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Two people detained in Malaysia under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for links with terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LLTE) have been repatriated to Sri Lanka. Malaysia’s Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said details on the repatriation of the two will be revealed tomorrow. He said the ministry is considering to release Immigration Department officers detained under ISA for their involvement in human trafficking. “We are considering to release the officers as they may have repented and want to be with family members during Ramadan. “Decision whether to release them or not is based on police information,” he said after presenting aid for mosques and suraus in Sembrong parliamentary constituency in Nyior today. Any decision on the matter would be based on security and public order. The seven Immigration Department officers were arrested last year, reports  Bernama .

Three Sri Lankans were deported back to Ahmedabad international airport from Dubai on charges of travelling on forged passports. The incident is said to have unearthed a well-organised human trafficking racket active in Tamilnadu. The deportation of the trio including a woman carrier has stunned immigration officials at Ahmedabad airport. The special branch looks into the immigration related matters in the city, Indian media reported. According to the joint commissioner of police, Special Branch, Shamsher Singh the trio was busted by the Dubai immigration officials in quite a dramatic way. “Technically, there was nothing wrong in the passport. But the Dubai immigration officials suspected the trio. Since they are Tamils the officials called their Tamil officer to question them. It was then the official found that the accent of two of them matched from what Sri Lankan Tamils speak. During interrogation the trio broke down and revealed their identity,” said Singh. The trio, whose origin

Angelo Mathews has been appointed Vice Captain for Sri Lanka’s home series against Australia, Chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Selection Committee Duleep Mendis said. Mathews, who captained the Sri Lanka team in the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup, was overlooked as vice captain, with selectors naming Thilina Kandamby, for Sri Lanka’s 2011 tour of England.

Hackers with the loose-knit group Anonymous said on Friday they had broken into the network of U.S. government contractor Mantech International Corp and posted some NATO-related correspondence online. Anonymous, tweeting as AnonymousIRC, offered the correspondence between Mantech and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as proof of the breach. Two involve NATO contracting offices, and one discusses deploying staffers to an unnamed "NATO Theater of Operations" for what appears to be tech services. Mantech, which claims the U.S. Defense, State and Justice Departments among its clients, declined to comment. It offers cyber security among its services. Hackers associated with Lulz Security and Anonymous have claimed responsibility for cyber attacks on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Senate, Sony Corp websites and the website of Murdoch's British newspaper group, News International, among others. Authorities made some arrests in connection with th

The university department heads, who handed in their resignations, have to be given letters of appointment again, says the Federation of University Teacher’s Association (FUTA). University dons had previously resigned from voluntary positions demanding the implementation of the proposed salary hike. Administrative affairs in universities are at risk if the relevant appointment letters are not provided, FUTA media spokesman Mahim Mendis warned. He said that this decision had been made during the Association’s executive committee meeting held yesterday (July 30).

Opposition Leader, Ranil Wickremasinghe said in a statement that he has assigned UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya to unite the party as it is the majority view of the party. He had made this statement during a meeting with inter committee members of the UK branch of the United National Party (UNP) at Park Plaza Victoria London hotel. “The intention of the majority in the party has been to rid the party of the false rumors between various groups and to unite the party. Therefore I have assigned Karu Jayasuriya a special task in this regard.” Wickremasinghe had said. The UNP Leader also revealed that he had been informed by Karu Jayasuriya of the arrival of a group of Parliamentarians to discuss the unity within the party, as well as in detail the ideas expressed during the meeting. Ranil Wickremasinghe had pointed out that, while overseas he has been kept up-to-date of the party’s affairs by Co-deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya and General Secretary Tissa Attanayake, through phone conve

Hutchion Telecom Srilanka introduced new Postpaid packages to their customers...... We will list their packages with traffics... 

Hemlines are a little longer at this year's annual online gaming fair in Shanghai, as companies take to heart a government directive against "vulgarity," a Chinese newspaper reported on Friday. The ChinaJoy Expo, an annual online game showcase, is well-known for its "spicy girls" who dress up in hot pants and bras to dance and pose at company booths. But a recent government crackdown on "vulgarity" in the online games sector is forcing the girls to cover up, the Shanghai Daily said. "The length of my dress is longer than before," said Zhou, a model who has been a ChinaJoy showgirl twice. The new policy prohibits costumes that show more than two-thirds of a showgirl's back and bans the girls from sticking printed logos on "sensitive positions" like over their breasts, the paper reported. Some online games companies feared the change would lessen the attractiveness of the expo given that the girls are as much a dra

The 41 Sri Lankan labourers in Iraq will be brought back to the country within the next two weeks, the Ministry of External Affairs stated. The labourers who left to Iraq seeking employment were stranded in the country without wages for the last few years. Following a protest staged by the labourers, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Iraq government took measures to bring them back to Sri Lanka. Five of the labourers were brought back this week and the rest of the 41 will be brought back within the next two weeks while the government of Iraq will pay a sum of Rs.350,000 to them.

