Sri Lanka appeals to Tamils to flee to govt territory

Sri Lanka on Thursday appealed to minority ethnic Tamil civilians living in the line of fire in rebel-held towns to move to areas under government control, saying it would guarantee them safe passage.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said the military had cleared a route for people fleeing the island's embattled north, where troops are advancing on the rebel capital of Kilinochchi, 330 kilometres (205 miles) north of Colombo.
"We plan to give passage to people from Kilinochchi to come to (government-held) Vavuniya. We're dropping leaflets from the air, encouraging people to leave, giving details of routes to take to safety," Rajapakse said.
Nearly 135,000 people have been driven from their homes because of fighting between government forces and Tamil Tiger separatist rebels in the past two months, according to UN aid agencies.
"It's better for civilians to come to government-cleared areas so we can start to resettle them faster," said Rajapakse, the younger brother of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse.
His comments came as the defence ministry said at least 37 rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and five government soldiers were killed in the latest clashes in the north on Wednesday.
The latest fighting brought the number of rebels killed by troops since January to 6,167, according to government figures.
The government says 581 of its troops have died over the same period.
Casualty figures cannot be verified as the military blocks media access to frontlines.
Sri Lankan troops have been advancing deeper into rebel-held territory as they push to dismantle the LTTE's northern stronghold after ejecting the guerrillas from the east of the island in July 2007.
Government agencies and the few aid groups who are allowed to operate inside rebel-held areas in the north have reported there are sufficient stocks of food and medicine, Rajapakse said.
News from - LBO

Mangala calls for a joint opposition alliance

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Obama officially makes history

Barack Obama today secured the Democratic Party's nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, officially becoming the first African American to lead a major party ticket.
Delegates cried and cheered as former rival Sen. Hillary Clinton motioned to cut the roll call vote short, saying "Let's declare together with one voice right here, right now, that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president."

MASS CIRCULATED METRO AND LIPTON TEA OFFER A TRIP TO SRI LANKA TEA COUNTRY IN A BOOST UP FOR THE ISLAND’S TOURISM

By Walter Jayawardhana
In a major boost up for Sri Lanka tourism the United Kingdom’s free sheet leader, The Metro morning daily with 1.1 million circulation announced a trip to Sri Lanka’s tea country in collaboration with Lipton Tea for a summer contest winners.
Calling Sri Lanka “the spiritual home” of Lipton Tea the newspaper which distributes more than one million of its copies beating all other newspapers by giving away on all five working days mainly at Metropolitan London’s underground railway stations where Londoners in their millions converge to commute to work said, “Win tea in Sri Lanka,” in a front page announcement.
In a promotion for Lipton ice tea for the sweltering London summer contest the newspaper offered a week’s paid up vacation at “the spiritual home of Lipton Ice tea, the luxury tea factory hotel, built in the 1930s by British planters.”
“Pick and process of your own tea at the hotel’s miniature tea factory and indulge in five course fine dining in the hotel’s restored railway carriage restaurant,” the announcement accompanied by a scenic image of a Sri Lankan tea garden said.
Uniliver, the current owners of Lipton Tea said the tea promotion is carried with the collaboration of Associated Newspapers Ltd. – a division of Daily Mail and General Trust that publishes the Metro.The Scottish-born entrepreneur, Thomas Lipton acquired tea estates in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), organized packaging and transportation at low cost and made tea, a beverage then enjoyed only by the rich into the beverage of the common people all over the world. As he said, he wanted to sell tea “direct from the tea garden to the tea pot.” For his services he was knighted by Queen Victoria as Sir Thomas Lipton in 1898 at the relatively younger age of 48. Places attached with his life in the high grown tea area in Sri Lanka have become tourist attractions.
The announcement for the contest further said, “For your chance to win this prize thanks to Lipton Ice Tea. This prize includes:
“Return economy flights from London Heathrow to Colombo, Return airport to hotel transfers, 7 nights in a standard room at the Tea Factory or a escorted tour which incorporates the Tea Factory, Daily breakfast, Comprehensive travel insurance
“Open for travel from the 1st April until the 31st October 2009, excluding all Bank Holiday periods and subject to availability.”