Nov 11 (wsws) The trip by a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation from Sri Lanka to the US late last month was hailed by Tamil parties and media as a decisive step forward in the recognition of the rights of the Tamil people. It ended ignominiously, however, with diplomatic snubs by senior American and UN officials, demonstrating once again the futility of the TNA’s appeals to the major powers to force the Sri Lankan govt to make concessions. more..

Nov 11 (Island) Unemployed graduates would launch their newest protest campaign demanding immediate jobs from the Southern Province tomorrow. Media Spokesman for the Combined Union of Unemployed Graduates Dhammika Munasinghe said that their members would protest in Matara and Galle. He said that they organized a series of public seminar in parallel to the protest and it would be held at Matara YMBA hall and Galu Urumaya hall in Galle at 2.00pm. more..

Nov 11 (Island) UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya said that the people will not take urgent Bills that the govt will present in Parliament in future seriously following the manner that it steamrolled the Expropriation Bill in the House on Wednesday. This Bill was also passed in the House as a matter of priority by the govt and in the same manner that the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was brought about in Parliament as more..

Nov 11 (N24|7) The UAE may be the Pakistan cricket team’s adopted home with support to match, but at the first One-Day International at Dubai Sports City on Friday, there will also be a touch of Sri Lanka in evidence. That is because among the crowd will be a papare band, playing a style of music that is common place at cricket matches from Dambulla to Hambantota and everywhere in between, including the capital city Colombo. more..

Nov 11 (Island) A bloody clash between two student factions of the Kelaniya University’s Science Faculty early morning yesterday resulted in six undergraduates being injured. Two of the injured were admitted to the Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Ragama and the other four, were treated and discharged from the Ragama and Kiribathgoda hospitals. One student faction had slashed their rivals with knives as the latter were on their way to more..

Nov 11 (DM) Police could not record a statement from MP Duminda Silva who was injured in the shooting incident on Oct 8, because he was lying unconscious in the hospital bed,” the govt informed Parliament today. Leader of the House Nimal Siripala de Silva said that Mr. Duminda Silva sought treatment in the intensive care unit of Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital from October till November 1. After that, he was taken abroad for further more..

Nov 11 (DM) The economic fate that befell Greece due to the spending of US$13.5 billion for the Olympics in 2004 would befall Sri Lanka too if a massive Rs.265 billion were spent for the Commonwealth Games in 2018, the JVP warned today. JVP MP Vijitha Herath said that the amount is nearly one fourth of the govt’s estimated revenue for next year. He said that Sri Lanka could not afford to bear such a large expense for a mega sports event. more..

Nov 11 (GC) SRI Lankan Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal is boasting that Hambantota already has the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the bag. Mr Cabraal today told journalists in the Caribbean that the Hambantota bid team, of which he is co-chair, had done the numbers and was confident of winning. "We are cautiously optimistic," he said. "You could interpret that as a confident position. It would be naive to say that we did not do a number count." more..

Nov 11 (DM) As leaders of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries meet in the Maldivian atoll of Addu for the 17th summit, it is time to take stock and see whether the grouping representing one fifth of the humanity has achieved its goals. In April last year, SAARC celebrated its silver jubilee with the summit being held in the Bhutanese capital of Thimpu. Since that summit where the leaders openly admitted to the SAARC'S failure and more..

Nov 11 (LBO) Sri Lanka's stock exchange has suspended two firms, a hotel and a sugar company, which were named in an expropriation law which was passed Wednesday in parliament. Land in Pelwatte Sugar, a unit of listed Distilleries group of Sri Lankan businessman Harry Jayewardene is also listed for expropriation. Pelwatte Sugar said in a stock exchange filing that it is awaiting instruction from the Treasury and was unable to comment on the implications of the bill. more..

Nov 11 (IOL) The SA Maritime Authority will investigate any environmental threat posed after a gutted Sri Lankan vessel was located off Witsand, in the Western Cape. Last month, four Sri-Lankan fishermen abandoned ship when their vessel caught alight. They spent days adrift before Stilbaai’s National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) volunteers brought them back to shore. NSRI spokesman Craig Lambinon said their fishing trawler Deshan Lanka had been found more..

Nov 11 (LBO) Stocks closed firmer Friday but trading sank to a new recent low with uncertainty over a business expropriation law adding to the negative sentiment. All Share Price Index rose 0.25 percent to 6,332.47, while the more liquid Milanka index rose 0.31 percent to close at 5,651.87, according to stock exchange figures. Turnover sank to 394 million rupees with most players staying on the sidelines. Transactions in John Keells Holdings accounted for the highest turnover more..

Nov 11 (GDI) Steps have been taken to increase the number of coast guard vessels in the Northern maritime border of the country to prevent unauthorized fishing activities being carried out by Indian Trawlers. Director General of the Coast Guard Dept Rear Admiral Daya Darmapriya said that the department is due to receive five vessels from the Sri Lankan Navy, and deployment of these additional vessels would help further tighten observation activities of the Northern sea. more..

