News Archive for Feb 2011

Well, well, well! So that's what they were up to!
MahamahaRaja
 Sri Lanka's enemies have been relatively quiet over the past year or so. Yes, there was all that kerfuffle just as the war ended and soon afterwards, but after the defeat of the meddlers at the UN Human Rights Commission in late 2009, things did quieten down. While the articles, the lectures and the condescending utterances from various members of the anti-Sri Lanka brigade disappeared from view, there remained only the impotent background static of the various Tamil diaspora groups.  These people, having sung stirring praises for the LTTE during its campaign of terror, now made lamenting wails... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/02/11)

71 කැරැල්ල - 34 කොටස
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග
 උපවංශ අකුරුගොඩ නොහොත් සිරි අයියා-උපවංශ අකුරුගොඩ නොහොත් සිරි අයියා 71 සංසදයේ වර්තමාන සභාපතිය.. ඔහුට සිරි අයියා යන නාමය පබැදුනේ රහස් පොලීසියේ දී  බව බොහෝ දෙනා නොදනිති. සෑම දෙනාම අද ඔහුව හඳුන්වන්නේ සිරි අයියා වශයෙනි. අපි සිරි අයියාට සවන් දෙමු.  ‘මම දේශපාලනය කලේ ෂන් සමඟ චීන පිලේ. ඒ කාලයේ තමයි මට විජේවීර හමු උනේ. විජේවීර කිව්වා සමාජවාදි සමාජයක් බිහි කරන්න අවශ්‍යයි. සමාජවාදය කවදාවත් පාර්ලිමේන්තු  ක‍්‍රම තුලින් බිිහිවෙලා නැහැ. අපට සන්නද්ධ අරගලය හැර වෙන විකල්පයක් නැහැ. ශන්මුගදාස් තුලින් මේක කෙරෙන්නේ නැහැ. ජේ.ආර්. ජයවර්ධන හමුදා ආණ්ඩුවක් හැදුවොත් අපි කොහොම මුහුණ දෙන්නේ? දැනටමත් බෙන්තොට කළු ගලෙන්  ඇමරිකානු හමුදාවට ඉන්න... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/02/11)

ELIZBETH TAYLOR OF OLD CEYLON’S ELEPHANT PASS RECOVERING FROM HEART AILMENT
By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles
Elizabeth Taylor, the British born Hollywood actress, very close to the hearts of her fans in Sri Lanka ever since her arrival in the Indian Ocean island to play the  female lead of the film Elephant Walk is getting better in a hospital after admitting for congestive heart failure, her agent said.   The two times Oscar winner (78) did not have to undergo surgery or did not suffer a stroke in the Cedar Sinai hospital where she continues to stay the representative added. "Elizabeth Taylor's doctors continue to be encouraged... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/02/11)

කෙටි කථාව - "හිමවතිය"
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම්. ජයතුංග
 ගුවන්යානා සේවිකාවන් යනු කරුණාවන්ත රූබර හා සිත් වශීකරගන්නා කොටසක් බව අතීතයේ මා සිතා සිටියද එම අදහස වැරදි බව ප‍්‍රත්‍යක්ෂ වී බොහෝ කාලයක් ගත වී ඇත. එම නිසා මෙවර ගුවන්යානයට නැගීමේ දී ගුවන්යානා සේවිකාවගේ සිනහව, කාරුණික වදනක් මම අපේක්ෂා නොකෙළෙමි. පර්යන්ත එ්කකයේ සිට ගුවන්යානාවේ ෙදාරටුව දක්වා සෙමින් ඇදී ගිය පෝලිමක මධ්‍යයේ සිටි මා ටර්මිනාලයත් ගුවන්යානාවේ ෙදාරටුවත් අතර ඇති සංවෘත්ත පාලමක් වැනි කොටසට අවතීර්ණ වූයේ එය කඩා වැටේදෝ යන දෙගඩියාවෙනි. එහෙත් අතීතයේ එවැනි සිද්ධියක් වාර්තා වී නොමැති බවත් අනාගතයේද එවැන්නක් සිදුවිය නොහැකි නිසාත් වර්තමානයේදී එය එසේ සිදු නොවන බව මට වැටහිණි.  ගුවන්යානාවේ ෙදාරටුව අභියසදී නිල් පැහැති නිල... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/02/11)

In this exclusive, Lankaweb presents the second part of the introduction to H. L. D. Mahindapala’s book titled:The bloody road from Vadukoddai to Nandkadal-Part II
Part II
 Before I go any further, it must also be mentioned that this publication is not meant to fall into the usual category of academic theses written for doctoral awards supervised and approved by the professoriat ruling the departments of history, political science, and other social sciences. I am a journalist by profession and I write outside the academic loop which, of course, has its own advantages and disadvantages.  As a journalist I kept to my schedule of writing the history of the passing day. Historians write analyses of days, months and years put together. Besides, as a... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/02/11)

Addition of Rituals to Buddhist Practices
Article 3 Rituals in Buddhist Practices: Buddhism is devoid of any ceremony or ritual of initiation or admission, such as the Upanayana in Hinduism or baptism in Christianity.  The traditional method of becoming a Buddhist is to observe the Three-Refuges (tisarana) and the Five-Precepts (pañca-sila) with the Confidence of the Triple Gem (the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha).   Confidence (shradhaãwa) in Buddhism is not the same as Faith (bhaktiya). In the practice of Buddhism, it is also important to understand the meanings of Buddhist stanzas that are usually recited in Pãli.  Recitation without understanding the meaning or commitments... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/02/11)

Eric Fromm’s views on the Buddhist Philosophy
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
 Buddhism helps man to find an answer to the question of his existence, an answer which is essentially the same as that given in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and yet which does not contradict the rationality, realism, and independence which are modern man's precious achievements. Paradoxically, Eastern religious thought turns out to be more congenial to Western rational thought than does Western religious thought itself.-Erich Fromm   The Social Psychologist and Humanistic Philosopher Eric Fromm was vastly influenced by Freud and Karl Heinrich Marx. He became a follower of Neoanalytic tradition.  In later years Fromm started reading... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/02/11)

SRI LANKAN CRICKET- HOPELESS MIDDLE ORDER
By M D P DISSANAYAKE
Arjuna Ranatunga, even though is on the wrong end of political aspirations, is definitely a lover of Sri Lanka.   Most recently  AR correctly pointed out the fact that middle order of Sri Lankan batting line up is weak and either Sangakkara or Jayawardena  should bat down the batting order. We have depended too much on Angelow Mathews and Tissara Perera.  We have exposed them too early to the highest grade of international cricket.  If the team had the players of the caliber of Sanath Jayasuriya, he would have taken valuable number of wickets restricting... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/02/11)

Irritation in Irrigation—the “Gama-Kana” Engineering in the downstream (Part 19-VII)
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony (Part 19-VII) Although the origin of the vernacular idiom “Gama-kanawa” is not known, when asked an engineer of Irrigation Department of his work, he had answered in one word, “Gama-Kanawa.” By this single termed expression, he had explained a thousand words about his innate frustration of the nature of his work. It also revels that there are many engineers who silently weeping about the very destruction they cause upon the lives of masses and to a historical landscape of its ancient fabric of agricultural infrastructure of a country... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/02/11)

Are the Afghans one of the lost tribes of Israel?
Poetic Politics with Lyndall Beddy
It was in the nineteenth century …that the West began to take a more serious interest in the countries of the Far East, and reports began to filter in from several Western explorers describing their astonishment at encountering tribes all over the north-west of India who were clearly of Jewish descent. The missionary doctor Joseph Wolff, for example, reported: All the Jews of Turkistan assert that the Turkomauns are the descendents of Togarmah, one of the sons of Gomar, mentioned in Genesis 10:3…..but in the reign of Gheghis Khan they lost all their written... -Full Story- (newstime.co.za - 27/02/11)

Despite 29 Extras Team Sri Lanka Falls Short of Victory
Dilrook Kannangara
Pakistan team was in disarray after a series of dilemmas not to mention the dire state the nation is in. But they have put all that to the back of their heads, played a long and hard game to win a crucial match. Odds were stacked against Sri Lanka from the start. In all previous six meetings at World Cup matches of these two teams, Team Pakistan won. That is a remarkable record to have. Now it stands 7-0 to Pakistan. Not winning the toss was another bad omen. Pakistani batsmen played with... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/02/11)

Sri Lanka Capitulate to Pakistan At Premadasa So Are They Still Favourites To Win The Cup?
Top Spin By Suni
26th Feb.2011   In the aftermath of Sri Lanka's game against Pakistan today it certainly doesn't seem definitive despite all the media hype as there appears to be some work to be done! Hopefully the selectors will not have to rue the day thay have left out possible key performers in very recent history and more hopefully the decisions have not been based on egocentric decision making casting aside the entitled merits of certain deserving players to accommodate favourites which in the minds of some cricket analysts seems to have been the order of the day when the final 16 was... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/02/11)

Sri Lanka mulls major reforms in stock trading
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan government is planning major reforms in the stock trading system. Sri Lanka’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will introduce a minimum free float for all listed firms on the Colombo Stock Exchange this year, the securities regulator’s director general said. Lack of free float has been one of the main concerns in what has been Asia’s best-performing bourse for the last two years as many institutional investors and funds have shied away because they cannot get enough shares. When companies get listed for the main board of the Colombo Exchange, they will have to float 25 per... -Full Story- (gulftoday.ae - 26/02/11)

The Travels of a Journalist—58-Journey to Port Townsend and return trip on U.S. 101
By Shelton A. Gunaratne ©2011Professor of mass communications emeritus
Minnesota State University Moorhead
 Sunday (20 Aug. 1989) morning, all of us got up early to beat the rush for public washrooms at the Illahee State Park’s campgrounds. My mother said she relished sleeping in the tent flanked by her grandchildren Carmel, 5, and Junius, 9, just as our extended family did back in Sri Lanka. She confessed, however, that she did not have a good night’s rest because of the novelty of lying on the ground in a sleeping bag. [Currently, the Illahee State Park offers 62 standard campsites,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/02/11)

West must allow self-determination for Libya - Putin
Published: 25 February, 2011, 08:30
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has warned Western countries against attempts of meddling in the Arab world to try to impose democracy. Speaking after talks with the EU leadership, he said that previous efforts along those lines had led to victories for governments the West is now fighting to contain. “Today, we say we're concerned about things happening in Libya. But the North African cell of Al-Qaeda is also concerned about what is happening in Libya. Do you think this is a coincidence?” the Russian PM asked.... -Full Story- (rt.com - 26/02/11)

Defaulting on dictators: hunt for Gaddafi's loot begins
With Gaddafi’s hold on power fading fast, financial authorities in the UK and Switzerland say they are in the process of freezing the Libyan leader’s accounts, while the embattled government denies such funds exist. ­Switzerland on Thursday ordered a freeze of any assets being held by Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Swiss banks. The Swiss government says it ordered the freeze “in view of the developments” in Libya, where security forces have initiated a crackdown against anti-government demonstrations.... -Full Story- (rt.com - 26/02/11)

Avoiding a Calamity
MahamahaRaja
Whenever western media report on Sri Lanka, they are always very keen to point out that while the Sinhalese may be happy that the war is over, Tamils often, privately, confess to them that they are weary. These journalists insinuate, and sometimes openly state, that most Tamils still want self-rule over the northern and eastern regions which they dominate today. While some of this is wishful thinking on the part of the media, there is definitely some truth to their claims. Although a Sri Lankan effort, ultimately it was Sinhalese nationalism which brought about the victory over Tamil... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/02/11)

TAMIL DIASPORA’S PIPE DREAM
Dr. Raju Selva
I am, being one of them at early stages of LTTE, have written many letters to the print media and the cyberspace against the actions of the Tamil Diaspora (TD). When LTTE was at its peak, I begged the Tamil Diaspora to stop supporting and funding LTTE as LTTE will never achieve what TD wants. I have made it clear that it’s not the Tamils living in Sri Lanka who want an Eelam but it’s the TD who wants Eelam whilst living in luxury in affluent countries; giving their children best of education whilst their brethren... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/02/11)

Secret behind young looking!
Dr.Tilak Fernando
[Tips to look young] * Secret is in our mind * Cultivate unadulterated mind * Compassionate heart * Relaxation * Recreation * Cultivating patience Is it a wish, myth or a fact that men reach their passionate prime at the age of 18 and women at 31? Is age nothing but a number? This is what some researchers have been trying to discover from time to time. During a survey, a group of women have come strongly against the thought that ‘age is just a number’ and calling it a... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/02/11)

No intention to re-apply for GSP -SL
The Sri Lanka government has said that it has no intention to re-apply for the GSP+ facility as it is a ‘closed issue’ for them, the visiting European Union Parliamentary delegation told the media a short while ago. “The government indicated to us that the GSP+ is now a closed issue that it has no interest in pursuing any further or re-applying for the concession. The government now hopes to look toward small and medium enterprise development with the EU- move on from the GSP+ issue and develop a better relationship,” Head of the European Parliamentary Delegation for Relations with... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 25/02/11)

Report: U.S. will slip to world's third biggest economy by 2050
By Daily Mail Reporter
The report also identifies 11 countries that will drive significant gains in global growth: Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, Nigeria, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. All of these relatively poor countries are primed to become attractive areas for investment, given their favourable demographics and robust array of natural resources. Buiter also says that growth should be easier for these countries if they create market economies and invest in human and physical capital.... -Full Story- (dailymail.co.uk - 25/02/11)

Over 80 arrested in Sri Lanka election violence
A total of 86 people have been arrested in Sri Lanka for political violence in the run-up to the March 17 local elections, police said Friday. Police officials said that the arrests were in connection with 73 incidents which were dominated by physical assault, verbal abuse, election offices damaging and illegal display of propaganda material. People's Action for Free and Fair Elections, a leading Sri Lankan election watchdog said they have logged 87 cases of election related violence. "Most of these are intra-party clashes among candidates of the same party. We wish to draw the attention of political parties to... -Full Story- (english.people.com.cn - 25/02/11)

Lanka Web presents the introduction to H. L. D. Mahindapala’s book titled:
The bloody road from Vadukoddai to Nandikadal.
 Part 1
The post-Prabhakaran period, settling down to a new era far removed from the blinding smoke of gun fire and exploding bombs, opens up new perspectives to view the past that was dominated by dogmatic ideologies, theories and formulas constructed for the analysis of the convulsive events that shook the nation to its foundations ever since the Jaffna Vellahla elite declared war on the rest of the nation on May 14, 1976 in the Vadukoddai Resolution – the most explosive force in the post-independence history of Sri Lanka. Eliminating the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/02/11)

Sri Lanka in International Diplomacy – Policies and Fallacies
Dr Bandula Kothalawala
According to some informed sources in London, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has been in consultation with the Government of Australia on how to “handle Sri Lanka” at the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Perth in October this year. Apparently, the FCO is adamant that there should be “minimal direct contact” with the Sri Lankan delegation, especially with President Mahinda Rajapaksa held responsible for “war crimes” allegedly to have been committed in the final stages of the conflict in 2009. This is, perhaps, no news to those knowledgeable about the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/02/11)

