Jan 8 (CT) �Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa offered his interpretation of the govt security forces� January victory in Vakarai to Ambassador and DATT on February 5 and explained the govt�s current military strategy. Gothabaya noted that the security forces encountered predominantly younger, less committed Tiger cadres in Vakarai. The GSL�s redevelopment efforts in the east, he theorized, more..

Jan 8 (LBO) Stocks surged 1.2% higher Wednesday as interest rates continued to fall, extending gains from a day earlier. All Share Price Index closed 77.40 points higher at 6,054.47, up 1.29%. The S&P SL20 closed 49.86 points higher at 3,350.31, up 1.51%. Turnover was 849.52 million rupees, up from 716.25 million rupees a day earlier, with 178 firms closing up in broad-based rally with only 38 firms retreating. Treasuries fell around 50 basis points at a weekly auction ahead of more..

Jan 8 (Reuters) The Sri Lankan rupee ended unchanged on Wednesday despite dollar demand from importers and foreigners who sold rupee bonds as a state bank sold the greenback to prevent fall in the local currency, dealers said. The spot rupee ended 130.80/90 per dollar, unchanged from Tuesday's close. The local currency fell 0.1% on Tuesday on foreign sales in rupee bonds despite being under pressure to gain due to expected $1 billion in inflows from a sovereign bond. more..

Jan 8 (Island) Since 2005 over 40 journalists have been abducted, disappeared, killed or fled the country, but no action has been taken to find and prosecute those responsible, the UNP charged yesterday. Western Provincial Council UNP member Harshana Rajakaruna said that media freedom was under threat as never before, but the govt claimed that Sri Lanka was a peaceful country where the rule of law prevailed. more..

Jan 8 (DM) Southern Provincial Council Chief Govt Whip Justin Galappathi (UPFA) and his son are to resign from their respective seats and join the UNP. Galappathi said that only a govt under the UNP could serve the people. �I could not serve the people as I expected, therefore I have taken a decision to leave the govt. It is only under a government of the UNP that we could serve the people� he said. His son is a Municipal Councillor of the Matara Municipal Council. more..

Jan 8 (DM) An investigation has begun into a Pakistani national who allegedly sexually harassed two under-age girls in Mundalama, police said. The Pakistani suspect was identified as Mohommad Salam and he was married to an elder sister of one of victim�s mother. The school children were aged ten and seven years. According to the statements given by the suspect�s wife, the suspect was a businessman and he owned a shop in Saudi Arabia and he had already left for Saudi Arabia. more..

Jan 8 (Xinhua) A hardline Buddhist organization clashed with police on Wednesday during protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne, injuring one Buddhist monk, an official said. The hardline Buddhist organization Sihala Ravaya staged a demonstration outside the Prime Minister's Office. The clash occurred when protestors forcibly tried to enter the office and were prevented by the police. more..

Jan 8 (Island) The CEB is expected to provide a comprehensive generation plan to the CPC, spelling out the oil requirements for its plants and others owned by the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for the next four months. The CPC currently has sufficient stocks to cater to the country�s power needs, officials say timely requests by both institutions will give the CPC the edge when calling for international tenders. CPC Managing Director Susantha Silva said that more..

Jan 8 (Island) Pettah police last Sunday rounded up an organized gang of 18 women who would get friendly with young males visiting Colombo from remote villages and rob them of their valuables after getting them to stay at lodges. Among those who had fallen victim to the gang had been service personnel, the police said. These women were rounded up by the police at Olcott Mawatha Bastian Mawatha, Pettah, Gunasinhapura and the Central Bus Stand. more..

Jan 8 (CT) Five years is a long time, when one waits for justice. But all of us have waited � family, friends, colleagues, citizens, readers, the rights groups and many others. It had been one painful wait, more so, because within the deep recesses of our hearts, we are aware of the identities of the wrongdoers. There are of course, many others who have had to wait for justice much longer than we have and one might even more..

