May 17 (TC) If one is to go by the opinions expressed in the English press quite a number is for implementation of the 13th Amendment, contained in the Geneva Resolution either fully or partially. Pieris who is sending out ‘a secret document’ to party leaders appears to be in the same frame of mind with a desire to implement the 13th amendment as far as possible. Those who want to make the district the unit of devolution are also working on the same premise. more..

May 17 (DBS) National Unity receives the backing of one and all—saints, sinners, racist killers, communal lovers, fanatics, rationalists and of course all types of politicians including those of the UPFA and UNP. During and after the ’War’ every person who climbed a public platform did not fail to call for national unity. But amidst all this cacophony for national unity we failed to see any advocate pushing for it. Everyone called for it but none did anything about it. Surprisingly Ranil Wickremesinghe and Rajavarothyam Sampanthan decided to more..

May 17 (TC) May, according to the govt, is the ‘Month of War-Heroes’. May began with a soldier killing another soldier and turning the gun on himself. Days later a navy-man committed suicide after shooting a female colleague. The latest murder-suicide incident is the third in three months. On Sinhala and Tamil New Year’s Day, in Galle, a soldier on leave assaulted a Tamil youth for not calling him ‘sir’; that incident ended with nine Tamil houses more..

May 17 (TC) Presented at Tamil Studies Conference Session 3F, University of Toronto, May 12, 2012. Chairman Sir/Madam Chairman, Friends: In this presentation I will attempt to show that Tamil images of our past are full recreations (through suppressed memory, the theme here), to assert our superiority over others and often have little to do with accuracy. Simply put, we look down on others. That is the basis of modern Tamil historiography. more..

May 17 (CT) The leaders of the opposition claimed that the Jaffna May Day rally and the protest was a grand success. Over ten thousand have participated in the rally inspite of campaigns of the govt jacked up by racist campaign of Premadasa. Latter was exposed as the crowd he mobilized, with all such drama, was not more than two thousand. His treachery cannot be concealed. Military leaders kept on saying that under the cover of democratic opposition, terrorists are working. more..

May 17 (SO) As Sri Lanka entering into speedy development process the usage of phones have become a common feature among the people. Accordingly the usage of mobile phone has become a mandatory requirement since accessing any person in any part of the world can be made within seconds after the development and spread of mobile phone industry in the country. The end of nearly three decades war has opened the entire country to embrace more..

May 17 (GV) Today in the contemporary society there is a cost for everything, from the air that we breathe to the burial of the dead. But we never question the money’s worth for what we pay. Governments come and go, rules are enacted and shelved and applied to ones choosing, babies are born, killed and one’s life is sometimes snuffed out before being born. No one questions these nor are there answers one would be obliged to provide, life goes for the survival of the fittest. more..

May 17 (GV) May is the month of the diplomatic success of Sri Lanka and its friends at the Special Session of the UNHRC in Geneva in 2009. That battle and victory are now the target of criticism and historical revisionism. It is alleged that Sri Lanka was brought onto the HRC agenda by our success, that the Sri Lankan team in Geneva at the time should have kept the resolution off the agenda as had our counterparts in New York, that the success of 2009 was the progenitor of more..

May 17 (DN) Saudi Arabia,wants a joint council to boost trade ties with Sri Lanka. “It would be necessary to complete appropriate procedures for forming a joint Council for 2003 agreement,” announced Dr. Mohammed H. Al-Kathiri, the Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dr. Al-Kathiri revealed this to Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka on April 22 at the Sri Lanka- Saudi Arabia bilateral session held on the side-lines of the 13th Ministerial Meeting of UNCTAD more..

May 17 (Island) Sri Lanka women boxers Anusha Kodituwakku and Nilmini Jayasinghe were eliminated in the first round and Pre-quarter final stages respectively at the Women’s World Boxing Championship which serves as a qualifier for London Olympics. Competing in the 51kgs weight category at the Women’s World Boxing Championship now in progress in China, Kodituwakku suffered an 18:8 points defeat at the hands of Sumeyra Yazici of Turkey more..

