RIYADH: The Kingdom will contribute $46 million for the construction of a dam in Sri Lanka. A four-member delegation headed by S. Amarasekera, secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services arrived here Sunday to discuss the technical details of the project and prepare a draft agreement with the Saudi Fund For Development (SFD). The agreement will be signed later in Colombo.

MOSCOW, February 8 (Itar-Tass) - Russia’s gas giant Gazprom plans to take part in exploration of offshore hydrocarbon fields in Sri Lanka. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is visiting Moscow, discussed this issue at the talks on Monday.

At the Iraq inquiry in London on January 29, former British prime minister Tony Blair found a new way to defend his decision to join George W. Bush in invading Iraq in 2003: the what-if defence. What if they hadn’t invaded Iraq, and Saddam Hussein had remained in power there?

Available data shows the budget deficit for the first nine months of 2009 at 17.6 percent of GDP but with revenues generally coming in during the last few months of the year there is a possibility that the budget deficit could near the IMF target of 7 percent of GDP for the year.

Although the suspension of Sri Lanka’s GSP+ facility, important especially to the garment export industry is due to be endorsed by European finance ministers in Brussels on Feb. 16, it will not be effective for a six month period, reports from Brussels said. This is to give manufacturers and traders time to adjust to the new rules and also to give Colombo ``a fair opportunity to get the decision reversed,’’ a Brussels datelined AFP report said.

A special Police team yesterday traced a hideout used by LTTEleader Velupillai Prabhakaran during the final stages of war at Vellamulliwaikkaland and recovered several files containing classified information, 56 CDs and a large quantity of sophisticated weapons.

The resounding victory by President Mahinda Rajapaksa placed in perspective the feelings of many Sri Lankans, a sense of gratitude towards a President that had the courage to withstand international pressure and take the battle to the end. A feat that was by all considerations thought to be inconceivable. As a war-time President he braved international pressure and provided political determination as never seen before to completely annihilate the LTTE.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his Independence Day message to mark the country’s 62nd independence anniversary today, says his renewed popular mandate has enabled him to work harder to build a stronger nation.The following is the full text of President Rajapaksa’s message:"The 62nd anniversary of Independence we mark today has special significance being the first such celebration of our freedom since the defeat of terrorism in our country last year

The Victorian Supreme Court has heard three men from Australia's Sri Lankan community have raised more than $1 million for the terrorist organisation The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Melbourne men Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, 35 and Sivarajah Yathavan, 38, along with 43-year-old New South Wales man Arumugam Rajeevan, have pleaded guilty to providing money to a terrorist organisation between 2004 and 2007.

A court has heard that three men who raised more than one million Australian dollars for the LTTE are senior members of the terrorist organisation in Australia. The three men pleaded guilty to funding the Tigers, Radio Australia reported. Aruran Vinayagamoorthy, Sivarajah Yathavan and Arumugum Rajeevan have admitted to giving money to the Tamil Tigers between 2004 and 2007. The Tamil Tigers is listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia.

Over a year after Kilinochchi district was liberated from the LTTE, the Sri Lankan Army today started the process of resettling Tamil civilians displaced due to the war in the former de-facto capital of the Tamil Tigers. In the first phase, 1,200 civilians, who have been living in several camps in northern Lanka since January, 2009 will be resettled in and around Kilinochchi, which was captured by the Sri Lankan Army on January 2, 2009 after eight months of intense fighting.

India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI has) received the "documentation" confirming the death of LTTE chief V Prabhakaran, prime accused in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination, from the government of Sri Lanka, Home Minister P Chidambaram said yesterday. "The CBI has told me that they received documentation from the Government of Sri Lanka confirming the death of Prabhakaran," the Home Minister said.