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thanuja writes "COLOMBO: The epoch-making Petroleum Resources Agreement was inked between Sri Lanka and India for the exploration and production of oil in Northern Sri Lankan waters in the Mannar basin, at Temple Trees yesterday with President Mahinda Rajapaksa presiding.
This historic agreement signed between Sri Lanka and India will now pave the way for the exploration and production of natural gas and hydrocarbon resources yet untapped by the nation.
The agreement was signed by Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Minister A..H.M. Fowzie for Sri Lanka and Indrajit Benerijee, the Chief Financial Officer of Cairn (Pvt) Limited of India.
A ‘Bonus Cheque’ of US $ one million was also handed over to President Rajapaksa, following the inking of the agreement.
Minister Fowzie addressing the participants at the signing ceremony, asserted that it was a ‘ray of hope’ in relieving all Sri Lankans from the ongoing global fuel crisis which has also plunged the whole world into a ‘coma’.
He thanked President Rajapaksa for his unstinted and concerted effort and his foresight in making this milestone venture a successful reality.
The Chief Financial Officer Cairn (Pvt) Limited Indrajit Benerijee noted that they were delighted to participate in this great venture as the first ‘Licencee’, to make Sri Lanka less dependant on oil imports.
Benerijee said the best practices and technology available in the sphere would be deployed in the process.
In accordance with the agreement signed, Cairn India Limited will commence its exploration activities in Block SL2007/01/001 in the Mannar Basin which covers 3400 sq. km, at depths between 200 to 1,800 metres within six months from today.
The exploration spending schedule of the company in the next three years is expected to be US$ 112 million. Once commercial extraction commences, the oil company will be allowed upto 65 per cent of the revenue to cover its investment.
The Government will receive a 10 per cent royalty, a US$ 50 million Production Bonus, the profit share based on the investment multiple and a 15 per cent tax on ‘Contractor Profit’ and other taxes.
The Exploration Licence is deemed to be valid for eight years and divided into three stages of three, two and three years.
The Government of Sri Lanka will receive all exploration data and the contractor will be required to support education and the staff training, support environmental studies and transfer the related technology to Sri Lanka.
(source: Daily News)
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Posted by Pesta on Thursday, July 10 @ 12:13:25 PDT (61 reads)
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Sri Lanka board face rebellion from senior players over IPL clash
thanuja writes " Sri Lanka board face rebellion from senior players over IPL clash
By Nick Hoult
Last Updated: 11:51pm BST 09/07/2008
Sri Lanka's senior players will today demand their board rearrange next year's tour to England because it clashes with the second season of the Indian Premier League.
# Derek Pringle: Flintoff drops in to keep England on their toes
The England and Wales Cricket Board announced dates for the tour on Monday after agreeing a deal at last week's International Cricket Council meeting with Arjuna Ranatunga, the chairman of Sri Lanka Cricket and former World Cup-winning captain.
But the tour, which is scheduled to run from April 21-May 30, clashes with the second season of the IPL. Thirteen Sri Lankans have IPL deals, including captain Mahela Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan, Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara.
The Sri Lankan players are in a long-running contractual dispute with their board and have not been paid since February. The England tour will curtail their involvement in the IPL to about 10 days, radically reducing their earning potential.
Sir Lanka's board are due to ratify the tour at a meeting in Colombo today but they are facing rebellion from senior players with sources suggesting some will threaten to retire early or boycott the trip to play in the IPL.
The ECB were last night insisting the Sri Lankan board had signed a tour agreement and that it was logged with the ICC last week as part of the Future Tours Programme. However, the prospect of a second string Sri Lankan team touring next year cannot be ruled out as the lure of the IPL holds increasing power over international players.
Sri Lankan cricketers are among the lowest paid in the world, with even the top performers commanding central contracts worth little more than £50,000. Sangakkara was paid £350,000 to play in last year's IPL.
The Sri Lankan board are also under pressure from their government to pull out of the trip over fears that it could jeopardise relations with India.
