Sep 26 (LNP) The appointment of an individual to Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Company as an adviser of the Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare is questioned by the Ministry staff since he was under a special probe of CID in relation to charges against swindling over Rs. 1.4 million in a foreign employment racket. It is reported that the Minister has instructed the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Company verbally to work with him in sending Sri Lankans for jobs in Caribbean Island hotels. more..

Sep 26 (DN) Environment and Natural Resources Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka urged the media to play a more pro-active role in making the public aware regarding the importance of proper solid waste management and other relevant issues. The Minister made these comments while participating in an awareness programme conducted by his Ministry at the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd., yesterday. more..

Sep 26 (DN) A National Council will be set up to recommend ways to improve the revenue collection in local bodies.The Council will oversee amendments to the current Revenue Collection Laws for local authorities ,to suit the modern age and ensure a more efficient revenue collection system. The relevant agreement had already been signed and work on the draft law for setting up such a Council has already been completed. more..

Sep 26 (Island) Power and Energy Minister W D J Seneviratne has unofficially halted the functioning of the three member committee appointed by him to look into the cost of a unit generated by the 300MW Kerawalapitiya gas turbine plant. Minister Seneviratne appointed the three member committee following a number of suspicious components detected in the Power Purchase Agreement between Kerawalapitiya (West Coast Power Plant) and the CEB. more..

Sep 26 (Island) The Navinna Ayurvedic Research Centre in co-ordination with Sri Jayawardenapura, Keleniya and Peradeniya universities has embarked on a venture to treat liver cancer patients. The principal aim of the project is to prolong the life cycle of cancer patients. Retired ayurvedic physician Nimal Jayathilaka and Kelaniya university professor Dr.Irene Thabrew have done an extensive research on the efficacy of ayurvedic drugs in treating patients with liver cancer, more..

Sep 26 (DM) Police said a staggering sum of rupees eight million was the single highest deposit uncovered so far, in the major financial scam devised by once popular English teacher Sakvithi Ranasinghe. Police had received 566 complaints up to last evening. Mirihana police, who are conducting an in-depth probe into the case, had recorded statements from 180 fresh complainants yesterday, bringing the total to 566 complaints. more..

Sep 26 (DM) The UNP Seniors� Committee is now working out criteria for the appointment of a deputy leader and assistant leader under the proposed reforms to the party constitution. The party has appointed this committee comprising senior MPs to work out the proposals to be implemented. This Committee met on Wednesday to discuss the criteria to be followed when appointing two MPs to these posts. more..

Sep 26 (LD) In an attempt to draw the attention of the United Nations, over 1,000 American and Canadian Tamils and friends of Tamils protested in front of the UN Headquarters in New York on September 24th, reports �Tamilnet�. Denouncing the visit to the UN by President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, the protestors demanded sanctions against Sri Lanka, and advocated invoking the principle of Responsibility to Protect as a means to halt what the protesters alleged �genocide of Tamils�, it adds. more..

Sep 26 (LD) Threats of wild elephant attacks have left residents of Hettipola and Wilgamuwa areas in Matale helpless, provincial reports say. Of late, 23 wild elephants attacks have resulted in three people disabled for life and 47 houses destroyed. In the most recent incident that was reported two days ago, a 49-year father of three had died. Despite several complaints, wildlife officers of Wasgomuwa National Park have been coming up with excuses such as a shortage of vehicles, residents charge. more..

Sep 26 (LD) Opposition MPs have raised in Parliament the appointment of a government minister to head a parliamentary select committee tasked with investigating allegations of a secret pact with the LTTE. Subsequent to a claim by the opposition of such a pact, Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara today (Sept. 26th) told the House that a PSC headed by Nimal Siripala de Silva and also comprising 21 members would inquire into it. more..

Sep 26 (LD) The Central Bank yesterday announced six unauthorized financial institutions, including Sakvithi House Constructions of Sakvithi Ranasinghe who had reportedly fled the country after defrauding over Rs. nine billion rupees from the public. Police say they are going to arrest Ranasinghe and 15 of his staff members, although the depositors at the institution allege police inaction when complaints were made against him previously. more..

Sep 26 (Reuters) Shares plumbed a new two-year low for a second straight day on Friday, falling 0.16 percent with local and global economic conditions continuing to weaken investor sentiment. The Colombo All-Share index .CSE fell 3.52 points to 2,209.05, its 14th fall in 15 sessions. The bourse hit 2,199.97 on August 31, 2006. The bourse has fallen 8 percent so far this month, and is down around 13 percent so far this year. more..

Sep 26 (AFP) Fighting between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels on the outskirts of the rebel capital Kilinochchi has left at least 24 guerrillas and two soldiers dead, the defence ministry said Friday. The government wants to capture the northern town and deal what it says would be a major military and psychological blow to the LTTE rebels. Thursday's fighting in Kilinochchi left at least 24 Tamil Tiger soldiers dead, with two killed on the government side, more..

