Nov 1 (SO) Chances are that almost everyone in Sri Lanka has taken a ride in a three wheeler at least once. The ubiquitous three wheeler can be seen even in the remotest parts of the country and indeed, in some areas it is the only lifeline to the nearest hospital in case of an emergency. Introduced to Sri Lanka around 1978, the three wheeler has become the common man's mode of transport three decades later. more..

Nov 1 (IL) The 86-year-old cunning, southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu politician, Muthuvel Karunanidhi, popularly known as Kalaigner, entered politics at the age of 14. He was inspired by Alagiriswamy of the Justice Party's speech, and has done nothing for the Tamil society for their empowerment, although he claims he is working hard for the Tamils' empowerment and to establish their rights. more..

Nov 1 (SO) Although the 1956-59 MEP regime brought about a transformation in the country beneficial to the commoners, it was also a period of turmoil as well. It was the language issue that took the most serious turn of events. When Sinhala was made the State language, the Tamil parties launched a civil disobedience movement. Although after making Sinhala the State language provisions for the reasonable use of Tamil was mooted but they were never properly implemented. more..

Nov 1 (NS) More than 60 prospective investors have applied to build hotels in the newly proposed 8-kilometre tourism zone on the Kuchchaveli coast, Tourism Ministry Secretary George Michael said yesterday. Most of the applicants are joint collaborations with foreign investors, it is learnt. Michael said a crucial meeting among all stakeholders in the proposed project, expected to inject hundreds of millions of dollars in investment into Trincomalee District more..

Nov 1 (ST) The melodious trill of the White-rumped Shama is distinct in the stillness of the forest. The swishing of leaves and the calls of the other birds of the wild add to the serenity. In the shade under the canopy, we make our way through boulders up the stone steps – it’s a brisk half-hour of climbing. Pidurangala is a massive rock similar to Sigiriya, said to be just four feet short of the height of Sigiriya. more..

Nov 1 (NS) Being located in the environs of the Sinharaja forest reserve, surrounded by massive mountains and streams, it has a cool climatic effect with lush green tea and rubber estates surrounding the complex. The location being away from the hustle and bustle is ideal for relaxation. This highly desirable weekend retreat site patronised by locals as well as foreigners – the Kukuleganga Holiday Resort is located on a valley of rubber plantation in Uskvalley in Molkawa off the banks of Kukuleganga River. more..

Nov 1 (NS) The new Supreme Court Registrar is said to have sent by registered post early this week available records of two cases wanted by the Bribery and Corruption Commission to begin the probe against former Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva following a series of complaints lodged against him in relation to two cases heard by Supreme Court Benches headed by him. more..

Nov 1 (NS) Whether one likes it or not, there is no escaping the election fever that is slowly, but surely, engulfing the nation. Free from the scourge of terrorism, at long last after 30 years, Sri Lanka is preparing for the first countrywide free and fair elections in over three decades- and the momentum is clearly picking up. At present, speculation centres around several key issues: Which elections- presidential or general- would be held first, and more..

Nov 1 (Island) Sri Lanka is seeking access to a group of Sri Lankan Tamils held in Canada following intelligence reports that some of them are members of the LTTE. The suspected LTTE cadres, including some of those believed involved in the group’s clandestine shipping operations, were apprehended recently while approaching the Canadian coast in an LTTE-operated ship. A senior government spokesman told The Sunday Island that representations had been made to the Canadian High Commission in Colombo in this regard. more..

Nov 1 (Island) The Attorney General’s Department has called for reports from the police and other relevant authorities on three remand prisoners – two former army soldiers and a civilian woman – incarcerated in the Jaffna prison, to ascertain whether the law has been fair by them, a top official said last week. "We are looking into these three specific cases to find out whether justice has been done as the inmates continue to languish in jail", more..

Nov 1 (Island) With Presidential and Parliamentary elections expected in early 2010, the Opposition wants at least 75% of around 200,000 IDPs remaining in northern refugee camps to be resettled in their original homes by the end of this month. An Opposition delegation headed by UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya, which called on the Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake on Friday, had asked him to raise with the government the more..

Nov 1 (Island) The minimum rate agreement gazetted under the Tourism Act last month preventing star class hotels from virtually giving away premium rooms at next to nothing prices came into force today and will hopefully benefit Colombo’s city hotel industry. "It will certainly help the smaller hotels that have been virtually squeezed out of the market," a big player said on condition of anonymity. more..

Nov 1 (ST) While Australia and Indonesia are engaged in diplomacy to resolve the problem of the growing number of Sri Lankan asylum seekers drifting into their seas, the people-smuggling racket originating from the eastern coast of Sri Lanka is continuing unabated, the Sunday Times learns. Young men desperate to get away from the country are paying anything between Rs. 150,000 to Rs. 500,000 to board a deep-sea fishing trawler with the hope they can make it to Australia and claim asylum there. more..

