All visa applicants for the UK will have to pay their visa fees online in US dollars via Visa or MasterCard debit or credit cards or e-wallet (Skrill) from December 16, 2013, the British High Commission in Colombo announced.

“As is the current practice, applications will also continue to be completed online with printed copies submitted to the Visa Application Centre in Colombo, along with biometric data. Appointments to hand in the documents will also continue to be made online,” it said in a statement.

It also stated: Exceptions will be made for applicants who have completed their online application form prior to 16 December, 2013. They will still be able to use other payment methods currently available until 14 January, 2014.  However, from 14 January, 2014, only online payments will be accepted for this category, too.

No exceptions will be made for those applying on or after 16 December, 2013.

UK Visas and Immigration Regional Director Thomas Greig said:

“The move to online applications and payments is a regional practice that will deliver a streamlined application process and is consistent with a wider global trend to online transactions and payments. This is part of our on-going commitment to offer the best service to our Sri Lankan customers and reduces the risk associated with cash payment. It is also part of the Home Office’s programme of modernisation.”

More information is available on:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/countries/sri-lanka/?langname=UK%20English

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

The police have recorded statements from several shop owners in Pettah where a fire gutted 102 shops last night.

According to the police media unit, a special investigation is underway over the fire.

The police said that statements had been recorded from 60 people who own shops that were destroyed in the fire at Bodhiraja Mawatha.

The police have also stationed officers around the area to provide security to the damaged property.

The fire had destroyed a row of newly constructed shops along Bodhiraja Mawatha.

Source: Colombo Gazette

While claiming that many asylum seekers from Sri Lanka enter holding a visa to either study in the United Kingdom or to be visitors, Britain said that there were 7,445 asylum applications recorded from Sri Lankan national for the past five year period.

A train engine, which was at the Demtagoda Railway Yard had automatically started at around 1.45 am today and preceded without a driver before it was stopped between Ratmalana and Mt. Lavinia, railway authorities said.

The visiting UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Dr Chaloka Beyani, has been impressed with Sri Lanka’s overall progress made in the resettlement of IDPs in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Resettlement Ministry Secretary Janaka Sugathadasa yesterday said the UN Special Rapporteur was also positive and glad about the government’s post-war reconstruction and development process.

Dr Beyani is currently in Jaffna to examine the situation of the resettlement of IDPs in the North and he will be visiting the Mullativu district today(4).

Dr Beyani arrived in Sri Lanka on Tuesday the the invitation of the government. He was briefed by us on the work we have done on the resettlement of IDPs, and their livelihood restoration. Besides, he was positive about the country’s significant achievements made in the restoration of participatory democracy by holding elections. Consequent to a comprehensive briefing on the subject, Dr Beyani was impressed with the work we have done to resettle the IDPs and look after their welfare.

“Dr Beyani urged us to have time frames to resettle the remaining Tamil IDPs in some districts.

“We apprised him of the situation and how resettlement become difficult in some districts because some IDPs will not accept the resettlement option of relocation and the problem of having to find alternative lands for work relating to resettlement” Sugathadasa said. Asked if the Resettlement ministry was under pressure to expedite the process of resettlement, Secretary Sugathadasa said, ” The problem associated with the process of resettlement is , even if we had done 97 percent of the work , the interested parties and the international agencies and INGOs seemed to get more curious about the 3 percent work that is remaining.”

“They seem to overlook the 97 per cent of the work that has been completed. We cannot resettle Internally Displaced Persons by force anywhere,” he said.

“We are working towards completion of the resettlement of IDPs amidst many problems, and having to clear land mines to ensure their safety is one thing. Having to claim lands from different owners is another.”

“There are some lands owned by the Board of Investment for some development activities, There are other lands which are necessary for security zones . We have even acquired lands from security forces for our resettlement activities,” he said.

“We have even started resettling second generation of IDPs in conformity with the recommendations in the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Report(LLRC,” he added.

“Every IDP in Sri Lanka is protected and assisted by the government,” he said.

