News Archive for Jan 2011

Terrorists Using U.S. Law As A Weapon - January 31,2011
Ira de Silva London, Canada
The Editor The Island Colombo, Sri Lanka   Dear Sir:   The case filed by Bruce Fein illustrates the lack of integrity and the unscrupulous nature of some U.S. lawyers who will sell themselves and anyone else for money. It also illustrates that the LTTE supporters in the U.S. are well and active in their goal of dividing Sri Lanka to create Eelam. The money that was used to fund terrorism by Prabhakaran is now being used to buy lawyers and others in the U.S. who are "for sale" whether they be  politicians or bureaucrats who will... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/11)

Religious Affairs Minister muddles Wakf Board
By Rukshana Rizwie
The Wakf board, which is the governing body of all mosques in Sri Lanka, still remains muddled in controversy over irregularities taking place in the Department of Muslims Religious and Cultural Affairs, where a seven-member panel has been chosen for the board but not a chairman.  The Wakf board is where all mosques, Muslims shrines, places of religious resort and charitable trust in Sri Lanka are to be registered with but is currently defunct leading many to believe it could lead to worsening tension within the Muslim community.  “The Prime Minister, as the Religious Affairs Minister,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/11)

Second phase of Independence
Dr.Tilak Fernando
Sri Lanka formally known by many names from Taprobane to Zeilan and finally Ceylon attracted travellers to the island from around 350 BC with her material treasures and spiritual values. Donoughmore Constitution under British governance finally gave the country an elected legislature. On February 4, 1948 a new era dawned when ‘Ceylon’ became an independent sovereignty. A unique attribute during the struggle for independence reflected on the patriotism of a set of united political leaders, who acted in unanimity with self-respect by brushing aside all personal and political differences to save their Motherland that had been... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 31/01/11)

Mubharak Chapter Ends - Islamic Fundamentalists Rule the Roost!
Prof. Hudson McLean
With the possible "End of the Mubharak" Chapter in the offing, Americans once again have created their own monster.  Omar Suleiman the ageing Chief of Intelligence, the "Guardian Angel of Hosni Mubharak, now appointed Vice President, may use brute force through Mukhabarat, the feared Egyptian General Intelligence Organisation, but not for long. The prize of a huge pile of American Defence equipment (Class 11) awaits the winner and Israel might be "Shitting Bricks" (pardon my expression) at the immediate prospect of the entire Middle East at War, and how it might spill-over to the Land of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/01/11)

A reply to Satheesan Kumaaran, Columnist Sri Lanka Guardian website.(or some one who wrote under his name on 29 January,2011 « Even if humans let forgive criminals, ghosts would not let them free »)
By Charles.S.Perera
Satheesan Kumaaran,   reading your article in the Sri Lanka Guardian Website of the 29 January,2011, it appears that you are not a true Sri Lankan born and bred in Sri Lanka.  You are perhaps  a second or third generation Tamil of the diaspora.  Because,  you will not otherwise write about the President of Sri Lanka the way you have written.  President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse is after all the elected President of Sri Lanka and some how connected to us as Asians if not as Sri Lankans.  We should be proud of him not only for getting rid of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/01/11)

Asian Inferiority-Complex, the Killer Disease: Part (16-III of III)
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
 Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony  Inferiority vs. superiority complexes, the underside of us vs. them Like many other diseases, the origin of this modern “killer disease,” of inferiority-complex is also first originated in Caucasian mind. I think the readers who already have visited the link “The semantic slippage of the concept of “Europe”  must be aware of the fact that how Europe, due to the inferiority of their own history, projected its history into the past constructing a narration of a false history with Greek connection which really did not belonged to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/01/11)

ගරු අමාත්‍ය ඩලස් අලහාපෙරුම මහතාගේ යෝජිත යොවුන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව හා එහි ක්‍රියා කාරිත්වය සම්බන්ධව මෙරට ජනතාව හොඳටම හෙම්බත්ව සිටින වකවානුවකදී, ගරු අමාත්‍ය ඩලස් අලහාපෙරුම මහතා විසින් යෝජිත යොවුන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවක් සථාපිත කිරීමට කටයුතු සලසා තිබේ. මේ සිතුවිල්ල ගරු අමාත්‍යතුමාගේ මනසට ගලා ආවේ ඇයි? පෙර සූදානමක් නැතිව පාර්ලිමේන්තු ගතවෙන මිනිසුන්ගේ බහු රූ කෝලම් දැක, හොඳටම මේවා එපා වූ අයකුගේ මනසට ගලා එන්නේ අනාගත මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් හා ඇමතිවරුන් පුහුණු කරන මධ්‍යස්ථානයක් ගොඩනැංවිය යුතුය යන මතයයි. ඒ අනුව ගරු අමාත්‍යතුමා කටයුතු කර ඇතැයි අපට හැඟේ. මෙම යොවුන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ගොඩනැංවීමේ අභිලාෂය හා එහි ඉදිරි කටයුතු සම්බන්ධ සැබෑ සැලසුම හඳුනන්නේ ගරු ඇමතිතුමා පමණක් වන අතර, නිසි නායකයකු අතට මෙම... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/01/11)

Sri Lanka’s permanent deputy United Nations Representative Major Gen. Shavendra Silva denies accusation of war crimes against him
Sanjeewa
Sri Lanka’s permanent deputy United Nations Representative Major Gen. Shavendra Silva denying accusation of war crimes against him said that if there had been any violations it will surface one day. “If there had been any violations ... it will surface one day. If there were, then the military will take action against those responsible,” Major General Silva said at a Church in Framingham, USA on Saturday. Shavendra's Boston Speech Winchester resident and native Tamil Suba Suntharalingam and a handful of others protested Silva's visit, holding signs at the intersection of Maplewood and Elm streets before going inside... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/01/11)

£10 million 'Ponzi' gang sentenced
Metropolitan Police Bulletin 0000002199
An international gang of fraudsters made £10million from targeting a series of victims, it can be revealed today. The six men were convicted of deception and money laundering offences at earlier hearings for their involvement in a 'Ponzi' fraud which affected a number of different communities across London, but specifically targeted members of the Sri Lankan community. The court heard how the Metropolitan Police Service Fraud Squad launched an investigation back in 2005 after they received reports from victims who had been duped out of huge sums of money, often their life savings.... -Full Story- (cms.met.police.uk - 30/01/11)

The Asian Millenium: the Return to the Natural Order
MahamahaRaja
This is intended as a contribution to the recent debate on Lankaweb relating to the role of Asia in the 21st Century.  It is common knowledge that the balance of power, militarily, economically and culturally is shifting away from the West. After 500 years of domination, the ageing, morally and materially bankrupted Western nations have reached the end of history. It is the view of some that Western domination was an accident of nature whereby the random coming together of certain technologies and mindsets led to an exponential growth of western power, which in turn led to their... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/01/11)

Americans are Behind Egypt uprising
telegraph.co.uk
The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning “regime change” for the past three years, The Daily Telegraph has learned. The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police. On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011.... -Full Story- (telegraph.co.uk - 29/01/11)

Spare a thought for vultures!
Dr Bandula Kothalawala
The good old Mr Bruce Fein is in the news again! It appears that Mr Fein, former US Deputy Attorney General (1981-82), has changed his specialty for the occasion. Hard on the heels of Mr Sam Zafiri’s asinine call on the US Government to investigate the President of Sri Lanka for alleged war crimes, Mr Fein has filed a case against him for alleged “torture and extrajudicial killings.” One can only hope that Prof Alston will not be too piqued over Mr Fein’s move to tread on the learned professor’s toes, for the latter seems to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/01/11)

Tamil Terrorist LTTE Remnants seek Justice in USA?
Prof. Hudson McLean
Tamil Terrorists LTTE Remnants Barking at the Wrong Trees! For over thirty years, Tamil Terrorist LTTE suicide bombers shed blood of thousands of innocent civilians. Now the same rotten murderers are attempting to seek legal justice in USA, of all the places under the sun, against the Government of Sri Lanka. Have these mindless squatters given any thought to what USA did in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and other sovereign States during the past fifty years? Kicking poor innocent Vietnamese Women & Children into pits and throwing hand-grenades! Blood thirsty intoxicated US Marines raping women & children?... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/01/11)

Even Neo-LTTE Organizations Doubt War Crimes Stories - FAG Files Action after the President Left USA
Dilrook Kannangara
Tamils Against Genocide (FAG) also known as TAG filed a civil case in the District Court of District of Columbia against Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa Friday January 28, seeking $30m as damages through six counts of violations of the Torture Victims Protection Act. However, the President ended his five (5) day US visit on January 26 and flew back home. Why couldn’t FAG file the case within those five days? Why was it filed two days after the president left? Why shut the barn door after the horse bolted? The reason is FAG activists themselves... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/01/11)

The Youth Self-Employment Program of Bangladesh, ideal for Sri Lanka
(This article is based on a Paper submitted by Dr. Garvin Karunaratne formerly of the SLAS, Ph.D.(Michigan State University)
In 1978 the Ministry of Youth Development in Bangladesh commenced technical and vocational training for youths. By 1980 around 30,000 youths were trained annually. The effort was on the accumulation of skills and technical knowledge and graduating the trainees with pomp and pageantry. The vast majority of the trained lapsed in to unemployment. After the coup de etat in 1982, Air Vice Marshall Aminul Islam the Hon. Minister for Labour and Manpower in reviewing the work done in youth development... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/01/11)

SRI LANKAN AMBASSADOR IN U.S. SAYS SRI LANKANS WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED BY TERRORIST SUPPORTERS
EMBASSY OF SRI LANKA, WASHINGTON DC
LTTE front organizations will eventually be exposed and brought to justice and cannot intimidate the President or the people of Sri Lanka   Recently foreign supporters of the LTTE terrorist group that fought and lost a conflict against the Sri Lankan people have accused Sri Lanka’s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, of committing war crimes as commander in chief of Sri Lanka’s armed forces. Today LTTE supporters outside of Sri Lanka continue to accuse the government of human rights violations, according to Jaliya Wickramasuriya, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the United States. Today those... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/01/11)

Pro-LTTE Attorney ordered to pay the defendant he sued: Bruce Fein gets drubbing in US Federal Court
by Hassina LEELARATHNA Courtesy Sunday Observer
Los Angeles, CA - President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s private visit to the US appeared to be good for the pro-LTTE diaspora and for its paid agent, Attorney Bruce Fein. Over the past weekend, LTTE websites have been buzzing over Fein’s proposed filing of a civil complaint in the 5th Circuit Southern District Court in Texas against the Sri Lankan leader for alleged ‘genocide’ and ‘war crimes’. Making such filings appears to be an obligatory Kafkaesque ritual Fein must perform to please his handlers, a pro-LTTE group that... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/01/11)

Sri Lanka dismisses law suit by Tamils against Rajapaksa
english.people.com.cn
The Sri Lankan government on Saturday dismissed as a media ploy the law suit said to have been filed in the United States by a Tamil group against the president. "We have no time for mercenaries funded by LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) terrorists who just want media attention", Bandula Jayasekera, the presidential spokesman told reporters. A Tamil minority diaspora group in the United States was said to have filed the law suit in Washington claiming 3O million U.S. dollars as damages from the Sri Lankan president for alleged extra judicial killings.... -Full Story- (english.people.com.cn - 29/01/11)

No time for mercenaries
dailymirror.lk
“We have no time for mercenaries funded by LTTE terrorist who want media attention” President’s Media Spokesman Bandula Jayasekara told Daily Mirror when questioned regarding the suit filed against the President in the US by Bruce Fein, a Washington lawyer. (Daily Mirror online)... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 29/01/11)

US lawsuit filed against S.Lanka leader
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Members of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority on Friday filed a lawsuit in the United States against the island's president, seeking $30 million in damages over alleged extra-judicial killings. Members of the Tamil diaspora spearheaded legal action after President Mahinda Rajapakse quietly traveled to the United States, in a test of how much deference US authorities show to visiting heads of state. Bruce Fein, a prominent Washington lawyer, said he filed the suit on behalf of three plaintiffs under a 1991 act that allows for action in the United States against foreign officials over torture and extrajudicial killings.... -Full Story- (Yahoo - 29/01/11)

Perfecting Life through Buddhism
by Professor Sunil J. Wimalawansa, Professor of Medicine, Physiology & Integrative Biology Robert Wood Johnson Medical School New Brunswick, NJ
Buddhism is not strictly a religion, in the sense in which that word is commonly understood, for it is not "a system of faith and worship owing any allegiance to a supernatural being." Buddhism does not demand blind faith from its adherents.  Here mere belief is dethroned and is substituted by confidence based on knowledge, which, in Pali, is known as Saddha.  The confidence placed by a follower in the Buddha is like that of a sick person... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/11)

Indian Authorities Seem To Have Taken The Bait On The 'Fisherman Attack' Issue.
LankaWeb Weekly Editorial
January 29th 2011 Does It really take Rocket Science to draw conclusions that the Indian Fisherman killing issue stinks of being a bold attermpt by the enemies of the Sri Lanka Government especially those in the region where the incident is said to have taken place to undermine its credibilities. Those who have been fooled into believing that the Sri Lankan Navy was behind the killings need to re-think their conclusions as there isn't a shred of tangible evidence that it was the SL Navy behind this where it seems quite easy for sources in... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/11)

The Travels of a Journalist—53-Family explores offbeat attractions during break in state of Washington
By Shelton A. Gunaratne ©2011 Professor of mass communications emeritus
Minnesota State University Moorhead
 On the first Saturday (22 July 1989) after our arrival in Longview, Junius, 9, and I went to the adjoining city of Kelso, where I purchased a Timberline-4 tent for $151 (including sales tax) at the Outdoors Store (110 S. Pacific Ave.). On previous camping trips, I used tents rented from the outdoors facility of the Moorhead State University (as my university was known then) Students’ Union. Now that I had become the proud owner of a high-quality tent, I could use it on our... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/11)

71 කැරැල්ල29 කොටස
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග
 තඹුත්තේගම කරූ-තඹුත්තේගම කරූ 71 ක‍්‍රියාදාමයේදි මුල් පෙල්ම සිටි අයෙකි. වර්තමානයේදි ඔහු දේශීය ආදායම් දෙපාර්තමෙන්තුවේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ තක්සේරුකරුවෙකු ලෙස සේවය කරයි. ඔහු තම අත්දැකීම් විග‍්‍රහ කරන්නේ මෙලෙසටයි.  ‘මම සම්බන්ධ වෙන්නේ 1969 දි පමණ. එවකට මම අනුරාධපුර සෙන්ට‍්‍රල් එකේ ඉගෙනුම ලැබුවා. නන්දන මාරසිංහගේ මගේ පාසලේ ඉගෙනුම ලැබුවෙක්. මට ඔහුගේ බලපෑමක් තිබුනා. මට පන්ති පහ කලේ දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ පියසිරි ගුණරත්න. ඔහු අපට පන්ති පැවැත්තුවේ අනුරාධපුර පූජා භූමියෙ නටඹුන් අතරයි.  මම වැඩ කලේ තඹුත්තේගම ගල්ගමුව ප‍්‍රදේශ වලයි. ප‍්‍රහාරය පිළිබඳව මට දැනුම් දෙන්නේ නන්දන මාරසිංහයි. ඔහු මට මෙය කියන්නේ 1971 අපේ‍්‍රල් 4 දින උදෑසනයි.  අපේ‍්‍රල් 5 දින ? මම හිටියෙ තඹුත්තේගම.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/11)

IMMORAL HINDU PRACTICES DISALLOWED IN MY MOTHERLAND
Dr. Daya Hewapathirane
It is often overlooked but is necessary to highlight in a most prominent manner that Buddhism, the foundation of our nation’s culture prevented many discriminatory and criminal practices and cultural norms of Hindu Indians from being adopted in our country. We are indebted to and revere the founders and guardians of our nation – our Sinhala royalty and nobility and our esteemed Mahasangha for protecting our nation from these extreme forms of Hindu Indian prejudices, injustice and violence. In spite of being exposed to Hindu India from historic times and in spite of our country being... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/11)

