Sep 4 (LT) Trincomalee District organiser of the UPFA Syed Khan Moulana was remanded by Colombo Traffic Court Magistrate Lochanee Pradeepa Weerasinghe for fleeing after a road accident where an old woman was killed and for allegedly hiding the concerned vehicle without producing it to the police for investigations. The suspect’s car had crashed onto an old woman near the Sudarmarama Temple at Wellawatte On 19th August more..

Sep 4 (AT) Policymakers in the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration in Sri Lanka, not seem to be, undoubtedly are in confusion how to deal with the vast Tamil Diaspora spread in the Western nations whose governments hold a stake in Sri Lanka’s ambitious socio-economic development program following the demise of the Tamil Tigers in May this year after a thirty-year confrontation. more..

Sep 4 (LT) The Chief Editor of ‘Lanka Irida, Chandana Sirimalwatta, writing a letter to Minister of Mass Media and Information Anura Priyadharshana Yapa has asked him to take measures to release the three journalists of ‘Lanka Irida’ who were arrested by Deniyaya Police and mediate to protect the right of the people for information. The letter written by Mr. Sirimalwatta states: more..

Sep 4 (LP) The Mount Lavinia court yesterday further extended the warrant for the arrest of Mrs. Sicille Kothalawala, one of the leading suspects of Rs.26 billion Golden Key Credit Card fraud. The suspects who were arrested over money scam were further remanded by the Court. CID yesterday handed over a Prado Land Cruiser worth Rs.15 million to Court for Custody. The vehicle is believed be used by another suspect of Golden Key money scam named Manoj Chaminda. more..

Sep 4 (LP) Image Cabinet granted approval to a memorandum submitted by Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage, A.L.M. Athaullah for the implementation of water supply projects for Kolonna and Balangoda. The projects implemented with the financial assistance of the Government of Belgium or any other funding agency. Accordingly the approval was granted to direct the Department of Public Finance to appoint a Project Committee (PC) and more..

Sep 4 (LNP) The Sapugaskanda Police have arrested a robber gang wanted for a number of high profile robberies during the last five months in the Western Province and recovered goods worth around Rs. 7.5 million robbed from shops, hardware stores, supermarkets and liquor outlets. Three vans used by the gang have been seized. The gang was arrested following a liquor shop robbery at Galpottha, Makola. more..

Sep 4 (DN) A MoU was signed on September 2 between the Tianjin Medical University in China and the National Cancer Institute of Sri Lanka to exchange greater cooperation between two institutions. According to the understanding reached between the two institutions, the Tianjin Medical University agreed to provide two months intensive training for the doctors, nurses and officials of other categories working in the Cancer Hospital in Maharagama. more..

Sep 4 (DN) It is undoubtedly one in a millennium event, for any organized armed group to launch a terror struggle in a quest to divide by force one’s country. That they failed in Sri Lanka is now history. King Senerath probably never dreamt when he saved the Muslims from the marauding invaders and resettled them in the East, that he was investing on protecting the territorial integrity of the island nation, in a historical crisis that would occur within four centuries of his rewarding move. more..

Sep 4 (LP) Image Cabinet granted approval to a memorandum submitted by Minister of Trade, Marketing Development, Co-operatives and Consumer Services, Bandula Gunawardena to re-launch the Mahapola Exhibition Programme Island wide starting from October 2009. Accordingly the implementation and operation of the exhibition will be authorized to a Mahapola Operational Committee comprising 15 members including more..

Sep 4 (DN) The Government will commission the flyover in Dehiwala next month aiming to ease the heavy traffic congestion during rush hours on the Galle road at the Dehiwala junction. Roads Development Authority’s Project Director Susitha Fernando told the Daily News that the construction work of the Dehiwala flyover is now progressing successfully. The total cost of the project is Rs.920 million which has been funded by the UK Government. more..

Sep 4 (DN) The Opposition Leader is now demanding the Government to increase salaries in the public services and says if not, stern action will be taken against the Government. But when he was in power from 2002 to 2004 he brought a special circular to stop all recruitment into the public service, cut down pensions and attacked graduates who demanded employment, Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said. more..

Sep 4 (TN) Three -member bench of the Supreme Court Thursday fixed the inquiry into the fundamental rights violation petitions filed by S. Jaseeharan who is one of the co-directors of the ‘Outreach’ website and his fiancée V. Valarmathi for October 30. The Bench comprised Chief Justice Asoka de Silva, Justices N. G. Amaratunge and Chandra Ekanayake. Leave to proceed has already been granted to Mr. Jaseeharan for more..

