Dec 6 (LB) Political suicide, says one parliamentarian of Mangala Samaraweera�s split from the SLFP and his alliance with the UNP. Mad fellow, scoffs another, who swears that the man has no political future. Imbecile, mutters a former colleague, darkly. Whichever way you look at it, Samaraweera�s recent decisions and manoeuvres seem to be conducting him down the path to political Siberia. He is being ridiculed, maligned and lampooned. more..

Dec 6 (GDI) The Government in a media release vehemently condemned the brutal attack on media personnel from the ITN and Rupavahini at the UNP convention today. The full text of the media release is given below: Press Release: The government vehemently condemned today�s brutal attack carried out by supporters of the UNP-led UNF on the media personnel from ITN and Rupavahini who went to cover the UNP convention. more..

Dec 6 (LeN) Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse's announcement to the media that he was aware of who was behind the murder of Lasantha wickremetunge and the attacks on the media in the recent past, and that he kept silent because he had to save the Army Commanders, has come under heavy fire from the legal circles who point out this suppression is tantamount to a crime under the penal code for more..

Dec 6 (LB) Defence Affairs spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella asserted that the main opposition contestant for the forthcoming Presidential polls retired General Sarath Fonseka will become political history after January 26, 2010. Rambukwella stated that the government was confident of President Mahinda Rajapaksa being returned for a second stint with a landslide election triumph. more..

Dec 6 (DBS) 1dead, 2 injured in incident at Karadithottam, Kalkudah where army fired on people gathered in beach to go by boat to ships waiting deep sea. People who paid "agents" 3-5 lakhs to go to Australia months ago were waiting on beach to be taken by boats to deep sea & put aboard ships. Persons on beach started running seeing soldiers who fired at fleeing people. 3 injured admitted to Valaichenai hospital of whom one died. more..

Dec 6 (LNP) Foreign ownership in John Keells Holdings, the biggest market capitalized conglomerate quoted on the Colombo bourse, rose slightly last week when over 17.5 million shares were transacted, brokers said. An active week on the share market also saw Mr. Ravi Thambiayah s Group which includes the quoted Renuka City Hotels PLC and Cargo Boat Development PLC, acquiring around 7% of the DFCC Bank more..

Dec 6 (LNP) Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama, in an interview with the Sunday Observer, said the country s foreign direct investments have shown a four-fold increase. The next year the Government targets to attract US$ one billion. The Minister said the Government is hundred per cent confident of its victory at the forthcoming polls. more..

Dec 6 (SO) Today, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has reached the high watermark of over Rs. 710 billion. There are 2.1 million accounts operating under the Fund. Its share of the country�s financial wealth amounts to 12 per cent. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka considers it as a special achievement for it has been able to successfully maintain the EPF for the last 50 years. We also expect to continue the Fund on a much stronger and more viable basis in the future. more..

Dec 6 (SO) Q: The Government today announced the seizing of three ships owned and operated by the LTTE leader Tharmalingam Shanmugam Kumaran alias Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP) who is now in State custody. What is the background to this development? A: The Secretary of Defence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa understood that even if the LTTE is defeated in Sri Lanka, peace is not sustainable unless Sri Lanka dismantles the LTTE infrastructure overseas. more..

Dec 6 (NS) With the call for the Presidential election January 26 next year, all major political parties have now begun to field candidates of their choice to run for the Presidency. However, none has raised more speculation and controversy than the opposition�s common candidate. For the first time in history, the main opposition UNP and the left-aligned JVP have found common ground in their choice of Presidential candidate. more..

Dec 6 (SO) The July 21, 2006 started as usual, except for the smell of anxiety was felt in the air due to the frail situation the Cease Fire Agreement between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE has approached. In this tensed backdrop the then General Officer Commanding Sri Lanka Army's 22 Division at Plantain Point, Trincomalee Major General Mendaka Samarasinghe (then Brigadier) received a call from Kallar Brigade Commander, more..

Dec 6 (SO) Sri Lanka turned a new chapter in the field of Information Technology last Wednesday by conducting Asia�s premier ICT event, `e-Asia 2009� at the BMICH. The three-day exhibition was declared open by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Science and Technology Minister Prof. Tissa Vitharana and Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), Chairman Prof. P.W. Epasinghe were also present. ICTA was an organiser of the event. more..

