Sri Lanka cement plant to be expanded by India's Birla

India's Aditya Birla group has suggested expanding a defunct cement plant in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula to exploit the region's rich deposits of limestone, government officials said.

A team from the Birla group is in the island for talks with government officials on several investments.

Sri Lankan officials said Monday the initial proposal submitted by the Birla group suggested raising capacity at the Kankesanturai plant to 3.6 million tonnes a year depending on the availability of reserves of limestone, the basic raw material for cement manufacture.

The proposal did not have any details of financial investment and the Sri Lankan authorities are trying to make arrangements for Birla group experts to visit the site in Jaffna, which is cut off from the mainland as Tamil Tigers control the road to the peninsula.

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Thalladi church damaged in LTTE artillery attack- Mannar

LTTE launched artillery barrages fell at the densely populated Thalladi town this morning (February 12) damaging the Thalladi Church, Mannar defence sources said.

According to military sources, LTTE mounted artillery shell attacks since 9.a.m.

SLA retaliated with heavy gun fire towards identified LTTE artillery positions in the non-liberated areas north of Mannar, security sources said.

Extracted from,
http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080212_04

Maldivian President arrives here tomorrow (12)

The President of Maldives, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and first lady Nasreena M. A. Gayoom will arrive in the island on two-day official visit tomorrow (12), on an invitation extended by President Mahinda Rajapaksa following his visit to the Republic of Maldives in 2006, a press release issued by the President’s media unit said.

President Gayoom will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdullah Shahid and several high ranking officials of the Maldivian Government. The President will be accorded full state honours on his arrival to the country.

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Clinton rejects funds from LTTE supporters

Leading Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton through her Office in Washington, DC announced that they have already rejected the election campaign funds sent by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) proscribed as an arm of the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

A New Jersey resident in U S A, allegedly connected to the TRO had sent in the funds. This was revealed to Sri Lanka’s Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona and Bernard Goonatilake, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Washington.

This was a sequel to two top ranking Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry diplomats visiting Senator Hillary Clinton’s office at Washington on the Hill, to protest against the collection of campaign funds by TRO.

Sources at the Clinton office indicated that after thorough scrutiny, the funds were deemed unacceptable under U S law. The two Sri Lankan diplomats met Andrew Shapiro, Senior Foreign Policy Advisor of Senator Hillary Clinton and recorded their objections over her remarks she reportedly made about terrorism and LTTE in October 2007.

The Clinton office revealed that they were aware of the criticism arising from Senator Hillary Clinton’s alleged statement that “There are personality-driven terrorist objectives.

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http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/02/11/sec10.asp

Sri Lanka in tourism tie-up with Al Jazeera

The Sri Lankan ministry of tourism has tied up with Al Jazeera Arabic channel to improve the global perception of the country’s internal security and also promote and boost its tourism sector.

Addressing a stakeholders’ meeting comprising tourism experts and airline operators yesterday, Sri Lankan deputy minister of tourism Faiszer Musthapha said there is a need to be more aggressive in promoting the country’s image, which has been hit by disturbances in parts of the country.

“This effort which we will be doing alongside the national airline Sri Lankan, is an opportunity for Sri Lankan government to express itself and attract more tourists to the country, by projecting the positive stories emanating from the country, especially in the tourism industry,â€‌ he said.

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http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/

Cuban Anniversity Marked in Sri Lanka

Ministers Amarasiri Dodangoda (Justice) and Tissa Vitharana(Science and Technology) of Sri Lanka presided over an event of solidarity with Cuba to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.

The solidarity ceremony, held at the Russian Cultural Center of Colombo, was organized by the Sri Lanka-Cuba Friendship Association led by Dodangoda, who is also a legislator.

Vitharana, who is also a Parliament member, chairs the Parliamentary Group of Friendship with Cuba.

During the event, a Peradeniya University professor gave a lecture on the significance of the Cuban Revolution and referred to the ideas and work of Cuban National Hero Jose Marti.

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http://www.plenglish.com/article.asp?ID

Asian Consuls General Open Film Festival

The Consuls General of 13 Asian nations inaugurated the first Asian film festival here on Saturday night. “This is one of the best ways to promote a cultural dialogue among various communities,” Muhammad A. Tayeb, director general at the office of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Makkah region, said while unveiling the festival logo.

Consuls General from 13 Asian countries — Bangladesh, Brunei, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand — who are all members of the Asian Consuls’ General Club (ACGC), in addition to the Ethiopian and Swiss Consuls General, were present.

Documentaries made in Saudi Arabia followed the screening of India’s feature film “Chak De India” on the opening day.

A Japanese feature film “Nitaboh (2003) was screened last night. Malaysian feature film “Mukhsin” will follow tonight, followed by Sri Lanka’s “Udu Gan Yamaya” tomorrow. Invitations are being issued by respective consulates for their films.

Extracted from,
http://www.arabnews.com/?

Public Vigilance Prevent LTTE Massacre Attempt

One more LTTE attempt to execute carnage targeting innocent civilians gathered at the public fair near the ANURADHAPURA new bus stand was averted today (10) morning due to prompt actions taken by civilians now vigilant on terrorist activities.

