Two-thirds of LTTE manpower lost: Sri Lankan Army Chief

Claiming that nearly two-thirds of the LTTE manpower and land area have been lost, Sri Lankan Army chief Sarath Fonseka has said the security forces were moving in swiftly in the war with the rebels, forcing them even to abandon their vehicles.

"The LTTE has now lost nearly two thirds of its manpower and land area to the security forces...," Fonseka said.

"The LTTE capability-wise has got depleted to a larger extent. Areas will start collapsing at one stage, now their strength is getting depleted and they have started to leave their vehicles behind.

"In the last one week we recovered three LTTE vehicles. I don't think the Army had ever recovered LTTE vehicles in the past," he said yesterday in Kandy, about 115 kms from Colombo.

The Army Commander made the remarks after paying homage to the Sacred Tooth Relic at the Sri Dalada Maligawa and visiting the Buddhist religious leaders Malwatte and Asgiriya Prelates to receive their blessings.

Read more,
http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=456548&sid=SAS
and
http://www.itn.lk/news_03_20080719.html

Wanni operation 17 th July 2008

Source,
http://www.defence.lk/videos/WanniOP20080717.wmv

Army Reaches The Coast Again

The tempo of combat continues to increase, but the LTTE have developed a recruiting and training system that enables them to continue resisting the army. LTTE recruiters keep track of births and go looking for boys and girls when they reach 17. Potentially, that's over 10,000 recruits a year. But with those in hiding, or girls who are married, they get about half that.

This includes those who desert from training, although most go for the indoctrination and become loyal LTTE fighters. But these are young and inexperienced kids with guns. The LTTE cadres (veteran fighters) act as sergeants and officers to supervise the kids, who don't last long in combat. But this forces the army to fight bunker by bunker, and town by town. That reduces the amount of LTTE territory, and population, and the available recruits.

The air force has increased reconnaissance activities, partly because of new Israeli UAVs that arrived recently. The air force is looking for the LTTE construction equipment (bulldozers and such), that are used to build new bunkers, behind ones recently lost to the army.

The construction equipment can build new bunkers quickly enough to halt the army advance. Building new bunkers by hand is not nearly as quick. In many areas, the LTTE already has a second, or third, line of bunkers built. But not everywhere, and that has made construction equipment a prime air force target. And it's hard to hide the construction site, and the newly turned earth.

Read more,
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/srilank/articles/20080718.aspx

Navy rescues an injured Sri Lankan Fisherman off 150 nautical miles North-east of Trincomalee

Sri Lanka Navy rescued an injured Sri Lankan fisherman 150 nautical miles north-east of Trincomalee on the 16th July 2008 and provided him with medical treatment.

The injured fisherman had left from Matara with his fellow crew members for fishing on board a multi-day fishing trawler. Their fishing trawler had begun to drift due to an engine failure in mid sea. He had fallen overboard while attempting to repair the boat and got seriously injured when he got entangled in the propeller. The fellow crew members had managed to take him on board and had treated him with medicine available on board their vessel.

However, his condition had worsened and the Navy was contacted for help. The Navy’s Offshore Patrol Vessel, SLNS Samudura, was dispatched to rescue the seriously wounded fisherman. The navy medical personnel had provided him with the emergency medical treatment after taking him on board the SLNS Samudura.

The patient, 18-year-old AMP Kasun Danushra of Beldeniya, Kottegoda, is now receiving medical treatment at the Navy Hospital in Trincomalee.

News and Photo,
http://www.navy.lk/index.php?id=898

Sri Lanka's armed forces eye Kilinochchi

Government defence spokesperson Minister Keheliya Rambukwella today revealed that the armed forces have already taken steps to liberate Kilinochchi from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as their next aim.

He pointed out that the security forces’ “liberation” of the Vidataltivu Sea Tiger base, where Sea Tiger leader Soosai had once operated, was a “great victory”. He made these comments at a press briefing held at his residence.

He went on to say that following the capture of the Vidataltivu area, troops consolidated their domination over 90% of the Mannar district. The government expects to cultivate paddy in the Rice Bowl area in Mannar in the future, he added.

Responding to a question asked by a media person on abductions carried out by “white vans”, the Minister said that the only way to resolve this issue is to stop importing “white vans from Japan since 90% of the vans imported to Sri Lanka are white-coloured.”

He added that there was evidence now surfacing that the majority of these cases are fabrications aimed at troubling the government.

Extracted from,
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_08/July18171054JR.html

Sri Lanka-India economic pact signing to be delayed

The Sri Lankan government said Friday that the signing of the much anticipated Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Sri Lanka would be delayed.

"We are not in a hurry to sign it. It is still at the discussion table, not finalized yet," Anura Yapa, the government spokesman and the minister of Information and Media told reporters.

It is reported earlier that the CEPA would be signed on the sidelines of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation ( SAARC) meeting to be held in Colombo from July 27 to Aug. 3.

