President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in Kuwait to attend the First Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Summit today on 15 September. Sri Lankan President was warmly received by the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah at Amiri International Airport in Kuwait.
The Crown Prince of the State of Kuwait, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Humoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, ministers, senior officials and senior officers in the army, police and National Guard were present at the airport to welcome President Rajapaksa. The honorary delegation was headed by Yaqoub Yousif Al-Ateeqi, the Ambassador of the State of Kuwait to Sri Lanka.
Asian leaders are set to hold the summit from 16 to 18 October to discuss the way of enhancing cooperation to protect Asian countries from global economic crisis. They will also focus on ways to activate the forum, which was set up in 2002 to strengthen regional cooperation and dialogue among Asian countries. The Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah will open the three-day summit at Liberation Conference Building tomorrow (Tuesday) with the participation of 32 Asian leaders while the inaugural session is to be addressed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is the General Coordinator of the ACD. During the visit, President Rajapaksa is expected to meet several Gulf leaders including the King of Saudi Arabia and the Emirs of Kuwait and Qatar on the sidelines of the summit.
Sri Lankan delegation includes Minister Susil Premajayantha, Parliamentarians Sajin Vaas Gunawardene, A.H.M. Azwer and Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga. External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris arrived in Kuwait last Friday for the ACD Foreign Ministers’ meeting which was concluded today (15) prior to the inauguration of the summit.
By Janaka Alahapperuma
Pix by: Sudath Silva
Former Sri Lankan cricket captain Sanath Jayasuriya said that he has no security fears in playing Pakistan, the Pakistan Today reported.
A 29-year-old woman in Kegalle gave birth to quintuplets – two boys and three girls – at the Kandy General Hospital this morning, Hospital authorities said.
Police has beefed up security in and around the historic Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya city of Bihar following threats of a possible militant attack.
සරත් ෆොන්සේකා මහතාගේ මූලිකත්වය ඇතිව එක්සත් භික්‍ෂු පෙරමුණ විසින් කොළඹ හයිඩ් පිටියේදී මෙම 18 වැනිදා පවත්වන ඒකාබද්ධ රැලියට සහභාගිවීම තහනම් කිරීම මගින් තම පක්‍ෂයේ යළි නව අර්බුදයක්‌ උද්ගතව ඇතැයි එක්සත් ජාතික පක්‍ෂයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරු අනතුරු අඟවති.
Something very unusual and heart-warming happened in the moments following West Indies’ win in the World Twenty20 final in Colombo. The players celebrated like no one else I have seen, but across the world, in countries that played cricket and those that merely followed it, there was an outpouring of joy. It does not happen in sport.
මත්ස්‍යයන් මිනිසාගේ ආහාරයට අවශ්‍යම ජීවීන් කොටසක්‌ ලෙස ප්‍රධාන තැනක්‌ ගනී. එයට අමතරව හදවත් රෝග හා හිත සැහැල්ලු කරගැනීමට වගා කරන විසිතුරු මසුන් ද වෙති.
“I cannot go to the PSC with a clear conscience unless I have a commitment from Mahinda’’
The maximum age for the government servants for retirement has been extended to 60 years from the current age limit of 57 years in response to many requests made to the government by the public servants, the Government Information Department stated.
India and Sri Lanka on Friday held the first round of talks on comprehensive civil nuclear cooperation New Delhi even as New Delhi tried to address Colombo’s concerns on the safety measures instituted at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu.
සමාජයේ ජීවත්වන විට එකිනෙකාගේ ස්වාධීනත්වයට හා පෞද්ගලිකත්වයට ගරු කළ යුතු අතර එසේ නොමැති නම් සමාජයේ කඩා වැටීමක් සිදුවිය හැකි බවත් ඊට කිසිසේත් ඉඩදිය නොහැකි බවත් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමා පැවසීය. ජනාධිපතිතුමා මේ බව පැවසුවේ අන්තර්ජාතික පොල් වගා දිනය සැමරීම නිමිත්තෙන් අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ දී සිකුරාදා (12) පැවැති උත්සවයේදී ය.