Salient Features of Ancient Irrigation Systems in Sri Lanka (Part 19-VI)
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony (Part 19 VI) This is the second part of the emailed article of Udula continued from the part 19-V. In this part after presenting three more technological components, Udula goes to explain few cases that has brought destruction to the multi-functional ancient system.    Katakuluwewas : Silt trap tanks built across a canal on a place a little above its confluence with the reservoir. The function is to trap silt before entering into the reservoir. Present day, all the diverted water from perennial sources is simply released to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/02/11)

Karu Jayasuriya had looked at Egypt through the wrong end of the binoculars, therefore owes an apology to President Mahinda Rajapakse.
By Charles.S.Perera
 "The UNP’s Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya had said that Egypt has proved that every tyrant has his day of reckoning and therein lies the hope for those of us in Sri Lanka, who witness with each passing day, the dictatorial aspirations of the current regime. There are deep lessons for all Sri Lankans, oppressed and oppressor alike, in the peoples’ revolt that changed the course of Egyptian history, and the world, last night,’’  – The Sunday Island 13 February 2011.  This political treasure hunter Karu Jayasuriya has a short memory. But fortunately  the Sri Lankan voters  on... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/02/11)

Defeating Adversaries: Wadeehasinha Mohottiwatte (Migettuwaththe) GUNANANDA THERA
Dr. Daya Hewapathirane
 HISTORICAL CONTEXT  The 'Panadura Vadaya', the historic debate of 1873, was a landmark in recent history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka owing primarily to the leadership, initiative and actions of one of the greatest sons of our motherland - Venerable Mohottiwatte or Migettuwaththe Gunananda Thera (1823-1890). He defeated our nation’s adversaries and was the major force behind re-establishing the identity and pride of Sinhala Buddhists who were subject to undue oppression and discrimination during the colonial era. The significance of Venerable Mohottiwatte Gunananda Thera’s can be better appreciated when one considers the repressive colonial historical... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/02/11)

Religion before Nationality!
Anura Seneviratna (for expat Hela team).    
Nation and Religion needs clarification. While human races of people lived in various parts of the world nurtured by different languages and cultures, mankind inherited a more powerful mind with potential to think much more than other living beings. Some things mankind could not comprehend left to ones imagination to take the better of led to the belief of a mythical world. Although, living beings continued with off-springs and little acorns held its continuity, races of mankind tend to believe in being re-born after death with a craving to live for evermore.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/02/11)

Ancient mummy was a blonde!
Historians even found some text about her—this is not a joke. A 2000-year-old book by Roman author Pliny the Elder says explorers from Taprobane (now Sri Lanka) claimed to have discovered, west of China, a bizarre tribe “taller than humans, with fair hair and blue eyes, who spoke in an uncouth way”.... -Full Story- (mrjam.typepad.com - 24/02/11)

Getting the Record Straight on the Whys' and the 'Wherefores' of Sri Lanka
By J.B. Müller
Let’s get the record straight.  I am a Sri Lankan living in Sri Lanka and returned HOME  after working in countries from the People’s Republic of China to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for more than one and a half decades.  I came back to home and hearth because no country I ever lived and worked in, and that’s 10 countries could compare with my Motherland despite all their development.  Beyond the super-highways, concrete and glass I looked at the natures of the peoples I interacted with.  To me the basic nature of the average Sri... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/02/11)

Enna Dinawanna video - Lahiru Perera, A Sri Lanka cricket song for World cup 2011
... -Full Story- (youtube.com - 24/02/11)

Hot & Spicy (2011 Cricket World Cup Song Sri Lanka) - Bathiya & Santhush
... -Full Story- (youtube.com - 24/02/11)

2011 Cricket World Cup Song Sri Lanka - Enna Enna) - Lahiru Perera
... -Full Story- (youtube.com - 24/02/11)

Fishermen Issue With India is Resolved: Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka today expressed "satisfaction" over resolution of the issue of fishermen with India, saying it "deeply values" close bilateral relations with the country. Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister G L Peiris told parliament here that the issue of fishermen between India and Sri Lanka has been resolved. "It is a matter of deep satisfaction that we have been able to receive this matter amicably," Peiris said. Cataloguing the events including the deaths of two Indian fishermen blamed on the Sri Lankan Navy in January and the arrest of Indian fishermen in Sri Lanka, Peiris said that the level of... -Full Story- (news.outlookindia.com - 24/02/11)

Updated: Tamil man indicted for Sri Lankan murders
under the news category, by Nicoleta-Madlina Sincan.
The man, arrested last January, stands accused of killing three persons on behalf of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during a conflict in Sri Lanka. The first victim was a police officer killed in 2004. The other two were members of a rival Tamil group, murdered in May 2006. According to Per Zimmer, police lawyer at Kripos (Norwegian Criminal Police), the Tamil man is thought to have connections with the LTTE, and it is believed the organization contracted him. “We are investigating the matter on the basis he has had a... -Full Story- (theforeigner.no - 24/02/11)

71 කැරැල්ල 33 කොටස
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග
 කොටවල දේවසිරි-කොටවල දේවසිරි භික්ෂුව 71 කැරැල්ලේදි සනිටුහන්වූ තවත් චරිතයකි. වර්තමානයේදි උපැදිව ව්‍යාපාර කටුයතු වල යෙදෙන ඔහු නමින් ධර්මදාස ය. ඔහු මෙසේ කීය.  ‘1968 දි මම විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ශිෂ්‍යයෙක්. මම හිටියේ තුන්වෙනි වසරේ. 1969 වෙන කොට මම පූර්ණකාලිනයෙකු බවට පත් උනා. මට පන්ති කලේ ධර්මසේකර ගංගොඩවිලදි.  රුපියල් 57,000 බැංකු සොරකමේ දි කොල්වින් හෙවත් ලංකා බැංකුවේ යෝර්ක් වීදියේ බැංකු ලිපිකරු මුදල් රැගෙන පියතිලක සමඟ සංඝාරාමයට පැමිණිලා තියනවා. ඔහුට සිවුරු පොරවලා හලාවත  විහාරයකට පිටත් කලේ මිණිපේ සෝභිත. මෙම අවස්ථාවට මගේ නම ඈදිලා තිබුනත් මම එදා එතන හිටියේ නැහැ.  1971 අපේ‍්‍රල් 5දා උදේ මම ගිහි ඇඳුමින් ඊබට් සිල්වා බස්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/02/11)

Human intelligence far superior but robots in hot pursuit
By Philip Fernando, former Deputy Editor, Sunday Observer
 IBM’s giant-sized robot “Watson”-named after its founder, faced two champions of the TV general knowledge-quiz “Jeopardy” and clobbered them at a 3-day event held in New York. However, when asked the tricky question under the category American cities, it flunked. The question was “Its largest airport is named for a World War II hero; it’s second largest for a World War II battle,” Watson answered “Toronto” instead of Chicago.  He failed to recognize the distinguishing category ‘US cities’ even though he had being loaded with unlimited data on airports compared to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/02/11)

Is “science” a Sudda’s intellectual property?— Salient features of “ethical science” in traditional irrigation systems of Sri Lanka (Part 19-V)
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony (Part 19 V)  When we think of science, it invokes us something belongs to the west, a “white gift” wrapped in white mythology. But however we try hard to white wash it, science emerges as pure, proving that it is not a white “thing”, but polluted by a lot of western trash. Science was there ever since the man began to deal with nature. That means the original concept of science was envisioned among peoples who fist civilized. The story of mankind tells who that man was and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/02/11)

Opposition not supporting Bill C-49
Asoka Weerasinghe (C11255047) Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 Canada
23 February 2011 Hon. Jason Kenney, PC, MP Minister of Citizenship & Immigration House of Commons, Ottawa  Dear Jason: I appreciate you soliciting for my opinion on the Opposition, the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc not supporting the Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada’s Immigration System Act Bill C-49, as I do have an opinion. The Federal and Provincial politics in the Greater Toronto Area that has embraced the Tamil terrorists the LTTE (aka Tamil Tigers) and the WTM, their proxy organizations and their... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/02/11)

Face to Face - Interview with Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
 Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
1)    Marina Stern migrated to North America from Russia in early nineties and she experienced her life during the Soviet period, the era of Perestroika and the epoch of the   transition to Capitalism. Graduated from the Ivan Franko State University in the USSR, Marina is now working as a teacher. She has teaching experience for over 20 years and has trained thousands of students form more than 30 countries. Today in the interview she would like to shear her life experiences with the readers.    1)    What was your  experience living    when you were living... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/02/11)

Natural Disasters and Financial Burdens in Australia.
Vajiragnana Warnakulasuriya, Melbourne
The Prime Minister of Australia Hon.Julia Gillard,  Dear Prime Minister,  Natural Disasters and Financial Burdens in Australia.  At the outset let me congratulate Madam Prime Minister you, and Premier of Queensland Anna Bligh for an excellent professionalism both maintained during the recent tragic events. Both Ladies unashamedly showed their emotions witnessing the heartrending events of the unfortunate victims.  We have witnessed the devastation of life and property due to the Floods and the Cyclone Yasi in Queensland, Northern Territory and also the forest fires in Western Australia. Indeed year 2011 started off with natural and man-made... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/02/11)

Sri Lanka coming up with huge port project in South
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is coming up with a huge port project at Hambantota in the south of the island country. This was stated by the Sri Lankan Minister for Justice, Rauff Hakeem. He was talking to media in Colombo during the inaugural ceremony of the General Sales Agent (GSA) office of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in the Sri Lankan capital. PIA has re-launched its flights from Karachi to Colombo after a gap of over three years. The GSA office of PIA in Colombo was inaugurated by the Managing Director of the national carrier, Captain Nadeem Yousufzai... -Full Story- (brecorder.com - 23/02/11)

Extreme Care Should be Taken by Reconciliation Groups When Handling the Tamil Diaspora
Dilrook Kannangara
A number of good hearted Samaritans have started reconciliation groups across the world in a move to engage the Tamil Diaspora. It is a good move. Few friendly meetings with good food and good fun took place already. At the end of these cordial meetings, participants resolve to further advance their informal groups. The idea is to engage not isolate the Tamil Diaspora. An unconditional friendship making has entirely nothing wrong. It is a must in expatriate Sri Lankan communities. However, hiding behind these good spirited moves is a sinister plan of sections of the Tamil... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/02/11)

The World Today Is Loaded With Apathetically Misguided Tamil Tiger Supportives Who Will Stop At Nothing To Discredit The Government!
LankaWeb Weekly Editorial
Feb 22nd 2011 They surface in all parts of the globe, these apathetically misguided Tamil Tiger supportives who never seem to give up their futile attempts to discredit the Government of Sri Lanka and top ranking officials, with no tangible evidence never caring whom they target and this time they have picked on one of Sri Lanka's most respected career diplomats, an intellectual and someone whose credibilities soar mountains above the pitiful bleatings of the voice engines of a dismantled, disrupted and destroyed terrorist organization from opposite sides of the Atlantic whose signals however are at... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/02/11)

Is your doctor a 'black market mudalali' ?
By Ananda KANNANGARA- Courtesy Daily News
Mithripala Sirisena Pic: Vipula Amarasinghe Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena's recent remarks over the conduct of private hospitals and doctors engaged in private practice were appreciated by people in the country. According to Minister Sirisena, private hospitals overcharge patients even for minor ailments. Minister Sirisena made these remarks at a ceremony held in Colombo where 844 medical graduates received their internship letters. The Minister indirectly urged this group of medical graduates to think about the financial status of patients and serve them in a human manner... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/02/11)

SAUDI ARABIA/SRI LANKA: Rizana Nafeek's life is still in great danger
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
One of the fishermen who returned after to Sri Lanka after being captured by Somali pirates described to the BBC Sinhala Service how the Sri Lankan government had done nothing to assist or save those who were captured. The man reported that he had learned that the Foreign Affairs Ministry officers had said, "Nothing can be done for those who go to other person's lands to pluck coconuts". This is despite the fact that the ministry spokesmen made public statements saying that they were doing everything possible to save the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/02/11)

Tunisia, Egypt, and Sri Lanka – Part II: The Usual Suspects Unusually Silent
MahamahaRaja
It can’t be stopped now. Ordinary people – students, workers, teachers, professors, doctors, nurses, journalists, lawyers, religious, secular, men, women, even children – these ordinary citizens, these average Joes, these huddled masses yearning to breathe free, they have all awoken now. Across the Middle East and North Africa, they, the people, have shown courage, bravery, moral fortitude, strength and above all else, an unrelenting determination to claim for themselves freedoms and liberties long withheld from them by their foreign-backed rulers, rights which we in Sri Lanka take for granted.  But from Libya to Bahrain, from Jordan to Egypt,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/02/11)

Development is not only meant for stomach but also for the wits. (Part-19 IV)
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony (Part 19 IV)  Please be advised that the article titled “What does man want from development”…Awsadahamy asks” is the part 19-III of this article.   Native philosophy of development reaffirms the right to life of all beings; not only of the fittest, but also of flora and fauna. The eastern philosophy investigates man and his existence, his nature of being as a part of a universe where he has been positioned in his proper place in relation to a larger function of nature. Above all, the distinctiveness of his... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/02/11)

SRI LANKA’S MAIN OPPOSITION PARTY’S INTERNAL CONSPIRACIES.
A.A.M.Nizam.– Matara.
The UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera, who earned the nickname of being Sri Lanka’s Goebles for the enormous rubbish of doctored gossips spread by him about purchase by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family members prominent hotels, large tea, rubber and coconut estates, large residential complexes, luxury houses and so on,　 during the campaign for the last Presidential election and the General Election held in last April, seems to have been given the errand by the United National Party hierarchy, or someone or some groups in the UNP to destroy UNP’s leadership aspirant Sajith Premadasa politically.　 　The Lankanewsweb... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/02/11)

The Travels of a Journalist—57-Mother, 76, learns joy of camping at Illahee State Park in Bremerton
By Shelton A. Gunaratne ©2011 Professor of mass communications emeritus
Minnesota State University Moorhead
The 75-acre Illahee State Park, a waterfront recreational area that offers camping, hiking and boating to the public, is located in the unincorporated hamlet of Illahee, just north of East Bremerton, on Port Orchard Bay area of the Puget Sound. The park is known for one of its proud possessions—a 400-year-old evergreen conifer called the Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia). "Illahee" means earth or country in the Native American tradition. Washington State purchased the land for the park in seven parcels between 1934 and 1954. Illahee... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/02/11)

If India is a friend of Sri Lanka it should have accepted the Sri Lanka Government’s denial of shooting Indian fishermen.
By Charles.S.Perera
 Much has been written on India’s pseudo-friendly relationship with Sri Lanka. I am sure the government of Sri Lanka is aware of this dubious role of India, but does not want to openly accept it as India is capable of even intervening militarily with Sri Lanka just to please the Tamil Nadu politicians who lack political intelligence, and are politically infantile. In other words the TamilNadu politicians are foolish and emotional, rather than being intelligent and mature. Therefore they are capable of even breaking away from India merely to “teach a lesson” to the Central Government for... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/02/11)

HC Levy wants Sri Lanka to accommodate Tamil Diaspora
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester. Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada
20 February 2011  His Excellency Bruce Levy  High Commissioner for Canada in Sri Lanka  Canadian High Commission Gregory Road Colombo 7, SRI LANKA  Dear Bruce Levy: Having just returned from a short holiday in Cuba, it was with great trepidation that I read your comment of concern that, “HC Levy wants Sri Lanka to accommodate Canadian Tamil Diaspora”.   Accommodate what may I ask? Surely you are not requesting the Sri Lankan government to give them one-third of the real estate of the north and east of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/02/11)

