Nov 20 (SL) Lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit up once again in our life time, Musings of Edward Grey, British statesmen, looking out of his London Foreign Office window at dusk on the eve of the outbreak of the First World War. The lights have been going out with regularity in Sri Lanka too – not street lights but the lights of democracy – the right to life, freedom of expression and other basic human rights. Whether these lights of more..

Nov 20 (LB) Hambantota 2018 co-chair Ajith Nivard Cabraal talks to LAKBIMAnEWS about the failed bid to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Sri Lanka. Q: At the Commonwealth Game 2018 voting held at St Kitts, Sri Lanka put on an over the top gala show with nearly 200 people there. Were you absolutely certain – dead sure — we would win the bid? What made you think so? A: If you print your LAKBIMAnEWS in black and white and have news items and more..

Nov 20 (NS) Ven. Mahamankadawala Piyaratana Thera during the struggle to save the Eppawala Phosphate deposits from multinational corporations and others who have no regard for traditions, traditional knowledge systems or sustainability prerogatives once claimed that the people of the area take their petitions to the ‘Jaya Siri Maha Bodheen Vahanse’ and the local deity who protects the good and punishes the evil, Kadavara Deiyo. ‘All those who attempted to ravage more..

Nov 20 (LB) A court of law has pronounced judgment on the highly controversial White Flag case, and a sentence has been duly handed out. There were emotional scenes after the Order was read out, but prolonged untoward incidents have been avoided. There are those who would maintain that the entire issue has political colorations. Politics in a democracy would play out in various ways; there can be the politics of the hustings, or the politics of street protests and mass agitation. more..

Nov 20 (NS) UNP co-deputy leader Sajith Premadasa refuted suggestions that he was very silent in the recent past and said that he was critical of the govt whenever he felt the administration was indulging in anti people activities and he was going ahead with his political activities vibrantly as usual. “I do not criticise the govt just for the sake of doing it but bent more of forming a UNP govt. We cannot sit in the Opposition forever. I am working with more..

Nov 20 (TC) Statement made at the New H u manism Initiative, UNESCO, Paris on 15th November, 2011. Louis Althusser who dominated the field of radical philosophy here in Paris in the 1970s, once said “I am only a philosopher”. Now I am not even a philosopher, speaking for myself, I am only a political scientist; though I have strayed through the realm of political philosophy back into ethics. I suggest that we look at the topic in terms of more..

Nov 20 (TC) Yoganathan Ratheesan, 35, says he has no idea how he made Lebara such a success, but admits he is good ‘at running things’. Yoganathan Ratheesan was 25 when he co-founded Lebara. Ten years on and the business of selling cheap international mobile phone calls to migrant workers in Europe and Australia is snowballing. With 3 million active customers, Lebara is already bigger than Tesco Mobile. The firm made €21m (£18m) in pre-tax profits last year and more..

Nov 20 (ST) Now the political election cavalcade is over for the time being. Suddenly out of the blues out came the Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage, announcing the dissolution of the incumbent Upali Dharmadasa’s Interim administration by the 14th of this month. Subsequently, the minister pronounced that the elections would be held as stipulated by the ICC by Dec 15, 2011. However the present interim committee could have gone on till 2013 before more..

Nov 20 (Island) The govt, in the shape of a Central Bank statement issued on Thursday, moved to at least partly defang the Revival of Underperforming Enterprises and Underutilized Assets Act that is now in the statute book. This happened as realization dawned that the country, aggressively seeking foreign investment, had in the perception of informed opinion shot itself in the foot. Questions have been raised by globally respected rating agencies like Fitch and more..

Nov 20 (ST) It is unlikely that there would be any serious attempt to discuss the merits and demerits of the split judgment that on Friday found Sri Lanka's war-winning General and former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka guilty on one of the three charges against him in what was commonly referred to as the "White Flag' case, details of which are reported on another page in this issue. The majority decision against the former Army Commander will no doubt be appealed against, more..

Nov 20 (DBS) LTTE faction led by Segarampillai Vinayagamoorthy alias Vinayagam has suffered a major setback in Britain. LTTE Vinayagam faction is in a quandary because it is unable to conduct the”Maaveerar Naal”(great heroes day)on Nov 27th as planned. Earlier the Vinayagam faction scored over the faction led by Nediyavan(Perinbanayagam Sivaparan)by booking the Excel hall for the event. The EXCEL which was used in the past by the LTTE to more..

Nov 20 (NS) This week saw two politically significant events coincide: the anniversary of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidency and the verdict of the so-called ‘white flag’ case in which former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka was the accused. While the President’s anniversary was celebrated on relatively lower key, it is the ‘white flag’ case that attracted much attention. Its outcome was awaited not only in Sri Lanka but internationally as it was related to the controversial more..

Nov 20 (NS) The functioning of a number of local government bodies comfortably won by the UPFA has suffered a crippling blow from the conflicts between the heads and the ruling members of these bodies. The chairmen of some councils were not able to hold the inaugural sittings due to boycotts staged by the ruling party members. At some other councils the resolutions moved by the chairmen have been defeated due to the members of the ruling party voting against them. more..