The Colombo Crimes Division informed the Fort Magistrates Court that an investigation was being conducted regarding a complaint made by Prison Officials regarding the obstruction of their duties while taking Sarath Fonseka to a private Hospital in Colombo. The prison officials had complained that an individual on crutches and another person wielding a camera had obstructed their duties during Fonseka’s visit to the hospital. The court ordered the relevant video evidence to be handed over in order to conduct the investigations into the incident.

Deputy Minister of Economic Development Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said steps have been taken to name the sea area in Hikkaduwa, with the popular coral reef, a special protected area, the Government information department said today. The Minister said the reef would be divided into two areas and one area will be reserved for diving while the other area will be made available for boat riders to view the coral reef. He said that the government will take steps to register all the boats that take the tourists to view the corals. The recently re-opened Hikkaduwa Marine National Park, one of the two marine national parks in Sri Lanka, fringes a coral reef of high degree of biodiversity. The Minister said the park, remodeled to provide tourists a chance to have a well-organized and safe recreational experience at affordable prices, offers a diverse collection of sea creatures as well as beautiful reefs of various corals, the Govt. Info. Department said.

The Sri Lankan police said Tuesday that they are on the hunt for more than 20 local television actresses who are believed to be part of a prostitution ring. Over the past few weeks, police have arrested four actresses who were involved in prostitution at various locations in Colombo and areas most frequented by tourists, Xinhua reported. Police said the arrest of popular local actresses involved in prostitution had blown the lid on what is believed to be a major prostitution ring. The Sri Lankan police have now sought public assistance to locate the whereabouts of 20 actresses who have gone into hiding. Apart from local prostitutes, Sri Lanka is also known to have foreign sex workers working in clubs which mainly cater to tourists. A recent US State Department report said Sri Lankan women and children are subjected to sex trafficking in brothels in the country, especially in the Anuradhapura area in north central Sri Lanka. In 2009, Sri Lanka's National Child Protection Authorit

A ransom of close to Rs.2 lakhs was paid to the kidnappers of the 15-year-old boy who was abducted from his residence in Mount Lavinia yesterday, Police stated. The boy’s father was able to bring the child home upon paying the sum to the kidnappers while the police are recording statements from the boy and his father as a special investigation is being conducted to apprehend the kidnappers. The armed gang that entered the boy’s residence last evening had bound his mother and had demanded a sum of Rs.5 million for the safe return of the child.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd plans to cut about 11 percent of its workforce to slash costs as it struggles to compete against Apple Inc and Google Inc. The announcement of 2,000 job cuts on Monday came a month after the Canadian company revealed that it would reduce headcount for the first time in a decade. One analyst said the job cuts were slightly deeper than expected but were key to RIM's recovery from a slump triggered by product delays and intense competition from Apple's iPad and iPhone as well as devices powered by Google's Android software. RIM's U.S.-listed stock, already near multi-year lows, was down as much as 2 percent before the market opened. It was trading down 1.8 percent at $27.40 on the Nasdaq just before the open. "This is not totally unexpected. I think the size of (the cuts) is a little bit bigger than what they were intimating before," said Jefferies & Co analyst Peter Misek. "I think this is obviously r

Sri Lanka’s former president Chandrika Kumaratunga has warned of a “short-lived peace” unless the government shares power with the ethnic Tamil minority after the end of the island’s civil war, her office said Monday. Chandrika Kumaratunga, who ruled the island between 1994 and 2005, said her successor President Mahinda Rajapakse had followed a policy of “winner takes all” after crushing Tamil rebels in 2009. “If we persist in this policy of winner takes all, then we will lose the remaining members of the minority communities,” she was quoted as saying in a commemorative lecture for a late supreme court judge, K. Palakidnar. She urged Rajapakse to work towards an “inclusive society” and share political power with minority Tamils and not to club the Tamil civilians together with the Tamil Tiger guerrillas. “I too, am glad, extremely happy that the war has ended and terrorism defeated,” she said. “But, I cannot blind myself to the fact that although we have won the c

In no manner was the Local Government election held yesterday a free and fair election, says the United National Party. Not only state media and state resources, even certain government officials were used in election propaganda activities, the UNP claims in a release issued today (July 24). “For the first time in history we witnessed the defamatory act of the armed forces being used for election activities. State events distributing free food and other items were organized even on the election day close to polling stations.” the release stated. Therefore in no manner can this election be named as free and fair, it read. Sri Lanka’s main opposition party, the UNP, which along with the JVP failed to win a single LG body, however thanked the public who voted for it “to protect the country’s democracy and to oppose the corruption of the current government.” 