Sep 4 (Island) Minister of Higher Education Professor Visva Warnapala has instructed the University Grants Commission to appoint a committee to draft regulations to elect future representatives to university students’ associations in a democratic manner. The instructions were aimed at preventing political parties creeping into student bodies to fulfil their political agendas, the Higher Education Ministry said. more..

Sep 4 (Island) The government has pledged to allocate the Health sector three times what was given in the 2009 budget, Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said. The Ministry had been allocated Rs. 89 billion in the 2009 budget. The Minister said there was also promise of a special donation in the 2010 budget towards assisting patients with renal problems. more..

Sep 4 (Island) Five Sinhala novels written in 2008 have been short listed for the ‘Swarna Pusthaka’ award, Sri Lanka’s richest literary prize. Awarded annually by the Sri Lanka Book Publishers Association (SLBPA), the Swarna Pusthaka Awards programme is held in conjunction with the Colombo International Book Fair (CIBF), which takes place every September. Prize monies totalling Rs. 750,000 including the grand prize of Rs. 500,000 and more..

Sep 4 (PG) Three men left Pittsburgh last night to continue their journey on foot from Chicago to Washington, D.C., to "break the silence" on the genocide they believe is occurring in their native country of Sri Lanka. Kannan Sveekantha, Vijay Sivaneswaran and Ramanan Thirukketheeswaranathan, all friends from Chicago, left Chicago on May 26 and have since made stops in Springfield, Ill., Indianapolis, Ind., Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio. more..

Sep 4 (DM) The families of Sri Lanka cricketers will boycott today’s Twenty20 International between Sri Lanka and New Zealand as a mark of protest over the seats allocated to them during the first Twenty20 International on Wednesday. Sri Lanka players have returned all the tickets to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) yesterday, stating that their families should be provided with seating in the VIP area in keeping with ICC regulations. more..

Sep 4 (DM) Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has finalised three venues for the 2011 World Cup, it is learnt. According to the sources close to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Central Organising Committee, the board has proposed two new stadiums in Pallekele and Hambantota. “Both these stadiums are under construction and no names to them are yet allocated. They will be named after the completion", more..

Sep 4 (DM) The government has decided to re-open a canned fish production factory at Pesalai in Mannar after nearly two decades. Ceylon Fisheries Corporation Working Director Rohitha Siriwardene told Daily Mirror yesterday a corporate plan to restart the factory and to repair it would be drawn up shortly. “We have only mooted the idea to refurbish and re-start it,” he said. The factory was started in the 1968 but was closed for 17 years because more..

Sep 4 (ANN) Sri Lanka's experience with 'C-4' has always been bitter. Prabhakaran blasted his way through with C-4 explosives destroying as he did many a target and after his death his followers are using C-4 (Channel 4) propaganda to further their interests. Prabhakaran pathetically failed in his endeavour in spite of all his blasts and a similar fate awaits his C-4 propaganda brigade. more..

Sep 4 (GDI) Four hundred Muslim families will be shortly resettled in the Muslim village of the Salampaikulam in Vavuniya, Northern Province Governor Major General G.A Chandrasiri had assured those villagers. The Governor gave this assurance during a visit to meet the displaced persons in Salampaikulam village. These villagers were chased away by the LTTE 20 years ago and more..

Sep 4 (ANI) Hundreds of activists of Dravidar Kazhagam party took to streets here against central government blaming it for not taking enough measures to urge Sri Lankan government in the resettlement of displaced Tamilians. The activists of the Dravidar Kazhagam party led by its President K Veeramani marched from the party office to the Chennai Central Railway Station raising slogans to stop the atrocities on their community member in Sri Lanka. more..

Sep 4 (LBO) Sri Lanka's Asian Finance Ltd, and Ceylinco Investment and Realty Ltd, two firms of the troubled Ceylinco group will be put under a new managing agent, the Central Bank said. The two firms were put under Lankaputhra Development Bank, a state-run bank built out of two troubled state-run banks that ended up with bad loans within a few years they were set up. They were merged and re-capitalized with people's money. more..

Sep 4 (PTI) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has praised his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa's leadership that enabled his country defeat the"ruthless" LTTE, a task that was deemed impossible by the world. "By vanquishing a most ruthless terrorist organisation such as the LTTE, President Rajapaksa has succeeded in drawing the attention of the entire international community towards Sri Lanka," more..

Sep 4 (ST) Nothing in a police report supports the belief of an Ohio teenager that she would be in jeopardy if she returned home, despite her claims that she fears for her life for converting from Islam to Christianity, her mother's attorney said in court Thursday. The police report, which was ordered sealed for 10 days by a Florida judge, contains the results of a two-week investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into Rifqa Bary's family and her home life. more..

