By Ananda-USA
March 13, 2011
Japan has suffered a great natural diaster ... a 9.0 Richter scale earthquake that spawned a train of giant tsunami waves exceeding 10m in height. Well prepared for earthquakes though seismicity resitant design of buildings and public preparedness, Japan weathered the earthquake well with modest damage and loss of life, but suffered grievously from the tsunami that soon followed in the wake of the earthquake.
The tsunami devastated villages, towns and cities along the coast of North-Eastern Japan centered around the city of Sendai .. home to over a million people. It destroyed sea ports, air ports, homes and commercial buildings, machinery, vehicles, trains, businesses, farms, ships and fishing boats in an awesome display of nature's hidden strength. The surging water swept across bays, harbors, and fields, created vortices in which ships whirled helplessly, channeled along canals, spilled over seawalls, surmounted earthen embankments, mocking man's pitiful attempts to control nature in its fury.
As everyone watched with bated breath, and hoped that Japan's efforts at tsunami preparedness would help minimize casualties, it was not to be. The casualties first reported in the tens, jumped to hundreds, to thousands .. and now seem poised to run into the tens of thousands. Three nuclear reactors at oceanside nuclear power plants lost their ability to cool the reactor cores. They suffered partial core meltdowns, and two reactor buildings exploded due to hydrogen gas buildup. This compounded the already massive difficulties created by the tsunami with a threat of radioactive fallout, and deprived Japan's electrical grid of the power from as many as five nuclear reactors that were needed to produce electricity to power disaster rescue and rehabilitation.
Sri Lankans, who until recently had no familiarity at all with tsunamis, except in the dim memory of a legendary ocean flood in the days of Vihara Maya Devi, Kelani Tissa and Kavan Tissa over two millenia ago, acquired our own first hand experience in 2004 of the price that tsunamis generated by seismic events far away, across thousands of miles ocean, can exact in lost and destroyed lives and livelihoods, and levelled villages, towns, and cities. We, as a people, know this pain well.
When Sri Lanka cried in agony at the death and destruction that the Sumatran earthquake and tsunami spawned, the Japanese people rallied to Sri Lanka's aid with food, medicine, rescue teams, helicopters, electric generators, and everything else we urgently needed. They opened their hearts and their coffers to us as few others did. It is a rare Sri Lankan family that was untouched by that disaster of Armageddon proportions.
Today, the great and good people of Japan, our allies in times both good and bad, have suffered the same fate and need help. Let us rush to their help and give generously in every possible way.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has already dispatched Sri Lankan rescue teams to Japan (see below) and has offered whatever aid we can summon as a Nation.
That, however, is not sufficient. Let each and every one of us Sri Lankans contribute to the fullest extent to help the Japanese people in their hour of need, as if they were our own citizens of Sri Lanka. Let us do so, NOW!
Sri Lanka offers aid to devastated Japan, dispatches rescue teams
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
March 13, 2011
Colombo: Sri Lanka government announced Sunday that it will donate one million US dollars to tsunami hit Japan and send a tri-forces rescue team to assist the devastated country in its recovery efforts.
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa today instructed the Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundara to take steps to release the money at the earliest through the Sri Lankan mission in Japan, the government media unit said.
A group of specially trained tri- forces rescue team will also be dispatched immediately along with a special medical team of doctors and nurses to Japan to provide medical assistance to the tsunami affected people.
Sri Lanka, having dealt with its own devastation in 2004 by the Boxing Day Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 35,000 people in the island, has the necessary experience in such rescue and relief measures.
The President has directed the Sri Lankan Envoy in Japan to coordinate all possible assistance as a friendly country to Japan.
According to Japanese officials, more than 1,400 people were killed by the Friday's magnitude 8.9 ocean earthquake that hit the eastern coast of Japan and the tsunami that followed.
The 23-foot tsunami triggered by the earthquake in the sea 80 miles off Sendai killed hundreds of people and swept away ships, planes, homes, boats and cars.
The officials however, estimate the death toll to rise over 10,000 as rescue efforts are continuing.
Japan is the single largest donor to Sri Lanka providing about two-thirds of the total donor contribution.
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Sri Lanka does not have as much money to give Japan as other nations do, but we have TRAINED SKILLED people with kind hearts, smart minds and willing hands!
Let Sri Lanka send the LARGEST CONTINGENT of trained rescue workers compared to all other nations, to help Japan.
Let us send ONE of every TEN doctors, nurses, firemen, soldiers, navy men, electricians, backhoe operastors, etc organized into rescue teams, with their equipment, and their helicopters, to Japan, for a period of three months.
Let us ask the US to provide the airlift capabilities for this.
Let us give what we have to give: good hearted trained people!
May CONFUSION REIGN in the MINDS of all of Sri Lanka's ENEMIES!
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Overseas Tigers shaken by debilitating split
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Island.lk
March 13, 2011
Norway-based LTTE faction gains ground as Diaspora battle takes new turn.