After the end of his mission in Sri Lanka, UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of the IDPs, Dr Beyani is to present a report on his observations about the country’s situation on the human rights of the IDPs to the UN Human Right Council in June 2014.

Source: Daily News (Sri Lanka)

A French charity has accused Sri Lanka’s security forces of killing 17 of its aid workers in 2006, and demanded an international inquiry.

Action Against Hunger (ACF) said it had been awaiting the outcome of Sri Lanka’s own inquiries but they had turned into a “farce”.

The workers were found shot dead at their office in the town of Muttur.

A Sri Lankan military spokesman rejected ACF’s allegations, suggesting the charity had withheld evidence.

Continue reading : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25198856

Source: BBC

Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa who has repeatedly criticised India over its responsibility in the Sri Lankan war and the 13th Amendment, is in India again.

In an extremely low-profile visit, Sri Lankan defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, brother of Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in Delhi for a short visit this week, which was largely kept under wraps by the two governments, an Indian media report says.

The News Indian Express last night said; Gotabaya Rajapaksa called on Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid on Friday morning, before he left for Colombo at the end of his trip. He met with his defence ministry counterparts on Thursday.

The newspaper said; “This was a significant visit, as it was the first high-level bilateral meeting following the Commonwealth Summit, which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not attend due to pressure from Tamil Nadu over the lack of accountability for war crimes towards the ends of the civil war in the island nation.

“As a very influential member of the Lankan government, Gotabaya is one of the key voices calling for dilution of the powers of the provincial councils, as stipulated under the Indo-Lanka accord and enacted through the13th amendment.

India had managed to stave off such efforts before the commonwealth summit, but there are fears that the parliamentary select committee to look into ways to amend the constitution to dilute 13A may be revived, now that the international scrutiny has been removed.”

Before leaving to India, he said; “India Is Our Largest Neighbour And The Most Important Country In The Region”

Source: Colombo Telegraph (Sri Lanka)

Sri Lanka is set to start a survey to determine the number of people killed during the country’s 26-year civil war, the government says.

The census will collect information on deaths, missing people and damage to property from 1983 to 2009, it said.

It comes amid international pressure over allegations of mass civilian deaths at the end of the conflict.

A Commonwealth summit held in Sri Lanka this month was overshadowed by claims of war crimes.

Continue reading :>>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25132674

Source: BBC

Sri Lanka on Thursday said it had “nothing to hide” as it began compiling a death toll from its war against Tamil separatists, AFP reported today.

“The government has nothing to hide,” Public Administration Ministry Secretary P.B. Abeykoon told a press conference on Thursday. “A lot of people have come out with various accusations with their own figures. We will come out with the real facts,” he added.

The president announced the start of the census on his website in a brief statement on Wednesday evening. The statement said the department of census and statistics would conduct what it called an “island-wide census to assess the loss of human life and damage to property”, adding that work would begin on 28 November, the AFP said

Asked about the claims of 40,000 civilian deaths, Abeykoon said the census showed the government’s determination to seek the truth. “Why should we go for a census if we have anything to hide? We are trying to get a clear picture for ourselves,” he said.

D.C.A. Gunawardena, the head of the census department, told reporters that his teams would try to determine the numbers of dead, missing, or maimed by the conflict as well as the extent of property damage. “The public will be asked to substantiate the claims of deaths, missing and property damage,” he said at the launch alongside Abeykoon.

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

The construction work on the northern expressway linking Colombo to Kurunegala, Dambulla and Kandy, will begin in January, Minister Nirmala Kotalawala said yesterday.

Under the first phase, the proposed expressway will be linked to the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway and will extend up to Kurunegala via Ederamulla and Meerigama, and then extended up to Katugastota in Kandy. The next phase will be the construction of the highway up to Dambulla.
Mr. Kotalawala, who is the Project Minister of Highways, told Daily Mirror that the expressway would be constructed in three stages under the concept ‘Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) with financial assistance from China.

“We will start work in January. We will also open the Galle-Matara stretch of the southern expressway in January. Simultaneously with this opening ceremony, we will start work on extending it up to Hambantota,” he said.

