யாழ் திரைகடலோடி

Sri Lanka Inflation Holds Near 4-Month High in August (Update1) By Anusha Ondaatjie Aug. 31 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka's consumer prices rose in August at close to the fastest pace in four months, presenting a challenge to the central bank which wants to damp inflation amid slowing economic growth. Consumer prices in the capital Colombo rose 17.3 percent from a year ago, after increasing 17.6 percent in July, the Department of Census & Statistics said on its Web site. The median estimate of nine analysts in a Bloomberg survey was for a 17.3 percent gain. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has held interest rates at the highest level in Asia for six str…

நான் யாழ் இணையம் பற்றி சற்றுமுன் கூகிளில் தேடல் செய்தபோது தற்செயலாக கீழ்வரும் கட்டுரையை கண்டேன். உங்கள் பார்வைக்கும் இங்கே இணைக்கின்றேன்.. Tamil Tiger cyber terror sponsored by US companies Tue, 2007-06-26 06:13 Colombo, 26 June, (Asiantribune.com): The Sri Lankan government is making preparations to combat the cyber campaign unleashed to glorify terror on a global scale by agents of Tamil Tigers. The Sri Lanka Government has put together its campaign by lodging complaints with the US Justice Department about the US companies hosting pro-Tamil Tiger websites. According to Sri Lanka Government sources there are scores of pro-Tiger websites whose d…

Soldiers' families 'not paid enough' Families of killed soldiers are paid only Rs.150,000 for over 23 years Disabled soldiers in Sri Lanka have accused the authorities of ignoring their plight and that of the families of killed service personnel. Asoka Dayaratne, of Organisation for Disabled Soldiers, said the compensation paid for war victims is not adequate. "For over 23 years, families of a killed soldier is still paid mere Rs.150,000," he told BBC Sandeshaya. Families of late Generals, Denzil Kobbekaduwa and Vijaya Wimalaratne were also paid just Rs. 150,000 Disabled Soldiers' Organisation He recalled that fam…

'AIDS plot' against Buddhist monks Thero says plan is to infect leading Buddhist monks with HIV-AIDS Christian fundamentalists are conspiring to tarnish the image of the Buddhist clergy, a leading monk-parliamentarian said. The leader of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) told BBC Sandeshaya that he was informed of a plot to infect HIV - AIDS to Buddhist monks. Ellawawala Medhananda thero said the conspiracy is an attempt to tarnish the image of the Buddhist monks who have vowed to celibacy. Sexual activity Asked how the monks would be infected without having engaged in sexual acts or using syringes that are infected, the leading monk said : "That …

Ruling Sri Lanka is a family affair template_bas template_bas The four Rajapakse brothers occupy the most powerful jobs, and critics are incensed. By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer August 25, 2007 COLOMBO, SRI LANKA -- The Rajapakse family business is virtually everyone's business on this island. That's because the family's line of work is running the country -- and fighting a civil war, to boot. Between them, the four Rajapakse brothers occupy the most powerful jobs in Sri Lanka's democratically elected government, including the biggest plum of all: the presidency. Indeed, by appointing his siblings to key posts, President Mahinda Rajap…

Western media ignores Sri Lanka State Terror- Aussie doctor [TamilNet, Saturday, 25 August 2007, 13:35 GMT] Queensland Pediatrician and Director of Townsville Hospital's Neonatal Unit, Dr John Whitehall, talking with Richard Fidler of ABC radio in the program "Conversation hour" early this week, said that in Tamil eelam there "is tremendous commitment from a population of only three million people [for separation]. You can't get 17000 people to take up arms and fight to death unless their hearts are in their cause," and added that "What I have come to be aware [is] you can't understand the situation in Colombo if you only focus on the terror which is coming from o…

Published Wednesday 11th July 2007 11:41 GMT China today confirmed it has developed a "Wing In Ground" (WIG) sea-skimming aircraft, state media reports. According to Reuters, the Chinese version of the Caspian Sea Monster is capable of flying at 300km/h (180mph) at a mere half metre above the surface while carrying four tonnes of cargo. It relys on the WIG effect effect whereby, put simply, a wing travelling close to the ground is provided with extra lift by the "cushion" of air compressed under it - thus enabling a combination of greater aircraft weight for less power and/or enhanced fuel economy. Professor Xu Zhengyu, vice-president of the research team a…

