Apr 26 (Telegraph) Vellupillai Prabhakaran, whose ruthless will has driven the Tigers for nearly three decades, was believed to be still in command of his surviving fighters last night, cornered in a shrinking patch of territory in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government has urged him to surrender and end fighting in which thousands of civilians have died. But most generals and officials privately say that only the death of the Tigers' leader will end the island's long war. more..

Apr 26 (GDI) The Libyan President Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has expressed his fullest support to bring peace in the country and very concern in giving aid of US $ 500 million to strengthen the finance shortly as agreed when President made an official visit to Libya recently. This was revealed at a telephone conversation when he had with President Mahinda Rajapakse last evening. It was also mentioned that the Libyan President is keen to assist Sri Lanka to develop the country. more..

Apr 26 (GDI) The Minister of Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva has instructed to re-commence the rubella vaccination program from May 1st, a top official from the ministry told news.lk. The Rubella vaccination was suspended after the death of a female student and adverse effects on several other students from Matara area who had been given the Rubella vaccine last month. more..

Apr 26 (CT) An elderly patient at Karapitiya Hospital has had surgery on her head stopped midway after it was found that doctors had been following the CT scan report of another patient. According to ‘Lankadeepa online’, W. Wimalawathie, aged 82, had had her head shaved and a three cm hole drilled onto her skull, when the doctors had found their mistake. They had been following the scan report of another patient by the name of Sumanasekara, who had undergone surgery some time ago. more..

Apr 26 (MoD) While Sri Lankans, Tamils and Sinhalese alike rejoice the defeat of LTTE and more than one hundred thousand Tamil civilians ran away from them, it is ridiculous some Tamil Londoners demonstrate asking a ceasefire as a last ditch to save the terrorists, said Douglas Wickramaratne in London's Sunrise TV breakfast show. Douglas Wickramarane, the President of UK's Sinhala Association and a Tamil spokesman Arjunan Ediriweerasingham debated more..

Apr 26 (BBC) The main opposition in Sri Lanka has urged the government to "end war against media" as the government is winning the war against the Tamil Tigers. UNP leader, Ranil Wickramasinghe, said that he expects "the government will stop the war against journalists as the war is now coming to an end". Speaking to journalists in Colombo, he said the UNP is hopeful of winning the Western Provincial Council (WPC) elections held on Saturday. more..

Apr 26 (LG) Whining like a miserable cat caught in a monsoon downpour, LTTE’s United States lie factory Tamilnet in its daily output of Essays of Terrordom dated today Saturday April 25, 2009, charges in the words of a Tamil Diaspora scientist obviously domiciled in Norway that United Nation’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka is outrageous. more..

Apr 26 (GV) For anyone concerned with the plight of innocent civilians, the reports from the North are depressing. The latest ‘avalanche (!?) is yet to be fully screened, searched, scrubbed and bleached for any LTTE connections and corralled into what the Government calls ‘welfare centers’. As to what awaits these men, women and children, thereafter and for how long is not clear at this point in time. more..

Apr 26 (LG) The decisive defeat of the LTTE, which is ferociously fighting probably its last battle in a small piece of land (about 20 sq. kms) with little chance of winning it, is partly due to the follies of Prabakaran, its chief, during the last four years and partly due to the determined and ruthless manner in which the Sri Lankan Armed Forces have carried out their operations. more..

Apr 26 (BBC) We travelled at breakneck speed across north-eastern Sri Lanka in an armoured personnel carrier. The land was flat, the reddish unmetalled road long and straight. This hot, dry midday there was no-one and nothing to impede us from hurtling along. No women and children walking in the road, as you expect in South Asia. No oxen, goats or chickens. For this is a depopulated land, the country stretching eastwards from the former headquarters of the LTTE rebels, Kilinochchi. more..

Apr 26 (LT) A 17 year old youth was killed when UPFA candidate Duminda Silva fired from his firearm during a clash between UPFA candidates for preference votes just before polling ended today at Badowita polling station at Dehiwela. The youth who received gunshot injuries was admitted to Kalubowila Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries at about 6.00 p.m. today. UPFA candidate R. Duminda Silva had come to Badowita polling station with more..

Apr 26 (RW) The crisis situation in the north and east of Sri Lanka has resulted in the large scale movement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to safe areas, during the past several days from the beginning of this week. This has necessitated emergency action to provide food and other basic necessities for the IDPs. President Mahinda Rajapaksa discussed the matter with the Minister of Tourism, Hon. Milinda Moragoda and more..

