Jan 16 (LeN) Anura Kumara Dissanayake displaying a photograph of President’s elder son Naamal Rajapkse, the President of ‘tomorrow for youth’ with LTTE international chain organizer Lakshmie Emil Kanthan along with several others at a London Hotel, said this so called patriotic son is having close relationship with Emilkanthan and is a bosom friend. more..

Jan 16 (LBO) Sri Lanka's power generation rose 3.9 percent in August 2009 to 856 GigaWatt hours from a year earlier, with hydro power increasing its share, and diesel sales were also up the latest official data showed. Sri Lanka's power generation contracted in the first half of the year in line with a slowing economy. But economic activities including external trade has picked up in the second half. more..

Jan 16 (LP) The most politically important speech made by Sri Lanka's opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka in his campaign is the speech he delivered to the business community. As a candidate vying for a better capitalist governance, he expllains his positions clearly to the capitalist class of Sri Lanka. The full text of the speech is as follows: Dear Friends, I come before you today, not as a politician with years of experience, but more..

Jan 16 (BBC) The Supreme Court has ordered all media institutions, both public and independent, to comply with the guidelines issued by the elections commissioner. Five-member bench chaired by Chief Justice de Asoka Silva has made the order after considering a petition by the main opposition candidate, Gen (rtd.) Sarath Fonseka. Gen Fonseka in his petition has requested the court to issue an order to state owned media institutions to more..

Jan 16 (Ekklesia) In Sri Lanka, as a presidential election approaches, the mood is outwardly gung-ho. Both main candidates claim credit for defeating the rebel LTTE, ending a decades-long conflict. President Mahinda Rajapakse, who with his brothers Gotabaya (the Defence Secretary) and Basil (a senior presidential advisor) has been running the country, is being challenged by General Sarath Fonseka, former army commander. more..

Jan 16 (AFP) Several of the 76 Sri Lankan asylum seekers picked up off the Canadian Coast in October and thought to be Tamil Tiger rebels are to be freed from detention, Ottawa said. Lawyers for the men were informed late Thursday that they would be released under strict conditions and planned secret hearings to determine if they posed a threat to Canada would not be held. "The CBSA has decided not to pursue detention for these individuals," more..

Jan 16 (BBC) President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka has dismissed all efforts by parliament to find political solutions to the country's ethnic problem. Instead, he has said that he will present his own solution after the forthcoming presidential election. The country's constitution has an amendment providing for devolution of powers to the provinces. Sri Lanka goes to the polls on 26 January in the first national vote since the Tamil Tigers were defeated. more..

Jan 16 (AT) U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Patricia A. Butenis officially presented mapping equipment and specialized software to assist the Forest Department with its conservation efforts in the North. Minister Champika Ranawaka, accepted on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka. The USAID provided computer equipment and specialized software to the Forest Department’s Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and more..

Jan 16 (AT) Jehan Perera, National Peace Council, who argued for peace talks, pauses and supported the West to stop the war against the terrorists in an article titled, "The importance of Ranil Wickremasinghe" to an English Daily of 12th Jan. says, "...Tamil National Alliance decision to support the candidacy of Sarath Fonseka reflects the trust and confidence that members of the ethnic communities (Tamils) have in the UNP leader Ranil Wickremasinghe ... more..

Jan 16 (AT) Sambandan is a very ‘nalla’ (good) man. He has provided SL a truth and reconciliation certificate from the TNA that amounts to a clearance of all its charges against the SL government and its peoples by his latest strategic decision. His earlier one was to be the mouth piece, tale carrier, kinsman of the fascist LTTE leaving him open to charges of collaborating with the sworn enemy of the state. more..

Jan 16 (TC) Our Constitution makes it clear that the People are sovereign and that their sovereignty is inalienable. However, for practical reasons, the Constitution provides for the legislative power of the People to be exercised by Parliament, consisting mostly of elected representatives, and, in respect of certain specific situations, directly by the People at a Referendum. more..

Jan 16 (GDI) Leading members of the Sri Lankan community living overseas returned to the country to extend their support to the candidature of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the upcoming election. They held a news conference today at the Mahaweli Centre in Colombo to tell the media why they were supporting the President. Anura Medagedera from London claimed they had returned to pay gratitude to a leader who liberated the nation and protected the people. more..

Jan 16 (GDI) Shantini Chandrasekeran, wife of late Periyasamy Chandrasekeran, leader of the Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) has extended her fullest support to Presidential candidate, President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Stalwarts of the UPF accompanied by Ms.Chandrasekeran met the President this week at Temple Trees to convery their stand on the upcoming presidential election. more..

