Apr 6 (Island) The govt’s decision to divert all vessels carrying motor vehicles to the Magam Ruhunupra Mahinda Rajapaksa port from May 31 would cost the vehicle importers an additional sum between Rs 35,000 – 40,000 per vehicle, the UNP says. UNP Kegalle District MP Kabeer Hashim said that the government should withdraw its planned diversion of vessels carrying vehicles from Colombo to Hambantota considering the losses it would cause to vehicle importers. more..

Apr 6 (Island) An operation would be launched to capture the killer crocodiles in the Nilwala Ganga in the South, Matara District Secretary Ms. W.K.K. Atukorala disclosed yesterday. Three persons have been killed in crocodile attacks so far this year. To map out the capturing operation a high-level meeting has been summoned next Monday at the District Secretariat. Among those invited are affected area MPs, relevant Ministers, officers of the Navy, Wild Life, and Disaster Management, and relevant Pradeshiya Sabha and more..

Apr 6 (Island) Veteran British lawmaker, Lord Naseby, PC, yesterday disapproved of the UK government’s support for the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at the recently concluded UNHRC in Geneva. Addressing the media at Colombo Hilton, Naseby said that he was disappointed over the British govt’s decision to back the resolution adopted on March 22, though the UK wasn’t a member of the 47-member council. more..

Apr 6 (Island) Vehicle imports had risen by about 140 percent since 2009 and if the trend had continued for another 24 months, congestion on the roads would have been unmanageable, the govt said yesterday. Cabinet Spokesman Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, addressing a news conference, said that the reduction of import duty on motor vehicles by 50 percent after the end of the war, had resulted in imports rising from 211,679 in 2009 to 523,963 by the end of last year. more..

Apr 6 (Island) The Govt alone cannot decide whether the UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka should be implemented or not and it should go for a referendum before any sort of implementation, Patriotic National Movement says. President of the Movement Dr Gunadasa Amarasekera addressing a news conference held in Colombo yesterday said that if the govt singularly decided to implement the demands made by the Geneva resolution that would amount to a betrayal of the country. more..

Apr 6 (LB) Sleeping in a govt hospital and receiving saline will cost less than rupees 2500 a month, was the reply to Minister Bandula Gunawardane, who made the masses laugh and also angry, when he made the nonsensical statement last week that a family of three can live on Rs7500 a month and that ‘Rs 2500 is more than enough for one person.’ The minister had said this adding that the Education Department runs student hostels in several schools where more..

AApr 6 (Island) Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena has forwarded the necessary recommendations on the introduction of pictorial health warnings on tobacco products to the Attorney General’s Department, Cancer Care Association (CCA) President Dr. Samadhi Rajapaksa said. He said that action would be taken to implement pictorial health warning on tobacco products, especially on cigarette packets. more..

Apr 6 (LBO) Use of mobile phones has grown rapidly among the poor in Sri Lanka, becoming almost an indispensable business tool among small entrepreneurs and farmers, according to a new study. The trend opens up possible opportunities to develop new applications and services to cater to the interests of these users, researchers said. The biggest economic benefit from the use of mobile phones was their ability to reduce travel, said Rohan Samarajiva, more..

Apr 6 (SMH) When Carmen Fernando went into the house that Sunday there was a message on the answering machine from her daughter Shamin. "Dad: I need help to load some software now, please ring me back." It was a surprise. Shamin, who was 43, was mentally ill and had harboured paranoid fears of her father Lalin for a long time: they'd had almost no contact in three years. Carmen then returned to the garden and told her 70-year-old husband the good news. more..

Apr 6 (SL) Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare is at the centre of what appears to be a poor attempt at providing insurance cover for female domestic workers employed in the oil-rich Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Without so much as a call for a request for proposals from interested companies the Ministry has entered into an agreement with a relatively new purpose-registered company whose address is that of a little known travel agency in Saudi Arabia. more..

