Sri Lanka beat the light to secure victory

It took more sweat and toil than Sri Lanka might have envisaged, but they eventually wrapped up an 88-run victory in the first Test at Kandy about 20 minutes before bad light would have come to England's rescue.

A defiant stand of 109 in 44 overs between Ian Bell and Matt Prior gave England hope of survival after a poor morning session, however in fitting style Muttiah Muralitharan removed both with wicked deliveries to ensure a match that started with him as centre of attention ended with him the hero.

But it took Muralitharan more than two sessions to make his decisive mark. Firstly Chaminda Vaas and Dilhara Fernando did the damage then Sri Lanka came up against the Bell-Prior alliance.

As England ticked down the minutes during the final session Mahela Jayawardene began to fret, perhaps having flashbacks to the 2003-04 series when England hung on in the first two Tests.

Read full article here,
http://content-sl.cricinfo.com/slveng/content/current/story/323836.html

Troops confront LTTE terrorists in Yala

At least four terrorists were seriously injured say, defence sources today (December 04) when troops confronted an LTTE group 30 kilometres north of Yala at 5.10 p.m.

According to sources, troops have confronted with a LTTE group while conducting search operations in the area. Security in the area has been tightened assisting the ongoing search operations, security sources further said.

Latest reports say, security forces are on the trail of the fleeing terrorists.

Meanwhile, a soldier was reported injured during the confrontation.

Extracted from,
http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20071204_06

Kerala, a new LTTE base

The Centre's worst fears have come true - the LTTE has spread its wings to India. LTTE Chief V Prabhakaran has sprung another surprise shifting the banned outfit's operations to the Kerala coast.

Instead of depending on Tamil Nadu for logistic support, his fighters are now zeroing in on the less-patrolled Kerala coast.

TIMES NOW has learnt that attempts are being made to use Kerala for smuggling arms, ammunition and even drugs. Isolated points along the the lengthy Malabar coast are also being used as a landing point for RDX.

Fishermen from Tamil Nadu have long been paying the price of LTTE's bloody mission in their state, and now with the shift of operations to the neighbouring state, it won't be long before Kerala's waters become the LTTE's playground.

Read more,
http://www.timesnow.tv/NewsDtls.aspx?NewsID=4678

Get Pottu Amman to finish LTTE: Douglas Devananda

Sri Lankan Minister and Tamil politician Douglas Devananda, who escaped an assassination bid on him by a suicide bomber last week, has said the way to finish LTTE is to kill the rebel outfit's intelligence chief Pottu Amman.

Devananda, leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Front and Social Services and Social Welfare Minister, said Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran will be weakened by the death of Pottu Amman.

"The only way to bring an end to the LTTE is to kill its head of intelligence Pottu Amman, since he is the person who guides LTTE leader V Prabhakaran and others in the organisation," Devananda, a vocal critic of the Tamil Tigers who had been the target of four assassination attempts in the past, told the Colombo Post newspaper.

Read more,
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200712041422.htm

Lebanon's slaves, Lebanon's shame

Over a month ago, a French documentary, "Liban, Pays des Esclaves," harshly criticized Lebanese society and the authorities for their treatment of migrant domestic workers. But instead of being outraged by the behavior of their fellow citizens, many Lebanese expressed outrage against the filmmaker who dared to sully their reputation in France. One group even organized a petition against the documentary on Facebook, Lebanon's latest craze.....................................

...........................Two weeks ago, Human Rights Watch released a report based on interviews with 100 Sri Lankan migrant domestic workers who had returned to Sri Lanka after working in the Middle East, including many in Lebanon. They tell a disheartening tale of ill-treatment by their employers and official indifference on the part of the Lebanese authorities.

Lebanese employers routinely confiscated the passports of the migrant domestic workers and confined them to the workplace 24 hours a day. In many cases employers refused to allow them to telephone their relatives or friends. Some employers also withheld wages for months to years at a time.

"I had no freedom to leave, day or night," said Krishnan, a 42-year-old Sri Lankan woman who had worked as a maid in Lebanon. "When they went out, they locked the house and took the key with them, and I had to stay inside."

Read more,
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=87205

Sangakkara makes England toil

Kumar Sangakkara became the first batsman to hit 150-plus scores in four consecutive Tests as Sri Lanka pressed for victory in the first Test against England.

The left-hander made 152 as Sri Lanka piled up 8-442 in their second innings when they declared 30 minutes before stumps on the fourth day to leave England an imposing victory target of 350.

England closed the day on 1-9, losing Alastair Cook to the fourth ball of the innings from Chaminda Vaas, who forced an edge to Chamara Silva at first slip.

Skipper Michael Vaughan was unbeaten on 1 and nightwatchman James Anderson was on 4 as England return on the final day to attempt a history-defying win.

Read more,
http://foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,22870225-23212,00.html

1,800 Tamils released in Sri Lanka

About 1,800 Tamils out of the 2,184 detained in recent days following the twin bombings that rocked the Sri Lankan capital last week have been released, the Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

Replying to queries from Tamil MPs, Chief Government Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle said 1,800 Tamils have been released and the rest would also be freed after questioning.

Meanwhile, Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said the government has decided to set up a Help Desk to provide information to the public about persons arrested or detained by police and security forces in the recent crackdown on suspected persons in Colombo and suburbs.

Read more,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/

Adampan Recapturing Attempt Resisted

A fierce gun attack launched by Tiger Terrorists to wrest control the south of ADAMPAN which fell into the hands of the troops during weekend clashes was once again repulsed by consolidating troops Monday (3) morning decimating thirty five Tiger terrorists and injuring a similar number, reports said.