Dec 6 (NS) The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has begun an ambitious scheme to electrify 1000 remote villages with available funds, pending the signing of a loan agreement soon with Iran�s Export Development Bank (EDBI), Power & Energy Ministry Secretary M.M.C. Ferdinando said yesterday. Treasury Secretary Dr P.B. Jayasundera told The Nation that the loan agreement for US$ 106.8 million would be signed with EDBI within the next two weeks. more..

Dec 6 (NS) Nonimena Pahan � A documentary to mark the 60th anniversary of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) was recently completed and is to be telecast on several local television channels shortly. Directed by eminent filmmaker Dr. D.B. Nihalsingha, marking his return to film making after a decade, Nonimena Pahan aims at showcasing the yeoman service the SLN renders to civil society oblivious to many. more..

Dec 6 (NS) Minister of Constitutional Affairs and National Integration DEW Gunasekara said the Presidential race is between a layman who has forty years experience and a soldier who has forty years experience. Gunasekara who is also the Communist Party Leader is of the opinion that the western powers are attempting their best to change the political leadership of our country. more..

Dec 6 (SO) They are free. They leave the camps in numbers to smell the true meaning of freedom. They also return to the camps, when they feel living in camps is more secure and comfortable than living alone. Kethishvari, Raja and his two children left the welfare camp as soon as the government declared 'freedom of movement' from December 1. The couple just left the camp with empty hands leaving bags full of things - rations and kitchen utensils - in the tent. more..

Dec 6 (NS) The government�s coalition partner Upcountry People�s Front yesterday put off the decision on the party�s stand at the forthcoming Presidential election. UPF Central Committee member and Deputy Minister P. Radhakrishnan told The Nation that when their General Committee met in Talawakelle with Leader P. Chandrasekeran in the chair, they decided to seek the views of the party at and estate level before coming to a final decision. more..

Dec 6 (NS) For long, the grouse of the so-called �minority� communities in this country has been that they have a minute, if negligible, say in determining the state of affairs of the nation. While this may be a valid argument in certain aspects of our society, it certainly doesn�t hold true now, in so far as political events are concerned- and the upcoming presidential election is no different. more..

Dec 6 (GDI) President Mahinda Rajapaksa emphasizes he was dedicated to build a society rich with moral values for the future generation. At a ceremony at the Sangamittha Vidyalaya in Galle, he said he would not halt that effort whatever obstacles came his way. The President queried as to what the parents expected from a Buddhists school. Their desire should have been to mould a country enriched with moral values and a group which cares for the country. more..

Dec 6 (GDI) UNP stalwart from the Matale district, Parliamentarian,Nandimithra Ekanayake who crossed over to the UPFA last week to support the candidature of President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the media at Nippon Hotel, Colombo a short while ago proudly claimed that he came to support the President with 35,995 votes in his bag. Ekanayake said the terrorist war was over and it was time to develop the country to usher a new era. more..

Dec 6 (GDI) The Government has decided to import 25,000 metric tons of rice for the forthcoming festive season. Basmathi and Ponni Samba will be imported duty free for the use of the consumers. The Ministry of Finance and Planning sources said that necessary initiatives are already in place to facilitate the importers to exploit this opportunity. The fixed retail price of a kilo of Basmathi will be 75 rupees. more..

Dec 6 (GDI) The Minister of Mass Media and Information Anura Priyadarshana Yapa referring to the attack on the state media TV crews at the UNP convention at Welisara on Saturday, said the Opposition and the JVP have been harassing the state media over the past six month. "The JVP has publicly imposed a ban on the state media", the Minister asserted. more..

Dec 6 (GDI) The Minister of Mass Media and Information, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa today (06) threw an open challenge to the joint opposition which is currently carrying out a vicious campaign against the members of the family of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his siblings, that the Rajapaksas' plundered state-owned property, to prove such allegations with concrete evidence. more..

Dec 6 (LP) All the schools in the Central Province which were closed due to the fear of the spread of AH1N1 influenza (Swine Flu) will reopen tomorrow (07). The schools were closed on the 23rd of November due to the rapid spread of swine flu among the school children. The schools will be closed on the 09th of December for the third term school vacations. O/L examinations are due to commence on the 11th of this month. more..

Dec 6 (DBS) SarathFonseka wont have manifesto for election campaign due to UNP-JVP rivalry. He will have "common action program" acceptable to both parties, Retd Army officers join Sarath Fonseka's election campaign. Maj-Gen (retd) Sunil Silva quits post at National Television to work for general. Govt using Army for propaganda against Gen Fonseka. Maj-Gen Daya Ratnayake & Brigadiers Prasad Samarasinghe & Udaya Nanayakkara refute SF on TV. more..