Having seen a suspicious unattended plastic container, which later proved to be an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) with a timer, people brought it to the notice of a sailor proceeding on his leave who safely defused the IED containing about 1 kg of explosives.

The ANURADHAPURA Police are conducting further investigations.

Extracted from,
http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=10622

Sripathi Sooriayaarachchi – the tragic end of a fighter

Latest reports reveals that Sripathi Sooriayaarachchi has been killed in a fatal road accident that took place at Madagama, in the Galgamuwa area this afternoon, February 09.

According to the police sources, the vehicle carrying Sripathi Sooriayaarachchi crashed into a tree around 1.15.p.m. when it slipped off the road due to high speed. The vehicle was travelling from Anuradhapura to Colombo enroute via Thambuththegama, sources said.

Sooriyarachchi was rushed to the Thambuttegama Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on admission.

The driver of the vehicle, Priyantha Samarasinghe and a close friend of Sripathi Sooriayaarachchi, S.K.R. Silva (Chief Executive Officer of Isura FM), too died on the spot.

Two others injured in the accident – Ministerial Security Division personnel identified as Somaratne and Nihal – were admitted to the Thambutegama Hospital. Somaratne, who is in a critical condition, was later transferred to the Anuradhapura General Hospital.

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http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/9555

Sri Lanka Troops Close in on Rebel Town

Fighting raged across Sri Lanka's embattled north killing 44 combatants as government troops closed in on a strategic rebel-held town, the military said Saturday.

The latest gunbattles that erupted along the front lines in the northern districts of Jaffna, Mannar and Vavuniya killed 41 Tamil Tiger rebels and three soldiers on Friday, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.

Soldiers were just a short distance from the rebel-held town of Adampan, said Nanayakkara. Capturing Adampan would be a crucial step in the military's campaign to dismantle the rebels' de facto administration in the country's north.

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http://www.myfoxla.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?

Over 200 LTTE bunkers in north

While the military has destroyed a considerable number of LTTE bunkers in the north to date, there are nearly 200 LTTE bunkers in all in the northern districts at present.
Speaking to The Nation, Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said that the LTTE has bunkers situated every 10 metres or so in the north and that it changes bunker positions from time to time.

“So far no bunker has been captured by the security forces, although the forces have destroyed many of them. At the moment we are in the LTTE Forward Defence Line (FDL), which we captured in 2006. Since then the military has not gone any further. The LTTE has the ability to reconstruct the bunkers even when the forces destroy them,” Brigadier Nanayakkara pointed out.

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http://www.nation.lk/2008/02/10/news9.htm

Armour plates for passenger buses in Sri Lanka

Shaken by a spate of claymore mine attacks against passenger buses that killed scores of people during the last two months, Sri Lankan government is planning to provide armour plates for the public vehicles to minimise the damage if they are hit by roadside bombs.

"We are undertaking a pilot project of fitting armour plates on two buses," Transport Ministry Secretary Nihal Somaweera said.

He said conversion of the passenger bus into a virtual armoured vehicle would reduce the seating capacity by nearly half in the vehicles.

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Rest_of_World/

The R2P controversy

One event that made front page news last week was the expulsion of Dr Rama Mani the executive director of ICES from the country following an internal crisis within the organization.The faction opposed to Dr Mani had leaked to the press an e-mail written by her to the International Crisis Group wanting to become the local representative to promote the doctrine of 'responsibility to protect' (R2P for short).

That email basically sealed the fate of Dr Mani because no government can possibly ignore an international NGO which seeks to promote foreign intervention in that country. This talk of a responsibility to protect first came up in this country at last year's Neelan Tiruchelvam memorial lecture which was delivered by Gareth Evans, a former Australian politician turned international NGO operative.

According to the website of the International Crisis Group (ICG), which advocates the responsibility to protect, the right to protect concept arose because of the incidents that occurred in Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo.

The first thing to note is that Sri Lanka is not a Kosovo, Rwanda or a Bosnia where a majority community seeks to eliminate a minority through mass killings; a fact which Gareth Evans, the head of the ICG himself has admitted.

What we have here is a counter-insurgency operation against a terrorist outfit that has been listed as a terrorist group by the USA, Canada, India, Australia, and the EU. This year, the FBI categorized the LTTE as the most dangerous and efficient terrorist organization in the world, ahead of even the Al Qaeda - the main bugbear of the west.

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http://www.island.lk/2008/02/10/politics3.html

India show brotherly love to Sri Lanka

Living up to their status of the regional big brothers, the Indian cricket board has always stood by their counterparts in Sri Lanka. This time, it promises to be no different.

The mandarins at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are already looking at options to help the Lankan board following the request of Arjuna Ranatunga, currently at the helm of Lankan cricket. "There is a possibility of hosting some off-shore matches between us, and we are trying to find out a slot when our cricketers are free," said Niranjan Shah, the BCCI secretary.

Speaking to Gulf News, Shah said they would work out a solution soon because of the "brotherly relation" that the boards of two countries enjoy. Incidentally, the two countries, alongwith Pakistan and Bangladesh, will host the third World Cup in the sub-continent in 2011.

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http://www.gulfnews.com/sport/Cricket/10188349.html