News Archive for Apr 2011

HORAGE AMMAGEN PENA AHANAWA WAGE
Malin Abeyatunge
According to the news item titled “  Diplomats, NGO talk on report (Daily Mirror- 30/4/2011) quote”Butenis has invited Diplomats, representatives of diplomatic missions and Non-Governmental Organization representatives in Colombo met at the United States Ambassador’s residence to discuss the United Nations Secretary General’s Panel Report”unquote. The subject news item brought me utter frustration when I saw the names of the local NGOs she has invited for the discussion. There was no secret that the US ambassador  Patrecia Butenis  always had a soft corner for the invited NGO’s  Jehan Perera from NPC, Pakiasothy from... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/04/11)

Christian clergymen and laymen– healing or opening wounds?
By Mario Perera, Kadawata
A group calling themselves ‘Christian clergy and laymen’ have signed a statement in which they say “We call on all Sri Lankans and particularly religious leaders and the government to take into serious consideration the stories of our brothers and sisters contained in the (Ban-ki Moon) report, along with its conclusions and recommendations.” Anglican Bishop Emeritus Kumara Illangasinghe, Father Jeyabalan Croos, Jesuit Father Thangarasa Jeevaraj and Father Nandana Manatunga, were among the signatories. “Instead of denial and rejection that seems to be happening now, we believe all Sri Lankans should treat this report as a... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/04/11)

Bishops kill peace in Sri Lanka
H. L. D. Mahindapala
The report of a handful Christians demanding the release of the report of Ban Ki-Moon’s Advisory Panel of Experts (APE) – a political move led by Bishop Kumara Illangasinghe (BISKILL) -- begins quite appropriately by saying that Jesus was killed “by the rulers of that time, with complicity of high priests of the time.” So what else is new? It is a fact of politics and history that all rulers, without exception, have been killers when they were engaged in wars. There is no morality, or law, or... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 30/04/11)

US-Tamil Separatist Nexus More Sinister than It Seems
Dilrook Kannangara
Common misfortune makes strange bedfellows. Faced with defeat after defeat, USA is looking for avenues to maintain and strengthen its global dominance. After the defeat in Vietnam in the 1970s, US officials fancied terrorist groups. It experimented with a few, Mujahideen being the most prominent. Mujahid terrorists were supplied with all sorts of weapons to attack the Soviet troops in Afghanistan. In order to provide the terrorist a transit place, a safe haven and an escape route, pro-US Pakistan was turned into a Mujahideen platform. Unfortunately Pakistan has still not recovered.   Things went very well for... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/04/11)

Hashan Tillekeratne's Accusations In True Perspective As Dangerous and Self Incriminating.
Top Spin By Suni
April 29th 2011 There are some who carrry their post performance days in International sports in dignity, decorum and grace and then there are others with pent up frustrations and politically motivated malice who turn up in their true colours casting aside every bit of class and decorum they acquired as part of their involvement at the highest level of their particular discipline, to denigrate everything that should be sacred yet apathetically cast aside the basic principles related thereto. One such seems to be former Sri Lankan cricketer and onetime... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/04/11)

Biased UN Panel Report - Western Influence. What is at stake for Sri Lanka?
Shenali Waduge
So the UN Panel Report, commissioned arbitrarily by the UN Secretary General has been made public. The next question is what lies next for Sri Lanka & how best would Sri Lanka need to react & how far are Sri Lankans likely to be affected? Whatever decisions are taken in the forthcoming weeks or months, the UN would enter the history books as a biased & unjustified entity & the UNSG would be entered as the biggest puppet UNSG in history. Years from now, future generations would wonder why a country that... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/04/11)

Sri Lanka Lanka govt attacks UN report
The government on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the UN, calling the release of its report divisive and publishing in a mouthpiece the well recognised photograph of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, moments before an LTTE suicide bomber attacked him in an election rally. A statement from the ministry of external affairs criticised the public release of the expert panel's report to United Nations (UN) on accountability in Sri Lanka, saying it would disrupt efforts to usher in peace in the country. It, however, added that the government-constituted Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) could look in allegations -... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 27/04/11)

The United Nations and Divided Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka and human rights activists around the world are in an uproar over a report released by a United Nations panel this week on the final months of the island nation's bloody civil war. The survey may prove illuminating, so far as it goes, in terms of understanding what happened during those violent six months in 2009. The greater risk is that the international response will tip Sri Lanka closer to losing the peace.... -Full Story- (Wall Street Journal - 27/04/11)

Royal ring sapphire 'came from Sri Lanka'
A Sri Lankan jewellers' organisation claims to have solved an enduring secret surrounding the engagement ring of royal fiancee Kate Middleton. The famous sapphire at the heart of the ring came from a mine in the centre of the country 35 years ago, the Sri Lanka Gem and Jewellery Association says. Royal jewellers Garrard refused to comment on the claims.... -Full Story- (BBC News - 27/04/11)

India ready to engage SL on UN report
Reacting to the report by a UN Chief appointed panel of experts, which has accused Colombo of committing war crimes, India said it was willing to engage Sri Lanka on the contents of the report. India is having to walk a tightrope over the issue because of its concerns over the still incomplete rehabilitation of Tamils in the island nation, as also because of strategic compulsions arising out of China's unflinching support to Colombo. “The government has seen the report of the panel of experts appointed by the UN Secretary General to advise him on accountability-related issues in the context... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 27/04/11)

ලෝක කුසලාන ක්‍රිකට් තරඟා- වලිය හා අප ලද මහා ජයග්‍රහණය!
චන්දුසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි
ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාව යනු මහත්වරුන්ගේ ක්‍රීඩාවක් බව කාලාන්තරයක් මුළුල්ලේ ප්‍රකටව තිබූණි. සත්‍ය වශයෙන්ම   ආරම්භයේදී මෙම ක්‍රීඩාව වංශවත් පවුල් වලට උරුම වූ ක්‍රීඩාවක් බවට පත්ව තිබුණි. වංශවත් පවුල් වල ජීවත් වෙන්නේ මහත්වරුන් නම්, සත්‍ය වශයෙන්ම මෙය  මහත්වරුන්ගේ ක්‍රීඩාවකි. අතමිට මුදල් අගහිඟ කම් නැති මේ මහත්වරුන් ක්‍රිකට් ක්‍රීඩාව කරනු ලැබුයේ කායික ව්‍යායාමය, මානසික තෘප්තිය, මිත්‍ර සම්බන්ධතා වර්ධනය යන සිද්ධාන්තයන් මුල් කරගෙන මිස ජයග්‍රහණයම හෝ මුදල් හම්බකර ගැනීමේ  ඉලක්ක කරගෙන නොවේ. ක්‍රිකට් යනු පෙර ලෙසම මහත්වරුන්ගේ ක්‍රීඩාවක් යයි යන සම්මතයේ පිහිටා, 2011 ලෝක කුසලාන ක්‍රිකට් තරඟාවලියේ අවසාන තරඟයෙන් පසු සිදුවූ සිදුවීම් දෙස බලන විට,  ශ්‍රී ලංකා කණ්ඩායමේ පරාජය එම මොහොතේම... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/04/11)

Moon bludgeoned by complicity with pariah panelists’ accountability hoax
By Philip Fernando, former Deputy Editor Sunday Observer
Three pariah panelists extraneous to the UN chain of command failed miserably to resurrect the morally bankrupt Tiger claims of forged atrocities allegedly occurring during last days of the terror war.  They weaved a warped accountability hoax based on fiction. Ban Ki-Moon got clobbered and corrupted due to his complicity blaming Sri Lanka for civilian escapees being shot at and killed by Tiger gun fire.  Moon panel made Sri Lanka the pre-ordained culprit for Tiger atrocities shattering Moon’s reputation.  The panel could not muster anything beyond the forgeries that had been... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/04/11)

Actions speak louder than words
Dr. Tilak S Fernando
Quiet minds cannot be perplexed or frightened, but go on in fortune or misfortune at their own private pace, like a clock during a thunderstorm - Robert Louis Stevenson. Several e-mails I received following the recent Japanese turmoil carried pictures of the disaster zones. A particular story of a 9-year-old boy, who lost his parents and queuing up in a long food line, was fascinating. A Policeman approaching the boy had offered part of his food ration saying: “When it comes to your turn, they might run out of food. So here’s my... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/04/11)

Ban Ki Moon, who seems to have acted beyond powers vested in him as Secretarry General of UNO, should show cause before the Security Council or be impeached.
By Charles.S.Perera
Ban Ki Moon the Secretary General of the United Nations Organization had appointed an advisory panel to  investigate and advise him if there had been violation of human rights by the Armed Forces of the Sri Lanka Government  in the “elimination” of terrorists, paying from his special  Fund.   After the advisory panel made its investigations and  handed over  its report,  the Secretary General  published the report without the consent of the “party” concerned- in this case the member State of  Sri Lanka.   The question is not whether the appointment of the advisory  panel by the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/04/11)

Western media biased: Russian envoy
The Western media outlets are biased when reporting humanitarian issues as in the instance of Sri Lanka, choosing to report only one side of the story which suits their agendas and motives, Russian Ambassador for Sri Lanka Vladimir P. Mikhaylov said He said the Western media did not have a uniform approach to humanitarian situations around the world but choose only one side of the story which suited their agendas and motives while being biased in their reporting.... -Full Story- (Daily Mirror - 26/04/11)

Will Moscow, Beijing and New Delhi be behind Lanka?
Last week, the Lankan government fretted, sulked and warned against the public release of the three-member expert panel’s report on human rights accountability in Sri Lanka. What it could do if the report was released – it was finally released by the UN on Monday night – wasn’t too clear though. The public release of the report will violate the principles of equality that the UN was founded on, the mild mannered external affairs minister, GL Peiris, said in a rare display of righteous anger. So, now that the noble principles of equality have been shamelessly violated, what next? A... -Full Story- (Hindustan Times - 26/04/11)

Separate Tamil state must in Lanka for lasting solution: PMK
The PMK today asked the UN and the international community, including India, to initiate steps for the formation of a separate Tamil nation within Sri Lanka for a lasting solution to ethnic strife as the island nation's measures for welfare of minority Tamils are 'not credible.' "Tamil Eelam (a separate nation) alone is the lasting solution and UN and other countries should initiate steps in this regard," PMK founder leader Dr S Ramadoss said in a statement. He alleged that Sri Lanka had not taken steps to solve issues responsible for the ethnic crisis. "No proper enquiry has been conducted... -Full Story- (ibnlive.in.com - 26/04/11)

UN chief: no probe into Sri Lanka mass killings
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has said he cannot order an international probe into the killing of tens of thousands of civilians during Sri Lanka's final assault on Tamil separatists in 2009. His remarks came after a UN panel said Monday that the Sri Lanka military killed most of the civilian victims of the offensive but that both sides may be guilty of war crimes, ordering Colombo to conduct a "genuine" inquiry. It said both sides had carried out acts that constitute "a grave assault on the entire regime of international law designed to protect individual dignity during both war and... -Full Story- (bangkokpost.com - 26/04/11)

Sri Lanka unlikely to face war crimes investigation
The Sri Lankan government appears unlikely to face a full international inquiry into alleged war crimes during the final stages of its civil war in 2009, despite a UN report that claims tens of thousands of civilians were killed, most of them in shelling by government forces. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said on Tuesday he would only launch an international investigation if the Sri Lankan government agrees or an "international forum" such as the United Nations security council calls for an inquiry.... -Full Story- (guardian.co.uk - 26/04/11)

US military interventions & accountability for civilian deaths
Shenali Waduge
People outside a war terrain will never understand what a battle is like. Soldiers do not memorize the international protocols nor do they have time to remember any of the clauses in them while trying to take on the enemy. Yet, in the case of the US most of the troops it has committed in countries have been without any provocation. To eliminate a handful of perpetrators, the US has killed thousands of civilians. As aggressor, the US has a very poor record of accountability & with no actions taken against the US by world... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/04/11)

Ban Ki Moon In Perspective. Does He have A Right To Persist In An Investigative Panel Given All His Transparencies?
LankaWeb Weekly Editorial April 24th. 2011
There are ,many pointers towards what the world needs to know about the present United Nations' Secretary General  Ban Ki- Moon portrayed by sources who  reportedly know the man, his true direction and his modus operandi as someone whom they believe is egocentric, self opinionated and easily influenced due to a lack of intelligent cognizance about world affairs other than  what is relayed to him second hand through his aides and often with a conflict of interest laced in bias where he is portrayed as  "a secrecy-obsessed U.N. chief seeking to wrest control of internal... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/04/11)

WHITHER RECONCILIATION WITH TAMILS?
Malin Abeyatunge
Whither reconciliations with Tamils when Tamil National Alliance being the main Tamil political party for reconciliation acts in a non-national manner and attitude? Sinhalese majority will not be surprised by TNA statement welcoming the crap report by three stooges to Ban-ki-Moon. It was a foregone conclusion of TNA just like the panel report. By endorsing the report, R..Samapnthan and his Tamil National Alliance (TNA) become guilty as Prabhakaran for the atrocities committed by LTTE not only during the last phase of the war but from the day 13 soldiers were killed by Prabhakarn and his... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/04/11)

Canadian Srilankan community rejoices together in their cultural gathering showing Solidarity behind Government of Srilanka at a critical time of UN Panel report.
By Lenin Benedict-Toronto
24 April 2011 The Tamil and Sinhala New year celebration was celebrated by the Canadian Democratic Tamil Cultural Association in Toronto at Agincourt Collegiate in a grand manner at a critical time when the UN Panel report has been published. The overwhelming Canadian Srilankans came to this function to show the world, that the Srilankan community is united in Canada and a show of Solidarity to the Government and the people of Srilanka. It was a moment of rejoice to the Canadian Srilankan community, when the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims came together as one Srilankan community... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/04/11)

A Dying Art of one time Gentlemen’s Game
Piyal Samarakone - Dubai
We may witness the disappearance of the Test Cricket with in our life time which was first played in 1877 as international sporting event and after well over a century known as Englishmen’s sport with more than 10 recognized top-level playing nations embraced into the game today face the same fate of Latin which disappeared in 17th century as the language of intellectuals. The Wisdom, courage and skill gradually fading away from the players and so the technique, all of the main ingredients essential for longer version of the cricket are being seriously... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/04/11)

