More deaths on Syria's 'day of defiance'

Up to 30 reportedly killed in the cities of Homs and Hama, as protesters around the country take to the streets.

Activists claim that up to 30 people have been killed in Syria where thousands have taken to the streets for another day of anti-government rallies, dubbed a "day of defiance". Human rights group Insan said that at least 16 people had been killed in the central city of Homs, six in Hama and two in Jableh. It said the total death toll was 26 but didn't specify where the other two deaths occurred.

A human rights activist told the Associated Press news agency that 30 people had died, while Syrian state television said an army officer and four police were killed in Homs by a "criminal gang".

Mobitel, the first in South Asia to successfully demonstrate LTE, achieving a data rate of 96 Mbps

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, the National Mobile Telecom Service Provider, announced today that it has carried out a successful trial of LTE (Long Term Evolution) Technology achieving speeds of up to 96 Mbps. Having launched the first Super-3.5G HSPA network in South Asia in December 2007, and subsequently carr

ied out trial of HSPA+, MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) with downlink speeds of up to 28 Mbps in 2009, another first in the region, Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel has broken the speed barrier even further to demonstrate broadband speeds of up to 96Mbps in downlink and 49Mbps in uplink using LTE technology, and setting another record in the region for the third consecutive time.

Mr. Nimal Welgama, Chairman Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel said, "Technology advances are among the key drivers that push outwards a country's Production Possibility Frontier catalyzing economic growth. As such, the National Mobile Telecom Service Provider, Mobitel has committed to embrace and offer the latest and the most advanced technologies that are needed for Sri Lanka's rapid development. We strongly believe that embracing latest ICT technologies like LTE will lay the most conducive infrastructure for other sectors to grow and blossom at a fast pace leading Sri Lanka towards a fully developed nation."

Gayle plays another Thundering Knock against King XI !

Royal Challengers Bangalore 205 for 6 (Gayle 107) beat Kings XI Punjab 120 for 9 (Aravind 4-14, Gayle 3-21) by 85 runs

Once every two years Bangalore hosts Aero India, the country's biggest air show, on the outskirts of the city. On Friday night, Chris Gayle took it upon himself to deliver a similar spectacle to the home crowd, which went ballistic while watching a flogging of a lifetime inflicted on Kings XI Punjab. As the deflated attack desperately sought mercy, Gayle celebrated his domination with a triumphant smile, propelling his team to a thumping fourth straight win with an unforgettable century that made a backyard out of the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Adam Gilchrist, cheery as ever, decided to field on a pitch that promised assistance to his four-pronged pace attack. While he met Gayle's onslaught with a look of awe and admiration, his bowlers were what they looked - stunned into submission. The early movement and a spate of hits and misses in the first couple of overs were the few signs of encouragement in an otherwise dispiriting innings.

Gayle targeted the straight boundary, rarely attempted any cross-bat heaves or slogs, and relied on brute strength, partly a consequence of what is known to be a fitness regime that's ever the aspiration of the healthier than normal. Ryan Harris was the first recipient of Gayle's treatment, as he clobbered two consecutive sixes over long-off and long-on in the fourth over.

Western Coalitions to create fund for Libya Freedom Fighters

Countries involved in military campaign pledge money to provide food, medicine and supplies to opponents of Gaddafi.

The NATO-backed coalition in Libya has said it will create a fund for rebels fighting the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

The Transitional National Council (TNC), based in Benghazi, has appealed for loans of up to $3bn, saying they need around half of that for food, medicine and other basic supplies.

Italy, host of Thursday's meeting in Rome of the Contact Group on Libya, said the temporary special fund would aim to channel cash to the opposition administration in its eastern Libyan stronghold.

Franco Frattini, Italy's foreign minister, said $250m were already available, while his French counterpart said the fund could be up and running within weeks.

But efforts to unblock Libyan state assets frozen in overseas accounts, or to allow the rebels to get past UN sanctions that prevent their selling oil on international markets, have been held up.

"We'll be discussing a financial mechanism, we'll be discussing other forms of aid," Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, said at a joint news conference with Franco Frattini, the Italian foreign minister.

