Mendis an unusual spinner, says Dhoni

India one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has conceded it was not easy to read Sri Lanka's unorthodox spinner Ajantha Mendis.

"When you are playing Mendis, you have to save wickets and get runs as well. It gets a bit tough. Even Murali (Muttiah Muralitharan) was difficult some time back, but Mendis is a bit more unusual than him," said Dhoni.

Mendis played a key role in his team's eight-wicket win over India in the first one-dayer of the five-match series, finishing with 3-21 off nine overs to restrict the tourists to 146.

Sri Lanka achieved the modest target with more than 15 overs to spare, with the man-of-the-match award going to Mendis.

"It's difficult to pick him (Mendis). He is a very different bowler. Even if you pick him, by the time you realise what ball it is, it gets really late to play a big shot," said Dhoni.

"In one-day cricket, it is not only about playing him but also rotating the strike because you don't want a bowler to end up with 10 overs for 20 runs. We need to find a way to rotate the strike.

"I have not seen any bowler like him. He is an unusual bowler. The only option right now is to play more and more of him and that's the only way of getting better."

The Indian captain said losing early wickets affected his team's chances of posting a decent total.

Read more,
http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=507341

Confusion over insurance policy for Lankan maids

Even as the Sri Lankan government's landmark insurance policy aimed at protecting the rights of housemaids took effect in the UAE on Sunday, several recruitment agents approached the Sri Lankan consulate in Dubai on Monday and expressed concern over its implementation.

Consulate officials, on the other hand, have promised to look into the matter and "iron out" any issues.

Lankan authorities signed an agreement with the Oman Insurance Company to provide insurance cover to housemaids in the UAE.

Angry agents gathered on Monday morning and alleged that the Sri Lankan diplomatic missions in the UAE had not made any efforts to disseminate information among the sponsors, be they nationals or expatriates.

In a written petition to the Sri Lankan Bureau of Foreign Employment, about 15 agencies expressed fear that instead of the sponsor, they would have to shell out the Dh200 annual premium for the compulsory "life and personal accident insurance."

"If sponsors aren't informed of the new policy, then we would be compelled to pay the insurance premium. The missions must coordinate with the UAE government and other authorities concerned to raise awareness about the new policy, insisting that the costs must be borne by the local sponsor," said an agent based in Ajman.

They also wanted the insurance to cover travel costs of housemaids returning home within three months of their arrival in the UAE.

Khaleej Times had reported in July that the new cover to enhance protection and social security of the island nation's domestic sector workers overseas, would come into effect by mid-August in the UAE.

Read more,
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?

CRIMINALS INVENT BETTER FRAUD METHODS TO CLONE CREDIT CARDS AFTER LTTE AGENT IS SENT TO JAIL

After a week, a British criminal court has convicted a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) agent, who is non-Tamil, for cloning 500 credit cards at a gasoline filling station. A special unit of the police raided a factory that produces chips that will be inserted into card reading machines as a mole, better suited for the crime than the pin hole cameras used earlier.

A week ago, Abdul Samad Mohamed Raik was convicted by the criminal court of Leicestershire for helping the LTTE to steal 175,000 British pounds from ATM machines all over the world. Barely a single household on Houghton on the Hill, Leicestershire escaped the Tamil Tiger scam.

Two other Muslim men, Ibrar Hussain and Mohamed Mahmood were arrested when Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime unit of the Metropolitan Police of London raided at Burmingham a “sophisticated counterfeit card factory” as described by the police. Police said so far they do not know whether the two men arrested are connected to a terrorist organization.

In this method, unlike in the earlier method of recording the credit card and pin numbers with a pin hole camera-like device while a customer buys merchandise at a filling station or a shop, the criminals would remove the card reading device, insert a mole inside and replace it at original places.

The police said the devices they install inside the card reading machines are so high-tech that they could transmit the card numbers and the related pin numbers to a mobile phone.

Cards are then cloned and used abroad in countries including USA, Italy, Australia. In most countries, like in Britain, they do not even need numbers to withdraw money using credit or debit cards.

A raid on houses found stolen chip and pin terminals, card account numbers, card readers and counterfeit magnetic strip cards.