Magicians who make Governments of third world countries terrorists, and terrorists of these countries Governments.
By Charles.S.Perera
  In Libya to day the Colonel Gaddafi  the Leader of the Sovereign State of  Libya is being  hunted by America, France and  UK ,as a vulgar terrorists  accusing him of dropping cluster bombs to kill his people . And unheard of  Libyan expatriates had been assembled in a hurry by Nicolas Sarkozy the French President, to recognize them  as the Libyan Government in exile  to represent the “terrorirst” rebels in Bengazi.  That is the Magic of Nicolas Sarkozy making a Leader of a Sovereign State a terrorist overnight to recognize the “terrorists” rebels in Libya as... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/04/11)

UN Panel Report Speculative With No Tangible Evidence ~ The Inspiration For Which Has A Clear Ring Of Tamil Tiger Sympathies Denying A Nation's Right To Defend Sovereignity Against Ruthless Terrorists!
Insight By Sunil Kumar April 26th. 2011
The report of the UN expert panel on war crimes in Sri Lanka based on the caption "Slain Tamil Tigers Wanted To Surrender" if one were to read it closely when it comes out in its entirety (as at the present only extracts are available) seems pure conjecture and  speculative with no tangible proof towards confirming any of the accusations. For the UN's sources of information there can only be the Tamil tioger sympathisers who continue to egg on the UN to file this report in the hope that it will change... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/04/11)

Report boomerangs: makes Moon a war criminal
H. L. D. Mahindapala
 The chain of events that finally forced Ban Ki-Moon to get involved directly in the Sri Lankan conflict and appoint arbitrarily a three-man panel, without the authority of the UN, constitutes an intriguing saga in itself. Almost immediately after the war the West was maneuvering at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva and UN in New York to get either or both to condemn Sri Lanka for fighting the war to a finish instead of calling for another ceasefire which would have resulted in giving cornered Velupillai Prabhakaran another lease of life.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/04/11)

The time has come to create a united force in Sri Lanka
Shenali Waduge
The Ban-ki Moon appointed panel report will not be the first & certainly not the last attempt to crucify Sri Lanka by western forces just because Sri Lanka entered history books by becoming the ONLY nation to defeat a terrorist group militarily. Whether their wrath is against the Sri Lankan Government for deciding to eliminate the LTTE or Sri Lanka as a nation becomes irrespective for the calls that are emerging from these international lobbies will only bring misery to the public. Therefore, the only way that these external forces cannot make any headway is to ensure... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/04/11)

Sri Lankans Should Fear Hasty Political Solutions, not War Crimes
- Kumar Moses
I’m pleasantly amused of all good hearted people trying hard to prove that Sri Lanka didn’t commit any war crimes. Good on them; but it is a given; Sri Lanka didn’t commit any war crimes. The UN knows it, the UN Security Council knows and even the Moon’s panel knows it. Then why do these foxes spread the rumour that sky is falling? For one reason – to get the gullible chicken run into the fox’s den for safety! The US and the EU are manipulating the UN not to punish any Sri Lankan for war... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 24/04/11)

UNSG’s panel has come up with their report. This report lacks basic ingredients of a balanced and honest examination of material presented to it as evidence. There are number of reasons for this grave deficiency that makes its conclusions invalid.
Dilrook Kannangara
Grave deficiencies in the evidence gathering process and the composition  A. The UN panel consisted of a person prejudiced against Sri Lanka The UNSG’s panel’s report is not independent. Marzuki Darusman, a panel member participated in an investigation about the deaths of a number of ACF workers. He came up with an absurd conclusion that was not supported by evidence. Sri Lankan government protested this which made this person to hold a predisposition against the Sri Lankan government. It was entirely wrong for the UNSG to pick him for the panel as it destroyed the objectivity... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/04/11)

Darusman, Ratner, Sooka Report on SriLanka
Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.) Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada
23 April 2011 Bank ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United  Nations New York, NY, US. Dear Ban Ki-Moon: When you are reduced to being a puppet by your Western pay-masters, and  being ordered to go on the war path to hurt Sri Lanka with your stupid three-panel investigative report, it seems to have hurt you more than Sri Lanka, as 21 million Sri Lankans have told you to  “sheba-nom, Ban ki-Moon”. When you are reduced to being a pathetic kkoktukakis nori finger puppet by... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/04/11)

Are There Any Benefits from Devotional Faith?
Article 5 Confidence in the Triple Gem; Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha is not the same as developing blind-faith based on hearsay.  Confidence is derived from the devotee’s reasoned conviction based on understanding of the Buddha’s teachings, the Dhamma, which presents us the pathway to Enlightenment.  This emphasizes that along with confidence, development of the wisdom is paramount. We may ask ourselves, “Isn’t it quite natural that feelings of love, gratitude, and devotion seek expression involving the entire personality, through acts of body and speech, and in terms of our thoughts and unexpressed sentiments?”  Should we hide feelings toward our parents... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/04/11)

The flip side of the Ban-ki Report
  Shenali Waduge 
  Whether the UN releases the full report or decides to make amendments to it, what has resulted is nothing that the UN or Western interests would have desired. Their strategies may have worked in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Egypt & now Libya but these gameplans have not worked in Sri Lanka. What these controversial reports, international pressures in reality have done is to make a Government they are attempting to destroy more powerful in the eyes of the public who are backing its leadership to ensure that the country remains United. Ironically, these reports... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 23/04/11)

Cuckoo in the UN nest!
Dr Bandula Kothalawala
It seems that the mountain, after lengthy painful labour, has given birth to a tiny, shapeless, still-born mouse, albeit, to the apparent delight of a senile, spineless dad. Mr Ban Ki-Moon - putative father - and the hangers-on are desperately and shamelessly trying to swaddle the baby tightly in a UN garb so that the “international con-munity” can be conned into recognizing it as its own. No doubt, the three magi – US, UK and France – will pay homage to the new-born creature in due course. Meanwhile, our heart-felt congratulations go out to Mr Vladimir... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/04/11)

Any time we are with Sri Lanka; Russian Ambassador
Translation
Mr Vladimir P. Mikhaylor, the Russian Ambassador in Sri Lanka states that,' It is the responsibility of the United Nations Organization to support the government of Sri Lanka who have defeated the terrorism. Russia will strongly reject the report released by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. He also says that, the report published by the UN Secretary General is not a report issued by the Organization, but a private report prepared by a private committee appointed by the Secretary General. He has further stated that, since the report is being introduced as a document issued by... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/04/11)

Tamils' Refusal to Assimilate is a Threat to Hard-Won Peace
MahamahaRaja
 It was not surprising that the Moon Panel's report on the final stages of the conflict in Sri Lanka was little more than Tamil terrorist propagandising hooey. Despite not even being published yet, the Moon report was leaked to the media and it was seized upon by the usual suspects – the anti-Sri Lanka brigade which consists of INGOs, external media personalities, and unelectable politicians – as some sort of indictment against the country. However, the people that matter – the general population of the country, the media, and most of the political parties (even some in the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/04/11)

The ‘Reconciliation Commission’ – to what end?
By Mario Perera, Kadawata
 There are many words that sprout up and come into vogue in relatively short periods of time. The word ‘Reconciliation’ itself is not in any sense new, just its being minted together with ‘Commission’ for the pleasure of the few. Wars and conflicts have been part and parcel of human history. Just going back to the two World Wars and after, most of such destructive phenomena are directly or indirectly to be laid at the door of the ‘super powers’, these self appointed moral conscience of humanity. There is no need for an enumeration, for... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/04/11)

SOUTH EAST ASIA NATIONS. ( SEAN )
Posted on March 11th, 2010 SUSANTHA WIJESINGHE
Dear Your Excellency The President, MAHINDA RAJAPAKSHA ! It is with a lot of hope and anxiety, that I make this suggestion to you. Perhaps, there would be many, whose thoughts would be symbolic of mine. I would love to see the day, that YOU will initiate the formation of the SOUTH EAST ASIA NATIONS. Your Excellency will have to seek the support of the strong friends of Sri Lanka, like India, China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and the Middle Eastern Countries, just to name a few, to lobby with the... -Full Story- (lankaweb.com - 22/04/11)

Bennism - The Joke of the Century
Anuradhini
Reading and understanding Ben Silva’s article “Religion and its effects” is a difficult task. Many regular readers and writers of Lanka Web have attempted to convince him in many ways, but he seems to have attained enlightenment on this subject, no matter what others say, will have no effect on his profound understanding of his “truth”. The following paragraph shows my attempted definition of his aim.  Although he claimed to be a Buddhist, he should accept that he is not a fan of religion, without trying to hide the banner of “Sinhala Buddhist”. Once he has done... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/04/11)

Why Is The U.N. In The War-Making Business?
Richard Miniter
Created to end wars, the U.N. now prolongs and enlarges them. The strangest aspect of the United Nations' "no-fly zone" war over Libya is the involvement of the United Nations itself. While Congress' approval was all but an afterthought, the Obama administration devoted intense diplomatic energy to winning the approval of the United Nation's Security Council. No one asked: Why the U.N. is in the business of approving military actions at all? The United Nations, created to end wars, now prolongs and enlarges them. It is time to take a hard look at the U.N.'s war-ending, peace-making... -Full Story- (forbes.com - 22/04/11)

Murder in Afghanistan -SPIEGEL TV's 'Kill Team' Documentary
spiegel.de
For months, the US Army kept the images compiled by the so-called "kill team" under lock and key out of fear it could result in a scandal even greater than Abu Ghraib. SPIEGEL TV spent weeks researching the story behind the men of 5th Stryker Brigade and how things could go so terribly wrong. Warning: The documentary contains extremely graphic content.... -Full Story- (spiegel.de - 22/04/11)

ElBaradei suggests war crimes probe of Bush team
By CHARLES J. HANLEY,
NEW YORK – Former chief U.N. nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei suggests in a new memoir that Bush administration officials should face international criminal investigation for the "shame of a needless war" in Iraq. Freer to speak now than he was as an international civil servant, the Nobel-winning Egyptian accuses U.S. leaders of "grotesque distortion" in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq invasion, when then-President George W. Bush and his lieutenants claimed Iraq possessed doomsday weapons despite contrary evidence collected by ElBaradei's and other arms inspectors inside the country. The Iraq war taught him that... -Full Story- (Yahoo - 22/04/11)

Kent decries candidate's Tamil Tiger support
CBC News
Conservative candidate Peter Kent on Thursday questioned why his party has as a candidate in the May 2 election a man who last fall paid tribute to the Tamil Tigers. Kent said he came to the decision after watching a YouTube video of a "Heroes Day" special that was hosted on a Tamil station in late November by Ragavan Paranchothy, now running for the Conservatives in the Toronto riding of Scarborough Southwest.... -Full Story- (cbc.ca - 22/04/11)

'US To Recoup Libya Oil From China' Interview with Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, former assistant secretary of US Treasury
by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Press TV has interviewed Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, former assistant secretary of US Treasury from Panama City, who gives his insight on the revolution in Libya and why US President Barack Obama needs to overthrow Qaddafi when no other US presidents did. Press TV: Russia has criticized NATO for going far beyond its UN mandate. In other news a joint Op Ed is going to be written by Obama, Cameron and Sarkozy who have said that “leaving Qaddafi in power would be an unconscionable betrayal to the Libyan people”. We do know that the mandate... -Full Story- (globalresearch.ca - 22/04/11)

U.N.: Sri Lanka’s crushing of Tamil Tigers may have killed 40,000 civilians
 The Washington Post newspaper reported that Sri Lanka’s decisive 2008-09 military offensive against the country’s separatist Tamil Tigers may have resulted in the deaths of as many as 40,000 civilians, most of them victims of indiscriminate shelling by Sri Lankan forces, according to a U.N. panel established by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The newspaper in a report by Colum Lynch further said that the UN panel recommended that Ban set up an “independent international mechanism” to carry out a more thorough probe into “credible” allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Sri Lankan government and the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 22/04/11)

Petroleum - The truth “ An Honest American” wants to be US president.
Orpheus Perera
The intricacy of petroleum to American life in the early 21st century would have shocked 19th century users of "Pennsylvania rock oil." Most farmers who knew about oil in the early 1800s saw seeping crude oil as a nuisance to agriculture and water supplies. These observers were not the first people to consider the usefulness of petroleum, which had been a part of human society for thousands of years. However, its value grew only when European-Americans offered the resource their commodity-making skills.  It was the strong opinion of clever people why America wanted to invade Iraq. It... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/04/11)

A Challenge to the Sri Lanka “Guardian”
L. B. Wasantha
Articles in the internet site Sri Lanka “Guardian”, most of them written by self-possessed morons who air their misguided opinions all too painfully, reflect the “birds of a feather” image through their so-called journalistic-insight. Interestingly, all of their highly-opinionated articles do not have an open “Comments” section for a reader. Instead, the reader is sent through a maze of sites for login, and an interested (not to mention irate) reader is left with no opportunity for comment, other than finding more and more crap written by the same individual. Would the esteemed “Guardian” of Sri Lanka... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/04/11)

I shall face gallows on behalf of my country – Mahinda
Sunil Vijayapala  Australia
Instead of making emotional statements which ruins the profile of a leader and lets down a country on the whole, Mahinda must take a bold stand on this UNSG’s report. He should build up a team of experts including lawyers to tackle this issue and muster support of all Non- Aligned countries which is the largest block in UN with the backing of China and Russia, to counteract the contents of the report. Few visits to foreign countries by representatives of GOSL to explain our stand however is encouraging news.  While addressing issues raised on the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/04/11)

At this time Sri Lanka needs help from Expatriates.
L. B. Wasantha
Dear Patriot Sri Lankan,  This is a time that Sri Lanka needs your support.  As you know, Tamil-terror-supporters have infiltrated the world over, and have an apparent stranglehold on Western politicians, who are cashing in on the promised votes and “Campaign money”, by these terror-supporters.  Not only are these terrorists controlling the UN, but, these people are influencing major communication networks to publish fabricated and exaggerated articles against Sri Lanka.  A majority of Western people are very much ignorant as to the real situation in Sri Lanka, and believe what their networks say.  Due to this,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/04/11)

