Feb 8 (CT) ��We have had trouble with other Tamil groups,� Rajapaksa explained, naming Douglas Devananda�s EPDP and the Karuna Faction who �might have weapons.�� the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington. The cable is classified as �CONFIDENTIAL� and recounts details of a meeting US Ambassador to Colombo has had with President�s advisor Basil Rajapaksa on Oct 04, 2006. The cable was written by the US Ambassador to Colombo, more..

Feb 8 (BBC) Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed has said that he was forced to resign "at gunpoint" by police and army officers in a coup. He said the move was planned with the knowledge of vice president Mohammed Waheed Hassan, the man who has replaced him. Mr Hassan denies the claims. Security forces have made a number of arrests after clashes with supporters of Mr Nasheed in Male. He quit after police joined protests over the removal of a top judge. more..

Feb 8 (CI) Finally we have a close game this Australian summer. Not a nailbiter, but certainly the closest international of the summer. It is little surprise that it has come between two old acquaintances that take attrition to a new level whenever they come up against each other. Interestingly, and surely there will be more than a few relieved by it, this was the first game between India and Sri Lanka since their World Cup final more than 10 months ago. more..

Feb 8 (ST) The Counter Piracy directorate of Somalia has sought Sri Lanka's assistance to combat Somali pirates, Minister Rajitha Senaratne said. In a letter sent to the Sri Lanka Govt, Abdirizak M Ahmed, Director General, Counter Piracy Directorate, Ministry of Maritime Transport and Counter Piracy, Govt of Puntland, Somalia said Sri Lanka�s experience in securing the safety in its waters during the war against Tamil Tigers would be great value to them. more..

Feb 9 (NS) We, citizens of Sri Lanka, are again caught up in the shifting, ephemeral sands of the thirteenth amendment, plus and minus, and of course, its pluses and minuses. There are many, no doubt. There are the issues of land and police powers on the one hand; that the TNA argues is crucial, as perhaps are finance powers. One the other hand, another headline tells me, that the SLMC would ask for a South Eastern provincial council, if the TNA�s arguments are successful. more..

Feb 9 (NS) I have left the caps on �suddek�. It is part of the story, or of that segment of the three parts of a much larger story that Udayasiri Wickremaratne had chosen to present on stage that day. I am sure that the playwright is well aware of that and may choose to inter-lock them with other, related ones. When one looks at what are known as �Epics� (which are folk narratives of the past as they know it or in some degree remember and, have been �worked on� by gifted writers), more..

Feb 9 (SO) Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Dr.Rajitha Senaratne who returned to the country after a visit to Italy last week told the Sunday Observer, that his visit was constructive and had a salutary outcome for the country's fisheries sector. He visited the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and held discussions on FAO assistance to develop the industry and proposals already submitted. more..

Feb 9 (CT) On the 30th of January, Central Bank announced that it would not draw down the withheld 800 million US dollars (USD) of its IMF standby facility citing its high interest rate. In a world starved of capital, disbursing the withheld tranches would have posed a simple conundrum to the IMFs board and shareholders. Unique to such loans, all major shareholders of the IMF abstained from voting for it, not for economic reasons, but to press Sri Lanka to investigate alleged more..

Feb 9 (CT) After an interval of three years, once again the verbal 13 Plus product has come onto the market. The vendor is a famous company. This time the crucial question is, to whom are they going to sell this? Before Mullivaighal, even though the buyers knew neither the product nor the vendor, for obvious reasons this product had good sales internationally. But soon after Mullivaighal was over, those who agreed with the attractive verbal product, sought the vendor. more..

Feb 9 (Guardian) The author of five previous books of fiction, Romesh Gunesekera has always been fascinated with islands, whether Sri Lanka, the Philippines or, in his 2002 novel Heaven's Edge, an imaginary island. Now he turns his attention to the island of Mauritius in 1825, a tropical hotbed of injustice and discontent. After Dutch and French rule, the British are now in control, and after centuries of an economy built on more..

