Jan 26 (GV) There is a trend to convert the triumph of the Armed Forces over the LTTE in the north into a triumphal Sinhala-Buddhist ultra nationalism. Their ideology is that the country belongs only to the Sinhala Buddhists and that the other communities be they of different ethnicity or religion must live on the sufferance of the Sinhala Buddhists. It is also part of the ideology that no Buddhist should embrace any other religion and more..

Jan 26 (GV) Heartland of Eelam is fallen. LTTE is now cornered to a narrow strip of land and in near future whole bulk of 65, 610 km2 of land would be under the control of the Government of Sri Lanka. Glory of the victory would be with the Sri Lankan Army and the politicians as always would reap the harvest at the cost of the Sri Lankans. We’re practicing representative democracy. Though not futuristic as the President is, a fraction of me believes that the Independent celebrations might be held in Kilinochchi. more..

Jan 26 (PSM) “The atrocities committed on the innocent people of Gaza should not be permitted to be obscured, obfuscated by lies, deception, half-truths and selective reordering of facts and chronology.” said, Mr.Dayan Jayatilleke, SL's Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva on recent Gaza genocide by Israel. He also rejected Israeli positions on the conflict and leveled direct accusations against that country. more..

Jan 26 (LT) International community need not take over finding solutions for the national question which is an internal issue of Sri Lanka said JVP Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe when visiting peace envoy of Japan Yasushi Akashi met him adding that Sri Lanka was capable of finding the best solution for it. He said President Mahinda Rajapakse has no mandate for any devolution and more..

Jan 26 (LT) At the media meeting held in Hilton Hotel yesterday (25th) Japan’s special peace envoy Yasushi Akashi said the US$ 4.6 billion loan promised at the Tokyo summit in 2003would be given to Sri Lanka. The state media gave total publicity to this and emphasized that Sri Lanka would get this money this year as a grant. However, this is an untruth. First this is not a grant but a loan. more..

Jan 26 (LG) We condemn the act of blatant cold-blooded barbaric insanity of the LTTE and its leader Prabhakaran for triggering a humanitarian disaster by blasting the Kalamadhukulam Tank in Mullaithivu district yesterday 24h January. This blast would have left tens of thousands of innocent civilians in immediate danger and cost the lives of many hundreds of innocent people. more..

Jan 26 (LG) With the visit of Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshanker Menon to Sri Lanka last fortnight, efforts are now required for putting the peace process back on the track, to try and find a political solution to the vexatious 'ethnic issue'. The responsibility for doing so rests not on external players but on the domestic polity – Tamil and Sinhala – and more so, on the Sri Lankan State. more..

Jan 26 (LG) The members of the Sri Lanka United National Association (SLUNA) based in Toronto are intrigued by the gimmicks of the sympathizers in the Greater Toronto Area on behalf of the most ruthless terrorists in world, the Tamil Tigers. This is a last ditch attempt to save them from extinction. The ulterior motive of the ‘Fast –in- Relays’ is to draw the attention of the Canadian Government for an intervention in bringing about a Ceasefire. more..

Jan 26 (LeN) “Neither LTTE nor Prabakaran is important to us. We do not care their victory or defeat. We represent the welfare of the Tamil people who elected us to parliament,” says TNA MP R. Sampanthan. He says, “We are the representatives of political parties. We represent Tamil people. There should be freedom to engage in politics in a democracy. Linking us to a terrorist organization and suspecting us is wrong. more..

Jan 26 (LG) An unseen Sri Lankan friend of mine that I have met on an internet has mentioned in his blog a rare coincidence (or is it universal karmic forces) of two significant events taking place yesterday, 25th January 2009. I was stunned for a moment when I read it as the realization sank in my mind that those two events that my friend had mentioned had indeed taken place on the very same day, just 11 years apart from each other. more..