Nov 11 (LBO) Two Sri Lankan visa applicants for travel to the United Kingdom were arrested this week when their attempt to use fake identities were detected with the help of fingerprints scans. "Two Sri Lankan visa applicants have been arrested this week for using deception and false identities to apply for UK visas," the British high commission said in a statement. They were referred by the UK Border Agency to the CID police in Colombo. more..

Nov 11 (LBO) Sri Lanka founded MilleniumIT, now a part of the London Stock Exchange group said it will provide securities trading and clearing technology to the Delhi stock exchange. "We are delighted to have been chosen to provide trading and clearing technology solutions to the Delhi Stock Exchange," Tony Weeresinghe, chief executive of MillenniumIT and head of global development at London Stock Exchange group said in a statement. "India is a dynamic and fast developing market and more..

Nov 11 (DM) The Sri Lanka Ports Authority has 2000 employees in excess of the required number, and a heavy loss is incurred by paying salaries to them on an annual basis, the Auditor General observes. According to the Auditor General’s report, though the Authority is overstaffed, 500 more employees have been recruited during the last two years. The Ports Authority is run at loss annually. Also, it is observed that some land properties belonging to the Trincomalee Habour more..

Nov 11 (CT) “On human rights and media freedom problems, Vitharana instantly became offensive, and regretted that the international community did not understand the situation on the ground. He praised the President as being ‘admirable’ on improved relations with countries such as Iran, Libya and China when the west was so weak now economically speaking” the US Embassy wrote to Washington. “He thanked the U.S. for pushing Sri Lanka closer to China more..

Nov 11 (PTI) Six Indian nationals have been arrested in Sri Lanka's eastern province on charges of abusing visit visas by indulging in textile trading. The six, who had arrived here on visit visas, were found engaged in textile trading in the eastern town of Kalmunai, police said. They were selling textiles in a roadside market when they were arrested, police said, adding the six would be produced before the Kalmunai magistrate. India is among 78 countries, more..

Nov 11 (PTI) Over 150 gold biscuits worth Rs 4.5 crore allegedly smuggled from Sri Lanka were today seized from a car in Nagapattinam district and two persons arrested in this connection, police said. Acting on a tip-off about gold being smuggled from Sri Lanka to Chennai Airport via Kodiakarai in Nagapattinam district, customs officials carried out intensive vehicle checking in the coastal area. At Paravai village near Vailankanni, the officials stopped a car and more..

Nov 11 (Hindu) The Joint Working Group on Fisheries, the mechanism that India and Sri Lanka set up to resolve the vexatious problem related to fishing in the narrow stretch of waters separating the two countries, will meet in Colombo soon, officials said. “We are looking at dates in December. Both sides are still working out suitable dates,” said an official who is part of the Group. An earlier meet of the Working Group, scheduled for last month, more..

Nov 11 (DM) The police department has been able to complete only 50 per cent of criminal cases reported annually since 2004, Parliament was informed today. During the first nine months of this year, 40,560 cases were reported but only 16,406 of them have been resolved. According the documents presented in the House by the govt, 59,662 cases had been reported in 2004, and of them, only 31,267 cases had been resolved. In 2005, 60,946 cases were reported and 31,539 resolved. more..

Nov 11 (AN) Fr Michael Rodrigo, an Oblate of Mary Immaculate (OMI) was murdered on 10 November 1987. Known as Fr Mike to everyone, he carried out his mission in the predominantly Buddhist village of Butthala. Over time, locals came to accept this man who learnt about their religion and respected it to the point of founding the Christian-Buddhist Dialogue Centre. By promoting love and nonviolence, Fr Mike shared in their struggles and for this reason he was killed. more..

Nov 11 (IANS) Even as it publicly advocated peace when the Sri Lankan conflict was raging, India quietly informed Norway that the LTTE must be "put in its place", reveals a Norwegian govt sponsored study on why the peace process failed in the island nation. The exhaustive document, released here Friday, shows that New Delhi's sympathy lay with Colombo vis-a-vis the LTTE as the peace process began to slowly unravel from 2003-04. more..

Nov 11 (ISG) Nalin Attygalle, chief executive of the Hambantota 2018 bid, has made a final plea to voters to take the Commonwealth Games to Sri Lanka by highlighting the fact that the competition has never been to the country. Hambantota will find out later today whether they or their sole rivals, Gold Coast of Australia, will stage the prestigious 2018 competition with the vote set to take place at the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) General Assembly here. more..

Nov 11 (DM) Some 80% of unemployed graduates in the country are women who struggle due to no available income which will have grave social and economic implications if the govt does not address the problem, the Combined Association of Unemployed Graduates said today. The association threatened to go on an all-island protest next week if the govt did not provide jobs for over 40,000 unemployed graduates in the country. The association’s Convener Dammika Munasinghe said more..

Nov 11 (LBO) Sri Lankan lawmakers expressed deep concern over a hastily passed expropriation law, which they said arrogated judicial and executive roles to elected members, undermining a constitutional separation of powers and violated property rights. "This bill has been drafted with no regard to the basic process of legislating," opposition lawmaker and lawyer Wijedasa Rajapaksa said at the debate of the law in parliament Tuesday. more..

