The Tamil Makkal Vidugal Pulikal, (TMVP), headed by Pillayan has decided to go it alone at the forthcoming parliamentary polls, general secretary A. Kailesvararajah told LAKBIMAnEWS.
The TMVP Central Committee met yesterday at the party office in Batticaloa to decide the party’s position at the forthcoming general election.
Kailesvararajah said that according to the decision taken at the meeting, More >>

The United National Front will file a presidential election petition next week challenging the results of the recent poll. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna is working on the petition and its Parliamentary group leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake confirmed that they will go to courts next week asking for legal redress. He added that they have already collected substantial evidence to prove election malpractices that changed the outcome of the elections.More >>

Half of the opposition seems to be waiting for the now expected arrest of General Sarath Fonseka, so that he could be made a martyr to the opposition’s difficult cause. The government has compulsorily retired various forces personnel, and therefore the opposition feels that the next step would be Sarath Fonseka’s arrest on trumped up charges.
Though the expectations are that he would be arrested on charges of a Russian style coup attempt, More >>

The switchboard operator at the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) refreshingly answered the call on the first ring. But it went downhill from there.
On the back of reports that the government planned to actively monitor Internet use - including activities on Facebook and Twitter - this reporter telephoned the TRC to ask what, specifically, officials were looking for. If the state was tightening its surveillance, surely users have a right to know. More >>

Swimmer Heshan Unamboowa produced a stunning performance in the pool when he clinched the men’s 100m backstroke with a new South Asian Games record of 58.98 while two more gold medals in track and field took Sri Lanka’s gold medal tally to 7 on day nine of the 11th South Asian Games here yesterday. More >>

Chairman of the Interim Committee of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union (SLRFU) Dr Maiya Gunasekera charged that two officials attached to the Sabaragamuwa Province (Arjun Dharmadasa) and the Southern Province (Kumar Abeywardene) were responsible for putting a spoke in the wheel of getting the newly amended constitution ratified at the Special General Meeting (SGM) which was scheduled to be held on Jan 29. More >>

“I can’t believe I’m missing Colombo Fashion Week,” says Ian Rankin as we sit down in the lobby of the Hilton where he spent his day long stay in Colombo. If only for a moment I am left hanging - there was no sarcasm in his voice, he is not grinning and John Malkovich does have a fashion line, but Rankin a fashionista? I laugh before I can help myself so it was a good thing that it was just the first of his jokes. “No, no,” he assures me, “I’ve got no interest in fashion at all.” He points to the navy blue t-shirt he’s wearing and tells me he got it from a high school in Edinburgh when they got him to open a building. More >>

Ingrisi ape vidiyata katha karamu, is a slogan which is in the limelight these days, with these cricket stars, film stars, and singing stars preaching it noon and night; the most conspicuous symbol being the substitution of the customary (apparently non-Sri Lankan) sword (with the underlying British power), with a knife-implement of an obviously and uniquely Sri Lankan character. The measure is a positive start, for many amongst us who feel intimidated, shy, unconfident in speaking English contextualized into a Sri Lankan reality. Albeit this notion of Lankan English had been thought of years back by Sri Lankan professors of English, More >>

For six decades now, Taiwan has been where the simmering distrust between China and America most risks boiling over. In 1986 Deng Xiaoping called it the “one obstacle in Sino-US relations”. So there was something almost ritualistic about the Chinese government’s protestations this week that it was shocked, shocked and angered by America’s decision to sell Taiwan $6 billion-worth of weaponry. Under the Taiwan Relations Act, passed in 1979, all American administrations must help arm Taiwan so that it can defend itself. And China, which has never renounced what it says is its right to “reunify” Taiwan by force, feels just as bound to protest when arms deals go through. More >>

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has welcomed India’s offer to resume bilateral talks, saying a meaningful dialogue could resolve disputes between the two neighbors. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Thursday that the offer was a positive step.
“There are now signals emanating from India that they are willing to talk bilaterally,” Reuters quoted Qureshi as saying.
Qureshi went on to say that Islamabad would welcome the move if it led to the resumption of a “comprehensive dialogue.”
The Foreign Minister did not confirm a date for the resumption of talks, but said he had sought details from New Delhi. More >>

Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) denied reports that Saudi authorities have planned to impose a ban on recruiting housemaids from Sri Lanka. Chairman SLBFE, Kingsley Ranawaka emphasized that it is a rumour being spread by certain employment agencies and agents overseas.
Saudi media and arabnews.com website reported last week that Saudi Arabia is considering the banning of housemaids from countries such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, Cambodia and Vietnam due their inability to adjust to Saudi culture and tradition... More >>

Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) has recorded a considerable improvement in container through-put (TEUs) for the month of December 2009, compared to the same period of 2008. Compared to the total of 136,268 TEUs handled by SLPA in the month of December 2008, it has handled a total of 153,317 TEUs in December 2009, marking a growth of 12.5%.
Compared to the overall 259,308 TEUs handled at the Port of Colombo in December 2008, it has handled a total of 309,009TEUs in December 2009 marking a growth of 19.2%. More >>

Sri Lankan Independence Day, as we all know, is celebrated on February 4. This year, we celebrated the 62nd Independence Day. After nearly three decades of war, we celebrated the best Independence Day this year. After hundreds of years, Sri Lanka gained freedom from the British on 4th February 1948. Since then, every 4th of February is a national day for us to celebrate our freedom and to honour the heroes who struggled to gain that freedom. More >>

Beethoven is a very familiar name not only among classical music lovers, but also among everyone else too.
Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the greatest musicians and pianists in the history. He is considered the bridge between Classical and Romantic western music periods. His music is still loved and appreciated throughout the world. He has influenced musicians such as Brahms. More >>