Athirady

You are browsing the archives of 2010 July 07.

WASHINGTON: Officials of Indian PSUs like BHEL and NTPC appear to be the beneficiaries of bribes that were doled out by a California-based valve company to bag lucrative contracts, mostly for tools used in the construction of power plants.
Prominent among these Indian companies are Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Maharashtra State Electricity Board, Haryana State Electricity [...]

Deputy Minister of Highways Mervyn Silva reserved his grave site today when he visited the Borella Cemetery to commemorate the 23rd death anniversary of famous singer H.R. Jothipala.
The Minister who was standing near the grave site of the late singer amidst a small gathering of people suddenly took everyone by surprise when he said he [...]

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a tragic development, Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command Rear Admiral Satyendra Singh Jamwal died in a freak incident at a training centre in Kochi on Wednesday.
Jamwal, 51, who was the second in command of the Navy’s Southern Command, was at the training establishment INS Dronacharya’s small arms firing range when the accidental [...]

An official at the Resttlement Ministry has been suspended by Minister Milroy Fernando over a programme telecast showing the Minister and his Deputy dancing at the wedding of the official’s son.
The Media Co-ordinating Officer of the Resettlement Ministry, Stanley Pathiraja has been suspended with immediate effect by Minister Fernando over the telecast of the wedding [...]

Day 28 semifinals: 7 Jul 3:30pm (AT)/ 2:30pm (ET)/ 6.30pm GMT
Germany (-112) vs Spain (+172, 2.5)
Before the World Cup, Spain would have been such hot favourites going into a clash with Germany that there would be little point backing them. What a difference three weeks makes.
The Germans are now considered as tournament favourites in many [...]

Sri Lanka’s future hangs in the balance. After years of conflict there is a possibility of lasting peace. One woman is now laying the foundations for the future. Her name is Dishani Jayaweera. And you can help her.
In 2003, lawyer Dishani Jayaweera and her university teacher partner Jayantha Seneviratne set up The ‘Centre for Peacebuilding [...]

By Nihal Rodrigo
former Sri Lanka Foreign Secretary
(Extracts of a speech delivered at the H. L. de Silva Commemoration Programme at the Bandararanaike Centre for International Studies, Sri Lanka on 23rd June 2010)
We need to be grateful to the family of the late H.L.de Silva, Mrs. Manel de Silva, Lakmali Casinadar, and Hiranya de Silva for [...]

MOSCOW: Chairman of Russian Federation Council Sergei Mironov on Tuesday held talks with visiting Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Hua Jianmin, pledging to keep on injecting new momentum into the deepening of bilateral relations of the two countries.
Hua, who is also the chairman of Sino-Russian Friendship, Peace and [...]

Ravishing redhead “spy” Anna Chapman is a sizzling Russian undressing in stunning topless photos shot by her ex-hubby.
Alex Chapman, who was married to the undercover — and uncovered — spy for four years, says she loved to pose nude and had a libido worthy of a James Bond femme fatal.
The pair orchestrated mile-high airplane bathroom [...]

CANBERRA, July 7 (Xinhua) — A regional asylum-seeker processing center in East Timor will not be ready until next year, Australian Labor Party said on Wednesday.
The federal government wanted boat people arriving in Australian waters to be processed in East Timor.
But Immigration Minister Chris Evans admitted that element of his party’s new border protection policy [...]

WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday stood behind UN chief Ban Ki-moon and his advisory panel on war crimes allegations in Sri Lanka, where protesters including a cabinet minister surrounded the UN office.
State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that the United States supported “people’s right to free expression” but also sought a “robust accountability process” [...]

Second-half goals from Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben gave Holland the edge in a bad tempered semi-final against Uruguay.

Holland will contest the World Cup final with Germany or Spain on Sunday. The victors have pursued the prize with more illustrious line-ups in days gone by, but this one showed resilience in responding to an equaliser [...]

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) has declared a two-day bandh, starting July 7, followed by an additional five days of protests, demonstrations and public rallies in Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
“The bandh is in response to the brutal killing of Comrade Azad, and freelance journalist Hem Chand Pande in a fake [...]

The following are some of the paragraphs of an exclusive news item in a state owned newspaper published on June 20.
“A group of nine Tamil intellectuals including former prominent militant sympathisers who had been operating internationally for the militant outfit along with Pathmanathan (Kumaran), the former head of the LTTE’s activities abroad said they would [...]

 Obama said Israel faced a unique range of security threats and vowed to continue to pressure Iran over its nuclear programme.
President Barack Obama voiced hope in a fence-mending meeting on Tuesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that direct Israeli-Palestinian talks would begin before a limited settlement moratorium ends in September.
“We expect proximity talks to lead [...]

There is a likelihood of the number of registered political parties in Sri Lanka passing the 100 mark ahead of the forthcoming elections to local bodies.
The Elections Secretariat says 83 new groups are seeking recognition in addition to 66 registered political parties. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, official sources told The Island that even [...]

CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Tuesday clarified her stand on the LTTE, saying that she did not condemn the annihilation of the LTTE in war.
“What I condemn is the wanton killing of LTTE activists surrendering, waving white flags before the Sri Lankan Armed forces. What I condemn is the killing of 50,000 unarmed civilians [...]

6 July 2010 – The United Nations has registered its strong objections to protests organized outside its offices in Colombo today by a Sri Lankan cabinet minister that prevented the world body’s staff and visitors from entering or leaving the premises.
“While respecting the right of citizens to demonstrate peacefully, preventing access to UN offices hinders [...]