Jan 26 (LeN) The UNP propaganda office in Muruthalawa town was attacked by an unknown group Saturday around 2.30 AM. The office was entirely destroyed and the adjacent grinding mill and a business place were also damaged. This office was run by three UNP candidates of Central Provincial Council election. They are Champika Nilantha, Jayaweera Bandara and Nihal Gunasekara. CAFÉ says that a group came in vehicles attacked this office. more..

Jan 26 (GDI) The Government is planning to launch a program to give a glass of milk to children of Samurdhi and low income families by February this year. The main objective of the program is to reduce the cost of living of low -income families and promote liquid milk consumption among children, sources added. Around 200,000 children between 2-5 years will benefit by the program. 200,000 glasses of milk per day will be given for 25 days each month to selected children through Government family health workers in each area.

Jan 26 (GDI) Construction and Engineering Services Minister Rajitha Senaratne said the correct leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and dedication of our valiant Forces brought a great victory against the LTTE terrorists in the North. He said that terrorism has been wiped out from the North and East and the terrorists have been confined to a small area. Minister Senaratne noted that LTTE terrorism had claimed the lives of many. more..

Jan 26 (GDI) It was ironic that the LTTE had lost its main base on the very day it had attacked the Dalada Maligawa, Ven. Ellawala Medhananda thera said while addressing a commemorative meeting of the capture of the Mullaitivu town. The thera stated that the country was indebted to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the commanders of the security forces, the members of the armed forces and their families and more..

Jan 26 (GDI) A new school bus service introduced in the North Central Province under the Transport Ministry's Sisu Sariya project will be launched by Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma at a ceremony at the CTC hall Udaya Mawatha, Anuradhapura today. Five hundred buses are deployed on the school service islandwide under the Sisu Saviya project. The fleet will increase to 522 with the addition of buses to the North Central Province school bus service, more..

Jan 26 (MN) We have the utmost sympathy for the Internally Displaced Persons in Sri Lankas north. We visited the facilities for the IDPs in Vavuniya with the Government Agent, who is a Tamil, and met at least 50 representatives of the IDPs, both men and women. It was observed that the IDPs there were not as haggard as those we saw when we came to the East earlier. We were impressed by the healthy conditions, more..

Jan 26 (LP) The “Dewon System” will be implemented with effect from 30th January, in order to inform the public about emergencies promptly, said Mr Keerthi Rathnayaka, co-ordinator for the Disaster Management Centre. It is a radio system and a special sound will be released in an emergency while a video clip regarding the disaster will also be played. The main purpose of the system is to give the public a prior notice on the type of the disaster, more..

Jan 26 (LP) Issuing a message on the 60th anniversary of the Indian Republic’s day, Indian high Commissioner Mr Alok Prasad conveyed his greetings and best wishes to his fellow citizens of India and to the people and government of Sri Lanka. The year gone by has been an eventful and challenging one for India. The challenges we faced have drawn out our inherent sense of nationhood and reinforced it most visibly in the aftermath of the dastardly terrorist attack on Mumbai. more..

Jan 26 (LP) Inauguration of Rice Production Technology Training Center under the Rice Research and Development Institute, Batalagoda, Ibbagamuwa is held today . The institute comes under the Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture Development & Agrarian Services. Issuing a message to mark the inauguration of the Rice Production Technology Training Center President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that more..

Jan 26 (LP) Dayarathna Ratagedara started his career in the spotlight as a child actor in the critically acclaimed Madol Doowa in 1975. He has been in the industry ever since. ‘Nil Diya Yahana’ the first movie directed by Ratagedara is aimed at entertainment and giving the viewers a worthwhile experience. The story merges with the contemporary society and is out together by veterans as well as debutants. more..

Jan 26 (SAMN) TMVP leader Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan MP (alias Karuna) said that everyone should realize that the final benefits of this war victory will not be for the Sinhala people but for the Tamil people of the country. Speaking at a gathering of political activists at the Nuwara Eliya Town Hall, Muralitharan said that he had tried to persuade LTTE leader Prabhakaran to join the democratic mainstream but it was to no avail.“ more..

