UNP alternative group to receive funds

Billionaire businessman Charles Gnanakoon has offered to help the UNP to get members of dissident group back in the opposition, reliable sources reported....

....The offer was revealed today, when minister Karunaratne Jayasooriya raised a privilege issue in the parliament. He said that Tiger sympathizer businessman called Gnanakoon is offering money to buy his dissident colleagues. As soon as the statement was made, members of govt and UNP started shouting at each other, our parliament reporter says.

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http://www.lankatruth.com/full_story/2007/Aug/07/20070807_9.htm

India Begins Supplies Radars to Sri Lanka

After a gap of a year, India has sent more radars to Sri Lanka to help it ward off the threat of airborne attacks by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Defence Ministry sources said.

India had resumed non-lethal military aid to Sri Lanka with the supply of two indigenous radars in 2005. This year in January it sent another military radar to Sri Lanka which was followed by the despatch of a similar radar in June.

The radars were sent on behalf of the Indian Air Force, the sources said.

Ironically, both radars were sent from the Hindon military base on the outskirts of Delhi. This was the place from where helicopters were despatched via Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu to rescue the LTTE leader V. Prabakaran at Vadamarachchi on the northern tip of Jaffna after the Sri Lankan Army had cornered him in the late 80s.

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http://www.india-defence.com/reports-3481

Vaiko urges UPA to stop arms supply to SriLanka

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) Secretary Vaiko today urged the UPA government to stop supply and sale of arms to Sri Lanka and get back the radars already supplied.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a copy of which was released to the media here, he expressed shock over the continuous supply of radars.

He alleged that the Sri Lankan Air Force had killed thousands of innocent Tamil men, women and children all these years.

The UPA government was behaving contrary to the decision of the Union Government, which decided in 1998 at an all party meeting not to sell or supply any arms to Sri Lanka, he alleged.

''It is a proven fact that the Sri Lankan Government is guilty of genocide to achieve its goal of ethnic cleansing of Tamils,'' he alleged.

Extracted from,
http://www.newkerala.com/july.php?action=fullnews&id=52005

Sri Lanka Release Former Skipper

Sri Lanka Cricket has agreed to release former skipper Marvan Atapattu from his contract.

The move follows speculation that 36-year-old is set to join the Indian Cricket League (ICL).

K Madivanan, secretary of the Sri Lankan Interim Committee, told PA Sport: "The interim committee of Sri Lanka Cricket has considered Marvan's request and has decided to release him from his contract with effect from October 1.

"This is because Marvan needs to give two months' notice before he is released."

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http://www.cricket365.com/story/0,,6575_2644359,00.html

Sri Lanka doesn’t want UN HR mission – defense spokesman

Sri Lanka government defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwelle yesterday said that there was no room for inviting a UN human rights monitoring mission to Sri Lanka as such move will affect the sovereignty of the country and would also doubt the ability of the Sri Lankan authorities to carry out their own inquiries.

“We don’t have any doubt in our process. To have an international monitoring mission will be an infringement on our sovereignty,” Rambukwella told the weekly media briefing on Monday responding to the damning report released by the Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The spokesman stressed that the government was doing its best to deal with the allegations of human rights violations.

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http://www.colombopage.com/archive_07/August754712JV.html

Indian LTTE supporters to invade Sri Lanka

Tamil Nadu rabble rouser and supporter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and leader of the Tamil National Movement P. Nedunmaran has stated that he would invade Sri Lanka’s war-torn areas carrying medicine and food in support of the Tamil Tigers.

Nedunmaran threatened the invasion after the Indian Red Cross has refused to carry the material his political organization has collected for the “Tamil people of Sri Lanka” .

Nedunmaran’s organization is one of the outfits suspected of being on the payroll of the LTTE in Tamil Nadu who are acting as their agents.

The LTTE is using Tamil Nadu to procure arms, ammunition, fuel and medicine for its continuing insurgency in Sri Lanka.

If Nedun Maran is successful, it would be the second time Indians are violating the sovereignty of Sri Lanka after the Indian planes entered Sri Lankan airspace after former Indian Prime Minister ordered to drop food from air which are now christened as “parippu bombs” in Sri Lanka.

After that over disagreements the LTTE assassinated their former sponsor, Rajiv Gandhi.

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http://www.tothecenter.com/news.php?readmore=2827

Sri Lanka police use tear gas to quell student demonstration

Sri Lankan police in the capital Colombo on Monday used water cannon and tear gas to quell a demonstration by university students highlighting student grievances.

Danushka Kumarasinghe, the spokesman for the students said that they were planning to hand over a communique outlining six grievances to the authorities. One of the demands was to restore drinking water supply to the university building. Protesting students claimed that four of them were injured while one of them was arrested by the police.

The students of the Rajarata University in the north central town of Anuradhapura arrived in the capital Colombo to walk to the offices of the University Grants Commission in Ward Place in Central Colombo.

Extracted from,
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/6227444.html
Photo from,
http://www.lakbima.lk/img/1-2.jpg

LTTE Calls for Blood Donations in the Wanni

The defence ministry said yesterday (29) that the LTTE had ordered each family in the Wanni to donate two pints of blood to the outfit, following a recent air raid on their ‘Senkadeer’ Sea Tiger base in Alampil, Mullativu.

