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‘Cormorant Strike IX - 2018', the joint mega Tri-Service Field Training Exercise (FTX), organized by the Sri Lanka Army for the 9th consecutive year will kick off on 6 September with a record participation of more than 100 foreign military participants and observers, in addition to 2500 Army personnel, 400 Sailors and 200 Airmen, a Media Conference, held on Tuesday (28) at the Sri Lanka Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (SLEME) auditorium was told by Major General Niyshshanka Ranawana, Commander, Security Forces, Kilinochchi on behalf of the Commander of the Army.

Over the years, this Field Training Exercise has evolved as one of the most consistent and comprehensive training Exercises which transfers and shares invaluable military experience and knowledge in a multinational milieu for the benefit of future military aspirants in the next generation and the foreign military participants, the Commander declared.

It will continue until 26 September 2018 covering the Eastern, Central, Western and North Central Provinces and provides a catalyst to build the capacity of Special Operations Forces (SOF) of the Army and formulate a theoretical framework for the employment of SOF, he added.

This year’s Exercise portrays counter-insurgency scenario with the influence of asymmetrical warfare which has turned out to be the common approach among most non-state actors, extremist groups and appears to be the most likely national and international security threat in the 21st century, Major General Niyshshanka Ranawana said.

The Exercise largely focuses on joint planning and coordination, pre-engagement training, staff functions, real-time role play and execution of special operations within the given framework.

Exercise setting has been developed under the guidance of the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayaka and under the close supervision of the Exercise Director, Major General Niyshshanka Ranawana, Commander, Security Forces, Kilinochchi and a special committee.

The Exercise will start from the mock Operational Headquarters at Minneriya on Thursday (6 September) after a brief induction ceremony and Brigadier Krishantha Gnanaratne and Colonel Vipula Ihalage serve as Deputy Directors of the Exercise, ‘Cormorant Strike IX - 2018'

Using SOF tactics, Infantrymen that include Commandos, Special Forces, Air Mobile and Mechanized Infantry Regiment troops of the Army, Sailors and Airmen would actively participate in this Exercise. The SOF will deploy troops under command on special operations tactics, techniques and procedures in the Operational Framework (Deep, Close and Rear) during the Exercise.

Foreign military participants and observers from Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, France, Japan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Sudan, Turkey, UK, USA and Zambia have so far confirmed their participation. Through execution of 20 special operations missions, the participants are expected to stick to above-mentioned core tasks.

The Field Training Exercise terminates with the ‘Critical Engagement’ on September 26 at Kuchchaveli. This is planned as a joint operation against opposing force stronghold supported by Naval, Air Task Forces and Mechanized Infantry troops. The de-brief of the Exercise will take place on completion of the Critical Engagement on 27 September 2018.

The Commander of the Army maintains that Sri Lanka Army, having defeated the world’s most ruthless terrorist outfit should sustain the status quo and be always well –geared to take on any future challenges against the country or her people as defenders of the nation.

Former Director of Military Intelligence and Chief of Staff of the Army, Major General Amal Karunasekara, has been further remanded until September 10.

Mount Lavinia Magistrate’s Court ordered for him to be remanded again when the case was taken up today (27).

He was arrested by the CID on in April this year, in connection with the abduction and assault of the former Deputy Editor of The Nation newspaper Keith Noyahr on may 22, 2008 in Dehiwala.

Project Management, Youth Affairs and Southern Development Minister Sagala Ratnayaka, addressing the 3rd Indian Ocean Conference in Vietnam this morning (28), called for 'Oceanic Good Governance' in the region and said Sri Lanka was engaging in initiatives with regional players who have major economic stakes in the Indian Ocean.

"Sri Lanka is also pushing to further integrate with the world by undertaking reforms to facilitate trade and encourage productive foreign investments," the Minister said in his speech. 

"Sri Lanka has a clear vision of what the country wants to be in the world today. It is repositioning itself to optimize its relationship with its neighbours and other partners, to leverage its geostrategic position and make it a hub of the Indian Ocean," he also added. 

Explaining Sri Lanka's position on the matter, the Minister said, "Sri Lanka's strategy is to leverage investments to boost its industries such as tourism, expand its manufacturing base, and safeguard its main exports: such as garments and tea.  Accordingly, the Indian Ocean region plays a critical role in driving the global economy, and it will play an even more important role in the future.

The Minneriya National Park has been temporarily closed after wildlife officers were attacked by villagers last night (26). A group of unidentified individuals has attacked the officers of Minneriya National Park attached to Wildlife Conservation Department and taken away a suspect who had been in the custody of the officers.

Sources say over 100 people had descended on the park to carry out the attack. 

Six wildlife officers have been admitted to Habarana hospital following sustaining injuries and are receiving treatment. Reportedly, the wildlife officers had arrested the suspect for engaging in fishing activities without a license and was to be produced before the Hingurakgoda Magistrate’s Court today (27). Habarana police is conducting further investigations regarding the incident.