Indian ‘Q’ Branch Police says it has received information claiming there are LTTE members in the Sri Lankan refugee camps in Sivaganga district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Roughly 100 families are currently taking shelter in the five refugee camps within the Sivaganga district, reports Indian Media.

A suspected right-wing Christian gunman in police uniform killed at least 84 people in a ferocious attack on a youth summer camp of Norway's ruling Labor party, hours after a bomb killed seven in Oslo. Witnesses said the gunman, identified by police as a 32-year-old Norwegian, moved across the small, wooded Utoeya holiday island on Friday firing at random as young people scattered in fear. Police detained the tall, blond suspect, named by local media as Anders Behring Breivik, and charged him for the island killing spree and the Oslo bomb blast. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, capturing the shock the attacks have caused in this normally quiet nation of 4.8 million, said: "A paradise island has been transformed into a hell." Deputy Police Chief Roger Andresen would not speculate on the man's motives but told a news conference: "He describes himself as a Christian, leaning toward right-wing Christianity, on his Facebook page." "As of n

The voter turnout in Mullaithivu by 2pm today was 58%, Government Agent Paththinathan told. Earlier reported that the voter turnout in Jaffna by 12.45pm was 22.4% while Kilinochchi had recorded 52% turnout.

The voter turnout in Jaffna by 12.45pm today has been 22.4% while Kilinochchi has recorded 52% turnout, the respective Government Agents told. Meanwhile the turnout at polling stations at the Northern islands has been 30-40%....

University Lecturers have suspended their trade union action temporarily following the interim solution introduced by the government, the Media Spokesman of the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) stated.

EU leaders must find a convincing solution to Greece's debt crisis at a summit on Thursday or the global economy will pay the price, the head of the European Commission said in an unusually somber warning. Jose Manuel Barroso delivered the message as officials of the 17-nation currency area and bankers struggled to pin down a package of measures to persuade markets Greece can be saved from default and the rest of the euro zone from contagion. "Nobody should be under any illusion: the situation is very serious. It requires a response, otherwise the negative consequences will be felt in all corners of Europe and beyond," Barroso told a news conference. He said the elements of a solution must include: measures to ensure the sustainability of Greek public finances, private sector involvement in funding for Athens, more flexible use of the euro zone's EFSF bailout fund, repair of the region's banking system and liquidity to keep the economy going. In what s

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says India’s example of multicultural democracy should serve as a model for neighboring Sri Lanka. The Sinhalese-dominated government there won a bloody civil war against ethnic minority Tamil separatists two years ago. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has yet to fulfill his promise to push for national reconciliation. Clinton said in the southern Indian city of Chennai it could be seen how much society can achieve when all citizens fully join their country’s political and economic life. She said Wednesday, “Every Sri Lankan deserves the same hope and opportunity.” Clinton also called on India to support Nepal’s efforts to write a new constitution after two previous deadlines passed.   (AP)

Sri Lanka’s top stars will skip most of the matches in the country’s inaugural premier league Twenty20, dealing another blow to the struggling event, an official said Tuesday. Skipper Tilakaratne Dilshan, former captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, all-rounder Angelo Mathews and slinger Lasith Malinga are among local players expected to miss most of the 10-day tournament starting Thursday. “They (the players) will likely choose which matches they want to play, because they are being rested for the upcoming Australian tour,” Sri Lanka Cricket media manager Brian Thomas told   AFP .

For the first time in Sri Lanka Etisalat launches Google talk Service to their subscribers....

The time has arrived to accomplish the duty of taking the country forward without being deceived by false claims, says President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He stated that certain individuals are misleading the public by making false statements. Speaking during a public meeting held at Vellanai Ground in Kayts today (July 18) he accused that the children of the individuals misleading the people of Jaffna are living in foreign countries lavishly. Only the people living in the country have an actual compassion towards the country, he emphasized. He made this statement at the first of a series of public meetings in Jaffna and Kilinochchi targeting the forthcoming Local Government elections. He reminded that a majority of the Local Government bodies are won by the ruling government and stated that it is important to support a government with a 2/3 majority in parliament and an executive president. According to the reporters the President had also in Tamil explained the current development project

