'Indian military to protect Manmohan during SAARC summit'

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has approved a "heavy Indian military presence" in Colombo to provide security for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the upcoming SAARC summit in Colombo, said a media report here Sunday.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit is scheduled to take place from July 27 to August 3 in the capital city of Colombo.

"The formal request to have Indian troops, helicopter gun ships, bullet-proof vehicles and related security arrangements was made by the three-member Indian delegation that visited Sri Lanka June 20," the Sunday Leader newspaper reported, referring to the visit by a top Indian delegation led by National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan.

Claiming that the presidential approval was granted following a request made by India in view of the current security situation in the country, the media report said that Sri Lanka had also "agreed to allow the Indian Navy to patrol and carry out surveillance in Sri Lankan territorial waters during the summit to ensure there are no terrorist attacks from the sea".

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http://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/World/20080629/986942.html

Wimal-Pillaiyan in ‘historic’ pow-wow

National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader Wimal Weerawansa yesterday appeared to have found a new political ally in the shape of Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan, who pledged his support to the NFF if it decided to compete in the Eastern Province.

In an event which resembled the reunion of two long-separated brothers amidst surprising ‘closeness,’ the Eastern Province Chief Minister who later addressed the media, briefly said that the discussions between the two parties had turned out successfully and that the TMVP would support the NFF if the occasion demanded.

“If the NFF decides to take part in elections in the east, we will support them. We plan to meet again in the future for further discussions because the discussions we had today were highly successful,” Pillayan said.

Similar sentiments were echoed by NFF Leader Weerawansa. “This was our first meting with TMVP Leader Pillaiyan and we hope to meet again in the future to discuss the political situation prevailing in Sri Lanka,” Weerawansa added.

Meanwhile, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) MP K.D. Lalkantha said that this new “friendship” between the two was nothing that was unexpected since Weerawansa had been acting like a TMVP member during the last few months.

“Wimal has the freedom to meet anybody he wishes to. However, this was something that was waiting to happen. Wimal has been supporting Pillaiyan and the TMVP for the last few months. He justified the armed Pillaiyan’s victory at the Eastern Provincial Council election so this we believe is a step taken by Pillaiyan to express his gratitude to Wimal,” Lalkantha added.

Extracted from,
http://www.nation.lk/2008/06/29/news7.htm
Photos,
http://www.nffsrilanka.com/news.html

‘Aba’ aims international heights

‘Aba', Jackson Anthony's latest cinematic venture aims to attract international markets for local cinema.
Director Jackson says that he has already received invitations from several countries including China, Italy, Australia and few others.

‘Out of these China has expressed greater interest with plans to dub 'Aba' into Chinese,’ said Jackson. Discussions are underway to release the film in China through Chinese Film Bureau, the government institution that handles film industry in China.

‘Having seen the trailer, the officials from China who came to Sri Lanka recently were highly impressed with the film’ Jackson said with contentment. The delegation was on a mission to share their knowledge and technology with Sri Lanka.

‘We had taken them to our ‘Sarasavi’ studio which is in dire straits and showed them the problems about the lack of facilities and technology. But having seen certain scenes of 'Aba', Chinese official complained that we were making films with international standards while complaining about the poor facilities’ said Jackson with a smile.

Read more,
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080629/TV/tvtimes002.html
Official web site of Aba,
http://www.aba.lk/

RNCOS Releases a New Report - Srilankan ICT Market Analysis

RNCOS has recently added a new Market Research Report titled, "Srilankan ICT Market Analysis" to its report gallery. The report explains the current and future scenario of the IT and telecom sectors covering Personal Computer, Internet, mobile & fixed telephony, and broadband.

The report highlights the key success factors and challenging issues for the Sri Lankan ICT industry and provides a rational analysis on its various aspects. The research findings will help the investors, financial service providers and global IT and telecom players to evaluate their success chances in the growing ICT market in Sri Lanka.

Key Findings

- During 2001-2007, total broadband subscribers in Sri Lanka grew at a CAGR of 143.99%.
- Total Internet users in Sri Lanka expanded at a CAGR of 40.2% during 2004-2007.
- Sri Lanka witnessed a massive increase of around 20% in its IT workforce in 2006 over 2005.
- Sri Lanka’s telecom sector soared in 2007 to 10.7 Million subscribers, led by a 47.9% jump in new mobile phone subscribers due to competition and falling call rates.
- Fixed-line subscribers (including wire-line and WLL) in the country rose to 2.7 Million in 2007 from 1.88 Million a year ago. With this, fixed-line subscriber penetration too increased from 4.42 per 100 people in 2001 to 13.1 per 100 people in 2007.
- As of 2007, the western part of Sri Lanka, accounting for 44% of total fixed-line telephone subscribers, had the major fixed-line telephone subscriber base.

Read more,
http://www.pr.com/press-release/92674

Wanni operation 27 th June 2008

Sri Lankan president says action on rebels to continue

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said Saturday that the forward march of his troops will never be curtailed despite calls from interested parties to announce a ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels.

"There are calls for a ceasefire when the terrorists face defeat. I will not allow anyone to curtail the forward march of the troops," Rajapakse who is also the commander-in-chief of the island's security forces told a gathering of teachers.

Rajapakse since becoming the president at the end of 2005 has gone on a military offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

His troops have captured the entire Eastern Province from the rebels' control and the government now claims the rebels have been limited to just two districts in the Northern Province.

Rajapakse's statement came as the military announced the capture of a major LTTE held area in the district of Mannar Saturday.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman said a key rebel facility in Mannar's Parappakandal area was captured by the troops.

More than 7,000 people have perished in the island's separatist war since the end of 2005.

The Norwegian backed ceasefire which lasted six years was abandoned in January this year.

Extracted from,
http://calibre.mworld.com/m/m.w?lp=GetStory&id=312078791