"I will be formally announcing our non-lethal assistance so I think that there is an effort with urgency to meet the requests that the TNC is making," she said.

Loan rather than gift'

Clinton said the US government would try and free up some of the $30bn it has frozen in Libyan assets to help the TNC.

She said the administration of Barack Obama wants "to tap some portion of those assets owned by Gaddafi and the Libyan government in the United States, so we can make those funds available to help the Libyan
people".

Kuwait said it has pledged $180m and Qatar will put in $400-$500m, its prime minister said on Thursday.

However Britain has said it has no plans to contribute to the new fund because it had already made a "very substantial" contribution to humanitarian assistance.

Laurence Lee, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Rome, said it had been suggested that the money would not be a gift, but a loan from the coalition countries.

"One assumes that in the fullness of time this would be repaid by oil sales, which Qatar already started with one shipment of oil. And it may be able to be repaid relatively quickly.

He said the countries that recognise the rebel council, France, Italy and Qatar, are the ones with which the TNC will do business.

"The fact that it will be France and Italy that will be administing this fund is bound to lead some people to think that this is quite a good way of persuading a cash-strapped eastern Libya in Benghazi to accept a deal which is going to put oil and money into the hands of countries like France, Italy and Qatar.

"So although it looks like benevolence, there is a hard headed financial imperative that goes underneath it."

Mahmoud Shammam, chief spokesman for the TNC, has said the rebels urgently need $1.5bn to cover immediate running costs.

"We need this for medical supplies, for food supplies, to keep the minimum functions of normal life - electricity,
running hospitals etc," he said on Wednesday.

The rebels also want to press their cases for better weapons and equipment, Shammam suggested, saying that they are "hungry for basic arms."

The meeting of Libya Contact Group brought together foreign ministers from countries including France, Britain, the United States, Italy and Qatar as well as representatives of the Arab League and the African Union.

British officials said the Rome meeting would seek to impose new restrictions on arms smuggling and mercenaries operating within Libya, and hoped the contact group would work on action intended to restrict Gaddafi's exports of crude oil and his ability to import refined oil products.


Continuation of clashes

As the ministers met in Italy, fighting continued on the ground in Libya.

In Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, a rebel spokesman said NATO planes struck Gaddafi's forces and weapons depots west of the rebel-held town in two raids on Thursday.

"As far as we know, T-72 tanks, Grad missile launchers and heavy weaponry are kept in those depots," the spokesman, named Abdulrahman, told Reuters by telephone.

Earlier, Abdulrahman said pro-Gaddafi forces had fired about 50 Russian-made Grad rockets into Zintan on Thursday.

Near the border with Tunisia, a rebel fighter told Reuters there was intense fighting between rebels and pro-Gaddafi forces in the area of the village of Ghezaya.

 The village lies between the Dehiba-Wazin border crossing, which is in rebel hands, and the town of Nalut where residents said Gaddafi loyalists had been shelling rebel positions.

Rebels say they are preparing for an attempt by Gaddafi's forces to retake the crossing.

Late on Thursday a Tunisian security source said more than a dozen mortar rounds fired from Libya had landed near Dehiba, one of them near a reservoir supplying the town with drinking water.

Doubts about using Ban Ki-moon report in case Gotabhaya keeping a close watch on White Flag case

The Defence Secretary is suspicious over whether counsel for former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka would use the report by the panel of experts appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sri Lanka, in the controversial White Flag case filed against Fonseka by Mahinda's Regime, a senior official from the Attorney General's Department said.

The Defence Secretary has asked the Attorney General to be mindful of such a situation and to prevent such a scenario from taking place.

The White Flag case is mentioned in the panel report.
 
Although Fonseka was to make his statement in the White Flag case yesterday, it was postponed since his lead counsel, Attorney Nalin Ladduwahetti is currently overseas.

