7 Injured From LTTE Suicide Blast At Modara

A LTTE suicide carder blew himself while a group of Police personals trying to search a lodge in Aluth Mawatha, Modara this morning. This explosion has taken place at around 6.00am today and LTTE carder has been died from the incident. However a major disaster has been able to neutralise with the help of civilians.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) is a most dangerous terrorist organisation in the world and they are fighting for a separate land in the northern province of Sri Lanka. As they spread terrorism everywhere, hundreds of innocent people including Sinhalese,Tamils and Muslims become victims of LTTE's terrorist activities.

M Best Friend From Mobitel - An Opponent to Kit Double Of Dialog

At the mid of January of 2008, Dialog introduced a feature called Kit Double for it's pre paid users which enables subscriber to nominate another Dialog KIT number which belongs to the same user to get outgoing at 1 rupee per minute and SMS at 50 cents. Earlier Mobitel's cool 100 package also had the same feature. Now Mobitel has introduced it to Mobitel SMART users also but in a more broader and convenient way. In Mobitel M Best Friend service you are allowed to nominate any other Mobitel number which may even belong to some one else so that you can call that number at one rupee per minute and SMS at 50 cents per message. You do not need to pay any monthly rental for this service. One time setup fee of Rs 50 will be charged.
To activate Mobitel M Best Friend you have to type Mbestfriend#071xxxxxxx and send it to 7678

Sri Lanka's Longest Tunnel Declared Open

Ramboda tunnel which is the longest tunnel in Sri Lanka, declared open recently by His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapakshe and Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Kiyoshi Araki. Ramboda tunnel is 225meters long and was funded by the Government of Japan through the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and has implemented in collaboration with the Road Development Authority (RDA) of Sri Lanka.

SLT Gears Up To Roll Out an IPTV Service In Sri Lanka- Will It Be Another Day Dream Like SLT WiMax?

SLT Visioncom, a fully owned subsidiary of Sri Lanka Telecom will invest hundred million rupees to start an Internet Protocol Tele Vision (IPTV) service in Sri Lanka. IPTV is a method of delivering video content through Internet protocol (IP) rather broadband Internet. IPTV has several advantages over traditional or satellite TV services which are interactive and personalized viewing experience, IPTV based converged services and also video on demand (VOD).
IPTV is said interactive and personalized because it gives some unbelievable facilities that you never expected.Some examples are ability to search for your favourite TV program when you need, search for a particular movie by it's director,watch Sana's career records while you watch a cricket match or even you can change the angle of camera during that match. However some of these facilities are possible with some modern satellite services also.
Another useful feature is Video On Demand (VOD) which allows you to select a missed TV program or a film and watch it at your free time. But most probably it will be much expensive. IPTV based converged services are the other incentives that you will get through this service. On-Screen Caller ID is an example for these converged services. Actually they are value added services bundled with IPTV service.
Up to now I mentioned about the things out there. But surly this will not be the reality in Sri Lanka. Because broadband Internet is the critical factor for all above mentioned "dreams". At present SLT's 1.5 Gbps bandwidth is shared among it's 54000 broadband customers and 80 000 dialup users (According to a recent newspaper advertisement, SLT' bandwidth is 1.5 Gbps where a US based files hosting company like Rapidshare has more than 120Gbps bandwidth). In order to roll out an IPTV service, SLT will be required to upgrade their ADSL system to ADLS 2+ .ADSL has several standards and currently SLT uses ITU G.992.1 (A standard define by International Telecommunication Union) standard which supports only max downstream speed of 12Mbps. An ADSL 2+ system is capable of providing theoretically 24Mbps of downstream service (ITU G.992.1 standard).
SLT office express service is currently offered at 6750 rupees which supports max speed of 2Mbps and if we calculate the cost using these values for an 12Mbps ADSL 2+ service which is suitable for IPTV services, it will cost around 40 000 rupees per month. Which means we can expect a price reduction of normal ADSL services after implementing SLT's IPTV service. SLT is sturgeling to launch a WiMax service also since 2006 and more information on this will be updated within few days.

Readers are highly encouraged to comment on any inconsistencies of the "numbers" stated in this article such as total bandwidth of SLT because all those values are based on newspapers and SLT press releases.

Hutch Teams Up With Jasmine News For Breaking SMS News

Hutch has also introduce the SMS news service together with Jasmine News in order to keep subscribers up to date about the latest happenings. Now a days SMS news alerts are the most effective and quickest way to be informed about the latest happenings. In a previous post also we showed that more Sri Lankans are now used to read news using their mobile phones because it is low cost and at the same time it is quick.
To register for Hutch SMS news service type NEWS REG and send it to 7878. This service is free of charge at the moment and after that it will cost Rs 30 + VAT per month?