Nov 20 (CI) The batting Powerplay played its role in adding to the excitement of the World Cup, often tripping up a batting side coasting towards a large score or jumpstarting a flagging chase. The rules have been tweaked since and though the Powerplay is now taken earlier, it continues to add an element of unpredictability to the game, and was pivotal to the results of the previous two one-dayers between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. more..

Nov 20 (Island) A crowd had assembled near the Colombo High Court complex from around 10.30 in the morning on Thursday, the day the judgement of the ‘white flag case’ was delivered. Sarath Fonseka, the accused in the case had been brought to the courts by 11.00 am and the three judges came on the bench at 11.30 am. By noon, Fonseka was declared guilty of one of the three charges and sentenced to three years in prison. By that time, the crowd had swelled to around 200 people. more..

Nov 20 (LB) Ranil Wickremesinghe is waxing eloquent about democracy and the International Democratic Union sessions in London, having totally compromised party democracy and installed a party dictatorship, say the UNP rebels. This is why, they, this week decided to charge sheet Ranil Wickremesinghe and put a stop to his posturing on professed democratic values. We carry that charge sheet elsewhere in this newspaper, and almost needless to say some of the charges more..

Nov 20 (NS) Members of the two factions of now split JVP will go before court shortly over the ownership of the party name as the Somawansa Amarasinghe faction alleged that certain individuals were misusing the party name having left the party. JVP MP Vijitha Herath said that the party has already obtained legal opinion to file cases against members who had left the party and were conducting public meetings, media briefings and meetings using the JVP name. more..

Nov 20 (ST) Addressing the recent SAARC heads of state summit, President Mahinda Rajapaksa made a perceptive remark that the "benefits arising from economic development do not automatically percolate down to the grassroots level". In fact, he was articulating a basic principle of Sri Lanka's economic and social policies since independence. It is precisely because of this that this country has had greater success in reducing poverty and ensuring upward social mobility. more..

Nov 20 (ST) My Dear Sarath, I thought I must write to you when I heard that yet another court had sentenced you to one more term of imprisonment. Although this is nothing new for you now, I am sure you must still be disappointed with the events of this week. And there was a difference this time too. Previously you had been tried by military courts and you were saying that those who tried you were your junior officers who had reason to be vengeful towards you. more..

Nov 20 (ST) The budget for next year will focus more on measures to reduce the cost of living than on salary increases, Minister Basil Rajapaksa said. President Mahinda Rajapaksa will present the 2012 Budget in Parliament tomorrow. “We are focusing more on increasing productivity and thereby reducing the cost of living,” he said. He said, for instance, the govt would focus on improving the livelihood programmes such as ‘Divi Neguma’ where agriculture more..

Nov 20 (LB) Only 26 out of thousands of candidates who sat the Foreign Service open competitive exam have passed the written test and been called for interviews, External Affairs Ministry sources said. A total of 3,480 sat the Open Competitive Examination for Recruitment to Grade III of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service. Only a miniscule 26 scored the 300 point aggregate with 40 per cent marks from each paper. This would mean only 0.747 per cent of candidates passed. more..

Nov 20 (LB) Kadawatha police is conducting investigations to arrest a suspect for causing grievous injuries to both his wife and mother-in-law after an extra-marital affair of the suspect had come to light. Kadawatha police said that after the suspect’s wife had discovered his extra-marital affair with another woman, he, on being confronted, had consumed alcohol before causing grievous injuries to the wife and her mother. The two women have been admitted to the Ragama hospital and more..

Nov 20 (NS) The final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) will be handed over to the President Mahinda Rajapaksa today. Spokesperson for the now defunct LLRC, Lakshman Wickremasinghe said the report would be handed over to the President today at 11am. The LLRC was dissolved on November 15 after the completion of its final report on its findings and submissions given by various personalities and members of the public. more..

Nov 20 (SO) The National Alcohol and Tobacco Authority (NATA) said yesterday that printing cancer related pictorials on cigarette packets along with written warnings on smoking could deter youth from smoking. According to a spokesman for NATA nearly 22,000 Sri Lankans mainly those underaged die annually from tobacco related products. NATA Chairman Prof. Carlo fonseka told the Sunday Observer that the need to print cancer related pictorial warnings on cigarette packets has more..

Nov 20 (SO) The Ministry of Health has called upon all Sri Lankans to observe a minute’s silence at 10:00 a.m. today to mark the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. The United Nations commemorates the third Sunday in November as the Day of Road Victims. Sri Lanka also marked a Road Safety Week from November 14. Six people are killed daily in traffic accidents in Sri Lanka while two are injured every hour. A crash is reported every 10 minutes. more..

Nov 20 (SL) Senior Tamil journalist J. S Tissainayagam denied allegations that he “admitted his complicity” to an offence in order to gain a Presidential pardon. The allegation was made on November 9, when a delegation led by Presidential Counsel and Senior Legal Adviser to the Cabinet Mohan Pieris answered questions raised by the Committee Against Torture on whether the Convention Against Torture was being properly implemented. more..