Sep 26 (IANS) European Union Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner has voiced concern over the humanitarian situation and human rights violations in Sri Lanka. 'I am concerned about the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka and would appeal to both the government and the LTTE that the rights and needs of civilians and those who are internally displaced by the ongoing conflict are fully respected,' more..

Sep 26 (LD) The number of deaths reported after a group consumed illicit liquor in the Weliweriya area of Gampaha two days ago has increased to nine. Two of them were already dead on being admitted to Gampaha Hospital, which is also treating 20 others. Its director Dr. Dhammika Mayadunne said that two patients are in critical condition at the intensive care unit. Twenty-seven others have been transferred to Kalutara and Peradeniya Hospitals, he added. more..

Sep 26 (NP) Hundreds of thousands have fled Sri Lanka's civil war, many of them to Canada. While the war zone has been off limits to journalists, the National Post's Stewart Bell recently toured the front lines just as the conflict appears headed for a decisive showdown. This is the sixth of a six-part series. At the bustling Fort Railway Station, the walls have been patched and the bloodstains scrubbed away, but everyone still remembers what happened. more..

Sep 27 (LBO) The United States has guaranteed 540 million rupees of conflict area credit in Sri Lanka by a domestic leasing firm to bring finance into the island's eastern province which had seen intense fighting until recently. USAID said it was guaranteeing lending of Lanka Orix Leasing Company. "USAID believes that this agreement will help LOLC to expand its agriculture and microfinance lending while benefiting eastern businesses, which would be able to access micro loans or leasing at a reasonable interest," more..

Sep 27 (LBO) Despite Sri Lanka�s high primary school enrollment rate, large numbers drop out owing to weaknesses in the system, with many taking to crime, organizers of an education exhibition said. The island's primary school net enrollment rate is as high as 97.5 percent, said Kamal Abeysinghe, the head of Edex Expo 2009, an education exhibition to be held in January 23-25 next year to promote education options for youth. more..

Sep 27 (PTI) President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who perhaps became the first Head of State to speakin Tamil at the UN General Assembly, has conveyed that thegovernment puts the language on equal status with that ofSinhala, a top minister said. "The President's action (on Wednesday) makes its clearthat we are a government committed to promoting and nurturingdiversity," Human Rights and Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said. more..

Sep 27 (PTI) CPI on Friday asked the Centre to impress upon the Sri Lankan government to stop the war and return back to negotiations with the LTTE to work out a solution to end the ethnic conflict in the island nation. "We urge the Centre to impress upon the Srilankan government to stop the 'killings' and return to the negotiating table with a political proposal for amicable settlement," CPI Tamil Nadu unit secretary D Pandian said. more..

Sep 27 (PTI) A direct air link between Lumbini in Nepal, the birth place of Lord Buddha, to the Sri Lankan capital is on the anvil to boost tourism among the countries. The issue came up for discussion between the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the newly elected Nepalese Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' when they met on the sidelines of the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly in New York earlier this week. more..

Sep 27 (LBO) Protests erupted against authorities in a sleepy Sri Lankan fishing village which can almost lay claim to be the Ponzi capital of the world, after a financier in the area was blacklisted as running an illegal business, police and residents said. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka named Piyadasa Ratnayake, a financier in Hungama in Southern Sri Lanka popularly known by the alias Danduwam Mudalali or the 'punishment businessman.' more..

Sep 27 (BBC) The Supreme Court in Sri Lankan has emphasised the importance of taking action against the police officers who file false charges against innocent citizens. Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva urged officials at the Attorney General (AG) department not to protect any such policemen. The CJ made the remarks as a petition by Lalith Rajapaksa against Kandana police was taken in for hearing. more..

Sep 27 (BBC) Sri Lanka's powerful Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has said the government is on the verge of victory in the war against Tamil Tiger rebels. "In all fronts we are very superior, on the ground, the sea and air," said Mr Rajapaksa in an interview with the BBC. "Our numbers are very much greater than theirs, our firepower is much greater. We are very confident we can win and we want to finish this very soon." more..

Sep 27 (TN) Prison in Jaffna, temporarily housed in a private building that can accommodate only one hundred, has become crammed with more than three hundred inmates, who have sought humanitarian protection from the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission in Jaffna. Many of them have been languishing in the prison for more than two years. Meanwhile, two youths sought protection custody on Thursday as persons appearing for interrogation at SLA camps in Thenmaraadchi and more..

Sep 27 (LG) Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the LTTE on Friday paid homage to Lt. Col. Thileepan, a political leader of the LTTE, who fasted unto death in 1987 and Col. Sankar, a senior commander and the founder of the Tamileelam Air Force (TAF) also known as Air Tigers. Col. Sankar was killed by the Sri Lanka Army on September 26 in 2001 when the LTTE was engaged in peace process with the Norwegian facilitators. more..