Jan 8 (AD) India has launched the third phase of a housing project in Sri Lanka by expanding the category of beneficiaries to include Indian-origin Tamils who are settled in the central part of the country as plantation laborers. India�s High Commissioner Y.K. Sinha said that the second phase was completed with successful construction of 10,000 houses in the north and eastern parts of the country for internally displaced people who were affected by the civil war. more..

Jan 8 (DM) Police arrested a Navy Commodore after a sailor taken into custody following the Navy double cab-train collision in Puliyankulama admitted that the Navy vehicle was driven by his superior officer. Due to the collision a Navy sailor lost his life and seven others were injured last Saturday at the Puliyankulama railway crossing in Anuradhapura. The sailor driver Saumya Bandara who was in remand prison confessed yesterday in a statement that he did not drive the double cab more..

Jan 8 (CG) The Govt says it is ready to face any resolution the US presents on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in March this year. Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said that the Govt is aware the US is in the process of gathering information on Sri Lanka and how such information is being collected. He said the Govt has made preparations diplomatically to face any resolution the US submits to the Council. more..

Jan 8 (CT) Five years have flashed by since Lasantha was eliminated. Five long years and the Police have failed, nay, they have not been instructed to bring the murderers to court. Lasantha left his imprint indelibly embedded within the print and electronic journalistic history of this country. Those who gave orders to snuff out his probing pen did not envisage that he would continue to have a presence, perhaps larger than life within and outside Sri Lanka. more..

Jan 8 (CT) The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) in its annual Impunity Index titled 'Getting Away with Murder,' which spotlights countries where journalists are slain and the killers go free, has consistently damned Sri Lanka as a country 'notorious for impunity in anti-press attacks' and ranked it the fourth worst in the world in terms of unsolved journalist murders, behind Iraq, Somalia and the Philippines. The title of the report appears more than apt as we mark the fifth more..

Jan 8 (LBO) Sri Lanka said it had received 1.27 million tourists, topping a 1.2 million target for 2014 after changing the method of calculation, as concern grows over the credibility of state data. Up to November Sri Lanka welcomed 1,016,228 million tourists, and had to get 200,000 tourists in December to reach the target, which would have been almost double the 122,000 arrivals in the month in December. more..

Jan 8 (OI) Centre has informed DMK that it was mulling talking to Sri Lanka on mutual release of fishermen lodged in prisons in the respective countries, party MP T R Baalu today said. Quoting his meeting with External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid yesterday in New Delhi, a release from Baalu's office said he had taken up with him the need for Centre's intrevention for release of 275 Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu lodged in in Sri Lankan jails, and their boats. more..

Jan 8 (CT) Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe sent a letter to Mawbima, referring to the news item dated 30 December 2013 headlined 'Challenge to Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe' with his comments. We publish his letter in full. This refers to your letter published in 30 December 2013 in Mawbima captioned, 'A challenge to Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe from Mawbima.' In the above captioned letter published in Mawbima, you as its Chief Editor have posed 12 questions for me to answer. more..

Jan 8 (CI) Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews made the unprecedented decision to bowl in Dubai - the first time in six Tests a captain had put the opposition in at this venue - and then watched his three frontline fast bowlers consistently test the Pakistan batsmen for scant reward before lunch. They bowled with similar accuracy and skill in the remaining sessions too, but Pakistan's luck and Khurram Manzoor's resolve had withered, more..

Jan 8 (LT) Media reports say that Chief opposition Whip and UNP MP John Amaratunga has requested the President the post of speaker in the Parliament or the post of deputy Minister of Defense to join the govt. Mr. John Amaratunga, a long standing senior member of the UNP is the chief whip of the opposition and is the acting leader of the opposition. There was a rumour that Mr. John Amaratunga was preparing to join the government and has joined the President in many foreign tours. more..