The police in Kottayam, Kerala were alarmed as a caravan of trucks bearing flags similar to that of the Tamil terrorist group LTTE arrived there with flood relief material, reported Indian Media. Raising fear, the vehicles had a banner with the picture of the late Velupillai Prabhakaran, who headed the lethal terror outfit which was once active in Sri Lanka.
 
The cops questioned the volunteers and sent them back as they realised the latter were members of the Tamil nationalist party Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), headed by Seeman a filmmaker and actor in Tamil Nadu.
 
The NTK members had off-loaded relief materials at the Armed Reserve Police Camp in Kottayam town on August 25 evening, prompting several officials including the Additional District Magistrate to reach the spot.
 
They were questioned in detail at Kottayam East police station. They revealed that they had earlier distributed relief materials at camps in Idukki and Munnar too last week.
 
The activists, who belong to Madurai, Theni, Kambam and Kumily, had arrived here in 25 vehicles loaded with relief materials. Though the materials they delivered were examined by the bomb detection and disposal squad and sniffer dogs, nothing suspicious were found. Food items were later sent for tests.
 
Source: Manorama Online

Minister of Housing and Construction Sajith Premadasa has raised suspicions regarding the announcement of a railway strike to coincide with the launch of the Government’s Enterprise Sri Lanka and Gamperaliya rural development programmes on August 29.
 
According to Premadasa, elements from the opposition are attempting to disrupt various development projects initiated by the Government. “It is their stooges that have pushed the railway union to announce this strike,” he said.
 
The Minister made these comments yesterday while handing over the new ‘Muthumari Nagar’ model village to the public in Muttur, Trincomalee. It is the 110 model village constructed to provide housing under the ‘Semata Sevana’ program initiated by the Ministry of Housing and Construction.
 
According to the Minister, while the opposition has announced a protest on September 5 in a futile bid to topple the government, the government will hand over yet another 100 similar model villages on the same day.
 
“Many parties are trying to label the housing projects a failure,” Premadasa said adding that these were merely malicious attempts to create a negative image regarding the services being rendered by the government. 
Source : Sunday Observer

Kazuyuki Nakane, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, will visit Sri Lanka from 28 to 30 August, stated the Japanese Embassy in Sri Lanka.

The State Minister will participate in the commissioning ceremony of the patrol vessels donated from Japan to Sri Lanka under the Grant Aid of Government of Japan, to be held on 29 August at the Colombo Port.

In addition, during his stay, Nakane will call on Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister, and hold meetings with other government leaders to further promote bilateral relations between the two countries. 

At the aforementioned ceremony, two patrol vessels will be handed over to Sri Lanka Coast Guard, which will be utilized to improve maritime safety and strengthen control of the maritime borders of Sri Lanka. The expectation of this visit is to help further consolidate the “Comprehensive Partnership” between Japan and Sri Lanka, according to the Japanese Embassy in Sri Lanka.

n a bid to take the culture of entrepreneurship to the rural villages, improve livelihoods and usher in prosperity, the Government is planning to conduct a series of awareness campaigns islandwide to facilitate the implementation of the recently launched interest subsidised loan scheme, ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’. The expositions will also educate the public on the Government’s recently launched accelerated rural infrastructure investment scheme, Gamperaliya Sanwardana Sangrama, another key highlight of the Government’s hallmark future economic development policy programme, ‘Vision 2025’.

In this regard, the Ministry of Finance and Mass Media will conduct the first major exhibition in Moneragala this week from August 29 -31 and roll out several village-level infrastructure projects parallel to the exposition under the patronage of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

“We selected Moneragala because it is one of the poorest regions in the country and many people would benefit from the programme that we will do including the ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’ scheme. Additional resources for the Gamperaliya programme would be allocated in the next Budget,” Minister of Finance and Mass Media, Mangala Samaraweera announced at a press conference on Monday.

According to the Minister, the event will comprise 515 stalls and draw the participation of about 204 persons from the corporate sector including those from abroad. Special bus services will be operated for the exhibition.

‘The Enterprise Sri Lanka’ initiative, launched in July this year, with an allocation of over Rs. 5.2 billion comprises 16 credit financing schemes under three categories - interest subsidy loan scheme, donor-funded refinance loan scheme and financial and non-financial support programme. A total of 11 loan schemes offered under the interest-subsidy scheme include Ran Aswenna, Govi Navoda, Riya Shakthi, Rivi Bala Savi, Diri Saviya, Jaya Isura, Sondura Piyasa, Madya Aruna, Arambuma Credit Scheme, ‘Green Loan’ and ‘Middle Income Housing Loan Scheme’.

The donor funded refinance loan scheme consists of three categories (Rooftop Solar Power Generation Project, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Line of Credit Project and Pavithra Ganga Initiative) while there are two other financial and non-financial support programme.
“The objective of the programme is to support young entrepreneurs in villages and strengthen their small businesses by providing capital on easy terms through Sri Lanka’s state owned banks. The loan schemes address financing needs of small scale farmers, agro and fish processing establishments, poultry producers, potential home and vehicle buyers, women and youth,” a senior official from the Fnance Ministry pointed out.