A section of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) has revolted against V. Rudrakumaran, the self-appointed Prime Minister of the organisation causing chaos among various Diaspora factions.
The rebel group consists of 34 self-styled MPs based in Australia (3), Canada (6), France (3), Germany (7), Italy (1), Denmark (3), Norway (3), Sweden (1) and UK (7).
The TGTE comprised 102 ‘MPs’ based in various parts of the world. Sources told The Island that since the conclusion of the war in May 2009, the US-based one-time legal advisor to the LTTE, Rudrakumaran had spent millions of dollars on the ‘TGTE project.’ He tried to exploit the arrest and extradition of Selvarasa Pathmanathan aka ‘KP’ to Colombo in Aug. 2009 to promote TGTE as a government in exile.
Sources based in Western Europe said that rebel ‘MPs’ of the TGTE had ignored a request by ‘Speaker’ Pon Balraj of the TGTE to reaffirm their commitment to the ‘government in exile’ by Mar. 5, 2011. Sources said that Balraj had requested rebels to get in touch with him via email at Speaker@tgte.org or Pon.balarajan@tgte.org.
The TGTE’s rebel group has already established a new political wing and aligned itself with Norway-based Perinpanayagam Sivaparan aka Nediyawan, widely believed to be Rudrakumaran’s main challenger. Sources said the split in the TGTE had strengthened Nediyawan’s efforts to oust Rudrakumaran.
Earlier the rebel group had made an abortive bid to appoint a former pro-Tiger TNA MP as the first ‘Prime Minister’ of the TGTE. Sources said that Rudrakumaran and the rebel group had been at daggers drawn over the latter’s demand to pursue the eelam project in spite of losing their conventional military capability. The rebel group had forced Rudrakumaran to display the LTTE flag at his inaugural speech as the ‘Prime Minister’ of TGTE, sources said.
The rebel group would eye young members of the Diaspora and that they had declared that they would pursue the LTTE’s original goal–a separate state for Tamils in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka. They had set up a three-member executive committee to run the new party, sources said. The committee consists of three ‘MPs’ based in France, UK and Germany. Besides a nine-member committee has been formed to implement decisions taken by the executive committee, according to sources.
The TGTE rebels had alleged that a section of Rudrakumaran’s group had been influenced by the Sri Lankan Intelligence services, a charge vehemently denied by the group, sources said.
The rebel group cleverly exploited the demise of Prabhakaran’s mother to boost its popularity. Sources said that those operating in Germany had organised several meetings to honour Prabhakaran’s mother posthumously.
Sri Lanka turned to U.S. for air defense when Indian radars failed to counter LTTE air attacks
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Mar 15, Colombo: Sri Lanka quietly sought the assistance from the United States to counter the threats from the LTTE air wing when the India-supplied two-dimensional radars failed to prevent the LTTE air attack on the Katunayake Air Force Base, a WikiLeak cable obtained by the Indian daily The Hindu said.
In a cable dated April 01, 2007, then U.S. Ambassador in Colombo, Robert O. Blake, Jr. reported a discussion he had on March 30, 2007 with Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa when the Defense Secretary summoned the Ambassador and the Embassy's Defense Attache to request a visit by a U.S. military team to assess how Sri Lanka can improve its air defense capabilities to defend against future LTTE air attacks.
The Defense Secretary outlining the country's current radar configuration had said that the two-dimensional radars provided by India were not sufficient to prevent the LTTE air attacks and the Sri Lankan government is in the process of purchasing a Chinese three dimensional radar. Rajapaksa has sought the assistance from a U.S. military team to enhance Sri Lanka's present air defense capabilities.
Blake has said that during the meeting he underscored the need to work transparently with the Indian government if the U.S. agreed to Sri Lanka's request.
Secretary Rajapaksa has agreed to the condition but has informed that the Sri Lankan government would prefer to approach India before the U.S. contacts them.
The U.S. Embassy has recommended that the U.S. government respond positively to Sri Lanka's request for an assessment team.
The meeting between the Ambassador Blake and Defense Secretary has taken place in the wake of the LTTE's first ever air attack on the main Sri Lankan Air Force base in Katunayake that killed three air force personnel and injured another seventeen on March 26, 2007.
The LTTE attack caused only slight damage to several helicopters including two MI-17 helicopters on loan from India but it failed to inflict any damages on the fighter jets on the ground.
Rajapaksa has told the U.S. Ambassador that Sri Lanka's current radar systems were not sufficient to meet the LTTE air threat.
India had provided two radars that have two dimensional capabilities and would provide two more radars in the future.
Sri Lanka had been working with India to receive three dimensional radars but after years of not receiving them, had decided to purchase a Chinese system that is now in the process of being installed, Rajapaksa had told the U.S. envoy.
In addition to the radar systems, Rajapaksa has noted that not a single L70 anti-aircraft fire direction radar - also provided by India - was working making any attempts to shoot down an aircraft at night difficult, the cable reported.
