July 5 (LG) The security forcers have conducted a search operation in Modara yesterday (2nd of July 2008). Around ten thousand of people were lined up and videoed. Some civilians condemn this “harassment” of Tamils by the Police and Army. Self proclaimed champion of Tamil rights in Sri Lanka, Western People’s Front Leader Mano Ganeshan was up in arms again. Mano told that “Tamils had been once again been stripped off their rights as they were lined up like criminals and videoed on the pretext of a search operation”. more..

July 5 (LG) The international community is shocked at the cruel attacks on the media and media men in Sri Lanka. Naked violence unleashed on journalists are indicative of not only threats against the media but also against democracy. Today the reins of the government are in the hands of one of those who raised his voice strongly against oppression in the dark era of late 80's and the early 90's. more..

July 5 (LG) Addressing a Media meeting at the UNP Media unit today (4 Jul) , UNP M.P. Lakshman Kiriella said, the President and his Govt. are precariously prolonging their power by profuse lying on the war situation while killing and harassing the Media and Opposition who expose the truth. For the last two years the President was inviting the people to have kiribath with him during the Sinhala New year celebrating war victory. more..

July 5 (LG) UNP Colombo Organiser and M.P. Ravi Karunanayake, speaking to the Media today (4Jul) at the UNP Media unit, said, the Govt. is not only robbing people (by ruthless taxation, price and tariff hikes) to pay for its sins, but is borrowing from all and sundry (Local and Foreign Banks) at exorbitant interest rates in desperation, but pretending to develop the country. more..

July 5 (LG) Counterstrike is an integral part of war; get it right and it can reverse the course of a conflict and save the homeland, get it wrong and it can mean a quick defeat. Counterstrike has been the preferred battleplan of aggressive commanders who finds themselves fighting on their own territory. Such battleplans are littered throughout history – Robert E Lee in Virginia in the mid 1860s, Napoleon towards the end of his career while defending France are some of them. more..

July 5 (LG) Evidence of LTTE plans to launch a surprise attack on the advancing 59 troops in Weli Oya was revealed in a recent capture of an LTTE recce team leader. The leader was only 17 years old, but had served in the LTTE for five years. The Tiger cadre had arrived with 34 other cadres by sea. The LTTE has many secret routes to infiltrate the East via Kokilai and Kokkuthuduwai behind the advancing line of troops North of Janakapura and in the general area Kiriibbanwewa. more..

July 5 (LG) The government maintains that it is committed to liberating Vanni from the LTTE control and to bring it under its control. Therefore, it is clear that government proposes to unleash a war in that area. The President maintains that the war is a humanitarian endeavour to liberate the Tamil people from the clutches of the LTTE. He maintains that the war is waged to restore democracy in that part of the country. more..

July 5 (LG) I refer to the very readable piece by Anne Abeysekera. She has shown from her personal experience that Sinhala nationalism or Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism is entirely a matter of feeling and emotion rather than of rational thought. Such nationalism is caught not intellectually grasped. It is caught from the social environment where society is stressing ethno-religious identity in an emphatic way. In the past in the social environment she and I too grew up, the social environment was not dominated by the Sinhala-Buddhist ethos. more..

July 5 (KT) Sri Lankan taxi and bus drivers are the recent recruits in the UAE. For the first time, over 500 drivers have been recruited to work in Dubai with the help of the Sri Lankan diplomatic mission in the emirate. The move is part of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare's efforts to send skilled workers abroad as well as to balance their skewed migrant ratio, with female migrants outnumbering their male counterparts traditionally. more..

July 5 (RA) The message is simple. Report on matters perceived as national security and you will be considered an enemy of the state. That's the warning on the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry website, in an article entitled, "Deriding the war heroes for a living - the ugly face of 'Defence Analysts' in Sri Lanka," posted in early June. The article warns journalists against "criticism of military operations, criticism of promotion schemes in the armed forces, criticism of military procurement and more..