Tigo, Mobitel and Dialog In An Effort To Recollect Their Lost Subscribers

Mobile telephony was introduced to Sri Lanka by Celltel Lanka limited in 1989 and Sri Lanka was the first country in south Asia to introduce this service. However due to the higher price of mobile hand sets, call charges, lack of service availability mobile communication was limited to a small class of the community until about year 2002. Before Dialog GSM enter Sri Lankan mobile phone market with lots of innovative marketing strategies, Celltel was a key player in the market. But with the superb service provided by Dialog GSM, Celltel began to loose their customer base gradually and most of new customers also choosed Dialog.
Last year Celltel was re branded to Tigo after their new investments and also introduced per second billing for the first time in Sri Lankan mobile history. It seems that this per second billing system has been able to attract some more subscribers to Tigo. Tigo has started another strategy to recapture their lost customers by giving chance to reconnect old Celltel sims without any additional charge. All you have to do is put a reload to you old disconnected sim and it will be ready to use and the best thing is you will get a bonus of 50% of the reload also. But if you have lost you old Celltell or Tigo sim you will need to contact Tigo customer care.
How ever it seems Mobitel and Dialog also in a process of recapturing their lost customers. Mobitel now offers a new sim for just Rs 100 for lost ones. Dialog is also struggling to prevent loosing their customers by giving incentives to them by what they call "Magic SMS". It is a known fact that giant Dialog customer base has been cracked with the competitiveness which has created by Mobitel and Tigo. Nowadays most of the new customers are tend to by Mobitel or Tigo sims than Dialog because of the less expensiveness of them.
Just after few weeks of Dialog introducing Kit Double which gives outgoing calls at Rs 1/= per minute to another Dialog KIT number, Mobitel also has introduced the same service with a broader options. In Mobitel "M Friend" (brand name of this service) you have the option to nominate any other Mobitel pre paid or post paid number not like in KIT double which needs to have both connections under same owner. Even you can buy two new Mobitel sims at Rs 300(for both sims).
As things goes in this way customers are the fraction who are going to be benefited most.

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Free Matlab CD order form can be found here.

SLIIT Pumps Out Another 550 IT Graduates Empowered with Knowledge and Skills

Convocation ceremony of Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) was held recently at the Malabe campus premises recently. It was the 6th consecutive convocation ceremony of SLIIT and 560 students were graduated this year.
403 students who were specialised in Information Technology,Information Systems and Computer Systems & Networking received special honours degrees where 81 students received bachelors degrees from Curtin University. 74 bachelor of IT degrees were awarded to those who have completed three year degree at SLIIT. 69 post graduate diplomas and 29 master of science degrees were also awarded at the ceremony.
It was revealed that most of the students who were graduated this year have already recruited by many international companies such as Virtusa and IFS with attractive remuneration packages.
Photo and news by Chatura Thennakoon(SLIIT)

Watchful Passenger Saves Lives of Dozens of Civilians from Mount Lavinia Bomb Blast

Taking another step more in LTTE’s ruthless violations series, another LTTE parcel bomb has been exploded tomorrow morning near Mount Lavinia(just outside Colombo, Sri Lanka) this morning(23rd of February)inside a passenger bus.18 passengers including a baby have suffered minor injuries from this incident.
However it is revealed that a major disaster which was going to happen has been avoided due to watchfulness of a civilian who was traveling in the same bus. He has noticed a suspicious bag which was on the shelf and he has informed it to the conductor. Acting on his information, conductor has warned all the passengers to flee out of the bus and at the same time driver has taken the bus to a safer place.
Just after all passengers vacate from the bus, the bomb has exploded. Unless the passenger had informed or conductor was not active on that information dozens of innocent civilian lives may have been destroyed.

[Pictures of Mount Lavinia Bomb Blast :From MOD]

Bomb Blast in Mt. Lavinia Injures Two

A minor bomb blast which took place tomorrow morning (23rd February) injured two civilians. According to details uncovered by Mt.Lavinia police so far, bomb has been placed inside a passenger bus.
Police is carrying out further investigations. Await more information.

A Controversial Cheer At Sri Lanka-India Cricket Match in Australia

The presence of some spectators at the Sri Lanka India cricket matct of controversy compelling officials to remove politically slanted placards supportive of the LTTE carried by these spectators, an Australian newspaper reported yesterday.