Indian Prime Minister faces Allegations
Nava Thakuria
As India holds assembly elections in five provinces, the ruling Congress party is facing a hard time. Even the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh faces the heat and the recent attack came from the opposition leaders as well as a banned separatist organisation. The soft spoken premier is alleged to be insensitive to his state of residency, where he should have gone for voting in the recently concluded polls. Moreover, the permanent residential place of Dr Singh is also being dragged into controversy. After general elections in 2009, Indian states including Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 21/04/11)

Sri Lanka: UN War Crimes Panel Overstepped its Mandate
A panel advising the U.N. secretary-general on accountability for the bloody end of Sri Lanka's war overstepped its mandate by producing a investigative report concluding there are "credible allegations" of war crimes, Sri Lanka said on Thursday. The panel, whose report has been leaked to newspapers on the Indian Ocean island, primarily blames the government for what it says were tens of thousands of civilian casualties, and urged the prosecution of those responsible for rights violations, reports Reuters.... -Full Story- (thisdaylive.com - 21/04/11)

LET’S UNITE ONCE MORE AGAISNT THE UN (LTTE) LIES
By Ian
All of us have heard of the latest ‘findings’ of the UN appointed panel. It looks like it’s a copy/ paste from the Tamilnet in early 2009. My issue is how these people who write and also comment on the report do that in isolation from the main issue. Let for a moment assume that what is written in the report actually happened. In that hypothesis I like to invite the attention of all to the following. If it happened then it happened to put an end of violence and killing that lasted for 30 years.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/04/11)

Canadian Tamils for Peace and Democracy (CaTpad) opposes UN Panel Report as interfering in Srilankas internal affairs.
Press Release  19 April 2011  
The Canadian Tamils for Peace and Democracy opposes the intervention of UN in the internal affairs of Srilanka and rejects the UN Panel report. Rather than recommending to improve the reconciliation and rehabilitation process in Srilanka, the UN panel has strengthen the morale of Terrorist and separatist elements outside and within Srilanka discouraging the efforts taken by the Government of Srilanka for a reconciliation.  We Canadian Tamils for Peace and Democracy strongly believes the responsibility of the International community and the UN to help and assist Srilanka to rebuild the relations between both the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/04/11)

UN hypocrisy in investigating war crimes
Harin Chandradeva
In light of the questionable report produced by the panel appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to look in to ‘the modalities and applicable international standards’ in relation to investigating alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, a recent article in the Foreign Policy website by Colum Lynch which, based on leaked US cables, details the UN Secretary General’s acquiescence to US efforts to shield Israel from a war crimes probe in to its offensive in Gaza in 2008/09, should be of interest to Sri Lankan officials and the public. Ban’s action (or inaction) in relation to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/04/11)

Mr. Ban Ki-Moon is Playing God
Jay Deshabandu
The world’s most dangerous terrorist outfit is still active mainly in Western countries.  The pro-LTTE agents somehow manipulated the USA and Western Politicians for their gain. Besides this, the USA, France and British governments have tendency to discredit Sri Lanka because they think we have sided with China and other Asian countries.  Everyone in the world knows that USA controls the UN.  In fact UN is the USA.  Mr. Moon was appointed as a puppet to safeguard their interests.  Mr. Moon is now playing God.  The three member panel to advise him on the final days of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/04/11)

Island editorial - April 18,2011
Ira de Silva London, Canada
The Editor The Island Colombo, Sri Lanka   Dear Sir:   You have posed very pertinent questions that the U.S. and Robert Blake in particular should answer regarding their constant requirement to "investigate" what happened during the last phase of the war and the persistent use (misuse) of the word "accountability".   Given that the "Moon Report" also finds the LTTE at fault, another pertinent  question to the U.S. and Blake in particular, is whether he will "investigate" and ask for "accountability" from his friends,  the office bearers and members of the transformed LTTE namely... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/04/11)

USA PROTECTING TERRORISM
PROFESSOR ALI SUKHANVER
According to a US official in Washington the Central Intelligence Agency CIA has no plans to suspend operations in Pakistan against terror suspects despite objections from leaders in Islamabad. Reported by AFP Leon Panetta of the CIA told Pakistani intelligence officials last week that he has a duty to prevent attacks on the United States. He said it is the fundamental responsibility of CIA to protect the American people and it will not halt operations that support that objective. The drone attacks in the tribal areas of Pakistan are also a part of this strategy. In... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/04/11)

Sri Lanka's economic gains lead to reduction in poverty levels
By Philip Fernando, former Deputy Editor Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka
 Latest stirring forecast of Sri Lanka's economic upsurge signified an unprecedented decline in the country's poverty levels. The economic growth rate predicted for 2011 and 2012 was 8 percent: the most positive prognosis of growth showing a drop in poverty from 15.7 percent in 2009 to 7.6 percent in 2010. Asian Development Bank (ADB) analysis that came out recently indicated that the trickled down benefits of economic expansion were fairly widespread. Development was reaching a wider spectrum and easily discernible. The same trend was observed by all major donor... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 20/04/11)

Nothing "humanitarian" about the war against Libya
Lisa Karpova
Since the 1990s in particular, and even before, the world has been slipping into a New Dark Ages, a time of lawlessness, barbarism, mass genocide and imperialism. As we find ourselves in the year 2011, there is a fork in the road. Either the world will slip into total barbaric savagery and darkness or it will choose truth and peace. More people are waking up, but is it too little, too late? Never before has the term Evil Empire been more appropriate. From the Greek play, Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius--the saying, "Whom the gods would destroy,... -Full Story- (english.pravda.ru - 20/04/11)

Message from Colonel Mu’ummar Qaddafi
Translated by Professor Sam Hamod, Ph.D. Recollections of My Life: Col. Mu'ummar Qaddafi, The Leader of the Revolution. April 5, 2011.
In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful... For 40 years, or was it longer, I can't remember, I did all I could to give people houses, hospitals, schools, and when they were hungry, I gave them food. I even made Benghazi into farmland from the desert, I stood up to attacks from that cowboy Reagan, when he killed my adopted orphaned daughter, he was trying to kill me, instead he killed that poor innocent child. Then I... -Full Story- (english.pravda.ru - 20/04/11)

Open letter to David Cameron
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
To: The Right Honourable David William Donald Cameron, MP Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Dear David Cameron, I commend you for giving pride of place to the United Nations Organization and for stressing that it is important to act within the letter of the law. That is a balanced, mature and very welcome approach to crisis management and comes within the scope of a new world order based on respect, debate, dialogue and discussion, the mainstays of democracy. As you will be aware, the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1970 (2011) and 1973 (2011) set our very... -Full Story- (english.pravda.ru - 20/04/11)

The three world-class terrorists- Yolanda Foster of Amnesty International and Ban Ki Moon’s Panel.
By Charles.S.Perera
 In Iraq there is no number exact as to how many Iraqi Civilians had been killed by the  American Armed Forces.   Not only they kill but the American Armed forces also humiliate the Iraqis  taken as prisoners.   We have seen the images of  the Iraqi prisoners being humiliated and tortured in the Abu Ghraib Prison by the American Soldiers.   We have also seen recently  images of American Soldiers in Afghanistan,calling themselves the « kill team » who  having killed civilians for « fun », had  got them selves photographed with the dead bodies.  In Libya unknown numbers of civilians have been... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/04/11)

NEW ERA FOR OUR BELOVED MOTHERLAND
Ranjit Wickremeratne
Dear citizens irrespective of race,color,religion or party politics give your best to the country we love so much to uplift the standard of our citizens and to be par with other developed better countries around the world. We should all get together and build our country as good citizens. We are very lucky to be alive today to contribute one way or the other for the development of our beautiful nation. In our political history we have never seen such progress done by any Government in the past. Today we are very fortunate to have a sincere, brave,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 19/04/11)

Moon Panel report: Some queries
Editorial
April 17, 2011, 12:00 pm The US has let the cat out of the bag. No sooner had the Moon Panel submitted its report on allegations of war crimes against Sri Lanka than the US government renewed its call for the Sri Lankan government to 'engage in a process of accountability and to also use this Panel (UN) experts and their expertise … to address some of the questions'. And interestingly, the self-styled transnational government of Tamil eelam (TGTE) also lost no time in urging UNSG Ban Ki-moon to 'refer the ruling class and the armed forces officers... -Full Story- (The Island - 19/04/11)

Canada polls: Last person to call ‘KP’ before his arrest now in the fray - Tamil sources say Paranchothy received the backing of top Conservative politicos
By Shamindra Ferdinando
A close contact of Thambiaiya Selvarasa Pathmanathan is contesting the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Canada. A Canadian citizen of Sri Lankan origin Gavan Paranchothy aka Ragavan Paranchothy, is running on the ruling Conservative Party ticket for the House of Commons in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, which has a large Tamil population. In an exclusive interview with ‘The Island’ in July last year, Pathmanathan aka ‘KP’ said that Malaysian security personnel had swooped down on him at First Tune Hotel on 316 Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman Road, Kuala Lumpur as he was talking with Ragavan, a Canada-based... -Full Story- (The Island - 19/04/11)

Libya ‘no’ to foreign troops with UN aid
Tripoli
A senior Libyan official on Tuesday ruled out the possibility of allowing foreign troops to escort humanitarian aid convoys in Libya, saying such a deployment would be viewed as military, not humanitarian. The remarks came as British Foreign Secretary William Hague said his country is sending military advisers to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to help organise the haphazard opposition forces with communications and logistics - although they would not be involved in supplying weapons to the rebels or assist with fighting. The European Union is drawing up contingency plans for such humanitarian aid escorts, who would have... -Full Story- (mumbaimirror.com - 19/04/11)

Libya and the Law
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
Since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648, Mankind has been trying to forge something called international law and binding agreements covering the respect for internationally recognised precepts of sovereignty. This is why, after the outrage of Iraq, it is important to respect the UN Resolutions regarding Libya. Either the world has two weights and two measures governing international crisis management, in which case we may conclude that international law does not exist, or else it comes together around a collective legal entity - as indeed it did when the United Nations Charter was set up and signed in... -Full Story- (english.pravda.ru - 19/04/11)

Are We Allied to a Corpse?
Pat Buchanan Pat Buchanan
Creators Syndicate – Of our Libyan intervention, one thing may be safely said, and another safely predicted. When he launched his strikes on the Libyan army and regime, Barack Obama did not think it through. And this nation is now likely to be drawn even deeper into that war. For Moammar Gadhafi's forces not only survived the U.S. air and missile strikes, after which we turned the air war over to NATO, his forces have since shown themselves superior to the rebels. Without NATO, the rebels would have been routed a month ago. And, today,... -Full Story- (Yahoo - 19/04/11)

NATO: The gang that can't shoot straight
HDS Greenway
Opinion: There is something decidedly farcical about the West’s response in Libya.It was Karl Marx who famously said that history repeats itself, “first as tragedy, second as farce.” And while Libya represents the Arab Spring’s first real tragedy, there is something decidedly farcical about the West’s response. First of all NATO, the organization with the operational responsibility of carrying out United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, is looking more and more like the gang that can’t shoot straight.... -Full Story- (globalpost.com - 19/04/11)

America Falls Into The Indian Pit In Sri Lanka
By H. L. D. Mahindapala
 The East-West alliance that is designed to shape the global agenda in the 21st century was defined by Robert O. Blake Jr, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in his testimony given before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on April 5, 2011. He said categorically that America and India have joined hands as “strategic partners” to manage the SAARC region and the world at large in joint operations at “multi-faceted” levels – i.e., diplomatic, military, economic etc., — to “make the relationship between the two countries a defining partnership of the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/11)

Canada's brutal refugee policy according to Peter Showler
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1  Canada
  April 18, 2011   The Editor (Letters) THE OTTAWA CITIZEN   Sir: Peter Showler's article "Detained Tamils case exposes Canada's brutal refugee policy" also exposes  how Canada was naive when we screamed and yelled at the Sri Lankan Government  during the first four weeks after the 300,000 Tamils were rescued  on May 18, 2009, from the clutches of the Tamil Tigers who were being held as a human shield, and were placed in temporary welfare camps, asking the them to let these Tamil refugees go.  ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/11)

PANEL REPORT BY THREE STOOGES OF BAN-KI-MOON
Malin Abeyatunge
The three stooges have completed the report against Sri Lanka and handed over to UN Secretary General (UNSG) Ban-Ki-Moon. The Executive summary of the advisory panel appeared in the print media which gives various allegations against the Sri Lanka Government. Firstly, this is a panel arbitrarily appointed by current UNSG without the approval of the UN Security Council or UN Human Rights Council. Hence it will have no legal binding on Sri Lanka but yet a worry of having a completely flawed report of this nature on record staining country’s good image. Secondly, the report is compiled... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/11)

Obama, Sarkozy and Cameron – the axis of evil
By Mario Perera, Kadawata
People in glass house must not throw stones. What happens when they do? Well they break their window panes and become all the more scrutable and assailable. The axis of evil has done it again. First there were the World Wars, their dirty wars into which they dragged their colonies. Then came the Korean wars and Vietnam. Korea still remains divided. Yet the North Koreans pushed MacArthur right down to the sea. Then they divided Vietnam until Asia taught them their bitter lesson. Now they have sown death and destruction in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/11)

What is the correct usage, හෙළ or හෙල in words like heLAbasa?
Chandre Dharmawaradana
The " correct" usage of a word or  a language is ultimately dictated by the majority usage prevalent in the language. However, even then one should look at  what the learned have said to find out what is the "accepted way".  This note is written in the hope that those interested in the Sinhala language would have some comments on the following. What is said below are merely my personal views, and hence they are an invitation for discussion and correction. Let me at the outset say that many years ago I leaned towards  the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/11)