Jan 8 (DM) The United National Party (UNP) working committee decided today to appoint Kegalle District MP and UNP Leadership Council member Kabir Hashim as the party�s new chairman. UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told Daily Mirror that Mr. Hashim would replace Kurunegala District MP Gamini Jayawickrama Perera who wished to resign from the post. Mr. Perera had expressed a desire to resign from the post several months ago and it hand over to a younger person. more..

Jan 8 (Reuters) Sri Lanka will change its inflation index to change the basket of items and broaden coverage to the whole nation rather than just the capital city, the state-run statistics office said. The index change - the third in seven years - follows calls for revision of the existing one from the IMF and complaints about official statistics from opposition politicians. "The current index does not reflect the whole country," more..

Jan 8 (CT) Launching of the summary report of the first stage of the economic census took place at the Ministry of Plantation Industries today. In the first stage of the census, the estates exceeding 20 acres in extent were listed. According to the report, the most number of estates (3,022) are reported from the North Western Province. At the media briefing following the event, the officials of the Department of Census and Statistics said a progress report on the implementation of LLRC recommendations, more..

Jan 8 (Island) The number of letters sent by an individual per year had drastically dropped in recent years, said Postmaster General Rohana Abeyrathne. He said that their records indicated that a person posted as few as 14 letters a year. Despite concerns regarding the future of the postal service which has a history of 210 years, the Department is geared to provide all modern facilities such as speed post to its customers. Department is one of the oldest serving departments in the country more..

Jan 8 (PTI) The US will seek an international probe into alleged rights abuses in the final months of Sri Lanka's civil war against the LTTE under a third resolution at the UNHRC, a top American diplomat said here today. The US Ambassador-at-Large at the Office of Global Criminal Justice, Stephen J Rapp, conveyed this to the main Tamil party, TNA, at a meeting, MA Sumanthiran, a senior TNA legislator, said. more..

Jan 9 (NS) I lived the life of a dry zone farmer for ten years. Closely interacting with neighboring peasant farmers, we experienced many of the hardships that they did � coping with the perennial threat of drought, as well us unprecedented cloudbursts which could disgorge a month�s rainfall in a few hours - protecting our crops at night from wild boar and porcupine, and during daytime from flights of hungry parrots and �paddy birds�. We ate the same food as they did � coping with more..

Jan 9 (NS) The Nilgala forest reserve, under the purview of Bibile and Medagama forest conservation authorities, is rich in bio-diversity. Here valuable herbal plants such as Aralu, Bulu, Nelli and pathana land areas are under threat by certain politically strong groups that have encroached into this reserve. It is surprising to note that forest conservation officials are taking no action to prevent the destruction of valuable plant life in the grama niladhari areas such as more..

Jan 9 (SO) The work started by a team of experts from the Moratuwa university to transform Pudukudiyiruppu, Oddusuddan and Mullaitivu as advanced and modern townships with educational, health care and residential facilities is in progress. It is anticipated that the towns would become better towns than even Jaffna and Vavuniya after the completion of the work. UDA is also working on the projects. more..

Jan 9 (CT) When this writer organised a demonstration outside Downing Street along with RSF (Reporters sans Frontieres) and handed a petition to the PM on Lasantha Wickrematunge�s murder, the Tamils in UK asked why all this concern for one journalist when thousands of Tamils were perishing in Wanni. How could I express my true feelings for Lasantha�s brave journalism defying the majority Sinhala opinion that every Tamil from the North and East was a terrorist at the time? more..

Jan 9 (CT) Today marks the fifth anniversary of Lasantha�s murder. Five long and painful years have passed but apart from producing a few red herrings in a flurry of publicity in the first year and a half-hearted attempt at solving the murder, to date, nothing has come of it. Following the murder, President Mahinda Rajapakse informed the country a proper and speedy investigation would be carried out on the assassination of �his friend.� He personally assured me the same. more..