May 17 (IPS) The year 2011 was one of extremes for the small Sri Lankan village of Verugal. Lying on the island’s Northeastern coast, Verugal began the year with incessant rainfall. Between January and February of 2011, the East coast received a year’s worth of rain, which destroyed over 7,000 hectares of rice crops in Verugal and about 17 percent of the country’s annual rice harvest. Some villages were cut off for weeks on end. more..

May 17 (Island) An American National committed suicide by jumping off a fifth floor balcony of a five star hotel yesterday morning, an eye witness had told the police. The foreigner had allegedly jumped off the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel in Colombo around 10.45 a.m. and had succumbed to his injuries while he was being treated at the Colombo National Hospital around 2.45 p.m. A Slave Island police source said that the victim was British born but had take American citizenship. The deceased had checked into the hotel yesterday more..

May 17 (DM) The suspect who had been in remand custody for more than 6 years in connection with the assassination attempt of Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka in a suicide bomb blast at the Army Headquarters in 2006 was yesterday further remanded till May 30 by a Colombo Court. The suspect Sanmugalingam Suriyakumar had been charged with aiding and abetting to carry out a suicide bomb blast at army headquarters on April 25, 2006. The Colombo Fort Magistrate had sent reminders to the Attorney General to expedite more..

May 17 (LBO) Sri Lanka's tourist arrivals rose 9.0 percent to 65,591 in April this year, which helped raise the number of holidaymakers for the first four months of 2012 to 330,116, official data showed Wednesday. The Indian Ocean Island greeted 63,835 visitors in April 2011, while the cumulative arrivals from January to April 2011 were 278,975, Sri Lanka Tourism said. Neighbouring India, continued to dominate tourism arrivals. more..

May 17 (CT) A father who was arrested on charges of having sexually abused his nine year old daughter has been remanded further till 21 May following a Magistrate Court order. At the hearing, appearing on behalf of the defendant, attorney-at-law Chanaka Kapurubandara appealed to the Magistrate to release the defendant on bail stating that he had no connection to the case and was not guilty of the charges and also because he has at the time been imprisoned for a period of one month. more..

May 17 (DN) Dengue has claimed 55 lives. Nearly 1,500 dengue cases had been reported from all parts of the country during the past five months. The public should be vigilant about dengue mosquito breeding sites common in certain areas, a Health Ministry spokesman said. A majority of mosquito breeding spots in the Colombo district are located in discarded receptacles. "The most affected area is the Kalutara district is Walalawita where thousands of acres of godapara trees are located. more..

May 17 (Hindu) Sri Lanka is trying to locate the three ex-combatants seen in The Hindu picture of Oct 1, 2011. The three were pictured at a function at the official residence of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the previous day. They were part of a group of ex-LTTE combatants who were handed over to their families that day. Saroja Devi, mother of one of them, Kerbert Morino Leon Roxy of Alambil, Mullaitivu, said she identified her son from the picture. more..

May 17 (Island) The body of a man was found hanging from a tree in an abandoned land behind an international school in Wattala yesterday morning. According to available information, the man, identified as J. K. Dewaraj Vijayakumar, a resident of Mutwal, had an illicit affair with a married woman and had committed suicide around 7.40 a.m. over the affair. A Wattala police source said that the deceased was a father of one child and his paramour was a mother of three. He said that the man who killed himself had attempted to more..

May 17 (LBO) Sri Lanka’s new regulations to curb large profits to investors who bought stock before a company went public, could hamper the growth of private equity, Guardian Capital Partners Plc, an investment firm, has warned. In 2011, capital market regulators amended the listing rules in a bid to regulate the private equity. These were primarily targeted at companies that launch IPOs within a few months of placing shares privately at a discount to the IPO price. more..