Gomez, Hodge and Mahela makes Kochi Tuskers Victorious

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 156 for 5 (Jayawardene 55, Unadkat 2-25) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 139 for 7 (Morgan 66, Gomez 2-14 by 17 runs. (Full Scorecard at the end of the article)

A disciplined performance in the field and an explosive 35 off 19 balls from Brad Hodge helped Kochi Tuskers overcome Kolkata Knight Riders in the last match at the Nehru Stadium this IPL season.Hodge's last over blitz, in which he took 21 runs off countryman Brett Lee, proved to be the difference between the two sides, as Kochi defended 156 by 17 runs. In the chase, RP Singh and Sreesanth failed to get the same kind of movement that Brett Lee extracted early in the Kochi innings. Jacques Kallis and Eoin Morgan didn't have to take many risks early on as there were many poor deliveries that were smacked to the boundary. In the first three overs, the bulk of the short and wide ones came from RP Singh.

R Vinay Kumar and Prasanth Parameswaran pulled back the chase before it raged out of control with a selection of back of a length deliveries that proved difficult to get away. Although they kept the boundaries down, they didn't trouble the batsmen much and failed to get a breakthrough until after the halfway stage, when Kolkata were well set. Kallis was the senior partner and easily outscored Morgan in that phase. Seven times in the first ten overs Kallis stole the strike at the end of the over.

Just as Kallis looked as though he had grown roots, Raiphi Gomez rattled Kolkata with a double strike in his second over. He bowled Kallis with a legcutter and had Gautam Gambhir caught in the covers off consecutive balls, which left Morgan to assume the senior role. Manoj Tiwary could not last long, and Yusuf Pathan was expected to counterattack, but he and Morgan were frustrated by Gomez's variations and Parameswaran's accurate fuller deliveries. Sreesanth let the noose loosen, giving Morgan back-to-back boundaries but Vinay Kumar was on hand to tighten it. Confusions between Morgan and Yusuf mounted in Vinay's last over, and Morgan was run out when both batsmen ended up at the wicketkeeper's end.



It brought Brett Lee to the crease, in poetic justice for the last over he bowled, which went for 21. There were 25 to get off the last over of Kolkata's innings. Lee was run-out and the task proved too steep.

Kochi's innings was anchored by a third-wicket partnership between Mahela Jayawardene and Michael Klinger before being given momentum at the death by Hodge. It didn't look as though Kochi would get over the 150-run mark, especially after the way things started. Lee's first over was a whole bag of peaches. He got impressive away movement and started the innings with a maiden.

Deccan Runs Out of Charge as Sewag gets overcharged !

Delhi Daredevils 179 for 6 (Sehwag 119, Ishant 2-16) beat Deccan Chargers 175 for 5 (Duminy 55, Sangakkara 44, Agarkar 2-29) by four wickets (Full Scorecard at the end of the article)

For a large part of his career, it was tough being Sachin Tendulkar. In the IPL, it's tougher being Virender Sehwag. After having watched his bowlers take wickets off no-balls and his fielders drop sitters, the Delhi Daredevils captain took his frustration out on the Deccan Chargers with a blistering century, his first in Twenty20s. The assault bettered his masterpiece against Kochi Tuskers Kerala, and stunned Deccan into offering him two chances. Unmindful of the complete lack of support from his team-mates, Sehwag cashed in and drowned Deccan in a flood of boundaries that took the bite out of a challenging total. The next highest score was James Hopes' 17.

Delhi's bowlers had been profligate in letting Deccan surge to 175, and their top order, barring Sehwag, let the pressure get to them. Aaron Finch, Naman Ojha and Venugopal Rao combusted against seam as Sehwag watched bemused from his end. From 25 for 3 in the sixth over, only Sehwag could have taken Delhi home, and he did it in some style, moving from 8 off 13 balls to 119 off 56, pushing Deccan to the brink of elimination.



Sehwag has made a career out of sticking to his guns regardless of the situation, and his approach today was no different. Two balls after Venugopal Rao top-edged a pull off Ishant Sharma, Sehwag shuffled across and glanced a boundary from the middle-stump line to fine leg. In the next over, Travis Birt struggled against Daniel Christian, getting beaten three times in four balls, as the asking-rate crossed eleven at by the end of seven overs.

Sehwag broke free in the next over, bowled by IPL debutant Ishan Malhotra. The first ball disappeared over deep square leg, the next over deep midwicket. Two more boundaries followed, as Sehwag looted 23 off the over. As if to dispel the notion that he had targeted just the newcomer, Sehwag plundered 13 off the next over, from Christian.