Fr. Jimbrown – A shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep - Who is Fr. Jimbrown? Rev. Fr. Thiruchelvam Nihal Jimbrown is a young catholic priest of the diocese of Jaffna, SriLanka. He was born in 1972, at Puthukudiyirruppu, a village in the Mullaithivu District as the elder son of the family. The parents being devout Christians decided to offer their first fruit to God and Nihal went through the necessary formation and was ordained priest in 2004. He was sent to Mannar a neighboring Diocese and worked as the assistant parish priest at St Sebastian’s Cathedral for two years. Coming back to the Jaffna Diocese, he took up the assignment as the Parish prie…

Ramar Sethu, a world heritage centre? Shobha Warrier The Rs 2,427.40-crore Sethusamudram canal project aims to create a navigable channel of 152.2 km from the Gulf of Mannar to the Bay of Bengal through the Palk Bay and Palk Strait. The project that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [images] on the July 2, 2005, has drawn flak from many quarters from the day the idea was mooted. One of the debates going on is whether the chain of islets called Ramar Sethu, also known as Adam's Bridge, linking India with Sri Lanka [images] should be destroyed while dredging. Dr S Kalayanaraman, eminent research scholar who has earlier done signal wo…

Sri Lankan Armed Forces, paramilitaries are responsible for all the killings and the abductions -LTTE Spokesperson for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Armed forces of the Government of Sri Lanka and its allied paramilitaries are continuing to target civilians including government servants and school students. Killings and abductions are continuing in the Jaffna peninsula and no one appears to be concerned about it. Twelve civilians including two government servants and two school students were killed within the last 12 days by the SLA and its paramilitary groups in Jaffna. A further eight civilians have been abducted and ten have sought protection from …

In 1990, Mahinda Rajapaksa was arrested at Colombo airport trying to smuggle dossiers on the "disappeared" out of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva. Rajapaksa, then an rising politician from the country's south, worked to organize the mothers of the "disappeared" during an insurrection of 1988-90, when more than 16,000 people went missing. Today, Rajapaksa is Sri Lanka's sixth president, leading a government accused of egregious human rights abuses. Since fighting between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam resumed in full vigor in mid-2006, civilians have become the primary target - not just in direct clashes but in the insidious "dirty w…

Two Tamil Man stabbed at Oslo Norway (2007Aug,12, 6.00pm) A Crime investigation is underway after a man was stabbed at Oslo Play Ground near to REMA 1000 Shop. Police were called to the location at around 1.40am today(12) following reports of an incidence. On arrival officers found one man suffering from stab wounds and another man with injuries. A knife and a Hand Gun were recovered from the area. Three men were arrested at around 2am near Oslo Central underground station. They are all young men of Srilanka. They were taken to separate Oslo police stations where they remain in custody. Both victims were taken by ambulance to Oslo Man Hospital. Police are trying…

Made-in-China Complimentary Toothpaste for Luxury Hotels Recalled Monday , August 13, 2007 A leading supplier of toiletries for luxury hotels recalled complimentary tubes of Chinese-made toothpaste worldwide Monday after tests showed some contain a potentially toxic chemical. It was the latest in a series of recalls of Chinese-made goods — toothpaste, children's toys, tires and pet food — because of shoddy and perhaps dangerous manufacturing methods. Gilchrist & Soames said it is recalling its 18-milliliter or 0.65-ounce tubes with the name Gilchrist & Soames on it. The company said Monday some samples showed the tubes contained diethylene glyc…

UN's website breached by hackers Hackers have attacked the United Nations official website, forcing some sections to be taken offline. Slogans accusing the US and Israel of killing children appeared on the pages reserved for statements from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. Other pages on the site were also breached by the group, who described their actions as a "cyberprotest". In other attacks by hackers using the same names, they have claimed to be from Turkey. The message on the UN site said: "Hey Ysrail and Usa dont kill children and other people Peace for ever No war." The hackers named themselves as "kerem125", "Gsy" and "M0sted".…

August 11, 2007 Judge Says Unix Copyrights Rightfully Belong to Novell By JOHN MARKOFF SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 10 — In a decision that may finally settle one of the most bitter legal battles surrounding software widely used in corporate data centers, a federal district court judge in Utah ruled Friday afternoon that Novell, not the SCO Group, is the rightful owner of the copyrights covering the Unix operating system. In the 102-page ruling, the judge, Dale A. Kimball, also said Novell could force SCO to abandon its claims against I.B.M., which SCO had sued. Judge Kimball’s decision in favor of Novell could almost entirely undermine SCO’s 2003 lawsuit agai…