It’s not who won but how the game was played
Dr.Tilak Fernando
Cricket is a ‘team’ game that demands a great deal of concentration and physical energy. Any lapses will not only be costly but certain to give the opponents the advantage to dominate Mahela Jayawardene, in 2007 and Kumar Sangakkara’s captaincy during the 2011 ICC World Cup helped Sri Lanka to come up to the final stages. Regrettably, on both occasions they had to be contented being the runners up. In a way, to end up as second best is also a great achievement but there are wider post-mortem comments and criticism of varying degree questioning whether Sri... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/11)

Christian School of Buddhism – Nibbana is Extinction!
Ratanapala
Ben Silva claims he is a Buddhist. He goes on to say that Nirvana or Nibbana the ultimate goal of Buddhism is extinction. He says:  To be specific, this idea of seeking Nirvana, a hindu /Tao belief and is not attractive to me. I consider seeking Nirvana (extinction) to be an idea from a depressed person, unable or unwilling to face challenges. in thee real world. Real world is very tough. We have to face it and make it less painful rather than seek an easy exit. Giving up desires is another dangerous belief in Buddhism, as it... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/11)

Kokavil Tower
C.Seneviratne Kent
Peace and tranquillity dawned on the country because of the supreme sacrifice of the fallen heroes. The country just finished a period of celebration and joy staging the cricket world cup without the fear of bombs and destruction. The cerebratory image thus created in the country was there to be seen worldwide . However there are families and friends in deep sadness and pain whose dear and near have sacrificed their lives for us to enjoy this fun and peace. There are many stories of valour and heroism by our forces saving the country from the terrorist... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 18/04/11)

Western morality high on hypocrisy and low on principles
 H. L. D. Mahindapala
The crimes committed by the Caucasian West against humanity throughout their history, held together mainly by the common Christian ideology, demonstrate incontrovertibly that they do not have the moral right to dictate human rights commandments to the rest. Their engagements in innumerable wars of colonialism, racism, capitalism, communism, fascism, religion, greed to grab resources, adventurism -- you name it – make them stand out as the most obscene violators of human rights more than any other civilized community in recorded history. And to boot they have had the advantage of using the most advanced... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/04/11)

එක්සත් ජාතින්‍ ‍ගේ මහා මණ්ඩලය හා ‍කොටි හිතවාදී මනව හිමිකම් වාර්තාව
චන්ද්‍ර ‍සේන පණ්ඩිත‍ගේ විසිනි
එක්සත් ජාතින්‍ගේ මහා මණ්ඩල‍යේ මහා ‍ලේකම්තුමා විසින් රචනා කරන ලද මානව හිමිකම් වාර්තාව එලි දක්වා ති‍බේ. ‍මේ අවස්ථා‍වේදී රජය, රජයක් වශයෙන් ඊට මුහුණ දීමට සූදානම් වන මේ අවස්ථා‍වේදී, ‍කොටි සංවිධානය විනාශ කිරීම උ‍දෙසාම මුළු රට හා එහි ජනතාව, කාලාන්තරයක් පුරාම මතවාදීව සන්නද්ධ කල මහා බල‍වේගයක්ද ‍මේ රටතුල හා මුළු ‍ලොව පුරාම විසිරුණ ජාලයක්ද පවතී. ඒ ‍දේශ‍ප්‍රේමී මහා බලමුළුවටද ‍පෙර ‍ලෙසම උරදීමට මහා ජාතික කර්තව්‍යයක් දැන් දැන් ‍ගොඩනැං‍වෙමින් පවතී. ඒ සැබෑ ‍කොටි සංවිධානය වන, ස්විස්ටර්ලන්ත, ‍නෝර් ‍වේ, ස්විඩනය, ‍ඩෙන්මාර්කය, අයිස්ලන්තය, මහා බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය, ප්‍රංශය, ජර්මනිය, ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය, කැනඩාව, මැක්සි‍කෝව, ජපානය, දකුණු ‍කොරියාව යන රාජ්‍ය සංචිතය, තම... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/04/11)

Damning Sri Lanka—Moon panel’s conspiracy against a sovereign state
By Philip Fernando, former Deputy Editor Sunday Observer
 Having assembled a biased threesome to look into the accountability issues during the last days of the terrorist-led slaughter of innocent civilians—Sinhala and Tamil, and Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon and his panel now talk of reprisals against a sovereign state. The panel recommendations are nothing but the continuation of a treacherous conspiracy against Sri Lanka. Moon panel and its findings must be condemned in no uncertain terms. It is an attempt to avenge the lost cause of the Tigers whose leadership got vanquished after a 26 year old war.  Sri Lanka... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/04/11)

British Prime Ministers New Year Wishes to Sri Lankan Tamils only
Dr. Chula Rajapakse
The Editor, Guardian , UK. Dear Editor, The British PM David Cameron has caused consternation among Sri Lankans the world over by singling out Sri Lankan Tamils only for his best wishes for what is truely a Sinhalese and Tamil new year. This favouritism is a grim reminder to the majority Sinhalese of the misery and servitude they were subjected to as the victimised majority of the "devide and rule" British colonial rule when the Tamils were the favoured minority.  Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM Spokeperson, United Sri Lanka Assn. Wellington, New Zealand.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/04/11)

We are no Libya.
Herold Leelawardena
One cannot but talk about ‘war crimes’ without talking about long and multifarious history that led to the formation of LTTE and its terrorists acts.  It all started in India. Long before India got its independence, a Tamil named E.V.Ramasamy Periyar strive to unify Dravidians to call for a Dravidasthan or a separate country. But, all Dravidian races except Tamils had settled down for race based quasi-federal units within the state of India. But Tamils continued to refine their separatist sentiments not just in India but in Sri Lanka as well for a separate country. And gradually,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/04/11)

We met briefly yesterday
 Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1Canada
17 April 2011 Pierre Poilievrre, Conservative MP for Nepean-Carleton & Assistant to Prime Minister Stephen Harper House of Commons, Ottawa  Dear Pierre:  It was good speaking to you yesterday at the Sinhla & Tamil New Year celebrations of the Sri Lanka-Canada Association of Ottawa.  Here's the summary of what I told you and what you told me:  1: Once the Conservatives like Jason Kenney started to flirt and dance with the Tamil Tigers and its sympathisers in the GTA you lost my vote even... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/04/11)

UN Panel's Report on Sri Lanka
Vajiragnana Warnakulasuriya, Melbourne, Australia
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon United Nations Secretariat UN Panels Report on Sri Lanka  Dear Mr.Banki!  You must have spent quite a sum to engage these three musketeers to advice you on the Sri Lankan last phase of the conflict in May of 2009.  What have they found? Have they said anything that you didn’t know on the Sri Lankan issue? Surely you read Tamilnet religiously during this period, didn’t you notice when you read this report you are really re-reading the Tamilnet?  You would have also noticed that they have repeated the report probably to make... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/04/11)

The UN Panel and the UNSG Persistence Needs Confrontation About Contined Harassment Of The Sri Lankan Government!
Insight By Sunil Kumar
April17th. 2011 Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksha's inspiration to co-ordinate Teams to visit Non-Aligned countries with a White Paper to explain justification for use of force to end terrorism needs to be backed to the hilt by all patriotic and discerning citizens as it is a means to confront what the United Nations led by Secretary General Bam Ki Moon is continuing to persist in his call to investigate war crimes without a shred of tangible evidence beyond the created twaddle he is bombarded with from sources who would dearly love to discredit the Government... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 17/04/11)

United States turned a blind eye to its own terrible human rights situation and seldom mentioned it- China.
Sergei Balmasov- Courtesy PRAVDA
This week, China has demonstrated its growing power to the world twice. First off, China accused the USA of the appalling state of affairs in the field of human rights. Secondly, the country strongly refused form the suggestion of BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to move the US dollar aside and make the Chinese yuan a convertible currency. In the beginning of April, the US State Department cracked down on the issue of human rights in China. The latter responded in two days. The response was different from what Washington usually... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/04/11)

UNSG’s Panel Report on Vanni war
Sunil Vijayapala    Australia
The infamous Report compiled by the panel probably has all the signs of some American/British input and involvement probably through their NGOs as the standard of English used is not akin with the panel members’ command of the English language.  Setting aside that, one of the UN Panel Report’s  findings is  “(v) the role of the Tamil Diaspora, which provided vital moral and material support to the LTTE over decades, and some of whom refuse to acknowledge the LTTE’s role in the humanitarian disaster in the Vanni, creating a further obstacle to accountability and sustainable peace.”is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/04/11)

BLESSING IN DISGUISE- SELECT A NEW TEAM TO TOUR ENGLAND
By  M D P DISSANAYAKE
The Sri Lankan Cricket Board has a fine opportunity to select a non-IPL team to be sent to England for the forthcoming tour.  Forcing the current IPL contracted 11 players to return by 5 May for the pre-tour training sessions will naturally demoralize them and may perform under-par in England.  Judging by our overall performances during the  match  of the recently concluded World Cup Final it is becoming clearer that Sri Lanka would have beaten any other team except India on that day.  Many are casting doubts  and a smell of a rat for... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/04/11)

Religion and its effects
Ben Silva
I wrote this article following the interesting, well researched article by Mahinda Weerasinhe, who exposed how vulnerable Buddhists in the silk route were. Millions of decent peace loving people, living in harmony with nature, around the globe have been murdered by greedy hostile aggressive but more technically able nations. There are about 40 organised religions and faiths in the world. ref :http://www.religioustolerance.org/var_rel.htm Religious practices often involve rituals, a code of ethics, and a philosophy of life. There are many Buddhists, Christians and Muslims, who follow the code of ethics given by their respective religions, who are kind,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 16/04/11)

Is Libya the end of NATO?
Steven Metz
From the moment the Soviet Union collapsed, NATO’s future was in question. While it had been the most successful multinational alliance in history, partnerships of that sort seldom survive once their enemies are gone. As the Berlin Wall came down and Stalin’s empire shattered, NATO’s clock was ticking. Amazingly, though, the Alliance persisted, largely by transforming itself. It staved off a challenge from a proposed European Union Defense Force, which might have supplanted it; provided an institutional framework for continued U.S. involvement in European security;... -Full Story- (tnr.com - 16/04/11)

False pretense for war in Libya?
By Alan J. Kuperman, Boston Globe
EVIDENCE IS now in that President Barack Obama grossly exaggerated the humanitarian threat to justify military action in Libya. The president claimed that intervention was necessary to prevent a “bloodbath’’ in Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city and last rebel stronghold. But Human Rights Watch has released data on Misurata, the next-biggest city in Libya and scene of protracted fighting, revealing that Moammar Khadafy is not deliberately massacring civilians but rather narrowly targeting the armed rebels who fight against his government. Misurata’s population is roughly 400,000. In nearly two months of war, only 257... -Full Story- (warisacrime.org - 16/04/11)

BRICS to stop war in Libya?
On April 13, 2011 the 'S' was formally added to BRIC to form BRICS with the admission of South Africa into the union with Brazil, Russia, India and China.At the BRICS meeting, members will try to reject the use of force in the Middle East and Africa - urging dialog, not violence.You may remember that the BRIC countries upstaged the UN's 1973 resolution on imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. That was a very different approach from the Western concept. Marc Weisbrod of the Economic and Policy Research Center answers what impact if any this will have on the military... -Full Story- (mathaba.net - 16/04/11)

A Shining Example Of Canada's No Nonsense Policy Towards Terrorism.
LankaWeb Weekly Editorial
April14th. 2011  Canada despit being a Nation of great compassion towards human suffering, always ready to extend a helping hand to alleviate the needs of incapacitated, impoverished and endangered people around the world has often proved that there is a zero tolerance policy towards global terrorism where no leniencies are given to proven terrorist supportives where an immediate deportation order is issued to the individuals or groups concerned and has become more evident in the related policies of the present Administration.  The latest such deportation highlights the case of Mrs Sugunanayake Joseph the widow of former... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/04/11)

Gavan Paranchothy - Conservative candidate for Scarborough Southwest
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 Canada
April 15, 2011   The Editor (Letters) THE OTTAWA CITIZEN   Sir: You said, "Harper stops short of defending Paranchothy saying only his government has banned the Tigers. But Soudas is unequivocal that Gavan Paranchothy has no ties to the Tigers."   I don't buy that explanation, not even for a bag of toffee. Gavan Paranchothy is the Conservative  candidate for the Scarborough Southwest riding.  Gavan Paranchothy  was until recently  Ragavan Paranchothy, who was the Canadian that KP, the Tamil Tiger Selvarajah Pathmanathan was speaking  to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/04/11)

Make Buddha Jayanthi an occasion to ask, after 2600 years what have we accomplished as Buddhists ? Conclusion.
By Charles.S.Perera
 Ancient India was divided into a feudal class system  where people were divided according to professional functions they have been doing  generations after generation accepting them as being born into those professions and there by being of a  higher or a lower caste.  In this caste system even the spiritual emancipation was restricted according to  the caste into which one was born. Unfortunately  this ancient caste system  still remains almost  unchanged  in modern India.  The Hindu religion of ancient India was the domain of the Indian elite. The Brahmins  claimed complete control of the religion, its practice,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/04/11)

SRI LANKA PEACE, PROGRESS PRAISED IN U.S. CONGRESS-Call for a “New Era” of U.S.-Sri Lankan relations
EMBASSY OF SRI LANKA, WASHINGTON DC
Sri Lanka’s renewal after the defeat of terrorism was praised in the U.S. Congress Thursday, as Sri Lankan-Americans celebrated the Sinhala-Tamil New Year. “Mr. Speaker, having just ended a decades long conflict in which the government finally defeated terrorist forces within its borders, the Republic of Sri Lanka recently celebrated its second New Year at complete peace,” said Rep. Joe Wilson, (R-S.C.). “In his New Year address, President Mahinda Rajapaksa stated celebrating the New Year is a ‘time when all enjoy the freedom achieved in our Motherland. Therefore, this New Year will help... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/04/11)

President Rajapakse among the Top Ten in 'Time 100 Poll'
Dr.P.A.Samaraweera, Australia
President Rajapakse had become the first Sri Lankan if not the Asian leader to be featured in The Time magazine's 'Time 100 Top Ten'.   Since ending the 30 year war, the President had become the most influential and popular democratically elected leader in the Asian region.   During the war, he stood like a brick wall against pressure from the US, Britain and France, who tried to rescue the World's ruthless terrorists and it's leader Prabhakaran. He won the confidence of China, Russia and India in the war against the LTTE and made Sri Lanka the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/04/11)