Dec 6 (TC) Excerpted from an interview with minister Prof. G. L. Peiris. The public must have an awareness of what it is that General Sarath Fonseka is offering. What kind of society, what kind of future, and what kind of government is he going to give us? We don�t believe for a moment that General Fonseka is going to become president, but let us examine, hypothetically, what the results will be if he is elected. more..

Dec 6 (TC) When dealing with neighbouring countries, India's main predicament is to choose between two options, both of which are uncertain and without hassle. Sri Lanka has thrown up the same challenge again. President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Army chief Sarath Foneska are contesting for the highest position. Rajapaksa has constantly looked towards New Delhi. more..

Dec 6 (TC) The post-cold war political climate is vulnerable to identity-oriented tensions, caused by both primordial and constructed political strategies. These tensions, due to political need, create deadly militants. But they are the by-product of the socio-political moves, and often time they win political legitimacy when political moderates disastrously fail to deliver. The question in ethnic politics is whether not how much deadly these non-moderate are, but more..

Dec 6 (LT) The coordinating office of Political Bureau Member of the JVP MP K.D. Lal Kanthe at Anuradhapura was shot at by an unidentified group yesterday. The shooting had taken place at about 12.00 mid night. JVP MP for Anuradhapura Ranaweera Pathirana says the shooting took place when a group of his supporters were engaged in decorating the office. The group that shot at the office had come in a jeep similar to a police jeep and more..

Dec 6 (Island) Mr. U.B. Wijekoon, a former MP for Dambadeniya and Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Home Affairs and Minister of Handloom and Textile Industry who also served as Sri Lanka�s Ambassador to Russia from 2003 to 2004 will be the candidate of the Swarajya Movement at the presidential election on a platform of projecting a message of "partyless people�s power." more..

Dec 6 (Hindu) As part of providing additional facilities to the Sri Lankan refugees, a total of 1,027 television sets were distributed to them on Saturday at three centres in the district where they have been accommodated. As many as 454 families at Thoppukollai camp near Pudukottai; 330 at Thekkattur near Lena Vilakku and 243 persons at Azhiyanilai near Aranthangi got the TV sets worth about Rs.15.60 lakh. more..

Dec 6 (Island) The Opposition Common Candidate for the forthcoming Presidential election Gen. (Retd) Sarath Fonseka yesterday said if he is elected he will bring an end to widespread corruption, family bandysm and Rajapaksa tyranny which is amassing wealth and squandering public assets making the masses suffer. "I will expose the Rajapaksa regime of its misdeeds and rampant corruption at the opportune moment", more..

Dec 6 (Island) Ceylinco Chairman Lalith Kotelawala last week sought time to inject more funds to repay Golden Key depositors amidst moves by the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Chartered Accountants to auction his personal assets and properties. "Yes, we have granted his request for a reasonable timeframe as we prefer the cash infusion to happen with his consent", a senior official said. more..

Dec 6 (Island) There has been much debate about free education and its failures in recent weeks. Most people agree that there should be reforms in educational system. The Secretary to the President spoke about it recently. But everybody is talking of reforming the system within the context of a continued State education monopoly which does not drive improvements. It is only competition and freedom to innovate that promotes improvements. more..

Dec 6 (ST) The TMVP opted to support President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the upcoming Presidential elections, barely two days after the party decided to withhold support to the President. Last week�s exclusive report in the Sunday Times about the decision by the TMVP not to join the political campaign to re-elect President Rajapaksa triggered off a string of new developments, but the TMVP has not contradicted its report in this newspaper. more..

Dec 6 (ST) War is an extension of politics, said Carl von Clausewitz, the 17th century military historian and theorist in his treatise On War (Vom Kriege). Compulsory reading for any officer in the military, his work is shaped not only by pure military considerations but also by his strong interests in art, science and education. Any military historian in Sri Lanka chronicling the events of 2009, no doubt, will find the opposite of what of Clausewitz said three centuries ago. more..

Dec 6 (ST) It has all the trappings of a modern office - telephones, fax machine and computer. Yet seated within, Ven Madapatha Dhammasara Thera, the 7th Chief Incumbent of the Paramadhamma Chethiya Pirivena and Viharaya focussed on upholding the traditions laid down by his predecessors in instructing student monks in the Buddhist doctrine. The Paramadhamma Chethiya Pirivena in Ratmalana, which celebrated its 150th Anniversary in 1992, more..