Feb 9 (GV) From 19 � 27 May 2010, Groundviews ran a special edition on the end of war in Sri Lanka. Over this week alone, the site received over forty-thousand readers and exclusively featured over eighty-thousand words of original content, one video premiere, over a dozen photos, generating over one hundred and fifty-thousand words of commentary. By popular request, The End of War in Sri Lanka: Reflections and Challenges, a compilation of content that more..

Feb 9 (TC) On Feb 4th, 2012, the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Paris celebrated the 64th Anniversary of Independence of Sri Lanka at UNESCO. Among the guests were ambassadors, diplomats, heads of institutions, representatives of the corporate sector as well as scholars and members of the clergy. The reception followed a civic event in the morning for the Sri Lankan expatriate community in Paris which took place at the Embassy premises and included a multi-religio us ceremony more..

Feb 9 (ST) It�s February and it�s all systems go for HSBC Colombo Fashion Week which takes place on February 24, 25 and 26. This year the HSBC Colombo Fashion has collaborated with five retailers creating a designer retailer programme to provide Sri Lankan designers the much needed exposure and opportunity to expand their retail presence and business growth in Sri Lanka. Under this programme, five established retailers Trunk, more..

Feb 9 (Island) Experiments by whimsical politicians and their omniscient bureaucratic lackeys over the past few decades have plunged the education sector into absolute chaos. There has been no continuity in education policies and governments keep meddling with them according to their whims and fancies. School education is in a huge crisis from Grade One admissions to the release of GCE (A/L) results. The same goes for university education, as is common knowledge. more..

Feb 9 (Island) Few months back it was reported that there had been a major train accident where a train had crashed into the observation saloon of another train, with disastrous consequences. Apart from the financial loss incurred by the govt, lives have been lost and many were injured including the driver and assistant of one of the trains. This is not an isolated incident as far as train accidents in Sri Lanka are concerned. Only major accidents are reported in the local newspapers. more..

Feb 9 (Island) It was business as usual on Wednesday with the Central Bank continuing to defend the exchange rate amidst strong importer demand which saw intervention drain out rupee liquidity in the system which resulted in the Central Bank having to pump in Rs. 17 billion into the system. "The exchange rate was kept unchanged at Rs. 114.30 against the dollar after falling 40 cents since Friday. Import demand is still strong and the Central Bank was more..

Feb 9 (DN) Former Principal of Ananda College, Colombo, B A Abeyratne was acquitted of all charges and discharged by Colombo High Court judge Sunil Rajapakse when the case against him came up for inquiry yesterday. The High Court judge in his judgment delivered in open court said that there is suspicion that two invisible forces had been behind the move to indict the former Ananda Principal. In this case, the Attorney General had indicted the former Principal on six counts including more..

Feb 9 (CI) Mahela Jayawardene, in his first match back as captain, made an interesting move in not picking a specialist spinner. Sri Lanka lost a close match, but Jayawardene did not think the team combination was the reason. "If we had taken the last four wickets, you would have said, 'good combination'. We felt the pitch was such that four seamers would probably do the job for us. Picking up wickets is very crucial against India. We went with bowlers we thought could do that." more..

Feb 9 (BS) India�s promise to sell two offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) to Sri Lanka, during their first-ever defence dialogue in New Delhi last week, as well as the recent agreement to build an electricity transmission line from Madurai to Trincomalee and connect the electricity grids of the two countries, is an indication of India�s serious willingness to revamp its primary relationship with its southern neighbour. more..

Feb 9 (Island) World Cup winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga said that he had to file action against a company of Indian origin for using his image to promote a service of theirs during the 2010 World Cup in Sri Lanka as he has never allowed his image to be used for advertisements except for charitable courses. "I have appeared in advertisements only for charitable courses. That was free of charge. I appeared for an advertisement for the General Hospital to buy an MRI Scanner. more..

