Dec 3 (UNP) Addressing a media briefing today, UNP Gen. secretary Tissa Attanayake said, by yesterday, the constituent parties of the UNF had risen to 16. More parties are queuing up , and they are expected to join next week. All these are having one indication that they are uniting to send the President Rajapakse home. Yesterday COPE President and PC Wijedasa Rajapakse MP too joined the UNP officially more..

Dec 3 (DN) As much as we characterize of identify Japanese through certain well defined criteria, an attempt must be made to craft a definition for a true Sri Lankan. Some of the major characteristics that I advocate for a Sri Lankan are being: i. patriotic ii. courteous iii. disciplined iv. punctual v. productive vi. valuing team work. There may be many more that can be included here. But, his grouping encapsulates the bare essentials. more..

Dec 3 (DN) There are over 300 uncertified/fake surveyors in the country, Institute of Surveyors President, Keerthi Gunawardane said. Addressing a media conference at the Organization of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka Auditorium on Wednesday to inform the public how they should act without falling into the hands of unauthorized surveyors, Gunawardane said these fake surveyors have fraudulently prepared all certificates and documents and they act as licensed surveyors. more..

Dec 3 (DN) Construction work on a canned fish factory in Akmeemana aimed at providing 2000 direct and indirect employment opportunities to youth in the Galle district will commence shortly. The main objective of the project is to save foreign exchange spent on the import of canned fish and to supply high quality, hygienic canned fish to local consumers. The total investment on the project is US$ 50 million and it will be met by a world renowned New Zealand company, Spirit Wind. more..

Dec 3 (DM) TMVP Leader Eastern Provincial Council Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (Pillayan) said today that he is not concerned about constitutional jargon such as the 13th Amendment or the 17th Amendment when resolving the problems confronting his people. Mr. Chandrakanthan, who pledged his support to President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the upcoming election, said that what is relevant for him is the resolution of his people’s problems. more..

Dec 3 (LG) The three distinct Tamil-speaking political parties in Sri Lanka – indigenous Tamils, Muslims and Indian Tamils – met in Switzerland from November 20 – 22 and they all agreed to disagree and meet again to discuss how they could work together. It was hosted by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. Tamil Information Centre (TIC) in London invited the Tamil parties to the first meeting of Tamil-speaking parties. more..

Dec 3 (Island) UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake has voiced hope that plantation workers would support the common opposition candidate in the Presidential election next month. These workers have always supported the UNP in the past, he pointed out. Attanayake was addressing the second annual convention of the Ceylon Workers Alliance (CWA) at the Nuwara Eliya New Town Hall recently. more..

Dec 3 (Island) The Supreme Court yesterday advised the Attorney General to submit, for court perusal, a confidential assessment report of the security granted to General Sarath Fonseka, subsequent to his retirement from the posts of Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and Chief of Defence Staff. Security granted to Fonseka at present will remain the same till December 11, 2009 the next date of hearing. more..

Dec 3 (Island) Although the UNP says it will push for legislation to prevent crossovers in Parliament, the party intends to accept anyone willing to switch sides ahead of the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary polls. Former Army Chief turned politician General Sarath Fonseka is on record as saying that many UPFA members had pledged their support to the alliance and that there would be many crossovers in the near future. more..

Dec 3 (LG) Government has launched a mud slinging, undemocratic and illegal campaign ahead of the Presidential Election, claims JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake. “As you know the Government has to face a challenge they never expected at this election. The Government has opened up a front that spreads rumors and lies today. This is not money that belongs to the government but tax money collected from the people. more..

Dec 3 (Island) While finding the financial resources in the midst of a global economic crisis to achieve a military victory against terrorism, the government has rapidly implemented a variety of programmes to uplift the condition of rural communities throughout the country, Minister G. L. Peiris said in Hambantota recently. He was inaugurating the first phase of a project which brings 100 acres in Weerawila, more..

Dec 3 (DM) The Election Secretariat said yesterday 1.95 million voters in the 2008 electoral register which is the official electoral register that will be used for the January 26 presidential election had not disclosed their national identity card numbers and they must apply for a temporary ID card before January 15, 2010 if they do not posses a national identity card card. The Elections Commissioner has also made arrangements for more..

