Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions
Sri Lankan News & Discussions
Online News Updated Every 15 Minutes
| Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions |
Sri Lankan News & Discussions | Online News Updated Every 15 Minutes |
|
About this Sri Lankan News Forum
 Welcome to the largest news forum on Sri Lanka. This is a discussion table for millions of Sri Lankans living around the world to express their thoughts on the latest Sri Lankan news events. Lankanewspapers.com is a powerful tool for all Sri Lankan ethnic groups to share information, knowledge and wisdom. Join! today |
Most Recent News Discussions
|
| More Headline News |
|
MIGs attack a LTTE training camp in Vavuniya Thursday, 1 March 2007 - 9:34 PM SL Time Sri Lankan jets bombed suspected Tamil Tiger positions in northeast Sri Lanka on Thursday, a day after Colombo stepped up an offensive against the rebels, killing at least 18 people, a statement said. Air force MIG Jet aircraft attacked a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam LTTE training camp in Vavuniya, 254 kilometres (159 miles) from the capital, the defence ministry said in a statement. It gave no further details. The raids came after Colombo said it had escalated attacks against the Tigers on Wednesday, sinking two rebel boats and destroying a large ship carrying shells believed intended for the Tigers. At least 15 rebels died in Wednesday`s sea attacks while three rebels were shot dead by a police commando foot patrol. 
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 143 )
JVP fears Sri Lanka will turn into another Kosovo Thursday, 1 March 2007 - 5:02 AM SL Time JVP Parliamentary Group leader Wimal Weerawansa yesterday said there was a danger of the international community creating a situation for direct intervention in the internal affairs as in the case of UN intervention in Kosovo or Southern Sudan Addressing a press conference on behalf of the Patriotic National Movement (PNM), at the National Library auditorium, he faulted the international community for repeating their usual mantaram after Tuesday`s mortar attack on a group Colombo based diplomats. He criticized the international community for reiterating their call for a negotiated settlement without deploring the LTTE attack in the strongest of terms.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 296 )
The destroyed vessel in Dondra had been carrying 10,000 artilleries Wednesday, 28 February 2007 - 10:08 PM SL Time Navy media spokes person, Commander D.K.P. Dasanayaka told LeN that the destroyed vessel had been carrying ammunition for Artilleries. He said navy has discovered some boxes when they were adrift in the sea after the attack and later discovered that they contained artilleries. He said at least 10,000 ammunition used for artillery might have been onboard the suspected vessel. The incident occurred around 6.30 this morning. The navy has suspected the vessel since it had not been carrying a flag and has inquired on it through international radio networks. The navy media spokes person, Commander D.K.P. Dasanayaka told `LeN` that after realizing that the vessel had provided wrong information it has been called to the nearest Galle Fort, and that since the vessel has ignored the orders and has paced to the southern direction the navy had fired some warning shots.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 187 )
|
|
More Headline News
|
| Security
Security Forum
|
|
SLAF plane crashes killing two Friday, 2 March 2007 - 4:15 AM SL Time An SLAF aircraft, on a training mission, crash landed, at the Anuradhapura air base Thursday afternoon, killing both the instruc tor and a cadet trainee. Airforce headquarters said that the instructor lost control of the Chinese-built piston engined aircraft due to a technical fault. The PT-6 aircraft is used to provide initial training for pilots who would later take over Israeli-built Kfirs and Russian MIG 27s of the SLAF`s No 10 and No 5 squadrons.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 20 )
Lanka urges Aussie crackdown on bogus asylum seekers Friday, 2 March 2007 - 4:14 AM SL Time President Mahinda Rajapakse`s government wants Australia to crackdown on Sri Lankan asylum seekers and to prevent the LTTE from taking advantage of the latest batch of boat people in Australian custody. `We expect them to take tangible action against groups engaged in human trafficking,` a Sri Lankan official said. The LTTE is widely believed to be among the groups involved in the lucrative trade. Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva Thursday raised the issue with his Australian counterpart Alexander Downer in Canberra. Their discussion focused on the recent detention of 83 Sri Lankan Tamils by the Australian Navy about 50 nautical miles off Christmas Island.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 5 )
