Oct 2 (LG) Fury of a woman knows no bounds. Worse, when she is powerful and arrogant but yet failed to achieve her goals. Such is Hilary Clinton. The mighty Secretary of State failed to tame Sri Lanka. The failed Presidential aspirant, knowingly or unknowingly, received terrorist funding for her election campaign and was compelled to return the cash to comply with the law. Notwithstanding her strenuous efforts she could not save the lives of more..

Oct 2 (GDI) The Samurdhi Development Authority has spent over Rs.1026 million to develop 3,060 villages in 317 Divisional Secretariat divisions throughout the country this year. The project has been launched in line with the 'Gama Neguma' master development drive stipulated in Mahinda Chinthana. Areas focused are infrastructure facilities, livelihood and spiritual values of the Samurdhi beneficiary families. more..

Oct 2 (LP) Hundred students from across Sri Lanka were yesterday awarded the Mahatma Gandhi scholarships by the Indian Mission in Colombo on the eve of Gandhi Jayanthi. Sri Lankan Minister Susil Premajayantha presented the scholarships to students at a function organised by the Indian High Commission. The students were selected from all the 25 districts on the criterion of "merit-cum-means" and on the basis of their performance in O/L & A/L examinations in 2008, more..

Oct 2 (GDI) A Colombo bound office train from Avissawella collided with a lorry believed to have been parked alongside the railway track in Navinna, Maharagama around 8.45 this morning. The train had dragged the lorry to a fair distance damaging houses on either side of the track. The Department of Railways has already commenced preliminary investigations in to the incident, he added.

Oct 2 (GV) “Nearly 20,000 escape from IDP centres was the headline of an English language broadsheet yesterday. The strap line read –“Most believed to be LTTE cadres”. The article quotes the SSP for Kandy Ranjit Kasturiratna as saying this at a meeting of the Kandy District Coordinating Committee chaired by the Chief Minister of the Central Province Sarath Ekanayake on Monday. more..

Oct 2 (GDI) The National Building Research Organization (NBRO) today said there was no immediate danger of serious landslide due to the wet weather trend in the country. Head of the Landslide Studies and Service Division of NBRO, R.M.S Bandara said that the Organization and the Meteorology Department were closely monitoring the situation pervading due to continuous rains island-wide. more..

Oct 2 (GDI) Under the development plan of the Hambantota district, a new salt factory will be set up by the local entity- Laugfs Salt and Chemicals (Pvt. Limited) in Chitragala s- Ambalantota. Minister of Irrigation and Water Management and Ports and Aviation, Chamal Rajapaksa will lay the foundation stones for the construction of salt factory and the new office complex on 4th October at 10 am. more..

Oct 2 (LT) Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa severely criticized the ‘Yaldevi’ train project telecast on state media on the 30th. Referring to this project he said it “is an unnecessary as well as an unsuitable act that brought about confusion.” He said an inquiry would be held against Mobitel and Dialogue that sent SMS to mobile phones stating the advertisement was an instance that changed history. more..

Oct 2 (GDI) Cabinet granted approval to a Memorandum submitted by the Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon to make the necessary amendment to the Local Government Housing Act No: 14 of 1964 in order to transfer the ownership free of charge of houses rented out to the tenants or occupants on a monthly rent not exceeding Rs.100 by the Local Authorities and submit the draft Act to the Legal Draftsman for drafting the amendment. more..

Oct 2 (GDI) While clarifying the position of the Government of Sri Lanka pertaining to the issue of Generalized System of Preferences (GSP+), Minister G.L. Peiris said the Government will not under any pressure succumb to an international investigation within Sri Lanka as a prerequisite to obtain the facility. “It is a principal issue of our self esteem”, Minister noted. more..

Oct 2 (MoD) The series of celebratory events, designed to coincide with Army's 60th Anniversary under the theme "Victory through Commitment, Dedication, Sacrifice and Professionalism" gets underway from today (2) with commencement of the customary flag blessing ceremony at Anuradhapura Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi precincts. Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya gracing the occasion as Chief Guest will more..

Oct 2 (LP) Cabinet granted approval to a Memorandum submitted by the Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne to entrust the Construction of a new Building for the Building Department with external service for Department of Motor Traffic at Jaffna to state Development and Construction Corporation, deviating from Tender procedure, for about Rs.19 Million at rates approved by the Standing Technical Committee of the Ministry. more..