Gang targeted London communities in £10m Ponzi fraud
26 January 2011 Last updated at 19:30
A gang conned innocent investors out of £10m in a Ponzi fraud, it has emerged. Southwark Crown Court was told the six men targeted Sri Lankan communities in London and promised plentiful profits for joining the scheme. A Metropolitan Police inquiry began in 2005 after victims reported being duped out of large sums of money. The six were earlier convicted of various charges including deception and money laundering. Reporting restrictions were lifted on Wednesday. Ponzi schemes offer investors high returns over a short period of time and those returns are paid for... -Full Story- (bbc.co.uk - 28/01/11)

Could Kik Cola do well against Coke and Pepsi in Sri Lanka?
Filed by Bill Bruce
At the beginning of December, Sri Lanka-based Elephant House, a subsidiary of John Keells Holdings, introduced Kik Cola. By the middle of January, it was claiming sales of over a million litres and 60% market coverage of Sri Lanka’s retail channel. “We are happy to say the consumers have embraced this brand,” said Jit Gunaratna, JKH president – consumer foods.... -Full Story- (foodbev.com - 28/01/11)

India, Sri Lanka in row over fishermen deaths
New Delhi - Nirupama Rao, India's top diplomat, is to travel to Sri Lanka to raise the issue of the alleged killings of Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy, news reports said Friday. New Delhi has taken a tough stand on the matter despite Sri Lanka's denials of involvement in the deaths and is sending the foreign secretary to Colombo on Saturday, the NDTV network reported, quoting government sources.... -Full Story- (monstersandcritics.com - 28/01/11)

Galle Literary Festival discusses post-conflict concerns
R. K. Radhakrishnan
Living up to its promise of touching upon Sri Lankan post conflict concerns at an event that celebrated literature, the fifth edition of the Galle Literary Festival 2011 discussed at length the problem of ethnicities and identities getting entangled in politics. There was a strong opinion that ethnicity is part of a person’s identity and hence, the need for a single national identity should not insist that one’s ethnic identity is forgotten or cast aside.... -Full Story- (thehindu.com - 28/01/11)

SRI LANKA NOW NEEDS GOOD FRIENDS.
By Noor Nizam. Sri Lanka Peace Activist and Communication Specialist –Canada - presently reporting from Colombo.
  This refers to a comment made to a news item in the Adaderana.lk under heading: "CANADA HIGH COMMISSIONER MEETS WITH RESETTLEMENT MINISTER
January 26, 2011  04:44 pm"  Whether the Honourable Minister Guneratne Weerakoon knows English or not is NOT the issue here.  What was of great value is that there is COMMUNICATION initiated between both the VIPs. One has to admire the stance taken by HE. Bruce Levy, the Canadian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka to meet with Hon. Minister for Resettlement and express... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/11)

Asian inferiority-complex, “The Killer disease” (Part 16-II of III)
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
 Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony(The article became a little longer than I thought. Please be advised that this article now carries three parts instead of two.)  Rhsuperfly asks the Asians to “get over” the Asian inferiority complex in order to see the “world” or “life” in more objective and historical terms, instead of “us vs. them”. When we follow Rhsuperfly’s advice and try to see the world or life in more objectively and in historical terms, the end result that hits our nose is completely different from that of Rhsuperfly envisions. When we... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/11)

TAMILEELAM in Canda
On June 02, 2000 then Canada’s most senior intelligence officer, Mr. Ward Elcock, warned the nation that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE aka Tamil Tigers) are exploiting Canada’s wealth to finance bloodshed around the world. “If you tolerate these activities, you can run into problems”. Ten years later on January 18th, 2011 Canadian Security Intelligence Services (CSIS) warned that “Tamil Tigers are to set up a base-in-exile here in Canada for the leadership. Some leadership is already here.” Which brings the Mr.Ward Elcock’s prediction of “you can run into problems” to a reality.... -Full Story- (sinhala-tamil.blogspot.com - 27/01/11)

'Slick Solheim' Trying To Re- Slither Into Lankan Affairs? A Point For The Administration To View Objectively !
Insight By Sunil Kumar
Jan.26th 2011 "Breaking News!" in an exclusive media report suggests that Norwegian Minister and former so called Sri Lankan peace envoy and facilitator Erik Solheim whose appointment in Sri Lanka was a total farce beyond being a paid holiday to indulge his playboy instincts and Thespian skills while surreptitiously cajoling the Tamil Tigers never gives up! On the basis that he was neither a peace envoy nor a facilitator who ended up compounding the Tamil Tiger terrorist issue by pandering to their needs ( propbably for huge payouts!) he should not even be granted a... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/11)

“Nehru Guna” – Conservative Leader of Canadian LTTE
Bala Ganesh
This article is in response to the submission by Roger Nallanayagam under the title of “Nehru Gunaratnam – Leader of Canadian LTTE” on January 25th, 2011. Even though Roger validly argued with evidences his submission did not cover the current trend of LTTE machinery in Canada. Therefore I would like to pursue on this subject to bring more current affairs and facts into the day light.... -Full Story- (sinhala-tamil.blogspot.com - 27/01/11)

Nehru Gunaratnam –Leader of Canadian LTTE
by Roger Nallanayagam, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
On June 02, 2000 then Canada’s most senior intelligence officer, Mr. Ward Elcock, warned the nation that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE aka Tamil Tigers) are exploiting Canada’s wealth to finance bloodshed around the world. “If you tolerate these activities, you can run into problems”. Ten years later on January 18th, 2011 Canadian Security Intelligence Services (CSIS) warned that “Tamil Tigers are to set up a base-in-exile here in Canada for the leadership. Some leadership is already here.” Which brings the Mr.Ward Elcock’s prediction of “you can run into problems”... -Full Story- (sinhala-tamil.blogspot.com - 27/01/11)

DON’T TREAT THE TRANSNATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL EELAM (TGTE) LIGHTLY
Malin Abeyatunge
The Tamil Diaspora unquestionably and strongly supported the once most brutal terrorist organization in the world LTTE aka Tamil Tigers to achieve “Tamil Eelam”. They have now changed it’s  stripes and formed an entity  called the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam USA (TGTE) under the leadership of one V. Rudrakumaran who is an American citizen to fight for a separate enclave in Sri Lanka for the Tamils. According to the mission statement of TGTE in its website their objective is to achieve a separate- Eelam in Sri Lanka in the North and East. Their Mission Statement and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/01/11)

Why did Dr. Jehan Perera lie to Dr.Michael Roberts? -A Sri Lankan horror story
By Darshanie Ratnawalli 

“When a highly educated Sinhalese scholar like Jehan Perera, one who is a genuine grassroots worker for multi-cultural accommodation, is unaware (personal comment in late Jan. 2000) that the eastern coast of Sri Lanka was an integral part of the Kingdom of Kandy from the late sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, the gaps in information—and the success of Tamil propaganda—are starkly manifest.”  -ESSAY Narrating Tamil Nationalism: Subjectivities and Issues Michael Roberts April 2004- (Footnote 57) By 2000 however a number of books and papers were in print which could have bridged the gaps in Dr.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/01/11)

Of high national importance
Anura Seneviratna, Dr MB Ranatunga, Sumith de Silva, Sapumal Watteaarachchige, Ranjith Wijetunge, Asanka Haradasa, Ira Mediwake, Dhanpala Godagangdeni (for expat Hela team).   
To all Patriotic movements and patriots,  Minister Udaya Gammanpila has maintained the most exemplary National Defensive stance at the recent interview with The Nation newspaper. Without splitting hairs and wasting valuable time for long winded history tales, this is the most profound, yet simple and brief response to the ongoing “Tamil national demands” that all our patriots and government should adhere to as a common denominator concept. This is the strongest weapon with which we can derail... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/01/11)

Asian inferiority complex—the ‘killer disease’, In way of responding to Rhsuperfly (Part 16-I of II)
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
 Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony  Despite the fact that the article, THE MYTH OF A NEW ASIAN CENTURY-WHY IT IS WESTERN NOT ASIAN by Dr. Janaka Goonetilleke has already been pushed into back pages, I thought the comment of Rhsuperfly that advised Asians to get over their ‘inferiority complex’ certainly deserves a discussion. However the content of Rhsuperfly’s and PrabasFlaccidHead’s  comments had derived  from the same epistemological position, in this article, I tried to address issues related to the comments of both writers. With utmost respect to their intellectual capacities, I would humbly... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/01/11)

Is there a connection in the opening of the Indian consulate & violence in Jaffna
Shenali Waduge
In May 2009, Sri Lanka did what the world said it was impossible to do. For the first time in modern military history, a terrorist movement was militarily defeated simultaneously with a humanitarian rescue operation that rescued nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians. We all know of the pressures that prevailed demanding Sri Lanka end its military onslaught. Beneath the diplomatic maneuvers to bring the military effort to a halt, public statements issued from foreign powers to showcase a different version. India tops that list & so we are made to believe it is our “friend”. It is this... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/01/11)

Religion & Politics - Mix & Match!
Prof. Hudson McLean
Wow! I touched on a highly sensitive topic of Religion & Politics. LankaWeb Forum really did open the door to dialogue. Polite, Courteous, Civilised! As a matter of principle, I do not usually touch on Religion.  Although as one reader quite correctly reminded me that, I expressed a negative opinion on the behaviour of certain Catholic clergy,  however it did not mean that I would maintain same opinion till Kingdom come. Priests,  Monks and other clergy are as human as any other human being.  Late Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike was a Christian at birth, converted into... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/01/11)

DO NOT SUCCUMB TO THE PRESSURES EXERTED BY PRO-TAMIL TIGER FRONTS IN AUSTRALIA‏
Vajiragnana Warnakulasuriya Melbourne
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Kevin Rudd, Canberra, ACT.  Dear Sir,  Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Australia  A report in Canberra Times says the Tamil Diaspora in Australia has objected to the appointment of the ex- Sri Lanka’s Navy Commander, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, as the next High Commissioner to Australia.  http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/general/war-crimes-cloud-over-envoy-choice/2055385.aspx  I believe the relationship between Sri Lankan and the Australian Governments is pleasant and amicable. The latest news bulletins emanating from Canada, France UK, Spain and even Australia have revealed active hardcore LTTE supporters who raised funds under the pretext of innocent looking... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/01/11)

Robert O Blake: Your comment on Sri Lanka at Rice University, Texas
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario .  Canada
24 January 2011 Robert O. Blake    (former U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka)   U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Bureau of South and Central  Affairs  Washington, DC, U.S.A Dear Bob: I came across the 22nd January  ColomboPage which said, “Former US Ambassador says Sri Lanka’s reconciliation process is slow.”  Those remarks were made during your address to an audience at the Rice University in Houston, Texas, on the Obama Administration’s Priorities in South and Central Asia and its foreign policy.  You had said that after the Eelam war... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/01/11)

Dear Citizens chose wisely and give your Verdict!
Ranjit Wickremeratne
Dear citizens another elections on the way this is not General or Presidential but for Local Government where you will select grass root representatives for 4 Municipal councils, 39 Urban councils and 262 Pradeshiya Sabahas around the country. Those who will be selected  has to work with the Central Government hand in hand to uplift the standard of our citizens and their areas around the country. Think wisely and select the right person who can deliver the goods to the public in a bipartisan way. Dont waste your vote on corrupt guys. Dont waste your vote on party... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/01/11)

Knowledge is power
Dr. Tilak Fernando
Talent is inborn. Enthusiasm and determination are cultivated. To be self-confident to throw out challenges is admirable. Not many human beings have all such qualities combined. It is equally tragic if someone who believes in his own knowledge, invention and willingness to offer ‘the secret of saving power (gas and electricity)’ to his Motherland is allowed to go unheeded despite crying out in good faith. Scientific method to restrict wastage of gas during cooking. File photo Dr Hector Perera, PhD, a qualified chemist and a lecturer in... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/01/11)

Amnesty International and the ‘Legitimacy Crisis’
By Kalana Senaratne Courtesy The Island 
  This is not another critique of Amnesty International (AI) or any of the international human rights organizations. But reference needs to be made to the interesting press release issued by AI (dated 19 Jan, 2011), and some issues arising from it. The press release asks the US to investigate President Rajapaksa, who is on a ‘private’ visit to that great land of freedom, hope and justice, the US. One such issue concerns the interesting and rather curious nature of contemporary Sri Lanka-US diplomatic relations. That relationship is becoming more curious and interesting... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/01/11)

Response to “Independence Day Comment”
Vajiragnana Warnakulasuriya Melbourne
  Dear Editor,  As I missed this article on Sinhale Hotnews, I didn’t see the comment to respond, today it was brought to my attention by a colleague of mine. While thanking those who responded on my behalf for this chap “Alistair Gee”, I posit this for “Alistair Gee’s” attention!  I happened to air my views about how I felt about celebrating “Independence Day” by Sri Lankans. Today people all over the Globe, write, do and even die for weird things in the name of freedom of various disciplines, I exercised my freedom, liberty to pen what... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/01/11)

Sri Lankan navy denies killing Indian fisherman
Press Trust Of India
Sri Lanka on Sunday rejected as "baseless" the allegation that its military had killed an Indian fisherman and wounded two others. These "allegations are baseless and without proof," Sri Lankan Navy spokesman Captain Athula Senarth said. We have given strict instructions to our naval patrols and related stories Another fisherman killed in attack by Lankan Navy we ensure that these instructions are carried out, Senarth told reporters. Earlier, Indian media reported that a man, who had put out to sea with two others yesterday from Pushpavanam coastal hamlet, died after Sri Lankan Naval personnel tied... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 23/01/11)

Netherlands: Italy, France felt US behind move, opposed LTTE proscription by EU
by Shamindra Ferdinando  Courtesy The Island 
A classified US diplomatic cable, captioned ‘Tokyo co-chairs pre-meetings’ has revealed an attempt by the Netherlands to thwart an EU statement targeting LTTE over continuing terrorist attacks in spite of the CFA. According to the document, dated May 25, 2006, originating from Colombo, ahead of the EU ban on the LTTE, the grouping had been sharply divided. This came to light during a meeting attended by senior representatives of Sri Lankan peace co-chairs and the then Netherlands Ambassador, Van Dijk, when the latter strongly urged his colleagues not to categorise LTTE actions as... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/01/11)

Killing fishermen unacceptable: India
New Delhi/Chennai, Jan 23, DHNS:
Killing of yet another Indian fisherman allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy at Palk Strait has re-kindled the diplomatic row between New Delhi and Colombo over the sensitive issue of territorial waters. The Centre reacted tersely to the killing of Jayakumar, a fisherman from Tamil Nadu’s coastal hamlet of Pushpavanam when he had gone fishing with two others on Saturday about 20 kilometers (11 nautical miles) south-east of Kodiakarai on Tamil Nadu’s coastline—reportedly within the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL). Union External Affairs Minister S M Krishna termed the alleged killing by Sri... -Full Story- (Deccan Herald - 23/01/11)

War crimes cloud over envoy choice
BY DANIEL FLITTON
Australia is under pressure to reject Sri Lanka's choice of a senior military commander as its next top diplomat in Canberra, over a war crimes controversy that dates from the island's civil war with Tamil separatists. Former Sri Lankan navy chief Thisara Samarasinghe has reportedly been nominated to fill the position of high commissioner to Australia. But The Canberra Times understands the Foreign Affairs Department which must decide if it will accept the nomination sees the appointment as ''problematic'' for Australia amid calls for an United Nations investigation into human rights violations in Sri Lanka.... -Full Story- (canberratimes.com.au - 23/01/11)