TNA urges India not to provide warship to Sri Lanka Thursday, 1 March 2007 - 5:06 AM SL Time The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has urged the Government of India to desist from providing lethal military assistance to Sri Lanka. Referring to recent media reports that the Indian Government is to either grant or lease a large warship to the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), the Parliamentary group of the TNA in a press release issued Wednesday observed that these reports have come against the backdrop of repeated assurances given by the Indian leadership, including the Indian Premier Dr. Manmohan Singh, that the India, as a matter of policy, will not provide any lethal weapons to Sri Lanka. SLN has a `long history of violence against Tamil civilians both at sea and on shore,` the statement noted. Full text of the press release issued by the TNA Parliamentary Group follows:
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 10 )
|
|
|
| Politics
Political News Forum
|
|
We are still UNPers Friday, 2 March 2007 - 4:17 AM SL Time UNP dissidents Gamini Lokuge and P.Dayaratne yesterday told media that there will be no more cross overs from the UNP to the government ranks. `We want them to remain in the party and consolidate it,` he said. Asked whether those who crossed over are planning to join the SLFP, Lokuge said `we are very much with the UNP. We haven`t abandoned it. We will engage in rebuilding the party while being in the government benches,` he added. Explaining why they crossed over he said that it was a decision taken in the national interest. `We have never left the party. What we are doing is to convince the government to reactivate the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) which is dormant,` Lokuge said. `Some of Ranil Wickremesinghe`s henchmen have launched a mud slinging campaign against us via the media. It is in fact they who are covered with mud and have no policies. Ranil Wickremesinghe has no feeling for the nation and he doesn`t care about our heritage. But President Mahinda Rajapakse is a man who always cared for our heritage and makes an effort to restore it,` Lokuge said.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 13 )
Jayalalitha: `Sack Karunanidhi for turning Tamil Nadu into LTTE arms base` Thursday, 1 March 2007 - 5:03 AM SL Time NEW DELHI, February 27: Tamil Nadu`s former Chief Minister Ms Jayaram Jayalalithaa has lambasted her successor Muthuvel Karunanidhi for turning the southern Indian state into an `LTTE Arms Base` and demanded that he be sacked forthwith. In a strongly-worded statement issued in state capital Chennai on Monday, the General Secretary of the opposition All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) accused the Tamil Nadu police of not taking action to curb the movement of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militants and their activities, such as smuggling of weapons and explosives to Sri Lanka on a large scale, besides stockpiling them in the state.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 9 )
Now the world knows - Keheliya Wednesday, 28 February 2007 - 6:22 AM SL Time Defence spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told The Island that the Government had repeatedly told the international community that the LTTE was a terrorist organization which had no respect for humanity. `Not many took us seriously. Now the world can see the real picture. The LTTE mounted this attack on a delegation that went to Batticaloa to see the plight of the Tamil people. Does the international community at least now realize that the LTTE`s claim, of being the sole representative of the Tamil people, is false.`
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 19 )
|
|
|
| Business / Economy News
Business News Forum
|
|
Norway`s development co-operation to Sri Lanka in 2006 Rs. 4 Billion Friday, 2 March 2007 - 4:19 AM SL Time In 2006, Norway`s total development co-operation to Sri Lanka amounted to almost Rs. 4 billion. Of the long-term assistance provided, around 64% went to the South and the country as a whole, and 36% to the North and East, an embassy press release said. The release said: `Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar, during a visit to Hambantota district 26-28 February, stated that Hambantota would continue to receive a substantial amount of Norwegian development co-operation promoting private sector development. Norway has for the last 20 years, through NORAD, funded the