Jan 16 (GDI) President Mahinda Rajapaksa shocked over the tragic developments after a massive earthquake in Haiti has sent the following message to the President of Haiti,Rene Garcia Preval; "I have been deeply saddened to learn about the devastation including the loss of life caused by the recent earthquake in Haiti on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. more..

Jan 16 (TN) Dengue fever which has claimed the lives of 15 persons, including 13 children under thirteen, within the limits of Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) is spreading fast and unchecked due to negligence of JMC authorities, according to Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH) sources. A 7-month-old child died due to dengue fever Thursday in Nalloor, the sources said. 308 persons were admitted to JTC with dengue fever in December while 350 more had been admitted in January alone. more..

Jan 16 (LNW) A container brought down for the Tharunyata Hetak Organization headed by the President’s sons Namal and Yoshitha Rajapaksa has reportedly been cleared and taken away from the harbor without being subjected to any Customs checks or payments by several Army officers. Several important documents related to clearing the container have therefore not been issued and it had been removed from the harbor soon after it was taken to the Customs yard. more..

Jan 16 (LP) Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Secretary General Dr. William Ferdinand Shija, will be arriving in Sri Lanka today. He will be here until January 20. The main objective of the visit is to conduct preliminary discussions regarding the 58th CPA conference to be held in Sri Lanka. A Tanzania, Dr. Shija holds a doctorate in Mass Communication from Howard University, USA and more..

Jan 16 (LP) The first Maritime Archaeology Museum in Sri Lanka, housed in the Old Dutch Warehouse in Galle Fort will be open to the public soon. The Dutch warehouse which was built by the Dutch in 1669 is considered to be the largest building put up by the Dutch. It is 469ft long, 42ft wide with its walls more than 13ft thick. The building which had been in a dilapidated condition for centuries was restored by more..

Jan 16 (wsws) The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) has repeatedly warned that General Sarath Fonseka’s emergence as a presidential candidate represents a shift by significant sections of the political establishment towards police-state rule amid the country’s deepening economic and social crisis. This warning is confirmed by Fonseka’s election manifesto, which is a “common minimum program” agreed by the right-wing UNP and Sinhala chauvinist JVP. more..

Jan 16 (DN) Kandy is the magnificent capital of the historical upcountry (the Kanda Udarata). Kandy district is also the birth place of many patriots who sacrificed their precious life for the sake of the nation. People of the upcountry who were born in such a City are indeed a blessed lot. It was in the last four years that several development projects uplifting the life of people in the district were implemented, multiplying this blessedness of the City in many folds. more..

Jan 16 (TN) Mayor of Matara Municipal Council, Upul Nishantha, Saturday crossed over from the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and extended support to General (retd) Fonseka. Mr. Upul Nishantha is the Matara district organizer of the SLFP, the main constituent of the UPFA. Upul Nishantha announced his decision of extending support to Fonseka at a media briefing held Saturday morning in Colombo. more..

Jan 16 (GV) Desperation for my Paradise Isle had turned to appreciation this time around when the plane landed in Katunayake. I quietly celebrated that sense of relief and relaxation that spreads through my whole body when in the motherland. Even after over 10 hours of flying in a cramped, fart filled plane my heart overflowed. more..

Jan 16 (MoD) Cendric Kumaran Kovil Chief Kurkkal Dematagoda Needi Rasa Sharma of the Western Province United Tamil Organization (WPTUO) said that they were very happy today after peace was achieved under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Today no one was checking our kovils and we perform our religious rites in peace and freedom. We do not trust candidate Sarath Fonseka and will wholeheartedly support President Mahinda Rajapaksa. more..

Jan 16 (MoD) "Sri Lankan Patriots" (SLP), the prominent community activist organization in the US, whose members have been confronting the LTTE and separatist campaigns for decades, has called on Presidential Candidate Retd. General Sarath Fonseka to publicize his denials regarding a pact with the LTTE-backed Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Tamil language media, in the Tamil-speaking electorates. more..

Jan 16 (LG) I was bemused to read an article titled “Sarath Fonseka and the Nation” which asserted that the understanding between Sarath Fonseka and TNA would lead to the dismantling of tribal divisions and towards an era of national unity. Going by the notion of calling a spade a spade, and for truth to be told, the exact opposite of this assertion is true. more..