CRICKET WORLD CUP
Anura Seneviratna, Sapumal Watteaarachchige ( for expat Hela team).
2011 cricket world cup exposed many facets of the Island Country known with a pseudo national name of Srilanka and her Nation. In 1996, SL won the world cup while the Island was writhed in Invasive Tamil terror and cricketers displayed a spirited front like a boost to the defence establishment of the country to disband the Invasive Tamil terror. Similarly, 2011 is the aftermath of the country’s success against Invasive terror but the cricketers were minus victory when they could have easily won. Why? An array of psychological deficiencies... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 15/04/11)

Conservative candidate for the Scarborough Southwest Riding
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 Canada
April 14, 2011 Rt. Hon Stephen Harper, MP., PC, Prime Minister of Canada;  Hon. Jason Kenney,  MP., PC., Minister for Citizenship, Immigration  and Multiculturalism; Paul Calandara, former Conservative MP for Markham-Oakridge & Patrick Brown, former Conservative MP for Barrie. Suba Aluth Avuruddhak Weva! – Wishing you a Happy Sinhala & Tamil New Year Dear Stephen, Jason, Paul and Patrick: I know you all must be busy with your hustings to gain your Conservative  majority at the May 2  federal election and have little time to read... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/04/11)

Can we be without nuclear power?
 By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D.
 Justice Weeramantry, Former Vice President, International Court of Justice and President, International Association of Lawyers against nuclear arms has in the name of humanity called for the need to halt the construction of new nuclear reactors, among other suggestions. He has said that the environment is being threatened as never before. He has rightly added: “Failure to take these steps will result in the commission of crimes against future generations and a gross betrayal of the trust which we owe to our children”  The repeated failure of nuclear plants suffice to convince any sane... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/04/11)

Ban Ki Moon, Obama, Hilary and Daruzmaan- four Musketeers
By DR M D P DISSANAYAKE
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and his Western cronies were determined to salvage Late Prabhakaran and the Tamil Terrorists during the final stages of the War against the democratically elected government of Sri Lanka. Ban Ki Moon(BKM) was interested in salvaging the lives of Terrorists as he was under the pump by the Western allies. To provide an appetizer for the Westerners, he selected a political bankrupt of the Golkar Party of Indonesia, Mr Marzuki Daruzmaan, to head his lop sided panel to investigate any crimes committed by the Government... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/04/11)

MINNESOTA PROFESSOR INAUGURATES SCHOLARSHIP AWARD TO BOOST MASS COMM TEACHING AT KELANIYA UNIVERSITY
By an investigative reporter
 University of Kelaniya has arranged for the award of the Professor Shelton Gunaratne Scholarship for outstanding mass communication students from the current academic year, Professor Rohana Laxman Piyadasa, the new head of the mass communication department, has informed the university Vice Chancellor Sarath Amunugama. Dr. Gunaratne, professor of mass communications emeritus at Minnesota State University Moorhead, USA, sent a donation of Rs.1.1 million to the University of Kelaniya in December 2007 to inaugurate the scholarship award, which the university council had already approved. Because Dr. Gunaratne did not get a response from the Kelaniya University... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/04/11)

Sri Lankans have set an example to the world sports
Orpheus Perera
It was a  pleasure to read   the article written by  Radhchrisnan in the sports section of  “The Hindu”. Sri Lankans have shown the world what  sports all about. It is not bringing the world cup home, it is not about winning. It is about the participation, building friendships and the enthusiasm.  It is not like losing a war against terrorist, losing your country to an enemy or not winning a war in a foreign country and not  bringing spoils(or oil) home. Even in a developed country like Australia the losing team did not receive such a welcome.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/04/11)

The Travels of a Journalist—66- After Winnipeg, we learn: penny-wise, pound-foolish
By Shelton A. Gunaratne ©2011 Professor of mass communications emeritus at Minnesota State University Moorhead
When we left our home in Moorhead, Minn., 17 July 1989, on my summer internship and family holiday trip to the Pacific Northwest, we hoped to return to our own cozy “castle” to unwind and relax after our tedious 10-day camping trip through the Trans-Canada Highway 1 on 4 Sept. 1989.  When we left home on this two and one-half month excursion, we kept our Moorhead home under lock and key. During my 10-year teaching stint in Rockhampton, Australia, we were wont to shut... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/04/11)

71 කැරැල්ල 39කොටස
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග
 ගාමිණී සිරිසේන මට ගාමිණීි සිරිසේන මහතා හමු වූයේ කවි නන්දගේ මාර්ගයෙනි. එකල ඔහුව හඳුන්වන ලද්දේ කීංස්වුඞ් ගාමිණීි ලෙසටය. 71 කැරැල්ල පිලිබඳව ඔහුගේ අතීත ස්මරනයන් මට හෙළි කලේ මෙලෙසිනි.  ‘1967 සිට මම හිටියේ වාමාංශික පක්ෂවල. ඔවුන් සංසෝධනවාදයට නැඹුරුව තිබුනා. නායකයන්ගේ කැපවීම අඩුයි. ඔවුන් දෙබිඩි ජීවිත ගත කළා. මධ්‍යගත ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදයක් මම දැක්කේම නැහැ. මම දැක්කා තවත් එකක් තමයි තරුණයන්ට කථා කරන්න බැහැ වහාම මැඩ පවත්වනවා. ඒ වගේම සංස්කෘතික වටිනාකම් නොසලකන නොතකන තත්වයක් පැවතුනා. රැස්වීම් උද්ඝෝෂණ කියන්නේ නිරන්තරයෙන්ම සිගරට් උරන, බෝතල් වලට එකතු වෙන සාද. වැඩිහිටියන්ගෙන් නොමේරූ තරුණයන්ට සිගරට් පානයට අඩි ගහන්න අනුබලත් ලැබෙනවා. මේ වගේ කලකිරීම් තිබුනත්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 14/04/11)

Who'll step in when Uncle Sam bows out?
Bill Hayden
Western aerial warfare intervention in Libya has not been all that wise, as I never once doubted, and the United Nations' Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, invoked to justify it, is long on high-minded aspirations but very short on practical understanding of the realpolitik of international relations. Emotive reporting of the noble dissent in various Middle Eastern countries as ''pro-democracy activists'' may be good copy but it is mostly misleading. As far as I can see, the dissidence in Libya comes from a rag-tag team of scarcely coalesced tribal groups that are very interested in taking control... -Full Story- (theage.com.au - 14/04/11)

CRICKET: A CIVILIZED AND HAPPY SPORT
 By Prof. Suwanda H J Sugunasiri, writing from Canada
What an everyman’s sport Cricket has come to be! But who would have thought I would live to see the day I would write these words, eating my words of yore, ‘Elitist sport, Cricket’? Don’t take me wrong. Playing for both Nalanda and Ananda, I enjoyed every bit of the game. As opening fast bowler, or first change, I looked forward to sending my zingers in the way of the batsmen. And as first slip, playing a supporting role to the wicket-keeper, or as outfielder, it is with pride pumping... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/04/11)

THE POST MORTEM
Ganeesha David
A deflated population was seen meandering along with their daily life straight after the tremendous led-down in the World Cup last Saturday evening in Mumbai. Like that was not enough of a blow, the most capable hands that hold Sri Lanka cricket Kumar Sangakkara, MahelaJayawardena and Aravinda De Silva captain, vice captain and chief selector tender their resignations, opening out a whole can of worms. While the country is agog with stories, some honest soul searching and reasoning is required. Firstly, in the group stages Sri Lanka did not beat any big teams, drawing with Australia, being... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 13/04/11)

Taxpayer Calculator: U.S. Costs in Libya
As bombs started to drop in Libya last month , the cost to U.S. taxpayers began to soar. Almost 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from U.S. ships and submarines, costing $1.5 million each. Operating the F-15 and F-16 fighter jets rang up at $10,000 an hour. Almost 500 one ton warheads were dropped, each one: $40,000. A downed F-15, cost an estimated $31 million. CLICK HERE TO SEE YOUR SHARE WITH OUR TAXPAYER CALCULATOR According to General Carter Ham, who oversaw the American military campaign, the price tag to the U.S. is more than $600 million and growing.... -Full Story- (politics.blogs.foxnews.com - 13/04/11)

In embattled Libyan town, Africans fear the mob
In the battle-scarred streets of rebel-held Ajdabiyah, the Libyan residents fear a return of forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi. But Chadian guest workers Abdul Rahman Salah and Youssef Adam Muhammad are terrified they will be mistaken for African mercenaries in the pay of the Gaddafi government and fear a mob lynching. Libyan rebels accuse Gaddafi and his forces of hiring African mercenaries to try and put down a revolt aimed at ending his 41 years in power. Rebels holding Ajdabiyah and other towns in the east have vowed to hunt them down.... -Full Story- (in.reuters.com - 13/04/11)

The Government is clutching at straws over Libya
By Con Coughlin
It’s now coming up for a month since we began the air offensive against Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, and I detect a note of desperation in the pleas made by British government officials that the campaign is heading in the right direction. Two weeks ago the narrative I was given by Whitehall was that the defection of Moussa Koussa to Britain was the thin end of the wedge for the Gaddafi regime’s survival chances. Many more defections would surely follow, and the regime was on the verge of collapse.... -Full Story- (blogs.telegraph.co.uk - 13/04/11)

Hague, Cameron flounder as Gaddafi stands firm
By Robert Fox
Foreign secretary William Hague sounded unusually nervous as he tried to explain UK policy on Libya on the BBC's Today programme this morning. The aim of today's Qatar conference, he said, was to get Nato allies to provide more ground attack aircraft and to help "facilitate a special fund" to support the Libyan opposition. Asked if the UK and French aim was nothing short of kicking out the Gaddafi clan, he repeatedly fluffed his lines. He said that the UN resolutions on Libya did not allow for regime change. Nonetheless it was not a question of... -Full Story- (thefirstpost.co.uk - 13/04/11)

The story of a sick physician
Island
April 11, 2011, 7:18 pm ‘Domination by the Rajapaksas of Sri Lanka’ seems to have caused serious concern to the US government as a recent State Department report suggests. Many allegations have been levelled against the Sri Lankan government including human rights violations but, we reckon, what is really of concern to the US is none of them. The opening section of the report betrays a kind of visceral hatred some bigwigs of the Obama administration have for the incumbent government of Sri Lanka because it flew in the face of the diktats of some western governments to... -Full Story- (The Island - 13/04/11)

Allow Maldivians to Settle in Sri Lanka If Rising Sea Levels Threaten the Atoll
- Kumar Moses
 When Australia offered refuge to Maldivians threatened by rising sea levels, some thought the Australians were very generous. They either didn’t know or didn’t want to know that the last thing Australia would do is to provide refuge to hundreds of thousands of people in their time of need! Australia has not done this even to closer neighbours. For instance, people who live in and around French Polynesia during French nuclear experiments, East Timor during the war, PNG during the war and a host of other islanders could have been shown the same kindness Australia is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/04/11)

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF SRI LANKA-Remove These Corrupt Politicians
Swarnajith Udana
Mr. President, Sri Lanka is daringly staring at a new dawn. Inarguably, for an impartial observer, the most successful government after independence is your current government but it is not without its faults. Since Government is a human endeavor, it is natural that errors would occur. Therefore it is expected that people will forgive governments for their honest mistakes as long as they continue to work for the betterment of the People. Nevertheless sooner or later, people will punish Governments for their negligence, criminal activities, arrogance and corruption with utmost vengeance. To do so, even if they... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/04/11)

" Country Before IPL ! " Says The Bigwigs Of Sri Lankan Cricket, Probably Quite Correctly!
Top Spin By Suni
April 11th 2011 It isn't insult to injury, as some may  think that by Sri Lanka's Cricket authorities  mandating its cricketers playing in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) to return home for training ahead of next month's tour of England or that they have done the Lankan players wrong. Not so at all, think many astute observevrs as otherwise it will be a scenario of pocketbook before country rather than vice versa and Hobson's choice for the players contracted to the IPL. Being coerced to return and prepare for the English tour where playing in English conditions could... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/04/11)

“Protecting” Libyans with a silent killer
RT
With the Libyan rebels rejecting an African Union peace plan, there seems to be no end in sight for the conflict. The opposition is still relying on coalition forces to help its cause, but it seems they could prove more of a hindrance. ­It has been claimed the allies have used depleted uranium in their attacks – a substance which causes cancer and mutations in those affected. Libyan rebels could be seen climbing on a tank to celebrate one of the coalition’s latest successful strikes, unaware of the silent killer they may have been breathing in. Gulf War... -Full Story- (rt.com - 12/04/11)

FBI files reveal exploding UFO, aliens near Roswell
TAGS: Space, SciTech, History,
USA Secret FBI files have been released that detail how US officials witnessed a UFO explode over Utah and aliens landing near Roswell, New Mexico. A document recently declassified from 1949 explained how three men on separate patrols miles from one another all witnessed a UFO explode over the mountains of Salt Lake City, Utah. Their experiences were reported and directed to then FBI Director Edgar Hoover in a memo titled “Flying Discs.” According to the memo, the three men were a policeman, a highway patrolman and an army guard. Each reported to have seen... -Full Story- (rt.com - 12/04/11)

NATO vs. Gadhafi: A tale of two faces
Topic:International sanctions against Gaddafi regime
They came, they saw, they... got confused. Operation United Protector - the official name for NATO's operation in Libya -- seems bogged down in the desert, "united" only in name and "protecting" pretty much no one within striking range. Is this perplexing and deadly display of Western firepower a fight for democracy and human dignity? Is it an elaborate, international ruse to foil an eccentric autocrat and "protect" his oil? Taking no sides, at least not seriously, 2-Minute Warning gently lifts the veil of hypocrisy surrounding this Mess in the Maghreb.... -Full Story- (en.rian.ru - 12/04/11)