Senior   Indian officials have claimed that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s first ever trip to Chennai will be a strictly non-governmental visit with no discussion on Sri Lanka. But a senior official in the Barack Obama administration, who will accompany Clinton, has said that Sri Lanka would definitely figure in the discussions between the secretary of state and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa when they meet for the first time.   In an exclusive interview with rediff.com, the Obama administration’s point man for South Asia Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake, an erstwhile US Ambassador to Sri Lanka from 2006 to 2009, said, “Obviously, the 60 million people who live in Tamil Nadu have a lot of concerns about the situation in Sri Lanka,” and that he was sure that this will “be a section of the discussion when the secretary meets the chief minister”. Earlier, senior Indian embassy officials, while briefing journalists in Washington on the upcoming US-Ind

David Beckham took to Facebook on Sunday to introduce to the world his new baby daughter, Harper Seven Beckham, the latest addition to his growing brood. Briton Beckham posted a black-and-white photo showing Harper and her mother, Victoria Beckham, dozing away while doting Dad snapped the shot. He captioned it: "I took this picture of my two girls sleeping." In another posted on Victoria's Twitter account, footballer Beckham, 36, cradles his newborn in his hands and poses with her, nose-to-nose. "Daddy's little girl," the mom tweeted. Harper was born on July 10, to Beckham and former Spice Girl and fashion designer, Victoria. Their new daughter joins brothers, Brooklyn, 12 years-old, Romeo 8 and Cruz 6.

P. Ramasamy Deputy Chief Minister of Penang, Malaysia hopes that the Indonesian government will not send back the 89 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka who were detained in Indonesia. The 89 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka were detained by the Indonesian authorities in the waters of New Galan as the refugees were attempting to reach New Zealand. “While Indonesia has the right to protect its territorial integrity, it is hoped that the government would exercise humanitarian care in dealing with these refugees,” Ramasamy said today. “There is fear in the humanitarian circles principaly from the Tamil Diaspora that they might be possibly sent back to Sri Lanka by the Indonesian government. “Thousands of Tamils are still languishing in camps under very depressing social, economic and health conditions (in Sri Lanka),” claims Ramasamy. Tamil humanitarian bodies dealing with the Tamil refugees’ problem are also urging Indonesia not to send back the 89 refugees to Sri Lanka. “They are advising the

The Tamil National Alliance says it will pull out from the forthcoming Local Government election if the party continues to face obstructions to the election campaign in the North and East. We are facing various difficulties and hindrances during this election campaign, former Parliamentarian M.K. Sivajilingam stated adding that the Elections Commissioner has been informed of the situation. However obstructions continue occur even after that, he stressed. Sivajilingam says that the Elections Commissioner has also been requested to bring in foreign election monitors for this purpose

The Ministry of Education is attempting to amend the Teaching Service Act without consulting the matter with teachers’ trade unions, the Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) accused. Its General Secretary, Joseph Stalin states that bringing forth such amendments without proper discussion is incorrect. He claimed that there is an attempt to decrease the approved number of teachers to 197,279, from the current 213,694 teachers employed, through this amendment. The Ministry is trying to cut down on costs by reducing the number of employed teachers in this manner, he said speaking to Media. These conspiratorial conducts must be stopped immediately, if not action will be taken against this, Mr. Stalin demanded.

Stickers and curtains on the rear glass of all buses entering Colombo have to be removed before July 20. Police headquarters informs that the driver of the bus has to be able to see clearly through the rear glass while only the bus route number can be placed in the rear glass. Legal action will be taken against buses not abiding by the rule after July 20, police further notified.

The Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) has expressed its disapproval of the decision made by the Director of Health in the Western Province to allow practical training for students of the Malabe Private Medical Faculty at the Homagama Government Hospital. Secretary of the GMOA, Dr. Chandika Epitakaduwa stated that the Director of Health had notified the Homagama Hospital Director of his decision while adding that the GMOA strongly opposed the decision to let a private faculty use state resources. He further stated that steps were been taken to inform the Health Minister about the decision and its implications.

Mumbai Blast ( According to yahoo india) Mumbai  was again shaken when three blast ripped the city this evening killing eight and injuring more than 70 people. Reports say that the three blast happened simultaneously in Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar station.  Here's a real time update on the three blast that rocked Mumbai: 8:07 pm:  Local trains in Mumbai are still functional 8:05 pm:  Police sources say improvised explosive devices used in the blasts 8:03 pm:  IED used in blast: TV reports 8:02 pm:  If you or your loved ones are injured in the Mumbai blasts, please call 022 6133 6133 - MeraDoctor lines are open for all 8:01 pm:  Kabhuthar Khaana area in Dadar cordoned off 8:00 pm:  It seems to be a terror attack: Home ministry 7:58 pm:  TV reports say that 8 people have been killed and more than 70 injured 7:55 pm:  Dader blast victims taken to Kem hospital; Zaveri Bazaar blast victims taken to JJ hospital 7:54 pm:  Zaveri Bazaar blast took p