බෙදුම්වාදයේ ආරම්භය-3
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
‍ලෝකය නිර්මාණය සම්බන්ධව හින්දු මතවාදය ඉතා සිත්ගන්නා සුළු වන අතර, එය මැවීමකට පමණක් සීමා ‍නොකර, ‍‍‍ලෝකය නිර්මාණය හා බැදුන විනාශයක් සම්බන්ධවද, යලි නිර්මාණය වීම සම්බන්ධවද කථා කරමින් ගලා යන අඛණ්ඩ ක්‍රියාවලියක් ‍සේ අපට පෙන්වා ‍දෙයි ‍මෙහි නිර්මාණකරුවා මහා බ්‍රහ්මයා වන අතර, ඔහු විසින් මිනිසා .‍ ‍මේ පෘතුවිය තුල නිර්මාණය කර ඇත. ‍මෙම නිර්මාණ‍යෙහි විශේෂත්වය වන්‍ නේ, ස්වකීය නිර්මාණයන් වන මිනිසා, මනාව ‍බෙදුම්වාද‍යෙන් ‍පෝෂණය කර නිර්මාණය කිරීමට ‍මෙහි නිර්මාණ කරුවා වන මහා බ්‍රහ්මයා කටයුතු සිඳුකර තිබිමයි. ‍මේ භූමි‍යෙහි ඉහලම තල‍යේ බුද්ධිමතුන් ලෙස සලකන බ්‍රහමන වංසිකයින්, මහා බ්‍රහ්මයා‍ගේ මුඛ‍යෙන්ද අනිකුත් සමාජ ‍කොටස්  ඔහු‍ගේ අනිකුත් ශරීර ‍කොටස් තුලින් නිර්මාණය... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/02/11)

ඊලාම් යුද්ධයට ගොදුරු වූ ළමුන්
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම්. ජයතුංග
‘‘යුද්ධය හා ඊට  ආනුශංගිකව සිදු වූ  අවතැන් වීම් නිසා ළමුන්ගේ මානසික සෞඛ්‍යය බෙහෙවින් අසමබර තත්ත්වයකට පත්ව ඇත. එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ විවිධ සම්මුතීන්ට අනුකූලව ළමුන්ගේ මානසික සෞඛ්‍යයට යුදධයෙන් සිදුවන බලපෑම් අඩු කිරීම සඳහා පියවර ගැනීම සියළු ජාතින්ගේ යුතුකම වේ.’’- මහාචාර්්‍යය විලියම් යූල් -  වත්මන් යුධ ගැටුම් නිසා විපතට පත්වූවන්ගෙන් 80% කටත් වඩා සංඛ්‍යාවක් කාන්තාවන් හා ළමුන් බව UNICEF ආයතනය මගින් මෑතකදී වාර්තාකර ඇත. ඊලාම් යුද්ධය පැවති අවදියේදී ඉතාම පහසුවෙන් පීඩාවන්ට ගොදුරු විය හැකි කොට්ඨාශයක් වන ළමුන්, දැඩි කම්පන සහගත අවස්ථාවන් වලට ගොදුරු වනු දක්නා ලදී. ශී‍්‍ර ලංකාව තුල වසර 30 ක් තිස්සේ පැවති අවිගත් ගැටුම් වල ප‍්‍රතිඵලයක්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/02/11)

Actress-MP Paba assaulted allegedly by husband in the presence of her security guards
By Mario Perera, Kadawata
 There was a detailed article on this subject in the Lakbima Newspaper this morning. The article begins by stating that Paba ‘hogs the spotlight for all the wrong reasons’. This is not entirely true. She does take a bow and rightly so for activities in line with her talent, which is acting, singing and dancing. The ‘wrong reasons’ have to do with what is beyond the pale of her innate and cultivated qualities. Paba came into the limelight through a widely followed television series. Then she hit the political headlines by becoming a staunch... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/02/11)

Fishermen's meet resolves not to cross IMBL
Staff Reporter
A day after 136 fishermen, held captive and released by Sri Lanka, arrived here on Indian shores, fisherfolk from Karaikal and Nagapattinam met here on Sunday to evolve a possible rapprochement to the question of recurrent attacks on fisherfolks. Four resolutions were passed and accepted here by all fishing habitations of Nagapattinam and Karaikal. Accordingly, fisherfolk shall henceforth not cross the International Maritime Boundary Line and any wanton breach of this would invite penalty.... -Full Story- (thehindu.com - 20/02/11)

Lankan navy stops 2,400 fishermen
Press Trust Of India
About 2400 fishermen, who put out to sea from here in 600 mechanised boats, were allegedly stopped in mid-sea off this coastal town by the Sri Lankan Navy on Sunday morning and asked to return. President of local fishermen’s association Yesu Raja told reporters here that the Sri Lankan Naval men, wh o came in four boats warned them at “gunpoint” to return while they were fishing between Dhanushkodi and Katchatheevu and that they had crossed the International Maritime Boundary Line... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 20/02/11)

Two doctors accused of drugging and sexually assaulting woman
Daniela Germano
Two doctors have been charged Friday for allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman at a downtown hotel on Sunday. Police believe there may be more victims. The victim met with the two men at a hotel bar on Queen St. W. and University Ave. Sunday, police said. The men said they would provide her with career advice, police added. The woman was later taken to a second bar in the Wellington St. W. and Spadina Ave. area, where they allegedly put an unknown substance in her drink.... -Full Story- (thestar.com - 20/02/11)

Portuguese wrote the darkest imperialist chapter-Book review: A 16th Century Clash of Civilizations, the Portuguese Presence in Sri Lanka by Dr. Susantha Goonatilake
H. L. D. Mahindapala-Editor, Sunday and Daily Observer (1990 - 1994). President, Sri Lanka Working Journalists' Association (1991 -1993). Secretary-General, South Asia Media Association (1993 -1994)
 Part II  Dr. Susantha Goonatilake’s book A 16th Century Clash of Civilizations, the Portuguese Presence in Sri Lanka is a penetrating searchlight that probes the hidden and the darker areas of the Portuguese period. Of the three Western colonialists the Portuguese were the worst. The ruthless cruelty documented in Dr. Goonatilake’s book will not give room for another Ranil Wickremesinghe to invite any Portuguese to celebrate even their mother’s birthday, if by any... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/02/11)

POST CONFLICT FOREIGN POLICY CHALLENGES FOR SRI LANKA,Prof. J.E. Jayasuriya Memorial Lecture — 14 Feb 2011
Mr. H.M.G.S. Palihakkara (Former Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United Nations)
I wish to thank the hosts of this event for asking me to speak in memory of Professor JE Jayasuriya.  To state that Professor Jayasuriya was an icon in the realm of education in Sri Lanka would of course be saying the obvious.  Many who paid tributes to Professor Jayasuriya now and then have spoken comprehensively about his seminal contributions to almost all facets of education in Sri Lanka be it in policy formulation, textbooks, curriculum development, research, and last but not the least, in the noble profession... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/02/11)

DEVELOPMENT OF JAFFNA PENINSULA. WILL IT BE MADE BY PRESIDENT MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE ?????
Sara Saravanapavan
Hon. Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse The Hon. Executive President of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka 23rd January 2011 To: email address: priu
presidentsoffice.lk Copy to:Prime Minister: slpm
slnet.lk, slpm
pmoffice.gov.lk. Please forward this letter to Hon.President. Development of Jaffna lagoon, Elephant Pass lagoon, Vadamarachchi lagoon , Upparu lagoon, Iranaimadu tank, Date Palm cultivation and crocodile meat development and use of their hides for expensive ladies hand bags, shoes etc for local use and export etc. Dear Hon. Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse, Months ago I heard in the TVI news that you are going to spend several millions of Rupees to develop the Iranaimadu Tank to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/02/11)

Charity begins at home but not in North Pole
Dr Hector Perera
They say charity begins at home, before one worries about global warming due to air pollution, it’s worth checking the air quality within your home environment. With or without our knowledge, we pollute the air inside our homes by so many ways that affects the health. Everybody is worried about global warming, temperature rising, ice cap mountains dissolving and cuddly polar bears well being at North Pole but forgetting the air quality inside your own home. Where do we start? In hot climatic countries such as in Sri Lanka the air distribution within houses are generally... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/02/11)

The Promised Son - musleh mau’ood
By A. Abdul Aziz, Press Secretary, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at, Sri Lanka.
 Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmad – the 2nd Khalifa of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Islam is called the Promised Reformer (Musleh Mau’ood). In 1886, February 20, God revealed to the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Community Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad regarding an illustrious son   with many wonderful qualities which were fulfilled in the person of Hadhrat Mirza Bashir-ud-Din Mahmood Ahmad, who later became the second Caliph of the  Ahmadiyya.  Muslim Jama’at. To mark this, the world-wide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community observed February 20 as Musleh Mauood Day.  Following is the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/02/11)

DICTATORSHIP OR MOB RULE – CASE STUDY - MIDDLE EAST
By Sarath Wijesinghe LL.M (London) Solicitor-Attorney-at-Law (Ambassador of Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates)
DICTATOR  Dictator is one who gains power and rules with an iron fist in a society with no democratic rights. Dictatorship is seen as equivalent to a Police State under  an authoritarian and totalitarian Government. Dictatorship is the rule by an individual or a group of people either military or otherwise.  Sometimes dictators are popular though uneducated or become dictators by ceasing power mostly from the democratically elected governments or legitimate rulers.  Living under the dictatorship is a risk because there is no rule... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/02/11)

BANGLADESH OPENING CEREMONY- SUPERB SHOW CASE- “ LETS GO FOR GLORY- JAYA GOSATA ROCK WEMU”
By M D P DISSANAYAKE
 The Prime Minister Sheick Hasina  and 144 million Bangladesh cricket lovers has presented one of the best opening ceremonies for the World Cup Cricket 2011.  Beginning with presenting a bouquet of Water Lilees (Olu Mal)  from Sri Lanka by a little girl to the Prime Minister  Hasina, the presentation took the viewers by surprise with its high standard.  The show has now been internationally reported as one of the best opening ceremonies  which has depicted the cultural and social values of Bangladesh as a whole.  Sonu Nigam’s “Lets go for Glory” song  was blended... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/02/11)

Canadian High Commissioner wants Sri Lanka to Accomodate Canadian Tamil Diaspora - February 18,2010
Ira de Silva London, Canada
The Editor The Island Colombo, Sri Lanka   Dear Sir:   The news reported is that the High Commissioner for Canada in Sri Lanka wants Sri Lanka to "accommodate" the Canadian Tamil Diaspora. It further states that he "emphasized the importance of giving the Canada-based Tamil Diaspora an opportunity to be a part of the re-building and reconciliation process". That is indeed good news ONLY if Mr. Levy has confirmation from the Canada based Tamil Diaspora that they want to be a part of the rebuilding process. If he has got their commitment, he should publicise it... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/02/11)

The importance of learning English/Mathematics — II
Vajiragnana Warnakulasuriya, Mewlbourne, Australia.
Island, 16th February 11  http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=18452  This is an excerpt of this above article by Dr. Nanda De Silva.  "Creativity in the field of knowledge was set back by at least ten years as a result of having to learn western science in English"  By the virtue of living in this World for some time people gain Wisdom by observing, listening, reading and participating.  Having lived a relatively long life on earth and with the acquired vast experience and expertise behind him, I am amazed to see the learned “Dr.Nalin De Silva” uttering a load of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/02/11)

IT' S HIGH TIME WE ALL THINK AS SRI LANKANS !
Ranjit Wickremeratne
Beacause we are divided in every issue it's very difficult to go forward. Best thing is now to be united and help each other and work together for the benefit of all Sri Lankans. Our opposition traitors should give up their ungreatful struggle and joined with the Government to face our enemies together at this hour of danger to our country from outside evil forces. This Government has done and doing more than any previous Governemnts in the past to our nation and to it's people. It's the truth and nothing but the truth. Our Tamils also... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/02/11)

Etymology of Mudali (Mudliyar).
Chandre Dharmawardana
The definition of a Mudilyar (Or Mudilyar thuma) (who existed in the olden era) is a very important question.  In fact,  I think the the word Mudali is derived from the Sanskrit and Pali langauges --> Prakirt -->Elu.   There you find the words Muhali, muhalinda,  muchalinda etc., and used in the Buddhist cannon, which is  said to have been written in  the 3rd century BC in Aluvihare, near Matale, long before the Tamil Sangam (chankam) writers ever saw the light. There is even a Buddhist story about a Naaga named Mudalinda who came and protected the Buddha from a rain storm.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/02/11)

Awesome Sri Lanka from Fox News
... -Full Story- (youtube.com - 18/02/11)

What does man want from development?... Awsadahamy asks!
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony  I asked a question in a previous article as to “what does man really desire out of development?” Now let me ask it again, what does man in Sri Lanka want from development? When people come to confront with this question face to face, many have ambiguous opinions about it, and mostly they are vague ideas with a lot of contradictions. In order to find answers to what man wants the most, we may follow the accepted methodology, which requires touching fundamentals of the concept we are trying... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/02/11)

The Happiness Project - A Review from Vienna
By Ravindra Wickremasinghe
 Gretchen Rubin has written a delightful book. The colourful cover itself makes one happy even before turning to the inside flap and thus begins a merry journey.  The Happiness Project which grew out of her blog is much more than the compilation of entries, it is in fact, a story of daily life driven by an agenda which still leaves room for the vicissitudes which brings out the best or worst in us. It is both spontaneous and planned.  Gretchen who is a daughter, sister, wife, mother, a friend and much more tries to make to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/02/11)

Reflecting Holocaust
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
The Holocaust was the attempt to exterminate all the Jews in Europe. Racially based genocide plan killed more than 6 million Jews including two million children and 5 million others during 1941 to 1945. The Holocaust was not a randomly conducted atrocity which resulted on high emotions. It was systematically and meticulously planned for years. The Nazis built concentration camps for the purpose of forced labour and gassing victims.  Holocaust and the German People Hitler came to power in 1933. He did not seize power. Hitler was elected by the votes of the German... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/02/11)

Galleon Probers Trailed Rajaratnam Through Tips, Tamils and Taps
By Patricia Hurtado
Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The insider-trading trial of Galleon Group LLC co-founder Raj Rajaratnam next month is the culmination of U.S. investigations dating back 12 years that involved blind alleys, anonymous tips, wiretaps and a trip into the Tamil Tiger underworld before prosecutors got their man. Rajaratnam, 53, stands accused by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of leading an insider-trading conspiracy that earned his fund about $45 million. He has pleaded not guilty.... -Full Story- (businessweek.com - 17/02/11)

Open invitation to SL academics who left country during war
Vajiragnana Warnakulasuriya
 My views in response to this article  by Dr. Jayaratne Pinikahana, Melbourne  Island, February 15, 2011, 7:19 pm   http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=18481  It is indeed an interesting article to read about the plight of those Academics who left the motherland years ago for various reasons. Now the country is liberated and proceeding with its development programs, the President has invited all those who have left including those who breached the bond obligations of the Govt to come back and contribute to the progress of the country. From the article it is evident that this author speaks for all... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/02/11)