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Posted by Pesta on Wednesday, July 09 @ 17:19:08 PDT (66 reads)
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Prabhakaran pays homage to rebel commander
Thu, May 22 12:19 PM
Colombo, May 22 (IANS) The elusive leader of the Tamil Tigers, Velupillai Prabhakaran, has paid homage to his top military commander who died of heart attack in the rebel-held Wanni region, it was announced Thursday.
Balasegaram Kandiah alias 'Brigadier' Balraj, involved in planning and carrying out several operations against the Sri Lankan military over the past 20 years, died Tuesday following cardiac arrest at the age of 42.
'Prabhakaran paid his last respect to 'Brigadier' Balraj by garlanding his remains Wednesday,' reported puthinam.com, a website close to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
It said that other LTTE leaders, including its intelligence wing chief Pottu Amman and Sea Tigers wing head Soosai, accompanied Prabhakaran and garlanded the remains of Balraj at an unknown location in the Wanni.
The LTTE peace secretariat website released photographs of the rebel chief, flanked by his military wing leaders, garlanding the remains of Balraj 'at a specially arranged location in Wanni'.
The LTTE leadership has announced a three-day mourning for Balraj ending Friday.
Balraj's death has come amid fierce fighting between the advancing government troops and the Tigers in the island's north over the past one year, leaving over 4,000 people dead.
On Wednesday, at least 17 LTTE cadres and two government soldiers were killed in sporadic clashes between the two sides in the northeast, the defence ministry said.
Balraj, who hailed from Mullaitivu district, is the second LTTE leader to be posthumously conferred by the rebel leadership the rank of brigadier. The first was its political wing head S.P. Thamilselvan, who was killed in a Sri Lanka Air Force raid in November last year.
According to pro-rebel websites, Balraj was the first commander of the LTTE's conventional fighting formation, Charles Antony Brigade, which was established in 1991.
He served 'as a key commander in LTTE's major operations, including the LTTE's overrunning of the military garrison (at the) Elephant Pass in 2000'. The Elephant Pass is a narrow isthmus that joins Jaffna peninsula with the Sri Lankan mainland.
'(Balraj) was an expert in different forms of warfare, including psychological operations, and deployed different tactics during the planning and the conduct of the operations,' the pro-LTTE Tamilnet.com reported.
Following the Norway-sponsored February 2002 ceasefire agreement, Balraj had a heart surgery in Singapore in 2003 with the permission of the Sri Lankan government.
It also said that Balraj had been hospitalised for three months earlier this year 'but had engaged himself in (the) war front in between his medical treatments'.
Sri Lanka Moratuwa students top scores on Google competition
22 May, 2008 18:54:25
Sri Lanka Moratuwa students top scores on Google competition
May 22, 2008 (LBO) Search engine giant Google has accepted 24 student projects from Sri Lanka's University of Moratuwa, for an open-source software development competition, the highest from any university in the world, officials said.
The universities 24 acceptances for the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) programme, beat 10 projects from Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland and the University of Campinas Brazil, eight from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur.
It was also ahead of the seven submissions from the University of Toronto, University of Michigan in USA, Carleton University Canada and Budapest University of Technology Hungary and six submissions from University of Warsaw Poland.
"The competition and academic training helps to create more job makers than seekers," Malik Ranasinghe vice chancellor university of Moratuwa told reporters.
Out of the 24 chosen projects 16 were from the computer science and engineering department while the other six projects were from the faculty of engineering and the faculty of information technology.
The students at the university have mainly chosen Apache Software Foundation's projects for the GSoC, Hiranya Jayatilake a student representing the group of students chosen for the programme, said.
Google pays 45000 US dollars for each completed project.
The GSoC offers students a chance to create open source programmes and release it for the benefit of all users as well as bring forward new developers in to the open source or free software community.
It also gives students exposure to real-world software development scenarios granting them employable skills while studying in university.
The Apache Software Foundation considered as the biggest open source software company in the world, promotes and develops open-source software projects.
The foundation lists its projects giving developers the opportunity to build modules and contribute to Apache's ongoing projects.
The chosen modules will be added to the foundation's codebase boosting developer reputation among the open source community.