Sep 4 (DM) The Foreign Ministry has sent a report to the EU on the judgment and the circumstances that led to the conviction of journalist T.S. Tissainayagam as some foreign and local elements were on a mischievous attempt to intimidate the independence of Sri Lanka’s judiciary, the government charged yesterday. Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said that nobody had the right to question the independence and rationale of the judgment by a court in a democratic country. more..

Sep 4 (Island) A group of Japanese experts, who had been given access to the LTTE-held area shortly after tsunami in December, 2004 had helped terrorists build a channel to launch underwater craft. The foreigners had worked on the project for some time in a high security zone in the Puthukudirippu area, well informed sources said. Sources said that though the 58 Division had found a 360-foot long and 25-foot wide tunnel and a more..

Sep 5 (UNHCR) Alaguratnam Ravindran was just three years old when his family fled their small farm in eastern Sri Lanka in the wake of the country's decades-long conflict. Twenty seven years later, married and with a child of his own, he has returned home, and with the assistance of the UN refugee agency, is preparing to harvest his first rice crop. In the six months since Ravindram, his wife and their three year old daughter returned he has been helped by UNHCR, more..

Sep 5 (BBC) Dozens of Muslims have staged a protest in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, at what they say is police brutality against members of the community. They allege that several have been killed or have disappeared. The police say they’re engaged in a necessary clampdown on organised crime. No sooner had Friday prayers ended at the Friday Mosque in the Muslim area of Maligawatta, than several dozen men and women marched off down the street, more..

Sep 5 (BBC) Aid money raised by people in Falkirk for those affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami has yet to be spent, it has emerged. Falkirk Council said £15,000, collected for victims in the Jaffna region of Sri Lanka, is still untouched and remains in a council bank account. The authority said the outbreak of civil war in the province had left it unable to spend the cash in the area. They have promised to seek a solution to the problem as a matter of urgency. more..

Sep 5 (LG) Professionalism/Profession generally deals with vocations founded upon specialised educational training and experience. Is policies a profession? It is YES and NO and obviously a moot issue. Politics too should be conducted professionally as it deals with the future of the Nation and the Citizen. Mr. D.S.Senanayaka and Mrs. Bandaranaike have not been professionals, yet history has categorised them as excellent politicians and a heads of state. more..

Sep 5 (CI) Having been beaten soundly in the Test series, New Zealand now head into the tri-series brimming with confidence after a second consecutive 20-over victory over Sri Lanka, this time by 22 runs. Brendon McCullum and Jesse Ryder's clinical hitting and Nathan McCullum's teasing offspin were responsible for driving New Zealand to victory and handing Sri Lanka their fourth Twenty20 loss in a row. more..

Sep 5 (AT) An agreement for approximately Rs.17 million of UK's support towards the Rehabilitation and Reintegration of Ex-combatants was signed between the British High Commissioner Dr. Peter Hayes and the Head of International Organization for Migration (IOM), Mohammed Abdiker in the presence of the Justice Minister, Milinda Moragoda yesterday. more..

Sep 5 (AT) Educate Lanka Foundation an independent non-profit organization established in April 2006 by a group of Sri Lankan expatriates in the Greater Washington area to assist financially underserved students in Sri Lanka to continue their Education is holding a fundraiser Saturday, September 5 in Washington, D.C. The event Hela Rangana – a Sri Lankan Talent Show more..

Sep 5 (AT) Sri Lanka Government accelerates the demining process of the Northern Province making plans to purchase new machines for the purpose. As the first phase of the demining machines purchasing project, Sri Lanka received five new machines yesterday (September 04) from Slovakia. Those machines will be used for mines clearing in Yodhawewa area in Northern Province. more..

Sep 5 (AT) President of the Royal college of Surgeons of Edinburgh in the UK, John D Orr has agreed to provide more training slots in the UK for local trainee surgeons. This was a result of the discussions held between the College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka and Orr at the recent Annual Sessions of the college of surgeons. Dr Narendra Pinto says that this project will improve surgical care to the population at large. more..

Sep 5 (CI) How quickly the momentum has shifted. After bossing New Zealand around in the Tests, Sri Lanka have been slightly deflated with a loss in momentum, after defeats in both Twenty20 contests over the past three days. New Zealand followed up their three-run victory on Wednesday with 22-run win last night to start the limited-overs part of their tough tour on a definite high. more..

Sep 5 (BBC) The police in Sri Lanka say three detained journalists are being questioned as suspects of a plot to assassinate President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Three journalists working for Lanka Irida newspaper were arrested by the police on Wednesday in Deniyaya while covering forthcoming elections, its editor Chandana Sirimalwatta told BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya. The journalists are yet to be produced before a court of law. more..