71 කැරැල්ල 32 කොටස
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග
 කාගම උපසේන-කාගම උපසේන පිලිබඳව ඉලූක් විසින් එවන ලද විස්තර ප‍්‍රකාශය මෙසේය.  ‘කාගම සහෝදරයාගේ නම උපසේනය. අම්පාර උහන වීරගොඩ පදිංචිකරුවෙකි. දෙමාපියෝ සේනානායක සමුද්‍රය යටතේ ගොවිතැන් කල ගොවියෝය. සහෝදරියක් සිටි අතර ඇය හෙදියකි. සහෝදරයකු උප පොලිස් පරීක්ෂකවරයකු වශයෙන් සේවය කරමින් සිටියදී කාගම සහෝදරයා වෙනුවට 71 අපේ‍්‍රල් වලදි පොලීසිය විසින්ම ඝාතනය කරනලදී.  කාගම සහෝදරයාගේ දෙමාපියන් ගල්ඔය ඉඩම් ලැබීමට පෙර පදිංචිව සිටි ඇත්තේ කෑගල්ලේ ඉඹුල්ගලය. 71 වන විටදි ඔහුගේ බාප්පා කෑගල්ලේ ඉඹුල්ගල පදිංචිව සිටි අතර බාප්පාගේ පුතකු ජ.වි.පෙට එක්ව සිටියේය. නමින් සාදි බංඩා නම් වූ ඔහු කැරැුල්ල අසාර්ථක වීමෙන් පසු විල්පත්තුව දක්වා පසුබෑමේදී ඝාතනයට ලක්ව ඇත. මහජන බැංකුවේ ලිපිකරුවකු... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/02/11)

මී මැසි රජ දහනේ සංචාරය
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
ලෝකය කොතරම් සුන්දර තැනක්ද? නමුත් මේ ලෝකයේ සැබැ සුන්දරත්වය අත්විදිමට හැම දෙනාටම වරම් තියෙනවා නම් කොපමණ හොඳද?  සිතුවිලි කන්දරාවක්  පහලවේ. ඒ මී මැසි රජ දහන තුලදිය. මී මැසි රජ දහනේ සංචාරය, එම රජ දහනට ඇතුළු වූ මෙහොතේ සිටම නවතාවයකින් පිරුනක් විය. තම රජ දහනට ඇතුළු වූ මේ නවකයා කවරෙක්දැයි කිසිවෙකුටත් බැලීමට කිසිඳු උවමනාවක් නොවිණ. මහා වැඩ කන්දරාවක නියළුන පිරිස, තමනට උරුම කාර්යයෙන් බැහැරව කිසිම දෙයක් සම්බන්ධව තම අවධානය යොමුකරන බවක් නොපෙනේ. මෙච්චරට මේ සත්වයින්ට තිබෙන කාර්යයභාරය කුමක්ද?අමුත්තා තුල  ගැටළුවක් මතු කලේය.  තමන් ගේ රජ දහනට ඇතුළු වු මේ අමුත්තා දෙස නිකමටවත් බැලීමට එකද මී මැස්සෙක්වත් උත්සහ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/02/11)

කෙටි කථාව-මැක්සිම් ඉවානවිච්
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම්. ජයතුංග
 පෙත්රොව්ස්කයා මාවත පිහිටියේ මොස්කව් නගරයේ කිලෝමීටර් පනහකට අධික දුරකිනි. මෙම මාවතේ රජයේ තට්ටු නිවාස කීපයක්ද, විප්ලවයට ඉහත ඉදි කරන ලද නිවාස ෙදාළහක්ද දැකිය හැක. රජයේ තට්ටු නිවාස අතරින් වඩාත්ම වැදගත් තට්ටු නිවාසය ලෙස සැලකුනේ මැක්සිම් ඉවානවිච් ජීවත් වූ තට්ටු නිවාසයයි. මැක්සිම් ඉවානවිච්ගේ සම්පූර්ණ නම මැක්සිම් ඉවානවිච් ෂෙමකොව්ය. බහුතරයක් ඔහුට මැක්සිම් ඉවානවිච් යන ගරු නාමයෙන් ඇමතූහ. කිට්ටුවන්තයන්ට ඔහු මැක්සිම් විය. බවලත්තු ඔහු ළඟ නොමැති අවස්ථා වලදී ෂෙමකොව් යන පෙළපත් නාමයෙන් මැක්සිම් ඉවානවිච්ව නම් කළහ. ගැටවරයින් ඔහු හැඳින්වූයේ ”තට්ටයා” යන නමිනි. ඊට හේතුව වූයේ ඔහුගේ හිසකෙස් ඔහුගේ හිස සහමුලින්ම අත්හැරයාමයි. එහෙත් ඔහු ඉදිරිපිට ඔහුට ”තට්ටයා” නමින් ඇමතීමට... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/02/11)

Egypt defied violence as a pre-condition of democracy
By Philip Fernando, Former Deputy Editor Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka
 The most unforgettable headline from Egypt dazzled brightly: ‘Democratic path ushered in sans violence.’ The dogma of invasions, wars or massacre of people as a pre-condition for inducting democracy fell by the wayside. The youth of Cairo, armed with nothing but Facebook and the power of their convictions started laying the groundwork for change that they viewed as inevitable driven by a zealous belief in democratic ideals. The yearning for a better future was non violent. Mubarak’ exodus from Egypt was anti-climatic. Most analysts commented on the satisfying scene... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/02/11)

Title: Problems, problems, problems!
Author: MahamahaRaja
High food and petrol prices, soaring energy bills, corruption at all levels of government including political appointments and pilfering of the public coffers by MPs and ministers, graduates without jobs, abject poverty, rising theft and mugging, and worsening inflation. Sri Lanka? No, I’m talking about Britain. They even have problems we don’t have: increasing racism, ghettoization, a broken health service, massive personal debt leading to record home repossessions, rape, murder, paedophilia, an education system in chaos – one which leaves over a quarter of elementary children unable to read, right or count properly as they enter... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/02/11)

The Travels of a Journalist—56 - Rural life in southwest Washington fails to impress mother and my sister
By Shelton A. Gunaratne ©2011 Professor of mass communications emeritus
Minnesota State University Moorhead
 On Saturday (12 Aug. 1989), the day after our tiring tour of Seattle, we were back on the road exploring the backwoods of southwest Washington State along what I designated as the “Willapa Loop”—a route exceeding 250 miles, not counting the side trips. The reason for this insane hurry was the pressure of time to show my mother and my sister a wide spectrum of life in the U.S. before they returned to their respective countries of residence.  Sister “Rani” was to depart from Portland,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/02/11)

Triangle of the dilemma, Ben Silva, Dr. Gunaratne and Awsadahamy (Part 19-II)
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony
Ben Silva, Dr. Shelton Gunaratne and Awsadahamy symbolize the triangle of the dilemma; the trauma of the question of Awsadahamy. Any way, I’m glade for having a very healthy discussion here on Lanka Web in the search of suitable model of development for the nation. I hope we can continue this debate open mindedly to accept valuable ideas of debaters without being consumed by our personal glories. Since Dr. Gunaratne already has declared that my contention of Ayubowan culture as a culture older than Buddhist culture is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/02/11)

Buddha’s Philosophy of Life - Article #2
by Professor Sunil J. Wimalawansa Professor of Medicine, Endocrinology, Physiology & Integrative Biology, USA
Buddha preached a philosophy of life; life after death, and the path leading to Nibbana—the birthlessness—cessation of rebirth.  The Wisdom of the Truth of birthlessness as taught us by the Buddha is achieved through achieving the Supreme Nibbana.  Attaining Nibbana would indeed be virtuous.  One realizes that, since there is no self, the formless and universal consciousness is never to be born again and hence can never die.  “Upon first hearing the tune of birthlessness, Initially listening to the song of deathlessnesss, I realized... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/02/11)

Anuradhapura needs all the help
Sunil Vijayapala Australia
I am obsessed with our citadel Anuradhapura, with its ruins, museums and artefacts however the recent flood damage made me really emotional about the whole issue. The first flood came about in mid January and I too had to evacuate Anu and move too Colombo. Malvathu Oya was flooded with the release of water from Nuwara wewa and with the age old dams been almost gutted with unparalleled uncontrolled rain, people’s fear was the breakage of dams which would have had a catastrophic consequences, with thousands drowning.  The second flood was immense although we expats never... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/02/11)

Supporting Tamil Terrorist Front Organizations in Canada
Ira de Silva London, Canada
Hon. Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship & Immigration House of Commons, Ottawa   Dear Mr. Kenney:   It is with disappointment and regret that I read of your endorsement of the Canadian Human Rights Voice’s (CHRV) Human Rights & Sri Lanka Conference particularly when you must have known that of the ten organizers of this conference, eight were anti-Sri Lanka Tamils. How can it be about human rights when they deprive others of the right to attend or make any comment?    It is no secret that the LTTE supporters have established Toronto Canada as a primary... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/02/11)

අස්වැන්න නෙලා ගැනීමේ මංගල්‍යය හෙවත් ජනාධිපති හොස්නි මුබාරක් මහතා පදවියෙන් කපා බිම හෙලීම.
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
වර්ෂ 1967දී ඊශ්‍රායලයට එ‍රෙහිව  කල සට‍නේදී ඊජිප්තුවට බරපතල හානි සිදුවිය. ඒ ‍හේතුවෙන් මහත් කම්පාවට පත් එවකට ඊජිප්තු‍වේ සිටි ජනාධිපතිතුමා වන අබ්දුල් නසීර් මහතා වහාම එම පදවි‍යෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්විය. යුද්ධය පරාජය වී ඒ ‍වේදනා‍වෙන් සිටි ඊජිප්තු ජනතාවට තම ආදරණීය නායකයා ඉල්ලා අස්වීම දරාගත ‍නොහැකි විය. වහාම වීථිවලට බට ජනතාව, වහාම එතුමා‍ගේ ඉල්ලා අස්වීම ඉල්ලා අස්කර ගන්නා ලෙස බලකල අතර, එතුමා සිය ඉල්ලා අස්වී‍මේ ක්‍රියාදාමය නවතා දමන ලදී. ඒ එදාය, ‍මෙදා ඊජිප්තු ජනතාව වීථී බැස සටන්කලේ වසර 29ක් අඛණ්ඩව එම රට පාලනය කල ජනාධිපතිවරයාට ඉවත්ව යන ‍ලෙස බල කරමිණි. ජනතා සටන සාර්ථක වූ අතර, ජනාධිපති ‍හොස්නි මුබාරක් මහතා... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/02/11)

Legal claims for damage suffered by some parties in the war
Henry Jayaweera   
The Editor   Stories are going round of incredible, even laughable legal claims for damage suffered by some parties in the war waged against the legitimately appointed government of a sovereign, independent country, Sri Lanka, and its people by a gang whose vicious tentacles, nurtured by various enemies of the country, grew so far and wide that even after the head has been destroyed, still wiggle in the throes of death. It appears that they their blood lust in the pursuance of a wild and imposible grandiose dream has not yet been satisfied and still continue in their efforts to plague the dreams of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/02/11)

Unfair Taxation to meet extravagance
Dominic
One type of taxation ( Indirect Tax) is to get the service providers to collect taxes at no cost to the state, although it cannot avoid corruption Example --Levies on tele service provider, bank debit tax from banks, VAT from selling organizations, Tobacco Tax from one cigarette manufacturer & Excise duty from liquor dealers, Customs Duty from Ports. These may be referred to as Indirect Taxation. On the other hand Income tax ( & in the past Estate Duty, Wealth Tax & Expenditure Tax as well ) is Direct Taxation. More & more of taxation at present is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/02/11)

Dr.Sarath Gunapala -Scientist at NASA -Nalanda Keerthi Sri 2006
... -Full Story- (youtube.com - 15/02/11)

USA PATRIOT ACT Vs LTTE Activists in USA
Malin Abeyatunge
I quote below a recent report in the public domain of Germany’s action against LTTE activists in Germany Quote” A spokesman for the LTTE in Germany has been indicted on terrorism charges, Germany’s federal justice authorities said on Monday (7) in Karlsruhe. Agilan W., who now holds German citizenship, was arrested in November and indicted on January 24. Prosecutors said he was spokesman in Germany for the Tamil Coordination Committee, a front for the LTTE, from 2004 to the end of 2009 and oversaw its public relations. Three other leaders of an alleged LTTE front were earlier... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/02/11)

A Master Plan to Win the ICCWC2011
Dilrook Kannangara
Few interesting articles appeared in the news on Sri Lanka’s ICCWC2011 prospects and strategies. The World Cup is the premier sporting event that glues most Sri Lankans together. Although fanatics about cricket take a different shape in the island to that of the other parts of the subcontinent, winning or losing the tournament is very important to sporting enthusiasts. The best team has been put together by Aravinda De Silva barring one or two exceptions. A scientific and numerically accurate selection process has boosted confidence in the team and among sport fans. Of course, it is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/02/11)

Love is in the air...!
Dr.Tilak Fernando
"Young love is a flame; very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. The love of the older and disciplined heart is as coals, deep-burning, unquenchable"! When Henry Ward Beecher wrote the above two lines probably he was not contemplating on a Valentine's Day. Nowadays, February 14 has become characteristic of the Valentine's Day which is closely associated with mutual exchange of love notes in the form of greeting cards. This celebrated day in February is regarded as the day of the Cupid, the child-like winged deity, the son of Venus... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/02/11)

Subject: The surprising benefits of lemon!
Institute of Health Sciences, 819 N. L.L.C. Charles Street Baltimore , MD 1201.
This is the latest in medicine, effective for cancer! Lemon (Citrus) is a miraculous product to kill cancer cells. It is 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy. Why do we not know about that? Because there are laboratories interested in making a synthetic version that will bring them huge profits. You can now help a friend in need by letting him/her know that lemon juice is beneficial in preventing the disease. Its taste is pleasant and it does not produce the horrific effects of chemotherapy.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/02/11)

THE SO-CALLED ADVENTURES OF ISI IN INDIA
ALI SUKHANVER
 It is something very positive and encouraging that India has a very neat and clean judicial system. If on one hand, the non-Hindu minorities are being maltreated by the Indian security forces, on the other hand marvelously judicious courts of India are providing relief to the crushed ones. A few days back, in the second week of February 2011, the unshaken words of Virender Bhatt, the Additional Sessions Judge of a Delhi Court were resonating in the court room, determined with the passion of honesty and devotion to the sincerity to profession, “These four police officers have... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/02/11)

Sri Lanka’s stocks at new record highs
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s stock market surged 3 per cent to hit a new record high on Monday led by speculation in shares of large-cap palm oil firms triggered by booming commodity prices. The island’s main share index hit an all-time intraday high of 7,847.32 before closing 2.97 per cent or 225.19 points firmer at a new closing high of 7,811.82. The day’s per centage gain was highest since Aug.10, Reuters data showed. Analysts said the frenzy into oil palm-related shares was primarily speculative, after Malaysian palm oil futures touched near a three-year high last week. They slipped slightly on Monday.... -Full Story- (gulftoday.ae - 14/02/11)

Sri Lankan Spicy Crab Curry
Recipe provided by Chef Nalin Fernando and Chef Gamini Somasiri from Colombo, who is at the Gulf Paradise Hotel for the Sri Lankan food festival. Drumstick leaves are difficult to find in the local shops. So incase if you cant find them just leave it out. Its used to balance the hotness.... -Full Story- (thepeninsulaqatar.com - 14/02/11)