July 5 (TE) MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE, Sri Lanka’s president, shakes out his white outfit and spreads his bare toes with a satisfied air. “We have concentrated on the LTTE [the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam],” he says, “because unless we defeat them, we will have no peace and development.” In January he abrogated a ceasefire and stepped up a brutal two-year offensive against the no-less-brutal LTTE. This week his army commander, General Sarath Fonseka, claimed the operation had succeeded. more..

July 5 (AT) Sivanesathurai Chanthirakanthan, popularly called Pillaiyan told Asian Tribune that Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna Amman contacted him after he arrived in Colombo on Thursday afternoon. He said that Karuna Amman, the former leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal was brought to Sri Lanka on an escorted service by the British police and handed over to the Sri Lanka Police. more..

July 5 (AT) Those journalists who were attacked must come forward to identify their attackers and come forward to give evidences. In the event evidences are provided about the allegations of attacks on any journalists, actions will be taken immediately, said President Mahinda Rajapakse. Government has anounced a reward scheme for information leading to the arrest of those involved in the attack of Namal Perera of the Sri Lanka Press Institute and on Ratnaweera, more..

July 5 (AT) The Government of Sri Lanka strongly refuted allegations contained in certain foreign media reports that the Sri Lanka Navy had detained and harassed Indian fishermen aboard fishing trawlers which had been detected poaching in Sri Lankan waters. In this regard, the Foreign Ministry wishes to state that the Sri Lanka Navy shore based radars at Talaimannar and Delft island detected approximately 300 Indian fishing trawlers poaching in Sri Lankan territorial waters close to Talaimannar and Delft island, more..

July 5 (BBC) The government forces are on the verge of defeating the Tamil Tigers, the former deputy commander of the LTTE said. In an exclusive interview with BBC Sandeshaya, Vinayamurthi Muralitharan known as Karuna Amman said the Tamil Tigers are 'very weak' in the face of continuous military offensive. "The LTTE are now only maintaining a defence line. They can't launch any offensive. They are very weak now," col. Karuna said. more..

July 5 (BBC) The high powered Indian delegation that recently visited Sri Lanka urged the government to re-merge the north and east, the main opposition claims. The UNP says India strongly advised Sri Lanka to provide a political solution to the national question based on the 13 amendment to the constitution. The merger of the north and east provinces under the Indo-Lanka agreement, was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, last year. more..

July 5 (BBC) The Eastern Province Chief Minister (CM) says he is yet to meet his party leader who returned to the country on Thursday morning due to busy schedule. Sivanesathiurai Chandrakanthan also known as Pillayan confirmed to the BBC Tamil Service that he had already spoken to Karuna. During that conversation the CM has explained his inability to meet Karuna immediately due to hectic schedule. more..

July 5 (BBC) The BBC's Roland Buerk in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, looks at why journalists and human rights activists there are so angry. The police dragged barricades across the road, blocking the route to President Mahinda Rajapaksa's office. Wearing black armbands, journalists and human rights activists said the freedom of the press had been undermined as the war continues between the government and the separatist Tamil Tigers. more..

July 5 (TW) Hundreds of Government employees from the District Secretariat, hospital, schools and Zonal Education office marched down the A9 road to the Kilinochchi District Secretariat on July 2nd drawing attention to their concerns of safety and security in the region. Reports from Kilinochchi say their march was prompted following the death of Thunukakai Additional Government Agent (AGA), N Nanthakumar, on 28 June in a claymore mine attack. more..

July 5 (ITN) Like Pakistan, the island state of Sri Lanka is suffering from a costly conflict. And as Islamabad is now attempting, Colombo has been alternatively trying peaceful and military means to restore peace to a country often described by its proud citizens as paradise on earth. The results of the strategies adopted by successive governments in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka have been mixed. more..

July 5 (Hindu) Sri Lanka on Friday claimed at least 30 LTTE cadres and two soldiers were killed in the north of the country. A Defence Ministry statement said reports from the Wanni battlefront indicated several significant gains to the armed forces engaged in counter-terror offensives. It said besides those killed, 17 LTTE cadres were injured. On the Vavuniya-Mannar fronts, troops destroyed nine bunkers located west of Periyamadhu. It said 17 cadres were killed and 25 injured. more..