A new retreat for safari aficionados
 Wijeratne
A Sri Lankan couple who spent over 20 years in the UK have returned to their homeland and built a holiday cottage for eco-friendly wildlife enthusiasts which is set to rival big-name hoteliers in south-east Sri Lanka. Designed and built by Mr and Mrs Wijeratne from Colombo, Mayasha is a retreat near Rhuna (Yala) National Park which will attract safari lovers who want to remain a short distance from nature, but also close to a town’s amenities. Mayasha is set in open scrubland, with Tissamaharama just 10 minutes away and the Yala entrance 20 minutes in the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/01/11)

Ranil baptized as a Christian – Dr. Gunatilake -Ranil baptized as a Christian – Dr. Gunatilake-Part I
H. L. D. Mahindapala
 Part I When the Portuguese began their “spiritual and temporal conquest” of Sri Lanka (1506 – 1658) it brought out the best and the worst in the Sinhalese. The best came out in the heroic and successful resistance to Portuguese military expeditions to conquer the nation. The worst came out in the characters of Don Juan Dharmapala and Prince Vijayapala, (1634 – 1654), the brother of Raja Sinha, who succumbed to the Western pressures and influences. These are the first of the two elitist children who were brought up in the Western culture and the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/01/11)

Is The Catholic Church the New Whipping Boy?
Prof. Hudson McLean
Are some writers in LankaWeb running out of material and imagination, and turning  to thunder the Catholic Church as a whole, with the presumption of collaborating with the Hindu led LTTE Terrorists to resurrect the Tamil Eelam in North East of Sri Lanka? Agreed that many of the Tamil Catholic priests and a couple of Tamil Catholic Bishops sympathised with the LTTE.  However to assume now HH Pope in Rome has got his hand into the terrorist pot,  with the Canadian Catholics using Tamil LTTE, as the "front", is way, way out. In my personal opinion,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/01/11)

The Canadian Government And The RCMP Mean Business Against Terrorist Fronts And Their Efforts Should Be Recognized And Accoladed !
Insight By Sunil Kumar
Jan.23rd 2011 Canada needs to be commended for the no nonsense stand taken against terrorism and certain organizations which front them and perhaps other countries which harbour such organizations through indifference or perhaps inadmissable vested interests should pay attention to the importance of Canada's stand.  Ever since the Administration of the Hon. Mr. Stephen Harper was elected into office his team of ministers with the Hon.Mr. Stockwell Day an outspoken campaigner against terrorism at the fore has hounded the Tami Tiger cells and their supportives until they were outlawed and not tolerated in Canada so... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/01/11)

අන්තර්ජාලීය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවක් ස්ථාපිත කරමු.
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
අපි කාලාන්තරයක් මුළුල්ලේ විශාල අරගලයක් නිරතවූවෝ වෙමු. ඒ අරගලය ජයග්‍රහහීව නිමව, මේ වනවිට අවුරුද්දකුත් මාස හයක කාලයක් ගතවී ඇත. මේ වනවිට ජයග්‍රහණය උදෙසා යුද්ධය මෙහෙය වූ නායකයා රටේ පාලන බලය මෙහෙයවමින් සිටියි. නමුත් ස්වභාවයේ ධර්මතාවන්ට අනුකූලව, සෑම ක්‍රියාවකටම ඊට සමාන වූද ප්‍රතිවිරුද්ධ දිසාවට ක්‍රියාකරන්නාවූද ප්‍රතික්‍රියාවක් තිබේ. ඒ අනුව මේ පවතින රජයටද, එම ධර්මතාවයන් බලපාන බැවින්, එම ප්‍රතිවිරුද්ධ ප්‍රති ක්‍රියාවන් හදුනා ගෙන පිහිටුවා ගත් මේ රජය, මෙරට දේශප්‍රේමීන්ගේ අභිලාෂයන් ඉටුවෙන ආකාරයට මෙහෙයවීම, මුළු ලොව පුරා විසිරී සිටින ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය දේශප්‍රේමීන් සතු භාරදූර කර්තව්‍යයක් බවට පත්ව තිබේ. අඛණ්ඩව වසර 30ක දේශප්‍රේමී අරගලය හා බද්ධව මුළු මහත් ලෝකය පුරා... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/01/11)

S H O C K I N G ! BE VIGILANT ON YOUR KIDS?
Ranjit Wickremeratne
The rape of a four year old girl by three older men in a school has shocked Dubai and other countries in the middle east. All three alleged rapists were from India and their ages were 39,42 and 43. No human can do these sorts of unacceptable things in any society except animals. We should condemned this act and think of ways to avoid such happennings in the future. These kind of individuals should be given maximum punishment to teach others a lesson. These monstrous people have acted like animals and they should not be spared from justice. Parents,Teachers... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/01/11)

FUND RAISING FOR FLOOD RELIEF BY DISASTER EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE RELIEF – CANADA
Batticaloa and Amparai districts
Batticaloa and Amparai districts are the worst affected area in SRILANKA, The total number of persons  affected in Batticaloa area is 540,144. The second worst affected district is Ampara where 471443 persons are affected by floods.The number of deaths caused by floods and heavy rain has risen to 38 while four persons were missing and 52 persons were injured. Batticaloa recorded the highest number of deaths, numbering 18. While ten persons died in Ampara.  Our loved ones have been affected once again. Even before they started to rebuild their lives, the natural disaster has struck.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/01/11)

The case against Vatican power
Geoffrey Robertson
The Catholic Church claims the privileges of statehood, which gives it huge advantages over other religious institutions – and allows the protection of paedophile priests under canon law.The Pope will arrive in Britain on 16 September in two capacities. He will emerge at Edinburgh resplendent in his regalia of head of state ("a red satin mozzetta trimmed with fur") to meet the Queen, who must, according to Vatican etiquette, dress in black - only Catholic queens can wear white in the pontifical presence. He must then change into more modest robes to conduct an open-air Mass in Glasgow... -Full Story- (newstatesman.com - 22/01/11)

Sex Crimes and the Vatican
Monday July 19 at 10 pm ET/PT & Sunday July 25 at 8 pm ET on CBC News Network
Encore presentation of one of the first documentaries to link the Vatican to the cover-up of pedophile priests. In recent months, the Vatican and in particular the Pope, have found themselves at the centre of a growing controversy about how they've dealt with pedophile priests and the children abused by those priests. First aired on the BBC in 2006 and later on The Passionate Eye on CBC Newsworld, "Sex Crimes & the Vatican" examines a controversial document which sets out a... -Full Story- (cbc.ca - 22/01/11)

What Happened to Sudan Will Happen to Sri Lanka Unless the Mono-Ethnic Nature of the North is Changed
- Kumar Moses
South Sudanese have decided to separate. The referendum returned an overwhelming support for mostly Christian and tribal controlled South Sudan to separate from the Islamic north. Tamil Tigers have been invited to participate in the celebrations. Officials of the Transitional Government of Tamil Elam (TGTE) will be attending the celebration of the forming of the nation of South Sudan. Strategically important Red Sea area has seen many separations including Eritrea, Somaliland and Now South Sudan. Although away from the Red Sea, massive oil resources, close proximity to Egypt (the most powerful African nation) and a vast non-Arabic... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/01/11)

71 කැරැල්ල 28 කොටස
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග
 හේමමාලි විජේසිංහ (ජුලියට්)-සරත් විජේසිංහගේ බාල නැගණිය. ඇය තම සොයුරා පිළිබඳ මතකය මෙසේ අවදිකරන්නීය.  ‘මම විප්ලවවාදී ව්‍යාපාරෙට ඇදිලා ගියේ 1969 විතර ගෙදර පරිසරය තුළින්. මම එතකොට පාසල් ශිෂ්‍යාවක් අපේ ගෙදර විප්ලවවාදී  පාසලක් වෙලයි තිබුණේ. හැමදාම සරත් විජේසිංහ  අයියාගේ කාමරයේ ඔහු වටකරගෙන මිනිසුන් ඔහුට ඇහුම්කන් දුන්නා. මට අපේ අයියා සරත් විජේසිංහගේ බලපෑම තියෙන්න ඇති. ඒ වගේම අපේ ගෙදර නිතරම දේශපාලනය ගැන කථා වෙනවා සාහිත්‍ය කළාව ගැන කථා කරනවා. ඉබේටම අපි විප්ලවාදි චින්තනයකට හුරු වුනා. එයා එතකොට පේරාදේණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ දේශපාලන විද්‍යා අංශයේ විශේෂ උපාධිය සඳහා ඉගෙනුම ලැබුවා.  බොහෝ විෂයයන්ට ඔහු ඉතා දක්‍ෂයි. වැඩිම ලකුණු ලබා විශේෂ උපාධිය... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/01/11)

A reply to pseudonym Paul George....
Shenali Waduge 
I do not usually reply to mails that has no substance but when those siding with the LTTE especially those writing under western pseudonyms continue to speak on behalf of a now buried LTTE and try to raise it from the ashes by again fooling the people in Sri Lanka, a reply to such trash is needed. It is natural that when a truth hits a nerve, anger abounds. I can well understand how those riding on the LTTE from abroad living luxurious lives are now dumbfounded at what to do. When the truth is written... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/01/11)

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL – WHISTLE BLOWER FOR MAFIA
By  DR M D P DISSANAYAKE
The Amnesty International is increasingly becoming an irrelevant organization to the extent that its protests are ignored by world leaders.  AI is a very well funded organization, it is a well known fact that its sources of income are largely derived from  sources other than from the membership.  It has been reported that most  of the AI financiers are   wealthy crooks and power hungry mafia  with their secret reserve funds in safe tax havens in places  such  as British Virgin Islands. The AI agenda is driven by these mafia groups.  Crying foul for... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/01/11)

Why Canada is trying to revive the LTTE
Sarath Bulathsinghala
Let us look at the big picture. 
 The Christian Church is already loosing its adherents in the Christian West. Having seeing their bigotry, pedophilia and unearned riches traditional Christians are leaving their churches by the score. Already the Churches in these countries are up for sale in many places. 
Canada is a wealthy country where the Catholic Church is very powerful and extremely influential. Catholic Church has already declared that this century is for the conversion of Asia. They need new converts to counter the loss they are already suffering. In Sri Lanka they will use... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/01/11)

Ontario, Canada to host IIFA Weekend and Awards 2011
Press Release
Toronto to be first North American city to host the International Indian Film Academy Awards  Having travelled to locations like Great Britain, China, Europe, Middle East, Thailand and Sri Lanka in the past, the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) will make its North American debut in Ontario, Canada this year. The announcement was made at a Press Conference in Toronto on 19th January, attended by Honorable Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty and Indian film stars Anil Kapoor and Preity Zinta. The three-day long IIFA Weekend and Awards is all set to take place from 23rd - 25th... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/01/11)

Mr Zafiri, US and War Crimes
Dr Bandula Kothalawala
According to a press release from Amnesty International, Mr Sam Zarifi, AI Asia-Pacific Director, is of the firm view that “the United States has an obligation under international law to investigate and prosecute people who perpetrated war crimes..“! Strangely enough, Mr Zafiri, has failed to specify the particular instrument in international law which devolves this rather onerous duty on the United States. Nor does he refer to or quote the relevant international jurisprudence. Moreover, there is no indication as to whether Mr Zafiri has already discussed this role with the US authorities, for this would confer... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/01/11)

Amnesty's Call To Investigate The President A Worthless One!
Insight By Sunil Kumar
Jan.21st 2011   Once again the contentious and sycophantic aspect of Amnesty International whose reputation for meddling in matters beyond their scope by far supercedes any objectives that might make the world a better place though their actions in the minds of many, seems to have surfaced in yet another moronic call for the USA to investigate a visiting head of state ~ in this instance the President of Sri Lanka who has an unblemished record for his empathies towards the long suffering Tamils of Sri Lanka (as opposed to the terrorists that is where even... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/01/11)

Call to Investigate Sri Lankan President - January 19,2011
Ira de Silva London, Canada
The Director Amnesty International USA 5 Penn Plaza New York, NY 10001   Dear Sir:   I have just read your statement of January 19, 2011 calling on the United States to investigate Sri Lankan President Rajapakse during his visit to the U.S. In the statement it is  claimed that your organization "investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied". If this claim is to be believed, why is it that AI has not started an investigation into the abuses that are been... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/01/11)

Amnesty International-THE HORSE FLY.
Susantha
Amnesty International has been sinister towards Sri Lanka from time immemorial, and has been selectively a smug moralizer. AI has no morals, and has abundantly shown bias attitudes. While they are singing for their Supper, they refuse to see the breach of principles, in other parts of the world, which they profess to uphold. Reason ? They are bound to lose their Bread and Butter. AI has taken for granted that Sri Lanka is their play ground. Should not be for long.  Sri Lanka should get rid of Horse Flies, that continue to irritate, the Supreme Body.
 HENCE... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/01/11)

WATER CONSPIRACY
ALI SUKHANVER
 The river-water issue is one of the most grievous problems which would never let India and Pakistan come close to each other if not timely and properly taken care of. India is curtailing the down stream water coming towards Pakistan by making dams at various points; and all this is being done in violation of the Indus Water Treaty. Currently there are three major water disputes, which include Baglihar Hydroelectric Plant, Kishenganga Hydroelectric Plant and Wuller Barrage.  The Kishenganga Hydroelectric Project on the River Neelum is located near the Line of Control in Indian Occupied Kashmir. The... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/01/11)

“Independence day”
Vajiragnana Warnakulasuriya Melbourne
The Presidential Secretary, Mr.Lalith Weeratunga  Dear Sir,  “Independence day”   Recently, I believe there was a Governmental directive to rename all names of institutions where “Ceylon” appeared to “Sri Lanka”.  Though this exercise is costly, maybe it is our intention to wipe out the vestiges of the colonial past on a national level and bring all institutions under the common banner of “Sri Lanka”.  Way back during the colonial period, Tea was one of the premier exports of this island and was called “Ceylon Tea”. Knowing the general geographical knowledge of the people in the World, there... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/01/11)

The yuan or the dollar, which would you bet on?
Beijing, China (CNN) - In a battle between the Chinese yuan and the U.S. dollar, which currency would you bet on? Currently, the dollar reigns supreme in the world of trade and finance. But HSBC economist Qu Hongbin told me, longer term, he would bet on the yuan. The Chinese government is making a big push to raise the stature of its currency. Hardly anyone uses it outside China. But, with China's economy now the second largest, authorities here are actively encouraging business people to use the yuan. The government is allowing Chinese companies to conduct some international business in... -Full Story- (business.blogs.cnn.com - 20/01/11)

Nights When I Dream of a Better World: Moving From the Centre-Left to the Radical Centre of Australian Politics
Noel Pearson
Since the late John Button delivered his devastating analysis of his beloved party in his 2002 Quarterly Essay, it is plain in 2010 that the Australian Labor Party never did step up to the challenge of renewing its purpose in Australian national politics. Which way forward indeed for those who dream of a better world? John Button’s 2002 Quarterly Essay Beyond Belief laid out a devastating analysis of the state of the Australian Labor Party in the new century. It was required reading then, and – there being little evidence that it was ever heeded in the eight... -Full Story- (partnerships.org.au - 20/01/11)

Registration for Fonseka's Party Rejected
Sri Lankan election officials today rejected applications of 86 new political parties seeking registration, including one by the now jailed former army commander Sarath Fonseka. Officials said rejection of 86 applications for registration of new political parties was caused by their failure to meet the necessary requirements. Democratic Party of Fonseka is one of the constituent parties of the Democratic National Alliance also headed by the former General. The DNA was established in the run up to parliamentary election held in April last year where the DNA secured seven seats in 225 member parliament. "DNA is an alliance. The party... -Full Story- (news.outlookindia.com - 20/01/11)