Sep 5 (LG) Millions of Tamils around the world thank the German-based Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDSL) for exposing the truth. The Sri Lankan armed forces, in the guise of fighting terrorism, slaughtered Tamil captives in Vanni earlier this year. The Tamils thank Channel 4 for breaking the story along with the video depicting the extra-judicial execution. more..

Sep 5 (GDI) Moves are afoot to recruit more policemen to the present strength to maintain law and order effectively, police sources revealed. It is expected that an additional 3500 policemen would be recruited shortly,these sources said. It is reliable learnt that 230 Sub Inspectors will be included in that batch of recruitment due to be interviewed shortly. Police said over 15,000 applications have been recieved so far and more..

Sep 5 (LT) Another vicious phase of the media repression carried out by the government has been reported. The details of relatives, siblings, the political parties and their position in such parties of media personnel who would be covering meetings attended by the President have to be submitted for them to be able to enter venues where such meetings would be held. These details have been asked in a form labeled ‘confidential’ sent by presidential media unit to media institutions. more..

Sep 5 (LT) The official vehicle of Minister of Home Affairs Chandrasiri Gajadeera has toppled to Nilwala river with the minister and other passengers. When the accident occurred at about 6.30 p.m. yesterday there had been seven in the ‘Montero’ including PC Members Weerasumana Weerasinghe and Bindu Weerasinghe. At the time of the accident the Minister and the party had been traveling from Kadduwa along the Dampalla road. more..

Sep 5 (LT) The three journalists of ‘Lanka Irida’ Sinhalese weekend newspaper who were engaged in preparing a pre-election report on Southern PC election were arrested under the ‘Prevention of Terrorism Act’(PTA) says OIC of Deniyaya Police I.G. Bandula Priyanthe. The OIC said this when Chief Editor of ‘Lanka Irida’ inquired from him regarding the arrest of the three journalists. more..

Sep 5 (PSM) Family planning programme is intended to wipe out the Sinhala Buddhist community from the Sri Lankan soil. It was a plan of the anti-Buddhist elements. Statistically the birth rate of the Sinhala community has been brought down from 8% to 1.37 % through family planning while the birth rate of other communities is between 4% and 6%. In another ten years the President of Sri Lanka will not be a Sinhala Buddhist due to more..

Sep 5 (MoD) Hundreds of British citizens of Sri Lankan origin will demonstrate in front of London's Horseferry Road Channel 4 news television broadcasting station today demanding an apology or prove the authenticity of a video footage they broadcast claiming execution style killing by the Sri Lanka Army. The demonstration organizers, British Sri Lankan Forum, says the footage the television channel broadcast was actually a dramatization of a more..

Sep 5 (MoD) The Government took the initiative to purchase a machine for the removal of landmines with the intention of further accelerating the de-mining process. Five Bosena type machines secured from Slovakia was brought to Sri Lanka in a special cargo airplane today. These machines operate automatically. Minister Risath Bathiyudeen and Deputy Minister Sarath Kumara Gunaratne were present. more..

Sep 5 (GV) The refurbished metal “Queen of Jaffna” gracefully strode up to the platform in Medawachchiya by 10.30 am – the time I usually start to begin to consider the prospect of crawling out of bed on a regular holiday. But this day was different. I was running without knowing why, being urged by Sachindra to hurry, and dashing along the platform without knowing what the rush is all about, clutching my travel bag by its failing strap and water bottle in tow. more..

Sep 5 (GV) Gen. Sarath Fonseka, Chief of Defence Staff, was recently invited as key note speaker by the Postgraduate Institute of Management Alumni (PIMA) to speak on the topic Winning Military Strategies: Lessons for Managers. The address by the ex-Army Commander was made in context of PIM’s quest to become a community of thought leaders committed to shaping the nation’s socio-economic fabric. more..

Sep 5 (DN) A high profile Indian delegation is due in Sri Lanka at the end of this month to strike the historic deal to begin the construction of Indo-Sri Lanka Electricity Interconnection project. Under this project the country will receive electricity of 500 mega watts (MW) initially. Sri Lanka through this agreement, expects to add 1,000 mega watts to the National Grid to meet the demand for electricity with the liberation of the Northern Province from the clutches of terrorism. more..

Sep 5 (DN) Insurgency has its causes and reasons but not terrorism. In the early stages of the conflict there were many insurgent groups and all of them except one chose democracy to serve its people. That one is the LTTE which transformed itself from insurgency into terrorism. According to David Rapport, an expert on terrorism, man has experienced four waves of terrorism to date. The first being the start of Terrorism in the early 19th Century by more..