The Defense Secretary, noting that a U.S. radar may be needed to upgrade the current Air Defense System, has requested a professional military assessment of Sri Lanka's capabilities as a first step.
Rajapaksa has specifically requested that the team comprise professional United States military officers and not contractors, the cable said.
Ambassador Blake has recommended that the U.S. Government approve Sri Lanka's request to send an assessment team.
"Since Sri Lanka remains vulnerable to another attack, we recommend this take place as soon as possible," Blake has suggested in the cable.
Rajapaksa has "clearly understood" that if the team recommends the acquisition of new radar, such radar would likely not be free of charge, the cable commented.
The Defense Secretary has also suggested that since the U.S. had already assisted Sri Lanka in setting up a maritime surveillance radar, there could be merit in establishing an integrated air and maritime system.
Sri Lanka suspends import of S-11 power sets from India
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Mar 14, Colombo: Sri Lanka Minister of Transport Kumar Welgama has suspended the import of the rest of the order of S-11 Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) from India.
Sri Lanka ordered twenty S-11 power sets from India and three of them were brought to Sri Lanka. However, defects were reported when they were launched on the rail tracks.
India officially handed over the three power sets for Southern Railway Line at a ceremony last Friday (10) in Matara.
Minister Welgama said at a meeting held in Agalawatta today that the defects in the train sets were reported to the President, Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The power sets are imported under an Indian credit line. The value of one DMU is US$ 3.5 million.
RITES Ltd, a company run by the Indian government, is supplying the DMUs to Sri Lanka Railways. India is to supply the 20 DMUs in a phased manner till March 2012.
'Loan shark made £500,000 from Sri Lankan community in London' - court told
By Ross Macmillan
24dash.com
March 14, 2011
A loan shark running an unlawful money lending business made more than half a million pounds in illegal interest payments, a court heard.
Kanadasaba Nadarajah offered hundreds of loans to members of the Sri Lankan community living in London and the South East despite not being legally registered to do so.
Inner London Crown Court heard that Mr Nadarajah, 68, from East Ham, London, had offered more than 700 illegal loans totalling more than £1.7m between 2003 and 2010.
Vivian Walters, prosecuting, said Mr Nadarajah would demand family jewellery from loanees as security which he would then sell if they failed to pay off the interest demanded.
Mr Nadarajah was aided by accomplice Veluppillai Jegendirabose, 62, from Ilford, Essex, who helped organise one of the loans.
Miss Walters explained: "Loan sharks are those who operate businesses who lend money to people without a credit licence.
"Loan sharks prey on some of the most vulnerable people in society. The prosecution case is that Mr Nadarajah has been operating as a loan shark for many years."
The court heard that people would go to Mr Nadarajah when they were in dire straits, one man asked for a loan after falling into arrears on his mortgage, another woman asked for cash so she could return to Sri Lanka for her father's funeral.
Miss Walters added: "Mr Nadarajah was taking security for a lot of the loans in the form of jewellery.
"The majority if not the totality of borrowers are members of the Sri Lankan community whose only form of asset is family jewellery.
"It is also clear that in some of the cases he was charging interest on many if not all of the loans."
The loan shark business was discovered after loanee Janaka Mohan complained to the London Illegal Money Lending Team (IMLT) about how the loan was being conducted.
Mr Mohan's £5,000 loan had been set up by Jegendirabose, who had told him to supply family jewels as security, it was alleged.
The loanee was told he must pay £150 interest on the loan each month.
Police and the IMLT swooped on Nadarajah's home last April where they discovered details of hundreds of other illegal loans and large quantities of jewellery.
Nadarajah is accused of one count of illegal money lending and one count of acquiring criminal property.
Jegendirabose is charged with one count of illegal money lending.
Both men deny the charges.
The case was adjourned until tomorrow.
Minister Ranawaka correctly points out the high cost of coal in the future.
Therefore, it would make ECONOMIC sense in the LONGER-TERM to bear the higher initial costs NOW, and invest and develop renewable energy plants (solar, wind, ocean wave) to meet the nation's electricity needs.
That will provide INDIGENOUS SOURCES OF ENERGY and insulate Sri Lanka from rising energy import prices in the FUTURE.
The GOSL should spearhead the creation of photovoltaic cell and wind turbine manufacturing plants in Sri Lanka with the goal of meeting the local demand first at subsidized prices, and then transforming them into the nucleus of an export oriented industry.
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Sri Lanka's Power and Energy Minister says coal is not a cheap energy source
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Mar 15, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka says that the coal power plants set up in the country might not generate cheap power or result in a possible reduction in electricity tariffs as initially expected.
Ranawaka has told the media that a coal power generated electricity unit that cost 18 cents in 1990 and 90 cents in 2000 has increased to Rs. 6.20 in 2010. In 1990, an electricity unit was sold at Rs. 4.70 in the country.
The increase in a unit price of coal power is a clear indication that coal power generation would not be able to bring the results anticipated in 1990.
