Feb 11 (SL) Although terrorism was defeated in the country in 2009, the threat still lurks as internal and external forces are still lobbying for a separate state and also still funding and fuelling separatist ideologies. According to the latest edition of the Annual Threat Assessment of the Counter Terrorist Trends and Analysis report of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research; Rajaratnam School more..

Feb 11 (Island) UPFA accused the UNP of having created a Tamil Diaspora. It said then govt of J.R. Jayewardene had not taken timely action to prevent attacks on Tamils in the South in 1983. Present UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was also a Cabinet Minister of that govt, it said. Minister Susil Premajayantha said that 1983 Black July had led to thousands of Tamil people migrating to western countries such as UK and Canada. more..

Feb 11 (CT) Supreme Court granted leave to proceed with a Fundamental Rights petition filed by a Class 1 Officer of the Sri Lanka Technological Service (SLTS), attached to the Forest Department. Petitioner Vijitha Wanigasinghe, in his petition, had complained to the Court that the Public Service Commission (PSC) had violated his fundamental rights by not permitting the Conservator General of Forests to summon the petitioner more..

Feb 11 (Xinhua) A Pakistani national was arrested at Sri Lanka's main international airport for attempting to smuggle heroin concealed inside 12 oranges. Customs spokesman Leslie Gamini told reporters that the authorities had arrested the 64-year-old suspect at the arrival terminal of the BIA on Tuesday morning. The suspect had arrived from Karachi and had concealed about one kilogram of heroine inside 12 out of 70 oranges more..

Feb 11 (DM) The decomposed body found hanging from a tree at the Peradeniya University premises on Monday was identified as that of the main witness in the case connected to the ragging of freshers in 2011. The victim was identified as 24-year-old Dikowita Kankanamge Nishantha, a student of the Arts Faculty of the Peradeniya University. Investigations were been carried out to ascertain whether it was a suicide or a murder. more..

Feb 11 (Xinhua) Sri Lanka's govt is considering ending the practice of sending housemaids abroad, particularly to Middle Eastern countries. Sri Lankan Ambassador to Kuwait C.A.H.M. Wijeratne was quoted as saying the social impact of sending women as migrant workers was significant and as such the govt was considering the ban. Of the 130,000 Sri Lankans residing in Kuwait, some 80,000 are domestic helpers more..

Feb 11 (DM) The majestic elephant, Wewaladniye Rajah, which paraded the streets carrying the casket bearing the Sacred Tooth Relic at the Esala Maha Perahera in Kandy, died last night, Wewaladniye Mahindodaya Temple Chief Incumbent Ven. Sri Siddaratha Thera said. Elephant was 55-years-old at the time of its death at the Pallekele International Buddhist Centre Premises after being ill for a short period. more..

Feb 11 (CI) SLC's concerns about the ICC revamp were largely allayed by the second set of revisions to the position paper proposals in Singapore, SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga has said. Board has not yet endorsed Saturday's ICC decision to forge ahead with the revamp, but it is now expected to fall in line with the majority at the ICC, though the board was among the position paper's fiercest opponents before the vote. more..

Feb 11 (CT) Dear Mr. President Obama; I am writing you before the Ides of March!! I am a Sinhala Buddhist from Sri Lanka and I want to be blunt right at the outset: You are an idiot! Who are you to impose sanctions against the greatest country in the world? Who are you to pass any resolutions against us? You are an idiot. Let me tell you why. Ours is the greatest country in the world. This is known as Dharmadeepa- the island of righteousness. This land has 2500 years of written history. more..

Feb 11 (CT) When Monitoring MP Mohan Lal Grero, recently revealed that 30% of educated Sri Lankan youth were unemployed, he was but confessing to a reality every unemployed graduate, protesting in the streets knew - Sri Lanka has a problem finding jobs for its educated, especially the graduates. In fact, in a country which boasts of successfully bringing down the overall unemployment rate to 4.4%, the percentage of the educated unemployed is a disconcerting 10.2%. more..