Nov 1 (Island) The unceasing call from all sectors of Sri Lankan society appears to be for the abolishing of the executive presidency. Having lived through and experienced first hands the pitfalls and dangers of this system for more than 30 years, Sri Lankans have reached the unanimous conclusion that the executive presidency is not only a serious threat to the principles of democracy upon which this republic was founded, but also a plague on society at large. more..

Nov 1 (ST) President Mahinda Rajapaksa indicated to his ministers on Wednesday that the presidential election will be held first but warned some of them to stop their clandestine relationships with opposition parties. The remarks came in a highly emotion-charged speech he made when the weekly Cabinet meeting neared its end. He told ministers that last Sunday he had addressed some 4,000 Pradeshiya Sabha members. more..

Nov 1 (ST) Barely six months after Tiger guerrillas were defeated militarily; Sri Lanka's political landscape is fast changing. After that defeat in May, this year, the UPFA Government found itself in a solid rock, unassailable position. Then, the exacerbating euphoria drowned the voices of the opposition and crowned the UPFA as an unshakable Government. Is that glory now waning both locally and internationally? more..

Nov 1 (ST) When Ambassador Patricia A. Butenis steps out through a side door of Jefferson House, her official residence, she reinforces the media image of herself. Angular, straight-faced, a fleeting smile before the face sets again, neutrally; walking towards us is a diplomat who will clearly not mince her words, nor her intentions. Then, she pulls the rug from under our feet and defies expectation by deviating from her character-typical script. more..

Nov 1 (NS) More than 1,486 Tamil families are unable to peacefully resettle in their homes in Trincomalee, Vavuniya and Batticaloa due to unlawful and widespread occupation of state land by members of the majority community, according to Tamil politicians. “There are more than 500 families of the majority community who have set up houses and are cultivating paddy in areas that were previously occupied by Tamils before the war intensified,” more..

Nov 1 (LT) The second round of top-level consultations between Sri Lanka and India since the military defeat of Tiger terrorism will get under way in New Delhi soon. This is when a three-member delegation comprising Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa leaves for New Delhi. The delegation is to brief Indian leaders and senior officials on a variety of issues. more..

Nov 1 (Hindu) A technical team of the Sri Lankan Railway underwent ‘hands-on’ training at the Diesel Traction Training Centre (DTTC) in the city on various aspects relating to diesel locomotive mechanism and its maintenance recently. This is for the first time that a railway team from Sri Lanka had undergone theoretical and practical training at the DTTC, attached to the Tiruchi Diesel Loco Shed, more..

Nov 1 (Hindu) Amid growing debate on the merits of Chief of Defence Staff Sarath Fonseka entering the presidential race, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said there is no question of the government permitting any person in uniform entering politics. In a lengthy interview to The Island published on Saturday, Mr. Rajapaksa lashed out at a section of political leaders who have been openly talking about supposed differences between the President and General Fonseka, more..

Nov 1 (AFP) Sri Lanka called on US authorities to drop plans to interview the island's military commander over allegations of war crimes against ethnic Tamil rebels, an official said Sunday. The Colombo government held "very high-level" talks to prevent General Sarath Fonseka, currently visiting Oklahoma, from being quizzed over his conduct during the conflict against the Tamil Tigers, the official said. more..

Nov 2 (CI) I have never watched cricket more intently. Australia in India 2000-01, and the 2005 Ashes were both engrossing drama, but neither made me want to not miss any part of them as much as India in Sri Lanka, 2008, did. Sehwag played the innings of the year in Galle, Murali was his devious self, Jayawardene silken, the umpiring decision reviews had to be watched, Ishant bowled a rousing spell, but it was Ajantha Mendis who demanded every ball be watched. more..

Nov 2 (TN) 596 IDPs from Ampaarai district transferred from Vavuniyaa internment camps have been stranded in their villages without any dwelling facilities and help, civil society sources said. Many IDPs are forced to stay with their relatives and friends. The Ampaarai IDPs, who are former residents of Poththuvil, Thirukovil, Aalayadivembu, Kaaraitheivu, Navithanveli and Kalmunai, were brought in four stages from Vavuniyaa and sheltered in transit camps more..

Nov 2 (IL) Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov met his Sri Lankan counterpart President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday 1st of November in Colombo. He arrived on a two day state visit to Sri Lanka on Saturday evening after having been to South Korea and Australia. The two leaders discussed several issues related to the bilateral ties between the two countries. The Bulgarian President is accompanied with his wife Zorka Parvanov, more..

Nov 2 (LG) My sojourn in China was part of my first sabbatical, which meant paid leave. In the 1990s, Moorhead State had an exchange program with Tianjin University in China that encouraged faculty on sabbatical to participate in this program. Tianjin agreed to pay me a supplementary salary of ¥ 1,500 per month and accommodate me in a unit at the university’s International Guest House in exchange for teaching English composition. more..