Nov 11 (HT) Digital Media Committee at the Federation of Nepali Journalists, Online Journalists Association of Nepal (OJAN) and Nepal Chapter of Internet Society have expressed their concern over the Sri Lankan govt’s move to block several news websites and imposing mandatory govt registration of the news websites. The Sri Lankan government had blocked five news websites recently on the charge of character assassination and insulting people including key political leaders. more..

Nov 11 (AD) United National Party MP Harin Fernando today (11) stressed the importance of UNP leaders working unitedly to avoid a third party from taking over leadership. Under the current situation, all three leaders of the UNP need to work unitedly. If not there is room for a third party to take over leadership of the UNP, without these three leaders, the Badulla District Parliamentarian said. The person who comes forward, to carry on with the fight against the govt, more..

Nov 11 (DM) Minister Bandula Gunawardana said the Education Commission would come up with a range of recommendations with a mechanism to improve educational and natural abilities of a student notwithstanding whether he or she was successful in the GCE O/L or GCE A/L exam. It will be a student centred system but not exams centred system from 2013, Minister stressed. He said the changes were introduced in accordance with the recommendations of the Education Commission that more..

Nov 11 (GDI) With the country experiencing the beginning of a long-term boom in tourism, private sector firms have increased their investments to enter the leisure and hotel industry which has a bright prospect in respect of investor returns. Three companies have signed agreements with the BOI to commence three hotel projects investing over 47 million U.S.Dollars. These three companies are Softlogic City Hotel Ltd, The First Resort Ltd and Sun and Fun Resort Ltd. more..

Nov 11 (BBC) Norway has granted 2.5 billion NOK ($366million) to Sri Lanka from 1997-2009, a report issued by Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) stated. The money has been provided to the Sri Lankan govt, Norwegian and Sri Lankan non governmental organisations (NGOs) and the Tamil Tigers, according to Norad evaluation report on Sri Lanka’s peace process. The report says that the funds provided to majority of Sri Lankan NGOs more..

Nov 11 (PRIU) The Special Task Force (STF) Police are conducting a series of rehearsals on servicing the motorists on the country's first high speed expressway. The traffic control of Colombo - Galle toll expressway is vested on the STF and the STF officers are being educated on special traffic laws applied on the expressway and trained on practical aspects regarding the control of traffic. The elite arm of police, normally specializing in VIP security and more..

Nov 11 (DM) Two men and 11 women who were found guilty of running a brothel under the guise of a massage parlour at Sellamuttu Avenue in Kollupitiya were sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment by a Colombo Court today. The first accused Sudath Rohana of Ragama was charged for running and administrating the brothel and ordered to pay a fine of Rs.200,000 in addition to the jail term. The second accused Lionel Rathnasiri of Padukka was also ordered to pay a fine of Rs.100,000 more..

Nov 11 (CI) Sri Lanka's batsmen betrayed a shocking lack of stomach in moderately helpful conditions for the bowlers, to crash to an eight-wicket humbling in the first ODI in Dubai. After losing the toss, Pakistan rolled the years back with a vintage bowling display - their fast bowlers softened the prey, before the allrounders and spinners came on to make incisions. Sri Lanka responded with indecisive prods, and a rash of strokes each uglier than the previous. more..

Nov 12 (Island) The discussion and debate over the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement [CEPA] with India drags on, with reservations being now expressed by some parties, regarding the transparency of the negotiations. They complain that the relevant stakeholders were not consulted. R. M. B. Senanayake in the ‘ Sunday Island’, has dispelled these false notions of the influential group of business people, that there was no transparency in the CEPA negotiations. more..

Nov 12 (Island) Please allow me to share my own thoughts about the ‘Revival of Underperforming Enterprises and underutilized Assets Bill’. The handling of this matter by the govt raises two types of issues. Firstly, the manner in which the controversial bill was rushed through parliament without giving adequate time for the affected parties and the general public to express their views, calls into question the oft repeated commitment of the govt to democracy and good governance. more..

Nov 12 (GV) When Dr A T Ariyaratne, founder and president of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri Lanka, turned 80 years on 5 November 2011, felicitations poured in from all over the world. This spontaneous act was an indication — if any were needed — of how much and how widely he has touched the lives of millions. For someone with global stature, Ahangamage Tudor Ariyaratne is completely devoid of pomposity. In a career spanning six decades, more..

Nov 12 (Island) With Guy Fawkes Night or the Gun Powder night of the British passing without much fire on November 5, the big publicity blow up in the UK and other parts of the world where those who still remain with the LTTE is Mahaveer Day. It is the day in November each year, when Velupllai Prabhakaran marked his birthday with a lengthy, often boring and also complaining exhortation to Tamils the world over, and especially to Sri Lankan Tamils, to support the LTTE’s brutal more..

Nov 12 (NS) The Asia-Pacific region accounts for 60% of the total world population. Out of the 10 countries worst hit by natural disasters eight are in the Asia-Pacific region. The recent floods in Pakistan, Thailand and earthquake in China stand as testimony to the problems posed by natural disasters to this region. Although Sri Lanka is not frequently ravaged by such disasters, the Asia-Pacific region as a whole is often at the mercy of nature’s fury. This is why UNESCAP more..