AApr 6 (LT) “Comrades who sacrificed their lives to establish a classless society in the country have been commemorated even under very trying conditions,” said the Leader of the JVP Somawansa Amarasinghe. He said this speaking at the 41st Commemoration of ‘April Heroes’ held at the Viharamahadevi Park today (5). The ‘April Heroes’ commemoration is held annually by the JVP to commemorate members of the JVP who laid down their lives during more..

Apr 6 (DM) Lord Naseby - Founder of the Sri Lanka Friendship Group in the UK Parliament/ All Party Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka, said there was a visible change in the TNA which is more willing, open and appreciative towards govt’s efforts for devolution. “I met the TNA leader and he recognized that some good work is being done in Jaffna. However they do want civil administration to return. He told me clearly that he was committed to the 13th Amendment,” more..

Apr 6 (Island) Minister Maithreepala Sirirsena yesterday said that departure of doctors in search of greener pastures abroad was a massive problem to Sri Lanka as most of them left the country before completing the post intern period. He said that in the latest batch 20 doctors had left the country after completing pre – intern appointment period. Over 70 medical graduates had left the country before completing at least the pre internship. more..

Apr 6 (DM) Several statues in Batticaloa, including that of Mahathma Gandhi and Lord Baden Powell the founder of the world scout movement have been vandalized in the early hours today by an unidentified gang, police said. The statue of Lord Baden Powell was a memorial statue erected in honour of the leader of the movement, while the statue of Mahathma Ghandhi was erected over 40 years ago in honour of the Indian freedom fighter. The heads of the statues have been completely mutilated by the gang. more..

Apr 6 (Island) Visiting British MP Lord Naseby PC yesterday said that those still pursuing the eelam project had taken advantage of the UK electoral system to their advantage. In spite of the conclusion of the conflict in May 2009, the eelam lobby had been able to follow the LTTE strategy through exploitation of political parties. Asked whether the Global Tamil Front (GTF), the British Tamil Front (BTF) and other interested parties had exploited the failure on the part of the British more..

Apr 6 (DM) Why do bad things happen to good people? If we look around carefully and read any daily newspaper, this is a question that would naturally spring to mind. Innocent people become the hapless victims of crafty, diabolical predators, masquerading as paragons of virtue, mouthing high flown moral principles while acting insidiously to selfishly have their own way and feather their own nests. It has become normal to expect most people to speak with authority taking moral more..

Apr 6 (LBO) SriLankan Airlines said it will continue to operate European routes, two of which were earlier to be axed during off-peak periods. "With May and June in Europe being the traditional off peak, the airline will review its frequencies based on the actual demand in the countries to which SriLankan presently operates to," SriLankan said in a statement. "The airline will continue to serve its traditional European gateways which serve a large clientele that fly direct and beyond to several destinations in Europe and the Americas." more..

Apr 6 (CI) It was a Poya Day in Sri Lanka and a rudimentary sign at the P Sara Stadium told England supporters the awful truth: no alcohol would be served. They have watched England lose Test matches in Asia all winter and the moment they imagined that a celebration might be on hand they feared they would have to do it stone-cold sober. No matter: thanks to Sri Lanka's resilience, if there is a celebration to be had, more..

Apr 6 (CI) Tillakaratne Dilshan has been fined 10% of his match fee for excessive appealing during the third day of the second Test against England at the P Sara Oval in Colombo. The incident which brought the charge occurred at 88.2 overs, when Dilshan appealed for a bat-pad catch at short leg against Jonathan Trott. The ICC statement said Dilshan ran through in celebration before a decision was given, then turned around and appealed repeatedly. Dilshan was charged with more..

Apr 6 (DM) The Production Keeper of the Galle Chief Magistrate’s Court was taken into custody on suspicion for attempting to change a stock of jewellery that were kept under his charge. It is alleged that the suspect had handed over a stock of case productions to the Court Registrar to be taken home. The Supervising Officer immediately informed it to the magistrate and made a complaint to police. During the inquiries the Police recovered imitation jewellery similar to the jewellery that were kept under the charge of more..