Jan 26 (SAMN) Close on the heels of the capture of Mullaitivu, the government is slated to dissolve the Western, Uva and Southern Provincial Councils (PCs) this week before going for a general election by the middle of this year, political sources said. There had been talks in the inner circle of government on the proposed dissolution of the remaining three PCs, with some members of the ruling coalition insisting on the need to dissolve the Western PC first and the other two later. more..

Jan 26 (SAMN) There has been a sharp increase in the reported number of dengue cases in Colombo City during the month of January, Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam Chief Medical Officer of the Public Health Department, Colombo Municipality said Sunday. The total number of dengue victims reported from the Colombo Municipal area is 79. The number of cases recorded from Modera alone is 30. "This situation is serious in comparison to last year," more..

Jan 26 (SAMN) For the first time Sri Lankan blue-collar workers are being offered employment opportunities in Australia. This is mainly for the construction work undertaken by the Heliosdevelopment building company in Australia. “Australia depends on migrants and it has plenty of lands. It has a twenty million population, similar to the population of Sri Lanka,” said Managing Director, Heliosdevelopment, Australia, Shanaka Jude Silva. more..

Jan 26 (SLA) AS advancing troops are now rolling into the remaining VISUAMADU LTTE fort, troops continued to confront several pockets of terrorists in the general areas of VISUAMADUKULAM, south of PULIYANPOKKARAI, east of DHARMAPURAM and southeast of PULIYANPOKKARAI throughout Sunday (25). A fair number of terrorists lost their lives during those clashes when they miserably failed to take the troops head on. Search and clear operations that followed afterwards found seven LTTE dead bodies, more..

Jan 26 (PISL) Amongst the many statements that came out after the horrifying murder of Lasantha Wickramatunga, I was particularly struck by that issued by the Civil Rights Movement of Sri Lanka. CRM started nearly forty years ago, when Human Rights were not fashionable, and it has continued to work without much fanfare or financial inputs, which perhaps helps it to be comparatively objective in its straightforward commitment to Rights. more..

Jan 26 (DN) The Government has embarked on several agricultural and irrigational development plans in North Western Province for the empowerment of the livelihood of the low-income group people in the province. The three leading ventures among them are “Wari Pubuduwa” a joint programme by Japanese and Sri Lankan Government, the Dry Zone Livelihood Support and Partnership Programme funded by International Fund for Agriculture Development and the “Deduru Oya” project. more..

Jan 26 (DN) The entire nation, from the ‘Line Rooms’ to the luxurious mansions were paying their greatest and heart-felt tributes to the war heroes who have fought relentlessly to eradicate terrorism from our motherland, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the second triumphant rally, in support of the UPFA candidates contesting the forthcoming Wayamba and Central Province Provincial Council elections to be held on February 14. more..

Jan 26 (Island) The government of Japan yesterday signalled that it was ready to financially back Sri Lanka’s efforts to develop the Eastern Province, liberated by security forces in 2007. Yasushi Akashi, Japanese envoy for Peace-building, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction said that Japan, one of the key supporters of successive Sri Lankan governments, would be among the major contributors in the development efforts of the Eastern and Northern Provinces. more..

Jan 26 (Island) Fighting elements of the 593 Brigade, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Jayantha Gunaratne crossed the Nanthikandal lagoon under heavy resistance earlier in the day and overwhelmed strong LTTE units before a large force moved in. The army said that the lagoon-borne assault had been spearheaded by 7 GW (Gemunu Watch), commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Chaminda Lamahewa. more..

Jan 26 (DM) The only sound that breaks the eerie silence in Kilinochchi today is the intermittent artillery fire by Sri Lankan troops, which can be heard in the distance, and the generator sets that light up what remains of houses in the former LTTE territory. What was once the de facto political capital of the LTTE resembles a ghost town, wiped clean before the last LTTE cadres retreated into the jungles of Mullaitivu. more..

