giving us back reasons to believe in the world and in vanished bodies.
(Gilles Deleuze)