Arundhati Roy joins call to boycott Lanka literary festival
Controversial Indian author Arundhati Roy has joined fellow writers in calling for a boycott of a literary festival in Sri Lanka to protest alleged rights abuses and suppression of dissent in the country. Roy signed up a petition initiated by the Paris-based Reporters without Borders (RSF) urging world class authors to stay away from the Galle Literary Festival which is due to open on January 26. "We ask you in the great tradition of solidarity that binds writers together everywhere, to stand with your brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka who are not allowed to speak out," the joint appeal... -Full Story- (indianexpress.com - 20/01/11)

UN official meets Sri Lanka's war victims
COLOMBO (AFP) – A top UN official travelled to Sri Lanka's former war zone Thursday, during a visit to flood-devastated regions where a million people were recently affected by heavy monsoon rains, officials said. Catherine Bragg, the UN's deputy emergency relief coordinator, spoke with civilians displaced by the Tamil separatist war and held talks with officials directing flood-relief operations. "During her conversations with displaced people, she (Bragg) asked if they had enough grant funds to rebuild their houses or restore their livelihoods," UN spokeswoman Christien Mildren said.... -Full Story- (Yahoo - 20/01/11)

Guardian Fund Favors Sri Lanka Banks, Retail Stocks on Growth
By Anusha Ondaatjie
Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Guardian Fund Management Ltd., which oversees Sri Lanka’s largest listed investment trust, is betting on bank, retail, leisure and construction stocks on optimism the end of the island’s 26-year civil war will bolster economic growth and corporate profits. The Colombo All-Share Index has more than tripled since the war ended in May 2009 as the economy’s recovery spurred a near 10-fold increase in daily trading volumes. The gauge rose 96 percent last year, the second-biggest gainer among 90 global indexes tracked by Bloomberg after Mongolia’s MSE Top 20 Index.... -Full Story- (businessweek.com - 20/01/11)

Amnesty International Calls on the United States to Investigate Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapksa During his Surprise Visit to the United States
Amnesty International Press Release For Immediate Release
Contact: AIUSA media relations office, 202-509-8194 (Washington, D.C.) The United States should investigate Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapksa, who arrives on a surprise visit to the United States today, for his alleged role in perpetrating torture and war crimes, Amnesty International said today. Rajapaksa reportedly left Sri Lanka early Wednesday morning with a delegation of 20 bound for the United States. "The United States has an obligation under international law to investigate and prosecute people who perpetrated war crimes and grave human rights violations such as extrajudicial executions, torture and enforced... -Full Story- (amnestyusa.org - 19/01/11)

Your accent no roadblock - look at New Yorkers!
By Philip Fernando, Former Deputy Editor, Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka
 New Yorkers feel they have the most detectable of accents while also being host to innumerable dialects. They are peeved that "many don't hear what we say, because they are intrigued by the accent." The thick accent got parodied in a song thus: "Who is de toughest goil in dis whole woild?-Moitle from Thoidy-Thoid and Thoid. Meaning "Who is the toughest girl in this whole world - Myrtle from Thirty-Third and third" intersection. The prevalent New York accent is easily encountered the moment you land there.  New York dialect... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/01/11)

Why The Tigers Now? And Why Does Canada Tolerate Even Their Token Presence And Any Attempt To Re-group ?
LankaWeb Weekly Editorial
January 20th 2011 Perhaps it is  quite important that all Canadians  as well as all citizens of the world, conscious of the dangers of the spreading of global terrorism and the dire implications involved are made aware of this ever present threat of a resurgence of Tamil Tiger terrorism in Canada particularly as there are very credible reports based on careful research that despite being driven underground, dispersed and outlawed by the present Conservative Administration,  there still is a concerted effort by die hard Tamil Tiger sympathisers to revive them and that the dream of Tamil secession in Sri Lanka still... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/01/11)

EU Pushing Sri Lanka Toward China
By Madhav Nalapat
That old habits die hard is clear from the way in which the European Union has been seeking to corner Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for daring to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, rather than heeding their advice to call a ceasefire when the army had overrun the last sliver of territory controlled by the LTTE. With each advance the army made in early 2009, the demands for a ceasefire grew more strident. Once it became clear that Rajapaksa wouldn’t bow to Washington and Brussels, punitive measures were imposed on Colombo that continue today, the... -Full Story- (the-diplomat.com - 19/01/11)

What development when both the Public as well as the Private sector is performing in this manner?
Sasanka De Silva  Makumbura, Pannipitiya
The Scene One. Seventeen days after paying money in full only the installation and connection were completed by a private television company. At the time of payment, it was to take only three to five working days to complete the transaction. I am still trying to understand the true meaning of their interpretation of the phrase “Working Day” as it is apparently obvious that they do have fewer working days than non-working days. Exactly the same numbers of days were taken by someone to travel around the world in a hot air balloon... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/01/11)

The Army to control prices of vegetables: The resurgence of the lost Marketing Department?
By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D.
 I am happy to see the Army being called to tackle the cost of living and what is most important is to note that the Army has been able to sell the produce at half the price at which the traders retailed.  I am an interested party as in a number of Papers written by me I stated that the problem was the high margin of profit that the traders kept. I was also convinced of this because of my background in the Marketing Department, where the Department kept only a margin of 10% and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/01/11)

National Language of Sri Lanka - Why Options?
Prof. Hudson McLean
May I take this opportunity to commend and agree with the factual article below-; What has Hindi-dominated India given Tamils? Shenali Waduge (LankaWeb - 18/01/11) Would you, or any other sensible human being offer a part of one's property, heritage, house, belongings to a guest or a squatter, whom you have given a fair and generous treatment, but in return massacred your family and set fire to the house? As Shenali Waduge has aptly described, Tamils in Sri Lanka have been walking in their sleep, misguided by scavangers of their own kind, into exploiting Tamils to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/01/11)

Canada new base of Tamil Tigers
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1
  18 January 2011   The Editor (Letters) THE OTTAWA CITIZEN   Sir:   Re: 'Canada new base of Tamil Tigers - Outlawed group has leaders here, federal official say.' You  said, "We don't know how far advanced it is, but their intent is pretty clear: to set up a base-in-exile here for the leadership", and you better believe it, they are pretty advanced.   It was just last Sunday, January 16, that Andrew Moran in Examiner reported - "Public officials help welcome National Council of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/01/11)

My Boy Jack
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
 The English poet, short-story writer, and the novelist Rudyard Kipling was a fanatical believer of the British Empire instigated his son to join the Royal Army and fight against Germany during the World War 1.   His son Jack Kipling was deemed medically unfit for military due to his poor eyesight.  Although Jack failed in the medical test, Rudyard Kipling   influenced the Military hierarchy and managed to send him to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.  Jack Kipling was commissioned as a second lieutenant and joined the Irish Guards. Shortly after the passing out he... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/01/11)

Holy Prophet's (PBUH) attribute of forgiveness
By A. Abdul Aziz, Press Secretary, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama.at, Sri Lanka.
(Given below is an excerpt of the Friday Sermon of Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (Ameer-ul-Mumineen), Supreme Head of the world-wide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Islam, delivered at ‘Baithul Futhuh’, London, U.K., on the 14TH January, 2011, gave a discourse on the Holy Prophet’s (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) attribute of forgiveness.  His Holiness began by reciting the Quranic verse: ‘Take to forgiveness, and enjoin kindness, and turn away from the ignorant.’ (7:200). He said when Hadhrat ‘Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said that... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/01/11)

කෙටි කතාව -අවන්හල
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග
වේගයෙන් ඇදී යන උමං දුම්රියේ දොරටුව අසල හිටගෙන සිටි අප එකිනෙකාගෙන් ඈත් වුයේ අඟල් කිහිපයකිනි . මම ඇයගේ දෙනෙත් දෙස බැලුවෙමි. ඇය ඉවත බල ගත්තාය. උමං දුම්රියේ ජනෙල් අතරින් බලන විට විදුලි අලෝකය නිසා දිලිසෙන කොන්ක්‍රීට් බිත්ති සිහිපත් කලේ සොහොන් කොත් ය. මම යලිත් වරක් ඇය දෙස බැලුවෙමි. ඇය කල්පනාවක නිමග්නව සිටියාය . දිලිසෙන සොහොන් කොත් ජෙනී ගේ මලානිකවූ දෙනෙත් අදෝනාවක් වැනි උමං දුම්රියේ ශබ්දය මගේ සිත තුල ඇති කලේ මලානික හැගීම් ය. අප බොහෝ වෙලාවක් නිහඩව සිටින්නට ඇත. අප සිටි මැදිරියේ ඇත්තේ අතේ ඇගිලි ගානටත් වඩා අඩු මිනිසුන් ගණනකි. ඔවුන් අප දෙස හෝ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/01/11)

Terrorists, their tools, enemies of Sri Lanka and the decline of the Sinhalese
Ben Silva
It is well known and must never be forgotten that India funded, trained and supported LTTE. There is no need to be confrontational with India, but threats from India need to be identified and recognized and counter measures taken. If the war continued, there would have been economic ruin of the country, loss of life, most probably the loss of the only home land for the Sinhalese and the start of the extinction of the Sinhalese. Remember that India rescued Prabakaran in 1987 and took him to India, when Rajiv Gandhi forced Sri Lanka to stop the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/01/11)

Bishop Rayappu Joseph’s short sighted solution to “ethnic” problem in Sri Lanka.
By Charles.S.Perera
Today the Catholic Church is very much  alive and awake in Sri Lanka, there is no one to check their uncalled for political mission  in favour of the Tamil Catholic congregation of faithful of the North an East, which makes one wonder whether the objective of the Catholic Church is its own prosperty and power in Sri Lanka rathan the salvation of  souls. As it had always been, the Catholic Church does not take an interest in the country where it has built its Cathedral.  Its interest is more for  its faithful. Because it is on... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/01/11)

China announces $1.5 million flood relief for Sri Lanka
Ananth Krishnan... -Full Story- (thehindu.com - 18/01/11)

Sri Lankan main opposition leadership to change in April
Source:Xinhua
Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party's leadership is to see a change in April for the first time since 1994, local media reported on Tuesday. The leadership aspirant Sajith Premadasa said on Tuesday that he would take over the UNP leadership by April 12. The date is the expiry of the 120 day period to implement changes to the party's constitution which paves way for democratic elections to appoint office bearers. "I will take over the leadership as the majority wish", Premadasa was quoted as saying. Premadasa aims to oust the incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe who has faced mounting... -Full Story- (english.people.com.cn - 18/01/11)

What has Hindi-dominated India given Tamils?
Shenali Waduge
17% of the world’s population lives in India which has a population of over 1.18billion. Over 41% (422,048,642) of the Indian population speak Hindi while Tamil is spoken by only 5% of the total population though Tamil Nadu has over 62m Tamils & is the 6th largest populated State among 28 states in India. Hindi remains India’s official language and it is Hindian politicians that control & dominate Indian government. What we are often made to forget is that it is India that is denying freedom for Tamils.  From 1938 there have been more than a... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/01/11)

A new bridge at Hakpitiya (Sangupiddy).
Yapanaya [Jaffna])
President Mahinda Rajapaksa while vesting with the people the 288-metre-long two-way Sangupiddy Bridge, Jaffna which links the shortest land based route between the South and the Jaffna peninsula yesterday, emphasized that the Government was fully focused in achieving equity in development. Causeway, Jetty, Ferry, naval clashes near Punranna(Pooneryn). A ferry would connect the 4km lagoon from Sangupiddi to Jaavakaceriya (Chavakachcheri). The word "Sanka", is Sanskrit for Conch shell. The sinhala word, Sanka or Hak, as well as the Tamil சங்கு are both derived from Sanskrit. Sankapitiya or Hakpitiya would hence refer to the fact that this... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/01/11)

Mischievous opinion and ulterior motives
Dr. Tilak Fenando
Communication has been the most dominant means of influencing and shaping a society. Approximately in and around 720 BC the Greek alphabet reflected on the Greeks to mull over and acquire astuteness. Writing allows the author of a story to register what he writes in a reader’s mind exactly he intends it to be. Thus, communication media have influenced human existence from time immemorial. A media turbulence did surface during the last few days out of a statement apparently made by the Secretary to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs about a ‘request received from an unnamed... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/01/11)

NEW BORN INDIAN SOLDIERS
ALI SUKHANVER
 Every year on 15 January, the Indian Army celebrates Army Day to commemorate the appointment of Lt Gen (later Field Marshal) KM Kariappa as Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army in place of Sir Francis Butcher, the last British Commander in 1949.  Since then it has been a tradition to present the gallantry and distinguished service awards to the deserving soldiers on this day.   The awards are presented by the Army Commanders in each of the Commands of the Indian Army. Even this year the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command, Lt Gen K.T Parnaik, presented 57 Sena Medals... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/01/11)

Hundreds more Sri Lankan migrants may be headed to Canada
OTTAWA — Smugglers are preparing to ship at least 400 more Sri Lankan refugees and potential Tamil Tiger rebels to Canada from Southeast Asia, intelligence officials have told the federal government. “There are two separate smuggling syndicates organizing two boats,” from two unnamed southeast Asian ports to the B.C. coast, a well-placed federal government source told the Ottawa Citizen. “The syndicates, as far as our intelligence tells us, have not gotten ships, they’re in the process of trying to find ships,” each capable of carrying 200 to 300 passengers.... -Full Story- (National Post - 17/01/11)

Lankan court issues arrest warrant against Arjuna Ranatunaga
Colombo, Jan 17, PTI:
A Sri Lankan court today issued a warrant to arrest against the former Sri lankan World Cup winning cricket captain and parliamentarian Arjuna Ranatunga. The Galle magistrate court issued the warrant after Ranatunaga failed to appear in court today to testify in a case involving damage to public property during a demonstration held last year. His lawyers said that the legendary cricketer couldn't appear before the court today because he is out of the country.... -Full Story- (Deccan Herald - 17/01/11)

Second IAF Flight Delivers Aid to Flood hit Sri Lanka
Source: Government of India
The Indian Air Force airlifted the second tranche of the $1 million aid to flood hit Sri Lanka this morning. An Indian Air Force IL-76 carried 21 tonnes of sugar, pulses and milk powder besides around 20,000 ready to eat meals, 20,000 water purifier tablets and one thousand mattresses from New Delhi to Colombo. This relief aid will be distributed to the displaced and affected people in Central, Eastern and Northern Sri Lanka. An IL-76 delivered the first consignment of aid material on January 14, 2011.... -Full Story- (Relief Web - 17/01/11)

New Democrats want justice for Tamils
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . Canada
16 January 2011 Hon. Jack Layton, MP  (Toronto-Danforth)  Leader of the New Democratic Party   House of Commons, Ottawa  Dear Jack: Your letter, ‘New Democrats want justice for Tamils’ of January 14, 2011, has all the quirky stuff which has a Quack-concoction spelling C-a-n-a-d-i-a-n  t-r-o-u-b-l-e for Sri Lanka.  And especially when it happens to be coming from you who called for the  ‘Emergency Debate on Sri Lanka’ on February 4, 2009, where you gave the Tamil Eelam supporting parliamentarians the opportunity to lie about Sri Lanka and flay her... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/01/11)

MAJORITY AND THE MINORITY SHOULD LEARN TO RESPECT THEIR MOTHERLAND.
Ranjit Wickremeratne   
In any country the Government should listen first to the majority and then to the minority in my view. From the day we liberated our beloved Motherland from that coward and traitor Prabakaran much of the time we talk about the Tamils and their grieviences. No other country in the world has done the way we have done to our minorities. Tamils waged war with us for thirty years and they destroyed our lives,cultural places, economy and you name it. Our most valuable sons and daughters were killed indiscriminately in cold blood. After all that carnage and hell... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/01/11)

Emerging nations must get ready for leadership
There are floods in Brazil , in Australia, in Sri Lanka. There are food riots in Tunisia, bringing down a20-year government, and the price of onions is fast threatening to overshadow life in India. There're corruption scandals in Italy, with Silvio Berlusconi embroiled in an under-age prostitution scandal. A freak avalanche in the French Alps kills a dozen skiers. In Britain, Tube workers want to strike on the day of Kate and Will's wedding, paralysing the city, tanker drivers are planning to strike bringing fuel supplies to a standstill, and last heard of, David Cameron's government is making contingency plans... -Full Story- (Times of India - 16/01/11)