Apr 6 (LBO) Sri Lanka has retained the confidence of foreign holders of govt debt by taking firm corrective steps to fix a balance of payments crisis, Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal said. On Thursday the Central Bank raised policy rates by 95 basis points to 9.75 percent, a move that was called for by the IMF, economic analysts and also the finance ministry. The rupee which has been stable around 110 rupees more..

Apr 6 (SM) Singing the national anthem in the Tamil language, which is a recommendations of the LLRC, is a ridiculous and unpractical idea, said defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. He stressed that the political proposals contained in the commission report too, cannot be implemented. The implementation of the rest of the recommendations is underway, said the defence secretary. He went onto say that provincial councils cannot be given land and police powers more..

Apr 6 (SM) Minister Prof. G.L Peiris has arrived in the Maldives on an official visit. He is the first high ranking Sri Lankan official to visit Maldives since the transfer of power on Feb 07. Prof. Peiris was received by his Maldivian counterpart Dr. Abdul Samad Abdulla, foreign ministry officials and the resident Sri Lankan high commissioner in the Maldives. Dr. Samad said that his Sri Lankan counterpart would commence official talks with the Maldivian foreign ministry officials more..

Apr 6 (CT) Premalal Silva, father of MP Duminda Silva has filed a revision motion in the Colombo High Court, requesting permission to allow a counsel to appear on behalf of his son. The motion was filed in the Colombo High Court on Thursday, subsequent to a court order preventing a counsel from appearing on behalf of the parliamentarian without a written request by either him or his family members by the Colombo Additional Magistrate Prasanna Alwis. more..

Apr 6 (NF) The Meteorological Department says that the Sun will be directly above Sri Lanka until the 14th of this month. The Sun was directly above Kandegodam Middeniya and Weerawila at 12.14 yesterday afternoon. The Sun lies 150 million kilometres away from Earth. It takes eight minutes for a ray of light to reach earth from the sun. The Sun’s axis is not perpendicular to the Earth’s rotational path. There is a slant of 23.5 degrees. Due to this, the time at which the sun is positioned more..

Apr 6 (NF) Three pieces of land and gem stones recovered from the land belonging to 54 families, from the gem deposits discovered in the Thammenava - Kataragama area have been taken off from auction yesterday. Residents have charged that the gem stones have been under- valued by the National Gem and Jewellery Authority. They added that even though many applications were received to purchase the gem stones only one purchaser had come forward to make a purchase. more..

Apr 6 (SM) Leader of Nawa Sihala Urumaya Sarath Manamendra says he is facing a serious threat to his life, with ‘white vans’ after him since the past few days. Completely rejecting claims that he has sold his official pistol, he told ‘Srilankamirror’ over the phone that a certain group was even tapping his phone. Mr. Manamendra, responding to an article posted on our website three days ago, gave a detailed account of what had transpired. more..

Apr 6 (CI) Cricket is one of the few sports on earth that relies heavily on a non-humanoid living organism to shape the outcome of the game. The main playing area is actually alive. Every Test match is dictated to by a plant life form that bleeds. Cricket is part sci-fi and part gramnivore. This is something that should never be forgotten, especially when you’re in some drunken conversation where someone calls cricket boring. “Oh, is your favourite sporting endeavour more..

Apr 6 (DM) The govt is required to settle the loan of US $ 500 million borrowed from the HSBC bank raised in 2007 for infrastructure development work, in October this year. Govt. ready to settle entire amount in Oct. Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said the govt was ready to settle the entire amount of the loan in October. He said the country’s foreign reserves had increased to US $ 6.1 billion now with the approval of the latest tranche of the IMF’s loan. more..

Apr 6 (Xinhua) The Sri Lankan economy recorded its highest post independence growth of 8.3 percent last year beating the previous record of 8 percent in 2010, the Central Bank said. In a statement following its monetary policy review meeting on Thursday evening the bank said that the record growth in 2011 was boosted by increased contributions from the industry and services sectors. Sri Lanka achieved independence from British rule in 1948 but more..