The criminals either by getting employment at filling stations, shops, etc. stole card reading machines, installed the “moles” inside and put them back at their original places. The police said they removed the machines by intimidation or bribes to the staff. In other cases, they have posed as engineers and removed the machine for an “upgrade.”

Read more,
http://www.tothecenter.com/news.php?readmore=6789

Snyman to coach Sri Lanka

One of the most successful and respected rugby coaches in South Africa, Dawie Snyman, is on his way to Sri Lanka.

OFM Sport reported on Sunday that Snyman, who coached Western Province and won the Currie Cup five consecutive times from 1982 to 1986, has been named coach of Sri Lanka's Sevens, 15-man and Under-20 rugby teams. Norman Laker will be Snyman's assistant coach.

Snyman is currently the head coach of Paul Roos who were beaten 47-15 by Grey College in a FNB Classic Clash in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Snyman is also a former Springbok Sevens and Lions coach. His first task will be to coach the Sri Lanka Sevens team which will take part in the World Cup qualifying Rugby Sevens in Hong Kong on October 4 and 5.

Extracted from,
http://www.news24.com/News24/Sport/Rugby/0,,2-9-838_2377614,00.html

LTTE's 'Jeevan Base' falls to Security Forces- Welioya

LTTE terrorists sustained another heavy blow on Saturday (August 16) when troops of the 59 Division operating ahead of the Welioya battlefront in the Eastern Wanni frontier forced into 'Jeevan Base' a large underground training facility of LTTE at around 4.30 p.m.

Jeevan base was located in general area Andankulama, and was known as a major LTTE underground training facility consisting at least 100 bunker defences, security sources said.

Military Spokesperson Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara speaking to defence.lk said, that 67 tombs of deceased terrorists were also found at the underground bunker complex which also consisted of 4 main buildings each with an area of 1250sq.m2.

The LTTE bunkers were constructed with thick concrete to sustain heavy artillery fire and aerial bombardments security sources said adding that troops have also come across 4 torture cells used by the LTTE during subsequent search operations. More information will follow.

Extracted from,
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080817_01
Video Source,
ITN

Govt ready to shelter civilians fleeing Wanni battle

As fighting intensifies and the security forces move forward in the Wanni to capture the LTTE’s heartland, the government said it was fully geared to provide facilities for an estimated 200,000 to 500,000 civilians trapped in uncleared areas.

Despite food and medicine going into the hands of the LTTE, the government will continue to supply essential food items for civilians in the Wanni.

Government Agents of Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Mannar have been instructed by the Senior Advisor MP Basil Rajapaksa and Minister of Disaster Management Mahinda Samarasinghe to prepare an assessment to expedite the humanitarian assistance for those who flee uncleared areas.

Over 12,000 civilians who fled uncleared areas during the past two months have been provided with all basic facilities.

The Wanni Security Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Jagath Jayasooriya said that arrangements had been made to provide facilities for civilians fleeing uncleared areas and the sites to set up new IDP centres had been already earmarked.

“We have instructed the GAs to inform civilians that the security forces are moving into the Wanni and asked them to abandon the uncleared areas as facilities have been arranged to welcome them”, he said.

He said that there would not be a food crisis in the Wanni as the government sent all essential food items through GAs, NGOs and INGOs.

“The GAs have confirmed that there is no scarcity of food whatsoever in these areas”, he said.

Maj. Gen. Jayasooriya said that civilians who come to government controlled areas would initially be sheltered in schools and religious places while they would be provided all basic facilities and housed in IDP centres to be set up soon. “We have facilities to accommodate all new IDPs”, he said.

Read more,
http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2008/08/17/pol01.asp

A Rescue Mission by SLAF

Video Source,
http://www.youtube.com/user/kkair



Video Source,
SLRC

Original Source,
http://www.defence.lk/videos/20080815Rescue.wmv

Read more about the mission,
http://defencewire.blogspot.com/2008/08/lrrp-recue-video-posted-on-defencelk.html
and
http://www.rivira.lk/2008/08/17/ranabima.htm

Striped Icarus’ airstrip

An accelerated project the LTTE has launched to build a clandestine airstrip capable of taking heavy aircraft in Mullaitivu has raised many an eyebrow in defence circles. LTTE cadres, as we reported yesterday, are said to be carrying out construction work like beavers with the help of heavy machinery day and night, paying scant regard to their vulnerability to airstrikes. Why are the Tigers in a mighty hurry to build such an airstrip at this juncture?