British HC in Colombo has evidence of SF’s involvement in Lasantha killing,BBC says quoting govt. MP
UPFA MP Prof Rajiva Wijesinha told BBC Sinhala Service on Monday the British High Commission in Colombo had told him it possessed evidence that former military chief Gen Sarath Fonseka was involved in the assassination of the Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickremetunge. Prof Wijesinha told BBC that the defence attaché of the British High Commission (BHC) in Colombo "gave a note" that accused then General Fonseka of being responsible for the assassination. A spokesperson at the BHC in Colombo told BBC Sinhala service: "The British High Commission in Colombo would willingly share with the Sri Lankan authorities any evidence it... -Full Story- (The Island - 12/04/11)

Targeting of Sri Lanka by the UN and US Could Be A Tamil Diaspora Based Conspiracy
Insight By Sunil Kumar
Targeting of Sri Lanka by the UN and US  Could Be A Tamil Diaspora Based Conspiracy Aided and Abetted By Internal Reactionaries Regardless Of Which It Needs To Be Confronted !   Once again It is becoming painfully obvious that  the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is  dancing to the tunes of his American Peers within the American Administration as well as listening to the whispers of the likes of  UN's Naveen Pillai, undisputed champion of a huge pro Tamil Diaspora lobby which of course she will never admit to!  where Moon might as well be dancing on the Moon with his comical dispersions... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 12/04/11)

Make Buddha Jayanthi an occasion to ask, after 2600 years what have we accomplished as Buddhists ?
By Charles.S.Perera
 The Queen Mahamaya Devi while on her way to  her parental home to have her baby  according to ancient custom, gave birth to a baby boy in the Lumbini Park in Kapilawattu .  The father  the Sakyan King Suddhodana  was overjoyed with the birth of a son.  But the king’s joy did not last long as  the Queen Mahamaya Devi died seven days after the birth of the Prince.   The baby was placed in the care of  his step mother Maha Pajapati Gotami, the younger sister of  the late queen.   The Ascetic Asita  Kaladevela  came to  pay... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/04/11)

අන්ත්‍රාවයි! විදේශීය බහු ජාතික සමාගම් මගින් අලෙවි කරන දන්තාලේප පාවිච්චි කිරීමේදී පරිස්සම් වෙන්න.
චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.
මේ වනවිට අප රටේ වෙළදපොලේ මිනිස් පරිභෝජනය සඳහා නුසුදුසු වර්ගයේ ආහාර පමණක් නොව දන්තාලේපද තිබේ. ඒවා නිකුත් කරනුයේ ලෝක ප්‍රකට බහු ජාතික සමාගම් වන අතර, ඒවා භාවිතා කිරීමෙන් සිදුවෙන හානිය වලක්වා ගැනීමේ වගකීම එම සමාගම් මත පවරා නොගෙන මෙරට ජනතාව මතම පටවා තිබේ. මේ දිනවල වෙළඳපලේ ඇති එක්තරා දන්තාලේප පැකට්ටුවක පහත දැක්වෙන වැකිය ඉතා කුඩාවට මුද්‍රය කර ඇත. Directions for use: Brush thoroughly, at least twice a day, or as directed by a dentist or physician. Children under 6 years of age should have adult supervision and use only pea sized amount. Do not swallow. බැලූ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/04/11)

Why should not Mahinda take a firm stand?
Sunil Vijayapala  Australia
During the final days of the war with LTTE, Mahinda took a firm stand not bowing down to external pressure by Americans and British, the War Criminals of this world.  Why doesn’t he continue on this firm stance and ignore Americans and British? This certainly is a mystery.  Mahinda has let down his friends in Sri Lanka and his friends all over the world in many respects including his continuing relationships with Norwegians, the puppets of CIA, the Americans and the British.  His recent stunt at Oxford where a leader of a country was humiliated in the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/04/11)

Empowering Women and Uplifting the Rural Economy – the Dambadeniya Way
Presentation by Sunil G. Rodrigo at the Dharmavijaya Foundation’s Board Room on Feb 27,’11
I am very happy to have had the opportunity to arrange for a very interesting presentation by Mr. Sunil George Rodrigo, CEO of Dambadeniya Export Development Village, on Sunday the 27th of February, 2011 in the Board Room of the Dharmavijaya Foundation located at 380/7, Sarana Road, Colombo 7 commencing at 3.30 p.m.. I was getting back to Canada the following night, and found it to be a most rewarding experience following six weeks of charitable work carried out on behalf of the Sri Lanka... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/04/11)

UK immigration akin to English weather?
Dr. Tilak Fernando

  The latest change in British immigration Law permits entrepreneurs and investors who can come up with ten million or five million Euros to settle permanently in the UK in two or three years respectively New Law *Unpredictable *One-sided *Misleading *Plan to restrict foreigners *Tailor made for rich A news release through the British High Commission in Colombo last week highlighted the latest move as a strategic plan to boost Britain’s economic recovery, in line with the British Immigration Minister’s expectation. Critics say Britain’s immigration policy is somewhat akin to the proverbial English... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 11/04/11)

WCup leaves Sri Lanka with $23m debt
Sri Lanka Cricket says it is saddled with a $23-million-dollar debt after cost overruns and hefty bills incurred building stadiums for the recent World Cup. "We spent a lot of money to host the World Cup, to build two stadiums and rebuild one stadium. The World Cup left us a 2.5 billion rupee ($22.6 million) deficit," Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage told reporters. Sri Lanka, which lost the final to India by six wickets, hosted 12 matches during the World Cup, with others held in India and Bangladesh.... -Full Story- (fijilive.com - 11/04/11)

After Libya, who’s next?
by Peter Lavelle at 11/04/2011 20:15
US President Barack Obama’s decision to back a humanitarian-cummilitary intervention in Libya is proving to be a mistake of incalculable proportions and sets a very dangerous precedent. Our threshold permitting violence against sovereign states has been lowered still again. “Preventative humanitarian war” sets the stage for the West to go to war against Syria, Iran and North Korea – and that’s for starters. It is obvious now – and should been when events were quickly unfolding – that Libya’s leader, Moammar Gaddafi, had no real intention – or even the means –... -Full Story- (themoscownews.com - 11/04/11)

Robert Blake –An epitome of boredom
By Mario Perera, Kadawata
 I have just finished reading for the third time the masterly article of that erudite and eminent columnist of ‘The Island” Mr. Eymard de Silva Wijeyeratne. Mr.Wijeyeratne writes: “It is very likely that the Temple of Hypocrisy that is being built higher and higher like the Tower of Babel, by the US and the European Community, at the cost of the unbearable suffering of immiserated people in the Third World, will be sent tumbling down in a quake of cosmic indignation”. Indeed the harbinger signs are there for those with eyes to see. When one... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/04/11)

Let’s look at the ACCUSER’s record of Human Rights report:
Warna Hettiarachchi Toronto
Let’s look at the ACCUSER’s record of Human Rights report:   The US military arbitrarily invaded Afghanistan in efforts to claim ownership to its Lithium Oxide deposits. Lithium Oxide is used in Rechargeable batteries and future of alternate energy.In the process, the US military killed thousands of innocent civilians including unarmed women, men and children.   The US invaded its former ally Iraq and killed thousands of innocent unarmed civilians. Abu Gharib prison tortures, US Apache Helicopter gunship massacre of unarmed children, civilians and News reporter (entire footage recorded by US Army and published by... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/04/11)

AFGHANISTAN IN THE HANDS OF A PUPPET
PROFESSOR ALI SUKHANVER- The writer is a Pakistan based analyst on strategic and defence affairs.
“The terrorists and militants are not in Afghanistan, but instead are hiding in neighboring Pakistan”, said Hamid Karzai talking to the relatives of civilians killed in a raid by international forces in Asadabad, in the second week of March. Asadabad is the capital of eastern Kunar province. He further said that the international troops should leave Afghanistan and take their fight against terrorism across the border into Pakistan. The statement of Mr.Karzai, no doubt, must be shocking, embarrassing and depressing for the whole of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 10/04/11)

What Is U.S. National Interest in Libya?
U.S. and European forces have launched a military intervention to end Muammar Qaddafi’s brutal violence against the Libyan people; but why Libya? The US and the Europeans are looking out for there own national interest. President Obama told Americans that it was not in the U.S. national interest to let the Libyan people suffer a massacre at the hands of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi because the consequences would have reverberated across the Middle East and North Africa and "stained the conscience of the world." Conscience of the world, when Gaza was being bombed in 2009 the Americans and Europeans watched... -Full Story- (blogcritics.org - 10/04/11)

The stupidity of Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy got it monumentally wrong in Libya and now it appears he has got it monumentally wrong in France. While France cavorts with international Islamist terrorists in Libya, now French citizens will have a dress code imposed upon them. Did the French obey local dress codes during centuries of imperialist practices? From the 16th to the 20th centuries, France colonised vast swathes of territory, including many areas inhabited by Moslems. Did the French colonial and imperial masters adopt the customes and lores and laws of the territories they had occupied with the Bible and the bullet?... -Full Story- (english.pravda.ru - 10/04/11)

African Union delegation meets Gaddafi
Members of the African Union have met Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli to try to broker a truce between the Libyan leader and rebels fighting to oust him from power. The delegation includes President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania and President Jacob Zuma of South Africa. The others are President Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali, Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo, and Ugandan Foreign Minister Henry Oryem Okello, representing Yoweri Museveni.... -Full Story- (radionz.co.nz - 10/04/11)

Algeria, Cuba call for immediate cease-fire in Libya
Algeria and Cuba on Sunday called on all concerned parties in Libya to end clashes and launch peace talks as soon as possible, Xinhua reported. In a joint news conference here with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla, Algeria Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said they hoped the "fighting in Libya would end and dialogues would be launched soon."... -Full Story- (en.trend.az - 10/04/11)

Sonia Gandhi's comment on Sri Lanka
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada
9 April 2011 Smt. Sonia Gandhi President, Indian  National Congress &  Chairperson, United Progressive  Alliance Member of Lok Sabha for Rae Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, 24 Akbar Road, New Delhi -110011, India      SENT BY FAX  Dear Smt. Sonia Gandhi: The news item reported from Chennai on Colombo Page of April 5, which said:  “India says it will continue to press Sri Lanka for Tamil rights” was amazing and contrite coming especially from a member of the prominent Gandhi Dynasty family.  What was equally troublesome was reading... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/04/11)

Thor Heyerdahl and the Kon-Tiki Expedition
Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge
Civilization grew in the beginning from the minute that we had communication - particularly communication by sea that enabled people to get inspiration and ideas from each other and to exchange basic raw materials. Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl – a world renowned Norwegian explorer best known for his famous voyage Kon-Tiki expedition practically showed that ancient people could have crossed much greater distances through ocean for trade and cultural exchange. He was convinced that the ocean was only a barrier to man as long as our ancestors were strictly pedestrians, but it became a... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/04/11)

Reconciliation costed us the World Cup
Geoff Wickrema
 Following the Mumbai debacle, the captain, the vice captain and select committee resigned. Bayliss made a startling revelation that cricketers had to put up with things that had nothing to do with cricket. What are these things that got nothing to do with cricket? These are known, at least to friends and family of cricketers. Cricketers have a very large number of friends! Soon these will be well known and people will debate over it. Whatever the denials are, there was political involvement in selection, unfortunately. But it had nothing to do with UNP/SLFP/JVP party politics. It... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/04/11)

කෙටි කථාව-යුද්ධයේ අතුරු කථාවක්
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම්. ජයතුංග
 මම බස්රථයේ වාඩි වී සිටියෙමි. මහා මාර්ගයේ ඇති වළවල් නිසා වරින්වර ගැස්සෙන බස් රථය තුළ සුව පහසු කම අඩු වූවත්, වෙහෙස නිසා මගේ දෙනෙත් පියවිණි. මම සැබෑ ලොවින් සිහින ලොවට පිවිසුණෙමි.  දැන් මා සිටින්නේ කෝප‍්‍රල් තේනුවර සමගයි. කෝප‍්‍රල් තේනුවර හොඳ සෙබලෙකු මෙන්ම හිත හොඳ මිනිසෙකි. අපි එකට අවි දරා සතුරා එනතෙක් සැඟවී සිටියෙමු. අපට ඉදිරියෙන් සාජන් මිත‍්‍රපාල සිටියි. ඈතින් දෙපස තවත් සෙබළු දෙදෙනෙකි. අප අතර තිබූ පරතරය නිසා කථා කිරීම හෝ සංඥ මගින් අදහස් හුවමාරුකර ගැනීම හෝ අසීරු කරුණකි. වෙනෙකක් තබා කථාකිරීම පමණක් නොව කිවිසුම් ඇරීම, කැහීම, නිදාගැනීම තහනම්ය. මේවා එකක් හෝ කර අසුවූවහොත් ලැබෙන... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/04/11)

Blake’s Export-Quality Morality!-Prey for Carnivores
By Eymard de Silva Wijeyeratne-Courtesy The Island 
I write in response to US Ambassador, Patricia Butenis’ article published in The Island of 12th March 2011, under the title "Role of civil society in a democracy deserves appreciation", which was evidently intended to be response to the article titled "Foreign funds galore for three NGOs": published as a headline in The Island of Saturday, 5th March 2001. The Island of 21st March 2011 followed this up with another report under the headline, "Tigers, peace support groups et al received Rs. 1,800 m from Oslo". The Ambassador’s response constitutes a point... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 09/04/11)

NATO claims stupidity in Libya, not knowing terrorists have tanks
Lisa Karpova
What? You didn't know they were heavily armed and had tanks, RPGs and assault weapons? This is a very bad joke, a sick joke. This just goes to show that the so-called "international community" both does not know what they're doing and who they are supporting in general. The leadership in particular does know, and is lying to the rest because they do know that they are supporting heavily armed Al Qaeda terrorists in committing murder and destruction upon the country. Is anyone fooled these days by "weapons of mass destruction" or any of their other countless lies... -Full Story- (english.pravda.ru - 09/04/11)