May 17 (WSJ) On the face of it, Sri Lanka has much to celebrate this week as it marks the third anniversary of its military victory over the terrorist LTTE. After that scarring 26-year civil war, which was among the bloodiest in modern Asia, ended, the economy is the hottest in its neighborhood: Last year GDP grew by 8.3%, the fastest expansion since independence in 1948. Tourist arrivals were up about 30% from a year earlier. In President Mahinda Rajapaksa, more..

May 17 (BN) Sri Lanka’s rupee will appreciate significantly and the central bank is ready to intervene to prevent “unnecessary” movement in the currency, Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said. “We expect the rupee to significantly appreciate from the current levels due to a very clear path that will be seen in our external account,” Cabraal said in an interview in Nepal today. “If we believe that it is trading at levels not in line with fundamentals we stand more..

May 17 (DN) The Meteorology Department will soon install a doppler radar to predict weather patterns more accurately, Department Director General S H Kariyawasam said. He said after the installation of this radar system, an additional weather forecast bulletin will be issued at 3pm daily. He said this bulletin will be more precise and useful to the public to know about lightning risks. The department procured the doppler radar equipment at a cost of Rs 400 million. more..

May 17 (FT) Kalpana Kochhar, the Chief Economist for the South Asia Region of the World Bank, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the inauguration of the Sri Lanka Economic Summit 2012. Kochhar will deliver her address on ‘Emerging Global & Regional Prospects and the Benefits of Regional Cooperation’. The inauguration ceremony will be held on 10 July at 6 p.m. at the Cinnamon Grand. more..

May 17 (Island) 14 treasure hunters were arrested on Tuesday, from two different locations while they were digging for treasure, police said. At one site, the police recovered expensive digging equipment worth five million rupees. Police spokesman SP Ajith Rohana said that seven suspects were arrested by the Ambanpola police as they were digging in search of treasure in a forest at Uswewa, Karanagaswewa of the Nelumpathwewa Grama Niladari area in Ambanpola around 3.10 p.m. more..

May 17 (DN) Transport Minister Kumara Welgama yesterday said that third class compartments of the Sagarika train will be increased as the ministry has observed the available compartments are not sufficient for increasing passenger demand. He made this observation at a press conference at the Transport Ministry yesterday. "The Transport Ministry trade unions also brought up this matter and the demand from the passengers also made us to take this decision", he said. more..

May 17 (CT) The JVP will not participate in the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), MP Vijitha Herath said yesterday. “This is a fake platform for discussion that the govt is using to buy time and procrastinate on the issue,” Herath said. “If they had any form of political will, this level of inaction would not be there,” he said adding that the level of inactions makes it “abundantly clear” that the govt does not have more..

May 17 (DN) The govt is committed to strengthen the Samurdhi movement, and has taken every decision pertaining to it after a careful study to provide the optimum benefit to the Samurdhi beneficiaries, Deputy Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said. The acting minister said that the Samurdhi movement would be converted into a govt department shortly to further strengthen it. He said that Minister Basil Rajapaksa would present it for the of Parliament approval by the end of June or the beginning of July. more..

May 17 (TOI) M S University's students and teachers will get to learn a lesson or two in counter-terrorism and international affairs. Mahinda Balasuriya, a senior Sri Lankan diplomat and one of the key strategists in ending LTTE terror reign in Sri Lanka, has offered to give his voluntary services to MSU where he studied 36 years ago. Balasuriya, who currently serves as Sri Lanka's ambassador to Brazil, had completed his BSc from the varsity in 1976. Now, he is returning to more..

May 17 (FT) The Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) yesterday reacting strongly to the statement made by the Tea Exporters Association (TEA), at which they have stated, inter alia, that the import of orthodox black tea would not impact adversely on Pure Ceylon Tea as a premium brand. The PA is in total disagreement. While the TEA, by its own admission, represents only 83% of the tea exporters, more..