LSE goes live with faster UK trading systems
By Luke Jeffs
The London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) moved its main trading platform to a faster system, putting past technology glitches behind it just days after launching a bid to buy Canadian exchange TMX (X.TO).The British exchange has moved its main UK share system to technology provided by Millenium, a Sri Lankan company it bought in 2009, which makes it faster and more attractive to increasingly important trading by hedge funds.... -Full Story- (Reuters - 14/02/11)

Looking inside the Sri Lankan smuggling ship the Sun Sea
By Stewart Bell, National Post
As many as 45 smuggling agents were involved, posted at key locations along the smuggling route. They were the recruiters who circulated in the aftermath of the brutal Sri Lankan civil war, offering passage to the West — for a price. The fee varied but most paid $20,000 to $30,000. The agents collected a deposit of as little as 10%. The rest was to be paid in Canada, where the migrants were assured they would be wealthy.... -Full Story- (vancouversun.com - 14/02/11)

Assange Speaks
Julian Assange, the controversial founder of WikiLeaks, was back in the spotlight this week, as he fights to avoid extradition to Sweden from the UK. Mark Davis has been in the London courtroom, following the extradition hearing. He sat down with Assange for an exclusive one on one interview when the court went into recess a few days ago.... -Full Story- (sbs.com.au - 14/02/11)

Is Sarath Fonseka a National Hero, or a selfish egoist full of hatred, and a traitor to those who fought along with him?
By Charles.S.Perera
 In 2005 the future of Sri Lanka was bleak. It had been going through a number of years of an almost endless suffering under terrorism . Its citizens had no safety place to hide. They were living in terror of uncertainty, not knowing where a bomb will explode killing hundreds of innocent people.  No political leader was safe they would be the target of a suicide bomber any place any time. The terrorist money could buy any one from an Army Officer, Security Guard, or a police officer, (not to speak of the media, and foreign NGOs,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/02/11)

Never Say Never!
Prof. Hudson McLean
Whilst I agree whole heartedly with the contect of LankaWeb Editorial, at this present moment, any uprising against the current Administration, is indeed "Wishful Thinking". However, said that, generally humans have short memories. Under President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan citizens enjoy a good night's sleep. Now peace is a fact of life and taken for granted. Major infrastructure projects are running at speed. Refugees are resettled. Tourist traffic is on the rise.  Investors are getting excited at the prospects! Future looks good. So is Bribery & Corruption is still rampant. There are many other factors which... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/02/11)

Tunisia, Egypt, and Sri Lanka
MahamahaRaja
There have been momentous events taking place in the Middle East. Tunisia, a small country tucked away in a corner of the world, has ignited a beacon of liberty whose flame had long been doused by neo-imperialist puppet regimes through political oppression, personal intimidation, police brutality, systematic impoverishment, media propaganda, and a reign of terror.  Now, sparks from that beacon have lit the flame of freedom in Egypt, as courageous Egyptians threw aside their shackles of fear and apathy, disregarded class, creed, religion and party, and marched to reclaim their dignity and rights as one mass of humanity.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/02/11)

Egypt protests: America's secret backing for rebel leaders behind uprising
By Tim Ross, Matthew Moore and Steven Swinford 9:23PM GMT 28 Jan 2011
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 The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning “regime change” for the past three... -Full Story- (telegraph.co.uk - 13/02/11)

Is U.S. behind Egyptian protests? WikiLeaks cable reveals State Department supported leading dissident who wanted regime change
By Wil Longbottom
The U.S. government has been supporting leading figures behind the violent protests in Egypt in a bid to promote regime change, it has been revealed. A 2008 diplomatic cable leaked by the WikiLeaks site outlines how the U.S. State Department supported a pro-democracy activist and lobbied for the release of dissidents from custody. The unnamed activist presented an 'unwritten plan for democratic transition in 2011' at a summit in New York and met with U.S. members of congress. One aspect of the plan was for 'a transition to a parliamentary democracy before the scheduled 2011 presidential elections',... -Full Story- (dailymail.co.uk - 13/02/11)

More hungry in India than in Sudan
Rukmini Shrinivasan, TNN, Oct 12, 2010, 03.30am IST
NEW DELHI: India dropped two ranks to 67th among 84 developing countries in the International Food Policy Research Institute's annual " Global Hunger Index" for 2010. Even Sudan, North Korea and Pakistan rank higher than India. While the report, released on Monday, shows that the proportion of undernourished in India is decreasing, the worsening ranking indicates that other developing countries have done better in tackling hunger. India is home to 42% of the underweight children under the age of five in the world.... -Full Story- (Times of India - 13/02/11)

LTTE threat for Indian VVIPs
Daily Mirror
Indian Central intelligence agencies have communicated specific inputs to the Tamil Nadu police that suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre had conspired to carry out attacks on VVIPs during forthcoming Assembly elections. Highly placed intelligence sources confirmed to The Hindu on Saturday that the Ministry of Home Affairs had sent alert messages that some LTTE cadre had arrived in Tamil Nadu and were engaged in a training programme at an “unknown location.” They were in the process of procuring weapons and explosive substances to execute their plan.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 13/02/11)

Sri Lanka detains Russian crew after man overboard
The coastal guards of Sri Lanka have impounded a cargo vessel over suspicions that its Russian crew has intentionally ditched a workfellow who fell into the water, the Maritime Bulletin news website said on Sunday. DD Vigor bulk carrier left the Sri Lanka's port of Panadura on February 10 and headed for India's Goa. The ship's second engineer fell overboard, but the 22-member crew did nothing to rescue him.... -Full Story- (en.rian.ru - 13/02/11)

NA Speaker called on Sri Lankan President
ISLAMABAD, Feb 13 (APP):
Speaker of the National Assembly Dr. Fehmida Mirza called on President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees on Sunday. Dr. Fehmida Mirza while talking to the Sri Lankan President said that Pakistan attaches great importance to its relations with Sri Lanka which are embedded in bonds of friendship, history and culture, said in a press release received here on Sunday. She said that Pakistan wants to take Pak-Sri Lankan relationship to “new heights”, through collaboration in diverse fields, people-to-people and parliamentary contacts. She thanked for the Sri Lankan support to the... -Full Story- (app.com.pk - 13/02/11)

India to loan Buddha's relics to Sri Lanka
Sutirtho Patranobis, Hindustan Times
India has agreed to temporarily lend fragments of Buddha’s bones, famously known as the Kapilavastu relics, to Sri Lanka for an exposition to celebrate his 2600th year of enlightenment later this year. It will the be the first time in decades that the fragile bone fragments, kept at the National Museum, will be taken outside India.... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 13/02/11)

Orchestrated Storms: US sending waves through Yemen, Egypt, Tunisia?
... -Full Story- (youtube.com - 13/02/11)

The Failure of Industries in Sri Lanka is the cause of its unemployment and poverty
By Dr Garvin Karunaratne, formerly of the SLAS
Introduction The manner in which industries are run in any country determines the employment levels in the country, details how the assets of the country are utilized and also who benefits from the riches accruing from the value added in the manufacturing process. The key to solving our problem of poverty and unemployment lies entirely in the field of industry.  At the outset it has to be stated that the development of industries comes later than the development of agriculture. It is far easier to develop agriculture. Agricultural development is a pre-requisite... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/02/11)

Copycat Scenario In Sri Lanka In The Aftermath Of Egypt Needs To Be Portrayed As Wishful Thinking By Some ~ Albeit a Cue For The Administration To Heed!
LankaWeb Weekly Editorial
Feb.12th. 2011 Perhaps food for thought for the present administration, to heed judiciously relative to a recent  news item as quoted citing the turn of events in Egypt which has stated very accurately that "The president tinkers with the constitution to suit his personal ambitions. The legislature and the judiciary remain subordinate to his whims and fancies. Corruption shoots through the roof and the first family and its cronies control the lion share of the national wealth. After thirty years in power, the ageing autocrat plans a dynastic succession. His party wins sham elections with massive margins. Sounds... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/02/11)

Who's Behind The Uprising In Egypt? Rude Awakening!
By Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich
January 31, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- Eyes fixed on Egypt, the consensus is that we are witnessing a global awakening. Mesmerized by the crowds, mainstream media reports, and 'pundits' analysis, we have abandoned our ability to think critically -- we fail to ask the right question: Why is the mainstream media in the U.S., the propaganda apparatus of the State and interest groups, condemning the Egyptian leader -- America and Israel's most subservient ally? We tend to forget that well over a year ago, political actors in America and allied nations had full knowledge that Egypt's... -Full Story- (informationclearinghouse.info - 12/02/11)

PROFESSOR WEBSTER TARPLEY SAYS THAT THE EGYPT REVOLUTION IS FUNDED BY THE JEWISH LOBBY, ISRAEL, GEORGE SOROS AND CIA
... -Full Story- (christian-socialist-party.blogspot.com - 12/02/11)

Sri Lanka´s Master Plan to Lose the 2011 Cricket World Cup
By Ravindra Wickremasinghe 
When it comes to winning, you need the skill and the will. – Anon The 2011 Cricket World Cup is upon us and this is an ideal time to revisit and update the article by this author published on this Lankaweb.com on November 21, 2005 titled, How to revitalize Sri Lankan cricket: A suggestion* The article was a reaction to the 6-1 trashing by India in the "Videocon Cup" cricket series.   It is said that madness is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different (better), result. There is however a method to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/02/11)

71 කැරැල්ල 31 කොටස
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් ම ජයතුංග
“ලාංකීය සමාජ සංවර්ධනයේ ඵෙතිහාසික සන්ධිස්ථානයක් සනිටුහන් කල අපේ‍්‍රල් කැරැල්ලට අල්පමාත‍්‍ර හෝ දායකත්වයක් සැපයීමට හැකි වීම මා අදත් සිහිපත් කරන්නේ මහත් අභිමානයෙනි”.-ඉලූක් හෙවත් ටී .කේ. සේනාරත්න  ඉලූක් යනු 71 කැරැල්ලේ අමතක කර නොහැකි චරිතයකි. බුලට් මහින්දගේ විස්තර ප‍්‍රකාශයේද ඉලූක් ගැන සඳහන් වුණි. අද ඔහු ඉතා නිහඬ දිවියක් ගත කරයි. හැට හැවිරිදි ඉලූක් උතුවන්කන්දේ ජීවත් වෙන අතර නොයෙකුත් හෝඩුවාවල් ඔස්සේ ලැබූ තොරතුරු හරහා මට ඉලූක් හමුව ඔහුගෙන් විස්තර සටහන් ලබා ගැනීමට  හැකි විය. ඉලූක් මෙසේ කියයි.  ‘මට ඉලූක් කියන්නේ මගේ ගම ඉලූක්ගොඩ නිසයි. නියම නම ටී.කේ. සේනරත්න. මම ඉගෙන ගත්තේ තෝලංගමුව සෙන්ට‍්‍රල් එකේ. මම සම්බන්ධ වුනේ 1970... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/02/11)

බෙදුම් වාදයේ ආරම්භය. 2
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
බෙදුම්වාදයේ ආරම්භය සම්බන්ධ කතිකාවත ආරම්භ කරන ප්‍රථම අදියරේදී බයිබලය වෙත අප සිත නැඹුරුවීමට විශේෂිතවූ හේතුවක් ඇත. බයිබලය නම්වූ ඒ ඓතිහාසික ග්‍රන්ථය මේ ලෝකය පුරා ඉටු කල දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාවලිය අති ප්‍රබල වන අතර, මේ වනවිටත් එය මහා ප්‍රවාහයක්සේ වූ මුළු මහත් ලෝකය සිසාරා යමින්  අඛණ්ඩව තමන්ගේ ඒ කාර්යයන් ඉටුකරමින් සිටී. මුළු මහත් ලෝකයේ සකල විද සියළුම දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාකාරකම් මේ හා බැදී පවතින බැවින් මෙම ග්‍රන්ථය අධ්‍යයනය නොකර කථා කරන වර්තමාන බෙදුම්වාදයේ ජාත්‍යන්තර හා ජාතික දේශපාලනය හර සුන් කථිකාවතක්වේ. . සියල්ලක්ම නිවැරදිව දැක, මනාව සැලසුම් කොට තම නිර්මාණය ගොඩනංවන නිර්මාපකයා, තම නිර්මාණිතයේ අවශ්‍යතාවය මත, නිර්මාණයේ කිසිඳු වෙනසක් කිරීමට... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/02/11)

Is the U.S. and ISRAEL Behind the Uprising in Egypt?
by Barry Chamish
Elad Pressman, editor of a major Israeli political website, was my guest on my radio show and did he have news! The Daily Telegraph had dug into Wikileaks documents and pieced together a report that convincingly proves the US was behind the violent Egyptian protests.Elad strongly suggested that I investigate who was behind Mohammed ElBaradei. Look what I discovered! Just a few months ago, Mohammed ElBaradei was paraded on the front cover of the Council On Foreign Relations (CFR) rag, Foreign Affairs, with a headline asking if he could be Egypt’s savior. What uncanny foresight, for on... -Full Story- (atrueott.wordpress.com - 12/02/11)

Some suggestions for promoting Sri Lanka in Canada
By Albert J. Fernando, Edmonton, Canada
During the last few weeks various Ministers in Colombo have expressed their disappointment with the poor performance by our Missions abroad. Some have, quite rightly, emphasized the need to appoint competent and dedicated officers to our embassies. This applies especially to political appointees who are sent to our missions to reciprocate their support to the party in power. In Canada, such political appointees sent to look after the media campaign against Eelam terrorism have failed miserably. During the height of Eelam demonstrations and protests in the three months preceding the defeat of LTTE... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/02/11)

AGAINST THE TREND: A CRITICISM OF “SAINT” VALENTINE
Priyantha Hettige
All through Christian history those persons who gave outstanding service to the world power that is generally known as the Roman Catholic Church, were elevated after their death to “sainthood.” In fact, you should correctly see this as simply a reward for services rendered, just as “lord” is awarded to military generals after a successful battle.  Everyone thinks that a “Saint” is someone who is morally good – someone who does good works, etc. This is not necessarily so - “Saint” Anthony who labeled a million good French Albigensians (Christian but not Roman Cahtolic) as HERETIC is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/02/11)

Some Suttras of Interest delivered by Buddha
Sunil Vijayapala Australia
Here are some excerpts of sutras ignored by our Poojakavaroos (Sri Lankan Bhikkus, very few ‘real’ Bhikkus who follow the path of Buddha remain) for reasons known only to them. In the following sermon Buddha declares he was once the Omnipotent God, as the consequence of his Past merit. This implies the present reigning Creator(God of Christians, Jews, Muslims etc.) will eventually become a Buddha in the distant future.  Itivuttaka: The Group of Ones 22 - Khuddaka Nikaye
 This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: "Monks, don't... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/02/11)

The Travels of a Journalist—55 Rebuff by insensitive Canada consul helps family explore more of Seattle
By Shelton A. Gunaratne ©2011 Professor of mass communications emeritus
Minnesota State University Moorhead
 On Friday (11 Aug. 1989), my mother and my elder sister “Rani” joined us—Carmel, Junius, Yoke-Sim and me—to explore Seattle (pop. 630,320), the most populous city in the Pacific Northwest, 128 miles north of Longview. Because “Rani” expressed a wish to see a “little bit of Canada” before her departure back to Sri Lanka on Monday (14 Aug.), we thought of crossing over to Vancouver, B.C., as well. However, being a Sri Lanka passport holder, “Rani” had to get a visa to visit Canada. I... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/02/11)

