Oct 25 (NS) Ex-Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva will now have the ignominy of having to go through a bribery and corruption investigation followed by possible prosecution in courts as a result of a series of complaints lodged in relation to two cases heard by Supreme Court benches headed by him. Bribery and Corruption Commission Chairman Justice Ameer Ismail said that they were awaiting the two case records. more..

Oct 25 (NS) As the petroleum workers’ work-to-rule drags on over the non-granting of due salary increments, the country is heading for a standstill with trade unions of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Water Supply and Drainage Board and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority also vowing to join the oil workers’ trade union action, if Monday’s discussions too fail. Meanwhile, about 40% of the buses were not able to operate by noon yesterday as more..

Oct 25 (NS) The Provincial Council elections may have been concluded barring those in the North, and the focus of attention has now shifted to greater stakes: the presidential and general elections. It is still likely that presidential elections would be held first, for history favours this move. On the only occasion when an incumbent President opted for a general election first was when stand-in President Dingiri Banda Wijetunge did so, and more..

Oct 25 (NS) A crucial meeting on Monday of the UNP Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) members in Trincomalee would decide if they would go ahead with the no-confidence motion against Health Minister M.L.M Hisbullah despite claims that the Minister has made immediate permanent appointments of 240 health volunteers early this week. UNP member of the EPC Arasaratnam Sasitharan told The Nation, that the UNP had no qualms about going ahead with the no-confidence motion but more..

Oct 25 (NS) The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) replied promptly, much to the residents’ gratitude, to being alerted by The Nation of extremely dusty conditions down Horton Place. The road, being renovated under the 100-day road development programme where signal lights are to be synchronised, is under construction, but had not been watered to combat dust since Thursday evening. more..

Oct 25 (AAP) Greens Leader Bob Brown has urged the federal government to consider sanctions against Sri Lanka amid concerns about the treatment of the nation's Tamil population. More than 250,000 people remain in camps in Sri Lanka after being displaced as a result of a long-standing civil war, which came to an end earlier this year. Australia should be helping to stem the flow of asylum seekers by ramping up pressure on Sri Lankan authorities, Senator Brown said. more..

Oct 25 (SL) The UNP last week declared that the government was now indecisive over holding a presidential election amidst reports that a senior member of the armed forces was planning to contest the election. Addressing a news conference last week, UNP MP Gayantha Karunatileke also criticised government ministers for putting their duties aside to concentrate on election related activities. more..

Oct 25 (Island) Mr. S.L. Gunasekera, a long time warrior for the cause against non-appeasement of the LTTE and a military solution to the problem of terrorism that bled Sri Lanka white over a period of nearly three decades, placed his finger on the spot when he said in an article published in the leader page of The Island on Monday that "this damned nonsense must stop: and stop NOW." Always candidly outspoken about his views on the only way to end the scourge of terrorism, more..

Oct 25 (ST) Eclipses have fascinated humans through recorded history, and astrologers in Lanka have imagined two planets "rahu" and "ketu" being the head and tail of a mythical dragon to explain them. An eclipse of the Sun, is one of those spectacular displays of nature you must watch in your lifetime. Although there are at least two solar eclipses each year somewhere on earth, they are however rare in any particular location, since the central path is less than about 250 km wide. more..

Oct 25 (Island) SLFP dissident Mangala Samaraweera, MP yesterday accused Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa of misleading the House while responding to a query regarding political advertisements on state-run Rupavahini and ITN raised by JVP MP Ranaweera Pathirana. Yapa agreed that there were outstanding dues on account of campaign ads placed with state-owned television during previous elections and Samaraweera who placed those ads must pay. more..

Oct 25 (ST) Oman has threatened to cancel SriLankan Airlines flights to its capital Muscat and block the use of its airspace for SriLankan flights if the Sri Lankan government fails to adhere to a bilateral agreement between the two countries, the Sunday Times learns. The crisis follows the Sri Lankan government's refusal, on the advice of SriLankan Airlines, to allow Oman Air, that country's national airline, to resume flights to and out of Colombo, more..

Oct 25 (IANS) Sri Lanka has 'very close' and 'very special' ties with China but there is unlikely to be a defence relationship between Beijing and Colombo, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollogama has said. Asked how he saw the China engagement going, Bogollogama told Singapore's Straits Times newspaper Saturday: 'It is very close and I call it very special because they have supported our economic agenda and us politically in the Security Council.' more..