Dec 3 (DM) Governor of the Central Province Tikiri Kobbekaduwa yesterday said that most probably the authorities will able to re-open the schools that had been forced to close in the Central Province three days before the December school vacation. Two weeks ago schools in the province were closed down due to spread of influenza AH1N1 as a precautionary measure. The Governor said that measures will be taken to re-open the schools on the 7th , 8th and 9th, so more..

Dec 3 (TN) An unidentified gang Wednesday night abducted four persons, including a leading Sinhalese businessman from Wattala and a police sub-inspector of the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) at Borella police division Wednesday night, Police said. They were abducted while they were returning after dinner after a famous fast-food outlet along Cotta Road in Borella. The CCD is conducting investigation into the abduction, more..

Dec 3 (DM) The TNA is currently looking at five options to be taken at the upcoming Presidential election, but the final stand is to be decided at the Parliamentary group meeting scheduled for next week, party sources said. Party sources said that one section of the TNA has highlighted that they should talk to the two main candidates and support one of them while some others are pressing to field a Tamil candidate representing the party with the possible support of other likeminded Tamil parties. more..

Dec 3 (LBO) Central bank has lashed out at exporters who engaged in a policy debate on the island's exchange rate saying they were "partisan" and were "driven by personal interests", unlike its own stance which was "professional". The Central Bank has been under fire for creating high inflation from 2004, driving domestic costs up and making the rupee 'overvalued' compared to its major trading partners, more..

Dec 3 (BL) India has requested Sri Lanka to lift the ban imposed on products of some Indian pharmaceutical companies after some of the medicine vials supplied by them were found contaminated with glass and plastic particles. An Indian pharmaceutical delegation is also expected to visit Sri Lanka shortly to sort out the issue. more..

Dec 3 (CI) Even a bad back couldn't slow him down. Virender Sehwag batted like the nearby Arabian Sea in high tide - and when Sri Lanka tried to plug one hole, he rushed in through the other. He ended the day 16 short of becoming the first man to score three triple-centuries in the history of Test cricket but he'd already broken a string of records - the most double-centuries by an Indian, the second-highest scorer of 250-plus scores, the most runs by an Indian in a day (breaking his own record) more..

Dec 3 (Time) "You will only know how wonderful walking on the road like this feels if you have gone through what we have." Dharmeshwaran, 30, was walking toward Vavuniya, a town in the north of Sri Lanka and a journey of about 18 miles (30km) from Menik Farm, the camp for displaced persons where he and his family have been detained for about seven months. They were among the 225,000 to 280,000 people who were held in several detention camps more..

Dec 3 (DN) Leading business magazine LMD has said that its Sri Lankan of the Year is President Mahinda Rajapaksa. In its lead story in the December issue, the journal states that it is “hard to deny the role of the President in maintaining this nation’s sovereignty and crushing the scourge of terrorism after a lapse of 26 years”. LMD said that “2009 will undoubtedly go down in the annals of history as the year a more..

Dec 3 (AJ) A boatload of Sri Lankan asylum seekers who have been moored off the Indonesian island of Java since October say that the military is threatening to force them off the vessel, an advocacy group has said. Nearly 250 Tamils holed up on the boat near the port town of Merak are refusing to disembark until Australia grants them asylum. The Australia-based Refugee Action Coalition called on the Australian government to intervene to guarantee the Tamils' safety. more..

Dec 3 (DBS) The presidential election campaigns of both Mahida Rajapakse and Sarath Fonseka seem to have got off the ground with customary procedures. Mahinda Rajapakse began his with a visit to Anuradhapura on Undu wap daypoya day and was seen hugging the Sri Maha Bodhi tree with devotional fervour. Sarath Fonseka paid courtesy calls on the Mahanayake Theros of the Asgiriya and Malwatte chapters and obtained their blessings. more..

Dec 3 (Hindu) Announcing conditional support of his party to the bid of commander-turned-politician, retired General Sarath Fonseka for the office of President, DPF leader Mano Ganeshan disclosed at a news conference here on Thursday afternoon that the 18-party UNF led by former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe could soon sign a MoU with the General outlining the common agenda. more..