The minister said another expressway had been proposed between Bandaragama and Ratnapura while the stretch of the outer circular road up to Kaduwela would be commissioned in January. (Kelum Bandara)

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

UNP MP Mangala Samaraweera has written to Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma accusing him of concealing some information ahead of the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka.

Samaraweera told Parliament today that in his letter to Sharma he had accused the Commonwealth chief of concealing information in the face of objections by some powerful members in the Commonwealth on holding the 2013 summit in Colombo.

The UNP MP said that among the information concealed by Sharma was a report on the impeachment of former Chief Justice Shirani Banadaranaike.

“The commonwealth summit was held in Sri Lanka after concealing all this information,” he said adding that the Commonwealth has lost integrity.

He also said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa is not suitable to hold the post of Chairman of the Commonwealth for two years.

The comments by the UNP MP however drew strong objections from the government benches in parliament.

Source: Colombo Gazette (Sri Lanka)

The government has spent a whopping Rs 15.8 billion on the recently concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), opposition charged in Parliament yesterday. Spending money of this magnitude for a meeting of this nature should have some sense of proportion where 54 Mercedes Benzes were imported for the 54 Heads of Governments, but only 21 arrived, Colombo District United National Party (UNP) MP, Ravi Karunanayake, speaking during the budget debate said.

“This is the amount the government has spent and we want them to come clean about these expenses, which include Rs 5 billion for the limousines and the other expenses include the roads and other infrastructure developments, the payment of hotel bills and all other related expenses,” Karunanayake told Ceylon Today on the sidelines of the budget debate.

He also said hosting an international meeting such as CHOGM and the Commonwealth Business Forum was good, but, effectively the businessmen who arrived were not the businessmen from the Commonwealth, but from China!

He also blamed the government for getting commercial loans at high interest rates of 6% and 7%, which were also associated with the NDB Bank’s Dollar Bond issue and others, whereas the concessionary loans that the UNP got during its short-lived government of 2001 was only at 0.5% interest.

It is indeed sad that the government was spending 41% of its revenue on repaying loans and now it has risen to 43%,” he alleged.

Karunanayake also said President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s budget speech did not outline the strategies to explain the revenue proposals, but the document which was placed before Parliament yesterday was only about government expenses. “It is now the services sector which is bringing in 62% of the revenue, but the President did not spell out the strategies to bridge the Rs 11 billion budget deficit. It was the bad management of the economy which has led to the higher call rates for mobile phones, higher prices for petrol and also the higher interest on bank loans.

“The government has claimed there is a Rs 20 billion decrease in the expenses of the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development, but the actual statistics show something different.

“The government’s Rs 1 billion proposal for a Farmers’ Pension scheme can cater to only 69,000 farmers, but there are 6.9 million farmers in the country, which means the government should have provided Rs 6 billion for the farmers’ pension funds.

“Though the government has claimed the public servants have been assured of additional allowances, the increment does not match the inflation rate. “The government has allocated

Rs 6,700 million for education, which was a mere 1.3% of the budget, but a UNP government would have increased to around 4% of the budget.”

Karunanayake also debunked the government’s claim of Rs 3,100 per capita income, which he said, would have shown that each employee should have received Rs 31,000. But, the reality is that there are employees who are barely drawing Rs 20,000 per month, he pointed out.

“It is absurd for the government to pay the expatriates a mere 2.5% interest on Non Resident Foreign Currency Accounts when the government was paying 9-10% on foreign loans,” he charged.

Commenting on the Hambantota Port, Karunanayake said the government’s revenue was only Rs 200 million from the 140 ships that docked there to date, but the annual loan and the interest component was Rs 6.8 billion.

By Ravi Ladduwahetty
Source: Ceylon Today(Sri Lanka) 

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, on Wednesday, invited Pope Francis to visit Sri Lanka. He made the invitation on behalf of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Sri Lankan mission in Geneva, issuing a statement, quoted the Defence Secretary as having told the Pope that Sri Lanka was keen to explore further avenues to strengthen and consolidate relations between the Holy Sea and Sri Lanka.