Hambantota Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP). `The Ambassador stressed that economic development is one of the priority areas for Norwegian development co-operation. In 2006, Norway has provided funding to a broad range of projects, including support to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME`s) and to investments in improved infrastructure. Norway has also, together with its partners, brought about more environmentally friendly and efficient production methods in the industrial sector, increased living standards for women and their families through micro credit schemes and improved housing conditions for people in the plantation sector. A matchmaking programme, facilitating co-operation between Sri Lankan and Norwegian businesses, resulted in a number of new joint ventures. Moreover, a coastal management plan for Hambantota was prepared with Norwegian assistance.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 2 )
Politicians cash in on mobile phone expansion Friday, 2 March 2007 - 4:13 AM SL Time Corrupt local government politicians and their henchmen are cashing in on the ongoing expansion of the mobile phone industry, brazenly demanding kickbacks in the form of camera phones in return for permission to set up relay stations. `They unashamedly demand the latest, in some instances to distribute among henchmen,` an industry source told The Island yesterday. He revealed the recent instance of a Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman demanding several mobile phones including the latest camera phones. His company has met the politician`s demand. Industry sources appreciated the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, an institution under President Mahinda Rajapakse`s purview, Defence Ministry and the Central Environmental Authority for facilitating their work. `Although we obtain the required approvals from government agencies, local government authorities continue to demand bribes,` the sources said.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 4 )
Dialog tops as Sri Lanka`s most valued brand Thursday, 1 March 2007 - 5:13 AM SL Time Brand Finance releases Lanka`s Brand Index 2006 ; Key initiative by global publisher puts Sri Lanka on the world of brand valuation and helps promote brand consciousness in the country Dialog Telekom has stormed to the top spot in the Brand Finance Brand Index as Sri Lanka`s Most Valuable Brand. Despite the fact Dialog only became publicly listed in July 2005, it has already overtaken a number of well-established brands. These findings are included in an expanded index of the 50 most value brands along with a comprehensive analysis of the methodology and related articles in the March issue of LMD. Brand Finance`s Brand Index also has a separate rating for `Brand Strength`. Brand Finance`s `Brand Strength Ratings` are conceptually similar to company credit ratings. Singer, which was last year`s strongest brand, retains the top position but this year, shares it with Dialog with an AA rating.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 10 )
|
|
|
| Editorial News
Editorial News Forum
|
|
Of that `secret pact between Mahinda and Prabhakaran` Friday, 2 March 2007 - 4:21 AM SL Time The Opposition is pressuring the government to clarify its position on the allegation by the ousted Minister Sripathy Sooriayaarachchi that there is a secret pact between President Rajapakse and the LTTE. That is why, Sripathy insists, the government has confined its military campaign to the East. The real war, he believes, should be fought in the North. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Rajapakse has denied the existence of any such pact. Opposition and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe seems to have taken Sripathy`s allegation seriously. He tries to have us believe that if the LTTE had not instigated a polls boycott, which President Rajapakse`s critics say, was consequent to the so-called secret pact, he would have won the Presidential election in 2005. Even if he had won with the help of votes in the LTTE controlled areas, he would still have been rejected overwhelmingly in the South and he wouldn`t have been able to carry the people of the South along with him in fashioning a southern consensus which is a prerequisite for resolving the conflict. Remember, the US Ambassador Robert O Blake said in his address to a recent peace forum at the BMICH, `Sri Lanka has in President Rajapakse a strong leader who can use his very considerable political skills and the trust that his supporters repose in him to help fashion the southern consensus that has eluded previous governments.` Could the same thing have been said of someone rejected by the South?
