Dec 28 (Island) India and Russia have decided to work together in the field of nuclear commerce. The two countries will help set up smaller nuclear power plants in South Asian countries such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, sources said. Russia and India had agreed to help Sri Lanka set up nuclear plants to counter increasing Chinese power hold in South Asia, Indian Express reported yesterday. more..

Dec 28 (Island) The top five posts in the UNP, including the leader, can be filled amicably when the Working Committee meets in January, the party�s media spokesman Gayantha Karunathillake said. He told The Island that with the term of the present Working Committee expiring on December 31, all its members would be reappointed to the Interim Working Committee from January 1, 2011. more..

Dec 29 (IRIN) Reducing social stigma and improving awareness is needed to better monitor and prevent the spread of HIV in Sri Lanka, experts say. HIV prevalence in Sri Lanka is relatively low: The latest figures indicated 1,196 cases - less than 0.1 percent of people aged 15-49, and less than 1 percent of those in high-risk groups. However, accurate assessment of HIV prevalence is difficult as social stigma and lack of knowledge make HIV prevention and information campaigns difficult. more..

Dec 29 (HT) Who�s Sri Lanka�s man of the year? The ineffectual protester Wimal Weerawansa, the tree-loving lateral thinker Mervyn Silva, the determined Ranil Wickremesinghe who�s not willing to give up, jailed former war hero Sarath Fonseka or his permanently on the run son-in-law, Danuna Tilekeratne? Does journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda who disappeared without a trace in January deserve a mention? (And, I�m depending on the state media to honour the Rajapaksa family.) more..

Dec 29 (LBO) Sri Lanka's coconut farmers, who are now perhaps getting the highest prices in the world due to agriculture protection, are to get tax payer support in the form of a fertilizer subsidy, the government has said. The government's information office said this week that a fertilizer subsidy of 1,000 rupees will be given to a bag of 50 kilos of fertilizer for coconut farmers. more..

Dec 29 (NN) A high level delegation from Sri Lanka has briefed the Australian government on the defeat of terrorism in Sri Lanka, the process of national reconciliation, the successful resettlement of IDPs and development projects undertaken by the government of Sri Lanka. According to the External Affairs Ministry, the delegation led by Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva met the Chief Government whip Joel Fitzgibbon and briefed him on the developments in Sri Lanka. more..

Dec 29 (Telegraph) In February 1945, British and American aircraft dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive and incendiary bombs on Dresden. �People were caught in fires as hot as 1000� C�, Britain�s National Archives record. �The city was devastated.� Investigations conducted by Dresden authorities concluded that between 22,700 and 25,000 people were killed. 5000 miles and six decades separate the conflict in Sri Lanka from Second World War Germany more..

Dec 29 (Hindu) Despite Indian defence personnel training academies being almost fully subscribed, India will offer 1400 training placements for the Sri Lankan security service personnel. This was part of the peacetime engagement process that India and Sri Lanka agreed upon on Tuesday. Both the sides also decided on a series of measures to enhance defence cooperation between the two countries. more..

Dec 29 (AD) Private Bus Operators in the Western Province threatened to go on strike on the second week of January 2011. If the government doesn�t agree to our proposal to increase bus fares we will opt to strike, Lanka Private Bus Owners� Association (LPBOA) President Gemunu Wijeratne expressed. He said that the decision had been made following an extensive discussion with the private bus owners of the Kaluthara, Gampaha and Colombo Districts earlier today. more..

Dec 29 (NN) Hong Kong-based leisure group Shangri-La has signed a deal to acquire land to build a seven-star hotel in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, the chairman of the tourism authority Nalaka Godahewa said. Shangri-La signed the agreement Tuesday to acquire 10 acres of government property near the Galle Face green promenade, Godahewa said. The army headquarters which is now located on the land, considered prime commercial property, more..

Dec 29 (BBC) Tamil politicians in Sri Lanka have criticised a decision to make school children in the northern town of Jaffna sing the national anthem in Sinhala. They say it is "totally wrong" to make people sing in Sinhala when people in the north and east mostly speak Tamil. Earlier this month, a Tamil minister in the Sri Lankan cabinet denied reports that the Tamil version of the anthem had been abolished. more..

Dec 29 (DM) President Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed the Ceylon Electricity Board to extend the earlier maintained relief pricing formula up to the first 120 units to its users, Government Information Department reported. In his Budget speech the President said, "We have already prevented power cuts and made electricity available almost to everybody. There is a cost to all these luxuries. Therefore I propose to make a revision to the electricity tariff structure from January 2011. more..

Dec 29 (LT) The second reading of the budget for Maharagama Municipal Council held today (28th) has been defeated. 10 Members have voted against the budget while only 9 voted for it. Two members of the ruling party voted against the budget while one member kept away. A Member of the UNP voted for the budget. The Transport Minister of WPC Upali Kodikara was present with a group of thugs at the time of voting and when the ruling party lost the budget he played havoc assaulting a Member of the JVP. more..

