SB to join SLFP, support President SB to join SLFP, support President

S.B. Dissanayake said a short while ago that he will join the SLFP and support President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the upcoming Presidential Elections to defeat Common Opposition candidate. He also added that he will contest the upcoming General Elections. Source by: Ada derana

Daily mirror:
UNP stalwart S.B Dissanayaka announced a short while ago that he has decided to join the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to extend support to President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the upcoming Presidential elections. He said he reached the decision after being disappointed with the UNP.

S.B Dissanayaka said that he feels President Rajapaksa will win the elections and is the only candidate who can establish democracy and ensure peace prevails in the island.

He also said he will contest at the next General Election.

Presidential Election on January 26

The Department of Elections announced that the Presidential Elections will be held on the 26th of January 2010. Nominations will be accepted from December 17 2009 between 9 am and 11 am.

Sarath Fonseka hands over resignation – President’s Secretary

Chief of Defence Staff General Sarath Fonseka has handed over a letter to the president’s office requesting for his retirement from the position of Chief of Defence Staff, President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga told Ada Derana moments ago. Source By : ada derana

Bus topples in Badulla, 16 injured

Sixteen people were injured today morning when the bus they were traveling in skidded off the road and toppled neat the Soranathota School in Badulla. The injured were admitted to the Badulla Hospital. Hospital sources confirmed that most of the injured were school teachers. Source by: ada derana

The brave were rewarded and the weak sidelined, General Fonseka

October 13, 2009 02:21 pm

This may be the last occasion that he is addressing function of this nature, said Sri Lanka’s Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and former Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka. CDS General Fonseka was addressing army personnel who accorded him a guard of honour at a function at Army Headquarters marking the 60^th Anniversary of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). Speaking further he said that in the 60 year history of the SLA, the past three and a half were the most difficult and demanding years. He had rewarded those who were strong and brave and others who were weak and dissatisfied were sidelined, he said.

Wishing the SLA well, General Fonseka urged them to uphold the good work achieved by them in the recent past. “If you do not uphold the excellent reputation we have already gained, others will blame you for the failures,” the General said. Source By: ada derana

22 LTTE suspects on trial in Paris

Twenty two suspected LTTE cadres went on trial on Monday for running an extortion racket among Paris’s ethnic Tamil diaspora to fund the LTTE in Sri Lanka.

The defendants include Nadaraja Matinthiran, the alleged leader in Franceof the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is accused of extorting some five million euros (S$10 million) from the country’s 75,000 Tamils. Also in the dock is a group called the Tamil Coordination Committee in France, believed to be a legal front for the LTTE, which has been listed as a terrorist organisation by the European Union since 2006.

Experts believe the Tamil Tigers exert a controlling influence over the political life of the 1.5-million-strong world Tamil diaspora, in many cases levying a ‘revolutionary tax’ based on household size and income.

Most of the Parissuspects were arrested in April 2007 and charged with criminal conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism, financing of terrorism or racketeering to finance terrorism.

Defence lawyer Gilles Piquois called at the outset for the case to be thrown out, arguing that the LTTE was not considered a terrorist organisation by the Sri Lankan government in 2007 when the charges were brought.

AFP

Total value of CSE crosses Rs. 1 trillion for the first time in its history

The total value (Market capitalization) of the Colombo Stock Exchange crossed Rs. 1 trillion level for the first time in its history today.Source By : Ada derana

UNP candidate held gun point, assaulted

UNP southern Provincial candidate Captain Udaya Dissanayake says he was held at gun point early this morning and assaulted allegedly by a group of UPFA supporters in Wellatota, Matara. He is now in hospital
Source By: Daily mirror