May 17 (Island) JVP front-liner K.D. Lalkantha yesterday said that his party was not privy to ongoing talks between DNA MP Tiran Alles and President Mahinda Rajapaka to facilitate the release of General Sarath Fonseaka. Former JVP MP said that they were not involved in the talks and therefore could not comment on the status of the negotiations. He said that the JVP had always wanted to secure Gen. Fonseka’s release though they were not involved in the attempt made by MP Alles. more..

May 17 (DM) Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka’s wife Anoma said yesterday she had not been notified by anyone of her husband’s impending release despite reports to that effect. Ms. Fonseka said although her husband’s release was discussed during discussions between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Tiran Alles and though it was reported that Mr. Fonseka would be released soon it was still uncertain about the final result. “I will be very happy if my husband is released and is served justice. However we still don’t know how or when he will be released more..

May 17 (CT) The US State Department is unlikely to accept anything less than a clear cut road map to implement the human rights council resolution from the Sri Lankan govt. The State Department is likely to push for this when Minister Prof. G.L. Pieris is expected to visit US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington DC, tomorrow. The State Department officials have already informed some influential US lawmakers, who are interested in Sri Lanka’s human rights more..

May 17 (Island) The govt will take prompt action to resettle 451 dry zone farmers who had been displaced following the acquiring of their lands by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) for the further development of the Mahinda Rajapaksa Port in Magampura and the development of a new town in Hambantota. The UDA had acquired 1,200 acres for fthe Mahinda Rajapaksa Port and 800 acres for a a new town, Manager of the Walawe Ganga Development Project Asanka Gunatilleke said yesterday more..

May 17 (DN) The govt will grant a monthly allowance of Rs. 1,000 to each of the 219,193 Senior Citizens aged over 70, who are low income earners, from June 1. Minister Felix Perera said that the govt has allocated Rs. 900 million for this purpose. It is predicted that the number of Senior Citizens (over 40 years) will increase by 79,200 by next year and the govt has decided to increase the allocation up to Rs.2,100 million for the payment of the monthly allowance to Senior Citizens more..

May 17 (ST) That may by the law of the land many centuries ago. Nevertheless frustration, anger, apathy and indifference at enforcement of the law has led to many calls from the public to lynch the culprits in the plethora of irregular deals that’s happening with alarming frequency in paradise land. It was once said that the stock market has hit the bottom, and the next flow of media reports called it a ‘bottomless pit’. Unfortunately for the people that matter in the country, more..

May 17 (LB) Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal vehemently opposed the “Scientific explanation of CoL” and condemns the insult offered by the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, when he said ‘the Central Bank Chief Cabraal is responsible for ‘downward spiral economy’ saying people should be more concerned about the Cabraal-missile than the Agni-missiles, the Indian launched several days back’. The governor said, “If Mr. Wickremesinghe wants to hold me responsible for what he calls more..

May 17 (Island) Minister Wimal Weerawansa should honour his word and resign, since the Sri Lankan delegation to the US, led by Minister G.L. Peiris, had been summoned to Washington by the Obama administration, the UNP said yesterday. General Secretary of the UNP Tissa Attanayake said that Weerawansa who paraded as a great patriot, had threatened to quit his ministerial portfolio, more..

May 17 (LT) The foreign policy of the present govt lacks transparency and the President is unable to appoint a suitable foreign minister says former MP K.D. Lal Kanthe. He said, “The govt is holding massive pageants to show its anti-imperialism. However, in its activities it kneels before imperialists. This duplicity has been made govt’s existence. It is evident this situation has escalated after the resolution against Sri Lanka was more..

May 17 (Island) In the wake of a simmering tussle between the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation and MTV over telecasting rights for the London Olympic Games, scheduled to begin on July 27, both parties are having intense negotiations with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), which is the exclusive rights holder for Sri Lanka, to settle the issue. SLRC Chairman Mohan Samaranayake insists that the premier State-run channel more..