Apr 26 (PTI) 27 persons, owing allegiance to two little known pro-Sri Lankan Tamils outfits, were arrested on Saturday for allegedly attempting to burn the national flags of India and Sri Lanka. Fifteen activists of the Tamil Nationalist Liberation Movement and Tamil National Socialist Party gathered in front of Shastri Bhavan here, which houses various Central government offices, and tried to set the flags afire before they were arrested, police said. more..

Apr 26 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka's Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka toured the northern battle fronton Saturday to review the status quo in the ongoing operations in the no fire zone (NFZ) in Puttumatalan of the Mullaittivu district, defense officials said. Fonseka flew to Vavuniya in the morning to meet his triumphant troops who have led a successful military campaign against the rebel LTTE, more..

Apr 26 (GV) It is clear, even amongst the most liberal of the western political academic circles that the end of the LTTE is now inevitable. Backed by the widow state of Sonia Gandhi and designed by the US counter terror agencies for the GOSL, the SLA under the command of the wondered and vengeful solder of Mj. Gen. Sarath Fonseka and the non-elitist Rajapakese brothers, have now achieved what all the SL governments for the last 30 years dreamed doing. more..

Apr 26 (PTI) The BJP on Saturday demanded that the Sri Lankan government initiate a dialogue with Tamil representatives to solve the ethnic strife in that country and asked LTTE to stop using civilians trapped in the war zone as a human shield. "The BJP calls on the Sri Lankan government to commence an immediate dialogue with Tamil representatives to find a viable solution that would give maximum devolution of powers within a united Sri Lanka," more..

Apr 26 (AP) The United Nations' top humanitarian official headed to Sri Lanka to seek access to some 50,000 civilians trapped in the country's war zone, while the Tamil Tiger rebels warned Saturday of "imminent" starvation among noncombatants. Reports of chaos and suffering in the northern war zone have increased in recent days as the Sri Lankan military pushed forward with its offensive to destroy the separatist insurgency and more..

Apr 26 (PTI) AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa came out in the open in favour of a separate "Tamil Eelam" (homeland for Tamils) in Sri Lanka, saying it alone would solve the decade-long ethnic strife in the island nation. "Separate Tamil Eelam is the only solution. Sri Lanka will not ensure equal status to Tamils. If the AIADMK-led alliance is elected in all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, we will work for formation of separate Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka," more..

Apr 26 (NP) Prabhakaran's dream was to create a homeland for ethnic Tamils in the northern and eastern parts of the island. But the police came down hard on the movement and identified Prabhakaran as trouble. Police visited his parents' home, but he slipped out the back door and took a boat to southern India. He founded the LTTE at a secret meeting in Jaffna in 1976. "I named the movement 'Liberation Tigers' since the tiger emblem had deep roots in the political history of the Tamils, symbolizing Tamil patriotic resurgence. more..

Apr 26 (NP) The guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has avoided death and capture for more than three decades as he wages South Asia's longest-running civil war. But his luck is running out. As supreme commander of the LTTE, Prabhakaran once presided over a rebel mini-state more than twice the size of the Palestinian Territories. But he lost it with startling speed to the Sri Lankan armed forces, more..

Apr 26 (AT) No one in right mind cannot and will not ask or hope for a license to kill but unfortunately there are some who do in the name of Elam or Patriotism. Also no one in balanced mind cannot and will not ask or hope for a Sovereign Nation to agree with the world to allow a group of maniacs who violently pursue a mono-ethnic pure super racist state to take the Nation itself as hostage for the asking price of ransom, sovereignty of the Nation itself. more..

Apr 26 (LB) CAFFE yesterday announced that over 500,000 people could not vote in yesterday’s Western provincial council election as they either did not possess national identity cards or had erroneous identity card numbers registered in the electoral register. The convenor of CAFFE, Keerthi Tennakoon said a large number of people were prevented from exercising their franchise as the authorities had failed to issue national identity cards to them prior to the polls. more..

Apr 26 (LB) Police headquarters is now busy giving police promotions to political stooges and is transferring officers who refuse to work to political agendas as the National Police Commission (NPC) finished its term three weeks ago. Many police officers told Lakbimanews that police headquarters “was making hay while the sun shines” and were attempting to triumph their own political agendas. more..