Full text of the statement: His Holiness Pope Francis received Secretary of Defence  Gotabhaya Rajapaksa at an audience in the Vatican on Wednesday. Mr. Rajapaksa, who visited the Vatican as the Special Envoy of His Excellency the President, conveyed to Pope Francis an invitation from President Mahinda Rajapaksa to visit Sri Lanka in the near future.

During his visit, the Secretary also paid courtesy calls on dignitaries of the Vatican City State. Rajapaksa appreciated efforts by the Holy See to promote world peace, disarmament, interfaith dialogue and dialogue among civilisations. He said that as a nation that has been blessed with a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural social fabric, and more importantly as a country that was coming out of a long period of conflict, Sri Lanka valued the strength that comes from the unity of the diverse communities in Sri Lanka. After almost thirty years of suffering, Sri Lanka had embarked upon a new era of development and reconciliation for all its people and looked upon the international community for encouragement and support.

Source: The Island (Sri Lanka)

The Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Sampath Vidanapathiranage and five others today pleaded not guilty before the Colombo High Court to the killing of British tourist Khuram Sheikh Zaman and sexually assaulting his partner Victoria Alexandrovna at a Tangalle holiday resort, and were released on the previous bail granted by the Tangalle Magistrate Court.

The Court Mudaliyar read over seventeen charges indicting the suspects. Judge Ms Wickramasinghe fixed the trial for December 2.

The suspects were sternly warned to abide by the bail conditions and not to interfere with the 16 witnesses. The case that was heard in Tangalle was transferred to Colombo on the instructions of the Attorney General.

In an earlier identification parade held in the Tangalle Magistrate’s Court, the witnesses lined up identified the suspects including the Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman (UPFA) Sampath Vidanapathirana as involved in the killing of 32-year-old Khuram Shaikh Zaman.

However, Victoria Alexandrovna who was sexually assaulted and injured during the incident failed to identify any of the suspects.

The others suspects who were  identified at the parade  were the PS Chairman’s private secretary Mohottige Saman, Nalagama Praveen Chaturanga, Saman Deshapriya and Obada Arachchige Lahiru Kelum, the  driver Weerakoon Piyadasa Ratnayake and a field officer of the National Housing Development Authority.

Khuram, a Red Cross physical rehabilitation manager working in the war-torn Gaza Strip, was brutally murdered while mediating a quarrel between locals, some of whom were heavily intoxicated. He died as a result of a deep stab wound. Khuram’s body was flown to Britain for a family funeral.

State Counsel Thusith Mudalige prosecuted and President’s Counsel Kalinga Indatissa defended the suspects.(T. Farook Thajudeen)

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

The United National Party (UNP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) have decided to boycott today’s budget speech, sources said.

UNP sources said the party was boycotting the budget speech while JVP MP Vijitha Herath pointed out that the budget speech would be full of false promises like last year.

“Therefore we have decided to stay away from the budget speech but we will participate in the budget debate and highlight the issues that affect the masses,” MP Herath said.

Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්‌ඩලයීය සමුළුවට පැමිණි රාජ්‍ය නායකයන් අපේ රටේ දියුණුව සහ සුන්දරත්වය වගේම ආගන්තුක සත්කාර පැසසුමට ලක්‌ කරමින් කථා කළ බව ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ඊයේ (18 වැනිදා) සවස සඳහන් කළේය.

එම රාජ්‍ය නායකයන් ඒ අයුරින් කථාකරන විට මට මගේ රට පිළිබඳව ආඩම්බරයක්‌ දැනුණු බවද ජනාධිපතිවරයා කීය.කොළඹ අඩු ආදායම්ලාභී පවුල් සඳහා දෙමටගොඩ ප්‍රදේශයේ ඉදිකරන ලද නිවාස පන්සීයකින් යුත් මිහිඳු සෙන්පුර මහල් නිවාස සංකීර්ණය විවෘත කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව පැවැති උත්සව අවස්‌ථාව අමතමින් ජනාධිපතිවරයා එසේ පැවසීය.