"The competition is much harder now and open source can be a vehicle to get oneself to a global position," Sanjiva Weerawarana chief executive of WSO2, an open source web services company, said.
The GSoC programmes was initiated in 2005 is in its fourth year and Weerawarana hopes Sri Lanka will submit more projects for the next competition in the coming year.
This year, Google accepted 1,125 applications by students worldwide to word on Free and Open Source Software Projects (FOSS).
Posted by Pesta on Thursday, May 22 @ 10:18:57 PDT (92 reads)
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Sri Lankan in USA step up to support 'Api Wenuwen Api' programme
May 22, 2008
Sri Lankans living in the United States of America have respoded positively to the request by the Government to contribute to the 'Api Wenuwen Api Programme' implemented under the 'Ranaviru Gammana' concept of building 50,000 houses for war heroes. They have collected Rs. 12 million to this end by holding charity events, cultural and musical shows.
A cheque for this amount was handed over to President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees by Dr. Mohan Kumararatne, President 'Ranaviru Sangamaya' in US yesterday. Sri Lanka Consul General in Los Angeles Jaliya Wickramasuriya was also present on the occasion.
Arrangements have made to build 5000 houses for war heroes at Ipalogama in the Anuradhapura District under the first stage of this programme and work on 1620 houses was nearing completion, according to a media release issued by the President's Media Unit. Each house built in a 'Ranaviru Gammanaya' will be replete with all infrastructure facilities.
Although each unit is built at a cost of Rs. 2.4 million, the beneficiaries can obtain a house at a reduced cost of Rs. 800.000 on a rental to be paid in instalment basis over a period of 20 years.
The Government's contribution to each housing unit is Rs. 1 million and the balance is covered using contributions made by the private sector and other donors.
(www.news.lk)
Wednesday May 21 2008 13:34 IST
P K Balachandran
COLOMBO: The death of “Brigadier” Balraj, one of the Special Commanders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of a heart attack somewhere in the Wanni on Tuesday was a major blow to the rebel group already short of top commanders.
Since the pro-LTTE websites have not mentioned the exact place of his death, it is presumed that the 43-year-old may have died while commanding his troops somewhere in the frontlines, which now stretch over 200 km from Weli Oya in the east to Mannar in the west.
Despite a major heart surgery in 2003, and a three-month hospitalization this year, Balasegaram Kandiah, alias Balraj, remained a committed fighter to the last. During the ongoing operations, he commanded troops in Mannar and Weli Oya.
“He inspired his fighting cadres by jumping into the thick of battle himself, and leading them upfront,” a knowledgeable Tamil source told Express. “While other commanders might stay in the rear and exhort their cadres to move forward, Balraj would be in the forefront exhorting his cadres to follow him!”
“The LTTE still has about five to six commanders of the caliber of Balraj, but more will be needed to face the Sri Lankan troops over the extended front continuously,” the source added.
“At no point of time earlier had there been such a wide and continually active front. Earlier, the battles were confined to a small area and commanders could be changed, rested and re-deployed,” the source said. “But that is not possible now because there is a need for a top commander everywhere all the time. This puts a tremendous pressure on the existing stock of top commanders. This is why Balraj will be sorely missed.
Even thought he was an expert in guerilla tactics, Balraj still believed in the efficacy of conventional warfare, and was the first commander of the first conventional regiment of the LTTE – the Charles Antony Brigade, which he led from 1991 to 1993 and then again from 1995 to 1997.
He took part in most operations of the LTTE in northern Sri Lanka since the 1990s, and led the brilliant amphibian assaults in Operation Unceasing Waves III of 2000, which resulted in the capture of the strategic Elephant Pass.
After suffering a heart attack in 2003, Balraj again had a brush with death in 2004 when a tsunami struck his camp at Vaharai in Batticaloa district.
(www.newindpress.com)
Posted by Pesta on Wednesday, May 21 @ 09:58:10 PDT (82 reads)
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Sri Lanka has to beat odds for Olympics relay qualification
Wednesday, 21 May 2008 - 12:20 PM SL Time
Sri Lanka running sans two of its proven old horses will have to beat odds to achieve the Olympic qualifying standards in the men s 4x400 meter relay when the country s team runs at the forth coming Asian Grand Prix which commences in Thailand in late June.