There are several possibilities. The LTTE is trapped in the Wanni with its sea and land supply routes being severed effectively. The on-going military onslaughts to clear the A-32 land route on the North-western seaboard and to block the LTTE’s access to the sea on the North-eastern littoral are a frightening proposition for Prabhakaran, who is also facing a military thrust targeting the soft underbelly of his Kilinochchi bastion. The army is poised to launch an offensive on the Muhamalai front anytime. Therefore, it may be argued that the LTTE may be trying to have an aerial escape route open for its leaders, should push come to shove.

It may also be that the LTTE is expecting an emergency consignment of military material to be delivered by a huge cargo carrier for the final battle in Kilinochchi. The possibility of a rescue operation with help from an external source cannot also be ruled out. It could also be that the LTTE has in its possession larger planes than the ones it has unveiled and it is planning to take them out as the last resort for some unknown mission. The runway project could even be a ploy to distract the SLAF from other targets or to lure it into a trap.

Read more,
http://www.island.lk/2008/08/16/editorial.html

AUSTRALIAN LTTE FRONT TO SCREEN A FILM TO PROMOTE SUICIDE TERRORISM

A Brisbane front organization of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will be screening a documentary film promoting suicide terrorism in the Australian city, the Brisbane Activist Center has announced.

The center announced, “This fascinating documentary is an exceedingly rare, inside look at an organization that most of the world has blacklisted as a terrorist group.”
Made by the Norwegians , who are extremely sympathetic to the LTTE , the film has been described a strong argument for the suicide terrorism, which has been condemned flatly in the other parts of the world.

Entitled ,”My Daughter the Terrorist” the documentary film justifies the existence of the suicide terrorists called “Black Tigers” and is accused of telling one sided story about the most feared walking bombs whose most famous victim had been India’s former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who was killed by a woman suicide bomber at a place called Siriperumbudur, in the outskirts of the Tamil nadu city of Chennai.

Many suicide bombers have been found to be former child soldiers who had been kidnapped or taken without the will of their parents from their homes and schools, human rights activists have accused. The desolate children then eventually will be trained to be suicide bombers.

Read more,
http://www.spur.asn.au/

LTTE downfall imminent as more strongholds fall

*Tigers in propaganda campaign to halt Forces' advance;
*Civilians forcibly kept for use as human shield

There were many predictions two years ago when the Security Forces commenced military operations against the LTTE, that the Security Forces were going after the illusionary task of defeating the LTTE militarily.

But those predictions have become invalid with today's status quo of the military operations as troops go ahead with their military operations, unaffected by criticism and dire predictions, capturing those 'impregnable' fortresses one after the other.

There is a miraculous change in the attitude of those critics, within the past few weeks with reports indicating that the downfall of the LTTE is imminent at the hands of the Security Forces.

This sudden change of attitude came after the Security Forces stepped into the Kilinochchi district along the Mannar Pooneryn A-32 road after completing their mission of liberating the Mannar district.

Statistics indicate that the area under LTTE control has been reduced from 15,000 square kilometres two years back to 4,000 square kilometres reducing its fighting strength to 5,000 cadres.

Not only are they facing defeat in the North East but also facing setbacks internationally too losing their international support base with many countries banning the LTTE as a terror organisation and stopping funding sources of the organisation.

As the humiliating defeat of the LTTE is imminent it has commenced a desperate campaign to tarnish the image of the Security Forces, risking the lives of the innocent civilians trapped in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts.

Read more,
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/08/15/fea03.asp

Tunukkai about to fall

The strategic town of Tunukkai is about to fall. Sources indicated to this site that the town will fall within the next day or two. Already, small groups of Tigers are trying to escape the town as the army bypassed it and lay in ambush behind the town. Defence sources say that Tigers might abandon Tunukkai to fight another day and defend Kilinochchi.