Over 5,000 houses have been built by the Defence Ministry along with the Seva Vanitha Units of the Defence Ministry and Three Forces, with labour assistance by Security Forces personnel. These houses have been distributed among War Heroes and many houses are in the process of being constructed, Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) Director General Lakshman Hulugalle said at a special press briefing at the MCNS yesterday.
Condemning the recent attack on Buddhist temples and villagers in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Buddhist Association – UK and British Sri Lankan Forum urged the British and EU governments to request the Bangladeshi government to prevent future attacks and also to bring the culprits to book.
The mystery van filled with boxes of goods from the ICC World T20 secretariat had been released by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) after an inquiry established that it was not an attempt smuggle out goods.
The first ever Elle tournament outside Sri Lanka was organised by Athula Dassana multi Cultural Buddhist community centre on 22/09/2012 at Little Harlington grounds Heathrow. The Chief organiser of the event was Venerable Wanduraba Kassapa thero who is the chief incumbent of the Athula Dassana International Buddhist temple. The event concluded with huge success with support of all Sri Lankan residents in and around London.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation yesterday that India will not backtrack from its position that Tamils in Sri Lanka should lead a life of “dignity and self-respect” in a peaceful environment, TNA leader R. Sampanthan said.
Australian vice-captain Shane Watson is not comfortable with the suggestion that he is the world’s No.1 Twenty20 player, and still rates West Indian Chris Gayle as the best T20 cricketer.
The Britisher who pleaded guilty of stealing 84 ICC World Cup T20 tickets from the Thurstan College playground ticket counter was sentenced to one year suspended imprisonment by a Colombo Court today.
A Sri Lankan man who falsely used a Belgian ID document to get into Britain was caught out after applying for a driving licence.
මනාප ක්‍රමය අහෝසි කරමින් කොට්‌ඨාස සහ අනුපාත ක්‍රමය යටතේ ඉදිරියේදී පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණ නියෝජිතයන් තෝරා ගැනීමේ පනත් කෙටුම්පත් ඊයේ (10 දා) පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී සංශෝධන සහිතව ඡන්ද විමසීමකින් තොරව සම්මත විය.
Attorneys-at-law protest near the Courts complex at Hulfsdorp yesterday against the attack on Judicial Services Commission Secretary Manjula Tillekeratna in Mount Lavinia on Sunday (7) morning. Judges of primary courts and their lawyers boycotted Courts yesterday and will continue to keep away today (9) too. The Supreme Court, Appeal Court and High Courts however sat as usual.
Embarrassed International Cricket Council (ICC) officials pleaded with the Sri Lanka cricket team management to reverse the host team’s smart move to sidestep ICC’s regulations during the ICC World T20 by switching the captaincy, sources told “Daily Mirror”.
The report compiled following the investigations conducted on the Army Major who was recently assaulted at a five-star hotel in Colombo has been handed over to the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army.
The months-long trade union action launched by university lecturers is likely to end with the lecturers deciding to call off their strike by Thursday.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) backed the three beleaguered umpires who are at the centre of a major match-fixing controversy connected to the just concluded ICC World Twenty20 event and said it was the responsibility of the ICC to investigate the allegations.
රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් කිසිදු ඵලදායිතාවයකින් තොර විදේශ ගමන් සඳහා වසරකට රුපියල් මිලියන පන්සියයක පමණ නාස්තිකාර වියදමක් සිදු කරන බව රජයේ විගණන අංශ පෙන්වා දෙයි.
Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardena stepped down as T20 skipper late on Sunday. His decision came after his team’s 36-run loss to West Indies in the final match of ICC World T20.
The Executive, Judiciary and Legislature should not show their might to the people but should be more committed to serve the people, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday.
Kumar Sangakkara talks about his relationship with Mahela Jayawardene, using cricket to give back to the community, and administration ambitions.