Report: Tamil Tigers raised funds in Switzerland
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
GENEVA: Swiss newspapers report that members of the Tamil Tigers group allegedly extorted millions from ethnic Tamils in Switzerland to fund the armed revolt in Sri Lanka. Zurich weeklies NZZ a.m. Sonntag and SonntagsBlick say the allegations were the basis for a series of police raids Tuesday against Tamil individuals and companies across Switzerland in which 10 people were arrested. Prosecutors say eight are still being detained.... -Full Story- (arabnews.com - 16/01/11)

UN warns Sri Lanka floods may have moved unexploded mines
United Nations officials in Sri Lanka are warning that unexploded mines planted during Sri Lanka's Tamil separatist war may have moved in the recent floods. Residents have started returning to their homes and farms after the floods displaced more than a million people. The east of the island was the worst affected by a week of heavy monsoon rains.... -Full Story- (radioaustralianews.net.au - 16/01/11)

The Travels of a Journalist—52From Midwest to Pacific Northwest Along ‘Nullarbor’ of United States
By Shelton A. Gunaratne © 2011 Professor of mass communications emeritus, Minnesota State University Moorhead
 It took us three days in summer 1989 to drive the 1,630-mile distance from Moorhead/Fargo in the Midwest to Longview/Kelso in the Pacific Northwest. I have already mentioned the first leg of this journey (in Travels—45). The second leg of the tour took us from Billings, Mont., to Spokane, Wash. –a distance of 583 miles. We left Billings (pop. 105,845) somewhat late in the morning because we decided to drive through the scenic Black Otter Trail (U.S. 318) to see the city from the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/01/11)

Re: Open Letter to LankaWeb for feeding racisim even after war ended nearly 2 years before
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . Canada
14 January 2011 Dear Paul George: After letting my belly stop doing somersaults laughing at your ranting over my writings about the Tamil Tigers in your Open Letter to Lankaweb, I decided to try and find out who really you were by Googling your name.  All what I found out was that there is a Paul George in British Columbia who is interested in luxury tours in Sri Lanka.  However, you may not be the person from British Columbia, but my search helped to satisfy my curiosity. Nevertheless,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/01/11)

රතු තරු‍වේ ‍මොකද උ‍නේ?
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතලේ විසිනි.
මහා වර්ෂාවක්, ඇල ‍දොල ගංඟා පිටාර ගැලීම, වාන් ‍දොරටු විවෘත කිරිම්, ජල ධාරාව දෙගොඩ තලා ගලා යාම හේතුවෙන් වූ භූ පැලීම්, නාය යාම් , කඳු කඩා වැටීම්,  ගස් කඩා වැටීම් ආදිය හේතුවෙන් මුළු රට පුරාම මහත් විනාශයකට භාජනය වී ඇත. විනාශය දුටු විට මෙරට ජන හඳවත් වල ඇති ජානමය පරිකල්පනාව වූ මහා දානමය පුණ්‍ය කර්මයට දායකවීමට පෙරට ඒම මෙරට මහජනතාවගේ සාමාන්‍ය පුරුද්දක් වන අතර, එම උදාර පුරුද්ද මහා බලවේගයක් බවට ගොනු කර, ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් මහා සේවාවක් කිරිමට එදා දේශප්‍රේමී ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණට හැකියාවක් තිබුණ අතර, ගංවතුර, සුනාමිය වැනි ස්වාභාවික විපත් හමුවේ දේශපාලන කාර්ය භාරය වන විපතට... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/01/11)

Navy contests Rajapaksa’s denial
By Nirmala Joseph
CHENNAI: Indian Navy officials have confirmed that a Tamil Nadu fisherman died on Wednesday after being fired at by the Sri Lankan Navy, rejecting a denial offered by the Lanka president himself. President Mahinda Rajapaksa had on Friday categorically denied that fisherman R. Pandian, 25, died of shooting by the Lankan navy. However, Indian Navy officials here pointed out on Saturday that chief staff officer (operations) of Eastern Naval Command (Vishakhapatinam) SV Dhokare told reporters on Friday in Delhi that Pandian was shot at by the Lankan navy. Commandant DS Saini, Commanding Officer, Coast... -Full Story- (gulftoday.ae - 15/01/11)

Two Russian Romantic Poets who shared a Common Fate
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge  
 Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov were Great Russian romantic poets who lived in the 19th century. They knew each other and adored each other’s work.  Both were rebellious in nature. Alexander Pushkin was the pioneer of Russian literature. Among his major works Ruslan and Ludmila  , Evgenii Onegin, and Boris Godunov are the greatest masterpiece of Russian literature. Although Pushkin was a genius in literature, the Russian Czar did not appreciate his poems, which carried the elements of criticism of the system. Pushkin was a daring activist who secretly involved with an underground revolutionary... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/01/11)

අපිවත් හොරකම් කරලා! 1
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
ශ්‍රි ලංකාවේ ජනතාව, හොරකමට හා දූෂණයට විරුද්ධව කාලාන්තරයක් මුළුල්ලේ නොනවතින අරගලයක් සිදුකරමින් සිටින යුගයක් හරහා අප ගමන් කරමින් සිටින්නෙමු. සෑම දේශපාලන පක්ෂයක්ම වංචාව දූෂණයට එරෙහිව මහා හඬක් නගන ගමන්ම, මහා පරිමාණයෙන් වංචාවේ හා දූෂණයේ යෙදී සිටීම මෙ රටෙහි ඇති විශේෂත්වයයි. හොරකම කාලාන්තරයක් මුළුල්ලේ ජාතික සමාජ දේහය තුල සිදුවෙමින් ගලා ගිය ප්‍රබල සිඳුවීමක් බැවින්, එය අද වනවිට කිසිවෙකුටත් නොදැනීම සමාජමය උපාංගයක් බවට පරිවර්තනය වී ඇත. මෙම කරුණ කොතරම් ප්‍රබලව සමාජය තුල කිඳා බැසගෙන ඇද්ද යත්, මෙරට ඉහලම ස්ථානයේ සිට කම්කරුවා දක්වා වූ සකල විද සියළුම සමාජ ක්‍රියා කාරීන් කුමණ හෝ ආකාරයෙන් මෙම සමාජ ක්‍රියාකාර කමේ නියෙලිමින් සිටී.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/01/11)

71 කැරැල්ල 27 කොටස
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග
ධම්මිකා ද සිල්වා- 71 කැරැල්ලේ කාන්තා නියෝජනයක් තිබුණ ද වර්තමානයේ දී 71 කාන්තාවන් පෙරට නොඑන තම අතීතය සඟවන හෝ ඒ පිළිබඳව කථා කිරීමට කැමැත්තක් නොදක්වන පිරිසක් බවට (සම්පූර්ණයෙන් සත්‍ය නොවූවද) මතයක් තිබේ. ඒ සඳහා විවිධ හේතු තිබිය හැක. බහුතරයක් 71 කාන්තාවෝ අද සමාජයේ අප‍්‍රසිද්ධියේ ජීවත් වෙති. මට දැනගන්නට ලැබුනු පරිදි 1971 කැරැුල්ලේදි කාන්තාවෝ 600 පමණ පිරිසක් තම දායකත්වය ලබා දුන්හ. මාවරල ලිලී වැනි කාන්තාවන් ප‍්‍රහාර සඳහා පුරුෂයන් සමඟ කරට කර සහභාගී වූහ.  කාන්තාවන් 71 ස්මරණයන් පිළිබඳව කථා කිරීමට අදිමදි කරන තත්වයක ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ස්ව කැමැත්තෙන් කථා කිරීම සඳහා ධම්මිකා ද සිල්වා මහත්මිය ඉදිරිපත් වූවාය. ඇය 71... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/01/11)

LPG saves Kussi Amma Serah from gas chamber?
Dr Hector Perera. UK
Many years ago, I can remember we never had the present day gas cookers in Sri Lanka; instead there were these eminent firewood kitchens and kerosene cookers or stoves. That time, I didn’t see any difference because that was the way of cooking, the kerosene cooker was mainly to boil a kettle for a cup of tea. Things like rubber and coconut leaves, shells, coconut husks, sometimes cinnamon or cashew firewood and coal were commonly used in firewood kitchens. In the past, in rural tea boutiques, coconut charcoal was used to boil water. Even to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/01/11)

Composer of the Sri Lanka National Anthem Ananda Samarakoon’s birth centenary commemorates
By Janaka Alahapperuma
The composer of the Sri Lankan National Anthem, artiste and late musician Ananda Samarakoon’s 100th birth anniversary was commemorated at Temple Trees on 13 January.  President Mahinda Rajapaksa graced the occasion as the Chief Guest and said that the best honour can be awarded to the creator of the National anthem is to build up the future generation loyal to the motherland. Addressing the Ananda Samarakoon’s birth centenary celebrations T.B.Ekanayake, Minister of Cultural Affairs said that the government is fully committed to enhance the cultural and artistic affairs in Sri Lanka. Professor Sunil Ariyaratne delivered... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/01/11)

Rajapakse offers to share power with Tamils
Gulf Times
Sri Lanka’s president offered to share power with minority Tamils yesterday, nearly two years after his troops put down a separatist war by ethnic Tamil Tiger rebels. President Mahinda Rajapakse told foreign correspondents at his tightly guarded Temple Trees residence in Colombo that he was open to devolving power to address the long-standing grievances of ethnic Tamils. “I am ready to share power at the centre,” Rajapakse said. “It is better than sharing power at the periphery. I have already asked Tamil political parties to forge unity and come up with a negotiating position.” Rajapakse, whose security... -Full Story- (Gulf Times - 14/01/11)

Massive challenges ahead even as heavy rains subside in Sri Lanka
Source: Oxfam
Date: 14 Jan 2011 International aid agency Oxfam has been providing support to thousands caught up in Sri Lanka's devastating floods. More than a million people have been affected by the floods and need food items, water, blankets and hygiene kits immediately. The situation is especially bad for the 325,000 people displaced. The heavy rains that wreaked havoc over the last few days, in parts of the country, have abated and the main road from Colombo to Batticaloa, closed for the past five days, has now reopened. In spite of these improvements, though, the crisis is... -Full Story- (Relief Web - 14/01/11)

Rajapaksa asks for report on Indian fisherman's death
Sutirtho Patranobis, Hindustan Times Email Author
The death of an Indian fisherman off the Tamil Nadu coast on Wednesday has triggered ripples in the apparently placid diplomatic relationship between India and Sri Lanka. Even the usually confident President Mahinda Rajapaksa played it safe on Friday. ``According to the navy, there was no such thing (attack on the Indian fishermen). But I have asked them for a full report,’’ Rajapaksa told foreign correspondents over breakfast on Friday. Rajapaksa, who once held the fisheries portfolio, said it was a humanitarian issue as thousands of fishermen from both countries ``go behind the... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 14/01/11)

THE MYTH OF A NEW ASIAN CENTURY- WHY IT IS WESTERN NOT ASIAN
DR JANAKA GOONETILLEKE
A recent study done in the United States confirms that the Asian brain responds differently to a western brain to the same stimulus. A study that confirms the existence of two different thought processes. It is in this context that one needs to asses the western media hype of the new Asian century. What Asian century? ,Should be the Asian reaction. In reality the Asians has been brain washed to  feel it is their century but they follow the age old western philosophy of Might is Right, constructive destruction and creative accounting epitomised by urbanisation and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/01/11)

Two refugee claimants named as Tamil Tigers
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . Canada 
13 January 2011   The Editor THE OTTAWA CITIZEN   Sir:   In an exclusive interview with Prime Minister Stephen Harper the page one of today's (13 Jan.)  Ottawa Citizen says;"On border security, he insisted that Canada-US discussions now under way are not  a threat to this country's sovereignty and are needed to strengthen protection from terrorists...."   However, on page A3 of the newspaper you reported that "Two more Sri Lankans who arrived in Canada last  August aboard the smuggling ship MV Sun Sea have been identified as suspected... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/01/11)

Sri Lanka denies firing at Indian fishermen
Sutirtho Patranobis, Hindustan Times
Sri Lanka on Thursday flatly denied that its navy had fired at on three Indian fishermen at sea near the Tamil Nadu coast, leading to the death of one on Wednesday evening. But the swiftness with which the High Commission of India in Colombo took the matter up with the Lankan ministry of external related stories India protests fisherman's death Karuna writes to PM, seeks action fishermen issue Lankan navy open fire, 1 Indian fisherman killed affairs forced the authorities in Colombo to refer the matter to defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Sri Lankan naval chief's... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 13/01/11)

CARE International responds to deadly floods in Sri Lanka
Thursday, 13 January 2011 16:34 Colombo, Sri Lanka (Jan. 13, 2011) – CARE International has provided urgently needed food and emergency supplies to 6,000 people in flood-ravaged Sri Lanka and we are rapidly scaling up our response. Torrential rains have lashed the central and eastern parts of the country, causing severe flooding and deadly landslides. At least 23 people have died and more one million people have been affected. CARE is distributing food and emergency supplies to the most vulnerable flood-affected families in the hard-hit areas of Batticaloa, Polonnaruwa, and Ampara. Emergency teams are rushing to procure more supplies to... -Full Story- (careinternational.org.uk - 13/01/11)

Sri Lanka stocks rise on FIs buying
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s bourse edged up on Thursday for an 11th straight day with high trading volume on heavy retail and speculative buying while foreign investors (FIs) were net buyers for the first time this year. The island’s main share index closed 0.1 per cent or 7.03 points firmer at 7,021.88, its highest close since Oct.4 after falling 1.5 per cent in the early trade. It has gained 6.2 per cent in the last 10 sessions. It has been Asia’s best performer with a 5.8 per cent gain so far in 2011 after being the top performer last year with... -Full Story- (gulftoday.ae - 13/01/11)

Teaching the Grand Mother "How to Suck Eggs"
Prof. Hudson McLean
WikiLeaks exposes another Secret Report by the USA Envoy in Sri Lanka to his masters and boffins in Washington, on the opinions of Erik Solheim Norwegian "Guru" Minister of International Development. The documents expose how Solheim, in his own thinking, planned to "coach" the newly elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa, on the fine sensitivities of the ethnic problem, largely created by the British Colonial masters, the Indian Government and, lately facilitated by The Royal Nowegian Government. The Nordic Nations, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, Denmark have little or no understanding of the 3000+ year old cultures of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/11)

The truth & lies of life in Post-War Jaffna
Shenali Waduge
My first impressions of post-war Jaffna peninsula was certainly not how it was made out to be by both western and local media, missing too was the horrific scenarios supposed to be taking place on a regular basis. Instead, my visualization was of towns abuzz with shoppers, young girls a few even dressed in jeans freely roaming around in bicycles some even on motorcycles, kovils full of worshippers, most of all an aura of relief despite the presence of military personnel whose conduct was applauded by practically every Tamil civilian I spoke to through the journey leading... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/11)

Submission to the LLRC by Dr Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. former Government Agent, Matara District, International Consultant-The Homeland and the Inland Traps
Garvin Karunaratne, SLAS, Ph.D. former Government Agent, Matara District International Consultant
The Homeland Theory, is based on the idea that the Northern and Eastern Provinces entirely belong to the Tamil people who do now happen to be the vast majority in those Districts. While the population of the Northern Province is mainly Tamil, it is found that the population of the Eastern Province is roughly one third Sinhala, a third Tamil and a third Muslim.  Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith in his statement to the LLRC states that the Wanni areas- the Northern and Eastern Provinces were the homelands of the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/11)