UNP Deputy Leader Hon. Sajith Premadasa Criticized Ra-NIL for violating the party constitution

The process of selecting the UNP National Organizer was in complete violation of the party constitution, UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa stated on May 4th.

He stated that the appointment should have been made by the Working Committee before April 12 while he added at a previous press conference that Ranjith Madduma Bandara's name was proposed for the position at the Working Committee meeting.

Hon. sajith Premadasa stated that the Leaders of the party , Ra-NIL was violating the party constitution blatantly while he condemned the act.

Ra-NIL, though he is a royalist, said to be a man who stabbs behind the back of those who are capable of making the party victorious and he is contiously making everything possible to protect his leadership by appointing Homo-type Individuals and Weak UNP MP's to post which are likely to cause any threat to his leadership. Ra-NIL also has no intension of toppling the dictators regime and he is now a bootlicker of Anti Democratic Mahinda.

3 key figures in Anti Democaratic Gaddafi's regime will have to face WAR Crimes for crimes against humanity in Libya

The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) has told the UN Security Council that he will seek three arrest warrants for crimes against humanity in Libya.

Charges against the three members of the Libyan government may include murder and unlawful detention, use of cluster bombs and rape as a weapon, Luis Moreno-Ocampo said on Wednesday.

The UN Security Council referred the Libyan violence to the ICC in February.

Moreno-Ocampo is investigating Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, some of his sons and aides over a "pre-determined plan" to attack protesters.

He did not, however, name the targets of the arrest warrants, which he said he will request in several weeks for crimes against humanity committed in Libya since February 15.

"Crimes against humanity have been and continue to be committed in Libya, attacking unarmed civilians including killings and persecutions in many cities across Libya," the prosecutor said in a statement.

The prosecutor added that he was also investigating the deaths of dozens of sub-Saharan Africans in the rebel capital of Benghazi by an "angry mob" who believed they were mercenaries for Gaddafi.

Khalid Kaim, the Libyan deputy foreign minister, dismissed the ICC allegations saying Moreno-Ocampo's report painted a partial picture.

"Any decision or any conclusion can Mr. Ocampo draw out of his visit to Benghazi and to Egypt will be just one party review or one party position," Kaim said.

"Of course, since we are not party of the ICC, we cannot invite Mr. Ocampo but instead of that we can invite another fact-finding mission from the [UN] Security Council."

Rape as a weapon

Moreno-Ocampo said there were allegations that Africans from other nations had been attacked in rebel territory because they were thought to be mercenaries.

Alleged criminal incidents include security forces opening live fire at unarmed peaceful protesters, using rape as well as "systemic arrests, torture, killings, deportations, enforced disappearances and destruction of mosques" as a weapon, according to the prosecutor's report.

While a precise number is hard to provide, up to 700 people were killed in February alone, the report said. Gaddafi estimates that "only 150 or 200" have been killed.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has said almost 40,000 people fled fighting in western Libya last month.

Mumbai Indians wins with allround performance once again - Pune getting closer and closer to the exit of the tournament

Mumbai Indians 160 for 7 (Suman 36, Rahul 2-7) beat Pune Warriors 139 for 7 (Pandey 59, Malinga 3-25) by 21 runs. (Score Card and Current Points table at the end of the article )

Pune Warriors and Mumbai Indians are geographically the two closest IPL franchises but they couldn't get any further from each other in the points table. Mumbai proved they are the best team in the tournament and reclaimed their position at the summit of the table by battering Pune at the DY Patil Stadium, whose freefall continued with a seventh successive loss that kept them firmly at the bottom.

Mumbai gave another demonstration of the depth of their batting talent, as two men who have had little batting time this season, T Suman and Kieron Pollard, fired them to a competitive total. Their brilliance undermined the efforts of the Pune spinners who had initially shackled Mumbai.

Yuvraj Singh, who has under-bowled himself in the IPL, removed the rocks at the top of the Mumbai batting, Sachin Tendulkar and Ambati Rayudu. Then, legspinner Rahul Sharma prised out two important wickets with the most economical spell of the season (4-0-7-2) to leave Mumbai at an insufficient 114 for 5 after 15 overs. Suman and Pollard, however, got stuck into the erratic Alfonso Thomas to lift Mumbai to a competitive score.