Dec 4 (LBO) Sri Lankan telecommunications firms will begin unrolling WiMAX networks offering high-speed internet connections at lower cost in January, Priyantha Kariyapperuma, director general of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRC) said. The networks using the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology will especially benefit rural areas enabling services like telemedicine and e-learning, more..

Dec 4 (LBO) Sri Lanka is to get a loan of 100 million dollars from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to modernise the sewerage system in the capital Colombo and its suburbs. A government statement said the project will improve the urban environment and public health for about 1.5 million urban and suburb residents in the Greater Colombo area through improving marine and inland water. The project is known as the Greater Colombo Waste Water Management Project. more..

Dec 4 (LBO) Calls by cruise ships to Sri Lanka, which were greatly reduced during the height of the ethnic war, are picking up with the latest operator to launch visits to Sri Lanka being Louis Cruises India. The island's Tourism Promotion Bureau said it is to sign a deal next week with Louis Cruises India, part of the Louis Cruises group, which is the fifth largest cruise operator in the world. more..

Dec 4 (PRN) There are many significant indications to suggest the impact of Portuguese and Dutch rule on the society of Sri Lanka remains very deep in present day society. However, thorough studies of the impact are rare. In her new nonfiction, "The Gentiles, A History of Sri Lanka 1498-1833", author and historian Agnes Padmini Thambynayagam conveys the lasting effects of this rule in relation to the development of social institutions, more..

Dec 4 (LG) The presidential election will be held on 26th January'2010, two years ahead of schedule, and the general election on due time, soon thereafter in Sri Lanka. The circumstances under which these elections take place will be different from those prevailing over the past three decades. Two JVP insurgencies and the long running Tamil militancy had negatively affected elections held in the past few decades. more..

Dec 4 (PTI) The first results from a Sri Lankan group documenting casualties from the final months of the country's civil war indicate that at least 2,500 men, women and children disappeared during that time and some are feared dead. The Committee for Investigation of the Disappeared is interviewing civilians from the war zone to determine the full extent of damage suffered by civilians as the military made its push to wrap up the 25-year war earlier this year. more..

Dec 4 (LT) All Ceylon Trade Union Federation (ACTUF) has decided to support Gen. Sarath Fonseka who is to contest the presidential election as a common candidate says its General Secretary Samanthe Koralearachchi. A special summit of representatives of all trade unions representing in ACTUF will be held regarding this at Solis Hall at Pitakotte today (4th) at 4.00 p.m. under the chairmanship of Parliamentarian K.D. Lal Kanthe said Mr. Koralearachchi. more..

Dec 4 (GDI) The Ministry of Trade, Marketing and Consumer Affair will open a textile market complex at Narahenpita today, Minister Bandula Gunawardene announced. He said all textiles will be marketed at the wholesale price and there would be no criteria called wholesale or retail differently. Responding to a question Minister Bandula Gunawardene said the turn over of Sathosa November, 2009 was Rs.765 million despite the reduction of prices effected last month. more..

Dec 4 (CI) Angelo Mathews has admitted he was emotional after missing out on his maiden Test century by one run, but said the experience - he was run out - would help him improve his game and be more careful the next time around. "A first Test hundred is a big achievement for any cricketer," he said. "It was very unfortunate I could not get it. But then that's how it goes." more..

Dec 4 (GDI) Journalists strongly condemned the statement made by the JVP regarding state media. The JVP has said that the party will not permit state media journalists to cover their press conferences and events. Journalists stressed that the claim made by the JVP was highly unethical and undemocratic. Chairman of ITN, Anura Siriwardena said his institution always telecast news programmes for the benefit of the country. more..

Dec 4 (CT) Six candidates have placed their deposits to contest the January 26 presidential election. Being fielded by recognized political parties, each handed over Rs. 50,000 at the Elections Secretariat at Rajagiriya today (Dec. 03). They are Sarath Manamendra, Achala Asoka Suraweera, P.D.P.S.A. Liyanage, Sirithunga Jayasuriya, M.B. Thaminimulla and Peter Nelson Perera. more..

Dec 4 (LBO) The Japanese government will give Sri Lanka a grant of 860 million yen or just over a billion rupees to build a 400 kiloWatt solar power plant in the southern Hambantota district which will be connected to the national grid. Investment Promotion Minister Anura Yapa told a news conference the island's Cabinet had approved the project aimed at introducing clean energy. The plant will help to demonstrate to more..