Sri Lanka will not have both Rohan Pradeep Kumara and Sugath Thilakaratne in the men s event and will have to heavily depend on the experience of Prasanna Amarasinghe to reach Olympic standards.
The Asian Grand Prix is offering Olympic hopefuls a chance to get qualified for the Beijing event, but Sri Lanka will be handicapped due to the absence of its top athletes including Susanthika Jayasinghe, Manjula Kumara and Rohan Pradeep Kumara.
While Susanthika Jaysinghe is already a candidate for the Beijing Olympics, Sri Lanka s chances of fielding a 4x400meter men s relay team depends on its Asian Grand Prix quartet s performances. According to Sunil Gunawardena, the Manager of the Sri Lankan contingent, Sri Lanka has to beat odds to achieve the standard.
`Absence of Rohan Pradeep Kumara is a disadvantage. We had a better chance of earning Olympic qualifying standard if Pradeep Kumara was available. But still we have a chance. We will rely on Prasanna, Rohitha Pushpakumara and Asoka Jayasundara to play a big role. Our problem was the unavailability of an athlete to fill the shoes of Pradeep Kumara. We are keeping faith in Shivantha Weerasuriya to combine well with the team,` said Gunawardena.
Shivantha whose pet event is 200 meters will fill the vacancy created by Rohan Pradeep Kumara who is not available due to injury and Gunawardena believed that he would fit fell into the team with the on going training.
Although Shivantha s pet event is 200 meters he has been a part of Sri Lanka 4x400 meter relays on quite a number of occasions including the Asian Athletic Championships and Commonwealth Games where Sri Lankan team has impressed.
`We have no doubts of winning Gold. Despite the absence of Pradeep Kumara we are capable of winning medals. Our concern is on achieving Olympic Standards.`
With the 400 meter and the 4x400 meter events taking place on the same day achieving qualifying standards in the relay become a serious concern.
`Prasanna Amarasekara and Rohitha Pushpakumara are both taking parting in the 400 meter individual events. They have to compete in the relay after taking part in individual events which is a big disadvantage. However they will be conscious of this fact and will have to give their maximum to bid for Olympic standard,` Gunawardena explained.
Asian Grand Prix 2008 series is scheduled to start in Thailand on June 23. The second leg of the series also will be held in the same country on the 27th and the third leg will be held in Hanoi, Vietnam on the 30th of June.
While Sri Lanka has high gold medal hopes on its 4x400 meter men s relay team and 400 meter men s event, Menaka Wickramasinghe in the 400 meters and Premila Priyadarshani in the short distance races are the probable medal prospects in the women s category.
The Sri Lankan team for the Asian Grand Prix: Menaka Wickramasinghe, Premila Priyadarshani, Priyangika Madumathi, Prasanna Amarasekera, Umanga Surendra, Prabath Mendis, Rohitha Pushpakumara, Dulan Priyashantha, Asoka Jayasundara, Shiwantha Mudalige
(www.lankanewspapers.com)
Wednesday, May 21,2008
COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) has taken the
first step towards launching Sri Lanka's first satellite. TRC Director General
Priyantha Kariyaperuma said two engineers had gone to the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) based in Geneva for registration purposes. He said the satellite would be
named after science fiction Guru the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke.
Kariyaperuma said Sri Lanka was among the few countries which did not have a satellite
network in the Asian region. Sri Lanka has been late by 50 years to venture into this satellite
technology, he said. Kariyaperuma said the TRC hoped to launch the satellite network within
the next two years though no timeframe had been fixed for the project.
He said the TRC hoped to get support from countries like China and Japan to construct and
launch the satellite. The satellite is expected to fulfil the telecommunication needs of
the Sri Lankan people while there are possibilities of sharing information within the SAARC
region, he said.
(www.southasianmedia.net)
Posted by Pesta on Wednesday, May 21 @ 09:56:49 PDT (86 reads)
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Helicopter gunships attack Tamil rebels as infantry clashes kill 25 rebels
AP
Posted: 2008-05-21 06:48:20
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Sri Lanka's air force launched a strike on Tamil Tiger rebels near the front lines in the war-ravaged northern region while infantry clashes killed 25 rebels, the military said Wednesday.
