Saudi Arabia to help Lanka in oil exploration, refining

The Kingdom has agreed to train Sri Lankans in the field of exploration and refining oil in the island. This was the outcome of yesterday's talks between Ali Al-Naimi, minister of petroleum and mineral resources and Abdul Hameed Mohamed Fowzie, minister of petroleum and petroleum resources development at a meeting held at the ministry headquarters yesterday.

"We had fruitful discussions with my counterpart here and we are happy that the Kingdom has agreed to cooperate with Sri Lanka in areas of mutual interests in the field of oil supply, exploration and investments," Fowzie said. The charge d' affairs of the Sri Lankan Embassy, W.S.M.S.Wijesundera, consul general in Jeddah, Abdul Latiff Mohammed Lafeer, commercial counselor, Yasantha De Silva, and Mohammed Jabir represented the ministerial team during the discussions.

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Sri Lankan PM arrives for historic visit

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake arrived in Israel on Sunday, in the first visit by a Sri Lankan premier to the country.

Sri Lanka restored diplomatic ties with Israel in 2000, despite objections from the island's Muslim minority.

During his four-day working visit, Wickremanayake is to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and President Shimon Peres, and travel to the West Bank for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

On Monday he will first visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, and then Sderot.

Last year, Israel exported about $60 million in goods to the South Asian nation, while imports were around $40m., according to the Foreign Ministry.

Cooperation between the two countries is strongest in agriculture and medicine, and Israel sent a rescue team to Sri Lanka following 2004's Asian Tsunami that killed more than 225,000 people in 11 countries.

Extracted from,
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?

Government in a hurry over polls: TULF

he Sri Lankan military on Sunday said the number of LTTE cadres and the soldiers killed in Saturday’s battles in the north had gone up to 52 and eight respectively. Meanwhile, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) chief V. Anandasangree charged the Mahinda Rajapaksa government with going ahead with elections to the eastern province in a “great hurry”.

In a letter addressed to Mr. Rajapaksa, the TULF leader argued that free and fair elections were not feasible until all “armed groups are disarmed.”

The immediate provocation for the missive is the reported decision to re-deploy sections of the Special Task Force (STF) from the Amparai district.

However, the government has termed reports on the re-deployment in a section of the local media as “misleading” saying only a few units of the STF were being pulled out for deployment in the northern battle front. Mr. Anandasangree said there was no doubt that the East had been liberated but not cleared fully of the LTTE problem.

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http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/24/stories/2008032455621600.htm

Tigers' deep sea mines pose new threat to Sri Lanka

The Tamil Tigers' deep sea underwater capability demonstrated off the eastern Sri Lankan coast Saturday might have added a new dimension to the military conflict, The Sunday Times said.

The navy could be facing a new challenge in the coming months if the Tamil guerrillas continue to attack Sri Lankan vessels with sea mines or human torpedoes, the weekly paper said.

A sea mine sunk a Sri Lankan naval Fast Attack Craft (FAC) off Nayaru on the Mullaitivu coast at about 2.25 a.m. Saturday. And although six men were rescued in the vicinity, the fate of 10 others was not known, it added.

Survivors said that they saw no Tiger vessel in the vicinity either with the naked eye or electronically and that there was no confrontation or firing. Hence the suspicion about a sea mine being the cause of the deadly explosion.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), however, gave a different version of the incident. The LTTE said there was a confrontation between the Sri Lankan Navy and a suicide squad of the Sea Tigers in which 14 navy men were killed and one FAC was sunk.

The LTTE further said that three Tigers, including a 'Lt. Colonel' and two women cadres, all members of the Black Tiger suicide squad, were killed. The names of the dead were announced.

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http://www.kalingatimes.com/international

Ship from Sri Lanka hits Bengal jetty

A ship carrying containers and construction equipment from Sri Lanka lost control Saturday and hit a Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) jetty near here. No one was injured in the accident.

'The ship was coming from Colombo with heavy machineries and containers. On its way to Kolkata port, it lost control due to some technical problems and hit a jetty at Nurpur in South 24 Parganas district,' Kolkata Port Trust Chairman A.K Chanda told IANS.

He said the steering of the ship got jammed and the captain had no option but to stop it abruptly.

'The jetty was completely damaged but no human injury was reported in the incident,' Chanda said.

Extracted from,
http://www.indiaenews.com/india/20080322/105913.htm

Liberation for people in North soon - TMVP

The Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pukkikal (TMVP) said that the people of the East were thankful to the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government and the military for ending the fearful era under the clutches of the LTTE terrorists.

The first woman Mayor of the Batticaloa district, Sivageetha Prabakharan of the TMVP told the 'Sunday Observer' that the TMVP hopes the Government would liberate the people in the North from the LTTE terrorists soon.

"We wish that our people in the North too will breathe the air of freedom soon," she said.

Agreeing that the TMVP still shelters children, she said that after the split, the LTTE tortured the younger brothers of the TMVP carders.

Mayor Prabhakaran, who seeks Government assistance to develop the district, assured that public money allocated for development would not be allowed to be misused under her administration.