How Western diplomacy got devalued
By Philip Fernando, Former Deputy Editor Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka
 Diplomatic practices of the West got devalued almost irreparably as a quarter-million diplomatic cables dug up by WikiLeaks exposed their villainous nature. Conscientious diplomacy gave way to unadulterated voyeurism, said one analyst. The leaks depicted many diplomats as Machiavellian creatures seeking spurious information that undermined the moral fibre of the hallowed art they vowed to uphold. In several diplomatic dispatches from Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy were caricatured as 'mercurial', 'hyperactive', 'authoritarian', 'erratic' and 'monarch-like.' Someone was practicing a dubious backroom parlour game.  Worse, the half-wits were at their... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/11)

Sri Lankan Tamil refugees - Refugee Board Notice
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . Canada 
12 January 2011  The Editor (Letters) THE OTTAWA CITIZEN  Sir: Re: Refugee board notice protested by advocates for the very reason that, "The November ruling found that the human rights situation in Sri Lanka had improved and that the likelihood Tamils would be persecuted if they return to the country has diminished.," is more a concern about the down-sizing of the million dollar human trafficking and refugee business of Sri Lankan Tamils by these advocates. I can well understand their concerns.  When over a million Tamils live in the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/11)

Floods and Flooding Across the World-An Overview of Floods and Flooding
Shripal Nishshanka Fernando
January 11, 2011 Massive flooding around the world brings misery to many countries. Millions of people around the world are in misery as they watch homes and lives destroyed by massive flooding. Many have been stranded, are without food, have been injured, remain missing, and have died.   Many people think that if they do not live near a river or the coast, they are not in danger of flooding-not true. Recent global flooding has become world’s number one natural disaster, and it occurs inland and on the coast. Flash floods, inland flooding and seasonal storms... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/11)

SRI LANKAN DOCTORS MAKE HISTORY-CONJOINED TWINS SUCCESSFULLY SEPERATED IN COLOMBO HOSPITAL
Shripal Nishshanka Fernando
For the first time in Sri Lankan medical history Sri Lankan doctors in Colombo Ridgeway Hospital have successfully performed a surgery yesterday January 10th 2011 to separate twins who were joined at the abdomen. Ashinsha Deneth and Ashinsha Denuwan who were born 10 months ago as conjoined twins were kept under special care and supervision of specialist doctors of Colombo Castle and Ridgeway hospitals till the surgery was performed. According to the Hospital Director Dr. Mahanama Rajamanthri, this was the first successful separation of conjoined twins at the hospital and in Sri Lanka. Director of the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/11)

THE JAFFNA INTERNATIONAL TRADE FAIR 2011
Commercial Section / Embassy of Sri Lanka Washington D.C.
The Embassy is pleased to inform you that the second Jaffna International Fair, organized by the Federation of Chamber of Commerce and industry of Sri Lanka will be held at Durayappah stadium, Jaffna, Sri Lanka from January 21 – 23, 2011. The above fair will provide an excellent opportunity for the business community from all over the world to meet with potential business / investment partners, who would be keen in various development projects in post-conflict Sri Lanka. . The targeted investment sectors include construction / infrastructure, agriculture, food processing... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/01/11)

Sri Lanka cuts interest rates to enhance growth
ChinaBiz
Sri Lanka's Central Bank on Tuesday reduced lending rates, a move seen by analysts as one to encourage economic growth. The bank said the repurchase rate has been reduced by 25 basis points to seven percent while the reverse repurchase rate reduced by 50 basis points to 8.50 percent. "The government looks to encourage investment", said Thusath de Silva an analyst. "The encouragement of substantial and sustained private sector participation would be vital", the Central Bank said in a statement. The bank said the inflation has eased, while acknowledging that prices of some selected food items increased. Sri Lanka's... -Full Story- (english.people.com.cn - 12/01/11)

Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka was –World'’s Top Performing Stock Market in 2010
Hardman and Co today published a report on Sri Lanka entitled "Sri Lanka Was –World'’s Top Performing Stock Market In 2010". In summary, the report says: Sri Lanka was the world’s top performing stock market in 2010, with an increase of 96%. In this study we examine the progress that the country is making now that the 30 year long insurgency is over. We find that economic growth is likely to continue at 8%. We examine the tax reductions, at corporate, investor and individual levels, that were introduced in the latest Budget. We believe that every strategist and investment manager... -Full Story- (stockopedia.co.uk - 12/01/11)

10 Tamil Tigers arrested
NZ Herald
Swiss prosecutors say 10 members of the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers group have been arrested in Switzerland. Prosecutors said on Tuesday the arrests were made during searches of 23 premises across the Alpine country. Authorities said they are suspected of money laundering and membership of a criminal organisation... -Full Story- (nzherald.co.nz - 12/01/11)

A reply to Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian- M.A.Sumanthiran
By Charles.S.Perera
The Tamil National Alliance was  launched by the terrorist Prabhakaran to have a group of Parliamentarians  to be his spokesmen in the Parliament. While Prabhakaran continued his terrorism to set up his dream- Tamil Homeland in a merged North and East , he wanted his TNA Parliamentarians to  be his complementary “companions in arms” to defend his activities in the Parliament, and to mislead the International  Community by propagating that terrorism is only a fight for freedom and for a territorial separation of  Sri Lanka to set up a separate Eelam State. With the elimination of terrorism,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/01/11)

කෙටි කතාව-විශ්ව ගවේශකයෝ
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් M ජයතුංග
ක‍්‍රිස්තු වර්ෂ 2108 දී අඳුරු අභ්‍යවකාශයේ ගමන් කරමින් තිබූ අභ්‍යාවකාශ යානයක අජටාකාශගාමීන් පස් දෙනෙක් පැය දෙසීයක දීර්ග නිද්‍රාවකින් පසුව අවදිවී යානයේ පරිඝණක වල ක‍්‍රියාකාරීත්වය හා ගමන් මාර්ගයේ නිරවද්‍යතාව පරික්ෂා කරමින් සිටියහ.  ශරීරයේ පරිවෘතීය ක‍්‍රියා අවම කිරීම සඳහා දීර්ඝ නිද්‍රාවක්  අභ්‍යවකාශ ගමන් වලදී නියමිතව තිබුණි. ඔවුන් විශේෂ පාවෙන කුටියක පැය දෙසීයක් පමණ එක දිගට නිද්‍රාවට ලක් කොට සිටි අතර ශිරාවලට සම්බන්ධ කළ විශේෂ පෝෂ්‍ය දියරයක් මගින් ඔවුන්ගේ ශරීරවල ෙසෙල වලට අවශ්‍ය ශක්තිය සපයනු ලැබීය.  දීර්ඝ නිද්‍රාවකින් පසු අවදිවන අභ්‍යවකාශගාමීන් වෛද්‍ය පරීක්ෂණයකට ලක්කෙරේ. මෙම වෛද්‍ය පරීක්ෂණය පවත්වන ලද්දේ සොක‍්‍රටීස් - 1 නම් පරිඝණකය විසිනි. ඔවුන්ගේ රුධිර ධාවනය,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/01/11)

Story of Indian music in three volumes
A STAFF REPORTER
A three-volume compendium on Indian music, spanning 2,000 years from Vedic chants to film songs and musical traditions of Kashmir to Kanyakumari as well as neighbours Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, was launched in Calcutta on Monday evening. The 1472-page encyclopaedia, The Oxford Encyclopaedia of the Music of India, touches upon the evolution of ragas, old seats of music and musical content in dances. There are entries on less known instruments like the rabab and the music of traditional and folk theatre forms like Yakshagana, Kootiyattam, Jatra, Tamasha and Harikatha.... -Full Story- (telegraphindia.com - 11/01/11)

Presentation made by Douglas Wickramaratne,UK to LLRC
Representations made by Mr. DOUGLAS WICKREMARATNE to the Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation at its public sittings held on 0Ist DECEMBER 2010 at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies.
Chairman (opening statement) Mr. Wickramaratne may I take this opportunity of thanking you for having come over here all the way  from London to give your evidence before this Commission. As a person who has been involved in this ethnic problem — so to say — for a very long time, I think you could make a very valuable  contribution to the matters... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/11)

Time to abandon fantasy and rhetoric
Dr. Tilak Fernando
Towards the end of the 20th Century the term ‘New Millennium’ became the hot topic of conversation. Everyone focused their fears on the Y2K, ‘the millennium computer bug’. It was assumed that a complete ‘over-run’ of the century old working systems would be affected as computers would go berserk, aeroplanes might fall out of the skies on December 31, 2000 and the whole world would plunge into darkness! As the time drew nearer, some consolatory information confirmed the computer engineers’ ability to resolve the problem. With such assurances the world survived. ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/01/11)

Sri Lanka: a response to your comment
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario .  Canada
8 January 2011 Hon. Surjith Singh Barnala   Governor of Tamil NaduRaj Bhavan   Chennai - 600022,  India  Dear Governor Surjith  Singh Barnala: Sathyalaya Ramakrishnan reports from Chennai (7 January, Asian Tribune) that you have expressed your concern that “The governor of Tamil Nadu Surjith Singh Barnala had said that when speaking about the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, pointed out that many Tamil civilians were still “languishing” in camps and not even preliminary steps had been initiated on the long-cherished political solution,” and you stymied me. Reading that statement from... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/01/11)

SAMJHAUTA EXPRESS-2007
ALI SUKHANVER
 “It’s not Muslims, but Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activists who planned and executed the bomb blasts at Malegaon in 2006, on the Samjhauta Express in 2007, in Ajmer Sharif in 2007 and Mecca Masjid in 2007,” confessed Swami Aseemanand, the main accused of 2007 Samjhauta Express blast in front of a magistrate at a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court. Aseemanand said it was his interaction with one of the 'innocent' Muslim youths in jail that has led to his confession. The weekly Tehelka magazine has recently published a 42-page signed statement of Swami Aseemanand, written in... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/01/11)

Cabraal runs a tight ship for economic growth
H. L. D. Mahindapala
 If you want to test the current mood of the nation just dial the mobile phone of the Governor of the Central Bank, Nivard Cabraal. Before his voice comes on the line you will be regaled  by the rich, effusive voice of C. T. Fernando singing “Jathika Abi manay” – the rousing patriotic song which can be rendered roughly as: “Imbued with pride of Hela nationalism/ Acclaiming the glory of our heroic forefathers / Honour, honour the Motherland / Won with great sacrifices/ Awake, awake, awake …………” It is unlikely that any other head of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/11)

With friends like Norway who needs enemies? Part II
H. L. D. Mahindapala
Europe has two major anti-Sri Lankan, pro-Tamil Tiger bases headed by – .a). Fr. S. J. (I’m-a-Tamil-first-and-a-Christian-later) Emmanuel, President of the Global Tamil Forum, located in Germany with links to UK and b). Perinpanayagam Sivaparan (better known as Nediyawan, “the Tall Man”) who runs the Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC) in Norway. Wikipedia records that “TCC handles millions of Norwegian krone stolen from diaspora Tamils, and procured from legitimate and black market businesses. He later took control of a majority of the LTTE’s overseas dealings and institutions. This was done after he was appointed chief of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/11)

LTTE radio worried India
Jan 09, 2011 | PTI
Jan. 8: India had expressed concern to the Sri Lankan government on allowing the Tamil Tigers to import radio equipment amid fears that it would equip the LTTE “broadcasts to reach Tamil Nadu,” a secret cable from the US embassy here has revealed. The diplomatic cable leaked by the whistleblower website Wikileaks said the government, headed by the prime minister, Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe, in 2002, had requested assistance of the Royal Norwegian government, the facilitator of the troubled peace process, to import radio equipment for the LTTE’s radio “Voice of Tigers” during the ceasefire period.... -Full Story- (Asian Age - 08/01/11)

ඇමතිකමට තබා ඇණ ගැසීම.
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
ඇමතිකම ජනතාවට සේවය කිරීම සඳහා නිර්මාණය කරන ලද පදවියක් බව සදහන් වුවද, එම පදවියේ නිර්මාණය හා ක්‍රියාකාරිත්වය තුලින් අපට විද්‍යාමාන වන්නේද ඇමතිකම ජනතාවට සේවය කිරීම සදහාම නිර්මාණිත පදවියක් බවයි. රටේ පවතින සැබෑ තත්වයට අනුව මිනිස් බවයක් සහිතව ඉපදෙන සැවොම ඒ ජනතාව නම් වූ සුපැහැදිලි ජන කණ්ඩායමට අයත් නොවන අතර, එසේ අයත් නොවන කණ්ඩායම අත්හල විට ඉතිරිවන ජන කොට්ඨාශය සඳහා සේවය කිරීමට ඇමති ධූර නිර්මාණය කර තිබේ. මෙම සත්‍යය අවබෝධ කරනොගත් මිනිසුන් රටේ සිටින සියළුම ජනතාවට සැබෑ ලෙසම සේවය කිරීමේ අරමුණින් ඇමති කම් දැරීමට ගොස් ඇමති කම තම දේශපාලන දිවියේ දංගෙඩිය බවට පත් කරගෙනම දේශපාලන වශයෙන් මිය... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/11)

කෙටි කතාව - පාදඩයා
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් M ජයතුංග
නත්තල් දවසට පසු දවස නිසා මුළු නගරයම පාලුවට ගොසිනි. මහා මර්ගයේ වාහනයක් වුවද ගමන්   කලේ  කලාතුරකිනි. විශාල බස් නැවතුම් පොලේ සිටියේ මගීන් හතර දෙනෙක් පමණි. පළමුවන මගියා සුදු ජාතිකයෙකි. ඔහු ඉතා අලංකාර ලෙස   ඇඳ පැළඳ සිටියේය. ඔහුගේ හිම කබාය වටිනා  එකකි.  නිතරම තම අත් ඔරලෝසුව දෙස   බැලු ඔහු බසයක් එන තෙක්   බලා සිටියේය. මෙවැනි පුද්ගලයෙකු බස් වල යන්නේ කලාතුරකිනි. මෝටර් රථය කාර්මික දෝෂයකට ලක්වීම නිසා  හෝ  වාහනය අනතුරකට ලක්වීම නිසා   ඔහු බස් නැවතුම් පොලේ තපිනවා විය හැක. දෙවැනි මගියා කළු ජාතිකයෙකි. ඔහු බස්නැවතුම් පොලේ  ප්ලාස්ටික්   පුටුවක  අඩ නින්දේ අලස... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/11)

ගරු දඹරාවේ රත්නසාර ස්වාමීන් වහන්ස!
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
මීට වසර 45 කට පෙර, අප මුණ ගැසුණේ යා දෙක නොරත රත සේය. ඔබ වහන්සේ සැබෑ ලෙසම රත වූ අතර මම නොරත වීමි. සත්‍ය ලෙසම එයට නොරත යයි සඳහන් කරනවාට වඩා කොල යයි හැඳින්වීම වඩාත් යෝග්‍ය යයි සිතමි. ඒ අනුව ඔබ වහන්සේ රත වූ අතර මම කොල වීමි. අප මුණ ගැසුණෙ කුමක් සඳහාද? එකම අරමුණක් සඳහා නම් නොවේ. එදා පාසල් දරුවෙකු වූ මා, ඔබ වහන්සේගේ අබිමුවට පැමිණියේ, ඔබ වහන්සේලා එදා ගෙනගිය ඒ දේශපාලන කර්තව්‍යයට සහය දීම සඳහා නම් නොවේ. ඔබ වහන්සේලා මේ සිදු කරන්නට යන්නේ කුමක්දැයි දැක ගැනීම සඳහාය. උග්‍ර එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ පවුලක සාමාජිකයකු වූ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/11)

President Rajapakse’s new battle ground: facing S. O. Bs-Part I
H. L. D. Mahindapala
 A remarkable feature of the post-independence political landscape is the dream run that President Mahinda Rajapakse has had from 2005 to 2010. His luck was spinning at an unstoppable pace. He could do nothing wrong. Everything he touched turned up trumps. It is difficult to find in living memory another political leader who was blessed with so much luck. It was so powerful that he could overcome both national and international forces with ease. He could even tell two big powers – UK and France – to get back to the hole from where they... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/11)