The Minister has said that when Sri Lanka ordered its first shipment, coal was at US$ 69 per tonne and the energy cost of a unit was Rs. 3.20. When the second shipment was ordered, the coal prices had increased to US$ 140 per tonne resulting in an increase in the per unit energy cost to Rs. 6.50.
However the next shipment has also been ordered and the coal prices have further increased to US$ 160 per tonne, the Minister has said.
The Norochcholai coal power plant project was mooted in the 1990s and initiated in 2006 with the promise of cheap power to the consumers. Successive governments claimed that coal power would result in a reduction in the electricity tariffs.
Ranawaka has said the increase in coal consumption and the lack of energy sources are expected to make coal a very expensive energy source by 2020.
However, the Minister has said that although coal is no longer a cheap energy source, it is relatively cheaper than renewable energy and diesel and naphtha generated energy.
The Minister has observed that the era of cheap power ended in 1995. The increasing demand for energy has now made 'cheap power' a thing of the past.
Sen. Richard Lugar summarizes why the USA should STAY OUT OF LIBYA thus:
"Given the costs of a no-fly zone, the risks that our involvement would escalate, the uncertain reception in the Arab street of any American intervention in an Arab country, the potential for civilian deaths, the unpredictability of the endgame, the strains on our military, and other factors, it is doubtful that U.S. interests would be served by imposing a no-fly zone over Libya"
I could not have said it better myself!
If the Arab League feels strongly compelled, let them bear the risks and intervene.
But, the USA should avoid knee jerk compulsions to become a cat's paw of other interested parties.
STAY OUT OF IT, in the US National Interest!
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Iran concerns fuel U.S. wariness on Libya intervention
By Laura Rozen
March 16, 2011
As Libyan forces continue their rapid advance against poorly equipped rebels, many within the Washington and international foreign policy community have been urging the United States to stop deliberating and back a proposed multilateral no-fly zone to curb Muammar Gadhafi's brutal crackdown.
But some in D.C. policy circles fear that humanitarian intervention in Libya could have the unintended effect of straining the international alliance trying to pressure Iran over its nuclear program, while also expanding anti-American sentiment in the volatile region. In particular, writes Jerry Seib of the Wall Street Journal, some national security hands in the Obama administration worry that a U.S.-led international military intervention in Libya would play directly into Iranian narratives about U.S. interference in the Middle East and designs on its oil fields:
Those wary of intervening, including many in the Obama administration, worry that Western intervention will play directly into the narrative Tehran's leaders have been spinning to justify cracking down on their own dissidents: that the U.S. and its Zionist allies are waiting to take advantage of any Mideast unrest to seize control of the region and its oil assets.
This Iranian narrative holds that the protesters in Tehran's streets are either active or unwitting agents of this insidious American conspiracy. Because any military intervention in Libya inevitably would be led by American forces, it would be used to further the argument. Indeed, an examination of statements by Iranian leaders in recent days shows this is precisely how they are framing the Libya question.
With Iran in position to make trouble by fomenting unrest among its Shiite brethren in nearby Bahrain, the question of how Mideast turmoil might advance Tehran's interests already loomed large. Now it figures to play more directly into the Libya debate, for Tehran is trying to play both sides of the argument, rhetorically supporting the Libyan rebels while opposing Western help for them.
Iran concerns fuel U.S. wariness on Libya intervention
......continued.....
However, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO Robert Hunter--who dealt with many of the same debates about no-fly-zones and UN resolutions during the Bosnia and Kosovo conflicts in the 1990s--argues that an international intervention in Libya need not be so complex:
A no-fly zone can be imposed in a matter of hours, likely with low military risk, as NATO demonstrated over Bosnia in the mid-1990s and as a coalition did over Iraq after 1991. As Gates argued, this might also require suppressing Libyan air defenses -- but that is also a relatively straightforward military proposition.
In sum, the course is clear. Washington should push for the rapid institution of a no-fly zone against the Qaddafi regime. This no-fly zone could be undertaken by NATO, the European Union, or by a "coalition of the willing" that includes the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and a few others. This could prove necessary if, despite the backing of the Arab League, the GCC, and the OIC, some NATO allies still do not want to act. Both Turkey and Germany remain reluctant -- Ankara because of the precedent of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and Berlin out of its historic reluctance to use force. They may have some silent partners among other NATO allies.
At the same time, the West should begin arming the rebels and trying to peel off Qaddafi supporters, by publicly declaring that those who desert Qaddafi now will not be excluded from roles in Libya's post-Qaddafi future. [...] Libyans will need the help of the West not just in getting rid of Qaddafi but also in building their lives after him
But President Barack Obama--who met with his national security team about Libya Tuesday--does not yet seem fully convinced that the United States should wade into action that would require rebuilding another Middle Eastern nation.