Feb 11 (CT) According to statistics made available by the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board, as of 2013,number of persons using and abusing heroin, cannabis (Kerala ganja and local ganja) and other narcotics in Sri Lanka ranges from 45,000 to 50,000. There had been 47,926 drug related arrests in 2012 with the male to female ratio being 67:1. Heroin accounted for 35% (16,809 with 2% being women) of the arrests while more..

Feb 11 (LBO) Stocks end slightly higher Tuesday with tobacco stocks gaining amid strong foreign selling. All Share Price Index closed 2.88 points higher at 6,113.15, up 0.05%. The S&P SL20 closed 5.08 points lower at 3,349.35, down 0.15%. Turnover was 1.98 billion rupees, up from 1.32 billion rupees a day earlier, with stocks of 84 firms closing in the red against 85 gainers. JKH closed 4.10 rupees lower at 224.80 rupees with a massive 1.11 billion rupees of off market transaction more..

Feb 11 (CT) Complaint filed by Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and its Executive Director, Dr. Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu 6 months ago against the State Owned ITN was taken up this afternoon in the Human Rights Commisson of Sri Lanka (HRC-SL). CPA Executive Director Dr. Saravanamuttu as well as Rosmand Senaratne, Chairman of ITN were summoned and present before the Commission. After hearing lawyers’ initial submissions, HRC decided to refix the matter for a fuller inquiry more..

Feb 11 (Xinhua) Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao met with visiting Sri Lankan Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris in Beijing today, calling on both countries to boost cooperation and cement their strategic cooperation partnership. Hailing the stable growth of bilateral ties, Li said China-Sri Lanka relations had entered a new stage of development after the two heads of state announced an upgrade of relations to strategic more..

Feb 11 (Reuters) Rupee ended weaker on Tuesday due to importer dollar demand despite dollar selling by a state-run bank, and dealers said downward pressure would remain throughout the year if the U.S. Federal Reserve continues to wind down stimulus. The spot rupee ended at 130.82/85, weaker than its Monday's close of 130.75/80. Dealers said one of the two state banks, through which the central bank directs the market, sold dollars at 130.85 to prevent volatility. more..

Feb 11 (Island) A rare story is reported from Ganemulla, where a person recovered his lost money thanks to the honesty of those who had got hold of them. A resident of Thibbatugoda, a village on the Ganemulla-Ja Ela road had hidden his life’s savings amounting to Rs. 250,000 inside two bundles of old newspapers in his room thinking that it was the safest place. His daughter, unaware of the fact that the stacks of old newspapers, had actually been used by her father to hide his savings, more..

Feb 11 (Xinhua) China on Tuesday voiced support for Sri Lanka as the United States spearheaded a third resolution on the country's human rights record to be presented before the UNHRC in March. "China opposes some countries' interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka under the pretext of human rights issues," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday during talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart, G.L. Peiris, in Beijing. more..

Feb 11 (ENS) Social and emotional factors are preventing relations of disappeared persons from accepting death certificates to close the cases and move on in life, sources in Sri Lanka’s war-ravaged Northern Province said. The most recent Lankan government’s Commission on the Disappeared has already received 13,700 complaints of forced disappearances, mostly from the Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern Provinces, and especially from Jaffna district. more..

Feb 11 (Island) Sri Lanka is likely to lose billions of rupees in terms of lost harvests due to climate change, says policy advocacy official. Speaking at a workshop titled ‘Climate Change and Development Journalism’ Ranga Pallawala, member of the National Expert Committee on Climate Change Adaptation in Sri Lanka, who has also served as a member of the National Coordination Committee of Climate Change said that he believed that agricultural extension services more..

Feb 11 (CI) Dinesh Chandimal, Sri Lanka's Twenty20 captain, said he wants to take advantage of a near full-strength side ahead of the two-match T20 series against Bangladesh. If they can win 2-0 in Chittagong, Sri Lanka will head into the World Tweny20 in March as the No. 1 ranked side in the world. Chandimal feels that from this series onwards, it will be his and the team's duty to keep the ranking intact. more..