Make Peace with Diaspora LTTE Terrorist Rump?
Prof. Hudson McLean
Whats the kick-back for Jehan Perera in promoting the scum of the leftover of Expat Diaspora Rump of the LTTE Terrorists? Rudrakumar the American lawyer and the playboy Paki Saravanamuttu in the UK are getting fat on LTTE leftovers, are the last of the scum to be invited to meet with SLG. And their bank-rolling friend Rajaratnam is now well settled in an American Jail. As the SLG recognizes, the LTTE Diaspora is now waking up from their slumber to start another day to make their bank balances fatter. Its not for the love of the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/11)

Who is responsible to the fear psychosis of the Tamils in Jaffna ? Are the Tamils in Sri Lanka willing to be Sri Lankans ?
By Charles.S.Perera
 Douglas Devananda had spoken in the Parliament  to say about the fear psychosis of the Tamils in Jaffna. With a 30 years of war and uncertainty of life under the terrorists during that time,  the fear psychosis  is nothing new to Tamils in Jaffna.  However, what is “new” is that it follows the elimination of their bane -the terrorism. This second wave of  the “old” fear psychosis  with which  Devananda says the people in the North are gripped with has come about  hardly two years after the elimination of terrorism by the  Government  Armed Forces consisting of ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/11)

Is there really a chance for diplomacy when violence might be the answer?
John MacKinnon
To: Michael Slackman NY Timeshttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/08/world/middleeast/08egypt.html?hpw Hello Mr. Slackman, The story 'Copts' Ire Extends to Their Own Church' is a common one. Link: President Mubarak and his political allies have a monopoly on power thanks to billions of $$$ in American aid. We make sure they stay in power. The U.S. ignores political oppression and even torture by the current Egyptian regime as long as they are subservient to us. Never forget that we export suspected terrorists to Egypt to be tortured, or even killed and disposed of. Is there really a chance for diplomacy when violence... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/11)

71 කැරැල්ල 26 කොටස
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග
 තුල්හිරියේ ආරි-තුල්හිරියේ ආරි හෙවත් එච්.පී. ආරියදාස 71 කැරැල්ලේදි වරකාපොල පොලිසිය හා තුල්හිරියේ යුද හමුදා අනුඛන්ඩයක් යටත් කර ගත්තේය. අත්අඩංගුවට පත් පොලිස් හා යුද හමුදා සාමාජිකයන්ට මානුෂිකව සැලකීමත් තුවාල ලත් ආරක්ෂක අංශ සමාජිකයන්ට වහා වහා ප‍්‍රතිකාර ලබා දීමට ක‍්‍රියා කිරීම නිසාත් අ.යු.වි. කොමිසමේ විනිශ්චකරුවන්ගේ පැසසුමට පවා ඔහු ලක් විය.  තුල්හිරිය මහා විද්‍යාලයෙන් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයට ගිය ප‍්‍රථම සිසුවා වූ ආරි 1967 දි කලා උපාධිය සමත් විය. 1968 දි ජේ.ඒ.ජයකොඩි හරහා ව්‍යාපරයට සම්බන්ධ වූ ඔහු කෑගල්ලේ දිස්ත‍්‍රික් නායක සරත් විජේසිංහ සමග ඉතා සමීප ඇසුරක් පැවැත්විය. කැරැල්ල අසාර්ථක වීමෙන් පසු බෝල සමරේ කණ්ඩායම සමග විල්පත්තුවට පසුබැස ගිය ආරි විල්පත්තුවට... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/11)

The Travels of a Journalist—51 A FAMILY VISIT TO MOUNT ST HELENS— PELE REFUSES TO GIVE HER CONSENT
By Shelton A. Gunaratne © 2011 Professor of mass communications emeritus, Minnesota State University Moorhead
I am a shameless volcano buff. That’s why I spent an entire day in the Volcano National Park on the Big Island late January 1984 despite the fury that Pele, the goddess of fire, unleashed on me  (see Travels-41b). I tried to be chummy with Pele again on a Saturday in late July 1989 during my stint with the (Longview, Wash.) Daily News from 10 July—25 Aug. Longview (pop. 34,660) with its twin city of Kelso (pop. 11,895), located on the north-south Interstate 5,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/11)

The History of PTSD
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
 PTSD is a relatively newly defined disorder with an old history and historical medical literature reveal clinical symptoms similar to post traumatic stress disorder dating back to the Egyptian civilization.  In 1900 BC, an Egyptian physician eloquently described hysterical reactions of a patient after traumatic experience. These reports became one of the first medical textbooks ever when published in 1990 B.C. (Figley, C.R., 1993).  PTSD Described in the Holy Bible The Book of Job in the Holy Bible is a heartbreaking story of human trauma.  Job was subjected to extreme suffering, los of material... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/11)

What Will Happen on December 21 2012?
Shripal Nishshanka Fernando
(Kindly be informed that this article will only bring forward some facts and information about the predicted Doomsday of December 21, 2012 and does not support or rule out any kind catastrophic event to take place on the earth on that day). What is so important about December 21, 2012? Most precisely accurate the Long Count Calendar of the Ancient Mayans (Mayan Calendar) ends on Dec 21 2012. Nobody knows what the Mayans thought would occur in 2012, but the consensus of opinion is that there will be great change. And what is it based on?... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/01/11)

Sri Lanka's World Cup Final Fifteen Seems Somewhat Questionable Despite Looking Good For The Fray Overall !
Top Spin By Sunny
Jan.8th. 2011-So was it a bit of eyewash in anticipation of official eyebrow raising likely to wane, that the initial squad for Sri Lankas World Cup included the names of Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas ~World Cup-winning veterans where the final World Cup squad of 15 players named on Friday by the national selection committee headed by Aravinda de Silva seems somewhat questionable overall and some notable performers left out in place of less deserving players who seems to have been given the nod on speculation rather than current form? Perhaps the Chairman of Selectors... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/01/11)

Mr.PRESIDENT DONT ALLOW MOTHERLANKA TO CRY AGAIN !
Ranjit Wickremeratne
It's heartning to see in the news once again Killings and Kidnappings in the North. Mr.President you cannot allow that to happen at any cost. All your efforts to build a new nation will be wasted and Motherlanka will be unhappy for ever. How much you asked Opposition traitors and Tamil politicians to come and joined hands with you to build our shattered homeland these traitors will never join you in good faith except they want only power to their hands by any evil means. So Mr.President please listen to the Patriotic Sri Lankans who love... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/01/11)

The Tamil Canadian website and Tamil Hinduism
Raman Kulasingham Valaichenai, Batticaloa
The Tamil Canadian website is not accessible in Sri Lanka due to internet censorship. The Government of Sri Lanka has done no disservice in blocking this website. The political leadership of the Sri Lankan Tamils has made numerous blunders in the last 60 years. We need to now  strategize afresh. Whereas the Rajapakse administration may not be helpful in my view, this does not mean that Tamils should persist with the failed politics of the past. We need to forge a strategic partnership with the progressive elements in the Sinhalese and Muslim communities.     Internet websites such as Tamil Canadian need to be situated in a broader political... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/01/11)

India, Sri Lanka ferry services to restart
COLOMBO: India and Sri Lanka today signed an agreement to restart sea ferry services shut down for nearly 30 years, the latest sign of resurgent economic ties since the end of Sri Lanka's quarter-century civil war. The two nations gave no immediate timeframe, but said the service should start shortly. "Sea passenger transportation between India and Sri Lanka is being established... to speedily restore the traditional links between the two countries," a joint statement said. Sri Lanka's $42 billion economy is on an economic revival path after the end of the fight against Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009.... -Full Story- (thehimalayantimes.com - 07/01/11)

Lanka troops sell vegetables at low prices
Colombo, Jan. 7 (Agencies): Sri Lanka’s army opened a chain of food stores today that will sell produce at low prices and will be manned by troops formerly deployed in the island nation’s civil war. Fifteen unnamed shops will offer low-priced produce bought directly from provincial farms in a move designed to cut out middlemen and lower costs for consumers.... -Full Story- (telegraphindia.com - 07/01/11)

Best Fifteen-Man Squad for the World Cup
Dilrook Kannangara
According to ICC ODI rankings Australia and India are at the top of ODI rankings followed by Sri Lanka. This means Sri Lanka stands a very good chance to win the WC2011. Sri Lanka won the World Cup in 1996 but in 1999 it was dismal performance. Again in 2003 we bounced back to come to semi-finals with Australia. Last world cup saw Sri Lanka battling it out it with Australia at the final. Today Sri Lanka is a formidable team in the shorter version of the game. Aravinda de Silva’s involvement at the apex body... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/01/11)

TN refugee camps becoming empty as more Tamils return home
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Close on the heels of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of Sri Lanka’s rehabilitation, reconstruction and re-settlement efforts in the post-war era, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that Sri Lankan Tamil refugees living in South India are keen to return home. "The number of refugees wanting to return home since the end of the conflict in 2009 is clearly on the increase; in response, we have streamlined our procedures and introduced some new measures to make the return process quicker and easier," said the Colombo-based UNHCR representative Michael Zwack. He expects more refugees... -Full Story- (The Island - 06/01/11)

Taj teaches Lankan commandos to rustle up martini
Sutirtho Patranobis
The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks wasn’t on the curriculum but the 11 Sri Lanka army commandos who trained for three months under the top chefs and bartenders at Taj Samudra would now be ready to mix a few heady ones. For the first time, the Indian five-star hotel trained 11 army commandos in rustling up pastas with the right sauce and making cocktails, both shaken and stirred, to serve at VIP banquets. With the end of the civil war in May, 2009, and an increase in official visits and exchanges, the army has increasingly been called upon... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 06/01/11)

Sri Lanka's opposition party to go alone in local elections
Sri Lanka's opposition party JVP or the People's Liberation Front announced Thursday that they would go alone in contesting the upcoming local government elections. The JVP was the main sponsor of the jailed former army chief Sarath Fonseka as the common opposition candidate in last year's presidential election. Following Fonseka's defeat, the JVP went on to form the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) with the former army chief and faced the parliamentary election held last April. The DNA won some seven seats in the 225-member assembly. Fonseka, their leader lost his parliamentary seat with his conviction by a court martial in... -Full Story- (english.people.com.cn - 06/01/11)

Sri Lanka: Yala National Park
Daniel Nielson reports
Every flick of the leopard’s tail and canine-flashing yawn is met with a flutter of camera shutters. Vying for the best view of the nonchalant feline are tourists packed into seven jeeps. The leopard, seemingly fully aware that he’s at the top of the food chain, seems to be enjoying the attention. After 20 minutes, he stands up and, just like a domestic tabby, stretches, yawns and then wanders off into the thorny scrub jungle of Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park. The jeeps move on in search of elephants, crocodiles and buffalo. And, even better, crocodiles... -Full Story- (cnntraveller.com - 06/01/11)

LTTE Ships Being Used for Illegal Activities: Sri Lanka
Indian Outlook
Ships belonging to the LTTE are still being used for illegal activities by its remaining international network, the Sri Lankan government said today. Dinesh Gunawardena, the Chief government whip minister, informed parliament today that 11 ships have been destroyed by the armed forces during the past. At least 8 LTTE ships were still being used for illegal activities by its remaining international network, the government said. The ships are registered under different names of international orgnisations and are being used for illegal activities such as human smuggling, the minister said. "A ship named Eeshswari, which was used to... -Full Story- (news.outlookindia.com - 06/01/11)

Parade of emissions-free electric cars in 2011
By Philip Fernando, Former Deputy Editor Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka
 A new genre of electric cars slicker and emissions-free have arrived in thousands as the two largest manufacturers USA and China as well as many others blaze the trail of greener technology. 'A highly charged' motoring decade is on us, most car enthusiasts predict. The idea of recharging an electric car at home at minimal cost and never again having to visit a filling station is enticing. The swanky sales pitch is compelling as manufacturers show off their new wares.  The battery-powered Nissan Leaf or Renault Fluence, vouch they... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/01/11)

Make Peace With the Tamil Diaspora in New Year - January 4,2011
Ira de Silva London, Canada
The Editor The Island Colombo, Sri Lanka   Dear Sir:   Reference this article by Jehan Perera, it appears that he is continuing with his theme only now instead of making peace with Prabhakaran's LTTE he is now advocating negotiation and "peace" with the rump of the LTTE overseas, namely the so-called Tamil Diaspora. It is a fact that he has been and continues to  make millions as the spokesperson for western interests who wanted to give the LTTE their Eelam and used the likes of him and P. Saravanamuttu to do so. This article... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/01/11)

Colombo CCTV Reporting three-wheeler (tuk-tuk) Accidents
... -Full Story- (youtube.com - 05/01/11)

Ban Xenon Lights
Letter to the Editor By Dr. Mrs. Mareena Thaha Reffai Dehiwela.
 A new kind of hazard has  been brought onto the roads, the xenon lights. The advertisement says this is 300 times brighter than the normal head lights, and indeed they are! While they may give greater visibility to the driver of the vehicle having these lights, what they do not realize is the fact that it may almost  blind some other drivers, causing havoc on the roads. There are no regular checkups needed in this country to continue to possess a driving license. Once someone gets the license no... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/01/11)

150,000 students head to 18-month dead end
Andrew Trounson
INTERNATIONAL student Jagath Fernando hasn't seen his wife and two daughters in Sri Lanka for two years. He works as a cleaner and shares a room, all in a bid to secure permanent residency as a community care worker. But following abrupt changes to Australia's immigration laws, his money and sacrifices are in real danger of being wasted. Mr Fernando is among an estimated 150,000 students seeking permanent residency who have had the door all but shut in their faces by tighter immigration rules. "I don't know what my future will be, whether I have a future in... -Full Story- (theaustralian.com.au - 05/01/11)

SRI LANKA: Refugees want to return, says UNHCR
COLOMBO, 5 January 2011 (IRIN) - The number of Sri Lankan refugees wanting to return home since the end of the conflict in 2009 is increasing significantly, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says. Thousands fled abroad because of the decades-long conflict between government forces and the now defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which had been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland.... -Full Story- (irinnews.org - 05/01/11)

US contemplated sanctions against Sri Lanka: WikiLeaks
Sutirtho Patranobis
Barely 10 days before the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka in 2009, the US had contemplated imposing sanctions on Sri Lanka if Colombo went ahead with its plans of procuring arms from North Korea and Iran. A new set of confidential cables leaked by Wikileaks said intelligence reports revealed that a Lankan company was planning to buy Rocket Propelled Grenade Launchers and multiple rocket launchers from a North Korean weapons firm. The cable dated May 8, 2009 –- published by Oslo based Aftenposten newspaper -- also said: “Recent intelligence reports indicate that a Sri Lankan... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 05/01/11)

Bhava Tharanaya- Reviewed after 37 years
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
 Bhava Tharanaya was the final novel written by Martin Wickramasinghe and published in 1975 (approximately one year before his death).   In Bhava Tharanaya, Wickramasinghe depicts the life of Prince Siddhartha predominantly from birth to the Enlightenment. Martin Wickramasinghe illustrates the young life of the Indian prince in historical, cultural and pragmatic terms.  The literary genius Martin Wickramasinghe had a profound knowledge in Buddhist philosophy. He wrote profusely on Buddhism. His books  on Buddhism such as Budu Samaya Ha Samaja Darshanaya (Buddhism and Social Philosophy) published in 1948 , Bana atha Sahityaya (Buddhist Folk Literature)... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/01/11)

‘Sri Lanka to become regional financial hub’
R. K. Radhakrishnan
Sri Lanka is ‘proactively engaged in' the process of becoming the regional financial hub, Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said here on Tuesday. Presenting the ‘road map monetary and fiscal sector policies for 2011 and beyond,' he said this was a gradual process. The central bank was strengthening its global and regional financial links. The immediate goal was to develop the financial sector's capacity to proactively respond to the changing requirements of the economy, and support the next phase of economic development of the country, he said.... -Full Story- (thehindu.com - 04/01/11)