"The President instructed his team to continue to fully engage in the discussions at the United Nations, NATO and with partners and organizations in the region," a White House read-out stated, seemingly indicating that action on the no-fly project remains in the discussion and planning stage. Early reports on Wednesday, however, indicated that the United States is now playing a leading role in the pending UN Security Council debate on assembling a multilateral approach to enforcing no-fly restrictions over Libya.
Among the more prominent no-fly skeptics are some key lawmakers specializing in foreign policy matters, such as Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"Given the costs of a no-fly zone, the risks that our involvement would escalate, the uncertain reception in the Arab street of any American intervention in an Arab country, the potential for civilian deaths, the unpredictability of the endgame, the strains on our military, and other factors, it is doubtful that U.S. interests would be served by imposing a no-fly zone over Libya," Lugar said Monday.
GOOD, but even with this increase, the Coast Guard is still UNDERMANNED in this area of the coastline!
We need 24x7 coast guard patrols always within sight of each other in this area.
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Sri Lanka to increase the coast guard fleet
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Mar 16, Colombo: Sri Lanka Coast Guard Department has decided to deploy four more crafts for the security of the maritime waters of Sri Lanka.
The Director General of the Coast Guard Department Rear Admiral Daya Dharmapriya says that two of the new crafts will be deployed very soon.
The aim of the urgent move by the Coast Guard Department is to prevent the poaching by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan maritime waters.
Coast Guard Department of Sri Lanka has already deployed four crafts for the security of the Sri Lankan waters. With the addition of the four other crafts, the Coast Guard fleet will be increased to eight.
Nepal refuses asylum to former Sri Lanka Army Commander's aides - report
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Mar 16, Colombo: The Nepali government has refused to grant asylum to a group of Sri Lankans who have closely worked with the defeated common opposition presidential candidate and the jailed former army commander Sarath Fonseka during his election campaign, a Nepali newspaper reported.
According to the Monday's Kathmandu Post, the group of seven asylum seekers, who has fled Sri Lanka along with their families during the second half of 2010 and currently living "semi-underground" in Kathmandu, has been seeking asylum in Nepal for the last few months.
Santha Karunaratne, the coordinator of the group, which calls themselves the "Politically Affected Families of General Fonseka in Nepal", has said that they are "seeking a secure place to live and express our feeling until a point in future when we can go back and speak out."
The Nepal government has however, turned down the group's request for political refugee status in Nepal.
The Sri Lankans who have entered Nepal through India are facing arrest at any time, a Nepali government official has said.
According to the report, the Sri Lankans have a case pending at a court in Sri Lanka where they were tried under a 'stringent' terrorist act.
The Sri Lankans have said that they have been falsely charged for supporting Fonseka in hatching a plot to illegally overthrow the current Sri Lankan government by means of violence and they fear a life term or death penalty if they return to Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to Nepal Thosapala Hewage has told the Indian daily Hindustan Times that he wasn't aware of the information.
"This information is news to me and this is the first time such a thing has happened. We have written to the foreign ministry to seek their directives," Hindustan Times quoted the Ambassador.
Meanwhile, Anoma Fonseka claims refugee applicants forged her signature!
The plot thickens -- it seems!
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Fonseka's wife denies media reports about his aides being refused refugee status in Nepal
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Mar 16, Colombo: Sri Lanka's former Army Commander and Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader Sarath Fonseka's wife Anoma Fonseka has denied media reports about Fonseka aides being denied refugee status by the Nepalese government.
Anoma Fonseka has told a private electronic media institution that none of her relatives had sought refugee status in Nepal.
She has said that the persons seeking refugee status were employed in Fonseka's campaign office as computer operators or in the media unit.
Anoma said she had received information that some persons had forged her signature on documents presented for seeking refugee status.
Nepali media reports said that a group of Fonseka's associates have sought asylum in Nepal but the Nepali government has refused to grant them refugee status.
NABBED! Another Tiger Bites the Dust!
LTTE "businessmen" ... aka drug runners to ordinary folk ... can RUN, but they can't HIDE!
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Sri Lankan suspected of having links with LTTE held in Navi Mumbai
DnaIndia.com
March 16, 2011
A Sri Lankan national, suspected to having links with terrorist outfit Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE), was arrested from his hideout in neighbouring Navi Mumbai by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
The accused Rajan Silithuriya alias Rajan alias Kartik, hailing from Sri Lanka, was picked up from his hideout in Koparkhairane area of Navi Mumbai on Tuesday night. He had been shifting places in the Mumbai suburbs since the past four years, the ATS said.
According to the ATS, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on April 13, 2007 had seized three kgs of heroin at the Chennai International airport.
The concerned special court had declared Silithuriya as a wanted accused in the case and had also issued a non-bailable warrant against him.
The ATS had received specific information that Silithuriya was staying in Navi Mumbai following which he was arrested.
"We are probing if Silithuriya has any links with LTTE or any other group in Mumbai. Preliminary probe revealed the accused had stayed in Matunga, Chembur and Navi Mumbai areas since past four years," said additional director general (ATS) Rakesh Maria.
The Chennai NCB would seek his remand from the ATS soon, the ATS officials said adding further probe was on.