Dec 6 (ST) China has bagged the largest chunk of post-war development projects in Sri Lanka�s North and South with ongoing and projects concluded estimated at more than US$ 6.1 billion or about Rs 6,973 million. Contrary to popular belief that funds for all these projects are outright grants, all the money is being obtained at commercial rates from China�s Exim Bank. This means the loans will have to be re-paid with interest by successive Governments in the years to come. more..

Dec 6 (GDI) Defence Secretarty, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa last night claimed that opposition candidate Gen.Sarath Fonseka distorted facts to gain public sympathy aimed to achieve political mileage and added that he(Defence Secretary) had given all what Gen.Fonseka wanted from the state including a 25 perched prime land in Colombo and a car worth Rs.44 million. more..

Dec 6 (ST) Addressing the special UNP convention at the Nawaloka grounds in Welisara yesterday, Opposition UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said he was not a leader who talks in Tamil with the help of a prompter and sheds crocodile tears for the Tamil people. He said that the coming election was more than a presidential election. It is a referendum for the people to decide whether they want to maintain this �Royal family� or chase them way. more..

Dec 6 (EB) Close on the heels of India�s appeal to Sri Lanka to move towards ethnic reconciliation and a meaningful political solution to the 30-year conflict, the US is sending Robert Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, to Colombo next week to encourage post-war reconciliation. Blake will be in Lanka on Monday and Tuesday. A former US ambassador to Colombo, he will meet with �government officials, political leaders and civil society,� more..

Dec 6 (AFP) Sri Lanka is back on the global investment radar after government forces in May ended a nearly four-decade separatist war with Tamil guerrillas, fund managers and analysts say. Sri Lanka's small stock exchange has become one of the world's top performing bourses, climbing over 96 percent this year as it reaps a peace dividend from the ending of the island's bloody ethnic conflict. more..

Dec 6 (Hindu) At the Brabourne Stadium suffused with emotions, the Indians converged in a heap after the fall of the last Sri Lankan wicket.It was a historic moment for Indian cricket. Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men had moved to the No. 1 spot in the ICC Test rankings. The 2-0 series triumph after India won the final Test by an innings and 24 runs here on Sunday, took the side beyond South Africa as the top-ranked team. more..

Dec 6 (UN) Special Envoy Major General (ret) Patrick Cammaert is visiting Sri Lanka on behalf of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. The visit will take place from 6 to 11 December 2009, at the invitation of the Government of Sri Lanka. The mission will follow-up on the recommendations of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict on Sri Lanka within more..

Dec 7 (AT) Rajapaksa regime fast became unpalatable to the United States. The regime did not succumb to US/West political pressure, built new geo-political alliance in creating the right political environment to take on the LTTE to give it the final blow. The GSL put political solution in the back burner giving highest priority to the military defeat of the LTTE. It did not combine the military offensive with political discourse. more..

Dec 7 (TC) Abolition of the Executive Presidency has become a popular subject of discussion today. Some political parties sign memorandum of understanding to terminate it while some others take to rallies and public demonstrations demanding its immediate abolition and still some others wish to retain it. Since 1994 many attempts were made and promises given to abolish it. Yet the system continues with vigour. more..

Dec 7 (TC) Flock of crows fly in neat line over Batticaloa lagoon on a foggy early morning. Dust settles down as it began to rain heavily in Batticaloa. Hindu temples are being painted and given a new look. Crows, Cranes, Kingfishers, Mynas and Peacocks enjoy the heavy rain, while searching for food in the water, and some sit on trees and branches. Pouring rain continues in Batticaloa. Wonderful weather while already the birds began to tweet. more..

Dec 7 (TC) National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa's wife Udayanthi Ranasinghe a,k,a Sheshi Weerawansa is building a new mansion in her name. The three-storey Mansion being built is on Mangala Mawatha, Off Ramanayake Mawatha in Hokandara South within the Kaduwela Pradeshiya Sabha. The estimated building cost for the mansion with floor extent of 6770 square feet is Rs 40million on the basis of it being Rs6000 per sq ft. more..

Dec 7 (CI) Muttiah Muralitharan has expressed doubts over his participation in the two Twenty20s against India after damaging ligaments in his bowling hand. "I suffered the injury when I was playing football. I got hit and two ligaments are damaged in the fingers," he said. "I was bowling with the injury the whole of yesterday [the third day's play in Mumbai]. It will take a few days to recover. more..