Air force helicopter gunships attacked a rebel mortar launching point near the front lines in northern Jaffna peninsula early Wednesday, said air force spokesman Wing Cmdr. Andy Wijesuriya.
He said the air attack was carried out in support of army troops fighting the rebels. He did not have details of damage or casualties.
Meanwhile, ground battles throughout Tuesday in the Welioya, Vavuniya and Mannar areas bordering the rebels' de facto state in the north killed 25 rebels, according to the military.
In the worst fighting, soldiers killed 19 rebels in three separate battles in Vavuniya, said the statement, adding that nine soldiers were also wounded in the same clashes.
Scattered battles in Welioya and Mannar killed six rebels and wounded eight soldiers, the statement said.
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan was not immediately available for comment.
It was not possible to independently verify the military's claims because the media are banned from the northern jungles where much of the fighting takes place. Both sides commonly exaggerate their enemy's casualties while underplaying their own.
Meanwhile, a top rebel leader died of a heart attack Tuesday in the guerrilla stronghold of Vanni, a pro-rebel Web site reported.
The Tamil Tigers declared a three-day mourning period starting Wednesday for Balasegaram Kandiah - known by his nom de guerre, Brig. Balraj - who reportedly led a number of battles against government forces. He was 43.
Fighting has escalated along the northern front lines since the government withdrew from a long-ignored cease-fire in January.
The government has pledged to capture the rebels' de facto state in the north and crush them by the end of the year. But diplomats and other observers say the army is facing more resistance than expected.
The Tamil Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for an independent homeland for minority ethnic Tamils, who have been marginalized for decades by governments dominated by the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.
On the Net:
http://www.tamilnet.com
Posted by Pesta on Wednesday, May 21 @ 09:55:30 PDT (118 reads)
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Sri Lanka wins 'Genus Award', Gold and Silver medals
Tuesday, 08 April 2008
Sri Lanka won "Genius Award", Gold and Silver medals at the 36th International Exhibition of Inventions, Techniques and Products of Geneva which was held at Geneva Palexpo (Hall 7) in Switzerland from 2nd to 6th April 2008.
This exhibition which was held under the patronage of the Swiss Federal Government and the State and the City of Geneva is considered to be the world's largest market place for inventions. It hosts annually about 750 exhibitors from around 45 countries and displays about 1000 new exhibits. During this event, industrial and commercial companies, inventors, researchers, associations, private and state agencies and institutes present their inventions, the result of their research and their new products.
Sri Lanka was honoured to present the unique inventions of the nation at this annual event that began in 1996 and the three selected inventors to contest at this years event , Mr. W. D. Wijithapala (Teacher and School Inspector) of Malsiripura, Mr. A. S. Dissanayake (Entrepreneur) of Kalagedihena and Mr. Isuru Godage (Engineer) of Galle (who represented a student group of inventors from the Department of Electronics and Telecommunication in the University of Moratuwa) attended the exhibition with two officials of the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission: the Commissioner, Dr. K. Kapila K. C. Perera and the Assistant Programme Officer, Mrs. Deepika Kahatapitiya.
Three Sri Lankan inventors presented their unique inventions: a Multi-Purpose Visual Presenter, a Sensor-Based Motion Tracking System for Human-Computer Interaction (a Virtual Mouse) and a High-Current Switch-Mode Battery Charger. Prior to the exhibition, the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission had selected these three inventions from among the Presidential Award winning inventions and Incubated Inventions.
At this special moment, the name of Sri Lanka caught the attention of the entire audience and in spite of her limited participation at the exhibition-as opposed to that of countries such as USA, India, China, Russia, France who had brought inventors in large numbers, - the presence of Sri Lanka was felt by all on this special occasion, said The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva, who assisted the Sri Lankan team in participating at this unique occasion.
(www.news.lk)
Posted by Pesta on Wednesday, April 09 @ 13:47:22 PDT (111 reads)
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