All-round Chennai cruise to fourth straight win

Chennai Super Kings 149 for 2 (Hussey 79*, Raina 61) beat Rajasthan Royals 147 for 6 (Dravid 66, Watson 32, Jakati 2-22) by eight wickets




Chennai Super Kings continued their dominance at home and eased to a fourth-successive win in conditions where power play took a backseat to opportunistic strokemaking, and stamina and steady consolidation was more crucial than short outbursts of runs. The sweltering Chennai heat and a slow pitch made it a tiring ordeal for batsmen, and it seemed at one stage that Rajasthan Royals, riding on the back of Rahul Dravid's fluent half-century, would have the better of the contest. But an inspired recovery from Chennai's faltering bowlers and a controlled approach to the chase from Suresh Raina and Michael Hussey set up Chennai's comfortable win - their fifth in five games at home this season.


The Rajasthan openers, Dravid and Shane Watson, had displayed excellent determination to occupy the crease and set a strong foundation to their team's innings. The pair ran well between wickets, rotated the strike, picked the gaps to scramble back for the twos, before Dravid took charge against the spinners. He pulled R Ashwin twice in an over to the midwicket fence, reverse-swept and punched Suraj Randiv for three fours in an over to different parts of the ground. The highlight of the first ten overs was his inside-out drive over extra cover off Shadab Jakati, as Rajasthan coasted to 86 in the first ten overs.

LankaeNews journalist Shantha Wijesuriya inhumanly attacked while in remand by Sri Lankan Prison Guard !

LankaeNews journalist Shantha Wijesuriya, who is currentlyy in the N Ward of the Mahara Prison in remand custody, has been inhumanlyassaultedd by a prison guard.

Wijesuriya has lodged a complaint with the chief jailer of the Mahara Prison that a prison guard called Chandralal had assaulted him in public for no reason when those in remand at the prison were being taken out from the ward. Lanka News Web learns that a majority of the inmates and jailers at the Mahara Prison have expressed their displeasure at the incident.

It has now been revealed that the arrest of the LankaeNews journalist Shantha Wijesuriya and
the temporary suspension of the website following a court order has been carried out according to the strategic plan of the government. Wijesuriya was remanded following an order by the Pugoda Magistrate on contempt of court charges over a story published in the website stating that Pugoda Magistrate Aravinda Perera had ignored a request made by the Attorney General to release the police personnel in custody over the death a person while in the Kirindiwela Police.
Wijesuriya is in custody till May 12.

Arctic ice melt 'alarming' - Ocean could be ice-free in summers within 40 years and sea levels could rise by 1.6 M by 2100 !

Ice in Greenland and the rest of the Arctic is melting dramatically faster than was earlier projected and could raise global sea levels by as much as 1.6 metres by 2100, says a new study.

The study released on Tuesday by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) said there is a "need for greater urgency" in fighting global warming as record temperatures have led to the increased rate of melting.

The AMAP report said the correspondending rise in water levels will directly threaten low-lying coastal areas such as Florida and Bangladesh, but would also affect islands and cities from London to Shanghai. The report says it will also increase the cost of rebuilding tsunami barriers in Japan.

"The past six years (until 2010) have been the warmest period ever recorded in the Arctic," said the report.

"In the future, global sea level is projected to rise by 0.9 metres to 1.6 metres by 2100 and the loss of ice from Arctic glaciers, ice caps and the Greenland ice sheet will make a substantial contribution," it added. The rises had been projected from levels recorded in 1990.



Dramatic rise from projections

In its last major study in 2007, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that sea levels were likely to rise by only between 18 and 59 centimetres by 2100, though those numbers did not include any possible acceleration due to a thaw in the polar regions.

The new AMAP assessment says that Greenland lost ice in the 2004-2009 period four times faster than it did between 1995-2000.

The AMAP is the scientific arm of the eight-nation Arctic Council.

Foreign ministers from council nations - the United States, Russia, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland -- are due to meet in Greenland on May 12, and will discuss the AMAP report's findings.