US steps back from Libya, shifting burden to Europe
By Robert Marquand,
In order to sustain operations, experts say France and Britain need to forge a broader European consensus on Libya intervention.For the first time in NATO’s 62-year history, Uncle Sam is not on the front lines directing the show, but will play a back-up role that includes aerial refueling and emergency support. The unprecedented move accords with longstanding US calls for other nations within the alliance to share the burden on the international scene. But the effect is slightly jolting in European capitals that have often talked of military leadership but have rarely followed through, or needed to.... -Full Story- (csmonitor.com - 09/04/11)

Sarkozy between a Libyan ‘rock’ and a French ‘hard place’
RT
For a France that was pushing for a military solution in Libya three weeks ago, the possibility of a stalemate looks likely to bring some grand ambitions crashing down, with watchers already questioning the noble sentiments voiced by the country. ­A NATO friendly-fire air strike incident has killed at least five anti-Gaddafi rebel fighters in Libya, while some sources suggest it may have been dozens. This only adds to the criticism coming from the opposition, who say the Alliance is not doing enough to help them. “France wants to get in on the imperial condominium of reconquest of Africa,”... -Full Story- (rt.com - 08/04/11)

African Union leaders to visit Libya to demand ceasefire
JOHANNESBURG: A group of African leaders will visit Libya this weekend and meet with both sides in the country's deepening conflict to demand an immediate ceasefire, the South African foreign ministry said Friday. South African President Jacob Zuma and other leaders from a high-level African Union panel will first meet in Mauritania on Saturday, then travel to Libya to meet with leader Moamer Kadhafi in Tripoli and rebel leaders in Benghazi to seek an end to the conflict.... -Full Story- (brecorder.com - 08/04/11)

HRW allegations false - Military
Daily Mirror.
The Sri Lankan Military today denied the latest allegation by the Human Rights Watch that members of the LTTE taken into custody during the last stages of the war have not been accounted for. “All those taken into custody have been accounted for and their relatives have been notified and given access to see these persons. Therefore there is no truth in these allegations by Human Rights Watch,” Military Spokesperson Maj. Gen Ubaya Madawela told the Daily Mirror.... -Full Story- (dailymirror.lk - 08/04/11)

The Travels of a Journalist—65 From Regina to Winnipeg, getting closer to Moorhead
By Shelton A. Gunaratne ©2011 Professor of mass communications emeritus at Minnesota State University Moorhead
Our return journey from Longview, Wash., to Moorhead, Minn., via Trans-Canada 1 enabled us—Carmel, 5; Junius, 9; Yoke-Sim and me—to get a good grasp of the geographic and demographic features of Canada. Sunday (3 Sept. 1989) was our ninth day out on the road since we started the tour. Our plan was to quit Trans-Canada 1 at Winnipeg, 571 km further to the east, and drive another 357 km south on Manitoba 75 and Interstate 29 to reach Moorhead. Saskatchewan, with its population of... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 07/04/11)

Where U.S. chooses to back 'armed struggle'
By Nicola Nasser-Nicola Nasser is a veteran Arab journalist based in Bir Zeit, West Bank of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories
Within a few days, the "Silmiya" (peaceful) popular uprising against the 42-year old rule of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya had turned into an "armed struggle" and in no time the U.S. administration was in full gear backing the Libyan armed violent revolt, which has turned into a full scale civil war, despite being the same world power who officially label the legitimate (according to the charter of the United Nations) armed defense of the Palestinian people against the 34- year... -Full Story- (english.pravda.ru - 07/04/11)

This Libyan intervention must stop
Len McCluskey
Rather than pumping up a civil war, the British government should be pushing for a ceasefire and international mediation.The attack on Libya by British, French and US forces is wrong and should be halted without any further delay or futile loss of life. While holding no brief for Colonel Gaddafi and his regime, and strongly supporting the movements now developing for democracy and freedom across the Arab world, I believe the present military intervention is a mistake which shows the lessons of Iraq have still not been learned.... -Full Story- (mathaba.net - 07/04/11)

NATO under fire: Libyan rebels accuse alliance of slacking off
Anti-Gaddafi forces losing the battle on the ground in Libya have turned to criticizing NATO. The rebels have struck out at the alliance for not doing enough to help and not supplying them with weapons. A veteran of the Libyan army Muftakh Abdul Ghani served his country all the way to retirement. Now he is fighting for the revolution and is among the few rebels at the front with military training and experience. “Our forces are not even,” Ghani said. “We are ready to fight to death, but with these weapons we do not stand a chance against Gaddafi.”... -Full Story- (rt.com - 07/04/11)

Libyan rebels on run, Nato strike kills 2 fighters
AFP/Benghazi
Libyan insurgents and civilians stampeded out of Ajdabiya yesterday on rumours that loyalist forces were outside the eastern town, hours after an air strike tore into the rebels’ defences. The panicked flight came as a top American general said it was unlikely the rebel forces could launch an assault on Tripoli and oust Muammar Gaddafi - while France confidently predicted the strongman’s downfall. Four journalists were reported missing in east Libya, while 26 foreign reporters were expelled from Tripoli and Microsoft said it was seeking the release by the Libyan authorities of its country manager.... -Full Story- (Gulf Times - 07/04/11)

Blake to raise LTTE's concerns in Colombo
Asoka Weerasinghe  Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada
5 April 2011   Robert O'Blake Assistant Secretary of State for South & Central Asian Affairs US State Department Washington DC US.   Dear Robert O'Blake:   I just read a news item titled 'Blake to raise LTTE's concerns with Colombo', in The Island (Sri Lanka) of April 3, 2011, bylined Shamindra Ferdinando which says: 'Close on the heels of the Washington meet, the US Department had sought to dispatch Blake to Colombo, sources said.  The US, one of Sri Lanka's Peace Co-Chairs, had become... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/11)

Mr.Robert O. Blake Jr., My response to your assertion "Lanka important contributor to global peacekeeping ops"
Vajiragnana Warnakulasuriya, Melbourne, Australia
Mr.Robert O. Blake Jr., Assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs,  Dear Sir, My response to your assertion "Lanka important contributor to global peacekeeping ops" April 6, 2011 07:26 am  Link to the article http://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=12682  Undoubtedly Sri Lanka is an important contributor to global peacekeeping operations, yes she is a capable and willing partner to effectively combat violent extremism, trafficking and piracy, and thereby Sri Lanka will ensure the maritime security of the region. All this can happen with vigor, will happen whenever suspicion arises and it is happening in a silent... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/11)

Your Excellency President Barrack Obama, you were the “ hope ” for a new World Order.
By Charles.S.Perera
 It is with great pleasure we received the news of your presenting your candidature for your election for the second term as the President of USA in the coming Presidential elections.  But Your Excellency we regretfully observe that your election will not be without serious contestations, and you may have to make lot of explanations for not following the path of “ hope “ you had promised. Therefore, your election campaign will not be a cake walk and the challenges may be rude.  Though you began your Presidential term well despite the financial crisis you had to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/11)

Home gardens: Lankan consumers hoping to become growers
By Philip Fernando, former Deputy Editor Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka
 Home gardens concept had become quite trendy all over the world. Sri Lanka has launched a home garden project to make consumers become growers. Land as a precious resource seemed most accommodative. An ambitious target of a million home gardens had been set. It was estimated that up to 13 percent of all land – 800,000 hectares – could easily be used as home gardens according to Peradeniya University’s agriculture department’s-crop science division. The vital ingredient for success would flow from how enthused the home owners were. The rest... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/11)

1971 අප්‍රේල් විරු සැමරුම!ප්‍රත්‍යාවලෝකනයෙන් ප්‍රත්‍යුජ්ජීවනය කරා............................
කුලියාපිටියේ ශ්‍රී ප්‍රනන්ද විසින් කරන ලද කථාව (ඉදිරිපත් කරනුයේ චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි.)
ව්‍යාවහාර වර්ෂයෙන් 1971 යනු අපගේ වංශ කථාවෙහි අන්වාර්යෙන්ම සටහන් වන වර්ෂයකි. ඉතිහාස ලේඛණයන් තුළ එය විවිධ වර්ණයන් ගෙන් සටහන් වනු ඇත. කවුරුන් කෙසේ සටහන් කළත් ඒ පිළිබඳ යථානුරූපී විවරණයක් කිරීමට තරම් විමර්ශනශීලී ප්‍රවණතා සහිත බුද්ධිමය සංවාදයක් තවමත් ඇති වී නැති බව මගේ අදහසයි. රාජපාක්ෂික ඉතිහාසඥයෝ එය ඊට අනුරූපීව ලියති. කැරළි පාක්ෂික වූවෝ එය ඊට අනුරූපීව ලියති. බටහිර බුද්ධි සම්ප්‍රදායයේ මිනුම් දඬුවලට අනුව මනින්නෝ එසේ ලියති. මාක්ස්වාදී හෙවත් භෞතිකවාදී විවිධ ගුරුකුල මතධාරීහු තම තම නැණ පමණින් යුතුව ලියති. මේ අතර සිද්ධිවාදීහු හේතුව ඉවත දමා, ඵලය දෙස බලා ඒ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/11)

LIVE @8 NEWS BULLETIN 4TH APRIL – PROFITEERING BY SHOPKEEPERS DURING FESTIVE SEASON
Suraj
Dear Sir, LIVE
8 NEWS BULLETIN 4TH APRIL – PROFITEERING BY SHOPKEEPERS DURING FESTIVE SEASON I was shocked and saddened by your news coverage of today. It appears that your reporters have had the opportunity to interview only shopkeepers from the minority community. Singling one set of traders based on ethnicity can make your viewers believe that only minority community shopkeepers exploit consumers. While no one condones breaking the law, we cannot allow this kind of one sided reporting either. I have noticed that you regularly engage in racially profiling minorities as exploiters. This kind of biased reporting clearly... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 06/04/11)

Uprising in Arab World – A real solution.
By A. Abdul Aziz
 After the fall of Ottoman Empire many new country under the leadership of western loyal monarchs emerged in the Arab world. These rulers treated their country as private property and people as slaves. After the creation of Jewish state Israel in 1948 the sprit of crusade revived in the Arab world which led to the 1967&1973 Arab-Israel war. Arabs suffered humiliating defeat with Israel and started leaning towards radical politics and terrorism for revenge. Monarchs used this opportunity to divert people’s attention to rob their own national wealth and expand grip over people. Although most... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/04/11)

‘THE RELIGION OF PEACE’ IS IMPLODING!!!
Mahinda Weerasinghe Author of ‘The Origin of Species According to the Buddha’
With the fall of Tunisia, Egypt and the fires of insurrection spreading to Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and with spontaneous uprisings taking place in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the knowledgeable pundits in the west are predicting that progress, tolerance and civilisation has finally caught up with the nations of ‘true believers’. In fact with troubles compounding to the powers that be, how the process will unfold is an enigma to most denizens at this historical juncture. Ronald Regan and his bunch of ‘all knowing’ advisers put fire... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 05/04/11)

Seek and ye shall find...Norwegians!
MahamahaRaja
 What began in Libya as another seemingly run-of-the-mill “people's revolution” against a longstanding Middle Eastern dictator, has slowly degraded into something a lot more opaque. Perhaps it was the revelation that many of the “rebels” were actually connected to al-Qaeda (1), or perhaps it was the realization that a large number of Afghan and Iraqi suicide bombers targeting Coalition forces in those countries were recruited from the [“de facto” ?] rebel “capital” of Benghazi (2). Either way, now the gung-ho voices are diminished and those advocating a more measured approach, among them the ancient ruler of the region,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/04/11)

Sri Lanka's World Cup Loss A Comedy of Errors
Cricket Talk By Doosra Kumar!
April 2nd 2011 It seems a pity to have to reflect in retrospect after Sri Lanka's World Cup  loss at Mumbai that it was probably a comedy of errors involving  the red handed Kumar Sangakkara as well as the Sri Lankan selectors whose bungling relative to captaincy and the final team selection respectively that cost Sri Lanka the ignominious loss . Perhaps messers Aravinda de Silva and DS de Silva should re think their strategies in decision making and be held accountavle for some of the apathetic choices of the final team selection and if unfit to continue in their capacity being... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/04/11)

Our World Cup defeat...is it worth that big a cry?
By Mario Perera, Kadawata
I must admit being deeply affected by our cricketers snatching defeat from the jaws of probable victory. When the final team selection was announced the foreign commentators summed it all up very succinctly. They said that the strength of Sri Lanka had all along been the bowling with its quota of unorthodox and mystery spinners, but the team on display was clearly indicating a strengthening of the batting. Sri Lanka was no longer playing to its strength but trying to plug its weakness. It had strengthened its weakness and weakened its strength. The final result... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/04/11)

Does everything depend on your will?
Dr.Tilak Fernando 
Three years ago a young man informed me how his attempts to seek an overseas job became a futile exercise after undergoing a rigorous procedure and his details were wiped out from official government computers after a lapse of one year. Notwithstanding he remained unruffled. In my quest to find out his composure I gathered how mindful he was on Buddhism in a different form. He applied the term 'Buddha' on an enlightened one who precisely perceived the true nature of all phenomena and led others to attain 'Buddhahood' or development of mind. 'Buddha nature', he said,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/04/11)

Colombo Metropolitan Corporation or Colombo Municipal Council, CMC
Herold Leelawardena
Leave out the names and acronyms; the government’s move to put an end to the Colombo Municipal Council is a good move. Just look at the comic opera that took place at its last election. Due to some of their own blunders, the UNP was barred by election commissioner from contesting elections in 2006. So, the barred or rejected Mayoral candidate Sirisena Cooray sought to propel himself to power by proxy. With that as the sole aim, Cooray and the UNP hierarchy hastily chose an independent group with no political standing as their proxy. The UNP told the affluent Colombo... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 04/04/11)

Libya: al-Qaeda 'receive looted Libyan weapons'
Convoys of weapons have been looted from Libyan barracks and taken to al-Qaeda camps in northern Mali, according to security officials. The Libyan bombing campaign has allowed terrorist groups free access to some of Col Muammar Gaddafi's arms dumps and an Algerian official said that monitored shipments had made their way from Libya to al-Qaeda strongholds in the Sahara. Eight Toyota pickup trucks crossed into Chad, across Niger and into northern Mali from desert armouries in eastern Libya. Algeria warned that al-Qaeda's North African wing, al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM), had seized shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles in Libya.... -Full Story- (telegraph.co.uk - 04/04/11)