Jan 9 (NS) Investigations into several suspicious fires that have hit some prominent locations in Colombo have produced no breakthrough, leading to wild speculations regarding whether a hidden hand was behind them. Some of these fires, namely the ones that gutted the Colombo District Secretariat (Kachcheri) and a section of the Sathosa Secretariat building housing the Ministry of Co-operatives and more..

Jan 9 (CT) Mahinda Rajapaksa made his parliamentary debut in 1970, having been successful in that year's General Election. From then till 2005, when he became President and Head of State, he had hardly uttered a word about the country's foreign policy, in any forum. Even on rare occasions when he did, he spoke against Israel, while promoting the cause of Palestine and its people. Mahinda's first parliamentary speech was proposing the vote of thanks for the Throne Speech of the 1970 more..

Jan 9 (Island) The Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne may or may not be involved in any manner, directly or indirectly, in what appears to be the largest single haul of heroin smuggling in South Asia. We are not to determine the guilt or innocence of him, in any manner, as the JHU has been doing, and it is up to the judiciary to do so after a proper police investigation. But what was uncovered on 30 August in Colombo was a stunning 131 kilograms (288lb) of heroin, worth several millions of dollars. more..

Jan 9 (FT) On 12 Jan 2009, a short distance away from the entrance to the Borella General Cemetery under a blazing afternoon sun, a photograph was taken. The crowded image shows throngs of mourners, wearing black or white, arms raised in protest as far as the lens could capture. At the centre of the photograph, the coffin carrying slain Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge to his final resting place is held aloft in turn more..

Jan 9 (Island) The campaign to oust Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne has taken a dramatic turn with protests spilling over into the streets. Yesterday a group of Buddhist monks held a demonstration opposite his office in Colombo. Instead of drawing in his horns, he has gone on the offensive and incurred the wrath of Buddhist monks. Curiously, the UNP has refrained from bashing the Prime Minister�not out of any love for him, we reckon, but in a bid to cause a rift in the SLFP by more..

Jan 9 (CT) History is a great teacher. Its mysteries and undiscovered truths may shed light upon the researcher�s insight and help him learn valuable lessons; its repeated events and occurrences might even open a �closed� mindset that is doggedly adhering to archaic values and primordial inhibitions. But, the unique lesson it teaches all of us is how successful results have been achieved by whom and using what strategies, tactics, principles and programmes. more..

Jan 9 (CI) On Sri Lanka's last away tour, in Australia, the touring pace attack had been belittled so extensively by former players and media, the then-captain Mahela Jayawardene was called upon routinely to defend his bowlers. "We probably don't have the pace which you think is required to win Test matches in Australia," he had said. "But we've got guys who can bowl good lines and create pressure in different ways." more..

Jan 9 (CI) There are few batsmen in the Pakistan side who can safely be called technically sound, and Khurram Manzoor isn't one of them. He might not have the prettiest technique, but it worked well enough for him to score 73 on a day when barely any of his team-mates managed to put bat on ball. On a day dominated by Sri Lanka's seam attack, Pakistan lost their last eight wickets for 58 runs to be bowled out for 165. Pakistan's top order has been in transition for ages, and more..

Jan 9 (CT) A clerk who attends to salaries at Sri Lanka Customs (SLC), and who was also responsible for preparing the salaries of those on the Customs Board, was arrested by the CID on charges of fraudulently transferring a sum of Rs 20 million to 14 bank accounts. The police said the suspect had been committing this fraud for over five years. The investigation into the fraud was initiated following a complaint filed by Additional Director General of SLC, A. Senanayake. more..

Jan 9 (LBO) Thermal generation at Sri Lanka's state-run power utility has reached 70 percent with a sharp drop in cheap hydro generation amid dry weather, official data shows. On January 07, Ceylon Electricity Board generated 69.9% of its daily 32.5 GigaWatts (millions of units of electricity) from thermal sources with hydro at 27.9%. Hydro reservoir storage had dropped to 50% of the total or enough to produce 629.7% of energy. more..