It said before the dayh at the Manuka Oval earlier this week provoked a certain amoun's play at least 200 fans wearing red T-shirts with the words 'Voice of Tamils' and 'Where is the Humanity', stood outside the gates accompanied by drummers, dancers and whistles. Ground officials, claiming to be acting on behalf of Cricket Australia, prevented two members of the group from entering the grounds and they were advised not to display Tamil flags.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) is a most dangerous terrorist organisation in the world and they are fighting for a separate land in the northern province of Sri Lanka. As they spread terrorism everywhere, hundreds of innocent people including Sinhalese,Tamils and Muslims become victims oo LTTE's terrorist activities.
Pro-LTTE groups use human rights violations as a mean of raising funds for military activities. But most of this human rights violations are done buy LTTE itself in northern part of Sri Lanka.Recently LTTE was so crucial enough to attack a Catholic Church in Sri Lanka also.

Read more about LTTE activities in the world.

Breaking SMS News Thrust of Sri Lankan Mobile Subscribers

Last year Mobitel introduced a whole new way of getting informed about latest happenings in Sri Lanka which is through SMS. Under this method registered users will receive a news headline via SMS as it happens. Although the idea was an innovative one, unfortunately Mobitel's news service was not being able to capture the market, as usually. Reason was Mobitel charged Rs 100+VAT per month which is totally a funny amount where average mobile expenditure per month is around Rs 400.
Later Dialog also introduced a similar service with co-operation with Reuters which charged Rs 30+VAT per month which was bit affordable.Even though it was affordable, most users disconnected after the trial period of three months. As Dialog is very sensitive on subscriber needs, they abandoned Reuters and made this news service free with the help of Derana News.
Recently Mobitel also reduced the prices to Rs 30+VAT per month as Tigo and Suntel also rolled out a news . however more number of customers will be benefited if this service is provided free of charge by both Tigo and Mobitel.

Registration for SMs News can be done as follows
Mobitel - send an SMS typed REG to 2233
Tigo - send an SMS typed REG to 2233
Suntel - send an SMS typed News Act 1411

Oil Barrel Hits $100.10 - Highest Ever!

Price of an oil barrel was risen to $100.10 the highest price ever. Major reason was the low supply throughout last few weeks. It is expected that this this price will go higher after the meeting which will be held in Vienna on March 5th with the participation of representatives of oil exporting countries.

Order a free Microsoft DVD with more than 100 add-ins and packages

Microsoft is giving away a DVD free of charge which contains and packages for Visual Studio. You do not need to pay for anything and DVD will arrive to your door-step. Please use this link order your free Microsoft DVD

Mobitel MTunes - An Expensive Way to Entertain Your Callers

Becoming the fourth and last to introduce similar service in Sri Lanka, Mobitel launched their ringin tone service under the brand name of Mobitel M Tunes. Dialog was the first to introduce "RingIn Tones" to Sri Lankan mobile users and later it was followed by Hutch under "Hello Tunes" brand and Tigo under "Call-A-Tune". At present Dialog is the only provider which has enabled it's users to listen and select songs online.All other providers require their users to activate this service via an IVR. Tigo users have to dial *336 to activate and assign songs in Call-A-Tune where Hutch users need to dial 369 for Hello Tunes and Mobitel users 777.
Among these four networks it seems Mobitel is the most expensive due to several reasons. First thing is Mobitel charges RS 3 + VAT per minute to call 777.You can imagine how much will it cost to select a song from among 100s using a IVR.The other thing is there is a daily rental of Rs 5 +VAT for this M Tunes service which will end up in adding an overhead of about Rs 190 for your monthly mobile expenditure. In all other networks it costs about half of this amount.
These Value Added Services (VAS) should be a way of attracting users to the network inside this highly competitive mobile arena, not pick pocketing from customers.

Airtel Sri lanka Has Loose The Confidence

Bharti Airtel, one of India's largest mobile operators received 2G and 3G license from Sri Lanka Telecommunication Regularity Commission to roll out the Sri Lanka's 5th mobile network. In a press conference officials revealed that Airtel will invest $150 million within 3 years of time in Sri Lanka. After several months of receiving this licences Airtel advertised about their job vacancies in some week end news papers and registered a domain name also under Bharti Airtel Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. This domain was also hanging around for several week without a web site (redirected to hosting account default page) and now it seems they haven't paid for the hosting account. how ever they have registerd this domain for another 10 more years in advance.
In the last quarter of 2007 I noticed some Airtel engineers going here and there searching for locations to install towers. But after that I don't aware whether they have installed any but I guess still they haven't.At the same time it was said that they were planning to start Airtel operations in Sri Lanka by April 2008.
As things goes like this I don't think that Airtel will be able to do a remarkable revolution in Sri Lanka in upcoming years. The reason is Airtel hinted that they are going to reduce the outgoing call charges to Rs 2 per minute.It was a great news for all the mobile users at that time because average rate was around Rs 6 at that time. Most of the mobile users who were Dialog GSM customers were paying around Rs 7 per minute without VAT and Hutch, Mobitel and Tigo customers were paying around Rs 6 - 5. Later Mobitel reduced their charges to Rs 2 Mobitel 2Mobitel within day time and following that Hutch also reduced to Rs 2 all day along. Very recently Tigo launched 3 revolutionary packages called T1,T2 and T2 which charges only Rs 3 per outgoing minute just Rs 1 more than Airlte's promised price.
However let's hope some more leverage in Sri Lankan mobile phone market with the Airtel entrance as it will benefit all of us.