Feeding the Tiger - how Sri Lankan insurgents fund their war Omar Karmi 10 August 2007 The ethnic separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is the only known insurgent organisation with its own army, navy and now even a rudimentary air force. With the group having undertaken three air strikes since March this year, the LTTE has shown that it has access to financial resources and weapons that not only prolong its campaign, but also give it the luxury of introducing bold, new dimensions to the conflict. While the LTTE's force presence the Sea Tigers, Air Tigers and various land forces is mainly in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka, the o…

August 10, 2007 Universal Music Will Sell Songs Without Copy Protection By JEFF LEEDS Signaling another departure from the music industry’s longtime antipiracy strategy, the Universal Music Group will sell a significant portion of its catalog without the customary copy protection software for at least the next few months, the company announced yesterday. Universal, the world’s biggest music conglomerate, said it would offer albums and songs without the software, known as digital rights management, through existing digital music retail services like RealNetworks and Wal-Mart, nascent services from Amazon.com and Google, and some artists’ Web sites. …

COLOMBO, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka is among the most dangerous places on earth for humanitarian workers, the UN's aid chief says, calling on the government to probe civil war abuses and consider an international rights monitoring mission. Aid agencies say 34 humanitarian staff have been killed in Sri Lanka since January 2006, including 17 local staff of Action Contre La Faim shot dead in the restive northeast a year ago in a massacre Nordic truce monitors blamed on security forces. "There is a concern ... about the safety of humanitarian workers themselves and the record here is one of the worst in the world from that point of view," John Holmes, UN Under Secr…

Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers in the UK are at risk of torture if returned to Sri Lanka, according to a landmark ruling by a British tribunal. An asylum and immigration tribunal on Monday upheld an appeal by a Sri Lankan refugee known only as Mr LP. The ruling is also intended to offer guidance for similar cases in the UK. Mr LP's lawyers argued that he was at risk of torture if he returned home because of his perceived support for Tamil Tiger separatists. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6937471.stm

The much expected moves to weaken and ultimately topple Sinhala Nationalist Rajapakse government is well and truly underway under the auspice of the International Community (read USA and India). A partnership with the traditional pro-Western UNP is very much expected along with the help of few other fringe political groups like CWC whose leadership is remote controlled by the policy makers across the Palk-straight. It’s also fair to expect the Muslim polity and the labour unions to rattle when they are instructed to do so by their handlers. To the eyes of the ordinary people, the unexpected players who are already active yet almost invisible are the elements within t…

Sun Aug 5, 2:18 AM ET COLOMBO (AFP) - A top UN official is scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka this week to discuss the island's deepening Tamil separatist conflict and the plight of civilians caught in the crossfire, officials said. John Holmes, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, will hold talks with Sri Lankan leaders and also travel to the embattled northern and eastern regions, officials said. Sri Lankan foreign ministry officials said that he will travel to the Jaffna peninsula in the north and the district of Batticaloa where security forces last month wrested control over the final bastion of the Tig…

($14-Million =1,566,600,000.00 LKR) $4.5-Million Dollar Home for Basil in California $9.5-Million Dollar Home for Gotabaya in California -- Look it up Yourself. [ tpahof;fpoik, 9 Mf];l; 2007 ] [ yf;];kd; ] There is a law in Sri Lanka that requires public officials from declaring their assets to the government. This is also a requirement of those holding political office, including MP's. However, recently a law was sneaked in that exempted a very narrowly cut selection from requiring to do so. According to new regulations, public officials who have dual citizenship and have property / assets overseas are not required to declare their assets. One can only imagine, …

SLA launches artillery barrage in Northern FDL. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has launched a barrage of artillery shells Sunday early morning into Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) territory across the Northern Forward Defence Line of the Tigers. The artillery barrage continued for more than 4 hours. Heavy artillery firing from Sri Lankan positions in Jaffna started at 4:20 a.m. Normalcy in Vanni has been disturbed as the Sri Lankan forces are stepping up air, naval and ground attacks in the recent days. -Tamilnet-

NASA Gives 'Go' for Shuttle Endeavour Launch on Aug - 7. CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - On Thursday, NASA managers set Aug. 7 as the official launch date for space shuttle Endeavour's STS-118 mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., is scheduled for 7:02 p.m. EDT. Endeavour's launch date was announced following the traditional Flight Readiness Review at Kennedy. During the two-day meeting, top NASA and contractor managers assessed any risks associated with the mission and determined that the shuttle's equipment, support systems and procedures are ready for flight. Commander Scott Kelly and his six crewmates are sch…