අපිට දොස්‌ පැවරූ උදවියත් රටින් පිටත්වී යැමට පෙර රටේ පැහැදිලිව දැනෙන දියුණුවක්‌ සිදුවී තිබෙන බව සඳහන් කළේ යෑයි ද ජනාධිපතිවරයා මෙහිදී පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.
අපට යුද අපරාධ නගමින් ජාත්‍යන්තරයේ වැරදි මතයක්‌ ගොඩනැඟීමට උත්සාහ දැරීම දවල් සිහිනයක්‌ පමණක්‌ යෑයි ද ජනාධිපතිවරයා පැවසීය.

එම නිවාසලාභීන් කලින් සිටි මානසිකත්වයෙන් මිදී වෙනත් විදියට සිතන්නට පුරුදු විය යුතු බවත්, ඔබේ දරුවනුත් වෛද්‍යවරු, තාක්‍ෂණ ශිල්පීන්, ඉංජිනේරුවන් වනවා දැකීම අපේ අරමුණ යෑයි ද පැවසූ ජනාධිපතිවරයා ඊට අවශ්‍ය පරිසරය අපි මේ සකසන්නේ යෑයි වැඩිදුරටත් පැවසීය.

ලබන වසරේ නොවැම්බර් වන විට මෙවැනි දුප්පත් පවුල් වෙනුවෙන් කොළඹ නගරයේ නිවාස විසිදහසක්‌ ඉදිකරන බවද ජනාධිපතිවරයා පැවසීය.

මහින්ද චින්තන ඉදිරි දැක්‌ම වැඩපිළිවෙළේ සැමට නිවසක්‌ යන තේමාව යටතේ රාජ්‍ය ආරක්‍ෂක හා නාගරික සංවර්ධන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ මගපෙන්වීමෙන් මෙම නිවාස සංකීර්ණය ඉදිකරන ලදී.

ඇමැතිවරුන් වන ඩලස්‌ අලහප්පෙරුම, ඒ. එච්. එම්. µවුසි, විමල් වීරවංශ යන මහත්වරුන් ද කථා කළ අතර ඇමැතිවරුන් වන බැසිල් රාජපක්‍ෂ, සුසිල් ප්‍රේම්ජයන්ත යන අය ද සහභාගි වූහ.

Source: Divaina (Sri Lanka)

David Cameron has defended his decision to attend the Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka, saying his duty was to “deal with, not ignore” controversial issues.

In a statement to Parliament, the prime minister said a process of “justice, closure and healing” was needed in the country after decades of civil war.

Sri Lanka must begin an inquiry into alleged war crimes by March or face international intervention, he said.

But Ed Miliband said the UK government “could not let the matter rest”.

The Labour leader questioned whether Mr Cameron had been right to attend after a boycott by the Canadian and Indian leaders.

Continue Read: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24984942

Source: BBC 

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්‌ඩලයීය සමුළුව කොළඹදී පැවැත්වීම තුළින්ම ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය කෙරෙහි ඔවුනගේ ඇති නැඹුරුව වඩාත් හොඳින් ප්‍රකට වන බව ඔස්‌ටේ්‍රලියානු අගමැති ටෝනි ඇබර්ට්‌ මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව බොහෝ අර්බුදවලට මුහුණදුන් රටක්‌ වන නමුත් ඔවුන්ගේ අද දවස යහපත්වී ඇති බවත් එනිසාම හෙට දවස වඩා යහපත් වනු ඇතැයි තම බලාපොරොත්තුව බවත් ඔස්‌ටේ්‍රලියානු අගමැතිවරයා ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටියේය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පසුගිය කාලයේ ලබා ඇති ජයග්‍රහණ පිළිබඳ සෙසු රටවල් ඔවුන්ට ආශීර්වාද කළ යුතු බවත් ඔස්‌ටේ්‍රලියානු අගමැතිවරයා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

ඔස්‌ටේ්‍රලියානු අගමැතිවරයා මේ කරුණු ප්‍රකාශ කළේ 22 වැනි පොදු රාජ්‍ය මණ්‌ඩලයීය මහ සමුළුව අමතමිනි.

Source: Divaina (Sri Lanka)