The ministry in a statement said that the LTTE’s intercepted radio communications revealed that the Sea Tiger base had been almost destroyed due to the air raids and that it rarely ordered every family to give blood on a single occasion and that this indicated a large number of casualties due to the air raid.

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http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=7107

Postal service paralyzed in Sri Lanka as postal workers report sick

A section of the Sri Lanka postal department workers stayed away from work from early morning today reporting sick leave. The operations of many post offices were paralyzed as a result of the trade union action.

A spokesperson of the Postal Service Union said that the postal workers around the country have joined this strike against privatization and alleged corruption in the postal department and the the aim of the trade union action is to urge the authorities to pay attention to the malpractices in the department.

The spokesman said the government had granted permission to private companies to deliver mail, in what amounted to a de facto privatization campaign. The government however has said it has no plans to privatize any state institution.

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http://www.colombopage.com/archive_07/July30134559SL.html

Missing homeguard returns but police doubt his tale

One of the homeguards from Tantirimale who went missing after they went to pick herbs from the Wilapattu reserve forest on Thursday, returned home yesterday and had related a tale of how the two homeguards were captured by the LTTE from whom he escaped later.

However Tantirimale police OIC Chief Inspector Dhammika Bandara Hapugoda said that the police had doubts about his statement and is further questioning him.

The two homeguards - 50 year old Chulapadma and 46 year old Jayaweera were residents of the Kosbewa hamlet in Tantirimale. Jayaweera returned home yesterday afternoon

According to police the two homeguards had gone to the forest to pick herbs while they were off duty and therefore did not carry any firearms. The two who went to the forest at round 5 p.m. on Thursday had not returned to their homes even by next morning and the family members had alerted the police.

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http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/07/30/front/06.asp

Malwatte Mahanayake Thero snubs –storm is gathering for Ranil in his political horizon

Sri Lanka’s foremost Buddhist monk, the Head of the Malwatte Chapter of the Siamese Sect, regretted the recent statement made by Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the United National Party, calling Buddhist monks ‘a corrupt company or “Dussila Samagama” and said no service could be expected out of such leaders to the country, the religion and the Buddhist monks in the future.’

“Some leaders who do not know the value of Buddhist monks over a simple matter, publicly call Buddhist monks a “Dussila Samagama” and I regret such words being used against the Buddhist monks,” said the most Venerable Thibbotuwawe Sri Sumangala, head of the Malwatte Chapter of the Siyam Nikaya in an obvious reference to Ranil Wickremesinghe.

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http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/6742

Live telecast of Kandy perahera to 17 countries

Sri Lanka’s biggest Cultural pageant, the World renowned Kandy Esela Perahera is to be telecast live in 17 countries through Satellite, Intel sat-60.

The Ministry of Tourism has taken this initiative in a bid to boost tourism and to portray the rich cultural heritage of Sri Lanka to the world.

The live telecast would be shown in Japan, Italy, Australia, Taiwan, Tailand, South Korea, India etc. In addition Ministry sources said that there was a possibility of live coverage being carried out in the UK and USA too.

Deputy Minister of Tourism Faizer Musthapa undertook a tour of Kandy recently to discuss many developments and ideas to promote foreign and domestic tourism in the hill capital where he met all relevant sectors and vowed to make Kandy a happening place during the festive season.

The Deputy Minister said that he intended to promote Kandy as a viable destination for both local and foreign tourists.

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http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/07/30/news21.asp

Ranil's last gamble: jumping from the frying pan into the fire

At the end of the day, there is no way in which anyone take away from Ranil Wickremesinghe his three major attributes:
1) his insensitive capacity to sell the nation to its enemies in the name of peace which he can't win with appeasement

2) his proven ability to run down his party until only he is left holding the fort and

3) his knack of picking the wrong political partners and issues in the mistaken belief of saving himself, irrespective of what happens to the UNP or the nation.

If you add up all three it amounts to committing political suicide. And he has done it so many times that he now stands out as the nearest thing to a dead man walking.

His failures are legion and in any other democracy he would have resigned and faded out of public life.

But he clings on to the wobbly presidential chair of the UNP promising to take over power tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow which never comes. These promises are essentially to prevent his backbenchers from crossing over. But his frontbenchers and backbenchers have seen through him and they have deserted him. The last remaining talent is K. N. Choksy and he too has decided to leave him sooner or later.

On top of all this comes the news that Tilak Karunaratne, the UNP Treasurer, has resigned citing Wickremesinghe's latest gaffes of belittling Thoppigala and attacking Buddhist monks. The outstanding quality of any leader is to solve problems.

Read more,
http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2007/07/29/fea03.asp

ECB officials satisfied with security arrangements

An England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) delegation comprising England cricket director John Carr and security manager Reg Dickson are presently in Sri Lanka making a security assessment ahead of England's tour of Sri Lanka, which starts in the final week of September.

Sri Lanka Cricket tour organizing committee chairman Shibley Vilcassim said the delegation had expressed great satisfaction over the security arrangements made for the tour. "We had a meeting at the SLC headquarters on Friday where they met representatives of the bomb squad, Sri Lanka Army, Ministry Security Division (MSD) and SSPs of all regional police stations where the matches are to be played."

The delegation also visited the match venues and hotels where the England team will be staying. The matches are scheduled to be played in Colombo (SSC and R. Premadasa Stadium), Dambulla, Kandy and Galle.

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http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/australia/content/current/story/304166.html