The CEPA framework was presented to the Sri Lankan cabinet this week, government sources revealed.

Local industrialists have expressed interest to the CEPA and complained about the lack of information available to them on the proposed agreement.

The CEPA will come as a follow-up to the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement signed in 2005.

Officials said the CEPA will allow investment and trading of services between the two south Asian neighbors as opposed to the mere exchange of goods under the FTA.

extracted from,
http://calibre.mworld.com/m/m.w?lp=GetStory&id=314328821

We are comfortable playing in Pakistan: Ranatunga

Mumbai: Sri Lanka Cricket Board chief Arjuna Ranatunga gave Pakistan a thumbs up ahead of the important International Cricket Council's meeting at the week-end to discuss security concerns for the Champions Trophy to be held there in September.

"We have no problem in playing in Pakistan or India. Pakistan hosted six teams very well recently at the Asia Cup and I was there for the final. It was very well organised," said the 1996 World Cup-winning ex-Sri Lanka Test and ODI captain at a media conference on Thursday.

"So far the championship is in Pakistan and we have been told we are in the standby position," he added.

Ranatunga was also crystal clear in his views about Twenty20 cricket by saying they were good money spinners and should be used in protecting the sanctity and pre-eminence of Test cricket.

Read more,
http://sports.in.msn.com/cricket/stories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1572235

Sri Lanka's Laugfs Holdings enters lubricant market

Sri Lanka's diversified Laugfs Holdings has introduced lubricants to the local market, working capture 30 percent share in two years, top officials said.

The lubricants were launched through the subsidiary of Laugfs Holdings, Laugfs Lubricants Limited.

"As a fully Sri Lankan company, we are proud to enter a market which is already dominated by international players," W K H Wegapitiya, chairman, Laugfs Lubricants said.

The company, with an initial investment of 225 million rupees, has introduced lubricants for both diesel and petrol engines.

"We are confident of commanding around 30 percent of the market share of the lubricant industry in less than two years," Wegapitiya said.

The chain of supermarkets and petroleum depots owned by Laugfs Holdings will be an advantage over other competitors for the sale of the lubricants, Wegapitiya says.

The company also sells Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

Sri Lanka's lube market has been dominated by Caltex Lubricants Lanka Limited with nearly 72 percent market share.

Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (LIOC) holds a 20 percent of market while the balance eight percent is split between Mobil, Valvoline, Shell and BP/Castrol.

Read more,
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?nid=623226559

Ten Sports lines up advertisers for Sri Lanka series

With the Idea Cup between India and Sri Lanka kicking off on 23 July, Ten Sports has roped in a clutch of sponsors. Besides Idea, which is the presenting sponsor, the channel has also roped in Bharti AGA Life Insurance and Hero Honda as co-presenting sponsors. The associate sponsors are LG and Maruti.

Speaking to indiantelevision.com Taj Television India GM Rukin Kizilbash says, “We have sold 80 per cent of our inventory for the Test matches at Rs 50,000 per 10 seconds. For ODIs, we started at Rs 200,000 and went up to Rs 250,000. There is a month still to go for the ODI series to kick off and we have sold 85 per cent of our inventory. Our aim is to take the rate up to Rs 350,000 as the event comes nearer. For ODIs there are around 20-25 spots left while for the Test matches there are around 10-12 spots left per playing day.”

Information available with indiantelevision.com indicates that the presenting sponsors paid around Rs 100 million while the associate sponsors have coughed up Rs 80 million. It is also believed that in total, Idea will spend Rs 300 million on the event as the title sponsor. Sri Lanka Cricket will get around Rs 200 million from Idea for the association.

The special packages like Action Replay are believed to have been sold for around Rs 18–20 million each.

The sponsors get between 240-300 seconds of ad time per match day. Bharti AGA has also taken the fall of wickets package. Maruti has the ratings deal. It also has a car on display, which will be given to the man of the series.

Hero Honda will present a bike to the batsman who hits the most number of sixes in the ODI event. HP has taken the super fours and sixes package.

Read more,
http://www.indiantelevision.com/mam/headlines/y2k8/july/julymam66.php

Sri Lanka denies firing team manager Hashan Tillakaratne

Sri Lanka's cricket authority denied Thursday that it had fired team manager Hashan Tillakaratne only two days after appointing him.

Local media reports earlier said Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge had refused to support Tillakaratne's appointment as manager for the test series against India because of his political allegiance.

The 41-year-old Tillakaratne, a former captain of Sri Lanka, is a member of the main opposition United National Party.

"No one has informed me that such a decision has been taken. I am working with the team and was at practice today," Tillakaratne told The Associated Press.

Sri Lanka Cricket media manager Shane Fernando also said Tillakaratne was still manager, adding that his name has been forwarded to Lokuge for approval.

Read more,
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/17/sports/AS-CRI-Sri-Lanka-Tillakaratne.php