Sri Lankan maids to get a pay hike from Jan.

Sri Lankan housemaids in the UAE will have to be paid a minimum salary of Dh825 per month from January 1, 2008.

Officials from the Sri Lankan Consulate in Dubai yesterday told Khaleej Times that the Sri Lankan missions have notified recruiting agents of the revised minimum wages.

The Sri Lankan government has revised the minimum wages of housemaids in the entire Gulf. While Dh825 has been set for the UAE, the wages in other countries in the Middle East have been set according to their respective per capita income.

Sri Lankan Consul-General Wasantha Senanayake said, “We have sent a circular to all the agents this week stating that any new contract drawn for housemaids from January 1 will have a minimum wage of Dh825 vis-a-vis the existing Dh600. All employers will have to pay Sri Lankan housemaids this revised amount.”

This decision comes in the wake of the visit by Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, Dr Keheliya Rambukwella, to Dubai in October, when he told reporters that the government was considering increasing the wages.

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http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theuae/2007/

Gnanakone rubs shoulders with UNP MPs at party inaugural meeting in LA

Jayantha (Donald) Gnanakone, the controversial Tamil activist, with alleged connections with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rubbing shoulders with Dr. Jayalath Jayewardena, the UNP stalwart at the inaugural Los Angeles meeting of the United National Party became the cynosure of the gathering when Pro-Ranil Wickremesinghe leaders converged on the metropolis for the historical event .

"I may be supporting Mano Ganeshan in Colombo ( a pro-LTTE politician) or anybody else and it's none of the f..... business of anybody or RAW or any one of its agents," he said when asked whether he has joined the UNP. RAW is the Indian intelligence service and currently dreaded by the LTTE since the assassination of the former Indian Prime Minister by a LTTE suicide killer. Formerly RAW funded, armed and trained the LTTE in South Indian military camps when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India.

Jayantha Gnanakone is the brother of the now acquitted alleged participant of the assassination of the former Sri Lankan foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

At the inauguration of new branch of the UNP in LA delirium reind supreme when two UNP stalwarts mingled with a bother of a well-known LTTE financier cloistered inside the Hyatt Summerfield Hotel in El Segundo on Sunday and sang the praises of Ranil Wickremesinghe to their hearts content.

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http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20071225_06

LTTE terrorism must be wiped out, says Nepal’s Prachanda

Maoist leader Prachanda has said that all South Asian and Asian countries must help to Sri Lanka to wipe out the LTTE terrorism.

Prachanda conveyed this view during a meeting with Sri Lanka’s visiting Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva.

The meeting, which took place on Sunday at the Maoist office in Katmandu, also focussed on the LTTE’s lack of success in realising its dream of a separate Tamil nation in Sri Lanka.

Prachanda urged LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran to stop his suicide bomb attacks on politicians and members of civil society.

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http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/

French journalists arrested in Sri Lanka

At least two French journalists have been arrested in Sri Lanka's south for filming a detention camp without permission, police said Tuesday.

The police at Ratgama, about 104 km south of Colombo said that the two French men belonging to "France 24 TV" were arrested Monday evening for filming the area surrounding the Boossa detention camp.

Police spokesman Jayantha Wickramarathne confirmed the arrest of two French men, but said the authorities are not sure whether they are journalists or not.

"They were arrested by the Army because they didn't get permission to film the area," said Wickramarathne, adding that they are still under custody.

The Boossa camp, just 4 km away from the Ratgama police station, drew attention late November when a large number of Tamil minority were rounded up in Colombo and its suburbs on suspicion of links with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/25/content_7309608.htm

Bandaranaike says he's exposed to LTTE's assassins

Former Sri Lankan cabinet minister Anura Bandaranaike, who had crossed over to the opposition Dec 14, has complained that the scaling down of his security since his defection is making him easy prey for the Tamil Tiger rebels' assassination squad. The media reported Monday that Bandaranaike had written a strong letter to the Sri Lankan police chief saying that the withdrawal of security had exposed him to "Prabhakaran's assassins".

Bandaranaike, who has been having a running battle with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, quit the treasury benches just ahead of a critical vote on the annual budget Dec 14, when the government's fate was hanging by a thin thread.

Eventually, the government won with a 47-vote majority. And the police promptly scaled down his elaborate security, though Bandaranaike was no ordinary politician.

He is the younger brother of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga, a former speaker of parliament, and a former foreign minister, who had campaigned against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) abroad.

The LTTE led by Velupillai Prabhakaran had tried to assassinate president Kumaratunga in 1999. Hence Bandaranaike's fear that he might be exposed to "Prabhakaran's assassins".

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http://indiainteracts.com/gossip/2007/12/25/11071/

Lanka asks UNESCO to avoid making comments on internal matters

Sri Lanka has categorically stated that UNESCO should not express its views on the subjects where it neither has the competence nor the mandate.

In a letter to Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, the government said the conflict in Sri Lanka was a complex political issue on which UNESCO should refrain from making comments.

Though UNESCO had made a contribution in inter-sectoral activities in the various domains of the UN aimed at countering terrorism, this did not give a ''carte blanche'' to the Director General to comment on specific situations of the member states, UNI reported here quoting official sources.

The drawing of parity between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the context of a domestic peace process would not fall within UNESCO's contribution to the Counter Terrorism Implementational Task Force.

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http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-235/0712242669185559.htm

State should not become a hunting ground for LTTE: Elangovan

Tamil Nadu should not become a hunting ground for terrorist organisations, especially the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and it should be an oasis of peace. For this, the State Government should be firm in preventing intrusion of LTTE cadres into the State, Union Minister of State for Handlooms and Textiles E.V.K.S.Elangovan said here on Saturday.