Jan 16 (LG) Stories are part of a human environment. Human beings have probably been telling stories since the very early days of our civilisation. Buddhist Jathaka stories are unique. The Jataka stories are a voluminous body of folklore concerned with previous births of the Buddha, which is based as a collection of five hundred and fifty stories. The Jataka stories were compiled in the period, the 3rd Century B.C. to the 5th Century A.D. more..

Jan 16 (LG) Professor Sivamohan Sumathy is an ethnic Tamil and teaches English at the University of Peradeniya. She was recalling the above incident in an article she published recently. (Click here to article) Nearly all ethnic minorities would have had the same question that was asked of Professor Sumathy posed to them as well at the numerous check points that continue to dot the landscape throughout the country. more..

Jan 16 (TC) Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV), Colombo has released few pictures showing misappropriation of State resources to display cutouts and banners in the run up to the Presidential Elections. CMEV says more pictures of such illegal acts by political parties will be released in the coming days. more..

Jan 16 (LG) I wish to leave a brief note in response to the comment made by Gam Vaesiya, Ontario, Canada, on 14th January 2010, to my original article "Presidential election 2010, and the next armed uprising in Sri Lanka". First I thank him for taking time to read and comment. As he correctly noted, this topic is a complicated one deserving the application of complicated chaotic models of many dimensions. more..

Jan 16 (TC) According to UNP District Secretary for Polonnaruwa Mr. S.A.M. Wickramasinghe, Captain R.D.A. Ranaweera of the 8th Vijayabha Regiment of the Sri Lanka Army, Palali, was arrested yesterday at 4.30pm by the Military Police (4th CCMP) for influencing voters in favour of General Sarath Fonseka. The arrest was made subsequent to 14 voters lodging complaints against the Captain, according to Mr. Wickramasinghe. more..

Jan 16 (UNP) UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe categorically stated that the utterance of Mohomed Muzzammil of the National Freedom Front (NFF) that he had discussions with him is a blatant lie. Issuing a communiqué , the Opposition leader said , it is a pity that the Mahinda Rajapakse Govt. has to stoop to this base level using unscrupulous lackeys and cronies to utter such falsehoods. more..

Jan 16 (LG) The groups engaged in monitoring into the election have reported about flagrant violations of election laws, use of state assets illegally and the use of violence, noting that in Sri Lanka today the collapse of the electoral system on an unprecedented scale is taking place. The election commissioners own comments about the absence of cooperation between him and the government have also been very widely reported. more..

Jan 16 (UNP) Opposition common Presidential candidate Gen.Sarath Fonseka addressing a youths for Democracy meeting organized by Jathika yovun peramuna of the UNP yesterday held at Booker Hall, Colombo 10, said under a Govt. of his a sum of Rs. 3000/- will be paid monthly to unemployed graduates, and a sum of Rs.2000/- to youths without jobs until they secure one. To identify the requirements of the youths, political experience is not necessary, he added.

Jan 16 (UNP) JVP M.P. Anura Kumara Dissanayake speaking at an election rally at Kolonnawa in support of common opposition Presidential candidate Gen. Fonseka said ,he will soon reveal with pictures and documents as to how so much funds in billions were collected for the ‘tomorrow for youth’ (Tharuneeyata hetak) spent on a surfeit of advertisements and propaganda materials by the President’s son. more..

Jan 16 (CT) The eight suspects in the murder of two youths in Angulana, Moratuwa have been remanded further until January 28. Mount Lavinia chief magistrate Harsha Sethunga gave the order yesterday (Jan. 15) when he took up the killing of one of the youths, Dinesh Tharanga. The bullet-riddled bodies of the two were found subsequent to their arrest by Angulana police post in July last year. more..

Jan 16 (UNP) Addressing an election rally at Moratuwa in support of Gen. Fonseka‘s Presidential candidature, Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said, the President stated at Batticaloa rally on 10th, he would eliminate the gun culture. But, even before two days had elapsed, on the 12th, at Tangalle, his Govt. goons claimed the life of an innocent UNP supporter by gunning her down while several others were also injured. more..

Jan 16 (UNP) JVP leader Somawansa Amerasinghe speaking at the election rallies of General Fonseka on 14th, held at Moratuwa, said, wherever the Opposition parties went, people expressed delight that at last they have come by an opportunity to throw out this dictatorial regime once and for all. Somawansa was speaking at election rallies of Gen. Fonseka held at Moratuwa, more..