CORRUPTION in India? I can't believe it!
SL is continually criticized by our dear Indian relatives .. especially those in Tamil Nadu ... so we thought India was PERFECT .. and CORRUPTION FREE to boot!
Well, well, there goes another fond assumption .. into the dust bin!
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Corruption 'threatens India's economic growth'
BBC.com
March 15, 2011
Widespread corruption in India costs billions of dollars and threatens to derail the country's growth, a survey says.
The report by consultancy firm KMPG said that the problem had become so endemic that foreign investors were being deterred from the country.
It was compiled by questioning 100 top domestic and foreign businesses.
Its release comes as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh struggles to cope in the battle against corruption.
Earlier this month the head of the country's anti-corruption watchdog was forced to resign by the Supreme Court on the grounds that he himself faces corruption charges.
Over the last six months India has been hit by a series of corruption scandals including a multi-billion dollar telecoms scandal, alleged financial malpractices in connection with the Commonwealth Games and allegations that houses for war widows were diverted to civil servants.
Mega scams
"Today India is faced with a different kind of challenge," the report said.
"It is not about petty bribes (bakshish) any more, but scams to the tune of thousands of crores (billions of rupees) that highlight a political/industry nexus which, if not checked, could have a far reaching impact.
Corruption scandals have weighed heavily on Mr Singh's shoulders "Corruption poses a risk to India's projected 9% GDP growth and may result in a volatile political and economic environment."
Critics of the government say that recent scandals point to a pervasive culture of corruption in Mr Singh's administration - adding to the difficulties of a politician once seen as India's most honest.
The government denies the claims and has set up a parliamentary inquiry into corruption.
The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says that most Indians routinely pay bribes for a number of services such as getting a driver's licence or a passport.
But, our correspondent says, the KPMG survey makes clear that corruption is now no longer about such petty bribes but mega scams where billions of dollars are siphoned off by government and industry.
The worst-hit areas as identified by the report were real estate and construction - a priority for Delhi which plans to spend $1.5tn over the next decade to improve its over-burdened infrastructure.
The report said that the country's telecommunications industry was also badly affected.
Telecoms Minister Andimuthu Raja resigned in November, denying allegations that he had undersold billions of dollars worth of mobile phone licences. He is now under arrest.
However the KMPG report was not all gloomy. It said that despite the murky regulatory environment, business remained active in India with more than half of those surveyed saying they were unaffected by corruption.
More than 80% of respondents disagreed that corruption had reduced their ability to access domestic or foreign funds, while 55% disagreed that corruption had affected their business.
People of Sri Lanka declare "Our Democracy is Thriving!" in Local Govt Elections
Apey MauBimata, Jayawewa!
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People power humbles UNP-JVP
By Chaminda PERERA
DailyNews.lk
March 19, 2011
The ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance recorded a landslide victory at Thursday’s Local Government elections winning control of 205 out of the 234 bodies that went to polls inflicting yet another humiliating rout on the UNP while totally annihilating the JVP.
In a ringing endorsement of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s leadership the voters totally rejected UNP attempts to raise the spectre of a people’s revolution of the type now sweeping the Middle East while also delivering a resounding slap on the JVP who paraded their usual slogans with the intention of turning the voters away from the regime.
UNP’s ploy to parade Sajith Premadasa as the party’s new face also backfired with the MP losing his party ground in Hambantota, nurtured by him for a long time. His party lost Tissamaharama along with the JVP who lost control of the local body after two consecutive terms in power. The UNP won only nine local bodies while the JVP suffered a total route.
The UPFA wrested control of 18 local bodies previously held by the UNP. Significant among these were the Horana and Wattala UCs held by the party for decades.
The United National Party suffered a great blow as it failed to garner the support of people at grassroot level. The UNP’s humiliating debacle proved that emergence of Hambantota district parliamentarian Sajith Premadasa to the limelight would not be able to revive the feeble party.
Final results of the Local Government election manifests the people’s unwavering confidence in the Mahinda Chintana in the path of achieving economic prosperity for the country.
It has emerged victorious in a number of Local Government institutions including Pathadumbara Pradeshiya Sabha, Biyagama Pradeshiya Sabha and Wattala-Mabola Urban Council and Mirigama Pradeshiya Sabha which had been held by the UNP for a number of years.
The main Opposition was pushed into third place losing most of the local bodies in the North and the East. It lost almost all its strongholds including the Kataragama Pradeshiya Sabha.
The UNP gained control of nine Local Government institutions including the Kuliyapitiya, Gampola and Kadugannawa Urban Councils and Bandarawela Municipal Council.
Twelve Local Government bodies including the Mannar and Trincomalee Urban Councils and Vavuniya Pradeshiya Sabhas went to the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi. The JVP which won a seat at the Tissamaharama Pradeshiya Sabha at the last local poll in 2006, suffered a humiliating defeat failing to win even a single local body at this election.
