Sri Lanka Squad Named for England Test Tour - Malinga & Mathews Excluded Due to Injuries !

Sri Lanka squad: 1 Tillakaratne Dilshan (capt), 2 Tharanga Paranavitana, 3 Lahiru Thirimanne, 4 Kumar Sangakkara, 5 Mahela Jayawardene, 6 Thilan Samaraweera, 7 Dinesh Chandimal, 8 Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), 9 Thisara Perera, 10 Suraj Randiv, 11 Ajantha Mendis, 12 Rangana Herath, 13 Dilhara Fernando, 14 Chanaka Welegedara, 15 Suranga Lakmal, 16 Nuwan Pradeep.

Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews are not part of the Sri Lanka Test squad announced on Wednesday for the tour of England. Mathews is still recovering from a quad muscle injury that kept him out of the World Cup final and also the ongoing IPL. Malinga, meanwhile, has made himself unavailable for the Test matches, stating he is suffering from a knee injury.

Malinga last played a Test against India in the three-match home series last year, and even then he was rested for the second match. He has played only 30 Tests in a seven-year span, and has been sparingly used by Sri Lanka to keep him fresh for the shorter formats where he has proved far more effective.

The 16-member squad has four fast bowlers in Dilhara Fernando, Chanaka Welegedara, Suranga Lakmal and Nuwan Pradeep (Photo on Left). Seamer Nuwan Kulasekara, who played in Sri Lanka's previous Test series, against West Indies, is not part of the squad. While Lakmal impressed in his debut Test series against West Indies, uncapped Pradeep is known to have a slinging action resembling Malinga's. Thisara Perera is the bowling allrounder in the squad.





Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal (Photo on Left) have also received call-ups. Both are considered to be among the most promising Sri Lankan batsmen, and have already played ODIs. Chandimal debuted in the ODI tri-series in Zimbabwe last year as a wicketkeeper-batsman.


A vice-captain to Tillakaratne Dilshan, the newly-appointed captain, is yet to be announced. This will be Dilshan's first assignment as captain and will also be Sri Lanka's first overseas Test tour since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan. Their is a possibility that Thilana Samaraweera or Prasanna Jayawardena might be named as Vice Captain for the moment as they are the only other seniorr players other than Sanga and Mahela in the Sqaud.

The timing of the team's departure for the tour has been a subject of controversy as eleven Sri Lankan players, including former captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, are currently playing in the IPL and seven of them are in the squad for England. They were earlier asked by Sri Lanka Cricket to report to Colombo by May 5 five days before the team's departure for England. The move was criticised by Muralitharan, who said that the players had earlier expected to play in the IPL till May 20.

Teledrama Actress Udeni Nadeeka's Brothel Raided - Actress released Later on

The actress and her accomplice were arrested after the Mirihana anti corruption unit received a tipoff about running a brothel in Athurugiriya. The Kaduwela Magistrate court today (April 19) ordered to release teledrama actress Udeni Nadeeka Peries and another woman on a surety of Rs. 5,000. The Magistrate also ordered to release a car seized by police at the scene, on a bond of Rs. 50,000.
Udeni Nadeeka has played minor roles in several films and has also appeared in teledramas such as 'Kindurangana' and 'Situ Gedara'. She is to appear in future episodes of the popular teledrama 'Mila'.

UN mulls over crackdown in Yemen - Yemen Uprise Latest

Security Council discusses about Yemen amid growing international concern at continuing violence used against protesters.


Security forces in Yemen have killed at least four people and wounded hundreds more after opening fire on demonstrations in the capital Sanaa and the town of Taiz, as the UN met to discuss the crisis for the first time.


In Sanaa, four people were reportedly killed and nearly 100 wounded on Tuesday when riot police stopped protesters marching towards the capital's main Zubeiri street.


Protesters threw stones at riot police and set fire to a security vehicle, witnesses said.


An Al Jazeera producer reported that four female doctors who had been helping to treat injured protesters were taken away by security forces.


Tariq Numan, a doctor working at a field hospital outside Sanaa university, told Al Jazeera that "hundreds of injured people" were being treated at his facility following the violence.


He said that many had "severe injuries" that appeared to have been caused by gunfire.


"We are still receiving now from the streets tens more injured people," he said, adding that the facility was being overwhelmed by the number of casualties.


"The number is more than our abilities to cope [with]," he said.


In Taiz, south of the capital, at least one person was shot dead and another wounded after police opened fire when protesters burned tyres in the street.