Apr 7 (TC) This article is published to draw attention to the forthcoming Global day of Peasant struggle on April 17th 2012: Sri Lanka’s farmlands are being aggressively marketed as investment opportunities for agro-export agriculture by the island’s foreign missions in the Gulf, and to Gulf-based businesses, including at the recently concluded Sri Lanka Expo 2012 in Colombo. The island’s Consul-General in Dubai was quoted recently urging emiratis to more..

Apr 7 (DBS) MP Mahinda Rajapaksa was a rights defender. Among political demands during ‘Pada Yathra’ he led, were two, i.e.: (1) Premadasa Regime should take responsibility for the disappearances taken place (2) implementing a peace solution instead of warring. Ironically and unfortunately, in Geneva President Rajapaksa’s representatives battled against similar international demands, under different environments. At home political parties made different more..

Apr 7 (CT) Environmentalists have urged the public to encourage the breeding and protection of butterflies and refrain from destroying their habitats if the species are to be protected. A number of butterfly species are presently on the endangered list and may soon be extinct if their habitats are not protected. In many parts of the country butterfly habitats are being destroyed due to development activities and a loss of food source for the larvae. more..

Apr 7 (Island) I concluded the first part of this article by noting the significance of the US Resolution. Its ostensible purpose was to promote human rights, which served the objective of establishing a new world order. But the underlying purpose was to promote a political solution of our ethnic problem on the basis of 13A. The ostensible purpose is the text while the underlying purpose is the sub-text, a powerful undertow that can lead us to a definitive solution of more..

Apr 7 (Island) The Avurudu Season is on, and big sales are tempting the people to part with hard earned money while giving the media a big boosts in income. While the State pleads with the people to cut down on electricity use, the Avurudu bonanzas on offer display a while range of electrical goods and latest gadgetry that would make a joke of any attempt to save on power. This is the time for "Gadget Gurus" and the new trend in seasonal advertising shows that gadgetry has more to do with the new mood of Avurudu more..

Apr 7 (TC) Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Paris Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka has come under scrutiny in recent days for his controversial remarks in the aftermath of the passing of the United States sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC Sessions, last month. Certain remarks that were misconstrued as having compared Sri Lanka to Myanmar, a call for reform of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy strategy and his unorthodox more..

Apr 7 (Island) LJP, the greatest living Asian filmmaker, one of the greatest in the world, is the undisputed – but eminently disputable – Father of the Sinhala Film. I have before me as I write a newspaper clipping from the Ceylon Daily News which I have preserved from 1956. It is titled: The "Sinhalese Film is Born". It is a review of LJP’s first film Rekawa by M.De S i.e. the redoubtable journalist Mervyn De Silva. A critic who could be vitriolic if necessary, he was not wont to more..

Apr 7 (DBS) This article was first written on April 10th 2009 under the heading”Top Tiger Leaders killed in a major debacle for LTTE”. Subsequently it was updated,revised and posted under the current heading. “It is being posted here again to commemorate the third anniversary of the decisive battle of Aananthapuram that concluded on April 5th 2009. As I wrote then the Aananthapuram battle was indeed the defining moment of the on going war from an LTTE perspective. more..

Apr 7 (DBS) Mr. Deputy Chairman of Committees, we are discussing in the House today, an Adjournment Motion pertaining to the Resolution passed at the UNHRC at the 19th Session last month. Before I commence my views in regard to what happened at Geneva, I think I need to outline briefly the history and the growth of the tragedy of the Tamil people in this country and the Tamil issue, to put things in proper perspective. more..

Apr 7 (Island) The CID's failure to be present in Court when the case of the Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra killing was taken up on Wednesday has raised many an eyebrow. IGP N. K. Ilangakoon is reported to have ordered a probe into the serious lapse on the part of the police. But, people have lost faith in such investigations which usually draw a blank. His move has, in our book, the trappings of a red herring. It is not the fate of the controversial political figures more..