Free Matlab Kit

Matlab has started a free CD givaway for a limited time. You don't need to pay for anything under this method and all you need is to fill an online form correctly.

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MATLAB is an interactive system whose basic data element is an array that does not require dimensioning. This allows you to solve many technical computing problems, especially those with matrix and vector formulations, in a fraction of the time it would take to write a program in a scalar noninteractive language such as C or Fortran.

LTTE Destroys a Catholic Church In Northern Sri Lanka - NGO's Are Sleeping

LTTE, a deadly terrorist organization operated in northern Sri Lanka has destroyed a catholic church in Thalaladi near Mannar by launching an artillery attack.A group of Sri Lanka Army soldiers have been participating in a "Shramadana" campaign in St. Sebastian church while LTTE launch this attack. Six soldiers were died from this incident and another 10 have injured.
Meanwhile defence spokesman Mr. Keheliya Rambukwella stated that he is wondering what has happend to the so called NGOs which are operated in Sri Lanka. Last year several NGOs including Amnesty which are operated in Sri Lanka were involved in a huge campaign against Sri Lanka saying human rights are violated in Sri Lanka. Amnesty also involved in distributing a ping -pong-ball among ICC Cricket world cup 2007 fans which carries a message that Sri Lanka violates human rights. Surprisingly they are now silent about these tragedies done by LTTE.
Also I cannot understand why can't UNP members also including Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe and Dr. Jayalath Jayawardane cannot speak about these human rights violations by LTTE. Mr Jayawardane was so anxious to inform foreign community including Pope about human rights violations in Sri lanka, but this time it seems he is also silent.

Watch Video from here
[Pictures: MOD]

SLIIT Computer Systems & Networking Conference 2008

The Computer Systems and Networking Student Community (CSNSC) of Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) has organized a Computer Systems and Networking Conference On 15th February 2008 From 8.30 a.m to 5.00 a.m at Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology Auditorium, Malabe.

An ultra secure networking environment is also to be demonstrated and exposed to the public after extensive research, development and testing during this conference.
Keynote Speeches will be delivered by Mr. Keith Samuel (CEO CMT), Mr. Manoj Mohinani (Country Manager, RedHat Sri Lanka), Mr. Ranjaka Adikaram (MIT), Dr. Sameera De Alwis (Capital Maharaja), Mr. Dhanusha Muthukumarana (Microsoft Sri Lanka).
Contact Amila on 0785105990 for more information.

Mass Burial for LTTE Terror Victims - An Open Message to NGOs' and Human Rights Organizations

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) is a most dangerous terrorist organisation in the world and they are fighting for a separate land in the northern province of Sri Lanka. As they spread terrorism everywhere, hundreds of innocent people including Sinhalese,Tamils and Muslims become victims oo LTTE's terrorist activities. LTTE raise funds for their terror activities by various means. Fake charity organizations such as "White Pigeons" and TRO, credit card frauds, arms and drugs smuggling are some of the unethical ways that they use to raise funds from people around the world. Although they pretend that the are fighting for on behalf of Tamils, following pictures shows the reality. This time the victims are innocent Tamil and Muslim citizens who refused to join their organization....Murdered by LTTE and now lying in a mass burrial...
The best thing is various NGO's and Human Right Organizations which publish hundreds of pages about the kidnappings and murders which take place in south, are silent about these critical human rights violations by LTTE.

A village annihilated for creation of an "ethnically pure " Eelam

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Would the truth of the LTTE's terrorism be buried with you?