The Migration Trend Continues: Russian Government Is Moving to Linux
Bill Malchisky
Today, the Russian Prime Minister announced that Russia is moving to free software by 2015, with the biggest change being a move to Linux in 2012. Those of you that have attended my Linux sessions at LUGs, know that I am passionate about increasing adoption of this great operating system -- not just because it is incredibly stable and reliable, but it also can save companies significant sums of money in various ways. Besides, Lotus products run great on Linux. This year (2010), one of the success case studies for increasing ROI in the workplace is The... -Full Story- (planetlotus.org - 11/02/11)

SRI LANKA- HOT FAVOURITE TO WIN WORLD CUP CRICKET -2011
By M D P DISSANAYAKE
Sri Lanka has produced a well balanced squad to face the world cup cricket to be held in the sub-continent.  Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene’s combination is very similar to Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda De Silva’s mixture in the 1996 world cup.  Heavy burden rest on Dilshan who has not performed at his best during recent matches.  His impatience  has cost his wicket on many occasions.  Sri Lanka relies heavily on Dilshan and Upul, to lift the team to the same standards as that of Sanath and Romesh.  Dilshan is one of most feared... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/02/11)

Cairo erupts in celebration as Mubarak resigns
Egyptian VP Omar Suleiman announces that the embattled president has handed power to the military after 18 days of calls for his ouster; protests give way to fireworks, car horns and gunshots in the air.... -Full Story- (jpost.com - 11/02/11)

Mubarak vows to stay in office until September elections
By OREN KESSLER
Protesters disheartened as Egyptian president says he will pass on some of his authority to his vice president but fails to resign immediately as had been rumored; says he will ignore "diktats from abroad.” Hundreds of thousands of protesters endured a disheartening anticlimax Thursday night as Hosni Mubarak dashed hopes of an early resignation by vowing to stay in office until September's presidential elections.... -Full Story- (jpost.com - 10/02/11)

Epitaph of a colonized, and the rediscovery of Awsadahamy, the “Other” of the “Coastal Political culture” of Sri Lanka (Part 19-I)
Geethanjana Kudaligamage
 Rajapakse, regional politics, “Eurocentric Developmentalism” and the western hegemony  The nationally dominant Colombo based “Coastal Political culture” is a relatively new political phenomenon emerged only after the native culture encountered Europeans in the beginning of the 16th century. This encounter soon became a clash of civilizations as the “necropolitics” of Europe, (As Achille Mbembe describes) that driven by the most anti-human necrophilic love for profiting out of corpses of the global south by the eternal greed of European man, met with its local cultural opponent, a broad philosophy based on Ayubowan, the most humane, collectively communitarian, prudently... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/02/11)

Hambantota,where did the place-name come from?
Chandre Dharmawardana
Hambanthotha, even a few decade ago was simply a sleepy town with a beautiful beach located conveniently near a "Rest House" that overlooked the sea. It was known for its salt industry. It offered a convenient stop for those driving from Colombo to Katharagama, that shrine originally built to deify Alexander (Iskander in Persian, or Skhanda in Sanskrit) who conquered parts of India in the 4th century BC. Today Hambanthota has become a name which is attracting much international attention. The mega developments in the area, with its strategically located brand new port, as well as airports... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/02/11)

IFC & Sanansa Development Bank Collaborate To Promote Business Efficiencies for Micro Entrepreneurs
Communications Analyst  IFC - SEDF Colombo
Colombo, Sri Lanka, February 10, 2010— The IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, signed a Corporation Agreement  with Sanasa Development Bank (SDB), to bring a world class training system – Business Edge TM to clients of the bank. Up to 200 micro entrepreneurs will be trained under the pilot program, with plans to later expand the training course to reach a larger number of micro entrepreneurs. The training will aim to improve business performance and competitiveness through the strengthening of management skills.www.ifc.org. Business Edge TM is based on an... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/02/11)

Political Extremism
By Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
 Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all.--John W. Gardner  http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnwgard134412.htmlPolitical extremism is any political theory favoring immoderate uncompromising policies with the actions or ideologies of individuals or groups outside the perceived political center of a society with the violation of moral standards. Political extremism is a damaging factor to a country both economically and spiritually. Political extremism has many faces and the end result would be always disastrous. The extremists can often use religion,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/02/11)

Research validates meditation’s beneficial impact on brain
By Philip Fernando, Former Deputy Editor Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka
The latest scientific research had found a cause and effect link between meditation and its enhanced benefit to the structure of the brain. Medication definitely augmented brain's thinking ability and processing of emotions.  Researchers at Harvard, Yale and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) compared brain scans of 20 experienced meditators accustomed to Insight meditation or “Vipassana Bhavana” with those of 15 non-meditators.  The evidence was clear. Brain structure improved in people who mediated regularly and they grew bigger brains than those who did not. The brain scans of seasoned... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/02/11)

Your endorsing the CHRV Human Rights & Sri Lanka Conference
Asoka Weerasinghe (a Sustaining Donor, but not anymore)
Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 Canada 9 February 2011 Hon. Jason Kenney , PC, MP Minister of Citizenship & Immigration House of Commons, Ottawa  Dear Jason: I have just read your glowing endorsement of the Canadian Human Rights Voice’s (CHRV) Human Rights & Sri Lanka Conference. You amazed me.  Perhaps you were pandering to the Tamil community with such an endorsement when eight of the ten Board Members were from the Tamil community.  And you knew exactly the direction it was taking when the Tamils discuss... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/02/11)

The Speech made by His Excellency Sarath Wijesinghe, Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the United Arab Emirates at the 63rd Independence Day celebrations held at Hotel Hilton, Abu Dhabi
The Embassy of Sri Lanka in UAE
Independence of a Nation, country or a State is a condition in which its residents and population feels and enjoys its  freedom. When a Nation is independent it enjoys the freedom on political, social, and economic issues enjoyed by citizens individually, and the country as a whole.  We have been an independent Nation  during the known history of thousands of years.  We are geographically situated close to giant India with whom we share close friendships and relationships shared by religious and cultural values and  civilizations.   Our foreign relations with India, Middle East... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/02/11)

In pictures: China shaping Africa
Pictures of how Chinese money is reshaping Africa... -Full Story- (bbc.co.uk - 09/02/11)

South Asians have heart attacks early in life
. The Associated Press
Heart disease has become the top killer in South Asia, and people are likely to suffer heart attacks earlier in life than in the rest of the world, a World Bank report said Wednesday. It said chronic illnesses such as heart problems, cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure have now replaced infectious diseases as the region's largest health problem. Life expectancy in the region is currently 64 and is rising, thanks to poverty reduction. But many South Asians will face health challenges in their twilight years because of the cost of chronic disease treatment and... -Full Story- (cbc.ca - 09/02/11)

Muslim Brotherhood text reveals scope of radical creed
By OREN KESSLER
One of the greatest beneficiaries of the unrest in Egypt has been the Muslim Brotherhood. Banned but tolerated for decades by successive Egyptian regimes, the Islamist movement is now emerging as a central player in the country’s resurgent opposition.On Tuesday, two Brotherhood representatives participated in an opposition delegation that met with Vice President Omar Suleiman for the first set of talks over implementing political reforms. Pundits have portrayed the Brotherhood as uncompromising zealots or beneficent providers of social services that long-deprived Egyptians desperately need.... -Full Story- (jpost.com - 09/02/11)

The Muslim Brothers' deceptive pragmatism
As any in-depth glance at the ideology and history of the Muslim Brothers reveals, the organization's end goal is to set up a fundamentalist state, ruled according to a very stringent interpretation of Islam in its domestic and foreign policies. Rather than embarking on violent jihad, the Brothers believe in spreading their ideas quietly to the masses. The Brothers believe that if their ideas are transmitted effectively, a majority of the people will eventually demand that the constitution of Egypt (or any other Muslim-majority state) be changed to fit the Brotherhood's ideology. This method of operation has a name: Da'wa.... -Full Story- (blogs.jpost.com - 09/02/11)

Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt: We won't take over gov't
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt said they do not want to take over but merely want to be a part of government, CNN reported Wednesday. "The Muslim Brotherhood is not seeking power," an official said speaking at a press conference. "We will not have a presidential candidate, we want to participate and help, we are not seeking power," according to the report.... -Full Story- (jpost.com - 09/02/11)

US Congress warns against Muslim Brotherhood role in Egypt
By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER
Barak holds meetings in Washington with top US officials amidst Cairo crisis; legislators slam Obama administration for suggesting Islamist group should have some role in government. WASHINGTON – Members of the US Congress warned about the risk posed by the Muslim Brotherhood’s participation in a new Egyptian government Wednesday and scolded the Obama administration for suggesting an openness to the Islamic group having some role in its composition.... -Full Story- (jpost.com - 09/02/11)

Protecting Buddhism in Sri Lanka
Shenali Waduge
If Sri Lanka feels the need to protect & preserve Buddhism, it translates to mean that there are challenges that need to be overcome & issues that need to be addressed without bias. Action plans will not work unless we are able to determine if Buddhism in its conceptual form, in its practice & even in its belief is seeing a decline and if so we need to first return to basics and determine why. Naturally, the present anxiety to preserve & protect Buddhism must be due to external or internal factors or a combination of both.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/02/11)

The Sequel to DEATH OF THE TIGER, Sri Lanka’s brutal victory over its Tamil insurgents BY JON LEE ANDERSON (The New Yorker, January 17, 2011)-DEATH OF THE INVINCIBLE TAMIL TIGER TERRORIST, Sri Lanka’s valiant victory over its Tamil terrorists
BY ASOKA WEERASINGHE
First Political Assassination.  The Tamil Tiger terrorism that began as a guerilla movement  in the early 1970s had its first major kill when on 27 July 1975, Alfred Duraiappah, the Tamil Mayor of Jaffna was shot dead near Varatharaja Perumal temple in Ponnalai.  This was considered a seminal event marking the beginning of Sri Lanka’s Tamil separatist Eelam War, a killing that has missed the radar of the NGO police lobby War Crimes Brigade and the Tamil Diaspora Rump against Tamil Tigers,  but have mischievously directed their scorpion-talons on the Sri Lankan Government to charge them... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/02/11)

What is India up to with the issue of killing of Indian fishermen ?
By Charles.S.Perera
 Where are we with India ? India sure has a problem with TamilNadu. The question now is to what extent the Central government of India will go to satisfy the demands of TamilNadu politicians in order to preserve India’s unitary Status.  The Central Government of India had not been circumspect in their intervention with the government of Sri Lanka on the fishermen issue in the manner it had done.  TamilNadu politicians are politically immature . Karunanidhi the elder TamilNadu Statesman- the poet laureate for the terrorists of Sri Lanka, seems to have no political vision . So... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/02/11)

Honouring Dignity: Key to Sustainable Harmony
Gamini Sarath Godakanda
“The concept of dignity is very powerful. It both incites and resolves conflict. Dignity is a human species issue. We all yearn for dignity but often do not know how to honour it in others.” So said Dr. Ms. Donna Hicks, an Associate at the Weatherhead Centre for International affairs, Harvard University where she chairs the Herbert C. Kelman Seminar on International Conflict. Dr Hicks has worked extensively on Sri Lanka, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Northern Ireland and Columbia. She has also worked with a major US corporate. She has taught courses in conflict resolution at Harvard... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/02/11)

කෙටි කතාව -ගුප්ත ආගන්තුකයා
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් ම ජයතුංග
බොබ් ඩිලන්ගේ ගීතයක් සිහින් හඬින් වාදනය වෙයි. මෙම ගීතයට සවන් දෙමින් දකුණු ලන්ඩනයේ අවන්්හලක නියොන් එළිය යට මේසයක හිඳ සන්සුන්ව තම රාත‍්‍රි ආහාරය ගන්නා මැදිවියේ පුද්ගලයෙකු අවන්හලේ වූ අනෙකුත් අමුතතන්ගෙන් කැපී පෙනිණිි. බාහිර පෙනුම අනුව ඔහු ඉංග‍්‍රීසි ජාතිකයෙකු නොවන බව පැහැදිළිය. එහෙත් වචන උච්චාරණයේ දී ඔහු ඉංග‍්‍රීසි ජාතිකයන්ට නොදෙවැනි ලෙස භාෂාව හැසිර විය. යම් හෙයකිින් මෙම පුද්ගලයා දුරකථනයෙන් කථා කරනු ඇසූ  නාඳුනන්නෙක් මේ තැනැත්තා සරේ හෝ බර්මිංහැම් වලින් පැමිණි අයෙකු යැයි සිතනු නිසැකය.  අමුත්තා ඉංග‍්‍රීසි ජාතිකයෙකු නොවූ බව සැබෑය. කළු පැහැති කොණ්ඩය, රන් පැහැති ඡුවි වර්ණය, දුඹුරු දෑස් පෙන්නුම් කළේ  මධ්‍යධරණී ප‍්‍රදේශයේ උපත ලැබූවෙකුගේ දේහ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/02/11)

Warfare and Mental Health
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge  
 The question is not whether PTSD is real and serious. It's a devastating mental illness. The question is how many veterans have PTSD, and clearly our goal should be to try to address the veterans' needs and help them deal with their problems and move on in life. -Chet Edwards  War is an institutionalized violence that has intrinsic unique elements. It is a manmade disaster, which is multi-dimensional. War can be   individual as well as a collective form of trauma.  Wars represent a mental health emergency. Mental health is the springboard of thinking and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/02/11)

HEAD OF AHMADIYYA MUSLIM JAMA’AT RESPONDS TO BRUTAL KILLINGS OF AHMADI MUSLIMS IN INDONESIA
By A. Abdul Aziz,Press Secretary, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at, Sri Lanka.
Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad says that perpetrators will be answerable to God Almighty It is with great sadness that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at confirms that Sunday on 6th February 2011, 3 members of its community were martyred in Indonesia in an utterly barbaric and brutal attack.  The attack occurred in Cikeusik, south of Banten in Indonesia and was conducted by a large group of people numbering between 700 and 1,000. The attack occurred even though police had been forewarned for a number of days about an imminent attack on... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 08/02/11)

'Israel preferred Suleiman as Mubarak's successor'
By ASSOCIATED PRESS AND YAAKOV LAPPIN
WikiLeaks: Defense Ministry official tells US that if Egyptian president's dies, "Israel is most comfortable with the prospect of Suleiman." Talkbacks (8) Newly leaked US diplomatic cables suggest that Egypt's Vice President Omar Suleiman was long seen by Israel as the preferred candidate to succeed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.... -Full Story- (jpost.com - 08/02/11)

Beware the Islamists -Nobody wants Egypt’s first democratic elections to be its last
By JPOST EDITORIAL
The White House is calling for an “immediate” transition to democratic representation in Egypt. “Ordinary transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now,” US President Barack Obama told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak by phone Tuesday. And as if the president’s message was not clear enough, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs added, “Now means yesterday.” Not only must transition to democracy be quick, but it must include “a whole host of non-secular actors,” added Gibbs.... -Full Story- (jpost.com - 08/02/11)