July 5 (LNP) The United States yesterday reiterated its call to disarm the breakaway LTTE faction headed by Chief Minister of the newly elected Eastern PC Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan. `The TMVP should be disarmed and the recruitment of children to its ranks must be stopped and its cadres disbanded,` Counsellor of Embassy and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the United States of America, James R. Moore said yesterday. more..

July 5 (LNP) UTStarcom, Inc. announced a multi-million dollar contract with Just In Time Holdings to supply its industry-leading RollingStream end-to-end Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) solution to Sri Lanka Telecom yesterday. SLT, will use the RollingStream platform to bring IPTV services to its growing customer base throughout Sri Lanka. SLT, expects to grow its residential and commercial business through its increased triple play capabilities now available with this IPTV deployment. more..

July 5 (SAMN) Sri Lankan troops captured a key Tamil Tiger rebel base in the island's north Friday, a day after a wave of battles in the same region killed 32 rebels and two soldiers, the military said. The Army’s 59 Division took control of Michael Base in the rebel stronghold of Mullaitivu district after three days of fighting, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said, adding that around 20 LTTE cadres were killed in the battle field and many more were injured. more..

July 5 (GV) The country got a new Inspector General of Police (IGP) on July 1 with Jayantha Wickremaratna’s appointment to the highest position in the Police Department. His predecessor Victor Perera was not left much time to be twiddling his fingers because he was almost immediately appointed the Governor of the Northern Province. Mr.Perera’s predecessor Chandra Fernando too did not get much time to enjoy his retirement. more..

July 5 (LBO) Sri Lankan exporters of tea, the island's top export commodity, say they not getting enough funds for marketing even though the government charges a tax on shipments which is meant for tea promotion. Anslem Perera, managing director of Euro Scan, one of the biggest exporters of branded tea, said a tax of four rupees was charged on every kilo of tea exported from the island. more..

July 5 (SAMN) The Opposition UNP said Friday that according to Finance Ministry reports four major government institutions had incurred massive losses running into billions of rupees last year. Quoting from these reports, UNP front-liner Ravi Karunanayake said the Sri Lanka Ports Authority had suffered a loss of Rs. 2.7 billion, the Railway Department Rs. 4.2 billion, the Postal Department Rs. 2.2 billion and the Sri Lanka Transport Board Rs. 3.5 billion. more..

July 5 (DN) The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) yesterday stated that a General Election will only be held at the proper time. Responding to a statement by UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake that the Government should hold a General Election instead of PC polls, a UPFA communique questioned Attanayake as to why Provincial Councils Polls should not be held and also why the UNP was reluctant to face it. more..

July 5 (DN) The Government will amend the Co-operatives Act formulating new regulations which would provide the legal background for recovering losses from private properties of corrupt Chairmen and the Director Boards of the Co-operative Societies islandwide, Trade, Marketing Development, Co-operatives and Consumer Services Minister Bandula Gunawardhana said. He was addressing the discussion held in Ministry premises yesterday with the Co-operative societies' Chairmen and Commissioners in the Western Province with more..

July 5 (Island) A Chief Inspector of Police and three restaurant owners were arrested by the Wattegama Police at Pitiyegedera yesterday with five carcasses of deer and a wild boar in their possession. Two T -56 service weapons, nine spent bullets and nine live bullets, an electric torch and a large knife along with the carcasses were also taken into Police custody. Initial investigations had revealed the Chief Inspector Sunil Samarajeewa of the Wanathawillu Police had been transferred to the Madampe Police on an acting basis. more..

July 5 (Island) Four suspects including a Director of the Film Corporation who were arrested with a haul of explosives, hand grenades and detonators from a shop in Kotahena, believed to be a ‘dressing room’ were yesterday produced before Mt. Lavinia Additional Magistrate Dharshika Wimalasiri. He ordered that they be held under Detention Order till September 19. The suspects in this case are Stanislaus Noranthanthan, Kakapathi Devadasan, Paramasothi Sathya Seelan, Kamale Krishsanthi Reginald Perera. more..