Feb 11 (Island) Police warned supporters of all candidates contesting the Western and Southern PC polls not to organise vehicle parades on the roads or enter the premises of District Secretariats or Kachcheris of the respective area as the police would take into custody all such vehicles and supporters. The allocation of preferential vote number will be issued today by the District Secretariat of each province. Only the candidate and party’s secretary could enter more..

Feb 11 (LBO) Sri Lanka's first gilt dealer has begun trading listed corporate debt in the Colombo Stock Exchange kicking off a process that could improve liquidity and secondary trading. Capital Alliance Ltd (CAL), a primary dealer in govt securities became the first firm to trade as a dealer-broker Tuesday, under new rules allowing primary dealers in Treasury bills to trade in debt listed on the CSE. On Tuesday the firm bought listed debt from a client to its own account giving liquidity to market. more..

Feb 11 (CG) The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) is to push for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with Sri Lanka and affording the Visa on Arrival facility for Sri Lankan businessmen, an official said. CII Director and Head of the South Asian division, Manish Mohan told a group of visiting Sri Lankan journalists in New Delhi that both Sri Lanka and India stand to benefit from CEPA. Talks on finalizing a deal more..

Feb 11 (L&M) A retired minister who has spent a decade in Sri Lanka has revealed the magic of Robert Burns’ poetry was as spellbinding as Bob Marley during his trip, but it was always a fun challenge to find haggis for a Burns Supper! Rev. John Purves was the minister of St Andrew’s Church of Scotland in Colombo and had been involved in the international relief effort by directing monies to crucial local causes following the tsunami in 2004. Mr Purves, 65, who was Chieftain of more..

Feb 11 (Island) A leading UNP reformist and former Southern Provincial Councillor Maithri Gunaratne is of the opinion that President Rajapaksa pulls the strings to control UNP National Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who in turn does the same to Leadership Council (LC) Chairman Karu Jayasuriya. Gunaratne said what was going on reminded him of the song Puppet on a string by Sandie Shaw. Opposition Leader’s budgetary allocation for last year was a whopping Rs. 850 million, more..

Feb 11 (PTI) Senior officials of Scotland Yard on Tuesday met Chennai police commissioner here in connection with the case of kidnapping of a British couple of Sri Lankan origin, in which nine persons were arrested last year. Craig Maggee and Mark Hughes of kidnapping and special investigation unit of the Scotland Yard met the Chennai police commissioner S George for collecting evidence and documents for more..

Feb 11 (CG) Police Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) has arrested a former LTTE intelligence unit member at the BIA. SSP Ajith Rohana said that LTTE suspect had been arrested while he was attempting to flee to Malaysia. He was identified as Sivarasa Sudaharan and the TID is conducting more investigations on the suspect. Meanwhile, the police spokesman said that another LTTE suspect who was deported by Canada had also been arrested by the TID. more..

Feb 11 (Hindu) India has begun to import nutmeg from Sri Lanka following production shortfall. Poor crop last season led to a shortage and consequent rise in prices. As a result, dealers are importing from Sri Lanka, said an importer who struck some deals with traders in Colombo last week. He told Business Line that against the domestic price of ₹725 a kg, nutmeg rate in Sri Lanka was ₹675. He said that mace production in India is also short of the demand. Against demand of 1,500 tonnes, more..

Feb 11 (CG) The European Union (EU) has decided to back moves at the UNHRC to actively support efforts to enhance accountability and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, including a credible and independent investigation into the alleged severe crimes during the civil war, as well as to address the current human rights situation in the country. The decision was taken by the EU Foreign Affairs Council which met in Brussels to discuss more..

Feb 11 (EAR) TNA controlled NPC, which was reconstituted in September 2013, set in motion its political machination with what seemed like an honest intention to experiment politics of collaboration and cooperation with the govt of President Rajapaksa. Chief Minister elect, C.V.Wigneswaran went all the way to Colombo to take oaths before the President in his official residence, Temple Trees. TNA also acknowledged the need to work with the govt more..