Jan 26 (DM) Sri Lankan born Dr Rodney Amarasinghe Arambewela is among the 536 people named in the Australia Day 2009 honors list by the Australian government which was announced today. Arambewela has been honored for his service to the Sri Lankan community through the development of cultural and educational programs and the promotion of Australia-Sri Lanka business relations. more..

Jan 26 (CI) Sri Lanka's selectors have retained the 15-man squad that beat Pakistan 2-1 for the first three ODIs of the five-match series against India. Sri Lanka, who recovered from losing the first game in Karachi to clinch the recent contest, have now won three ODI series since their 3-2 defeat to India at home in July-August 2008. The decision means Chaminda Vaas continues to be out of the one-day set-up. more..

Jan 26 (LBO) Tourist arrivals into Sri Lanka last year fell sharply from its main markets of India and Britain whose currencies also depreciated significantly against the dollar. Tourist industry analysts said that the downturn in tourism could worsen this year because of the weaker currencies and economic slowdown in key visitor generating markets. Total tourist arrivals in to Sri Lanka in 2008 were down 19.9 percent to 438,475 from a year ago, more..

Jan 26 (IL) “We are urgently requesting the Tamil Tigers not to station themselves among the people in the safety zone and fire their artillery – shells and rockets at the army. This will only increase more and more the death of civilians thus endangering the safety of the people,” states the Bishop of Jaffna Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Savundaranayagam in a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa calling for the extension of the Safety Zone for civilians more..

Jan 26 (IFRC) As you enter Nilanthi’s backyard in a resettlement village in Dadalla - a small community three miles from the southern Sri Lankan coastal city of Galle - you’re immediately drawn to her lush green garden, full of fresh papayas, pomegranates, bananas, okra, squash, kankun and spinach. However, it serves a much bigger purpose than meets the eye. The plants are growing over a household seepage bed to help purify wastewater and at the same time, allow the plants to flourish. more..

Jan 26 (G&M) When he saw the pair of young women walking up to his front door, Anthony T knew his family had not escaped. Months before, he had at last succeeded in scraping together loans for $50,000 (U.S.) and paid a smuggler to get his son to Canada as a refugee claimant. He got his oldest daughter into pre-college bioscience studies. He thought, then, that his children might be spared. But 18 months ago, recruiters for the LTTE came to the home of Mr. T, 57, more..

Jan 26 (IHT) Sri Lankan government forces continued to hem in ethnic Tamil guerrilla fighters Monday, a day after the military said it had captured the last major rebel-held town, raising fears about the fate of civilians trapped behind the front lines. Mullaittivu was the last major rebel garrison town controlled by the LTTE. The LTTE, fortified with ground troops, a naval force and even fighter planes, had ruled a vast swath of northeast Sri Lanka, running their own police force, courts and tax-collection system. more..

Jan 26 (AT) With the capture of Mullaitivu town by the Sri Lankan armed forces on Sunday, the LTTE has lost the last town under their control. The Tigers, whose writ once ran across Sri Lanka's Northern and Eastern provinces, are now bottled up in the Puthukkudiyiruppu and Vishwamadu areas of Mullaitivu district. The Tigers are now not just in retreat, but on the run. But where is the LTTE chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran? That is the big question on the minds of the armed forces as they advance deeper into Tiger territory. more..

Jan 26 (BBC) The Sri Lankan army says it is fighting the Tamil Tigers in their remaining jungle bases after taking the last key rebel town of Mullaitivu on Sunday. The military says it is advancing into the 300 sq km (115 sq mile) triangle of land in which the Tamil Tigers are still operating. Army commander Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka has said the war is "95% over". There is no word from the rebels. The pro-rebel TamilNet website has again accused the army of shelling civilians. more..