Jan 16 (DN) Following the victory of President Mahinda Rajapaksa on January 26, the Government would invite the Opposition to help it effect Constitutional reforms and should this offer be rejected the Government would dissolve Parliament and go before the people seeking a mandate for such a change, Mass media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said yesterday. more..

Jan 16 (DN) NFF Member of Parliament Mohamed Muzzamil producing several bundles of thousand rupee notes at a press conference yesterday said it was part of a bribe offered to him by a Muslim Member of Parliament to join the DNF presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka’s election campaign. Addressing a press conference, he said he was given on offer to stay abroad and live a luxurious life and was also told that he would be given thirty million rupees. more..

Jan 16 (DN) Tamil National Alliance leader R.Sampanthan had signed two secret agreements with NDF Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. But the JVP, the second largest political party in the Fonseka camp were not aware of it, TNA Member of Parliament M.K.Sivajilingam who is also a candidate contesting the Presidential poll told the Daily News yesterday. more..

Jan 16 (AT) Gotabhaya Rajapakse, Secretary of Defence is in good health condition and he is attending offie daily. Asian Tribune contacted the Ministry of Defence to find out about the helath condition of the Defence secretary as there was a reports which said that Gotabhaya had suffered a heart attack while participating at a conference in Rattota in Kandy district on Jan 12. more..

Jan 16 (Island) For want of tangible action on the part of the Child Development and Women Empowerment Ministry, children accommodated at childcare centres are being ill treated and in some instances sexually abused and raped. The Galle police are now investigating a shocking case of a woman in charge of a privately-run childcare centre, allowing her paramour to rape two mentally retarded teenage girls. more..

Jan 16 (Island) As publicly promised by Minister Maithripala Sirisena, he and his thugs attacked a UNP demonstration in Polonnaruwa on January 13th against government sponsored violence, the UNP said yesterday. The UNP’s Polonnaruwa District leader, Earl Gunasekera, MP, addressing a news conference in Colombo, produced video evidence of a UPFA mob, led by Minister Sirisena, his thugs and some members of the STF, more..

Jan 16 (Island) The Central Bank warns that wage increments in the public sector without improvements in their efficiency and productivity would adversely affect the country’s public finances and bring back the spectre of high inflation and an economist said the next parliament has to be brave enough to make the hard decisions that would take the country along a more sustainable path to development. more..

Jan 16 (DM) Counsel appearing for the aggrieved parties in the Kolonnawa assault case contended that Wellampitiya Police had led the main suspect and other underworld gangsters who allegedly attacked the victims go scot free on the influence of politicians. Counsel Gunaratna Wanninayake watching the interests of the Kolonnawa Municipal Council Mayor Chandrasiri Dias, Councillor Janaka Naulage and former Provincial Councillor Lesley Kuruppuarachchi alleged that more..

Jan 16 (Island) President Mahinda Rajapaksa's proposal to do away with the preferential vote or the so-called manape is to be greatly appreciated. The manape is the mother of all battles at elections save the presidential polls. It also leads to intra party disputes and has made the whole electoral process an unholy mess. The preferential vote was introduced by the JRJ government because it was found that under the Proportional Representation (PR) system, more..

Jan 16 (DM) There was a time in December that General Fonseka was gaining ground. His team was supremely confident that the former Army Commander was going to make it. There were crossovers and fireworks. The trend had a spill over effect even into the first couple of days of January. Then came the media juggernaut of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Suddenly things started looking different as the media especially the weekend Sinhala papers bulldozed the opposition campaign with one sweep. more..

Jan 16 (Island) Common Left presidential candidate Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne says Tamil speaking voters should think twice before choosing either incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa or his main rival, former Army Chief turned politician Sarath Fonseka due to their controversial roles in the recently concluded war against the LTTE. more..

Jan 16 (DM) Former Sri Lanka captains Arjuna Ranatunga and Hashan Tillekaratne charged yesterday that the country’s once jealously guarded passion was being raped and exploited for political gain like never before and challenged ex-trade union activist and controversial Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge and ex team-mate Sanath Jayasuriya to show reason why cricket can still be called the pride of the nation. more..

Jan 16 (DM) The Divisional Bench of five judges of the Supreme Court yesterday directed all media institutions to follow the guidelines issued by the Commissioner of Elections in respect of the forthcoming Presidential Election. Without making any accusation and without accepting any truth of allegations against any broadcasting or telecasting institution, they directed all media in the interest of justice to follow the guidelines issued by the Commissioner of Elections. more..