According to him, all state banks and branches have set up a special desk and ‘Relationship Manager’ to handle Enterprise Sri Lanka loans.On the other hand, Gamperaliya is a fast-track rural development programme aimed at developing irrigation, rural roads, schools, sanitary facilities, playgrounds, Sathi Pola, green parks, electricity, renovation of religious and archaeological sites and housing. With an investment of Rs. 65.8 billion, the Gamperaliya scheme will be the primary focus of the Government’s economic agenda over the next two years. Accordingly, the Government has set aside Rs 200 million per electorate for the next four months and intends to inject more money into the rural economy particularly for the development of rural roads, rural markets, and other public work under this programme me me , Minister Samaraweera said.

“The Government hopes to provide close to Rs 32 billion for the Gamperaliya programme for the next four months.Budget 2019 to be presented to Parliament in November will also provide more funds to make this project a success in the coming years,” Minister Samaraweera told journalists at the media briefing on Monday.

Meanwhile, Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development, Wijith Wijayamuni Zoysa explained the rationale behind selecting Moneragala as the first venue for Enterprise Sri Lanka and Gamperaliya exhibition. He said that as the district is suffering from acute poverty levels, the Government intends to take development to the grass roots by empowering people in that region.“The Government has understood the needs of a new breed of young entrepreneurs and has put in place the necessary financial frame work to support them.

‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’ will be an ideal platform to create a conducive environment with fair and equal opportunities for budding local entrepreneurs to contribute to the country’s development,” he pointed out. Also taking part in the media briefing, Minister of Public Administration and Management, Law and Order Ranjith Maddumabandara said the exhibition would rejuvenate Wellassa.

“Entrepreneurship is something that is in our DNA. During the pre and post-colonial period, Sri Lanka had maintained robust global trade and entrepreneurial engagement with the rest of the world,” the Minister said.He added that the Government has embarked on an ambitious development revolution based on two important pillars, ‘democracy and reconciliation’.

The second and third editions of ‘Enterprise Sri Lanka’, Gamperaliya exhibition are slated to be held in Anuradhapura and Jaffna.

Minister of Home Affairs Wajira Abeywardena has issued a special gazette notification on August 23 amending the extraordinary gazette notification issued that was issued in June declaring the holidays for the year 2019 to add three more holidays.

Accordingly Minister of Home Affairs has declared three additional Bank Holidays on April 15, May 20 and November 11 in 2019.

In 2019, the Sinhala and Tamil New Year on April 14 as well as the Vesak Poya Day on May 19 and Prophet Muhammad's Birthday (Milad un Nabi ) on November 10, fall on Sundays.

Accordingly, the Mondays after the three holidays have been declared as Bank Holidays. (Colombo Page)

The ‘Colombo Defence Seminar - 2018,’ is set to begin at the BMICH in Colombo on Thursday (August 30). The two-day international defence conference, 8th in its sequence will be held under the theme, ‘Security in an Era of Global Disruptions’.

The conclave, organize by the Sri Lanka Army is expected to be attended by about 800 foreign and local participants including 14 local and 13 foreign speakers.

Thematic discussions on ‘Demographic Transformation & Implications on Security’, ‘Technological Disruptions’, ‘Human-Induced Climate Change’ and ‘Political Extremism’ themes with close focus on ‘Human Factors & Homeland Security’, ‘Global Challenge of Internal Displacement’, ‘Urban Security in the 21st Century’, ‘Cyber Conflicts & Future Power’, ‘Social Media & Authenticity: Global Security Challenges’, ‘Artificial Intelligence & Autonomous Weapons’, ‘Role of the Military in Response & Mitigating Strategies (Regional Perspective)’, ‘Role of the Military in Response & Mitigating Strategies (Global Perspective)’, ‘Climate Geo - Engineering: Challenges & Opportunities’, ‘Role Played by Violent Non - State Actors’, ‘Ideological Polarization’, ‘Destabilizing the International System’, ‘Diaspora Communities Amidst & Conflict’, ‘Technological Creativity: Challenges to Armed Forces’, ‘Climate Change: Future of Warfare’ and ‘Leadership in Mitigating Violent Extremism’ will be conducted during the two day period of the conference.

Representatives from Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, Chile, Canada, Egypt, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Kenya, Korea, Maldives, Mozambique, Netherland, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Spain, Sweden, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, UK, Ukraine, USA, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe have confirmed their participation at this year’s event.

Source : Sri Lanka Army

The Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) has banned politicians from attending events at any university in the country. According to IUSF Convener Lahiru Weerasekara, no politico will be allowed to attend events in universities going forward unless the issues in universities are resolved. 

Weerasekara has also said that the IUSF will take measures to hand over a letter to the Indian High Commission requesting them to not invite local politicians for an event to be held at the University of Ruhuna. The letter will be handed over today (27) Weerasekara said.

A new organization has been formed to promote Former Secretary of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the next Presidential candidate.

The group called Patriotic Professionals Forum has now commenced a multi-platform media campaign as a result. Sources say the group is being funded by donors from abroad.