Feb 9 (Island) Police yesterday retrieved the bodies of an aged couple, who were found dead mysteriously at 'Toronto' inside a multi-storied building down 37th Lane, Wellawatte. The deceased were 69-year-old P. K. Sathiananthan, an American citizen, who it was revealed had committed suicide after killing his paramour, 32-year-old Balasubramanium Shermila. Police said that Sathianathan had hung himself with a rope which was tied to a wire fixed to the ceiling of more..

Feb 9 (IL) Sri Lanka�s Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU Ravinatha Aryasinha has called on expatriate Sri Lankans, to visit, make available expertise and invest in Sri Lanka. Addressing the celebrations to mark the 64th anniversary of independence of Sri Lanka in Brussels, he noted that, �Sri Lanka, having overcome long years of terrorism and its after effects, had an unprecedented opportunity of ensuring economic growth, more..

Feb 9 (HT) While Angelo Mathews was bought in last year's IPL auctions for a whopping $925,000 by Sahara Pune Warriors, his fellow all-rounder Thisara Perera was snapped up for $650,000 by Mumbai Indians last year. Yet, the financial woes of Mathews, Perera and the rest of Sri Lanka players are far from being over. Why? Believe it or not, the World Cup finalists have been playing without being paid for the better part of the last year. After the International Cricket Council more..

Feb 9 (Island) City Coroner Edward Ahangama on Tuesday announced his intention to report to the Bribery Commission several Colombo Mortuary orderlies who had solicited a bribe to release a body. Ahangama said that some orderlies attached to the Colombo Mortuary who had thrown away Rs.2000 that was offered to them when their alleged demand was for Rs.6000 to prepare a Muslim man�s body for burial after the post mortem on Monday would be reported to the Commission more..

Feb 9 (FT) UNP MP Harsha de Silva is expected to ask in Parliament today the Govt stand on the remaining tranche worth US$ 800 million of the IMF assistance via its Stand-By-Arrangement (SBA). There hasn�t been a clear stand on the part of the Govt during and following the 10-day long visit of the IMF review mission except the Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal indicating that the Govt wasn�t keen to go for the remainder of the IMF assistance. more..

Feb 9 (NZH) He was a murderous 5th Century AD monarch and a man with audacious architectural ambitions. At first glance it seemed King Kassapa of Sri Lanka and I would have little in common. However, it turns out the king and I share a common terror of heights. Not that this stopped him from building his palace on the top of a 200-metre outcrop of rock, the Sigiriya fortress in central Sri Lanka. The last part of the climb to his refuge was accessed only by a vertiginous staircase more..

Feb 9 (ICP) Twelve days after Inner City Press began reporting on Sri Lankan alleged war criminal Shavendra Silva joining the "Senior Advisory Group on Peacekeeping Operations" of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, on Wednesday evening the question was finally put to Ban Ki-moon himself. He said, "Sri Lankan mission? It was the member states that decided." ICP had tried to ask the question during Ban's stakeout session outside the Security Council but was not permitted to. more..

Feb 9 (Island) The Supreme Court yesterday fixed May 2 and 3, 2012 for support of the Appeal filed by General Sarath Fonseka against the decision of the High Court Trial-at-Bar, in the White Flag case. Nalin Ladduwahetty, the Senior Counsel for the appellant, said that he had been out of the country and he had received the appeal brief very recently. He said therefore he needed time to study the legal aspects of the appeal. more..

Feb 9 (FT) The Govt has earned over Rs 151 million from the Southern Expressway within two months of opening. According to the Acting Director of Southern Expressway, Rs 70 million out of the total of Rs 151 million had been earned from the Southern Expressway during January. The administration records show an earning of Rs 4.6 million during the Independence Day. The average daily revenue from the Southern Expressway is around Rs 2.5 million. More than 530,000 vehicles have entered more..

Feb 9 (CT) Trade unions and CEB authorities are at loggerheads over the ongoing repairs of the Norochcholai power plant which is defunct since 21 January. CEB trade unions charge that the govt has no proper mechanism to rectify the technical faults of Norochcholai power plant which resulted in its closure. Heat controlling units of the oiling pumps of the power plant, according to CEB Employee�s Union Leader Ranjan Jayalal, had been damaged and Chinese engineers are handling the repairing process. more..