Oct 25 (ST) A 68 page US State Department report presented to Congress on Thursday contains details of alleged “atrocities” by both the military and Tiger guerrillas during the final stages of the war in May this year. The report prepared by the War Crimes office in the State Department lists 170 incidents between May 2 and 18. It is based mostly on internal reports to Washington from the US Embassy in Colombo, satellite imagery, international relief organizations and media outlets. more..

Oct 25 (ST) Even if a front-page report in the Sunday Times last week by the Diplomatic Editor did not lead to much discussion, the related events were still chilling. President Mahinda Rajapaksa sought a meeting with India's High Commissioner Alok Prasad on Thursday (October 15) evening. There were fears of an attempt that night, to destabilise the democratic system through illegal means. It was in short, the fear of a mutiny in the Forces engineered by those disgruntled with the Government. more..

Oct 25 (Island) An unprecedented UNP-JVP alliance against President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the next presidential election is now almost certain with the two parties agreeing to combine forces to thwart the incumbent President from winning a second term with an overwhelming majority. The UNP and its allies, including SLFP dissident Mangala Samaraweera agree with the JVP that a common front against executive presidency is possible though they may not agree on more..

Oct 25 (ST) Disruption of the fuel distribution network compelled filling stations countrywide to shut down yesterday as fears grew of strikes in other vital sectors such as electricity, water supply and the ports. Workers in these sectors complain that the absence of budget proposals next month showed that the government will not fulfil assurances given to them over wage hikes. Instead the government will table a vote on account on November 3. more..

Oct 25 (Island) Responding to growing US, EU and UN criticism of victorious Sri Lankan forces over alleged war crimes in their battle against the LTTE, the government said that an attempt was now being made to undermine the Rajapaksa administration ahead of forthcoming elections. The government said that this was an attempt to transform Sri Lanka’s successful war against LTTE terror to UPFA’s biggest liability in more..

Oct 26 (IE) “Doctors running the risk of catching infection need not panic, just pay attention to prevention and quarantine methods,” said Nimal Siripala De Silva, minister of health care and nutrition, Sri Lanka and the President of the World Health Assembly. In the city today to address the convocation of the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32, De Silva addressed the problem of the H1N1 virus infecting doctors, who are treating patients at hospitals. more..

Oct 26 (DC) Nisha Rani, a Sri Lankan woman, who was jailed for visiting India with a fake passport to search for her lover, refused on Saturday to return to her island nation saying she still wanted to find her man. There were dramatic scenes at the airport here after Nisha refused to board the aircraft and also tore up her travel documents and the emergency visa cleared by the Mannur court in Andhra Pradesh. more..

Oct 25 (SMH) Fears over the deterioration of freedom of speech in Sri Lanka have intensified after a newspaper editor was seized by police and questioned. Chandana Sirimalwatte was accused of "arousing the general public against the Government", after he published a report about tension between it and the military chief, General Sarath Fonseka. Other journalists have been threatened with kidnapping and assault five months after the civil war ended. more..

Oct 26 (WSJ) Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam built a business by being at the center of the action. Trading favors and cultivating a network of friends and professional contacts, he tapped into a flow of market-moving information that circulated in Silicon Valley, Wall Street and beyond. Now the question is whether 52-year-old Mr. Rajaratnam got too close to the action. He is the focus of the most high-profile insider-trading case in a generation, more..

Oct 26 (LG) Who says Sri Lanka has gone off the international media radar after the internal conflict ended in May? Consider this string of events in the past 10 days: * The IMF to ascertain whether a Vote-on-Account instead of a budget would have an impact on the $2.6 billion standby credit facility to Sri Lanka, with the second tranche due any moment now. * Dozens of Sri Lankan would-be asylum seekers land on the shores of Indonesia and Canada demanding a safe haven more..

Oct 26 (LG) We have surpassed the dream of former British Prime Minister Lloyd George of making Britain a land fit for heroes. We are now having an overflow of them in Lanka and some of these heroes are attempting to make zeros of their fellow heroes and vice versa. In the contemporary history of this island, in our opinion, there is one indisputable hero, the first Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake. more..

Oct 26 (LT) Executive presidency could be compared to the position held by a leader of a barbarian tribe says Leader of the JVP group of Parliamentarians Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Just as everything was decided according to whims and fancies of the tribal leader then, under the executive presidential system everything happens according to the needs of the President pointed out Mr. Dissanayake. more..

Oct 26 (LG) The former Army Chief, General Sarath Fonseka, the person who was not bestowed with an honorary doctorate for his achievements by our state controlled universities is held in high esteem by the people for defeating the LTTE outright. Awarding honorary doctorates for political reasons is the current thinking of the pseudo intellectuals in our universities who easily subscribe to political pressures or do things to obtain favours to get promotions and postings. more..