Oct 2 (UNP) UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said, the President is going on bragging across the whole country on platforms and at conferences that he will not allow any soldier to be charged before the International war Court. But, why doesn’t he go further and also tell the truth that it is I who ensured the safety for the soldiers, and therefore the entire country must thank me?, Ranil asked. more..

Oct 2 (LNW) Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe says that parliamentarian Basil Rajapakse who said the government cannot be intimidated by foreign aid and the country could be developed without foreign assistance has traveled to Brussels with Finance Ministry Secretary P.B. Jayasundera. The Opposition Leader made this statement at a meeting held in Weligama. more..

Oct 2 (GDI) This is the time for the country’s expatriate intellectuals/ professionals and others, to return to their roots and help rebuild the Nation which was destroyed by terrorism, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing at the inauguration of the 103 - annual sessions 2009/ 2010 of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka held at the BMICH yesterday. more..

Oct 2 (LNP) Minister D.M. Jayaratne said a new constitution and new laws were necessary to give equality and respect for all the people. He said that to achieve this the support of all parties including the TNA was necessary. He said as the terrorism raged all over the country for 30 years, has been defeated, the country has now become united and peaceful. But among the minorities including the Tamil people who still believe that their self respect, authority and rights and even the human status have been lost. more..

Oct 2 (LNP) Responding to UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe s recent attack on the Parliament for taking disciplinary action against a minor employee for stealing three Chinese rolls, a senior House official said that the worker had been found guilty previously on a similar charge. He was removed in keeping with a decision to deal sternly with anyone who had been caught with stolen goods regardless of their value. more..

Oct 2 (LNP) Business is a key stakeholder in Sri Lanka s economy. Its own progress and prosperity relies heavily on a stable and peaceful environment within which it could grow. The Business for Peace Alliance (BPA) has created platforms for individual corporate social investment, donor programs, Government corporations and collective efforts to influence a systemic change beyond the capacity of individual endeavours, more..

Oct 2 (LNP) The government has taken a great deal of flak for reviving the Press Council law seen as an attempt at silencing the media. Its leading proponents claim the Press Complaints Commission has proved to be a poor substitute for the Press Council and there is a pressing need for an effective mechanism to protect the people s rights as regards excesses on the part of the media. This newspaper made no bones about its position on the Press Council law in an editorial comment, more..

Oct 2 (LT) This week’s issue of ‘Sarasaviya,’ the newspaper on fine arts published and distributed by ‘Lake House,’ a government enterprise, has been printed as an election supplement of the UPFA. The first and the last pages of this week’s ‘Sarasaviya’ carry photographs of two actresses contesting the Southern PC election from the UPFA. The center pages include their political activities and promises they make to the voters. more..

Oct 2 (LT) The clashes among UPFA candidates contesting the Southern PC election have come to a climax say reports. One of the chief parties of the crisis UPFA candidate Nishanthe Muthuhettigama has given up the election campaign and has come down to Colombo. Mr. Muthuhettigama was critical regarding the unfair treatment he received from the UPFA and the President and this led to various charges against him from the UPFA and other candidates of the UPFA. more..

Oct 2 (MoD) Freedom is not doing everything or whatever you want. It is living while protecting society, social ethics, culture and the country, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka said. Addressing the National ceremony held at Ananda College, Colombo to mark World Children's Day, the Prime Minister said the Government is carrying the country towards that goal and called on everyone to support the Government. more..

Oct 2 (LT) A poster advertising this weekend’s issue of ‘Lanka Irida’ had been put up throughout the island and these posters were being removed today morning in Monaragala area employing workers of the Monargala Pradeshiya Sabha. When we inquired from the Chief Editor of ‘Lanka Irida’ Chandana Sirimalwatta regarding this he said, “Last week, through our newspaper, we revealed something the chief minister of Uva PC had done. more..

Oct 2 (LT) As an election cannot be conducted without posters and cutouts the election law should be amended says Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa. He was responding to a question posed by a journalist who stated that despite the direction by the President to remove all cutouts and posters put up for the election campaign in the South, still there were posters and cutouts displayed and asked what the government was going to do about it. more..

Oct 2 (LP) Keerthi Tennekoon, Media spokesman of Sri Lanka election monitoring mission Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) stated that, because the Elections Commissioner is taking no action against election law violations at the forthcoming Southern Provincial Council elections scheduled to be held on October 10, some of the candidates are openly and brazenly committing breach of election laws. more..