Jan 26 (Reuters) Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party (DMK), a key regional ally of the union government has put off until next month a decision on withdrawing support from the coalition over the escalating conflict in Sri Lanka, the party's leader has said. The chief minister of Tamil Nadu, whose party opposes the Sri Lankan government's offensive against the Tamil Tigers, threatened to pull out unless New Delhi pushed for an immediate ceasefire. more..

Jan 26 (IPS) While the Sri Lankan army has announced the capture of Mullaitivu, the last bastion of the LTTE, the plight of more than 250,000 civilians caught in the fighting continues to be as grim as that of civilians in Gaza, say those involved in humanitarian work. The defence ministry’s website said that the army had "gained total control over the Mullaitivu township after completing mop up operations". more..

Jan 26 (AP) The United Nations' top official in Sri Lanka says "many" civilians have been killed in the latest round of fighting in the country's bloody civil war. U.N. resident coordinator Neil Buhne said Monday that the situation for the thousands of civilians trapped in the war zone with dwindling food stores was a crisis. In recent weeks, the government forced the rebels into a broad retreat and boxed them into a small patch of jungle in the north. more..

Jan 26 (AFP) Sri Lankan government troops on Monday pushed deeper into the last pockets of jungle still held by the Tamil Tigers after capturing the rebels' final urban stronghold and military headquarters. Soldiers overran Mullaittivu, a northeastern coastal town held by the Tigers for over a decade, on Sunday -- three weeks after taking Kilinochchi, their political capital where they had their own courts, police and a bank. more..

Jan 27 (Reuters) Shares jumped 3.19 percent on Monday, to a 2.5 month closing high on surging investor confidence driven by the military's capture of the last big rebel-held town over the weekend. The rupee hits a new all-time closing low on importer demand for dollars. The All-Share index rose 56.25 points to 1818.06, to its highest close since Nov. 13. The bourse is up 21 percent so far this year after falling 40.8 percent last year more..

Jan 27 (MSN) Tillakaratne Dilshan has been vice-captain of the Sri Lankan team, but a loss of form and inconsistent performances had led to him being dropped from the squad for some months. Dilshan, however, got another opportunity to prove his worth to the Sri Lankan one-day team recently, and so far he has made the most of his recall to Mahela Jaywardene's team. more..

Jan 27 (CI) Nuwan Kulasekara, the Sri Lanka medium-pacer, has climbed to No.2 in the ICC rankings for ODI bowlers after an impressive run of performances since his return to the team in April 2008. In that period, he has taken 40 wickets at an average of 18, including five wickets in the last two ODIs of the series against Pakistan, where he wrecked the top order to help his team win both the games by sizeable margins. more..

Jan 27 (ZN) A brutal civil war that has gripped Sri Lanka for the last 30 years and has claimed over 65,000 lives is now drawing to a close. Is this statement realistic? Well, the future will unravel the answer. But the current scenario indicates that Sri Lankan forces will, this time, weed out the Tigers from the jungles of the country’s north. The LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers, is a separatist group in Sri Lanka. more..

Jan 27 (LG) Yet another senior journalist has come under attack, just two weeks after the killing of Lasantha Wickramatunga. Early Friday morning, Upali Tennekoon, editor of the Sinhala weekly Rivira, was waylaid while on his way to work and assaulted by four men on two motorcycles. The President ordered an investigation, once again. Tennakoon is not a critic of the government or a figure of controversy; consequently the attack on him has immeasurably strengthened the feeling that no journalist is safe. more..

Jan 27 (BBC) Journalists, trade unionists and civil rights activists accuse the Sri Lanka government of being responsible for recent spate of attacks on media. Activists have braved the climate of fear to protest in Colombo against the assault on chief editor of Rivira weekly, Upali Tennakoon. Mr. Tennakoon was attacked and stabbed by an unidentified group on Friday. Police say no arrests have been made so far. more..