July 5 (DM) The drama involving actress Anarkalli Aakarssha and Western Provincial Councillor Duminda Silva took a turn for the worse with Ms. Aakarssha alleging that she and her mother were abducted on Thursday evening, taken to Mr. Silva’s office and she was asked to marry him. Police spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara said that according to a complaint lodged at the Kollupitiya police Ms. Aakarssha alleged that she and her mother were threatened and forcibly taken away by some men armed with semi automatic weapons and allegedly working for Mr. Silva. more..

July 5 (DM) Amidst attempts by the UNP to appoint its national organizer S.B. Dissanayake as a member of parliament through the national list, filling the void created by the SLMC, Mr. Dissanayke held talks with President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday setting off speculation. The UNP earlier held discussions with the SLMC leadership regarding the legal aspects of Mr. Dissanayake being appointed as a National List MP, filling one of the two vacancies created by the resignation of two SLMC members to contest the eastern provincial council election. more..

July 5 (MG) If the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is flexing its muscles to become an even more vibrant if not virulent opposition, its breakaway faction, now the National Freedom Front (NFF) took the first step yesterday for a new alliance. It wants to team up with the nation's only paramilitary-cum-political party, the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP or Tamil People's Liberation Front). more..

July 5 (MG) Cabinet has granted approval to a memorandum submitted by the Minister of Higher Education, Susil Premajayanth to recruit only first degree holders as teachers from 2009 onwards. The main objectives of the policy include the improvement of the quality of education, ensure the right of students to obtain their education from qualified teachers regardless of the geographical location of their schools and improve educational learning outcomes. more..

July 5 (SAMN) Elections for the North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Councils will be held on August 23, Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake announced Friday. The filing of nominations for the Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kegalle and Ratnapura districts was closed by 12 noon Friday. A total of 1698 candidates, 973 of them from 16 recognised political parties and 725 from 36 independent groups will be vying for 77 seats in the two Councils. more..

July 6 (AT) LTTE has urged that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaingnar M. Karunanidh should come forward to assist in their struggle to establish a Tamil Eelam state. In an interview P.Nadesan, Political Head of the LTTE said that Karunanidhi “should turn into supportive of our struggle.” Nadesan was interviewed by ‘Kumudam,’ a popular Tamil weekly from Chennai. In that interview, Nadesan categorically denied that Tamil Tigers are weekend. more..

July 6 (AT) Dr Y K M Lahie, Resident Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Nawaloka Hospitals PLC speaking on Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) (Blocks in the Heart) said that it is a very common condition worldwide and is increasing the incidence in Sri Lanka too affecting both males and females. Also the occurrence in younger patients is on the rise (may occur in twenties). He said the risk factors for CAD are multiple such as high plod sugar – diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, high lipid levels (cholesterol, triglycerides), more..

July 6 (AT) Sri Lanka's farmers who grow paddy for their home needs are now discovering a new trend. Instead of the widely-cultivated hybrid varieties they have opted to grow more traditional varieties of paddy as the latter are more nutritious, rich in taste, pest-resistant and need no artificial, petroleum-based fertilizer. This trend had been there for some time among the home growers but gathered force with the rise in paddy and rice prices and skyrocketing prices of chemical fertilizers. more..

July 6 (AT) Sri Lanka is now at an extremely crucial stage of the war on eliminating terrorism and this is surely the time to test all the patriotic forces in the political arena for us to understand their true hidden agendas. The forthcoming months will truly expose realities that have thus far been obscure. A tiny report in a weekend Sinhala newspaper dated 29th June,2008, stated that UNP Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe apart from being re-elected President of the Asia-Pacific region for IDU, more..