Oct 2 (DN) Donors have provided nearly US$ 196 million to assist in humanitarian efforts for IDPs who fled areas in the recent battles in the North, a Joint Media Release by the Disaster Management and Human Rights Ministry and the United Nations Resident/ Humanitarian Coordinator in Sri Lanka said. This includes over US $ 155 million to projects detailed in the Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP), with the remainder earmarked for humanitarian assistance outside of the CHAP. more..

Oct 2 (Island) "By holding the Provincial Council elections on a staggered basis, exploiting the goverenment’s victory over the LTTE, President Mahinda Rajapakse is wasting millions of public funds and hoodwinking the ordinary masses who are ignorant of the true state of the country. Commencing from the Eastern province polls, he continued to have elections in the North-Western, Western, and Uva provinces and now he is trying to deceive the masses of the South. more..

Oct 2 (DN) Colombo High Court yesterday issued notice on a Police Sergeant in connection with an information provided before the Court that stated a retired Police Inspector, witness of a case was dead while he was alive. High Court Judge W.A.T. Ratnayake issued notice on Police Sergeant Leelaratne of Peliyagoda Police to appear before Court on October 14 when the Court found that retired IP Loku Kodagamage Don David was alive although Leelaratne had informed Court that he was dead. more..

Oct 2 (DN) The Urban Development and Sacred Area Development Ministry has spent Rs. 355 million for the sacred area development program and Rs. 575 million for the Nagarika Dilindu Niwasa Arunodaya (housing for urban poor) program, said Minister Dinesh Gunawardena addressing Ministry staff. He said under the Nagarika Dilindu Niwasa Arunodaya project, the Ministry could provide houses for 4,460 families who lived in urban areas specially in slums with many difficulties. more..

Oct 2 (Island) Transport Minister Dallas Alahapruma said that the CGR, which was running at a loss, would be revamped at a cost of Rs 37 billion. He said the Treasury had branded the CGR as a squandering monster and it was on the verge of being privatized but that would not happen as it is to be developed as a public utility in the near future. Trade unions in the department were unhappy because the internal promotional prospects were slim. more..

Oct 2 (DM) US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did not implicate any party in Sri Lanka during her speech at the UN Security Council on Wednesday when she made a reference to Sri Lanka, the US Ambassador in Sri Lanka Patricia Butenis said. “During the 26-year long war in Sri Lanka, there were allegations of rape and sexual violence, just as in other conflicts. Secretary Clinton’s statement was to raise awareness of such brutality, not to implicate specific perpetrators,” more..

Oct 2 (Island) The UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, has no moral right to talk of patriotism, after having betrayed the nation, the government said. Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, told the Cabinet press briefing in Colombo, that Mr. Wickremesinghe had allegedly betrayed the country on several occasions. "It was during UNP rule that a military safe house in Millennium City came to light, resulting in several officers being killed subsequently. more..

Oct 2 (Island) The OIC of the Wattala Police station, Chief Inspector Janaka Karunasinghe, credited with the arrest of the main suspect in Sri Lanka’s biggest credit card fraud, Anif Mohamed, had been transferred to the Foreshore police. A DIG, allegedly involved with the suspect, had ordered the transfer. Sources said that a police team led by Karunasinghe had arrested the suspect about three weeks ago following a raid on a leading five star hotel. more..

Oct 2 (OC) "Serendip," Arab traders called Sri Lanka ages ago, the "Island of Gems." From this our word "serendipity" is derived, the gift of finding unexpected but beautiful things. This often happened to us on Sri Lanka, for it was once aptly named "The Island of the Blessed," the earthly paradise given to Adam and Eve after they were turfed out of Eden because of that unfortunate affair with the apple. more..

Oct 2 (DM) The mysterious death of a 50-year-old Indian pilot who was serving at the SriLankan Airlines was pronounced a suicide, the police said yesterday. Police Spokesman Senior DIG Nimal Mediwake told Daily Mirror that the victim had reportedly cut one of his wrists in the bedroom on the upstairs of his house near Brown’s Junction in Negombo. He had then come to the stairway and hanged himself using a rope. more..

Oct 2 (DN) Trainees are recruited from Northern and Eastern Provinces to the Ceylon-German Technical Training Institute (CGTTI) this year to improve technical skills of students who were victims of the recently concluded war, Institute Principal G.S. Manchanayake told the Daily News. Vocational training on automobile technology will be given to the trainees and after its completion they will be sent to CTB depots in the area. more..