This Libyan intervention must stop
Len McCluskey
Rather than pumping up a civil war, our government should be pushing for a ceasefire and international mediation.The attack on Libya by British, French and US forces is wrong and should be halted without any further delay or futile loss of life. While holding no brief for Colonel Gaddafi and his regime, and strongly supporting the movements now developing for democracy and freedom across the Arab world, I believe the present military intervention is a mistake which shows the lessons of Iraq have still not been learned.... -Full Story- (guardian.co.uk - 04/04/11)

Libyan Rebel Commander: ‘Cut Gaddafi’s Throat, Then Establish an Islamic State’
“The Jihadists Go to the Front.” This is the title of French journalist Julien Fouchet’s report from eastern Libya that appears in the latest edition of the French Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD). Whereas American officials have been straining to make out “flickers” of intelligence suggesting a jihadist influence in the eastern Libyan rebellion against the rule of Muammar al-Gaddafi, Fouchet encountered a flagrant jihadist presence and met with participants who talked openly about their dedication to jihad and/or their desire to establish an Islamic state.... -Full Story- (pajamasmedia.com - 04/04/11)

Gaddafi's postulates inspire the Bolivarian revolution
Community power and nationalism are some of the ideas shared by both processes .The theoreticians of the Bolivarian revolution have endorsed doctrines from elsewhere to give ideological support to an "ongoing" political process. From Muammar Gaddafi's Libya, Bolivarian ideologists managed to replicate a collection of principles in the government policy, the Constitution and laws recently enacted. From reforms of the ownership model, to the Bolivarian world expansionism; anti-imperialist rhetoric; new forms of participation -"street parliamentarianism;" community councils and communes; to the role of man and "supreme happiness:"- there is plenty of Gaddafi's ideology in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.... -Full Story- (english.eluniversal.com - 04/04/11)

Bury Bombay, Look to the Future
Dilrook Kannangara
It was a match to forget. Despite brilliant batting by Mahela, Kulasekara, Kumar, Dilshan and Perera and excellent bowling by Malinga, Team Sri Lanka lost. This is a good time to look to the future. It is time to separate genuinely skilled cricketers from average players. India managed to win after 28 years because it played all its matches home! However Sri Lanka played all its finals, three in number, in foreign grounds. It means there is greater hope for Lankans than Indians in 2015. A futuristic approach based on a scientific methodology is needed to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/04/11)

71 කැරැල්ල 38 කොටස
වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග
 38කොටස නවරත්න බන්ඩා නවරත්න බන්ඩා මහතා පියසිරි කුලරත්නගේ වැඩිමහල් සොහොයුරාය. ඔහු රතු ලංකා පුවත්පතේ හිටපු කත_ෘය. වැලිසර ඔහුගේ නිවසේදී මට හමුවූ නවරත්න බන්ඩා මෙසේ කිය. ‘මම මේ ව්‍යාපාරයට සම්බන්ධ උනේ 1969 දි. ඒ කාලයෙ මම ලිවර් බ‍්‍රදර්ස් ආයතනයේ අනියම් කම්කරුවෙකු ලෙස සේවය කළා. පියසිරි කුලරත්න මල්ලිව හමු වෙන්න ජයදේව උයන්ගොඩ, පියතිලක, මිල්ටන් එහෙමත් එනවා. මල්ලි ඒ කාලයේ පූර්ණකාලීනයෙක්. ඒ නිසා 1970 වෙන කොට මම වෘත්තීය අංශයේ පූර්ණකාලීනයෙකු බවට පත් උනා.  මම රජයේ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවල සංස්ථාවල පෞද්ගලික සමාගම් වල පිරිස ව්‍යාපාරයට බඳවා ගැනීමට ක‍්‍රියා කලා. සෝමවංශ අමරසිංහටත්‘ කොක්ක ගැහුවේ මම. සෝමවංශ වැඩ කළේ වාර්මාර්ග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ. කාර්මික නිලධාරියෙක්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 03/04/11)

Case against Sri Lanka based on fake figures
H. L. D. Mahindapala
 Alan Keenan claims to be a Senior Analyst and Sri Lanka Project Director with the International Crisis Group (ICG). This means that he is paid to be an analyst to do his homework on the relevant facts and figures to substantiate whatever case he presents on Sri Lanka. Since he presented a paper titled "Accountability for Violations of IHL in Counterinsurgency: The Case of Sri Lanka" to the Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict on February 24, 2011 let us consider how competent he is to be an analyst or the Director of the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/11)

Bringing our Universities to international standard
By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D.
Our Minister for Higher Education, Hon Mr  S.B.Dissanayake is  intent on bringing up our Universities to an international standard and many useful suggestions have been made by academics. This is a noble aim and it is hoped that it will be successful.   I am a product of Peradeniya, in the days when that was the only University we had. There I graduated in 1954 and  read for  a Master’s Degree.  I fed into the Administrative Service and  my experience lies in administration and economic development. I have studied Community Development for the Master’s Degree... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/11)

The Travels of a Journalist—64 From Calgary to Regina: Exploring Canadian prairie
By Shelton A. Gunaratne ©2011Professor of mass communications emeritus
Minnesota State University Moorhead
The four of us—daughter Carmel, 5; son Junius, 9; wife Yoke-Sim and I—spent Saturday (2 Sept. 1989) morning to get a sense of Calgary, located in the Grassland region of southern Alberta. Two major rivers run through the city. The Bow River is the largest and flows from the west to the south. The Elbow River flows northwards from the south until it converges with the Bow River near downtown. In 1883, the Canadian Pacific Railway reached the area and built a rail station in Calgary,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/11)

Libyan rebels sell weapons to Al Qaeda - Algerian paper
Rebels who have plundered Libyan army depots sell weapons to militants from Al Qaeda's North Africa branch, the Algerian paper L'Expression said on Saturday referring to a source from the Algerian security forces. The militant Islamist group has already received heavy weaponry and air defense missiles from the Libyan rebels, the paper said, adding that if Western nations decide to equip the Libyans, these weapons could also come to the hands of Al Qaeda terrorists.... -Full Story- (en.rian.ru - 02/04/11)

Thirteen dead after coalition strike hits Libya rebels
A NATO-led air strike killed 13 Libyan rebels in a "regrettable incident," a rebel spokesman said on Saturday, in an increasingly chaotic battle with Muammar Gaddafi's forces over the oil town of Brega. Despite the deaths on Friday night, the rebel leadership called for continued air strikes against Gaddafi's forces, who have reversed a rebel advance on the coastal road linking their eastern stronghold with western Libya. Hundreds of mostly young, inexperienced volunteers were later seen fleeing east from Brega towards the town of Ajdabiyah after coming under heavy mortar and machinegun fire.... -Full Story- (stuff.co.nz - 02/04/11)

Libyan rioters killed in NATO air strike
At least 13 Libyan rebels have accidentally been killed in a NATO air strike targeting dictator Muammar Gaddafi forces, the Al Jazeera TV channel said on Saturday. The rebels are reported to have been killed when a NATO plane enforcing a UN 'no-fly' zone fired on a convoy between the eastern oil city of Brega and Ajdabiya on Friday night. Opposition spokesman Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga called the air strike "unfortunate accident," adding that the rebels were killed as they moved forward while the NATO strike was in progress.... -Full Story- (en.rian.ru - 02/04/11)

Above Average Performance Needed to Win the World Cup
Dilrook Kannangara
 The last time when Sri Lanka won the World Cup in 1996, it was exceptional performance of the team that led to the victory. Our opponents were cruising with more than a hundred runs on the board with just one wicket down. The breakthrough came with above-average performance by experienced Aravinda. Motivated fielding, taking all catches and cutting off runs helped restrict Australia. In the batting department Gurusinghe rose up to the occasion after many failures before.  Above average performance is what is needed today. Past performance is no guarantee of the future but it... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/11)

CRICKET– MULTICULTURALISM AT PLAY!
By Suwanda H J Sugunasiri  (writing from Canada)
 Canada may not have made it to the Quarter finals of the World Cup. But our participation made us get a glimpse of what a multicultural sport this game of Cricket truly is!  Watching the game in Sri Lanka during a winter holiday, and on Rogers Cable (for a cool $ 199.99) back in Canada, this is the thought that occurred to me. Watching the ICC (International Cricket Club) games, I couldn’t help note how multinational, multiracial, multiethnic and multireligious the game has come to be.   To begin with, there are... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/11)

‘Great Soul’ by Joseph Lelyveld – the controversy on Mahatma Gandhi
By Mario Perera, Kadawata
The book ‘Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle With India’ by Joseph Lelyveld (Knopf, 2011) , is said to contain passages that claim or imply that Mahatma Gandhi, when he was in South Africa, had a relationship with a male German national, and that he had left his wife to live with his ‘lover’ for almost two years. Lelyveld, a Pulitzer Prize winning author denies that he uses such terms with bizarre sexual connotations. When the book appeared there was already an apprehension that it would be banned in India. Indeed this apprehension was... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/11)

Western countries should abandon illusion of world domination
Courtesy People's Daily Online
The military attacks on Libya by multinational forces comprising British, French and American personnel have lasted more than 10 days. Reports show that following the development of the situation, the civilian casualties are increasing and the living conditions in the war zone have become unbearable. The original intention of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 is to restrain violence and protect civilians. Given what has happened in Libya over recent days, people cannot help but raise questions on the intent of the military attacks launched by the multinational forces. According to statistics by the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/11)

Moussa Koussa - a deep-cover Western agent?
The British newspaper Daily Telegraph has compared Libya’s defected Foreign Minister and Colonel Gaddafi’s right hand Moussa Koussa to Nazi criminal Rudolf Hess, who made a surprise defection to Britain in May 1941. Although Moussa Koussa and Rudolf Hess have very little in common, a closer look can spot certain similarities between them. Koussa was the closest man to Colonel Gaddafi for years and he certainly had a hand in the regime’s crimes as were arms supplies to the Irish Republican Army and support to other terrorist groups, and the blowing up of a PanAm airliner over the Scottish town... -Full Story- (english.ruvr.ru - 02/04/11)

'Koussa says Libya was not responsible for Lockerbie'
By DAVID MADDOX
Former MP and veteran campaigner Tam Dalyell says the high-level Libyan defector who arrived in the UK this week told him the Gaddafi regime had not been responsible for the Lockerbie bomb and pointed the finger at Palestinian terrorists. Mr Dalyell also claimed that Scottish authorities could not be trusted to question former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa, who has been a key figure in the Gaddafi regime for most of its 42 years.... -Full Story- (news.scotsman.com - 02/04/11)

Is the US intervention in violation of her Constitutional Rules?
Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s Address to Congress on the War in Libya 
As Prepared for Delivery United States House of Representatives March 31, 2011 As Prepared for Delivery—   Mr. Speaker. The critical issue before this nation today is not Libyan democracy, it is American democracy. In the next hour I will describe the dangers facing our own democracy. The principles of world democracy are embodied in the UN Charter, conceived to end the scourge of war for all time. The hope that nations could turn their swords into plowshares reflects the timeless impulse of humanity for enduring peace... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/11)

DAYLIGHT ROBERRY BY EVIL EMPIRES
Ranjit Wickremeratne.
They have the authority to rob and kill who ever they want and destroy any country they want in the name of Democracy. Is it trurly Democracy or cold blooded murder? Any right minded person tell me whether these destroyers of the earth doing in LIBIYA is correct because I dont understand this cruel world. When our war heros saved thousands of civillians from destruction and death during the last phase of the Elaam war this cruel evil Empire questioned us and that Black witch Pillai make a big fuss regarding human rights etc and now what... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/11)

Deserted Assam to welcome Indian Premier
Nava Thakuria
Indian Premier is expected to witness a deserted Assam when he makes a visit to the Northeastern State on April 2. Just two days before Assam election, the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit the State for campaigning. Dr Singh, a senior Congress leader and representative of Assam in upper house of Indian Parliament (Rajya Sabha) is expected to attend a number of election campaigning meeting on Saturday for the benefit of his party candidates. But a call for Assam Bandh (shutdown or total non-cooperation) by the banned United Liberation Front of Assam and... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/11)

A NEW RAY OF HOPE IN BALOCHISTAN
PROFESSOR ALI SUKHANVER
Nothing but a wastage of time and energy; a lot of conferences, lectures and seminars, discussions and dialogue sessions; all simply ending over a cup of tea; that is how every year we celebrate the days of our national importance. What we do is not what we need. At present Pakistan is passing through the ever-worst phase of its history; political fragility, economic instability, catastrophically disastrous law and order situation particularly in Karachi and Balochistan, rampant corruption throughout the country and above all a warlike scenario along the borders; the situation really does not need words... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 02/04/11)

Latest News on Libyan conflict
Berlin and Beijing call for political solution in Libya
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1630068.php/Berlin-and-Beijing-call-for-political-solution-in-Libya? African Union (AU) calls for peaceful solution to Libya crisis
http://en.trend.az/regions/met/arabicr/1853938.html? Germany calls for Libya ceasefire
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1511796/Germany-calls-for-Libya-ceasefire  SA rejects Libya regime change
http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/world/2011/04/01/sa-rejects-libya-regime-change?
  Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya deal
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MD02Ak01.html
Libya: The Left, West and Military Intervention in Libya
http://ionglobaltrends.blogspot.com/2011/04/libya-left-west-and-military.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FzqKG+%28i+On+Global+Trends%29 Lessons of Libya
 http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/lessons_of_libya_20110331/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Truthdig+Truthdig%3A+Drilling+Beneath+the+Headlines NATO warns rebels of consequences like Gaddafi forces if they attack civilians
http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-180547.html Farrakhan defends 'brother' Gaddafi
http://www.eecho.ie/news/world/farrakhan-defends-brother-gaddafi-499442.html? More than 400 rebel supporters missing in east Libya
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/04/01/idINIndia-56043920110401?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401  ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 01/04/11)

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