Athirady

You are browsing the archives of 2010 July 08.

After winning a war that no Sri Lankan President dared even try to, and emerging triumphant from every election he has fought since 2005 President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is directly responsible for altogether 78 institutions, and Minister for the country’s Defence, Finance, Planning, Ports and Aviation and Highways, would unarguably be the most powerful man [...]

A new champion will be crowned at the World Cup on Sunday, when Spain meets the Netherlands in a final, which has the potential to be a classic.
Well-organised and experienced but blessed with finesse and flair, Spain has the players to outplay any team in the world.
The Dutch have forwards, wingers and midfielders capable of [...]

Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna met the parliamentary delegation from Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in New Delhi today. Seeking India’s help in the post-war ethnic conflict that has emerged in Sri Lanka, the delegates raised a spectrum of issues in the half-hour long interaction with Krishna.
The head of the delegation, veteran Sri Lankan lawmaker, [...]

COLOMBO: The United Nations closed its office in Sri Lanka and recalled its representative Thursday, following angry public protests over a UN probe into alleged war crimes committed by government forces.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon ordered his main representative in Sri Lanka, Neil Buhne, to return to New York after rowdy scenes which began outside the [...]

JERUSALEM: In June of 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama challenged the Israelis and Palestinians to enter meaningful peace talks. A little over a week later, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was ready to discuss the creation of a Palestinian state, albeit conditionally.
Since then, the Israelis and Palestinians have been bickering over the terms [...]

Amid concerns voiced by India over China’s plans to have a rail link with Pakistan through the Karakoram ranges, Beijing on Thursday said the Sino-Pak “strategic” partnership was not aimed at targeting any third country.
“China and Pakistan are strategic partners enjoying profound traditional friendship. We have shared deepening cooperation across the board,” Foreign office spokesman [...]

Democratic National Alliance member Vijitha Herath will be participating at the Commonwealth parliamentary session which is to be held in Kenya as General Sarath Fonseka has not been granted permission to attend the event, DNA MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said. 
Speaking at a media briefing Dissanayake said the DNA intends to question why General Fonseka was not [...]

The Police have begun registering Tamils in the Wellawatte area under the police ordinance, the police said. However, the Democratic People’s Front charged the police of registering Tamils under section 23 of the Emergency regulations.
The General Secretary of the Democratic People’s Front and Western Provincial Councilor, Dr. N. Kumaragurubaran told Daily Mirror online that he [...]

An Italian citizen has been extradited to the US from Germany for participating in an alleged conspiracy to secure contracts by paying bribes to officials of foreign state-owned companies in India and several other countries. Flavio Ricotti, 49, a former executive of California-based valve company
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Control Components Inc (CCI), was arrested Feb 14 in Frankfurt, Germany, [...]

Speculation is growing that the US and Russia are preparing a Cold War-style prisoner swap.
The US lawyer defending one of 10 suspected Russian spies has said the case may be resolved when they face formal charges later on Thursday.
Russian news agencies say Igor Sutyagin, a scientist convicted of espionage, has been flown to the Austrian [...]

The SL Branch Executive Council of the Commonwealth Parliamentary MPs comprising a majority of the Govt. MPs has decided that DNF leader Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who was elected as the opposition representative to tour Kenya to attend the Commonwealth Parliamentary MPs conference to be held at Nairobi City , Kenya, shall be omitted from the [...]

WASHINGTON: Americans are increasingly obsessed with Facebook and many young women check their page even before using the bathroom in the morning, according to a poll.
Thirty-four per cent of the women aged 18 to 34 surveyed by Lightspeed Research for Oxygen Media said checking Facebook was the first thing they did in the morning, even [...]

The government says it is seeking a rapid end to the crisis resulting from the protest outside the UN office in Colombo. However External Affairs Minister G.L Peiris said that the government will not obstruct any peaceful protest.
Speaking to reporters in Colombo a short while ago Minister Peiris said that it was the democratic right [...]

The tombs lie just west of Saqqara’s most famed pyramid – the Step Pyramid of King Djoser
Saqqara: Egyptian archaeologists have unveiled their latest discovery – two 4,300-year-old tombs carved out of stone and unearthed in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara near Cairo.
The tombs have false doors with paintings depicting their owners – a father and [...]

Minister Wimal Weerawansa started a fast unto death in front of the UN office in Colombo a short while ago demanding the abolition of the war crime panel appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. 
Minister Weerawansa took part in a pirith ceremony afterwhich he told reporters in the area that he would even sacrifice [...]

NEW DELHI: With a spurt in incidents of honour killings across the country, the Government today decided to set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) to consider amendments to the law to deal with the issue and said the bill for that will be brought in the monsoon session of Parliament.
“Government wants amendments to be [...]

President Mohamed Nasheed had yesterday hosted a luncheon in honour of the visiting President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Speaking at the luncheon, Rajapaksa reaffirmed the “friendship and goodwill” of Sri Lanka people towards the people of Maldives.
He also said the relations between the two countries, in times good and bad, had strengthened and that the [...]

NEW DELHI: Involvement of hardline separatists in engineering some of the violence in the Kashmir valley is indicated by an intercepted conversation between two of them during which they discussed killing of at least 15 people in a procession near Srinagar on Wednesday.
A large procession had started in Budgam district on the outskirts of Srinagar [...]

“Five feet away from me… Jesse fell down face first. The same officer [who punched him in the gut] then came and elbowed him in the back. The officer who was escorting me… looked over to me and said ‘Jeez, that shouldn’t have happened, shouldn’t have done that’.”  journalist Steve Paikin (TVO)
July 2010 – Thousands [...]

Spain is now one step closer to its first FIFA World Cup title after a 1-0 semifinal victory over Germany Wednesday in Durban, South Africa.
To watch the match highlights:
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/fifaworldcup/watch/highlights/?ID=1539471411
To watch the full game:
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/fifaworldcup/watch/match62.html
Main storyline
It was a rematch of the 2008 European championship. And it was a repeat result of the 2008 European championship.
Spain upended Germany [...]

 
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan protesters led by a cabinet minister rallied outside the UN office in Colombo on Wednesday, a day after laying siege to the building and trapping staff inside for several hours.
The United Nations expressed its anger at the protesters, who said they were campaigning against a UN panel set up to probe allegations [...]