Presiding over a Congress party meeting, organised in connection with Sonia Gandhi birthday celebrations , the Minister said if there was any slack in taking action against the LTTE, the worst sufferers would be the innocent people. He wanted the State Government to give a free hand to the police in curbing LTTE activities .

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http://www.hindu.com/2007/12/24/stories/2007122455020400.htm

Nepal backs MR’s battle against LTTE

Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said that Nepali Premier Girija Prasad Koirala backed President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s decision to retaliate against LTTE terror, during a recent meeting he had with Koirala in Kathmandu.

The Nepalai Premier appreciated the action taken by the Sri Lankan government to neutralize the LTTE threat, he said.

The minister said that the government did not believe in war to settle the ethnic issue, but had no option but to meet the LTTE’s military challenge.

Extracted from,
http://www.island.lk/2007/12/24/news3.html

India discounts Prabhakaran injury in air raid

The Indian government has no credible information that Tamil Tigers chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was injured in a Sri Lanka Air Force raid on his bunker in the last week of November.

Indian security agencies believe that reports that Prabhakaran was injured and that he may seek medical treatment abroad are part of psychological warfare against a beleaguered Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

An informed source dismissed as "ridiculous" a report on Friday in a Sri Lankan newspaper that the supposed air raid on Prabhakaran killed 116 bodyguards of the LTTE chief.

Officials told on condition of anonymity that the Indian security establishment, which keeps a close tab on the Sri Lankan conflict, would have in all probability learnt by now if Prabhakaran had indeed been injured.

"All we can say now is that we have no credible intelligence to believe that Prabhakaran was wounded in any raid," the source said. "While we never rule out anything completely, we find these reports difficult to digest."

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http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14579596

Labour's Keith Vaz in inquiry over Tamil rally

A senior Labour MP has become embroiled in an investigation by anti-terrorism police after speaking at a rally in which suicide bombers were praised, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.
# Labour's Keith Vaz is no stranger to trouble

News of the inquiry has put pressure on Keith Vaz, the former Labour minister who heads the all-party home affairs select committee, to defend his decision to speak at last month's rally at London's ExCeL exhibition centre in support of the Sri Lankan breakaway movement, the Tamil Tigers.

Mr Vaz, the MP for Leicester East, whose Commons committee is in charge of scrutinising all anti-terrorism legislation, has been contacted by police investigating the event.

The Sri Lankan high commissioner, Kshenuka Senewiratne, has written to Gordon Brown to express her "serious concerns" at Mr Vaz's presence at the rally.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=

SL seeks outsourcing tie ups with Indian IT firms

Sri Lanka has invited Indian ITES and BPO companies to invest in the island nation claiming that the country would provide competitive edge with its large talent pool of trained personnel available at lower costs.

“Indian companies can invest in Sri Lanka to outsource their projects here. We have a large talent pool of trained personnel available at lower costs. Outsourcing of projects here will significantly help Indian companies reduce operational costs as well as offset the effect of rupee appreciation against the dollar, G L Peiris, Sri Lankan Minister for export development and international trade said. He was addressing a conference organised by Ficci in Chennai.

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http://www.business-standard.com/iceworld

Nano tech now at our doorstep

The Ministry of Science and Technology is ready to launch the nano science project together with industrial private sector early next year, Secretary to the Ministry A.N.R. Amarathunga told the Sunday Observer.

Under the project two institutions, NANCO and SLINTEC will be set up. NANCO will be the holding company that will own the nano park proposed to be established in Homagama. State of the art laboratories will come up in the park to facilitate private sector companies and other research institutions.

Sri Lanka Institute of Nano Technology (SLINTEC), the research institute will be a joint venture with the private sector. Private sector will invest 50% to set up the SLINTEC which will decide on the salaries and other emoluments to the professionals who will join the institution.

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http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2007/12/23/fin01.asp

Malaysian cricket looks for Lankan coaches

The Malaysian Malay’s cricket academy is currently touring Sri Lanka to participate in the Nelson Mendis Junior Cricket tournament which is non-school club private club event organized by CCC school of cricket. The Malaysian Malay’s cricket Academy team is managed by Rosmanizam Abdullah.

The Sunday Times caught up with Rosmanizam Abdullah for an interview.

We started by asking him about his background he said that he had played club cricket for Kuala Lumpur Club side in the 70’s and 80’s and was the Malaysian cycling federation competition secretary.

Although he said that cricket is playing second fiddle to sports like Badminton and Squash in Malaysia their Malaysian Malay’s cricket association is working hard to see that cricket will get the necessary popularity among the public.

The Malaysian government is trying hard to get their people interested in sports and is doing some programmes to get people involved in sports. Abdullah said School cricket in Malaysia is not all that popular However because Sri Lanka school cricket is one of the best in the world they were planning to go according to Sri Lanka school cricket.

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http://www.sundaytimes.lk/071223/Sports/sp2013.html

Anura moves his goods out of Visumpaya

Mr. Anura Bandaranaike has begun moving his goods out of Visumpaya to his house at Rosemead Place built some years and is currently living at his ancestral home in Horagolla.

Both Anura and his sister, Chandrika, built their own houses on the original Rosmead Place compound.

`Tintagel', the Colombo residence of the Bandaranaikes, belonging to the three Bandaranaike children, is now a boutique hotel which was opened earlier this month.

Bandsaranaike left for Horagolla after his crossover to the opposition ahead of the Dec. 14 budget vote. He is expected to continue living there until the transfer of his goods is completed.

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http://www.island.lk/2007/12/23/news1.html