If Tunukkai falls in the next few days, it won't take long for Mallavi to also fall. The fall of Mallavi will result in the fall of Mankulam on the A9. If the Army reaches the jungles at Mankulam and Kokavil, Kilinochchi will become untenable.

The Army took over control of the Vellankulam Tunukkai road last month. They are now in control of the Mulangavil-Tunukkai road. Units have also ventured into the Mallavi-Murugandi road. There is a famous Pullayar/Ganesha Kovil at Murugandi.

Read more,
http://defencewire.blogspot.com/2008/08/tunukkai-about-to-fall.html

Security forces positioned in striking distances to Kilinochchi: LTTE loses grip over Administration hub at Mulankavil

The valiant troops of the 58 Division flanking the Western coastal boundary of the Wanni battlefront advancing in the Kilinochchi District along the A-32 Mannar -Pooneryn trunk road yesterday (Wednesday) gained control over a main terror bastion township, Mulankavil.

The LTTE garrison town of Mulankavil came under security forces control following intense fighting between troops and LTTE over days reportedly killing 20 terrorists including an area LTTE leader Thennaman. Security forces came victorious as no fatalities were caused during the pitched battles.

Mulankavil was the second most important administrative hub next to Kilinochchi for the last decade and a large township in the western coast, 58 Division Commander Brigadier Shaveendra Silva said speaking to defence.lk.

The Mahaviru day celebrations last year was held in the central ground at Mulankavil he said adding that the Pongu Tamil festivals were also consistently held at the location. This was also declared as the 'Mahaviru Town' by the LTTE security sources said.

Read more,
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080814_04
Videos,
SLRC

“Nobody Dares to Speak Against LTTE in Wanni” – Surrendered LTTE Cadre

“TIGER LEADERS are using thousands of child soldiers for war. They recruit children directly from schools. Parents and teachers are helpless and nobody dares to speak against LTTE orders or their diktats. Wanni people are now fully disgusted with the LTTE and they do not trust them any longer,” so says a 21 year old Tiger surrendee to the Army troops in Jaffna.

The surrendered Tiger cadre, identified as “Thileepan” in the organization was nineteen years of age when he was forcibly taken away by Tigers during a pilgrimage he has made to Madhu in the company of his mother and sisters in the year 2006. The surrendee who claimed that he was for peace and does not want to resort to violence, further told the Army in his confessions, the following;

“Senior LTTE men, operative from the rear of their defences are used to send new recruits to the front as canon fodder. Tigers are not capable of resisting attacks of the troops. LTTE members are now tired of fighting against well-trained government troops. They are now withdrawing. Their “Eelam Dream” is confined only to a dream. They will never achieve it.”

Read more,
http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=15278

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ACCUSES TAMIL TIGERS OF USING CIVILIANS AS A BUFFER, VIOLATING INTERNATIONAL LAW

The London based Amnesty International accused the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are in control of Sri Lanka’s Northern Wanni area, of designing measures to use civilians as a buffer against government forces - a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

Amnesty International, in a statement said, “In the LTTE-controlled Wanni area, the Tigers have hindered thousands of families from moving to safer places by imposing a strict pass system and, in some instances, forcing some family members to stay behind to ensure the return of the rest of the family. These measures seem designed in part to use civilians as a buffer against government forces - a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

Amnesty International also accused the Tamil Tigers of recruiting people to fight unwillingly in its statement: “The LTTE has also engaged in forced recruitment.”

The organization also criticized the Sri Lanka government of keeping the refugees in camps and not allowing them to go freely, except for children to go to school. “Amnesty International has also received reports that the government is housing those who have been able to leave LTTE areas in temporary shelters that often operate as de facto detention centers. Witnesses from Kalimoddai camp in Mannar district told Amnesty International that more than 200 families who are held there cannot exit the camp for any reason (except to go to school) without obtaining a pass from the government's security forces.”

While seeing to the shelter, food and sanitary needs of the people, the government forces also have to see to the security of the refugees and the surrounding areas, since it was the practice of the LTTE to send saboteurs with refugees in the Eastern Province, military sources said.

Read more,
http://www.tothecenter.com/news.php?readmore=6758