Dec 29 (AN) For Sri Lanka�s Christians, this year�s Christmas was ill fated, marked by natural disasters and many road accidents that filled hospital beds. Many people were unable to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but in Colombo Caritas and a local priest tried to bring some hope to needy people. During the festive season, more than 210,000 people (more than 56,000 families) were affected by floods and heavy rains, more..

Dec 29 (SL) The UNP has said that the government could not import coconuts under the Plant Protection Act. Following the steep increase in coconut prices, the government announced its decision to import coconuts from Kerala, India, to maintain local prices. However, UNP parliamentarian Dr. Harsha De Silva has told the media that the coconut cultivation in India is affected by a disease called Kerala wilt. more..

Dec 29 (NN) The police will launch a new service from March next year where the public can lodge complaints via sms on a number which will be announced next year, IGP Mahinda Balasuriya told reporters this evening. The IGP said that through this service, the public will be able to correspondent with the police whether they are in the vehicle, on the road or at home and get an immediate response from the respective police stations. more..

Dec 29 (LG) The government has still not passed the local government elections amendment bill that it introduced over two months ago. This is not in character with the Rajapaksa government that usually forges ahead with its plans regardless of opposition. This was seen in the last phase of the war and in the passage of the 18th Amendment. The local government amendment bill was in keeping with the government�s tendency to concentrate more and more power in itself. more..

Dec 29 (LG) There were many among Tamils within the Island � and in the significantly powerful diaspora � harbouring serious doubts about President Rajapakse�s sincerity in trying to win them into the national fold. One recalls that charade of Rajapakse speaking a few Tamil words in various fora in the country, in the UN and elsewhere. His ill-considered and knee-jerk reaction where he got a Minister to table as an urgent Cabinet paper aimed at withdrawing the status the national anthem being more..

Dec 29 (LG) It seems finally settled that Professor S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole has been appointed Vice Chancellor of University of Jaffna. Although there has been no official announcement, this is clear from a multiplicity of sources. Lilith Weeratunga, the President�s Secretary, has told enquiring reporters that it is Hoole and that the letter will be issued soon. Minister Douglas Devananda at a gathering of news editors at more..

Dec 29 (LG) Under enormous pressure following Wikileaks revelation of his degrading conduct, the Minister and paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda has pleaded innocence over his decades old shameful violent conduct. In his statement in Tamil, Douglas Devananda has claimed: �Neither me nor my party went into politics with the affection for violence, but chose the path of politics to promote the socio-political status of the Tamil speaking people. more..

Dec 29 (TC) For a society in which the Middle Path should be a natural option, opinion making commentators seem to tread every path but that one. One set seems to think that the world is full of enemies of Sri Lanka, ranging from USA and the UN to India, and from Barack Obama through Ban Ki Moon to Rahul Gandhi. The other lot think that Sri Lanka has no external enemies or threats at all, and that the only enemy of Sri Lanka is its democratically elected leadership! more..

Dec 29 (LG) We the members of the Committee appointed by the President to oversee the activities involving the performance of Hajj for the year 2010, regret very much the efforts made by a few individuals who are bent on gaining political mileage over this issue by hurling insinuations at the committee without a proper understanding of the rigors involved in the performance of the holy pilgrimage. more..

Dec 29 (TC) As the first ship entered the newly opened port facility at Hambantota on November 18, there continues to be more speculation that the facility could potentially be used as a Chinese naval base as part of a so called �string of pearls� strategy to encircle India. However, evidence suggests that the Hambantota port has a largely different function that is likely to alter Sri Lanka�s political and economic centre of gravity. more..

Dec 29 (DM) January 1 represents the fresh start of a new year after a period of remembrance of the passing year. Often media publishes articles that review the changes during the previous year. There are also articles on planned or expected changes in the coming year. New Year resolutions are often based on the hope that one can change a habit that is perceived as detrimental to oneself and develop a goal that would be of benefit. more..

Dec 29 (Cimic) �Sri Lankan government by now has been able to provide shelter to all who were left homeless due to Tsunami disaster in 2004. Although Jaffna experienced comparatively lesser sufferings in the catastrophe, costal lands including fishing harbours were affected. Nevertheless, the country is heading for rapid development under the leadership of His Excellency the President Mahinda Rajapaksa.� more..

Dec 29 (SL) It has been just two weeks since the final budget vote was taken and already the entire exercise is a distant memory in the collective Sri Lankan psyche. Such is the importance we accord to issues that affect us directly, the stomach to be precise, so less said the better of things that do not directly affect us, like say Ban Ki-Moon�s Expert Panel. Budgets come and go and we Sri Lankans have taken it for granted that it is an annual ritual and basically leave it at that. more..