Feb 9 (DM) The Health ministry yesterday alerted Medical Officers of Health (MOH) to locate the illegal immigrants who were recently deported from Togo and check them for symptoms of the dreaded yellow fever. The officers were asked to report immediately to the Government Epidemiology Unit (GEU) and Quarantine Unit (QU) if any of the deportees are found to suffer from the disease. Ministry Secretary Dr. Ravindra Ruberu had issued the more..

Feb 9 (Island) UNP rebel group member Imthiaz Bakeer Markar yesterday lashed out at UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe over a statement the latter had made in Beruwala recently. At a meeting held amidst protests by the supporters of UNP rebels, Wickremesinghe alleged that Markar had instigated protests against him by a group of inebriated UNPers. Marker said he had been involved in UNP politics since the 1970s and he had neither consumed nor offered liquor to anyone. more..

Feb 9 (Island) Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama told Parliament yesterday that Sri might not obtain the last two tranches of the IMF loan as the country�s income had improved. "The Country�s economy has been growing rapidly and our broader view is the strong growth will continue. Inflation is under control and therefore we may not need the last two installments of the IMF loan," the minister said participating in the adjournment debate on imports and exports. more..

Feb 9 (CT) A person was abducted in a white this morning from the Dehiwela area. The abduction of Dinesh Sanjaya Fernando (35) took place at around 8:00 a.m. today (8). The mother of the victim Princy Vivienne Mendis said that around 8:00 a.m. her son had gone to the shop a short distance from their home which belongs to his aunt. �I was having a cup of tea at the time. He came back and had the tea and went across the road a short distance from where more..

Feb 9 (AT) Minister of Resettlement has vowed to resettle before the end of the year 2012, the remaining IDPs who are still in the camps in Cherttikulam. Minister Gunaratne Weerakone said that he will resettle all the internally displaced families now in camps in Cheddikulam before the end of this year and bring about an end to IDP issues once and for all. He said that there are 1570 families left in Cheddikulam and he intends to settle them before the end of this year. more..

Feb 9 (Island) A sum of over Rs. 390 million due from the National Housing Development Authority to the President�s Fund has not been paid, the Auditor General says. The Report of the Auditor General on the Accounts of the President�s Fund 2010 tabled in Parliament yesterday by Chief Government Whip Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said that the NHDA had obtained a loan facility amounting to Rs 195,000,000 from the President�s fund 14 years ago. more..

Feb 9 (VS) A Canadian has pleaded guilty in a New York court to plotting to supply materials to a "foreign terrorist organization," according to the FBI. Ramanan Mylvaganam, 35, was extradited three years ago to the United States � where he lived previously � when he was charged with trying to purchase equipment to send to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Tamil independence organization named as a terrorist group by both Canada and the U.S. more..

Feb 9 (DN) People in the North and East need development and not devolution of power, said Deputy Minister Faiszer Musthapha yesterday. �The people in the North and East need better housing, schools and healthcare facilities. They need a decent life. Once they get these facilities, they will think rationally about everything including devolution of power,� he said. �People are today talking about refugees. What about the people chased away from their homes by the LTTE? A large number of IDPs were chased away by the LTTE from more..

Feb 9 (Island) Colombo Chief Magistrate Rashmi Singappuli yesterday refused an application by the Keselwatte Police to issue an order banning a planned demonstration by Peoples� Movement for Democracy seeking the release of Gen. Sarath Fonseka. The Magistrate stated that the people had a right to protest and no order would be granted against that right. However, he said the police were given the power to take action in case of breach of peace. The Magistrate ordered the police to more..

Feb 9 (Island) A majority of the political parties represented in Parliament, in individual interviews with The Island, slammed the demands made by the TNA, which include self rule and autonomy, as absolutely frivolous and wishful thinking. EPDP leader Douglas Devananda said that the sole motive of the TNA was to drag the negotiations to a point of no return as they were acutely conscious of being politically isolated if a permanent solution was found. more..