Feb 11 (Island) UPFA candidates contesting the upcoming Western and Southern PC elections had been advised strictly to obey the election laws, party high rankers said. UPFA General Secretary Minister Susil Premajayantha said that they had already advised the team leaders of the six districts in the two provinces going to the polls on March 29 to convey the message to their members. UPFA was fielding 178 candidates representing 12 political parties in the six districts, more..

Feb 11 (DM) The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) today formally called upon professionals from both the public and private sectors to join their volunteer reserve, as they announced the re-enlistment of professionals into the volunteer reserve. Military Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said professionals representing all fields including engineers, lawyers, accountants, planters, surveyors, hospitality management, more..

Jan 12 (CT) War & Peace would become, War is Election Victories. The Passion of Christ would become, The War Passion of Mahinda. Star Wars would become, Humanitarian Wars. The Last of the Mohicans would become, The Last of the Tigers. Lord of the Rings would become, Lord of the GREENS (Starring Ranil Wickramasinghe) Slum Dog Millionaire would become, Four War Lord Millionaire Brothers. Doctor Zhivago would become, Doctor Mervin Silva. more..

Jan 12 (NS) The fourth day of February is a mis-named or mis-interpreted day of independence. When we got the independence which we commemorate we remained subjects of a lady called Elizabeth who lives somewhere in England. It was on the 22nd day of May in the year 1972 that we truly recovered political independence. Anyway, for reasons best known to day-designators, February 4 is celebrated in this country. There are flags and speeches, parades and Independence Day more..

Jan 12 (SO) It is roughly estimated that over 1300 practitioners in traditional medicine treat patients in the North Central Province. According to a research by the Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine of the Medical Faculty of the Rajarata University that a significant portion of the community in the North Central Province depends on traditional medicine practitioners. more..

Jan 12 (NS) We are concerned about ‘powdered milk’ not because it has become so important that missing it is considered an unimaginable misfortune. However, the part that is not discussed openly is its importance as a ‘baby feed’. It is a main source of ‘baby feeds’ among the low income groups where ‘Formula Baby Feeds’ are unimaginable luxuries. It has been added on as another misfortune for the downtrodden. Although the possibility of using fresh milk looks promising, more..

Feb 12 (SL) It is a constant source of wonder to average Sri Lankans how the Tamil Diaspora and the LTTE’s post-war rump keep up their consistent tirade of a few truths, half truths and mostly rubbish, to the eager and receptive ears of the international community; the very same international community that is pretty iffy when it comes to crimes against people other than their own. In other words “crimes against humanity”. Here, in Sri Lanka, the Tamil political parties are at it again; more..

Jan 12 (CT) Feroza Muzammil, President of the women's organization, Kantha Saviya and the First Lady of Colombo says she is not "a woman to be defeated" and that it was a prominent UNP MP in Colombo who dealt her the severest blow by spearheading the campaign to cut her out of the UNP nomination list for the WPC Elections to be held in March. But regardless of her disappointment with the UNP, she vows to fight on. more..

Jan 12 (CT) Nationalism is defined as “patriotic feeling, principles, or efforts-an early consciousness of nationalism and pride”. This is further elaborated as, “devotion to the interests or culture of one’s nation”, “the belief that nations will benefit from acting independently rather than collectively, emphasizing national rather than international goals” and “aspirations for national independence in a country under foreign domination”. Wikipedia quotes that “Roosevelt made the case for what more..

Feb 12 (CT) Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs in the United States Department of State, Nisha Desai, had wanted to meet President Rajapaksa during her recent visit to the country. Diplomatic sources revealed that she was carrying a strong message from America to be given to President Rajapaksa. However, Mahinda, who had already got wind of what was coming, had cleverly avoided seeing her. Though she was unable to deliver the message to Mahinda, more..