Organisers of the Taiz protest said four people, including a newspaper photographer, had been arrested.


Pro-democracy protesters have been demanding for two months the resignation of Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president since 1978.


source - Al Jazeera

Libyan freedom fighters resist Ajdabiya assault - Libya Uprise Latest Update

Anti-dictator forces hold sway in key town but frontline fighters complain of lack of supplies and fear infiltrators



Freedom fighters in eastern Libya fought off an attack by blood thirsty Dictators troops in the town of Ajdabiya on Sunday, a day after retreating from a key oil facility around 100 kilometres farther west.


Forces loyal to longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi alias Butcher Of Libya advanced on Ajdabiya under a heavy artillery barrage in the morning and fought at close range with freeedom figters on the town’s southern outskirts before a counterattack forced them back, witnesses said.



On Saturday, with the help of NATO air strikes along the main coastal road, freeedom figters reached the outskirts of Brega, the site of a major oil and petrochemical port west of Ajdabiya.


But a sandstorm that began overnight hampered air cover, and by Sunday morning freeedom figters had retreated.


Dozens of civilian vehicles, many of them carrying families, fled Ajdabiya throughout the morning, and some freeedom figters also appeared to join the withdrawal.


Two fighters were injured in the battle, suffering superficial shrapnel wounds during the bombardment, but none were seriously injured or killed, doctors at Ajdabiya Hospital said.


In response to the advance by Gaddafi’s forces, the opposition Transitional National Council issued orders that casualties should no longer go to Ajdabiya Hospital and should instead be sent directly to Benghazi, the seat of the freeedom figters government around 160 kilometres to the north, the doctors said.


Some of the wounded already at the hospital were also evacuated. At least five ambulances with flashing lights and sirens blaring could be seen driving north out of Ajdabiya before noon.


Dozens of explosions from incoming artillery fire could be heard south of the town, and fighters said there were at least 100 blasts throughout the morning.

Thousands attend Syria protesters' funerals

Mourners call for overthrow of Dictator Assad a day after at least 30 demonstrators were killed by security forces.

Thousands of Syrians have attended the funerals for protesters killed in the central city of Homs, chanting slogans demanding the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, the country's president.





Rights activists say security forces killed at least 25 pro-democracy protesters in Homs on Sunday night as anti-government demonstrations flared across the country, claiming up to 30 lives.

"From alleyway to alleyway, from house to house, we want to overthrow you, Bashar," the mourners chanted, according to a witness at the mass funeral held for eight of the dead on Monday.

Al Jazeera's correspondent Rula Amin, in Damascus, reported that the situation in Homs was very tense.

"People are complaining that many of the wounded are not going to the hospital, they fear that the security forces will pick them up from their hospital bed," she said.

"There is also a shortage of blood according to the people we have been talking to.

T M Dilshan named captain for England tour - Vice captain yet to be named !

Tillakaratne Dilshan has been appointed Sri Lanka's captain for all three formats during the upcoming tour of England in May following Kumar Sangakkara's resignation from the post after the World Cup. Sri Lanka Cricket have not yet named a vice-captain to fill the role vacated by Mahela Jayawardene because "the prospective candidates are nursing injuries, and their availability for the forthcoming tour is still in question."


Dilshan's appointment ends the speculation over whether he, or 23-year-old allrounder Angelo Mathews, would be named as Sangakkara's immediate successor. Mathews is presently fighting to recover from a leg injury which he said could keep him out for eight weeks. Dilshan, 34, previously led Sri Lanka to a win in a triangular ODI series in Zimbabwe - the third team being India - in May-June 2010, apart from captaining the side in two Twenty20 internationals in 2008 and 2009. Presently with the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, Dilshan is coming off a rich vein of form in the World Cup, in which he topped the batting table with 500 runs from nine matches at 62.50.

Battles for Libyan cities rage on - Renewed push for oil port of Brega comes as Gaddafi regime denies using cluster bombs on the besieged city of Misurata.

Libyan rebels, seeking to overthrow long time leader Muammar Gaddafi, have advanced from Ajdabiya toward the oil port town of Brega in the country’s east.


Following NATO air strikes along the coastal road on Saturday, anti-Gaddafi forces said they had reached the edges of the oil town, bringing engineers with them to repair the damaged oil infrastructure.



But Gaddafi's troops remain consolidated within the city centre, said rebel fighters returning to Ajdabiya.