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http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2008/03/23/pol01.asp

Nedumaran, 164 party workers arrested

Tamil Nationalist Movement leader P Nedumaran and many others were arrested in the city on Saturday for defying a ban on staging a demonstration against the alleged sale of arms by India to Sri Lanka, among other issues.

Nedumaran and 164 others, including 15 women from various pro-Tamil groups were held after they tried to stage a demonstration at the Memorial Hall here without police permission, police said.

The protesters also denounced attacks on the Tamil Nadu fishermen, allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy, in the international waters.

Extracted from,
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200803221915.htm

Sea Tiger Coordinating Centre Destroyed

AFTER PROLONGED SURVEILLANCE, Sri Lanka Air Force fighter craft shelled an LTTE base northwest of PUDUKUDIRIPPU, MULLAITHIVU Saturday (22) at about 2.10 p.m.

Intelligence reports revealed the target was a coordinating centre of Sea Tigers.Pilots confirmed the Sea Tiger base was destroyed in the air attack.

Extracted from,
http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=11791

LTTE attacking Indian fishermen, not Lankan Govt: SL Minister

Sri Lankan Minister for Highways Jayaraj Fernando today said the frequent attacks on Indian fishermen at the midsea were carried out by the banned LTTE and not by the Lankan Navy. In an informal chat with the newspersons here, he said it was only the LTTE, who attacked Indian fishermen. But they put the blame on Sri Lankan Navy to tarnish the image of Sri Lankan Government.

He said the Sri Lankan Government was keen on national integration within the island nation and not for any partition. ''We will not allow disintegration of the nation,'' he asserted.

He said the Sri Lankan Government was always ready for settling the ethnic issue through peaceful negotiations but the LTTE did not believe in these talks and instead they wanted to create problems in the island nation.

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Windies fans feel the absence of Lasith

Walking out of the National Stadium after the drawn game between Sri Lanka and a Guyana Cricket Board President’s Eleven team I was confronted by a group of Guyanese cricket enthusiasts who noticed me sporting a Sri Lanka Cricket tee shirt.

‘You playing for Sri Lanka’, asked one of them in the group. ‘My playing days were long over’, I said, laughing to myself.

‘Hey mann, where is that mann Malinga? asked another in the group. I said is it Malinga Bandara? ‘No, no mann. That guy with the weired hair do and the peculiar slinging action. Oh, is it Lasith Malinga? That de guy’, they all shouted.

‘He didn’t play in this game. Is he being rested for the Test match’, they queried.

I said: ‘No my friends, he has been emitted due to injury and is not in the squad’, I said much to their disappointment.

‘Mann, when Malinga was here he took 4 in 4, you remember’, they asked. I said I was at the scene of action that day and lapped up every moment of that 4 in 4 blast, in the World Cup game at this venue, against South Africa, and described it to my newspaper.

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http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/03/22/spo03.asp

Sri Lanka starts whale watching

Sri Lanka is launching whale and dolphin watching tours in the island's Western and Southern waters in an effort to exploit a growing trend in eco-tourism, officials said.

The joint venture between Walkers Tours, a unit of John Keells Holdings, and state-rn Ceylon Fishery Harbours Corporation (CFHC) is part of a government and industry effort to increase the economic contribution from the island's fisheries sector.

Micheal Elias, chief executive of Walkers Tours, said the initiative would combine the marketing strengths of the private sector operator with the resources such as the boats and crews of the CFHC.

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http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?

Troops capture one Square Kilometer in between Parayanakulam and Elanthivan area

The Army troops captured one square kilometer in between PARAYANAKULAM and ELANTHIVAN area today (22) morning. Fifteen LTTE terrorists were reported killed in the confrontation.

Due to the incident two soldiers were killed and another nine soldiers were reported injured. Five LTTE dead bodies were recovered by the troops subsequently.

Extracted from,
http://www.nationalsecurity.lk/fullnews.php?id=11312

Air strikes at LTTE sea tiger base - Mullaittiuvu

SLAF fighter jets launched precision air strikes at a pre-identified LTTE sea tiger base today (March 22), 7km North of Nayaru lagoon in Mullaittiuvu at 11.15 a.m., security sources said.

The air strikes came following intense terrorist activity monitored in the area since this morning, security sources said.

Pilots confirmed to have inflicted heavy damages to the LTTE sea tiger facility, sources further added.

Extracted from,
http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080322_04

Navy Fast Attack Craft sinks in mystery blast; 6 crewmembers survive

A Sri Lanka Navy Fast Attack Craft (FAC) has been caught in a possible underwater blast this morning (March 22). According to the defence sources, the locally built P438 deployed in northeastern coastal waters off Nayaru has sunk due the blast that occurred around 2.30.a.m.

Upon the receipt of the SOS message from the sinking craft other sea units have immediately launched a search and rescue mission in the area. According to the naval sources, 6 crewmembers, including the Officer in Charge of the craft have been rescued so far.

The survivors have reported an underwater blast that damaged the boat's hull and caused it to be sunk in a short time. According to the survivors there has been no sea confrontation nor any LTTE craft were present in the area. Navy suspects the blast has caused by a possible sea mine or due to some underwater weapon developed by the terrorists.

Search and rescue mission continues.

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