J'lem relieved at seeming stabilization in Egypt
By HERB KEINON
Barak heads to US amidst concerns of mixed signals from Washington; diplomatic source says US zigzagging on Egyptian unrest creates feeling of insecurity: "If US doesn't know what to do, who's in charge?" Defense Minister Ehud Barak left Tuesday for two days of talks in New York and Washington expected to focus on the rapidly changing situation in Egypt, while sources in Jerusalem began expressing relief that it seemed as if Egypt had stepped back from the verge of anarchy... -Full Story- (jpost.com - 08/02/11)

Terra Incognita: Careful what we wish for
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
Chaos has a much better track record of producing more tyranny and fascism, than it does democracy. ‘Egyptians want what Americans have, they want freedom. [US President Barack] Obama needs to tell [Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak, ‘You are not leaving in September, you are leaving now; we are not giving you seven months.’” Those were the words of Fox News contributor Tamara Holder. The mantra that Egyptians want freedom and democracy has swept the world. Alongside this argument is a romantic attachment to the Egyptian protesters, a weird admiration for the “people” and the “mob.”... -Full Story- (jpost.com - 08/02/11)

The Opposition - Part II: Democracy?
MahamahaRaja
 Many people around the world hail democracy as a great form of government, at least the best we as a species have come up with so far. I am one of them. With democracy being of paramount importance, not just for the one-man one-vote which so empowers all citizens, but also because of the personal freedoms and rights which are derived from this form of government, there are many who aim to ensure no attacks are made against democracy or democratic institutions.  However, there are many meddlers who, ignoring the deterioration of freedoms in their own countries, distract... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/02/11)

Should nurses peeve patients?
Dr. Tilak Fenando
       [Proper healthcare] *Delivering sound medical and related services *Maintaining good health through prevention and treatment *Has enormous financial outlay *Competent and caring staff   Health is the general condition of a person or metabolic efficiency of a human. In 1948 the World Health Organisation defined the term ‘health’ as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely infirmity’  Nurses are qualified healthcare professionals assigned to deliver sound medical and related services aimed at maintaining good health through prevention and treatment of disease. The... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/02/11)

Isn’t Bruce Fein by implication a terrorist ? Shouldn’t he be reported to the USA Bar Association for unethical legal practice ?
By Charles.S.Perera
 Once Again Bruce Fein the American Attorney, has discredited his profession. He is driven by an excessive desire to make easy money depending on the naivety of his clients. Which is not only atrociously unethical , but it puts him into the ignoble category of a cheat, a liar and a fraudulent manipulator of a client who wants to take to court a democratically elected government of a country on false allegations.  An honest jurist will advice his client not to waste his money going to court to accuse “someone” for crimes which have not been committed... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/02/11)

71 කැරැල්ල 30 කොටස
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග
බුලට් මහින්ද හෙවත් නීතිඥ මහින්ද ජයවර්ධන- 71 විත්ති ලිවීමේදී අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම බුලට් මහින්ද චරිතය පිළිබඳව ලිවිය යුතු බව දැනමුත්තෝ පෙන්වා දුන්හ. ඔහු පිළිබඳව හැඳින්වීම කළ පුද්ගලයා බුලට් මහින්ද ගැන කියුවේ හිරේ කඩාගෙන පනින යකඩයා වැනි චරිතයක් ලෙසටය. මෙම අපුරු පුද්ගලයා සමඟ සංවාදයේ යෙදීමට මට ආශාවක් ඇති විය. එහෙත් මා ඔහුට දුරකථනයෙන් ඇමතූ මුල වතාවේදි ඔහු කරුණු කථා කිරීමට එතරම් කැමැත්තක් දැක්වූයේ නැත. ‘ඔය පත්තරකාරයෝ ඇවිල්ලා එක එක විකාර ලියාගෙන යනවා’ ඔහු නෝක්කාඩු ස්වරයකින් පැවසීය. මා පත්තරකාරයෙකු නොවන බවත් නමුත් පත්තර වලට ලිපි ලියන්නෙකු බව හා 71 කැරැුල්ලේ අප‍්‍රකට අත්දැකීම් පිළිබඳව පොතක් ලිවීමට අදහස් කරන බව කීමෙන්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/02/11)

බෙදුම් වාදයේ ආරම්භය. 1
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
ලෝකයේ මිනිස් ප්‍රජාවෙහි ආරම්භය සිදුවුණේ කවදාද, එම දිනය, මානව වර්ගයා තුල බෙදුම් වාදය ආරම්භ වූ දිනයයි.  ‍මෙම  ලෝකය  විවිධ ජාතීන්ද, එම ජාතීන්ට අයත් විවිධ සංස්කෘතීන්‍ගෙන්ද සපිරිනු ‍ගෝලයකි. ‍මෙම ‍ගෝලය හිරු හා බද්ධව සිදු කරන යාන්ත්‍රණමය කාර්යේදී ‍ලෝක‍ය මත ජනිත ‍වෙන පාරිසරික තත්වයන් ‍මෙම විවිධ ජන කණ්ඩායම් හා ඔවුනට ආ‍වේනික සංස්කෘතීන් බිහිවීමට බලපෑ මුලාරම්භයයි.  ‍මෙම විවිධ ජන කණ්ඩායම් තුල බිහි ‍වෙන සිතුවිලි පරම්පරාවන් ඔවුන් ජීවත් ‍වෙන පාරිසරක තත්වයන් හා බද්ධව ‍ගොඩනැං‍වෙන බැවින් ‍මේ සෑම ජන කණ්ඩායමකම ඔවුන‍ගේ අනන්‍යතාව‍යෙන් යුත් චින්තන රටාවක් බිහි‍ව ඇත. එම චින්තන රටාව ‍ලෝක‍යේ ‍බෙදුම් වාදය ‍මැනවින් පෝෂණය කරන ප්‍රධාන මෙවලමයි. ‍බෙදුම්වාදය සම්බන්දව ග‍වේෂණය... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/02/11)

Banks across Egypt open for first time since unrest
JPOST
Financial institutions prepare for large cash withdrawals from foreign investors, local businessmen skittish over political crisis. Banks in Cairo's financial district and across Egypt on Sunday opened for the first time since anti-government protests and demonstrations erupted over a week ago, Reuters reported. Bankers from 341 branches, 152 in Cairo, prepared for chaos in dealing with foreign investors and local businessmen who looked to escape the Egyptian pound after the demonstrations crippled a majority of the economy and disrupted vital sources which contributed to foreign exchange.... -Full Story- (jpost.com - 06/02/11)

Egypt takes first steps toward exit from two-week turmoil
RT
The deadline set by protesters in Egypt for the country's president to step down has passed. The leadership of Egypt’s ruling party has resigned, but there is no word from President Mubarak. On Sunday, Vice President Omar Suleiman met for the first time with the opposition groups, among them the banned Muslim Brotherhood, to discuss the public's right to protest safely and the possible departure of the president. A decision has been reached to establish a committee to investigate constitutional reform. This is in light of the government’s stance that Mubarak cannot step down until the constitution is dealt... -Full Story- (rt.com - 06/02/11)

Nonresistance to evil by force: the Army version
­Nadezhda Kevorkova, RT
The army started slowly forcing people out from Tahrir Square and occupied new positions in Cairo, making tiresome, useless and formal checks more severe. From the moment when Omar Suleiman – a former spy and now Egypt’s vice president who suddenly turned out to be a US protégé – promised on TV that the army would not resort to violence, every encounter of a Cairo resident with the army has become more problematic. Passages leading to Tahrir Square become narrower every day. Tonight the queue of those who wished to get there stretched to the middle of... -Full Story- (rt.com - 06/02/11)

Western Strategy: Eventually turning their heroes into zeros on the ticket of “democracy”
Shenali Waduge
The premise that there are no permanent friends but permanent interests should be remembered by all politicians in dealing with powerful nations whose aspirations has & will always be the desire to build its own empire, advance their strategic interests and secure natural resources for their needs. So when politicians of smaller nations suddenly become “friends” of these empires or agents in these client states, at times leading separatist movements on behalf of these powerful nations, they must never forget that they will be seated in the positions that have been set up for them only as... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/02/11)

This is how democracy happens – the West on Egypt
RT News
The US is reportedly in talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak about him resigning immediately. It follows numerous statements from American and European officials calling for the transition of power to begin now. ­But many are questioning the right of Western leaders to meddle in Egypt's internal affairs. It was US President Obama that got the ball rolling: “It is my belief that an orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now.” And then, faithfully, one after the other one, the other governments followed suit. “This democratic change has to start now”... -Full Story- (rt.com - 05/02/11)

Egypt: Secular protests or Muslim Brotherhood
Dr. Emile Nakhleh, a former senior intelligence officer
“Final Friday” is coming to a close in Egypt, but protests and uncertainty remain. One thing is for sure, Egyptians want foreigners out of their inner affairs so they can build their own government. The world and Egyptians alike do not want America meddling in Egypt, especially given the US support for Mubarak over the past 30 plus years. While the US openly supports democracy, and realizes the people of Egypt want change, they have been careful to support neither side calling for restraint but not dismissing past support for Mubarak. American... -Full Story- (rt.com - 05/02/11)

What Genetic Studies Say about Sinhalese, Tamils in Sri Lanka and South Indians
Dilrook Kannangara
Sri Lanka is home to many different ethnic groups. They all have equal individual rights to Sri Lanka. No one has more rights than another for whatever reason or excuse. Due to the close proximity to South India, genetic interactions between Sri Lanka and South India share a long history. However, this does not preclude the possibility of Sri Lanka having a native population unique to the island. Linguistic and racial groups go hand in hand to a great extent in the Indian subcontinent as in many parts of the Old World (the world excluding the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/02/11)

INDIA NEEDS ANOTHER KARKARE
ALI SUKHANVER
 Burdened with the burnt dead bodies of innocent children and helpless men and women, the unlucky Samjhauta Express still seems moving towards Lahore. Across the Wahga border, somewhere into the Indian lands one can feel Swami Aseemanand sinisterly smiling at the pathetic fate of the departed train; he is enjoying the pain and agony which the passengers of this train had experienced before handing over their lives to the heartless flames surrounding them. He is very happy that he succeeded in acting upon the "bomb-for-bomb" strategy. Under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code a Panchkula magistrate... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/02/11)

The Opposition
MahamahaRaja
On this important day for our nation, we should reflect on the nature of our country, and specifically on a vital pillar of our system of government. What can be said about opposition parties in democracies? What is their role? Of course, it is to hold the government to account to its own manifesto promises. It is also to highlight any injustices carried out by the governing party, or any other actor, be it against other political parties, particular individuals or against the sovereignty, integrity and honour of the state. On all these accounts, the Sri Lankan opposition... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/02/11)

US Policy: Disgracing Mubarak
By DORE GOLD 02/04/2011 16:29
Is the US repeating with the Egyptian president the errors it made in handling the Shah? In late 1978, US president Jimmy Carter faced a situation in Iran that looked strikingly similar to what President Barack Obama is dealing with today in Egypt. Massive demonstrations were being held in the streets of Teheran, calling for the ouster of the shah, who had been America’s key ally in the Persian Gulf. The White House did not know quite what to do: back the shah or seek his replacement. The State Department recommended that a broad... -Full Story- (jpost.com - 04/02/11)

Egypt's uprising stirs fears of persecution of minority Coptic Christians
By Michelle Boorstein Friday, February 4, 2011
With attacks on Christians already increasing in the Middle East, the populist uprising in Egypt has triggered fears among some that the region's largest non-Muslim population - Egypt's 7 million Coptic Christians - could be at risk.Copt leaders in the United States said they are terrified that a new Egyptian government with a strong Islamic fundamentalist bent would persecute Christians. They are quietly lobbying the Obama administration to do more to protect Christians in Muslim countries and are holding prayer vigils and fasts, such as one that ended Wednesday evening at Copt... -Full Story- (washingtonpost.com - 04/02/11)

Youth Homelessness in the Greater Toronto Area
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge 
 Canada is one of the few countries in the world without a national housing strategy (United Nations, 2009). Surveys and statistics over the past three decades have repeatedly shown that the numbers of homeless people in Canada have been steadily increasing. Toronto is one of the cities that is facing the acute problem of homelessness.  Youth Homelessness in the GTA has become one of the worst nightmares.    The United Nations have defined homelessness in two categories –that is absolute and relative. Absolute homelessness" describes the condition of people without physical shelter who sleep outdoors,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/02/11)

Distorting SL history to suite a narrow and racist agenda
Alastair
On Feb. 04, 2011 Gentlemen, I first heard of this person Jayam Rutnam when he was promoting the Tamil IMHO - the new front for the Tamil Tigers or the LTTE terrorists in the United States. Now he is on a crusade to distort the history of Sri Lanka to fit to his narrow agenda on the 63rd anniversary of Sri Lanka's independence. We are researching intelligence as to how the US-based LTTE operatives are involved with Rutnam. Meanwhile, I urge caution on the part of the Sri Lankan community when dealing with such disingenuous individuals who pose... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/02/11)

The Travels of a Journalist—54 -Exploring botanic gardens in Portland and riparian splendor in NW Oregon
By Shelton A. Gunaratne ©2011 Professor of mass communications emeritus
Minnesota State University Moorhead
 In spite of continual rain, on Tuesday (1 Aug. 1989) afternoon, my family—wife Yoke-Sim, son Junius and daughter Carmel—and I went on a 134-mile roundtrip tour from Longview to explore the attractions in Portland (pop. 582,130), the administrative seat of Multnomah County. Portland is the third most populous city in the Pacific Northwest after Seattle, Wash., and Vancouver, B.C. The Portland Metropolitan Area has a population of 2.2 million. I organized this half-day tour to suit the interests and tastes of my mother, then 76,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/02/11)

Independence Day: Strengthening our sovereignty
By Philip Fernando, Former Deputy Editor, Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka
 On Independence Day we recap the restoration of Sri Lanka's sovereignty usurped by colonial powers. Our thoughts are on re-affirming the commitment to strengthen national sovereignty. That assertion should be premised on the question what should we be realistically afraid of? Identifying those determined to jeopardize our security and how best to annul plots of those crawling out of the woodwork to resurrect the vanquished foreign terrorist scourge are vital. The guns have been silenced yet threats and alignments aimed against us need to be heeded.  The remnant Tiger... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/02/11)

Independence Day Message
Ven. Walpola Piyananda, Chief Sangha Nayake of America
Feb. 4, 2011, Long Beach, California              As we celebrate the 63rd Anniversary of Sri Lanka’s Independence, I would like to draw your attention to two of our most important philosophical guidelines:  The first is, do not forget your mother who gave you birth.  The second is, do not forget your country where you were born. In regards to the second, my Independence Day message to you is that we have to learn to work together, settle our differences, communicate with one another, and move forward on our path to make... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/02/11)

Maximus, Daffodility complex and the Double cheese mouse trap made in Angoda. (Part- 18)
GEETHANJANA KUDALIGAMAGE
In the famous movie “Gladiator”, at the end of the victorious military campaign defeating northern Germanic tribes, Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius asks the commander of his Northern army Maximus the Spaniard, (the “Gladiator,”)…  …“What is Rome, Maximus?” “Sire, I’ve seen much of the rest of the world. It’s brutal, cruel and dark. But Rome is the light sire.” “Yet you have never been there.” “No Sire, I haven’t.” “So you have not seen what it has become.”… “No!”  It reveals that, although Maximus had never been to Rome or hadn’t seen it or lived there to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/02/11)