Nov 2 (LG) The current issue of the UN forum newsletter has this to say about Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Rohita Bogollagama. "As the government of Sri Lanka is getting wide international scrutiny for its treatment of a serious humanitarian situation, it would be assumed that when given a chance, by CNN, its main spokesman, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, will be lucidly presenting its view point. Alas, it was not to be. more..

Nov 2 (LG) When elections are around the corner ‘international conspiracies’ are quite potent stuff for the parties in power. SLFP matriarch Sirima Bandaranaike found it pretty useful. ‘International Conspiracies (Antharjatika Kumaanthrana) are being hatched against me,’ she used to declare quite often when domestic problems got out of hand. Of course she did face two conspiracies that were strictly indigenous – the attempted coup d’etat of 1962 and the parliamentary coup where her MPs crossed over, more..

Nov 2 (LG) Is Sri Lanka to be transformed into a dynastic democracy, a One Family State behind a democratic façade? The regime is not coy about its aim – a two thirds majority in parliament, and through it a political tabula rasa on which to draw a new constitution tailor made for the dynastic needs of the Rajapakses. Without a two thirds majority, even an outstanding victory for Mahinda Rajapakse at the presidential election will be but an incomplete triumph. more..

Nov 2 (LG) 18th of November 2009 - the hotheads in the political establishment will be celebrating six months of the victory over the LTTE. It is timely to analyse, why Sri Lanka that heavily invested on the defeat of the LTTE for its future progress is evidently progressing to fail. The war that was conducted to defeat the evil LTTE was an immoral war. A country that is embedded in the just preaching of Lord Buddha failed to follow his guidance of truthfulness, more..

Nov 2 (LG) Sources benefiting from human trafficking confirm that the traffickers are paying up to Rs10 lakhs to the immigration officials at the Bandaranayake International Airport to bypass the immigration rules to leave the country. The transactions are very sophisticated and well organised and said to be carried out from outside the airport premises. The officers only deal with the organised groups as they are more reliable than individuals. more..

Nov 2 (LG) Q: First of all, tell me something about your childhood? What was it like being the son of Mervyn de Silva? A: Well, I suppose, the best answer is to give you some observations from other people. Governor of the Western Province, SLFP elder statesman and veteran trade unionist Alavi Moulana was kind enough to give me a lift, on the way back into town from the airport, when we returned from Vietnam, more..

Nov 2 (LG) Reports that the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has summoned former Sri Lankan Army Commander and present Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who is currently in the US on holiday, for a meeting has raised many an eyebrow in diplomatic and political circles in Colombo. Opinion is divided on the US move: Some wonder whether the meeting has anything do with the process of granting US citizenship to the general, more..

Nov 2 (WT) Your editorial "Undermining Sri Lanka" (Opinion, Wednesday) belittles the death of more than 20,000 Tamils during the government of Sri Lanka's war on Tamil separatists this year. Even worse, it overlooks the fact that it is no secret that government military forces fired heavy mortars into civilian "no fire zones" demarcated by their own government. The editorial does injustice to Israel by comparing the Sri Lankan mono-ethnic more..

Nov 2 (AT) Sri Lanka Bulgaria Business Forum as organized by the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) was held on Sunday morning in Colombo. While the Bulgarian Business Delegation led by Bulgaria’s Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister Traicho Traikov, Minister Prof. G.L Peiris participated at the Business Forum representing the Sri Lankan Government. more..

Nov 2 (AT) Alavi Moulana, the Governor of Western Province said that the ILO is a body in the forefront of Sri Lanka working hard during the past 25 years towards improving the standards of the working class. Thus ILO has done a yeomen service with the cooperation of the ILO Director and has ratified many conventions. Its services for the up-liftment of the working class are much commendable. more..

Nov 2 (Reuters) State sector workers in Sri Lanka will take industrial action from Nov. 11 for more pay, a senior trades union leader said on Sunday, even as the government tries to slash spending to meet the terms of an IMF loan deal. State power, water, oil and port workers will do no work outside their assigned duties or working hours under their work to rule protest, said Ranjan Jayalal, more..

Nov 2 (SLW) "Let us not divide the country. Let us divide water to all and provide electricity to all. Let us activate the "Grama Raja"(rural kingdom) concept based on the historic foundation of mutual cooperation." Many rivers flow into the sea without being of service to anybody while floods cause havoc in certain places. There are many waterfalls that can produce electricity that flow down unused. more..

Nov 2 (BBC) Sri Lankan government sources say the US government is seeking to question Sri Lanka’s military chief, General Sarath Fonseka, about alleged war crimes said to have been committed by the Sri Lankan army earlier this year. The military chief is currently on a visit to the US. But American officials have declined to confirm the accounts. more..

Nov 2 (National) The president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, flush from a stunning military victory over Tamil separatist rebels who had resisted government forces for nearly 30 years, wants Sri Lankan expatriates to keep their faith in the motherland and support its post-conflict development. Mr Rajapaksa has summoned a meeting on November 14 and 15 of Sri Lankan expatriates in Colombo at his official residence to more..