Apr 26 (LB) There wasn’t a call for a ceasefire by the high level Indian delegation led by External Affairs minister Pranabh Mukherjee said the secretary to the president. Sri Lanka meanwhile made calls to all Buddhist temples and humanitarian organisations to send quick relief to all people in the IDP camps — and then Karuna was nominated one of the vice chairmen of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party headed by the president. more..

Apr 26 (LB) According to certain well sourced news reports, an offer of safe exit was made in the late summer of 2008 to LTTE through an influential group comprising “former Canadian and US diplomats as well as representatives of the ‘co-chairs’ and others of various political persuasions based in Colombo”. According to sources, this arrangement consisted of the following components: 1) Immediate cessation of hostilities (2) Safe passage to fifty senior leaders of the LTTE and more..

Apr 26 (LB) Two children - Kavin Rashmika aged 2 years and 8 months and Thanuja Iranganie aged 10 years - a grade 6 student at the Rathanajothi Vidyalaya in Akmeemana, were brutally hacked to death in Akmeemana apprently on account of a family dispute on 15 April. The main suspects in the murder - a father and son are also now dead. 27 year old K T Manjula was shot dead by police while attempting to flee after hurling a bomb at the police and more..

Apr 26 (TOI) China's declaration of support for the Sri Lankan government against the LTTE, apart from sticking out like a sore thumb in the eyes of the world, has further fuelled India's mortal distrust of its largest and most powerful neighbour. While India has a much more nuanced position over the issue owing to its domestic compulsions, an unfettered China is supporting Colombo and, in the process, authenticating India's fear about Beijing extending its influence in the Indian Ocean. more..

Apr 26 (NYT) In more peaceful times, the narrow, sandy strip of land that hugs the coast near the northeastern town of Mullaittivu might attract tourists to its Indian Ocean beaches. Now, as the country’s long-running civil war appears to be reaching its climax, a picture of desperation is emerging from that roughly four-square-mile spit between a lagoon and the sea where rebels from the ethnic Tamil minority are making their last stand. more..

Apr 26 (SL) The week is proving truly momentous as well as a defining moment in our history as government forces stand poised to defeat the LTTE. It is the fervent wish of those who desire a peaceful and pluralistic society to see an end to the bitter feud that had dragged on for 26 years and committed around 100,000 from both sides to an early grave. As history is being created, a jubilant President Mahinda Rajapakse earlier this week declared the LTTE’s defeat being ‘imminent.’ more..

Apr 26 (SL) The country’s police force is paralysed. It is not possible for police officers to be promoted, transferred or appointed at present as the tenure of the National Police Commission expired on April 12. According to the nation’s constitution no appointments, promotions or transfers within the police force can be made without the approval of the National Police Commission and with the expiry of the terms of four of its members last week the Police Commission is now unable to sit. more..

Apr 26 (SL) They gathered last Sunday, from an assortment of far flung provinces, groups of impoverished men women and children, ill clad, and disoriented, making motley throngs under the trees of the Viharamahadevi Park. Not a group of refugees somehow freed from the camps in Vavuniya but depositors at one of the lesser known branches of Ceylinco’s network of shame – Shriram. In the whirlwind of publicity surrounding Golden Key however their story has been largely forgotten. more..

Apr 26 (SL) Deputy finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya says the country is facing a recession and has recorded a decline in its growth rate. However, he said that in comparison to other countries, Sri Lanka has faced the economic crisis well. “The global crisis has affected us and we accept it. An island like ours cannot escape the impact of a global crisis. However, when compared with other countries we have faced the crisis well without falling,” more..

Apr 26 (WT) The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, one of the world's most violent terrorist outfits, are surrounded in northern Sri Lanka and about to be destroyed - but Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and European self-styled peacemakers are getting in the way of victory. The meddlers should let Colombo finish off this menace. In desperation, the Tamil Tigers are using tens of thousands of locals as human shields. more..

Apr 26 (SO) Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa stressed that the Government cannot let the LTTE to surrender to a third party and emphasised that LTTE should be made to surrender only to the Government of Sri Lanka. The Defence Secretary, speaking to the Sunday Observer said this while commenting on the United States’ request for the LTTE to surrender to a third party. more..

Apr 26 (Hindu) India’s prime concern is to protect the Tamil civilians and extend the ceasefire in Sri Lanka, said Union Minister for Overseas Indians Affairs Vayalar Ravi here on Saturday. The Union Minister said India was well aware of the issue and had expressed its concern to the Sri Lankan government over the killing of innocent Tamil civilians, which “was not acceptable to it.” more..