Sep 27 (LG) Today, more than 200,000 Tamil civilians have been rendered Internally Displaced People by the Sri Lankan government, which is permanently and overwhelmingly dominated by the Sinhalese; Tamil civilians have been subjected to indiscriminate aerial bombing and shelling by the Sri Lankan armed forces - 99% Sinhalese - killing innumerable Tamil civilians, not to mention serious bodily and mental harm, more..

Sep 27 (LG) Large section of humanity shuddered with awe and grief. It was the day the country that taught non-violent protest to humanity was shamed. It was the day the LTTE showed the world that it too can adopt non-violent means of struggle. In 1985, �Freedom birds� was launched as the initial phase leading to female members joining the LTTE. The women who joined �Freedom birds� were initially trained in health service delivery by more..

Sep 27 (LG) We were in Jaffna and we came during the 1995 Sooriyakathir military offensive to Chavakachcheri. We were there for about four or five months. I was already married and had three children at that time. We then came to Padiyankulam in Mullaithivu. We had to displace from there once to Kalvilan but returned to Pandiyankulam. However, this time we first displaced to Mallavi. more..

Sep 27 (LG) The most disturbing factor of the civilian life situation this week was the request by the Government to all the foreign NGOs to leave the Vanni area stating that the Government would no more be responsible for their safety. Except the ICRC, all others have effectively left in accordance with the conditions on which they commenced service here, except perhaps for a skeletal service to be rendered by their local staff. more..

Sep 27 (LG) Some of the best beaches in Sri Lanka are found on the east coast of the country. North of Trincomalee are the fabulous beaches of Marble Bay, Sweat Bay and Dead Mans Cove, Uppuveli, Nilaveli and Kuchchaveli. South of Trincomalee are the equally beautiful beaches of Passekudah, Kalkudah and Arugam Bay. The American consortium of travel consultants, Harris Kerr Foster who were commissioned by the government in 1966 to prepare a Master plan for more..

Sep 27 (LG) The word �genocide� is a heavily abused term in the Sri Lankan context. It is also the most popular oxymoron used with regard to the conflict. On the outward over 70,000 people have died in the twenty-five-years long conflict. During the same time period over two and a half a million people have died of all causes mainly of old age, heart disease and cancer. This makes war deaths a meagre 2.8% of the total number of deaths. more..

Sep 27 (LG) Granted, the Government of Sri Lanka has a major security problem in Colombo. It began fifty years ago with a Buddhist monk assasinating a prime minister of the country in consequence to a conspiracy headed by another Buddhist monk, a chief priest. In that a Sinhala minister of state was also involved. Since then this kind of dreadful violence has been on the increase including those carried out by the JVP. more..

Sep 27 (TO) Shane Warne has been mixing with the best cricketers in the world � as team-mate and opponent � since he was first selected for Australia in 1992. The great leg spin bowler may have retired from Test cricket after helping to regain the Ashes last year, but, at 39, he is still sharpening his skills. more..

Sep 27 (AT) A leading Buddhist temple in the Metropolitan London has been vandalized in the wee hours of, Friday September 26, by suspected Tamil Tiger terrorist sympathizers in the area, the abbot of the temple said. "I suspect my temple has been vandalized by pro-LTTE elements in the area" said Venerable Galayaye Piyadassi , Abbot of the Sri Sadhdhatissa International Buddhist Centre in Kingsbury, London. more..

Sep 27 (AM) Burmese student monks and Sri Lanka monks demonstrated outside the Burmese Embassy on September 26th. September 26th is the first anniversary of the bloody Saffron Revolution led by the Buddhist monks in 2007 that was crushed by the country's military government. They peacefully demonstrated by chanting the "Metta Sutta" (the Buddha's words on loving-kindness) in front of the Burmese Embassy in Sri Lanka. more..

Sep 27 (LD) The Central Bank has failed to take adequate measures against unauthorized financial institutions that are functioning without approval by its Monetary Board, said former Chairman of Committee of Public Enterprise Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe. Fraudsters like Sakvithi Ranasinghe would not have been able to swindle public money had COPE recommendations been implemented, Mr. Rajapakshe told 'Lanka Dissent.' more..

Sep 27 (AT) New Left Front Leader and NSSP General Secretary Dr. Karunaratne' Karunaratne's response to the Canadian High Commission's rejection of his visa application reveals a confused and hypocritical mind typical of political loonies. "LTTE is a Tamil nationalist bourgeois party that uses the method of terror in the course of the struggle," he writes, saying that it is therefore not compatible with his socialist party that "believes in mass actions." more..