Tiger Terrorists after trying to recapture those areas staged a comeback assault starting around 1.00 a.m. on Monday (3) early morning.

Troops immediately reacted and went on driving terrorists away using heavy fire.

Monitored LTTE transmissions confirmed thirty five of their cadres died in the counter-fire directed by the troops.

Extracted from,
http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=9157

Sanath Jayasuriya announces retirement from Tests

Sanath Jayasuriya, the ‘Master Blaster’ who almost single-handedly changed the character of the one-day format of cricket and who has been one of the most consistent performers with bat and ball for Sri Lanka over the past 15 years, announced that the Kandy Test against England will be his land.

"I will be retiring from Tests after this match," Jayasuriya confirmed to a television channel covering the series. "I wanted to end my Test career in Sri Lanka, particularly in Kandy. I will continue playing one-day internationals."

Jayasuriya said that it was the right time to retire: “There are some young guys coming up, and I wanted to go while on top. Life without cricket will be tough, but I will still be playing one-day cricket and contributing to the team."

Read more,
http://news.lk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4133&Itemid=44

Murali smashes Test wicket record

Muttiah Muralitharan smashed Test cricket's wicket-taking record Monday with his 709th victim as Sri Lanka dismissed England for 281 on the third day of the first Test match.

Muralitharan, playing in his 116th test, reached the milestone when he bowled Paul Collingwood for 45 during the third day of play at Asgiriya Stadium.

The offspinner later had Matthew Hoggard stumped for his 710th wicket and finished the innings with six for 55 runs.

Muralitharan had a frustrating first spell, bowling nine overs without success and conceding 19 runs. His breakthrough came in the first over of his second spell, the 26th of the day, when he clipped Collingwood's middle stump.

Read more,
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SPORT/12/03/cricket.srilanka.ap/

Sri Lanka to receive 50 more railway carriages from China

Sri Lanka Railway Department is to receive 50 more railway carriages from China this month.

The carriage-strapped Railway is receiving 75 new carriages anew with the arrival of these carriages.

The first batch of 25 carriages arrived in Sri Lanka in September and they are now coupled to existing trains. The rest 50 carriages will arrive in Sri Lanka in two batches in mid December, a Ministry of Transport spokesman said.

Sri Lanka has ordered 15 locomotive engines from China to upgrade the services and they are to arrive in Sri Lanka next year.

Extracted from,
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_07/December2145642SL.html

53 LTTE terrorists killed and over 50 terrorist injured in confrontations

The Mannar - Vavuniya - Muahamalai area has been an area of increased activity in the past twenty four hours when compared with other operational areas as Trincomalee , Batticaloa , and Weli- Oya areas. In Weli-oya two terrorists were killed in a confrontation at Kokkuthuduwai at noon yesterday.

Meanwhile in Kalmadu, Batticaloa a former LTTE member identified a Thambimuttu Nadaraja was hacked to death by the LTTE . This penalty to the victim is not only as a reprisal for desertion but also as a grim and brutal reminder to warn other members of the organization of the consequences of deserting their organization . As a former foreign terrorist stated :" there is no entry fee for enlistment into a terrorist organization, but the only exit is through the cemetery".

A total of Twenty three LTTE terrorists have been killed in confrontation in the area of Adamapan South of Mannar and 57 terrorist have been injured according to LTTE communication intercepts during confrontations with troops. Three soldiers were reported killed in action while twenty sustained injuries. Many LTTE bunkers were also reported to have been destroyed in the attacks. Two soldiers were also reported killed when the terrorists launched a mortar attack on troops in the Adampan area of Murunkan and Thiruketheeswaran area, Mannar on Saturday (01) around 4.45 pm

Read more,
http://www.nationalsecurity.lk/fullnews.php?id=9035

Free media or his master’s voice?

The free media movement and various INGO right organizations have been issuing press releases and statements against government’s intervene in preventing broadcast of Piribaharan’s birthday speech on BBC Sandeshaya Sinhala program.

Sri Lankan armed forces have engaged in full scale battle against the LTTE terrorists in the North and they are at the verge of the overall win after so much of sacrifice and commitment.

Good part of the war is fought in the mind of the troops and support of people and certainly security forces do not want to let their enemy leader’s psychological boosting growl being telecast in high time of the war.

Few hours before the self appointed terrorist supremo deliver his annual speech, the Kaffir and Mig fighter jets of Sri Lanka air force were able to successfully attack and flatten the Voice of Tiger (VOT) broadcasting center in Killinocchi.........

........However, MTV and Sirasa shamelessly came forward to act as Voice of Tiger (VoT) in the south and broadcast Piribaharan’s full speech in a hurry and also they made it their head lines in the prime time news bulletins.

Read the full article here,
http://lankarising.blogspot.com/2007/12/f

Own internal rift kills LTTE medical team

Latest intelligence reports related to the LTTE’s much publicized claymore attack on a van carrying school girls in un-cleared areas of IYANGAKERNI on KOKAVIL - THUNUKKAI road in WANNI around Tuesday (27) noon confirmed that a self activated explosion had taken place while an LTTE medical team was rushing for an undisclosed destination.

LTTE said seven girls and four others died in the explosion.

Tiger terrorists just a day prior to the suicide and bomb attacks in COLOMBO & NUGEGODA went an extra mile to get the maximum publicity for their self inflicted carnage while blaming the Security Forces serving more than 20 km away from the site of the explosion. The story was subsequently bought by local and foreign media as the pro – Tiger TamilNet broke the story with names of those youngsters.

Read more,
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KARI-79FLFF?OpenDocument