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Tribute to the dead- A promise to end terrorism
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Feminists, keep your silence; her lament will be heard by those who really love their mothers, sisters, wives and daughters...
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Let the hypocrites wait until "somebody" claim the responsibility for the crime
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Our leader is with us always; Let those who betray the nation go on hiding
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Will their tears not be sufficient for hypocrites call LTTE "Terrorists"
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Dear daughter, we will not let you suffer like your mother today...
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Dear son, you will be free to live in your motherland without fear of terrorism
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Let us not forget this crime as the villain want us to...
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Your bodies are buried today but your spirits will see the nation getting united to wipe out the terrorism forever form your; our motherland...
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Former Minister Sripathy Sooriarachchi Dies in an Accident

Sri Lanka Freedom Party breakaway member and also a former minister Mr Sripathy Sooriarachi died this afternoon by an accident. Mr Sooriarachchi met with this accident at Thambuththegama, Galgamuwa. Two of his body guards were also died from this incident.

Deyata Kirula Trade and Fiance Exhibition 2008

"Deyata Kirula 2008" exhibition which showcases national pride, heritage, present challenges and country's economy opened at BMICH-Colombo yesterday morning. The exhibition will be open to the public from 10am to 10pm until February 10.

Finance and State Revenue Minister and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya assured that the police and security forces have taken every possible step to ensure security during the exhibition. Visitors have been advised not to bring unnecessary bags and baggage when they enter the premises and have been requested to lend their utmost assistance to the security personnel. They have also been advised to bring their Identity Cards and produce them where necessary.

[Pictures of weapons displayed at "Deyata Kirula" Exhibition]

Sri Lanka Electricity Bills To Increase From 1st of March

Ceylon Electricity Board is about to increase the electricity bills from 1st of March to overcome the shortage of income. At present CEB sells power at a loss and economists have warned several times about the risk behind this scenario. Although Sri Lanka mainly used hydro power early days, now oil has became the major source of fuel for electricity generation .

Present electricity charges are as follows.

Apart from these charges there is another fixed charge of 20% for consumers who use more than 90 units. Under new electricity tariff revision 20% increment will be applied to all these charges.In the meantime price of an electricity unit will be increased to Rs 5.00 for 31-60, will be decreased to Rs 12.00 for 91-180 and Rs 18.00 for 180 above. Another fixed rental of Rs 90.00 will be introduced in "Bad Times" apart from the oil adjustment charges. However so called "Bad Time" is not defined yet,but believed will be the times which oil price goes high.

HOW TO RESPOND TO BOMB THREATS [A Notice To All Sri Lankans]

The following actions will protect your life, and help protect others’ lives and property.

SUSPICIOUS OBJECTS

• DO be watchful of your surroundings at all times, during regular office hours, after office hours, and on weekends.
• DO NOT hang around the area where the suspected bomb is located. Leave the place immediately.
• DO report immediately to your security any unattended items that you notice.
• DO call the following numbers to get emergency assistance: 118, 119, 24-33333 (Police Emergency), or 243-4253 / 2244-057 (bomb squad).
• DO NOT place yourself in exposed areas (near glass windows for example) and DO NOT peep out to see what is happening when you hear bombs: you might get directly in harm’s way and make yourself an easy target.
• DO move away immediately and crouch down if you hear any sound of gun-fire or any other similar sound or should you observe an unusual crack suddenly developing on the glass sheets.
• DO be as calm as possible. If someone else takes charge of the situation follow him/her without hesitation.
• DO help to vacate the building – when necessary - in an urgent and orderly manner.
• DO NOT make any unnecessary movements and decisions before ascertaining the situation around you properly (For example, if it is an attack on the building, floors above or below you could be affected.You must be mindful of this when exiting.)
• DO ensure that your attire does not hinder movement in an emergency (For example high heels may cause injury in an emergency evacuation). Abandon immediately any sharp / protruding objects you may be carrying in these situations.

SUSPICIOUS PERSONS

• DO observe the behavior of Customers, Vendors, Messengers, Delivery Boys, etc. as and when time permits and notify your security or manager immediately if anything unusual is observed. Exercise your right tactfully and without the notice of the person concerned so that you protect yourself, other staff members, and the property of the institution without jeopardizing the institution and its customer relations.

Thank you for reading these life-saving tips. Please pass this on to people you know!

Claymore Attack Targets A Bus Carrying Civilians At Ethavatunuwawa-Welioya [2nd Update]

A powerful claymore bomb blast has been reported at Welioya- Athawatunawewa this afternoon around 3.40 pm. Target was a bus belonging to Sri Lanka Traveling Board which was transporting innocent civilians from Anuradhapura to Janakapura.According to the available information LTTE has set up this claymore bomb on a tree near Kobbakaduwa junction in Velioya-Ethawatunawawe It is reported that 12 persons have died and another 17 including children are injured from this incident.Those who have injured have been taken to Padaviya hospital and later 6 of them hav been transferred to Anuradhapura hospital.
[Photo: AFP]