Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

The British government decided it was in the overwhelming interests of the United Kingdom to make Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber, eligible for return to Libya, leaked ministerial letters reveal.

Gordon Brown`s government made the decision after discussions between Libya and BP over a multi-million-pound oil exploration deal had hit difficulties. These were resolved soon afterwards.

The letters were sent two years ago by Jack Straw, the justice secretary, to Kenny MacAskill, his counterpart in Scotland, who has been widely criticised for taking the formal decision to permit Megrahi`s release.

Sources Say Agency`s Tactics Lead to Questionable Confessions, Sometimes to Death

Harsh interrogation techniques authorized by top officials of the CIA have led to questionable confessions and the death of a detainee since the techniques were first authorized in mid-March 2002, ABC News has been told by former and current intelligence officers and supervisors.

They say they are revealing specific details of the techniques, and their impact on confessions, because the public needs to know the direction their agency has chosen. All gave their accounts on the condition that their names and identities not be revealed. Portions of their accounts are corrobrated by public statements of former CIA officers and by reports recently published that cite a classified CIA Inspector General`s report.

Tim Fish, IHS Jane`s maritime reporter

London (27th February 2009) Tim Fish, IHS Jane`s maritime reporter, visited Sri Lanka in January to examine the Sri Lanka Navy`s contribution to the defeat by government forces of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) a contribution that has been almost completely ignored by western media outlets.

In a feature for Jane`s Navy International, Tim Fish reports: Bringing the conflict to a conclusion after 30 years of war would not have been possible without the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) .

Locally built `arrow` type boat

Against the backdrop of Sri Lanka`s unparalleled military victory over LTTE terrorism, foreign powers are lining up to study Sri Lanka`s modus operandi in fighting the LTTE.

Former Army Chief General Sarath Fonseka, who spearheaded the war against the LTTE, declared on the Vellimullivaikkal beach that the international community would seek Sri Lanka`s expertise as it was the only success story against terrorism since the British campaign in Malaya in the 1950s. But that was against terrorists armed with 303 rifles, whereas the Sri Lanka army faced a well equipped enemy with sea and air assets.

Mon, Aug 17, 2009

Most Singaporeans are a satisfied lot

BY JOY FANG

SINGAPOREANS are satisfied with their lives, even though they are less contented than other Asians, a regional survey showed.

In advertising firm Grey Group Asia Pacific`s study on consumer attitudes, 63 per cent of 504 Singaporeans surveyed said that they were very or somewhat satisfied with their lives.

Singapore ranked ninth on the satisfaction scale out of 16 countries surveyed. Sri Lanka topped the list with 93 per cent, while Taiwan took the last spot with only 28 per cent.

New bill to be introduced this month more representation for women in politics
By Chandani Kirinde

Legislation to outlaw political parties bearing the identity of a religion or a race will be introduced in Parliament later this month, a senior minister said yesterday.

Minister and Government Chief Whip Dinesh Gunawardena, who chaired a parliamentary select Committee on Electrical Reforms, told the Sunday Times the new draft laws would also for the first time give powers to the Elections Commissioner to de-recognise political parties if they fail to conform to the new law.

THE Melbourne trial of a stripper accused of violating the best man at a buck`s night with a strap-on pink dildo will decide the crucial issue of deliberate penetration against the unusual suggestion of possible ``accidental rape``.

A County Court jury was yesterday told to approach their task free of sympathy, emotion or bias and to put views of strippers and buck`s nights ``out of your mind``.

Prosecutor Kieran Gilligan told the jury they had to be satisfied there was penetration, if even slight, that it was deliberate, without consent and that Linda Maree Naggs, 40, knew the man was not consenting.

Adrian Lowe
July 29, 2009 - 11:59AM

Victim ... Dr Zhongjun Cao was fatally bashed as he walked home from Victoria University.

A Melbourne man who killed a university researcher in a racially motivated gang assault last year has been jailed for 15 years.

John Caratozzolo, 21, of Melton South told his group of friends he wanted to get a mobile phone from an Indian student, because they had better phones.

They then attacked 41-year-old Dr Zhongjun Cao, who they took to be of Indian descent, although he was actually Chinese.

The most serious case is that of Sri Lanka, who are two years behind. Accounts for the year ending December 2007 should have been submitted by June 2008, and those for December 2008 were due last month. They have not been paid any ICC monies in the interim.

Sujeewa Rajapakse, the treasurer of Sri Lanka Cricket, told Cricinfo the delay had been caused by a change in the country`s administration. `SLC`s auditors had completed an audit of the accounts for that particular period but by then the administration changed hands,` he said. `The new board decided to look at the issue differently and conveyed some fresh observations to the auditors, which are being worked on. We expect the auditors to complete the job by this month-end after which we will submit our accounts to the ICC.`

(7.14.09) -- The original video, uncut, of Private First Class Bowe R. Bergdahl speaking in a film made by his Taliban captors.

Good move.

By Yara Abdulhadi -Ramallah/ Palestine

It is a well known policy of international secret agents to grab and then nurse or destroy up and coming political, social or religious organizations that could have an impact on the society in the future. A few years after Velupillai Prbhakaran launched his so called liberation movement there was no shortage of money for him to run the organization and to procure arms ever at this moment LTTE has US$ 500 million to its credit.

His comment:
A tribute to the fiery unique Sri Lankan cricket team! And I am not even Sri Lankan.

The last time these two nations met on a cricket field, Sri Lanka left by helicopter gunship. A scenic bus journey through the tree-lined streets of St John`s Wood on Friday no doubt served as a contrasting - and, perhaps, cathartic - experience for those concerned, but the preceding three hours at Lord`s proved, in pure cricketing terms, just how little had changed for Sri Lanka in the intervening three months.

The world will inevitably remember the second Test at Lahore for the bullets that tore through flesh and innocence outside the gates to the Gadaffi Stadium. In the circumstances, the scoreline of the match seems trivial to the point of irrelevance the counting of runs giving way to the counting of bodies.

Chaminda Perera

*Over 2,120 people of 551 families resettle today

*Over 7,000 acres in Musali DS division to be brought under plough

The resettlement of over 2,120 people belonging to 551 families in their original homes will begin in the Musali DS division in Mannar today under the resettlement of IDPs Phase II in the Northern province.

According to Resettlement and Relief Services Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, these families from seven Grama Niladhari Divisions in the Musali DS division will be provided dry rations and kitchen utensils by the Government.