Dec 4 (Hindu) The Tamil Nadu Government has sanctioned a sum of Rs. 1.38 crore for carrying out various development works in the Sri Lankan refugee camps at Sentharapatti South and East. Disclosing this at a function at Sentharapatti on Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam said that the Chief Minister had already allotted a sum of Rs. 100 crore for providing basic amenities and other developments to the refugee camps in Tamil Nadu. more..

Dec 4 (LG) Mahinda Rajapaksha was at the peak of popularity at the time of the defeat of the LTTE. What went wrong within the past six months was no mystery. The glorification of the Rajpaksha family, condoning of violence, nurturing of corruption, nepotistic centralising of the power to the Rajpaksha clan, arrogance and dictatorial behaviour, abuse of power are some of the reasons that more..

Dec 4 (WSJ) While Washington debates President Obama's Afghan surge, another country not so far away offers a glimpse of the importance, and benefits, of getting it right. No, we don't just mean Iraq. Look also to Sri Lanka. That island nation is just starting to recover from a 26-year civil war, which the government in Colombo won in May when it crushed the last remnants of the neo-Marxist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. more..

Dec 4 (PTI) The Madras High Court bench here today dismissed a public interest litigation seeking to ban Indian Cricket team from playing matches with Sri Lanka, including the ongoing home series. The petitioner, P Joel Antony, an advocate, alleged that the Sri Lankan government had violated human rights during the war between the island nation's army and the LTTE. Dismissing the petition, Justice D Murugesan and Justice S Nagamuthu said more..

Dec 4 (HT) Politics could estrange the most intimate bedfellows. The souring of relationship between President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and his former army chief, Sarath Fonseka, has been rapid. Falling apart less than six months after the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, they are now headed against each other for the January 26 Presidential polls. “Mother of all polls", it is being touted as. more..

Dec 4 (HT) It's been issued to mark the victory against the LTTE but perhaps with a crafty eye on the approaching Presidential polls in January. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has issued a commemorative Sri Lankan rupees 1000 note with the picture of serving President Mahinda Rajapaksa on one side and a group of soldiers hoisting the Sri Lankan flag - like five US marines did at Iwo Jima in Japan in World War II - on the reverse. more..

Dec 4 (AT) Five hundred and sixty six child soldiers aged between 12 to 18 years had been directed for the rehabilitation process and a group of 273 girls and boys were brought to Colombo Hindu College, Rathmalana in October to continue their formal education. Sri Lanka’s Justice and Law Reforms Ministry with the assistance of Ceylon Hindu Congress and several other organizations has under taken this move. more..

Dec 4 (AT) WT is a global communications company and it is important to know that this is not JWT's Corporate Social Responsibility programme, but in fact, a CSR programme which we call ‘Community Social Responsibility’, which gives people and companies worldwide the opportunity to be stakeholders in an initiative, said Thayalan Bartleet, CEO of JWT, Colombo commenting on JWT’s involvement and commitment to its Corporate Social Project at more..

Dec 4 (UPI) The number of Sri Lankans who think their economy is improving jumped 28 percent to 64 percent, a national opinion poll indicated Thursday. But the optimism is likely spurred by heightened expectations after the end of a decades-long civil war, rather than by improving economic conditions, the Gallup Organization said in describing the poll results. Economic growth has slowed considerably in Sri Lanka, to a projected 3.5 percent this year from 6 percent in 2008, more..

Dec 4 (PTI) In awe of Virender Sehwag's breath-taking batsmanship, Sri Lankan all-rounder Angelo Mathews on Thursday said he has never seen anyone treating a bowler of Muttiah Muralitharan's calibre with such disdain. Sehwag went after Muralitharan right from the word go, often dancing down the track to unsettle the wily offie, whose 20 overs cost him 119 runs without any success. Mathews conceded he had not seen anything like this before. more..

Dec 4 (CNA) Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith has warned that thousands of Tamils returning from displacement camps are at risk of serious injury unless action is taken to clear the area of landmines. Archbishop Ranjith called on the international community to provide critical support to de-mine an area close to the famous A9 Elephant’s Pass in the far north of the country, which he says is covered with unexploded ordnance, more..