Oct 26 (LG) General Sarath Fonseka has become the most important political topic today. Not that he has done any political intervention; on the contrary he says that he has no intention to come into politics. But some of his statements made during the conduction off the war were definitely political and directly in line with the unitarist Sinhala chauvinist view point. Also he appears to have committed to the view that every thing and more..

Oct 26 (LG) The forward path of Sri Lanka Guardian since its formation is not an easy one. It has earned its reputation for its broad based inclusive approach and for publishing news and views surpassing all the boundaries and hurdles put on its way by the conditionality of the state of governance in Sri Lanka When the media in Sri Lanka came under draconian control by the assassinations, detentions of journalists and more..

Oct 26 (BBC) The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) says it will join hands with any party to abolish executive presidency in Sri Lanka. JVP parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, MP, told BBC Sandeshaya that it will not hesitate to join main opposition, UNP, or any other Tamil party for that purpose. He insisted however that the JVP is not party to the opposition alliance that is formed by the UNP against the government. more..

Oct 26 (BBC) The Sri Lanka military has confirmed that the security forces are re-arresting displaced people suspected of former LTTE members released from Vavuniya camps. Acting military spokesperson, re-arrested suspected former rebels are sent back to rehabilitation camps in Vavuniya. He was responding to allegations by a pro-government politician that Tamil war displaced released from Vavuniya camps are being re-arrested in Trincomalee camps. more..

Oct 26 (LBO) Doctors and accountants top the outflow of skilled professionals from Sri Lanka, seeking better opportunities in developed countries, a study on migration has said. The island faces a shortage of skilled people in many fields, according to the report on the migration outlook for Sri Lanka done by the Institute of Policy Studies, a think tank, for the International Organisation for Migration. more..

Oct 26 (TA) A Senior member of the Australian Tamil community says former Tamil Tiger fighters are definitely among the influx of boatpeople to arrive on our shores. Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations secretary Victor Rajakulendran said the high proportion of young men on the boats, coupled with the risks faced by the Tigers in Sri Lanka, made it certain some arrivals were members of the defeated LTTE. more..

Oct 26 (PTI) A two-year-old girl miraculously survived after being hit by a speeding train in north western Sri Lanka, a media report said on Sunday. Ishani, who is now receiving treatment for a fractured hand and an eye injury in Anuradhapura, was hit by the train outside her home on Tuesday. TV footage by a local channel showed the girl flaunting her toys at the onlookers in the hospital with a smile, unaware of her escape from the jaws of death. more..

Oct 26 (LBO) Workers at Sri Lanka's state-owned oil refiner said they plan to resume normal work Monday, ending a four-day work-to-rule action that created fuel shortages. Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) labour unions launched the action Thursday to back demands for a pay hike. Their action disrupted fuel supplies, resulting in long queues outside filling stations. more..

Oct 26 (TC) There is now a brewing political storm over former Army Commander, Sarath Fonseka being projected or talked of as a prospective “Common” presidential candidate. Although none is sure of what elections it would be, if at all there is going to be one, this “common candidate” is being now canvassed through many forums with President Rajapaksa expected to declare his own presidency over, in a month or two. more..

Oct 26 (IL) Sri Lanka High Commission in London celebrated Deepawali Festival on 24th with participation of a huge number of Sri Lankan Hindu, Christian, Buddhist and Muslim people. The event was commenced with Hindu religious observances by His Holiness Kurukkal Shree who blessed Sri Lanka and the gathering. High Commissioner Justice Nihal Jayasinghe addressing the gathering said, “I believe that there is another meaning in celebrating Deepawali for Sri Lankans today. more..

Oct 26 (TOI) Union home minister P Chidambaram’s assertion that Naxalites are acquiring arms from abroad is only the tip of the iceberg, as central intelligence agencies have found fresh evidence of joint training camps and meetings conducted by the Red guerrillas with Tamil Tigers in the forests of south and central India. Does it indicate that Maoists are getting logistic support and training from LTTE? Are the Maoists and the Tamil Tigers brothers in arms? more..

Oct 26 (GDI) The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka granted investment approval for Aero Sense Limited to manufacture aircraft components for international aircraft and helicopter manufacturers. Dhammika Perera, Chairman / Director General signed the agreement on behalf of the BOI and formally presented the BOI Certificate of Registration to K. J Westman, Director of Flinth Industrial Park. more..