The recent news item about the arrest of the JVP student leader transporting weapons
Henry Jayaweera
The recent news item about the arrest of the JVP student leader transporting weapons brings forth a deja vu response from those who lived through the madness of the early seventies, when university students who probably did not deserve to be in the universities in the first place, joined up with their weird counterparts in the political scene to wreak mayhem on the country, followed by the equally disastrous events of the  90's. All we remember of those times is the the senseless destruction of human life and property, the suffering and misery brought upon like a blight on the people. Nothing good ever came... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/02/11)

නිදහස!
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
ඔබ අප ලබා ගත්තාවූ නිදහස සම්බන්ධව මොනවාද හිතන්නේ? විශේෂයක් දැනෙන්නේ නැහැ. ඒ උනාට හොඳයි. ඒ මොන කෝළම් කතාවක්ද? තමන්ට දැනෙන්නේත් නැති හැඟෙන්නේත් නැති දෙයකට හොඳයි කියන එක? සමහර දේවල් තියෙනවා අපට හැඟෙන්නෙ නැති හොඳ දේවල්. ඒ වගේම තියෙනවා තමන්ට කිසිවක් දැනෙන්නේ නැති හොඳ දේවල්; ඉතින් මට දැනුනේ නැහැ කියල හෝ මට හැඟුනේ නැහැ කියල, මේ රටේ අති බහුතරයක් මහත් භක්තියකින් සමරණ දෙයකට නරකයි කියන්න පුළුවන්ද? මට ඒක කරන්න අයිතියක් නැහැ. මේ නිදහස අපූරුයි කියල මම කියනවා. ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම ඔබ අවංකව හිතේ තියෙන දේ ප්‍රකාශ කරන්නේ නැහැ කියල මම ඔබට චෝදනා කරනවා. ඔබ අපව සතුටු කරන්න... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/02/11)

IFC Reaffirms Commitment to Supporting Private Sector Development in Sri Lanka
 IFC (International Finance Corporation), a member of the World Bank Group
Colombo, Sri Lanka, February 1, 2010— Ms. Rachel F Robbins, Vice President and General Counsel for IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, expressed confidence in Sri Lanka’s sustained growth and IFC’s commitment to encouraging public and private sector development in the country.  Ms. Robbins oversees the provision of legal services at IFC. Based in Washington D.C., Ms. Robbins’ first official visit to Sri Lanka includes field tours to projects supported by IFC to promote the strategic agenda of promoting inclusive growth, developing infrastructure and addressing impacts... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/02/11)

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග ගේ 71 කැරැල්ල ගවේෂණාත්මක කෘතිය පිළිබඳව අදහස් දැක්වීමක්
 ලයනල් බෝපගේ 
 දැනට වසර විසි එකකට පමණ පෙර ආරක්‍ෂක හමුදා අත් අඩංගුවේ සිටියදී අභිරහස් ලෙස ඝාතනයට ලක් කරන ලද රෝහණ විජේවීර සහෝදරයාත්, ඔහුගේ සිතුවිලි දහරාවත්, ඔහුගේ ප‍්‍රමුඛත්වයෙන් සහ මඟ පෙන්වීමෙන් 1967 සිට ගොඩ නඟන ලද ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණත් ලාංකීය ජන සමාජය තුළ ඇති කරනු ලැබූ සහ තවමත් ඇති කරනු ලබමින් පවතින දේශපාලන සහ සමාජ ආර්ථික බලපෑම පිළිබඳව නොයෙක් දෙනා විසින් නොයෙක් දෘෂ්ඨි කෝණ යොදා ගනිමින් කරන ලද විශ්ලේෂණ බොහොමයක් ප‍්‍රකාශයට පත් වී ඇත. එහෙත් මෙම ප‍්‍රපංචයන් පිළිබඳව මනෝ විශ්ලේෂණාත්මක ඇසකින් කරනු ලැබූ විග‍්‍රහයක් දක්නට ලැබෙන්නේ කලාතුරකිනි.  1970 දශකයේ දී ශී‍්‍ර ලාංකීය වාම දේශපාලනය තුල රට පුරාම පාහේ පැතිරී ගියා... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/02/11)

WHEN CRUSHED ONES GET UNITED
PROFESSOR ALI SUKHANVER
 The Russian capital Moscow's busiest airport Domodedovo witnessed the first terrorist attack of the New Year 2011 on the 24th of January. At least 34 people were killed and more than 180 injured in the blast which occurred inside the airport's international arrivals hall near the baggage area. The New York Time says, “The attack inflicted a deep injury on Moscow’s image just as President Dmitri A. Medvedev prepared to woo foreign investors at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The bomb set off in the international arrivals hall of Domodedovo, the city’s glittering showcase... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/02/11)

Response to New Yorker blog by Jon Lee Anderson
Mahes L;
"The New Yorker of Jan 13, 2011 carries Jon Lee Anderson's blog post titled "Visiting Sri Lanka's Ghosts" that is an insult to the quality of your magazine as well as being insensitive biased reportage against all those other people of Sri Lanka who have had to face the blasts of LTTE terror, together with those who defended the nation against the violence and suicide terror of the Tamil Tigers for near 3 decades during which they assassinated a Sri Lankan President, a Foreign Minister, several political leaders, >600 Policemen who had given themselves up, and thousands... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/02/11)

Ambassador Dayan Jayatilleka questions the status and role of reporters without Borders (RSF)
Permanent Delegation of Sri Lanka to UNESCO Paris
Newly appointed Permanent Delegate of Sri Lanka to UNESCO, Ambassador Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka participating in the International Symposium on the Freedom of Expression at UNESCO in Paris questioned the right of Reporters without Borders (RSF) to stand in judgment of legitimate member states. The Secretary General of Reporters without Borders, Mr. Jean-Francois Julliard, a panelist at the symposium, in his remarks earlier noted several countries and their leaders, as being infringers of the freedom of expression, which has also been highlighted in the material displayed and referred to by the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/02/11)

Sri Lankans have contributed to United States culture: Clinton
Colombo, Feb 3 : Sri Lankans have made several "positive contributions to American culture", said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the eve of Sri Lanka's Independence Day anniversary.Sri Lanka will celebrate its 63rd anniversary of independence Friday. Clinton said: "Since Sri Lanka's independence, our two countries have had a strong relationship based on mutual interests and a shared commitment to the ideals of democratic governance."... -Full Story- (newkerala.com - 03/02/11)

$ 216.6 million IMF loan for Sri Lanka
R. K. Radhakrishnan
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will lend Sri Lanka about $ 216.6 million following the completion of a review of the country’s economy. On February 2, the IMF completed the fifth review of Sri Lanka's economic performance under a programme supported by a Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). The completion of the review enables the immediate disbursement of the loan bringing total disbursements under the arrangement to $1.516 billion. “The Sri Lankan authorities have made good progress under the Fund-supported programme and macroeconomic developments continue to be favourable. Growth is strengthening; inflation remains in check, despite some pressure... -Full Story- (thehindu.com - 03/02/11)

Sri Lanka, a land of limitless beauty
Peninsula News Paper
Thursday, 03 February 2011 03:16 Sri Lanka will celebrate its 63rd Independence Day tomorrow. This is the second Independence Day in a terrorism-free country. The event marks not only the defeat of the nearly 133 years of British rule, but also the remarkable sense of living in a truly peaceful country. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has accepted that tourism is a vital area and has identified this sector as the effectively capable driving force for the country’s socio economic development. Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa has vowed ‘to take every possible effort to turn the tourism industry into... -Full Story- (thepeninsulaqatar.com - 03/02/11)

At last Egypt rises against pro-Western anarchists
On Wednesday, thousands of supporters of President Mubarak arrived in buses and surged into the square, dismantling barricades. "Let the man (Mubarak) take care of you until his time is up," Mohamed Shafik, 51, told Reuters news agency. "Mubarak wants stability and we want stability as well."... -Full Story- (bbc.co.uk - 02/02/11)

Difference in the aspirations of the Tamil Diaspora & Tamils in Sri Lanka
Shenali Waduge
For May 2011, it will be two years since the annihilation of the terrorist movement LTTE & its leaderships. It is no secret that a large number of the 1million Tamil exodus from Sri Lanka had been openly supporting the LTTE while others had no choice but to support for fear of pressures by Tamils themselves. It is part of these funds that made the Jane’s Defense declare that LTTE earns USD300m annually. With the fall of LTTE terror we ask a simple question exactly who wanted a Tamil homeland for the LTTE in Sri Lanka has... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/02/11)

CHRV CONFERENCE ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN SRI LANKA
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 Canada
February 2, 2011 To; John Argue (Amnesty International), Hon. Jack Layton, MP. NDP Leader; Hon. Bob Rae Lib.MP, Foreign Affairs Critic; Jean Dorion, BQ MP, Foreign Affairs Critic; Hon. Maria Minna, Lib MP, Former Liberal Minister for CIDA & Chair, Canada Sri Lanka Parliamentary Friendship Group;  Mark Holland, Lib MP Public Safety & National Security Critic; Robert Oliphant, Lib MP, Multiculturalism Critic; Justin Trudeau Lib MP, Youth and Immigration Critic; Paul Calandra, Con MP, Member Special Committee on Bill C49; Alan Tonks, Lib MP; Patrick Brown,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/02/11)

Heladiva is freed but Hela Nation is not yet INDEPENDENT!
Anura seneviratna (for expat Hela team).     
Every national country belongs to ONE sovereign nation is not understood ONLY by the leaders and citizens of the country known as Sri Lanka. This confusion risen from the name Lanka with its artificial nation is the core problem. In the absence of a Srilankan nation, language and culture: the non indigenous minorities whose national origins are elsewhere, attempting to germinate their alien nationalities in massive violation against the Island’s heritage of Hela Sovereign Nationality. It continuously threatens the invasion of Heladiva and extinction of the Hela Nation.  Although, this massive crime can... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/02/11)

Nagasalan Sri Lanka
Sunil Vijayapala  Australia
Expats who envisage repatriating mustn’t only think twice but think hundred times before they make a move as the perception of expats about Sri Lanka is a far cry from the reality, the truth.  One needs to observe and experience oneself as I did during the last few months, the hardship undergoing by the ‘ordinary folk’ in our country.  This experience one would not gain by travelling in Benz cars and eating in big hotels (the typical expat show off), but by using public transport and moving with and chatting with common folk.   Apart from high... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/02/11)

The Grand Gala 18th Anniversary of New Year & Pongal celebration of Sri Lankan Tamil Community of Indian Origin - Canada
Pudhuvai N.Raman
 Canada is one of the best countries in all respects since it gives asylum to those helpless victims who want to migrate and settle for a life with full of peace and harmony.  As such Canada gives a warm reception strengthening the unity of multiculturalism in diversity. We all know that there are more than a million of South Asian Hindus are living in various parts of Canada. They have achieved remarkable success in Trade and commerce in addition to employment services. Adding more reputation to their values of their traditional cultural heritage, they celebrate all their... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/02/11)

United States Congratulate the people of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Press Statement  Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State
Press Statement Hillary Rodham Clinton Secretary of State Washington, DC February 2, 2011 On behalf of President Obama and the people of the United States, I congratulate the people of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka as you celebrate the 63rd anniversary of independence this February 4.‪ Since Sri Lanka's independence, our two countries have had a strong relationship based on mutual interests and a shared commitment to the ideals of democratic governance. Sri Lankans have made numerous positive contributions to American culture... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/02/11)

World for a Song
EXPRESS FEATURES SERVICE
The countdown to World Cup 2011 has begun, so get ready to...sing! A music album titled Play for the Game is being releasing by uTunes Entertainment online through iTunes downloads next week. Among the collaborators in the three-track album are up-and-coming musicians from some of the host nations — Sajjid Islam from Dubai, Kamran Ahmed from Pakistan, Sherrin Varghese and Natasha Rathnayake from Sri Lanka and Tausif Ahmed from Bangladesh.... -Full Story- (indianexpress.com - 02/02/11)

Politicians Beware! "Fast & Furious" Internet, more Effective than the Long Arm of the Law!
Prof. Hudson McLean
For the first time in the history of the Internet, Egypt "Blacked Out" the Internet connectivity throughout Egypt by government order, to the chosen half dozen ISP. That goes to show the power of technology invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. The information reaches pan global in a split second, depending on the ISP speed. In the late 1950s, it took a week before the Tamils in Jaffna heard about a minor incident between the Tamil-Sinhala pavement hawkers in Pettah and to react, which bounced back to Colombo after a few days, which started a mini-racial riot.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/02/11)

Sociological Aspects of Crime
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
 Introduction: This paper discusses sociological aspects of crime and its impact on the society. The definition of crime is presented and conversed in depth.  Several sociological theories on crime and criminal behavior are highlighted with numerous case examples.  The perspectives of crime are discussed in functional, conflict, interactionism, feminism and postmodern models.  What is a Crime? A crime is an offence against the public law. It is an act committed or omitted in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it and for which punishment is imposed upon conviction. Crimes violate the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/02/11)

JUST A FORMALITY - PLANT MORE TREES AND BUSHES
P.H. Silva
After the heavy rain and flooding in Heladiva, it is just a formality now to call for more bushes and trees to be planted. Even those fast growing ground creepers will be very helpful if planted in the right places. Roots are needed on steep hill slopes to hold back soil and rocks during heavy rainfall.  But, in the newspapers, I see no dramatic headlines calling for drastic action. It would be of great public service if they would kindly carry a large notice on the front page in large lettering saying: “Plant trees and bushes of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/02/11)

Who makes these stupid rules anyway?
By Dr. Mrs. Mareena Thaha Reffai Dehiwela.
It is amazing to say the least that almost 50 applications have been rejected for nominations for the on coming elections based on insignificant matters like spelling mistakes and lack of JP’s signatures. I am made to understand if    a person other than the applicant goes along with him and  just hands over the file, his name is written as the one handing over the application, and  the application is rejected as it  must be handed over by the  applicant himself! Surely! Makes me wonder are we in an intelligent society or... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/02/11)

Martin Jacques: Understanding the rise of China
About this talk
Speaking at a TED Salon in London, economist Martin Jacques asks: How do we in the West make sense of China and its phenomenal rise? The author of "When China Rules the World," he examines why the West often puzzles over the growing power of the Chinese economy, and offers three building blocks for understanding what China is and will become.... -Full Story- (ted.com - 01/02/11)

Sri Lanka holds suspect in media attack
By Ranga Sirilal
Sri Lankan police arrested on Tuesday a suspect in the torching of the offices of a web site critical of the government, an attack which drew condemnation from the U.S. government. Monday's arson at the office of U.K.-based web site www.lankaenews.com, which regularly criticizes the government and has links to a politician who fell out with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, is the latest in a series of assaults on media.... -Full Story- (Reuters - 01/02/11)

Rajapaksa scotches health rumours
R. K. Radhakrishnan
Dismissing speculation in a section of the media about his health, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Monday these were floated by desperate people. In a free-wheeling interaction with a few members of the Indian press stationed in Colombo on the sidelines of a ceremony to unveil the logo for Hambantota's bid for the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Mr. Rajapaksa said speculating about his health had become an obsession for some. “The other day I was on the treadmill when a friend of mine called to ask if I was keeping well. I asked him why... -Full Story- (thehindu.com - 01/02/11)

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