Oct 2 (AFP) Sri Lanka's military has formally discharged nearly 25,000 security personnel who deserted the army at the height of fighting with Tamil rebels, officials said Friday. Military officials said some 20,000 troops in the army and about 5,000 from the navy and airforce had been taken off the books of their respective units in line with an overhaul of the security forces. more..

Oct 2 (SLW) US Secretary of State Clinton made statement at the UN Security Council saying that rape had been used as a war weapon in Sri Lanka, the Balkans, Burma and elsewhere. She made this statement last Wednesday that in too many countries and in too many cases, the perpetrators of this violence were not punished, and this impunity encourages further attacks. more..

Oct 2 (DM) A controversy arose yesterday over an SMS alert sent out by mobile operators to all subscribers on Wednesday evening phrasing it as a government statement, with the Media Minister saying it was not sanctioned and the Transport Minister saying he took full responsibility for disseminating the text message. The SMS alert that came as a message from the government of Sri Lanka told subscribers to “tune into any local TV channel at 8.05 pm on Wednesday and watch Sri Lanka making history. more..

Oct 2 (AP) A car bomb exploded in northwest Sri Lanka on Friday and wounded 13 people, most of them schoolchildren about to travel in the van, the military said. It was the first major bomb blast reported in the country since government troops crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels in May, after a 25-year insurgency for an independent homeland. Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said a private dispute is suspected to be behind the blast. more..

Oct 2 (IANS) A group of around 10-15 pro-Tamil protesters shouting anti-Sri Lanka slogans barged into the Sri Lankan high commission in Delhi on Friday and damaged some property. Sri Lanka has expressed "shock" over the attack. Sri Lanka has taken up the issue with India's external affairs ministry. "We are shocked. We have taken it up with the external affairs ministry and the Delhi Police. We will also be writing to the ministry," more..

Oct 3 (BBC) The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has expressed regret over attack on the Sri Lankan High Commission in New Delhi on Friday. The External Affairs Ministry said that it would take actions against the perpetrators of the incident. The first secretary of the Sri Lanka High Commission, Sugeeswara Gunaratne said that a group of about 40 individuals who entered the premises of the Sri Lankan High Commission had damaged some flower pots. more..

Oct 3 (LT) Deduction of Rs. 1000 from the September salary of Army officers and soldiers was effected, in order to issue them with the specially designed 60th Anniversary commemorative currency coin to the same value and not for coverage of expenditure incurred in the Anniversary events as stated in some reports, Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said in a statement. more..

Oct 3 (LT) The present government attempts to hide its follies by suppressing social activists says Parliamentarian of the JVP K.D. Lal Kanthe. He said this when he visited the convener of the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) Udul Premaratne who has been remanded. SpeaMr. He said, “The government commenced its programme of suppression by suppressing the media. This suppression has now spread to trade unions as well as social activists. more..

Oct 3 (DBS) It was in 1939 that Eevera Periyar organized the Dravida Nadu Conference for the advocacy of a separate, sovereign and federal republic of Dravida Nadu.In a rousing speech on December 17, 1939,Periyar proclaimed “Dravida Nadu for Dravidians”. This replaced the earlier slogan “Tamil Nadu for Tamils”. July 1940 saw a secession committee being formed at the Dravida Nadu Secession Conference organized by Periyar’s disciple CN Annadurai known as Anna (elder brother) at Kanchipuram his hometown. more..

Oct 3 (LBO) Sri Lanka's rural economy can take a slice of India's 12 billion dollar Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry by catering to the bottom of the pyramid customers who look at costs over optimum service, a foreign investor said. "India does about 12 billion dollars of knowledge base process work; 10 percent of that is a big amount for us," Raj Amirthanayagam, managing director of Revanalytics Solutions Inc., a Canadian technology company, said. more..

Oct 3 (LBO) Sri Lanka's Seylan Bank said its public share issue of 54.29 million shares at 35 rupees a share to raise 1.9 billion rupees has been oversubscribed. "The total capital expected to be generated from both the private placement and public offering will be 3.025 billion rupees," the bank said in a statement. "This issue is primarily aimed at facilitating the future expansion of the bank." more..

Oct 3 (CI) Stellar knocks from Tom Beaton and Nic Maddinson got Australia Under-19 off to a winning start in the five-match one-day series against Sri Lanka Under-19. In a match reduced to 25 overs a side by heavy rain overnight, Australia emerged victorious by 16 runs in Darwin. Sri Lankan captain Chathura Peiris looked to exploit the conditions as he put Australia in but the first breakthrough came only after the openers, more..