Dec 7 (DBS) "Maaveerar Naal� or �Great Heroes Day� was observed annually on November 27th in a grand manner by the LTTE for many years in the past. The yearly event lost its lustre after the military debacle suffered by the tigers in May 2009. Despite the LTTE ceasing to exist as a viable entity in Sri Lanka after the military defeat, tiger and pro-tiger elements in the global Tamil Diaspora and Tamil Nadu strove to retain more..

Dec 7 (LBO) Sri Lanka will allow factories with effluents needing treatment only in industrial zones in the future, minister Lakshman Abeywardene said. The move comes following protests over a glove factory run by Dipped Products, which residents claimed was releasing acidic water. The incident escalated after the state deployed the military against protesting villages and troops shot at unarmed villages led to the more..

Dec 7 (AN) A Sri Lankan maid here was not paid a salary for five years and not allowed to go home for nine years, an official claimed. �The Sri Lankan woman D. Gunawathie, 43, had been working for a Saudi sponsor and was kept a virtual slave inside the house for the past nine years,� a senior official from the embassy said. He said the case was detected when her passport came up for renewal at the mission. more..

Dec 7 (Island) The govt would reopen the Kantale sugar factory next year, Minister Lakshman Seneviratne revealed during a discussion with Pakistan Industries and Production Minister Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi at the ministry recently. Minister Seneviratne said that all steps had been taken to reopen the sugar factory next year as the tenders had already been called from investors and the proposal had been sent to the Cabinet. more..

Dec 7 (LR) Former South African President Nelson Mandela embraced me like a daughter each time we met, and asked me how my mother was doing, says former President Chandrika Kumaratunga. Mandela and Kumratunga would often sit beside each other at multi-lateral conferences since their countries were alphabetically connected. She said that Mandela had a great deal of respect for her mother more..

Dec 7 (CT) Fish exports had increased from 12,594 tonnes in 2011 to 13,229 tonnes in 2012, and had posted a further increase in 2013 by exporting 16,540 tonnes. However, ornamental fish exports had declined in income, going down from Rs 1,112 million in 2011 to Rs 865 million in 2012, and had recorded a further decline in 2013 with an income of Rs 633, Minister Rajitha Senaratne, told Parliament today. more..

Dec 7 (PTI) The Tamil community in Britain is mounting pressure on the British establishment to compel Sri Lanka to an early reconciliatory action. Shadow Foreign Minister Douglas Alexander at a meeting with the British Tamils was told to put pressure on PM David Cameron to seek an international inquiry in Sri Lanka by breaking the March, 2014, deadline. Cameron during his historical visit to Jaffna mid-November said more..

Dec 7 (CG) Parliament today mourned the death of former South African President Nelson Mandela. Making a statement in Parliament, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva read out a statement detailing the significant role Mandela played in South Africa. He emphasized particularly Mandela�s fight for the rights of the South African black community during the apartheid period. Minister also recalled the efforts taken by more..

Dec 7 (CT) Australian Casino King, James Packer, has warned the govt, unless the necessary approval for his proposed super luxury hotel and casino complex, which is planned to be built at D.R. Wijewardena Mawatha is not granted immediately, he will take his investment Rs 400 million to Myanmar. Govt has delayed taking up the casino Bill in Parliament due to staunch opposition by religious leaders, civil society organizations more..

Dec 7 (CT) It never ceases to amaze one who has several decades of �hands-on� experience being part of and subsequently working with new immigrant populations for many years in a �First World� country that such absolutely malicious nonsense can be consistently published about those Sri Lankans, who for whatever reason, have settled permanently in Europe, America or Australasia and choose to offer, often very constructive, criticism of the governance (or lack thereof) more..

Dec 7 (CT) India had in late 1983 become the patron of several militant groups, which were kept in a position where they competed for India�s favour. When the LTTE had decimated the TELO in May 1986, it resulted in a break in the arrangement maintained by India. By a series of attacks on Sinhalese civilians immediately afterwards, and in turn making the Tamils more insecure, the LTTE naively hoped to be accepted as India�s sole protege. For, it was soon to make itself more..

Dec 7 (CT) Although Parliamentary convention compelled the chief whip to move a cut of Rs.10 at the commencement of this debate, We should, in fact move a cut of at least several billion rupees for the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development as the treasury allocations for this �super� Ministry continues to increase annually by leaps and bounds despite the end of the war four years ago. The Ministry has now acquired a reputation for being the most corrupt, wasteful and the most more..

Dec 7 (CT) Previously I wrote that the Budget 2014 would stabilize the rupee and facilitate private credit growth which will help the economy to grow. This stability will achieve through the proposed increase of foreign borrowing. I pointed out that any proposal to increase foreign borrowing must come with a promise to increase the inflow of dollars through non-credit sources in future because foreign borrowings come with an obligation to pay them back in dollars. more..