The UPFA won the Tissamaharama Pradeshiya Sabha by a majority of 3,979 votes as against the United National Party which polled only 8,344 votes. The UPFA polled 14,523 dealing a severe blow to the JVP which obtained only two seats.
The United National Party was reduced to only one local Government authority from the Colombo district and Muslim Congress gained control of four local bodies including the Ninthavur and Irakkamam Pradeshiya Sabhas while an independent group managed to win one local authority.
The National Congress and the Upcountry People’s Front won the Akaraipattu and Nuwara Eliya Pradeshiya Sabhas.
Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said the Local Government election was held in a peaceful atmosphere without any major incidents.He said disputes and clashes between candidates and the supporters of the same party were seen during the course of the Local Government election campaign.
The Commissioner thanked all those who helped conduct a free and fair local government election.
This is a GRAVE MISTAKE, that will be viewed as Neo-Colonialist and increase strife and conflict in the Mid East.
Unfortunately, the US may become mired in a 3rd war in the region, when we are desperate to end the two ongoing wars that is draining it.
It is an unwarranted interference in the internal conflict of a sovereign nation whose Govt has the legal right to enforce law and order when security is threatened by an armed mob.
We would do same, and have done the same in Abraham Lincoln's time, if the United States is similarly threatened.
Different strokes for different folks!
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Allies launch Libya force as Gadhafi hits rebels
By RYAN LUCAS and HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, Associated Press
March 19, 2011
BENGHAZI, Libya – The U.S. and European nations pounded Libya with cruise missiles and airstrikes targeting Moammar Gadhafi's forces Saturday, launching the broadest international military effort since the Iraq war in support of an uprising that had seemed on the verge of defeat.
The longtime Libyan leader vowed to defend his country from what he called "crusader aggression" and warned the involvement of international forces will subject the Mediterranean and North African region to danger and put civilians at risk.
The U.S. military said 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from American and British ships and submarines at more than 20 coastal targets to clear the way for air patrols to ground Libya's air force. French fighter jets fired the first salvos, carrying out several strikes in the rebel-held east.
President Barack Obama said military action was not his first choice.
"This is not an outcome the U.S. or any of our partners sought," Obama said from Brazil, where he is starting a five-day visit to Latin America. "We cannot stand idly by when a tyrant tells his people there will be no mercy."
Thousands of regime supporters, meanwhile, packed into the sprawling Bab al-Aziziya military camp in Tripoli where Gadhafi lives to protect against attacks.
The strikes, which were aimed at enforcing a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone, were a sharp escalation in the international effort to stop Gadhafi after weeks of pleading by the rebels who have seen early gains reversed as the regime unleashed the full force of its superior air power and weaponry.
Gadhafi, who has ruled Libya for 41 years, said in a telephone call to Libyan state TV that he was opening weapons depots to allow his people to arm themselves in defense.
He said the international action against his forces was unjustified, calling it "simply a colonial crusader aggression that may ignite another large-scale crusader war."
His regime also acted quickly in the run-up to the strikes, sending warplanes, tanks and troops into the eastern city of Benghazi, the rebel capital and first city to fall to the rebellion that began Feb. 15. Then the government attacks appeared to go silent.
Allies launch Libya force as Gadhafi hits rebels
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Operation Odyssey Dawn, as the coalition operation has been dubbed, followed an emergency summit in Paris during which the 22 leaders and top officials agreed to do everything necessary to make Gadhafi respect a U.N. Security Council resolution Thursday calling for the no-fly zone and demanding a cease-fire, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said.
"Our consensus was strong, and our resolve is clear. The people of Libya must be protected, and in the absence of an immediate end to the violence against civilians our coalition is prepared to act, and to act with urgency," Obama said earlier.
Navy Vice Adm. William E. Gortney, director of the Pentagon's Joint Staff, told reporters in Washington that U.S. ships and a British submarine had launched the first phase of a missile assault on Libyan air defenses to clear the way for the imposition of a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone over the North African country.
Gortney said the mission has two goals: prevent further attacks by Libyan forces on rebels and other civilians, and degrade the Libyan military's ability to contest a no-fly zone.
Mohammed Ali, a spokesman for the exiled opposition group the Libyan Salvation Front, said the Libyan air force headquarters at the Mateiga air base in eastern Tripoli, and the Aviation Academy in Misrata had been targeted.
About 20 French fighter jets carried out "several strikes" earlier Saturday, military spokesman Thierry Burkhard told The Associated Press. He said earlier that one of the planes had fired the first shot against a Libyan military vehicle.
"All our planes have returned to base tonight," he said, and denied a Libyan TV report that a French plane had been hit.
He would not elaborate on what was hit or where, but said French forces are focusing on the Benghazi area and U.S. forces are focused in the west.
The U.S. has struck Libya before. Former President Reagan launched U.S. airstrikes on Libya in 1986 after a bombing at a Berlin disco — which the U.S. blamed on Libya — that killed three people, including two American soldiers. The airstrikes killed about 100 people in Libya, including Gadhafi's young adopted daughter at his Tripoli compound.