July 6 (LG) Sri Lanka has been fortunate that despite the neglect of the politician, it has experienced some economic growth annually chiefly due to the village farmer and private entrepreneur. They had little assistance from government officials either. The Western Province accounts for most of the growth recorded by the statistician as most government establishments and businesses are cluttered therein. The cry of 'Colombata kiri, and Gamata kekiri' was an apt slogan. more..

July 6 (LG) Nothing lends credibility to an argument or an accusation more than a first person account. Be it autobiographies or first person accounts, they are simple yet powerful. Such works also stand out for the courage, for you don't know what the consequences will be. So, it was with great fear that, seven years ago, Sri Lankan Tamil writer Shobasakthi wrote about his time as a child soldier with the LTTE, blowing the lid on a cruel practice of one of the deadliest and most ruthless terrorist organizations in the world. more..

July 6 (LG) Information is gathering momentum among the Sri Lankan Tamil circles in Toronto that Attorney Bruce Fein from the US is an AAA; American Ambulance-chasing Attorney who has found taking up the case of the Tamil question in Sri Lanka in North America is laid with a path of gold waiting to be gathered. The Tamil question is a legitimate one and it is a matter that successive Sri Lankan governments have neglected often with horrendous consequences to this community. more..

July 6 (LG) Thiwanka Rathnayake and Hasanka Ratnayake are twins born in 1997. But they were born at the expense of demise of their mother. However, their father is an officer in Gajaba Regiment, Sri Lanka Army working in training center for Sri Lanka Army. Meanwhile, after their mother died, he brought home a lady from Tamil community. She was an English teacher at Udugampola Vidyalaya in Gampaha. She originally hails from Katana. more..

July 6 (LG) According to news reaching from sources close to K T Rajasingam a editor of the one of Web sites, the President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapakse had a secret meeting with him when he visited Rome on 5th June 2008. K.T .R was specially invited to meet the President in Rome. According to K T Rajasingam’s sources, numerous issues were discussed. The President had requested the clandestine editor to organise another breakaway from the LTTE like Karuna’s split. more..

July 6 (LG) The most daring and successful LTTE attacks since the start of ‘Tamil Eelam War IV’ is clearly the Anuradhapura Airbase attack by 21 LTTE ‘Commandos’ who first entered the base as a group of civil construction workers. The result was the loss of 32 valuable aircraft, including two brandnew UAVs brought from Israel. The attack tells you a lot about the organization for ‘Tamil Eelam’. The Tigers, many would agree, do it through cunning and deception. more..

July 6 (LD) Founder leader of the TMVP, Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman, had once again used a forged passport to make his return journey home from the UK, said head of the UNP Media Unit and MP Lakshman Kiriella. Mr. Kiriella, speaking to ‘Lanka Dissent’, alleged that Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had become a haven for forged passport racketeers. Karuna had fled the country following an internal party dispute and arrived in the UK on a fake passport, for which offence, he served a prison term in that country. more..

July 6 (LD) Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva had strongly objected to obtaining conditional loans from the World Bank for legal and judicial reforms. The international lending institution had granted around 20 million USD (approx. Rs.2,140 m) in recent times. However, the WB has attached several conditions if it is to continue disbursing such loans, the CJ said. Further funding has been sought for awarding scholarships to judges and Information Technology development in the judicial sector, he added.

July 6 (NIP) AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa on Saturday threatened to launch a massive agitation if the Congress-led UPA Government at the Centre and the DMK Government in Tamil Nadu failed to find a permanent solution to the problems faced by fishermen at the hands of the Sri Lankan Navy. In a statement here, Jayalalithaa urged Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to serve an ultimatum to the UPA Government in which the DMK is a key consituent, to find a long lasting solution to the fishermen’s problems, more..

July 6 (LBO) One of the three top nature reserves in Sri Lanka, a biodiversity hotspot, is being threatened by encroachment and commercial cultivation involving corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and business, a new report says. Court rulings to stop the encroachment and evict squatters from the Hakgala Strict Natural Reserves in the central hills have been repeatedly ignored, says Environmental Foundation Ltd., a non-profit public interest law group. more..