Oct 26 (PSM) Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan cautioned the govt. on state assisted illegal colonization in Tamil Muslim areas of the Eastern province in an adjournment debate in Parliament today. He demanded to freeze all these illegal Sinhala settlements as soon as possible. If not the TNA would be reluctantly compelled to take alternative steps, he announced. more..

Oct 26 (LG) At crucial moments in the past five years, the JVP was instrumental in changing the course of the country’s history. The question is why has it ended today seemingly as a minor, though vociferous, player in the political scene? The day after the 2004 general election the country woke up to a realization that with nearly 40 members of parliament the JVP had phoenix-like risen from the ashes of a bloody past. more..

Oct 26 (LG) This story is best told in pictures. It’s the story of planet Earth and its place in the universe. Once upon a time, long before the Hubble Telescope, humans thought that Earth was the center of the universe. Now we know that Earth is a mere speck in the still expanding universe, 90 percent of which is dark matter. Buddhist philosophy asserts that the universe is a giant cooperative network, which operates in consonance with paticca samuppada more..

Oct 26 (LG) The honour of winning the war should go to former Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka, said the National Organiser of the UNP, S. B. Dissanayake recently. “The Man of the Match in this victory achieved on the battlefield is General Sarath Fonseka. If someone says that this is not so, then that is just being envious and evil-minded. Sarath Fonseka has now been thrown into the gutter. He is hurt and those in the forefront in battle have been dispersed all over the place,” more..

Oct 26 (wsws) The Sri Lanka government last Thursday carried out a much-publicised “resettlement” of around 6,000 Tamil detainees held in internment camps near Vavuniya. Every aspect of the exercise was a fraud designed to deflect criticism at home and internationally over the detention of Tamil civilians following the defeat in May of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). more..

Oct 26 (FT) Sir, Your argument for extending Sri Lanka’s “GSP+” access to the European Union market is plausible but specious (“Tigers and trade”, editorial October 21). There might be a good case for extending this concession to all developing-country imports, but no one is suggesting that. As things stand, Sri Lanka is one of only 15 countries in the world to receive this treatment, and the only one in Asia. more..

Oct 26 (DM) To offset any possible rice shortage due to a failed harvest during the Maha Season resulting from a delay in monsoon rains, the government has decided to import a buffer stock of 50,000 tonnes of rice, Minister Bandula Gunawardane said yesterday. He said the prolonged drought had drastically reduced the water levels at major tanks and reservoirs in the Mahaweli areas and this had delayed the start of paddy cultivation in more..

Oct 26 (AT) The government has taken effective measures to develop the agriculture sector in Mannar district, Northern Province Governor (retired) Major General G.A.Chandrasiri told the Asian Tribune. “The major obstacle which the farmers face in the area was the mines which had been buried by the LTTE in the three decades long civil war period. more..

Oct 26 (MoD) The National Youth Services Council (NYSC) made arrangements to celebrate Deepawali festival at all welfare villages established in Cheddikulam, Vavuniya. Entertainment programs, sports activities for children and different cultural shows are among the schedule events which will take place throughout the day at the welfare villages. The defence.lk team visiting Vavuniya welfare villages witnessed one of the series of more..

Oct 26 (AT) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has directed the Defence Minister to send a team of experts to Sri Lanka to help in speeding up removal of mines in the war-ravaged Mannar, Killinochi and Mullaitivu districts to pave the way for speedy resettlement of uprooted Tamils now living in make-shift camps in Vavunia. This was stated here on Saturday by Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K V Thangabalu who more..

Oct 26 (HA) The first regional Conference of SAWM (South Asian Women in Media) was held at Avari Hotel in Lahore on October 10th and 11th 2009. The theme of the conference was “Women in Media- Challenges, opportunities and Partnership”. Nearly 200 women journalists from eight South Asian countries- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka participated in the two regional conference. more..

Oct 26 (LT) His parents have not still invited him to join the political process says President of ‘Tharunayata Hetak” organization Namal Rajapakse. He said certain people are trying to spread rumours that he was trying to enter politics through ‘Tharunayata Hetak’ organization. Mr. Rajapakse said this addressing the annual sessions of the youth organization of the SLFP in Kegalle District held at Town Hall in Kegalle yesterday (25th). more..

Oct 26 (LT) If getting GSP+ tax relief is a betrayal of the sovereignty of the country why did the President and his government agreed to GSP+ and sign agreements asks UNP MP Kabeer Hashim. Mr. Hashim said, “These agreements have been signed by the ministers of the present cabinet while they were ministers in the previous government. If signing the agreement for GSP+ was betrayal of the sovereignty of the country, more..