Dec 7 (DM) Pettah is a city which is famous for bazaars and open air markets. It is one of the busiest cities in the Island with many commercial establishments. It is a common site to anyone who would walk in to Pettah, to see people carrying humongous parcels or pulling carts with a heavy load of parcels. In ordinary language they are called �Nattamis�. These Nattamis have engaged in this trade for years, but their lives are heavier more..

Dec 7 (Island) The police have decided to severely deal with people who cause the death of others through sheer negligence. Police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said that anyone causing the death of another person through negligence such as by haphazard digging up of roads and drains, laying of illegal electric traps, etc., would be charged in a Court of law. "Whether a death is caused or not, the law will be implemented against negligence," he stressed. more..

Dec 7 (CG) A group of monks from the Sihala Ravaya launched a sting operation to nab a monk attached to a Temple in Malabe who had been physically involved with a woman. The Sihala Ravaya said that monks from its organisation had used monks in the Malabe Temple to take video footage of the monk while in the act with the woman. After the footage was obtained the Sihala Ravaya had recorded statements from novice monks in the same Temple who had alleged they were more..

Dec 7 (LT) PM D.M. Jayaratna made a contradictory statement in Parliament on the 3rd regarding the largest haul of heroin seized in this country. It was in response to a question posed by the JVP MP Anura Dissanayaka. It was revealed that 130 kilograms of heroin from the haul of 261 kilograms that was seized had disappeared. As such, the JVP states it demands a special debate in Parliament regarding the PM�s involvement more..

Dec 7 (Island) The international ChildFund Connect Family Film Festival � 2013, was launched this week with more than 700 children, from Australia, Brazil, Ecuador, Laos, Timor-Leste, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, submitting films exploring the theme of �family� and the role it plays in their lives. Over the next few weeks, film festival events will be held in all seven countries with the participation of the children, their families and communities. In Sri Lanka, the festival took place last Monday at more..

Dec 7 (DM) The United States said that it would continue to be concerned about ongoing issues regarding restrictions on freedom of the press and expression, the erosion of the rule of law, and violence against religious minorities in Sri Lanka. Addressing the daily media briefing at the State Department, Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said: �The U.S. has long urged the Govt of Sri Lanka to fulfill its public commitments, to implement the recommendations of its own LLRC report, more..

Dec 7 (DM) UNP MP Sajith Premadasa today said that all political parties in the country should join hands to form an all party movement and come to an agreement in order to face and defeat the upcoming resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC. �We, the UNP strongly believe that if there is a domestic issue, it should be solved internally and not internationally. It is our duty to come together to save the country. more..

Dec 7 (Island) The UNP yesterday called for a high level probe into, what it alleged was, a fraud, committed by the Education Services Minister Duminda Dissanayake and Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena, in the supply of school uniforms. Badulla District UNP MP Harin Fernando told a news conference in Colombo that school uniforms, which could have been supplied at a total cost of Rs.1.3 billion, had been purchased at Rs.2 billion from local suppliers. more..

Dec 7 (CG) The witness protection bill, which has already been approved by cabinet, will be submitted to parliament early next year to be enacted. Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem told parliament today that the bill is currently with the legal draftsman for the final touches to be made before it is presented to parliament. New laws on child protection as well as regulations on children�s homes will also be introduced soon, the Minister said. He also said that a new system is to be introduced more..

Dec 7 (CI) Graham Ford, the Sri Lanka coach, has said that his team's young batsmen are in the "apprenticeship stage" of their careers, and so are required to bat down the order though they have the games suited to batting higher up. "It has been a bit of a concern for both Chandi [Dinesh Chandimal] and [Lahiru] Thirimanne who are bats capable of batting in the higher part of the order, their games are more suited to it," more..

Dec 7 (PTI) 16 Sri Lankan fishermen have been arrested for allegedly illegally fishing in Indian waters, taking the total of Lankan nationals held in the last 13 days to 98. Coast Guard ship ICGS Vishwast arrested the 16 fishermen from two locations -- one batch from 118 nautical miles off Chennai coast and another about 116 nautical miles off Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh -- on December 5, a defence release said here today. Their three boats were seized under more..

Dec 7 (CG) Five Sri Lankans were arrested in Mexico for being in the country illegally. Among the Sri Lankans arrested were two children and all of them did not have proper documents. The Sri Lankans had been staying at a hotel when troops from the National Migration Institute raided the location. Investigations had revealed that the Sri Lankans had been staying at the hotel in Chetumal, Mexico for four days. The three Sri Lankan adults were identified as more..

Dec 7 (CG) The TNA today offered active support to the govt to address the accountability issue if the govt meets certain conditions. Among the conditions, the TNA said is the need for the govt to agree to make an honest effort to address the issue with an open mind and work with the international community including India and the US and learn from the South African experience. �You will have our active support and participation more..

Dec 7 (Island) Joint Council of Nursing-Professions Supplementary to Medicine and Paramedical Services (JCNPPS) warned that it would give the Health Ministry two weeks to resolve six demands, which include clearing up discrepancies in allowances. Joint Convener JCNPPS, Saman Jayasekara, however, said that they would first carry out a large scale awareness campaign to make the patients and public aware of the issue which had led to a series of strikes more..