Nov 20 (SL) The Petroleum Resources Ministry says it was compelled to rethink a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with Iran to expand the Sapugaskanda oil refinery owing to lack of funds. Iran and Sri Lanka inked the MOU in 2008 but Sri Lanka was recently accused of violating the agreement forcing Iran to suspend the project. The US dollars 1800 million MOU was to see Iran invest 70 percent of the funds for the project while Sri Lanka had to invest the rest. more..

Nov 20 (ST) It was believed that plastic money was safer than cash, but now it could take you to the cleaners given the alarming number of credit card scams that have been detected in the country. Employees working at fuel stations, shopping malls, supermarkets etc. where credit cards are widely used are involved in these various scams. A credit card specialist said the main contributory factor for the increase in card fraud incidence here was that the merchants who accept more..

Nov 20 (LB) The UNP dissidents have alleged that party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has attempted to seduce several young male politicians to have homosexual relations with him, according to a ‘charge sheet’ handed over to the party’s general secretary Tissa Attanayake, last week. Charge number 16 of the document refers to an alleged incident in which the UNP leader had tried to seduce UNP MP Buddhika Pathirana into ‘an illicit homosexual relationship with him.’ more..

Nov 20 (NS) Local Government elections for the two divisions in the Mullaitivu District where polls were not conducted would depend on the pace of the de-mining activities and the level of resettlement, the Elections Commissioner’s Department said. LG elections were not conducted in the Puthukkudiyiruppu and Maritimapattu Divisions at the last local government elections in the North due to the delay in the resettlement process affected by the de-mining activities in the area. more..

Nov 20 (LB) Around two-thirds of media communiques that are issued by the Police Department relate to incidents of rape of women, child molestation, and other cases of paedophilia. According to the Police Department they deal with more than 2000 cases of rape and child molestation, annually, and cases that are common in the recent past are those of rape perpetrated on women who are in 60-70 age group by youths who are in their 20s. On the other hand, more..

Nov 20 (SO) President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his capacity as Finance and Planning Minister will present Budget 2012 in Parliament tomorrow. The budget would be development-oriented with the aim of making Sri Lanka the “Wonder of Asia” by 2016, according to Government sources. This will be the 65th Budget to be presented since Independece. Budget 2012 will be the third Budget of the seventh Parliament. The Budget Estimates for 2012 will more..

Nov 20 (NS) Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka’s conviction appeal was to seek a five member Supreme Court bench, Fonseka’s counsel, Nalin Ladduwahetty said. However, the Supreme Court reserves the right on the number of members on the Bench to hear the appeal. Fonseka was sentenced to three years in jail and was fined RS. 5,000 in the ‘White Flag’ case last Friday (18). Fonseka has to serve an additional six months in prison if he fails to pay the fine. more..

Nov 20 (LB) After discovering the second gas well, Cairn Lanka (Private) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cairn India Limited is going ahead with the drilling of the third well in the Mannar Basin, company sources said. The fifth generation drillship, Chikyu, engaged for this drilling campaign is being mobilized to reach the location of the third well in order to begin further exploratory drilling. After discovering natural gas deposits in one of the eight blocks in more..

Nov 20 (ST) The fallout from the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas two and a half years ago reverberated many ways in this week's events. Main among them was Friday's majority High Court judgment where former General Sarath Fonseka was convicted and sentenced to three more years in jail and fined Rs 5,000. He was to serve a further six months if the fine was not paid. Earlier in the week, a senior US defence official used the "Galle Dialogue," more..

Nov 20 (Island) Senior Professor Gunapala Nanayakkara of the Postgraduate Institute of Management (PIM) of Sri Jayewardenepura University has been interdicted with suspension of salary and directed not to enter the PIM premises with effect from Nov. 15. The interdiction decision had been taken by the Council of the University at its meeting on November 9 after considering a report prepared by the Accounting and Audit Firm Ernst & Young on financial malpractices more..

Nov 20 (ST) The CID has made a breakthrough in its investigations on illegal takeover of lands belonging mainly to those who have migrated. The investigations were launched on a directive by Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa following complaints that land mainly belonging to people who had gone abroad had been illegally taken over using forged deeds and documents. More than 15 complaints have been received from Sri Lankan Tamils who had left the country during the three-decade civil war. more..

Nov 20 (ST) The SAARC sammit in the Maldives was a nightmare for most participants including heads of delegations. Unlike the previous summits in the capital Male, the venue this time was the southern Addu atoll. A onetime British airbase which is now used by charter flights bringing in tourists was the landing area for special flights. The heads of state or govt stayed in one resort, delegates in another and a third was used as the convention centre. more..

Nov 20 (Island) An investigation has been ordered into the death of an infant at the Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital (SJGH) following allegations of medical negligence, it was revealed last week. The mother had been admitted to a ‘normal ward’ three days earlier but when she developed labor pains a delay in attending to her had led to the death of the child, preliminary inquiries had revealed. more..

Nov 20 (SL) The CID is yet to make a move towards arresting UPFA MP Duminda Silva for his alleged involvement in the murder of Presidential Advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra. Silva, who was taken overseas earlier in the month for medical treatment, would have to be arrested with Interpol assistance and the CID has not yet sought such assistance. The Sunday Leader learns that the CID has sought the Attorney General’s advice more..