Dec 29 (SL) It has been just two weeks since the final budget vote was taken and already the entire exercise is a distant memory in the collective Sri Lankan psyche. Such is the importance we accord to issues that affect us directly, the stomach to be precise, so less said the better of things that do not directly affect us, like say Ban Ki-Moon�s Expert Panel. Budgets come and go and we Sri Lankans have taken it for granted that it is an annual ritual and basically leave it at that. more..

Dec 29 (BBC) Fishermen from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu say that they were brutally attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy on Monday. The president of Rameswaram fishermen association N Devadas told the BBC Tamil Service that nearly 30 of their fishermen were attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy on Monday night and their nets and cache of fish were seized. However the Sri Lankan navy has denied any such incident. more..

Dec 29 (Island) The LTTE earned worldwide condemnation for extortion as well as other crimes. It has been laid to rest but the government seems to have taken a leaf out of its book where extracting protection money is concerned, as it were. As if burdening the hapless electricity consumers with tariff hikes were not enough, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has ordered industrialists or the bulk users to pay a huge security deposit equal to more..

Dec 29 (DM) The Daily Mirror exclusively reported on Monday the abuse of valuable funds at Sri Lanka Cricket and the manner in which bills were made out for goods and services. This has shocked the country�s financial umpires of umpires, sthe Auditor General. As we said last week a code of silence had gripped Sri Lanka Cricket and it must be quite refreshing for some optimists that somebody inside the game�s portals is willing to blow the lid or pull the plug on an more..

Dec 29 (LB) The hotel and industrial sectors are facing a grave crisis due to the new electricity rates suggested by the Sri Lanka Public Utility Commission (SLPUC) based on government proposals. According to the President of the Tourist Hotels Association Anura Lokuhetti, the total average electricity expenditure could go up by as much as 111 percent due to the new rates introduced by the SLPUC. more..

Dec 29 (NS) The Ceylon Continental Hotel, Colombo hosted a �spend the day� event for children from the Vajira Home orphanage in Kotte, which included a fun filled agenda of food, entertainment and activities. �Being a part of Hayleys � Sri Lanka�s best corporate citizen, we aim to do business right and look after our communities, and this pledge should be highlighted in our activities. We felt that we should take the initiative by embracing the more..

Dec 29 (LBO) Sri Lanka's Esna Holdings, a consultancy and advisory services firm, plans to set up a luxury beach resort in Nilaveli, a prime beach front on the island's east coast, a statement said. The project by a subsidiary, Esna Villas, is valued at a million US dollars and marks the group's diversification into the booming hotel sector, it said. The property on Nilaveli beach, north of Trincomalee portm, has a 144 feet beach frontage. more..

Dec 29 (NS) As some UNPers appear to be adding fuel to the fire caused by the government making an about-turn on receiving the controversial advisory panel appointed by UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, we asked UNP general secretary Tissa Attanayake about certain �damaging� statements made by some of their key men and other issues detrimental to the country. He totally disassociated his party from those statements and more..

Dec 29 (Island) The Thambalagamuwa Police on Saturday arrested a gang responsible for the robbery of 51 sovereigns worth Rs 2.3 million from a household in Koviadi at gunpoint. According to the police, the suspects Y. Thilagar, S. Thilakaratnam, M. Rajeewan, G. Nandasiri, S. Kumar Ruparajan and B. Krishnan Prabhakaran, all inmates of an IDP camp in Killivedi, Sampur had gone to the house of C. Rangayani Nallaratnam, threatened her at gun point, and more..

Dec 29 (Island) While the government targets to double per capita income to US$ 4,000 by 2015, the Department of National Planning has prepared a strategy document to mobilise private and public investments that would take Sri Lanka�s per capita income to well above US$ 6,000 by 2020, the Treasury said in a recent report. "The �Investment Plan 2011-2020� has been prepared including both private and public sector investment on a sectoral basis and more..

Dec 29 (WSJ) Now Sri Lanka is striving to capitalise on its own bountiful resource: a mountain of cheap accountants. For three decades the island nation was plagued by a civil war, which ended last year when government troops finally vanquished the separatist Tamil Tigers. During the conflict, government universities, which could offer places to only about a fifth of the student population, were frequently closed. more..

Dec 29 (BG) No forign leader has fared worse in the cables released by WikiLeaks than Sri Lanka�s President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has been resisting calls for an international inquiry into possible war crimes committed when Sri Lankan troops wiped out the secessionist Tamil Tigers in May 2009. In this particular case, disclosure of an American diplomat�s confidential assessment serves the cause of human rights, validating the stand of Human Rights Watch, more..

Dec 29 (DM) A Colombo Magistrate strictly warned a teenage complainant in a rape case for making false complaints to the Police and released the suspect on a personal bail of Rs 50,000. Colombo Additional Magistrate Praharsha G. Ranasinghe gave this warning to a girl from Kompanniya Veedhiya who had complained to area Police alleging that her boy friend from Church Street raped her. Consequently the Police produced the complainant and more..