Sri Lanka: Moving Towards a Middle Income Country in Lasting Peace
Inclusive Growth
Sri Lanka has won the war, now it must win the peace." The key challenge for Sri Lanka’s transition to a Middle-Income Country is to develop policies so that all of the country’s people have an equal chance to become fully productive members of their society, contributing to and benefitting from growth.... -Full Story- (web.worldbank.org - 04/01/11)

Years of seeking leads St. Petersburg woman to life as Buddhist nun
By Waveney Ann Moore, Times Staff Writer
Sandra Steers dressed in white one recent Saturday morning and drove to Clearwater for one of the most significant moments of her life. Hours later, the 68-year-old grandmother of five returned to her St. Petersburg home to begin a new life. If neighbors had been peeking through their windows, they would have seen a petite woman with a shaven head wearing saffron robes. Sandy, as she was known to friends, had taken the vows of a Buddhist nun and a new name — Ayya Suseela.... -Full Story- (tampabay.com - 04/01/11)

Crush Rejuvenated Tamil Armed Resistance Militarily without Denying It
- Kumar Moses  
The writing is on the wall. Tamil armed groups are back. There is no denying that. However, for political reasons government and the Ministry of Defence refuse to admit it. Living in denial is very dangerous. Four months ago three Sinhala traders were stabbed and seriously wounded in Jaffna. Just a few weeks ago a Hindu priest and his sons were shot in Jaffna and now the deputy zonal education director of Jaffna has been shot dead. It is the same clear pattern of violence that was seen in the 1970s. For political reasons... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/11)

New Visa Rule - Counter-Productive for Tourism & Business
Prof. Hudson McLean
Once again another "barrier" to slow down the  growth in Tourism and Investment. Whom are they trying to punish? The EU or USA passport holders? How many Singaporeans or Maldive citizens visit Sri Lanka? What is their nett worth? Compared to EU, USA, Japan tourists, as well as potential investors? For thirty five years, the LTTE Tamil Terrorism prevented Tourists and Businessmen from visiting Sri Lanka. If the country is to move forward rapidly in development and inward investment, the government should make life easy for those foreigners who will bring much needed foreign currency and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/11)

New Book-The Kingdom, the Glory and the Power by Mario Perera Published by Godage International Publishers (Pvt) Ltd
Preface  by  Professor W. S. Karunatillake
This book is unique in the annals of Catholic literature in Sri Lanka. It not only narrates the author’s intense spiritual odyssey towards the Catholic priesthood which eludes him when on the verge of crossing its threshold, but is also punctuated with penetrative insights regarding the Catholic Church. This treatise is furthermore a rich compendium of the momentous events that shook the country, Italy and the world in the nineteen fifties and sixties. « The Kingdom, the glory and the power » by Mario Perera narrates the life, the times and the thoughts of a... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/11)

New Year resolution
Dr.Tilak Fernando
As the clock strikes at 12 midnight on December 31 millions of people hug and kiss each other to say ‘Happy New Year’ followed by making new resolutions that aim to better their lives. The New Year resolution is one illustration of the undulating forecast-method of preparation. As per this system, plans are recognized at regular short or medium-term time intervals. New Year resolutions can vary according to individual choice from promising oneself to give up smoking, drinking and other such bad habits. Change is the most difficult function in human beings and the humanity will have... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/11)

A Tamil cultural debate
By Dharman Dharmaratnam
 The Kanthamurukesanar Tamil cultural center and certain patrons of the Murugan Temple at Birchmont Road in Scarborough Toronto recently backed efforts of the Karunanidhi administration in Tamil Nadu in 2008 to shift the date of the Tamil new year from April, as observed for centuries, to January to coincide with the Indic harvest festival called Thai Pongal in Tamil or Makara Sankranti. The political sub-text behind the move is unnoticed in Sri Lanka where Tamils continue with the traditional reckoning of time that begins with the month of Chitterai in April. It is unlikely that many... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/11)

Islam and Second Advent of Jesus
By A. Abdul Aziz
Readers views on the subject ‘Islamic view on crucifixion’ are welcome When we study the Bible, there are many prophecies concerning the second advent of Jesus. These prophecies not only give the details of the signs related to the appearance of the Messiah but also pinpoint the time of his appearance, such as: Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom (Matthew 24:7) This is a great and visible sign, which cannot be denied. It is true that wars are not started only in this age, and there was always bloodshed since the appearance... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/11)

Cheating Clergymen in Sri Lanka
By FRCS
Christian priests who are falsely claiming to have　converted to Islam have been on an　campaign　to 'promote' Islam and collect funds under the cover of Islam. However these people were seized and　this unlawful　and unethical campaign has come to light due to action taken by the Forum for Religious and Cultural Studies (FRCS)　and Islamic Call and Research Academy (ICRA)　organizations. 　In one such instance, a Catholic priest who had　'converted' to　Islam led a bogus campaign to collect funds from Muslim brothers　and sisters in the name of Islam under several different names: Issa, Farook, Razzak, Abdul Raheem, Salman Timothy. Furthermore he had also... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/11)

"NEW ERA" WHAT MORE THAN NOW?
Ranjit Wickremeratne
These power hungry idiots think that Sri Lanka is a fools paradise and they can make us to dance as they pleased. What is the new era this Sajit talking about I like to know as a voter of my beloved country.  This is the new era under the present President Mahinda Rajapksa Mr.Sajit can't you see?  Are you blind or you want to make us fools like your friends and collegues in your party? You and your party cannot find a proper leader to organize your party to become a strong opposition to the Government how can you... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/11)

Sri Lanka: 2010's Best-Performing Global Market
J.M. Trippon CEO Jim Trippon on investing in emerging markets.
... -Full Story- (video.foxbusiness.com - 03/01/11)

Brand Association - Value, Credibility, Confidence, & Cost
Prof. Hudson McLean
Name Change in Sri Lanka is going a gaga! When Ceylon became Sri Lanka to rhyme with Sri Lanka Fredom Party (SLFP), the citizens took the name and the SLFP to their heart. That was a great National Patriotic step. Then Air Ceylon went into liquidation and SriLankan was flown as the National Carrier, which is synonymous with the host country. A useful Branding exercise, however limping in profitability. Several National Corporations consequently changed their identity to Sri Lanka several decades ago and plodded well into the public acceptance. However, establishing a successful Brand Identity takes... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/11)

HUMAN RIGHTS – INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY- A SRI LANKAN CASE FOR WAR REPARATION
J JAYASUNDERA
War crimes or any other crime should be based on accountability. To have a blinkered view of the war and concentrate on the final days of the war is both immoral and ingenuous. Such compartmentalised thinking is the modus operandi of the lawless.  Sri Lanka is a sovereign democratic country however imperfect and has the right to protect its government from external or internal threats. The  civil war which lasted 30 years was initiated , orchestrated and conducted from the outside. The proxy war was organised by a well established modus operandi . A genuinely felt discord... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/01/11)

Crew of smuggling ship alleged to be Tamil Tigers
By TOM GODFREY, QMI Agency
TORONTO -- Four crew members of the MV Sun Sea that arrived off the coast of B.C. last summer are alleged to be Tamil Tigers operatives who helped organize the high-seas smuggling trip, federal officials say. Hearings to determine if the four can stay here have been requested by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), which alleges the men pose a threat to national security.... -Full Story- (cnews.canoe.ca - 03/01/11)

Perspectives on the economy- IMPERATIVES FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
By Nimal Sanderatne
At the dawn of the New Year expectations of rapid economic growth are high. Post war peaceful conditions, the expected growth of about 8 per cent last year, a budget that ushered in a more friendly investment climate, the high foreign reserves of nearly US$ 7 billion, recent promise of World Bank assistance for reconstruction and the boom in tourism are foremost reasons for this expectation. These conditions provide an environment for the pursuance of appropriate economic policies for growth. The current optimism itself is a positive factor for economic growth. However optimism without appropriate action... -Full Story- (sundaytimes.lk - 02/01/11)

Of 11,696 LTTE personnel taken into custody, 5,586 have left rehabilitation centres since the end of the war
By Shamindra Ferdinando-Courtesy The Island 
Commissioner General of Rehabilitation, Brigadier Sudantha Ranasinghe says more than half of combatants and support personnel of theLTTE detained at the conclusion of the war in May 2009 have been reunited with their families. Brig. Ranasinghe says following rehabilitation 5,586 LTTE cadres have left rehabilitation centres since the end of the war. At the beginning rehabilitation centres held 11,696 LTTE personnel. The brigadier emphasised that the army and the police hadn’t imposed restrictions on the LTTE cadres. Responding to a query by The Island, he said that about 100 more ex-Tigers would be released... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/01/11)

Filling a blank space in the literary map-Sri Lankan English Literature
 Ed. with an introduction by D.C.R.A. Goonetilleke, Kaleidoscope: An Anthology of Sri Lankan English Literature, Volume II (Colombo: Vijitha Yapa, 2010) Pb: 978-955-665-107-2 $ 6.00 Available online www.vijithayapa.com  Just as Sri Lanka, an island with an area of 65,610 sq km offers infinite variety from hailstones and conifers in Nuwara Eliya to palms and blazing beaches in Negombo and Bentota, this anthology offers as wide a range of genres, styles, materials and moods to stimulate and entertain the reader.      There is stark contrast between the restrained yet poignant ‘Sisters in Dignity’ and the bizarre hilarious satire of ‘Maleeshya’. We... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/01/11)

NEW BOOK LAUNCHED- Sri Lanka-The War Fuelled by Peace
Authored by Palitha M Senanayake
The Author should be commended for the tremendous amount of research done in to the subject and for exposing hitherto dormant but neverthless relevant aspect of the Sri Lankan Society that have impacted on this conflict- Professor Sunanda Mahendra... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/01/11)

War and Human Cost Depicted in Movies
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
All Quiet on the Western Front All Quiet on the Western Front is a powerful movie that was based on the World War one veteran Erich Maria Remarque’s personal experiences. Directed by Lewis Milestone, All Quiet on the Western Front recounts the realistic and horrific nature of the trench war. Paul Baumer a naïve German lad who was fascinated by the nationalistic speeches and positive motivation by his high school teacher Professor Kantorek   joins the Imperial German Army.  After a short military training, he was sent to the Western Front to fight the French and the English.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/11)

කෙටි කථාව-සැන්ට බාබරාහී යාචකයා
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම්. ජයතුංග
 සැන්ට බාබරා නගරයට මම අතිශයින් ප‍්‍රියකරමි. උණුසුම් කැලිෆෝනියානු ක`දුකර සුළෙඟ් සහ හිරු රශ්මියේ පහස ලබන වෙරළට ඇළුම් නොකරන්නෝ කවරහුද? මමද එවැනි සාමාන්‍ය ජනයාට අයත් වූ තැනැත්තෙක්මි. මේ නිසා මා සැන්ට බාබාරා නගරයට ප‍්‍රිය කිරීම අරුමයක් නොවේ. මුහුදේ පිහිනා වෙරලේ වැතිරී දහවල් කාලය ගත කිරීමට අගනා ප‍්‍රදේශයක් ලෙස මම සැන්ට බාබාරා වෙරළ තීරය හඳුනා ගතිමි. එසේම සවස් වරුවේ හෝටලයකට වැදී මාර්ටිනී තොලගාමින් අලංකාර ලෙස ඇඳ පැළඳගෙන සිටින ජනයා දෙස බැලීමද සතුට දනවයි. මියාමි, ලෝං බීච් වැනි දැකුම්කළු ස්ථාන වල මා කාලය ගත කොට සිටි නමුදු සැන්ට බාබරා දැනට මටම අයත් වූ භූමි ප‍්‍රදේශයක් ලෙස සලකමි. මේ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/11)

SINHALA BUDDHIST REVIVAL-ADVISE FROM A GREAT TAMIL
Dr J Goonetilleke
 60 years after Independence the Sinhalese Buddhists are in the same predicament as they were in the early 20th century. I am submitting this article  a  Prize Day Speech by Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam in the hope that it would revive the Noble Aspirations of the Sinhala Buddhists Dr J Goonetilleke Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam’s Prize Day Speech (July 30th 1914) This speech is reproduced from the latest issue of the Mahinda College Magazine 2002, which has been dedicated to commemorating the 110th Anniversary of the founding of the College. "Reverend Bhikshus, Mr. Woodward, Ladies and Gentleman... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/11)

A New Era Of Prosperity, Posterity And Great Accomplishment Only If The Nation Is United behind Its Charismatic And Progressive Leadership!
LankaWeb New Year Editorial
January 1st 2011 To echo the words and aspirations of Sri Lanka's President in his New year 2011 message to the Nation, it is indeed "The major challenge before us is to raise the position of our country in the world, where much has been accomplished by way of progress and development in the face of many odds and hurdles posed by the selfish and self centred enemies of the State but the President leads by example and sets standards that no leader in recent times has accomplished through practicality, pragmatism and wisdom.It is an... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/11)

Development at what cost?
Sasanka De Silva,
Letters to the Editor, Lanka Web, Colombo. Dear Sir, Development at what cost? Yesterday, I was shocked and amazed to see the safety regulations being openly violated at the Matara-Colombo Hi-way construction site situated at Makumbura. The workers were allowed to work on machineries, carry heavy items etc without the proper Personal Protective equipment. Except for Hard-hats, no other protective equipment has been provided to any of the staffs working at this site. When I tried to communicate with one of the foreign nationals overseeing the operation at this site to raise my concerns, he was... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/11)

BBC Hardtalk Guy Stephen Sackur can become a witness in Sarath Fonseka Case
Piyasiri
The BBC Hardtalk reporter Stephen Sackur  who interviewed Gotabaya Rajapaksa few months ago has confirmed about SF's white flag story.   Now, Stephen Sackur can become a witness in Sarath Fonseka Case. Sarath Fonseka has confirmed about the white flag story with Stephen Sackur.   http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/9313264.stm There were also claims that the last remnants of the rebel force were shot whilst trying to surrender - allegations fuelled by the former head of the Sri Lankan army General Sarath Fonseka who confirmed to HARDtalk that he had heard witnesses describe how Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told local... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/11)

Save 60% gas, wasting gas is virtually burning money, am I correct?
Dr Hector Perera BSc [Hons] MSc PhD Chemistry England
My main aim is to show the general public how to save money spent on gas. Every single month the price of gas goes up and up and the suppliers give plenty of excuses for the price increase and even the governments cannot do anything about the hike of prices. Even in UK the gas prices are going up since recently. I have written a few articles about this subject and a few web sites have published my letters for the last few years. I even challenged for anyone to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/11)

Apology
Dr Bandula Kothalawala
I am very sorry that my last article (In Confidence) has caused some confusion and misunderstanding.  I hasten to stress that I had no intention of criticising Prof GL Peiris whom I admire and respect. You may recall that he, in his capacity as Minister of External Affairs, summoned Patricia Butenis, US Ambassador in Colombo, regarding leaked cables. http://www.lankamagazine.com/2010/12/21/g-l-summons-butenis  My article, written in a light-hearted vein, was supposed to be a (leaked) cable sent by her to Hillary Clinton - US Secretary of State - following her meeting with Prof Peiris. I should have explained the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/11)

In Confidence
Dr Bandula Kothalawala
Ma’am, Oh, I must tell you what happened the other day. I was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs. It was most hilarious. The learned Professor gave me a lecture or a sermon or a homily whatever -all rolled into one in Oxford prose! I could not bear it. No, no, not the accent. The accent was OK; it is the style, the vocabulary, gesticulations etc. He was really getting on my nerves….. I must say I felt a bit embarrassed. I could not make out half of what he was saying.  It is his... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/01/11)

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