Sep 27 (IRIN) The first convoy of food supplies since 16 September will travel under the UN flag to areas held by the LTTE in the north in the next few days, Neil Buhne, the UN Resident Representative in Sri Lanka, told IRIN. The World Food Programme (WFP) convoy will be the first since UN and other international agencies working in areas held by the Tigers in the north-central region, known as the Vanni, more..

Sep 27 (Reuters) Nishantha Ranatunga, brother of Sri Lanka Cricket chairman Arjuna Ranatunga, has been appointed the new manager of the Sri Lanka team. Nishantha Ranatunga was appointed for the team's tour to Canada later this month for a Twenty20 tournament also involving Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Canada. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's selectors made several changes to the one-day squad for the tour, calling up Twenty20 specialist all-rounders Dilhara Lokuhettige and Jeevantha Kulatunga. more..

Sep 27 (ENS) Eighteen refugees from Sri Lanka landed on Arichalmunai, Dhanuskodi, bringing the total number of refugees who have reached Rameswaram this month to 133, according to aid agencies. The refugees, who had travelled in a small fishing boat from Mannar, reached Arichalmunai on Wednesday night in a group that included at least seven children. One of them was a oneyear old, brought to India by his widowed mother wrapped in a large polythene bag. more..

Sep 27 (LBO) Sri Lanka's central bank has disputed as 'misleading' a statement by a rating agency that country's macroeconomic conditions were weak, amidst rising bad loans in banks, the highest inflation in recent history and falling profits of companies. A Fitch Ratings report warned of increased liquidity pressure on Sri Lanka finance companies, if weak macro-economic conditions persisted. more..

Sep 27 (AFP) Britain voiced deep concern Friday about the situation in Sri Lanka, where government forces have advanced to the outskirts of the northern Tamil Tiger rebel capital. The Foreign Office called for access to be kept open for aid agencies, and urged the LTTE rebels to act urgently to allow free movement of civilians. "The recent increased hostilities in the north of Sri Lanka are of acute concern to the UK government," more..

Sep 27 (LG) According to sources well known to the controversial pro Sri Lanka government Asian Tribune owner/editor K Thambirajah Rajasingam has specially flown to New York at the expense of the government to give publicity about the President�s visit to the United States. The Asian Tribune is operated from Sweden from a secret location by the seventy year old editor who came under severe media scrutiny over his involvement in various forms of nefarious activities including human trafficking. more..

Sep 27 (LG) Conceptual aggression is also a powerful weapon employed by oppressive governments. It can cause damages worse than even destructive weapons. It is the domination of concepts. While unleashing war on the Tamil homeland, Colombo has also employed the conceptual war, the war propaganda as a strategy like all oppressive regimes. When the strategy of conceptual aggression is cleverly employed, helpless innocent people will fall a prey. They rarely understand the reality. more..

Sep 27 (LG) Many sides have pointed out that the main reason for the continuing war and the loss of human lives is that political solution has not been put forward or found. Politicians, who come to power giving assurances that they will create peace and mutual understanding among communities, use the ethnic conflict as a tool to hold power. As a result, national ethnic problem is dilly dallied and people are losing hope. more..

Sep 27 (LG) One the morning of the 1st July 1981 I woke up early and got ready to attend an accountancy class scheduled for 6 am. It was conducted by a person we referred to as 'Ghanam Master' at his residence on Temple road in Jaffna. I was in time for the class despite the early hour but found on my arrival, scenes of some confusion. I was told that the class had been cancelled because Sinhala policemen, both in and out of uniform, had ransacked and set fire to the home of the Member of Parliament for Jaffna Mr V Yogeswaran. more..

Sep 27 (LG) Killings, robberies and Kasippu sale are on the rise in Vadamarachi in the Karavetti, Nelliadi areas. This is a very sad situation. Only with the cooperation of the people of that area can these violent and criminal activities be controlled. The Grama Sevakas�s of these areas also must participate and give their full cooperation to stop the criminal activities, said the Point Pedro Judge K. Ariyanayagam, more..

Sep 27 (MG) SLMC yesterday issued a statement expressing its protests over certain remarks made by Army Commander Sarath Fonseka recently to Canadian newspaper �National Post�. �I am disturbed by the strong anti-minority sentiments expressed by Army Commander Sarath Fonseka during his interview and his assertion that Sri Lanka belongs to the Sinhalese,� SLMC Leader Rauff Hakeem said in a statement. more..

Sep 27 (CI) Kaushal Silva made an express 126 to set up Sri Lanka A's comfortable 81-run win over South Africa A in Bloemfontein, a deviation from the trend in the previous three matches which were all closely fought. The victory gave Sri Lanka an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series. After Sri Lanka chose to bat, their openers Upul Tharanga and Tharanga Paranavitana began well, adding 52 in eight overs for the first wicket. more..