Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

Major General Kamal Gunaratne, Competent Authority (CA) for the government-run camps in the north, where the war displaced are lodged, told The Hindu over the telephone that the Senior Presidential Advisor has announced that from December 1, the remaining Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are free to travel wherever they wished.

Those wanting to travel out of the relief camps can get into the convoy of buses from Vavuniya to Jaffna and visit their relatives, friends and well wishers. They can return to the camp by the same convoys , Maj. Gen. Gunaratne said.

From the village of Vijay Pura in the Indian state of Rajasthan, the global financial crisis seems remote. The downturn is something people here read about in the newspapers, according to Dhanna Singh, a member of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), a union of activists and farmers.

The villages have welcomed back migrant workers from neighbouring states, where people no longer find work twisting steel in Mumbai or polishing diamonds in Surat.

India will feature prominently in Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper`s 25-day, four-country tour of Asia.

It will be Harper`s first official trip to the country in his more than three years as prime minister.

`The South Asian tiger has awoken and the world is standing in awe,` he told gathered business leaders.

`We`re trying to re-engage, with India in particular, in a serious way that hasn`t been done since the 1970s,` Harper said.

Bihar is all set to shine as the movs are afoot to revive Nalanda University to become a modern international university, which will cater to the issues related to the South Asian countries.

It is due to the endeavor of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh that the University will be upgraded to an International Centre of Excellence not only in the field of education but also for regional understanding and co-operation among the South Asian countries.

Taking the issue to the desk of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conference held in the recent past, the PM appealed to all the members of the association to be proactive in setting up of the anticipated Nalanda International University. The SAARC members enthusiastically responded the PM`s appeal.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered that Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Sarath Fonseka be deemed to have resigned with immediate effect in spite of an earlier decision to let him continue in that post until Dec. 01, 2009.

Accordingly Gen. Fonseka`s resignation letter submitted to the President through the Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunge on Thursday took effect yesterday itself.

Gen. Fonseka informed the President of his desire to resign and enter politics officially at a one-to-one meeting on Wednesday. Although the two leaders allegedly engaged in a personality clash were expected to iron out differences at the eleventh hour, the meeting did not reach fruition. Sources described their meeting as cordial.

As Pakistan`s army battled religious extremists in South Waziristan, Karachi`s top designers sent models down catwalks with bare shoulders and exposed navels in an unusual display of skin in a country where most women cover up.

Sonya Battla, the first designer to show, presented a collection that she said celebrated strong women. She dismissed the fact that in more conservative parts of the country, her designs might get women driven out of town or stoned to death.

WASHINGTON: It was supposed to be a charm offensive, but as the day wore on she put away her charm and went on the offensive.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton`s public dressing down of Pakistan during a three-day visit there, including virtually accusing the country of complicity with al-Qaida, has shaken Washington as much as it stunned her hosts.

Her inner voice became her outer voice, Martha Raddatz, a veteran NBC correspondent said on the network. Officials in Washington were trying to keep a straight face, but there were a few gasps, she added.

Camp Bundela, Babina, India: India and the United States have concluded the largest-ever army exercise conducted by both nations which involved an impressive array of tanks, combat vehicles, anti-tank missiles and even Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Happy US commanders sent out signals that both the armed forces were ready for joint counter-insurgency and anti-terror operations in battle conditions in the future.

ISLAMABAD: Peshawar-based Mustafa Kamal has had enough: he has just got his 12-year-old son freed from a band of criminals in the lawless tribal area of Khyber agency by paying a ransom. He has left a lucrative job with Pakistan`s telecommunication department and now has the immigartion papers for Canada ready for his entire family.

``I`m lucky to have found my son alive. But I won`t take any more risk. Life has become extremely dangerous it`s not worth living here. Enough`senough,`` says Kamal.

India`s Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry plans to set up 14 innovation universities in the country from 2010 to build disciplinary focusses and push research and development.

Speaking at the CII University-Industry Council Symposium in Shibpur, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal said, We will set up 14 innovation universities with each university focusing on innovation and research in different subjects, Some of the areas identified are health, environment, new technologies for power plants, etc. We will also promote contract and auction research to raise money.

NEW DELHI: Even as the six foreign contenders in the race to bag the lucrative $10.4 billion project to supply 126 multi-role combat aircraft to Indian Air Force jostle with each other, battlelines are also being drawn on the helicopter front now.

IAF wants to buy 22 attack helicopters and 15 heavy-lift helicopters from abroad, under the overall plan of the armed forces to induct as many as 800 `rotary-wing birds` over the coming decade at an estimated cost of over Rs 20,000 crore, as reported by TOI earlier.

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka`s credit-rating outlook was raised to positive from stable by Standard & Poor`s Ratings Services, which cited improved government finances after a $2.6 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

The ratings company in a statement today affirmed Sri Lanka`s long-term foreign currency debt rating at B, five levels below investment grade.

Sri Lanka is this week selling $500 million of five-year bonds in its first international offering in two years as the island raises funds to rebuild its economy after three decades of civil war. The International Monetary Fund said on Sept. 22 it`s cautiously positive on Sri Lanka`s prospects as it reviews the economy for the release of a second payment.

Pakistan military has launched Operation Rah-i-Nijat (Path to deliverance) on October 17th in South Waziristan against foreign backed terrorists ` Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan` TTP.

It is a critical ground operation against anti-taliban insurgents supported by aerial strikes. As a pak army official put it, it is a Punitive expedition, not COIN (counter insurgency operation).

The army is supposed to take over the tribal territories within next two months.

Mumbai, Oct 11 (PTI) Refusing to bracket Naxals with terrorists, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today ruled out use of armed forces against them and said that the government is willing to hold talks with them if they abjured violence.

`They (Naxals) are banned organisations and are covered under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act,` he said replying to a question if the government proposed to declare the ultra-left groups as terror outfits.

`We are not in favour of using the armed forces against the Naxalites. The para-military forces and police are adequate (for counter-Naxal operations),` he told a press meet here and underscored the need for looking at the causes of alienation of the people, particularly the tribals.

Years back, over a weekend in a big mall in middle east, my friend and I came across a promotional event of Land Rover Defender. It was done in coordination with the recent launch of the movie `Tomb Raider`.

The event featured a Land Rover Defender and `Lara Croft`.

The young model who dressed and acted as Lara Croft was strikingly close to the on screen portrayal of Lara Croft by Angelina jolie. It was very obvious that she would go places and it was interesting to know that she was a Sri Lankan.