Libyan regime official Mohammed al-Zwei claimed a large number of civilians were injured when several civilian and military sites in the capital, Tripoli, and the nearby city of Misrata were hit.
"This barbaric aggression against the Libyan people comes after we had announced a cease-fire against the armed militias which are part of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb," he said. The targets could not be independently verified.
Allies launch Libya force as Gadhafi hits rebels
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The rebels said earlier that they had hoped for more, sooner from the international community, after a day when crashing shells shook the buildings of Benghazi and Gadhafi's tanks rumbled through the university campus.
"People are disappointed, they haven't seen any action yet. The leadership understands some of the difficulties with procedures but when it comes to procedures versus human lives the choice is clear," said Essam Gheriani, a spokesman for the opposition. "People on the streets are saying where are the international forces? Is the international community waiting for the same crimes to be perpetrated on Benghazi has have been done by Gadhafi in the other cities?"
A doctor said 27 bodies had reached hospitals by midday. As night fell, though, the streets grew quiet.
Libyan state television also showed Gadhafi supporters converging on the international airport and a military garrison in Tripoli, and the airport in Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, in an apparent attempt to deter bombing.
In an open letter, Gadhafi warned: "You will regret it if you dare to intervene in our country."
In Paris, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Gadhafi's government had lost all legitimacy and lied about the cease-fire.
"We have every reason to fear that left unchecked, Gadhafi will commit unspeakable atrocities," she said.
Saturday's emergency meeting in Paris, which also included U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and the foreign ministers of Jordan, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates, was the largest international military action since the beginning of the Iraq war, launched almost exactly eight years ago.
"The time for action has come, it needs to be urgent," British Prime Minister David Cameron said after the summit.
Earlier Saturday, a plane was shot down over the outskirts of Benghazi, sending up a massive black cloud of smoke. An Associated Press reporter saw the plane go down in flames and heard the sound of artillery and crackling gunfire.
Before the plane went down, journalists heard what appeared to be airstrikes from it. Rebels cheered and celebrated at the crash, though the government denied a plane had gone down — or that any towns were shelled on Saturday.
The fighting galvanized the people of Benghazi, with young men collecting bottles to make gasoline bombs. Some residents dragged bed frames and metal scraps into the streets to make roadblocks.
"This city is a symbol of the revolution, it's where it started and where it will end if this city falls," said Gheriani.
But at Jalaa hospital, where the tile floors and walls were stained with blood, the toll was clear.
"There are more dead than injured," said Dr. Ahmed Radwan, an Egyptian who had been there helping for three weeks.
Jalaa's Dr. Gebreil Hewadi, a member of the rebel health committee, said city hospitals had received 27 bodies.
At a news conference in the capital, Tripoli, the government spokesman read letters from Gadhafi to Obama and others involved in the international effort.
"Libya is not yours. Libya is for the Libyans. The Security Council resolution is invalid," he said in the letter to Sarkozy, British Prime Minister David Cameron, and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
To Obama, the Libyan leader was slightly more conciliatory: "If you had found them taking over American cities with armed force, tell me what you would do."
Allies launch Libya force as Gadhafi hits rebels
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In a joint statement to Gadhafi late Friday, the United States, Britain and France — backed by unspecified Arab countries — called on Gadhafi to end his troops' advance toward Benghazi and pull them out of the cities of Misrata, Ajdabiya and Zawiya. It also called for the restoration of water, electricity and gas services in all areas. It said Libyans must be able to receive humanitarian aid or the "international community will make him suffer the consequences" with military action.
Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa said that Libyan officials had informed the U.N. and the Security Council that the government was abiding by the cease-fire it had announced Friday and called for a team of foreign observers to verify that.
In the course of the rebellion, Libya has gone from a once-promising economy with the largest proven oil reserves in Africa to a country in turmoil. The foreign workers that underpinned the oil industry have fled; production and exports have all but ground to a halt; and its currency is down 30 percent in just two weeks.
The oil minister, Shukri Ghanem, held a news conference calling on foreign oil companies to send back their workers. He said the government would honor all its contracts.
"We are still considering all our contracts and agreements with the oil companies valid," he said. "We hope from their part that they will honor their agreements, that they will send back their experts and their people to work."
He suggested future decisions on oil deals would favor countries that did not join the international force against Gadhafi: "A friend in need is a friend indeed," he told reporters in Tripoli.
Italy, which had been the main buyer for Libyan oil, offered the use of seven air and navy bases already housing U.S., NATO and Italian forces to enforce the no-fly zone over Libya.
Italy's defense minister, Ignazio La Russa, said Saturday that Italy wasn't just "renting out" its bases for others to use but was prepared to offer "moderate but determined" military support.
Warplanes from the United States, Canada, Denmark arrived at Italian air bases Saturday as part of an international military buildup. Germany backed the operation but isn't offering its own forces.
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