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 15 )
Lanka`s kings had relations with ancient Arabs ? Judge Gafoor Thursday, 1 March 2007 - 5:05 AM SL Time Gampaha District Judge M. M. A. Gafoor welcoming the delegates from different countries of the Arab world, who had come to participate in a seminar on the concept of `Islam Yesterday and Today` said it was a great honour to welcome them to Malwana, which was considered as one of the ancient Arab settlements. According to the Mahavamsa, a local historical chronicle, the Sinhala king Pandukabaya had allocated residential quarters for foreign merchants in the capital of Anuradhapura. They were known as Yavanas. The seminar was held at the Dalugala, Kaduyath Nabaviyya Mushaffaviya mosque recently,. presided over by Sheik Ahamed Bin Mohamed Alim. Gafoor said the Arab historian Abnu Shahrayar in his book, Ajab-Ul-Hind refers to a delegate sent by the king of Sri Lanka to Arabia on hearing of the Prophet and the religion preached by him. When the delegate reached Arabia, the Prophet had died. It was the period of the Calipha Hazarath Umar. The delegate met Calipha Umar, inquired about the messenger of Islam and returned to Sri Lanka. He reported to the king of what he heard regarding the teaching of Islam. Al Balazuri, the Arab historian in his book Ul-Buldan` refers to orphan girls sent by the Lankan king to Umayya Governor, Jajjaj Ibn Yoosoof.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 1 )
A show of barbarity! Wednesday, 28 February 2007 - 6:27 AM SL Time It is with shock and dismay that we note yesterday`s dastardly terror attack in Batticaloa, where shells fired by the LTTE fell near two helicopters, injuring some foreign ambassadors who were on their way to a meeting on government invitation to discuss ways and means of resettling the war displaced. The LTTE has, true to form, trotted out a lame excuse. It says it was unaware of the presence of the foreign envoys and insists that it should have been informed of their arrival. The LTTE must go tell that to the marines. The entire Batticaloa knew the ambassadors were coming and arrangements had been made to receive them. (We thought most embassies in Colombo were in touch with the LTTE and kept it informed of the trips their bosses made to the conflict zone. Some ambassadors even meet the LTTE every so often, don`t they?) On the other hand, it was only a few days ago that the LTTE shelled the Brigade Headquarters in Jaffna, while a high level meeting was on. That meeting had kicked off one hour behind the schedule but the LTTE was aware of that delay as well! Therefore, that the LTTE didn`t know about the participation of foreign ambassadors at yesterday`s meeting is only balderdash!
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 31 )
|
|
|
| Sports News
Sports News Forum
|
|
Jaffna working hard to make 101st Big Match a reality Friday, 2 March 2007 - 4:20 AM SL Time Despite growing security concerns, the heads of the two leading cricket playing schools in Jaffna, Central College and St. John`s College have decided to play their 101st `Battle of Jaffna` annual Big Match commencing on the Ides of March. `Despite security concerns, we will try to stage the annual Big Match from March 15-17,` said S. Padmanathan, the Principal of Jaffna Central College. `We want play the match this year too, even on a low key despite all the problems,` Padmanathan said, when `The Island` contacted him. Meanwhile, Fr. Gnana Ponrajah, Principal, St. John`s College said, `we are trying our best too to make the event a reality though on a low key.` Though very little cricket is played in the peninsula, the cricketers of the two colleges play in several matches to gain momentum for the annual encounter.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Royal-Thomian Veterans` cricket encounter Thursday, 1 March 2007 - 5:14 AM SL Time The thirteenth limited overs cricket match between Old Royalists and Old Thomians for the Chulaka de Zoysa Memorial Trophy will be played on Saturday 3rd March at the SSC grounds. T. M. S. Saldin and Sashi Ganeshan will be the chief guests this year. As in the previous years, Associated Motorways Limited will sponsor the match. The final teams will be selected from the following former cricketers of both colleges. Old Thomians: Ranil Peiris (Captain), Ken de Alwis, Asanga Seneviratne, Jerome Jayaratne, Mahinda Halangoda, Nisal Fernando, Naresh Adikaram, Aruna Gunewardena, Arjuna Rajawasam, Manoj Algama, Navin Perera, Jeevan Mendis, Kawshan Silva, Tharinda Fernando, Gihan Fernando, Nishad Peiris and Dilshan Gunawardena. Old Royalists:
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Vaas rated the worst! Wednesday, 28 February 2007 - 6:26 AM SL Time Alarming new statistics show Australia had the second-worst death bowlers in world cricket during the past year. Don`t snigger. The most expensive award officially goes to: New Zealand. Courier-Mail cricket writer Robert Craddock unveiled the statistics under the headline: `Last overs are the death of us.` They clearly show which area needs the most attention for the Chappell-Hadlee series combatants as they depart for the World Cup in the Caribbean. In one-day international matches played since the start of 2006, New Zealand bowlers conceded an average of 6.68 runs per over in the last 10 overs of the innings. Australia, who played 10 more one-day internationals in that period, just avoided the wooden spoon with an economy rate of 6.64. The winners were the West Indies, who conceded 5.85 runs per over at the death.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
|
|
|
(C) 2000-2006 www.lankanewspapers.com - Sri Lankan News & Discussions - Contact Us - RSS Feed - News Archives - src - FAQ |