"We have people on the edge of Brega, we control that area only," said 20-year-old Mohammed el-Misrati.


"Nothing has changed inside Brega." 


The battle for territory in Libya's east left six anti-Gaddafi fighters dead and 16 wounded on Saturday.


"We were in our vehicles and they opened fire with rockets," said an injured fighter named Abdulrazek in Ajdabiya hospital.

Summary of Moon's advisory panel report - Allegations found credible by the Panel

The Panel’s determination of credible allegations reveals a very different version of the final stages of the war than that maintained to this day by the Government of Sri Lanka. The Government says it pursued a "humanitarian rescue operation" with a policy of "zero civilian casualties". In stark contrast, the Panel found credible allegations, which if proven, indicate that a wide range of serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law were committed both by the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, some of which would amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Indeed, the conduct of the war represented a grave assault on the entire regime of international law designed to protect individual dignity during both war and peace.


Specially the Panel found credible allegations associated with the final stages of the war. Between September 2008 and 19 May 2009, the Sri Lanka Army advanced its military campaign into the Vanni using large-scale and widespread shelling causing large numbers of civilian deaths. This campaign constituted persecution of the population of the Vanni. Around 330,000 civilians were trapped into an ever decreasing area, fleeing the shelling but kept hostage by the LTTE. The Government sought to intimidate and silence the media and other critics of the war through a variety of threats and actions, including the use of white vans to abduct and to make people disappear.


The Government shelled on a large scale in three consecutive No Fire Zones, where it had encouraged the civilian population to concentrate, even after indicating that it would cease the use of heavy weapons. It shelled the United Nations hub, food distribution lines and near the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) ships that were coming to pick up the wounded and their relatives from the beaches. It shelled in spite of its knowledge of the impact, provided by its own intelligence systems and through notification by the United Nations, the ICRC and others. Most civilian casualties in the final phases of the war were caused by Government shelling.

Dictator Gaddafi 'accepts' AU plan to end fighting - Latest Update of Libya Uprise

Terms of "road map" proposed by African mission unclear, including whether Libyan leader will pull troops out of cities.



Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, has accepted a "road map" for a ceasefire with rebels, according to a delegation of African leaders.


The announcement followed a meeting between the leaders and Gaddafi on Sunday in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, just hours after NATO air raids targeted his tanks, helping the rebels push back government forces who had been advancing quickly towards their eastern stronghold.


The African Union (AU) delegation was due to meet the rebels on Monday.


The terms of the road map were unclear, including the matter of whether it would require Gaddafi to pull his troops out of cities as demanded by the rebels.


"We have completed our mission with the brother leader, and the brother leader's delegation has accepted the road map as presented by us," Jacob Zuma, the South African president, said.


The AU mission, headed by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the Mauritanian president, arrived in Tripoli on Sunday.


Besides Zuma and Abdel Aziz, the delegation includes Amadou Toumani Toure, Denis Sassou Nguessou and Yoweri Museveni - respectively the presidents of Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.


Gaddafi made his first appearance in front of the foreign media in weeks when he joined the AU delegation at his Bab al-Aziziyah compound.


The committee said in a statement that it had decided to go along with a road map adopted in March, which calls for an end to hostilities, "diligent conveying of humanitarian aid" and "dialogue between the Libyan parties".


Speaking in Tripoli, Ramtane Lamamra, the AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, said the issue of Gaddafi's departure had come up in the talks but declined to give details.


"There was some discussion on this but I cannot report on this. It has to remain confidential," he said.


"It's up to the Libyan people to chose their leaders democratically."

Sri Lankan cricket team bus driver too RESIGNS - Who's Next !

Says time for a fresh start and a new direction

The Sri Lankan cricket team's premier bus driver has resigned from his post following the team's defeat to India in the World Cup final. The news comes in the wake of several high-profile resignations and retirements in Sri Lankan cricket, including captain Kumar Sangakkara, vice-captain Mahela Jayawardene, coach Trevor Bayliss, the selection panel headed by Aravinda de Silva, and all-round nice guy Muttiah Muralitharan.

Bus driver Keerthi Peiris said it was a logical time for him to step down as he did not see himself doing the job for much longer, and it made sense for Sri Lanka Cricket to find a long-term replacement looking forward to the 2015 World Cup.

"I'm almost 65 and my position at the front of the bus can't be guaranteed in four years' time, particularly with the amount of gunfire you have to avoid with this bunch, so it's time to pass the reins to someone younger," Mr Peiris said.