Apr 26 (GT) It is an uncomfortable thought that growing international pressure on the Sri Lankan government to halt its military offensive against the Tamil Tigers may have actually precipitated this month’s lethal, all-out push to end the war once and for all. The country’s President, Mahinda Rajapakse, was under pressure from all sides - the UN, the Red Cross, India, key Western aid donors. He needed to finish it, fast. He seems to be doing so. more..

Apr 26 (TN) "In the face of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and in response to the calls made by the UN, EU, the governments of the USA, India and others, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has announced an unilateral ceasefire. All of LTTE’s offensive military operations will cease with immediate effect," said a press statement issued by the Political Head Quarters of the LTTE Sunday. more..

Apr 26 (LG) There is a Right wing accusation that President Obama is resorting to virtual nationalisation in his attempt to help crisis ridden industries. He has attached conditions to the money given to rescue motor industries. While some of these are in relation to financial management, others are tied to employment. Right wing Republicans say that this is an attempt to play the role of an investor or a majority share holder. more..

Apr 26 (LG) India’s National Security Advisor, M.K. Narayanan, and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shakar Menon, are in Sri Lanka. They are not exactly making a courtesy call, not after India’s External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee shot his mouth a few days ago regarding the situation in Sri Lanka, especially in the ‘No Fire Zone’. Why these gentlemen (of all available gentlemen) and why now, right in the thick of India’s general election? more..

Apr 26 (CT) The May Day rally of the SLFP has been shifted to Colombo from Badulla, as had been planned originally. Secretary of Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya Leslie Devendra said the move came following security concerns expressed by intelligence sectors. The UNP is not holding a May Day rally this year, said its general secretary Tissa Attanayake, and will organize donations for Vajira Orphanage in Kotte instead. more..

Apr 26 (SO) The very sight of it was sickening; very moving to a point of wanting to get lost from it all. I closed my eyes trying to repress tears. The baby girl was holding her mother’s hand and crying in pain. The very sight of it was sickening; very moving to a point of wanting to get lost from it all. I closed my eyes trying to repress tears. The baby girl was holding her mother’s hand and crying in pain. more..

Apr 26 (CT) A massive financial fraud has been alleged in Real Estates Ltd., or REEL, which comes under the Ministry of Urban Development. According to Ravaya, Rs. 542 million had been transferred from an account maintained by REEL at Bank of Ceylon to current account 001210004862 at Sampath Bank Fort branch, held by two persons. The transfer had been made in May last year, but the revelation came at an audit investigation into the accounts of the company recently. more..

Apr 26 (AT) Last week’s mass exodus of more than hundred thousand civilian Tamils from the war zone gave the lie to both the LTTE and the Rajapakse administration. It definitively debunked the preposterous Tiger claim of Tamils civilians staying in the war zone voluntarily. It also conclusively disproved the Lankan government’s oft (and angrily) repeated assertion that no more than 75,000 civilians were left in the war zone. more..

Apr 26 (SO) With the total defeat of the LTTE now become imminent, their rank and file who surrender to our forces or get captured as Prisoners of War (PoW) will be integrated into the normal society and rehabilitated during the post conflict phase, said Disaster Relief and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe. He said that in the case of LTTE leaders who had caused immense sufferings to the people and are responsible for more..

Apr 26 (SO) Initial Cash flow to the Western Province alone has been reduced by over Rs. 3 billion due to the Ceylinco Group money scam involving over 20 of its companies. Golden Key Credit Card Company alone was paying around Rs. 550 million a month to its depositors and this has dried up. The Ceylinco fraud started with the Golden Key Credit Card Company and soon spread to its other subsidiaries resulting in over 3,000 employees being deprived of their salaries, more..

Apr 26 (GDI) I am pleased that it was possible to conclude the election of members of the Western Province Council in peaceful atmosphere. The Poll was held at 2,769 polling stations in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara Districts. I wish to express my special thanks to all the officers of the Department of Election who with dedication took steps to ensure that more..

Apr 26 (GDI) As Western Provincial Council (WPC) election results came in the early hours of Sunday (26) morning, ruling UPFA picked up two massive victories in Kalultura and Gampaha districts making all possibilities clear for a landslide victory overall. “The margins of victories in Gampaha and Aththanagalla electorate are simply been exciting and the scale of the victory in the districts foretells a great story,” more..