Dec 7 (YEP) Yorkshire have given permission for the Sri Lankan Cricket Board to speak to Second Team Coach Paul Farbrace regarding their vacancy for the post of national coach. Farbrace will travel to Sri Lanka next week to open talks. Farbrace joined Yorkshire as Second Team Coach at the start of the 2012 season at the same time as First Team Coach Jason Gillespie. In his first season, he helped the Club gain promotion to the first division of the County Championship and more..

Dec 7 (DM) While claiming that many asylum seekers from Sri Lanka enter holding a visa to either study in the UK or to be visitors, Britain said that there were 7,445 asylum applications recorded from Sri Lankan national for the past five year period. In response to a question, raised by a UK MP, Home Office Minister Baron Taylor told UK Parliament that for the five year period 2008 � 2012, there were 7,445 asylum applications more..

Dec 7 (Island) Supreme Court granted Attorney-at-Law Rajika Wijethunga of Matara leave to proceed with her fundamental rights violation application against the police. The female lawyer had complained to the Court that the OIC of the Crimes Division of the Matara police headquarters had abused her, on May 28, 2013, when she went there with a client, who had wanted to surrender to the police. The lawyer had asked the OIC of Crimes on what charge her client was to be arrested. more..

Dec 7 (Island) Minister of External Affairs Prof. G.L. Peiris, on Thursday, paid a tribute to the Australian govt for the Australia Awards (AA) international scholarships and fellowships programme. Speaking as Chief Guest at the Australia Awards Ceremony at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel the Minister appreciated the Awards programme that had provided substantial benefits to Sri Lanka by offering opportunities for students to undertake postgraduate studies in Australia. more..

Dec 7 (DM) Sri Lanka carried out her second licencing round for 13 blocks in the Mannar and Cauvery basins and the deadline for bids ended Nov 29. Mirror Business met with Saliya Wickramasuriya, Director General of Petroleum Resources Development Secretariat (PRDS), the govt agency which facilitated the bidding round, for a brief interview on the matter and a few other developments related to more..

Dec 8 (NS) The world�s most respected and loved elder statesman has passed on. Nelson Mandela for reasons that do not require elaboration was the one and only person who deserved the epithet �Global Citizen�; he did not belong to South Africa alone, he belonged to every continent, every country. He was grandfather, father and brother to the entire global family. The entire world mourns today. Perhaps it is as much a comment on hypocrisy as the stature of the man that today his former detractors are more..

Dec 8 (SL) A so-called Permanent People�s Tribunal (PPT), claiming to have antecedents going back to revered intellectuals like Bertrand Russell and John Paul Sartre, was to have commenced hearings yesterday on alleged war crimes committed by the Sri Lanka�s armed forces during the last stages of Sri Lanka�s war against terrorism that ended more than four years ago. Philosophers like Russell and Sartre would be turning in their graves if they knew that their names and reputations more..

Dec 8 (SO) Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardena called upon the UNP to read the Hansard and learn how the SLFP- led coalition fulfilled the legitimate role of the Opposition from 2001 to 2004 when President Rajapaksa was the Opposition Leader. He said looking at the list of Opposition speakers during the Budget debate, the Opposition MPs who didn't speak are more senior than those who spoke. more..

Dec 8 (SO) Some international organisations, Western politicians and their agents, both here and abroad, have already begun to browbeat Sri Lanka ahead of the next UHHRC sessions slated for March next year. They scream themselves hoarse, alleging that Sri Lanka "has not done enough"! It is baffling as to what they mean that Sri Lanka "has not done enough". Perhaps, Sri Lanka may not have done enough to appease the West or meet the aspirations of some Western politicians, more..

Dec 8 (Island) Within minutes of the news of Nelson Mandela�s death, "the backlash started," CNN reported on Sunday. That perhaps was inevitable. The South African leader at various times in his long life had been branded with many labels � communist, terrorist and racist. But there is no escaping the fact that history has picked him among the greats of his time. Much more than South Africa alone, his homeland, and the African continent which regarded him as its undisputed leader, more..

Dec 8 (SL) In response to the statement on Sri Lanka made by Indian Minister P. Chidambaram, Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody said that every external party should respect Sri Lanka�s independence and sovereignty. Crystallizing the govt�s position on the matter, he said, the govt is committed to address the grievances of every community, not because external parties are mounting pressure on more..

Dec 8 (NS) According to the Transparency International�s Global Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Sri Lanka has been ranked at the 91st position among 177 countries worldwide. Although Sri Lanka is supposed to have slid by 12 places from the last year�s position, Sri Lanka is said to be well above most South Asian nations, except Bhutan. In the Asia Pacific Region, Sri Lanka is ranked at No 9, which suggests Sri Lanka has performed relatively better than most of its peers in the region. more..