The report will first be discussed by about 400 international scientists at a conference this week in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"The increase in annual average temperature since 1980 has been twice as high over the Arctic as it has been over the rest of the world," the report said. Temperatures were higher than at any time in the past 2,000 years."

In its report, the IPCC had said that it was at least 90 per cent probable that emissions of greenhouse gases by human beings, including the burning of fossil fuels, were to blame for most of the warming in recent decades.

"It is worrying that the most recent science points to much higher sea level rise than we have been expecting until now," Connie Hedegaard, the European Climate Commissioner, told the Reuters news agency.

"The study is yet another reminder of how pressing it has become to tackle climate change, although this urgency is not always evident neither in the public debate nor from the pace in the international negotiations," she said.

UN talks on a global accord to combat climate change have been making slow progress, and the organisation says national promises to limit greenhouse gas emissions are now insufficent to avoid possibly catastrophic consequences of global temperature rises.

Arctic could be ice-free

The AMAP study, which drew on the work of hundreds of experts, said that there were signs warming in the Arctic was accelerating, and that the Arctic Ocean could be nearly free of ice in the summers within 30 or 40 years. This, too, was higher than projected by the IPCC.

While the thaw would make the Arctic more accessible for oil exploration, mining and shipping, it would also disrupt the livelihoods of people who live there, as well as threaten the survival of creatures such as polar bears.

"There is evidence that two components of the Arctic cryosphere - snow and sea ice - are interacting with the
climate system to accelerate warming," the report said.

The IPCC estimate was based largely on the expansion of ocean waters from warming and the runoff from
melting land glaciers elsewhere in the world.

The AMAP report says that Arctic temperatures in the past six years have been at their highest levels since measurements began in 1880, and the rises were being fed by "feedback" mechanisms in the far north.

One such mechanism involves the ocean absorbing more heat as a result of not being covered by ice, as ice reflects solar energy. While the effect had been predicted by scientists earlier, the AMAP report says that "clear evidence for it has only been observed in the past five years".

Temperature rises expected

It projected that average fall and winter temperatures in the Arctic will climb by roughly 2.8 to 6.1 degrees Celsius by 2080, even if greenhouse gas emissions are lower than in the past decade.

"The observed changes in sea ice on the Arctic Ocean, in the mass of the Greenland ice sheet and Arctic ice caps and glaciers over the past 10 years are dramatic and represent an obvious departure from the long-term
patterns," AMAP said.

"The changes that are emerging in the Arctic are very strong, dramatic even," said Mark Serreze, director of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, and a contributor to the report.

"But this is not entirely a surprise. We have known for decades that, as climate change takes hold, it is the Arctic where you are going to see it first, and where it is going to be pronounced," he said by phone.

Source ; Aljazeera

Ravi Karunanayke Appointed as the new UNP National Organizer

The UNP working comitee meeting to select a suitable person for the vacant post of National Organizer(Once SB left UNP and Joined UPFA Regime) was ended short while ago. It is reported that he was being appointed without going for any kind of voting and was confirmed by Party Secretary Tissa Attanayake.

The Colombo Destrict UNP Parlimenterian is a UNP heavyweight and faced severe problems when Chandrika was the President. He is one of the prominent UNP parlimenterians who critisize the anti democratic regime of Mahinda.

It was reported earlier that Ranjith Maddumma Bandara and Mangala Samaraweera too had an idea of contesting fot that post.

General Fonseka Congratulates American Forces for Terrorist Osama's Elimination

General Fonseka says it was an excellent work by American Forces in the mission of eliminating terrorist Osama Bin Laden. Also he said Barrack Obama was a real gentlemen and never put up banners or posters like what Mahinda (Lankan Leader) did once terrorism was eliminated by Sri Lankan Forces with Fonseka's Leadership (During the final stage of the war General FOnseka was not involved in it as he was on an overseas visit and direct orders were given by Mahinda according to his Regime)

He mentioned that he will stand up against sections in BanKi Moons Reports which are against the Sri Lankan Forces but will accept anti democratic facts mentioned their against anti democratic Mahinda's Regime. He finally said that he will work with the people seeking democracy to topple this anti democratic family regime of Mahinda.

He said these things when he was coming out of courts after  attending the ongoing court cases. ( which began after he decided to contest against Anti Democratic Leader of Sri Lanka)

US President Obama says world safer without Leader of Terrorist - Bin Laden

he US President has said the world is better and safer after the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Speaking at the White House on Monday, Barack Obama said bin Laden's death showed that the US had kept its commitment to seeing that justice was done.

Obama also praised the people gathered spontaneously at the White House and in New York to celebrate bin Laden's death, saying that embodied the true spirit and patriotism of America.

He plans to visit New York on Thursday to honour victims of the September 11, 2001 attack on the city and with the families of those killed.

Bin Laden claimed responsibility for planning the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Osama bin Laden, the most-wanted fugitive on the US list, was killed in a firefight with American forces in Pakistan and quickly buried at sea.

Long believed to be hiding in the mountainous tribal region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, bin Laden was tracked down to a custom-built mansion in the town of Abbottabad, 61km north of the capital Islamabad.

Confronted by US special forces who were dropped by helicopter into the compound, bin Laden was shot dead in a 40-minute operation under the cover of night, US officials said.

Crowds gathered to celebrate outside the White House in Washington, DC, as well as in New York City - one of the sites of the September 11 attacks.
But celebrations over the operation were tempered by fears of retaliation, and the US quickly issued security warnings to Americans worldwide.

The US said on Tuesday it was closing its embassy in Pakistan's capital and consulates in three other cities
for routine business to the public until further notice amid fears of reprisal attacks.

"A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability," Obama said.

"After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body."

Four people, including one of bin Laden's sons, were also killed in the operation, US officials said.

After the firefight, US officials said they used "multiple methods" to positively identify bin Laden's remains.

US officials said later on Monday that DNA tests confirmed the death, providing a match with 99.9 per cent confidence.

The US is believed to have collected DNA samples from bin Laden family members in the years since the September 11, 2001, attacks that triggered the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Osama bin Laden killed in Pakistan - US President Obama Confirms

US president confirms that al-Qaeda leader has been killed in operation in Pakistan and that his body is in US custody.

Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, is dead.

US president Barack Obama said bin Laden, the most-wanted fugitive on the US list, has been killed in a US operation in Pakistan.

"Tonight, I can report to the people of the United States and the world, the United States had carried an operation that has killed Osama Bin Laden, a terrorist responsible for killing thousands of innocent people," Obama said in a statement.

A US source told the Reuters news agency that bin Laden had been killed in a house outside Islamabad in a US operation. His body is apparently in the possession of the US.

Qais Azimy, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, said that Afghan officials have confirmed that bin Laden had died and that his body was with the United States.

The officials said the death of the al-Qaeda leader was more of a "symbolic victory", as he was no longer directly connected to the group's field operations, Azimy reported.


It is a major accomplishment for Obama and his national security team. Obama's predecessor, George Bush, had repeatedly vowed to bring to justice the mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, but never did before leaving office in early 2009.

He had been the subject of a search since he eluded US soldiers and Afghan militia forces in a large-scale assault on the Tora Bora mountains in 2001. The trail quickly went cold after he disappeared and many intelligence officials believed he had been hiding in Pakistan.

While in hiding, bin Laden had taunted the West and advocated his views in videotapes spirited from his hideaway.

Besides September 11, Washington has also linked bin Laden to a string of attacks -- including the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in Yemen.

Having the body may help convince any doubters that bin Laden is really dead.

Dutugemunu Mervyn falls from an Elepant while acting !

Public Relations and Public Affairs Minister Mervyn Silva had fallen from an elephant while acting role of King Dutugemunu on April 29 for film and his security personnel had immediately intervened to rescue the Minister from being harmed by the elephant who was excited by the incident, it is learnt.

The Minister had fallen from the elephant while shooting Suneth Malinga Lokuheva's film, Sihina Lovin Evilla in the Sigiriya area.

The security personnel had asked the media personnel who had visited the site to witness the shooting of the film to erase the photographs of the incident from their digital cameras.

The Minister had informed the cameramen the cameramen that if any of the photographs were published in the media he would locate the person responsible for it and take necessary measures against them.