CID seals two websites propagating false news

Two websites operating from a shared office in Rajagiriya to propagate false and unethical news on Sri Lanka were sealed on a court order by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) yesterday. The websites continuously targetted celebrities and well- known personalities, propagated false and unethical news and misled international and local communities, Media Centre for National Security Director General Lakshman Hullugalle said in a release yesterday.

As these two websites spread false news bringing disrepute to certain individuals and shamed the country, ignoring a Supreme Court order, the CID raided the office after a court order and began investigations. The CID officials have found that these two websites were directly engaged in propagating false and distorted news. Some computers and equipment were taken over for investigations.

The Supreme Court recently decided websites operating from Sri Lanka should be registered with responsible authorities before operating. The prime objective of this was to identify information which could harm the country and its people and to identify individuals behind this, the release said.

The Media Ministry, according to the court order is registering websites and the registration process is successfully being carried out.

Source: Daily News (Sri Lanka)

Jailers rescued in Vavuniya prison drama

Three prison officials taken hostage by a group of inmates at the Vavuniya remand prison were rescued in a dramatic joint operation by law enforcers yesterday.

The operation was launched jointly by the Vavuniya Police, STF and the Army to rescue three jailers taken hostage by a group of LTTE suspects on Thursday.

Following a protest of prisoners at the Vavuniya remand prison against the transfer of a suspected LTTE prisoner to another location, the three prison officials were taken hostage. The suspect who was a former LTTE leader was been transferred on a court order to be handed over to the Terrorism Investigation Unit.

Prison authorities and the Security Forces then planned to launch a rescue operation to free the three officials who were held hostage by the prisoners for over 19 hours.

The rescue operation was carried out yesterday at around 11 am mainly by the STF. People from surrounding buildings were evacuated for the operation to proceed.

The STF entered the area at where the three jailers were kept by breaking a wall and through the roof.

They had to saw the iron doors since they had been locked by the LTTE suspects.

STF sources said the rescue operation, which took around half an hour was a total success as the three captured were rescued without any injury.

“The other remand prisoners were taken to the Anuradhapura prison until the situation at the Vavuniya remand prison returned to normal,” a prison official said.

By Dharma SRI ABEYRATNE
Source: Daily News (Sri Lanka)

‘රජය විදේශාධාර ලබා ගන්නේ රටේ අනාගතය ගොඩ නඟන්නයි’ ජනපති අවධාරණය කරයි

රජය විදේශාධාර ලබා ගන්නේ කන්නට, බොන්නට නොව, රටේත්, ජාතියේත් අනාගතය ගොඩනඟන්නට” යැයි ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ පළමු වතාවට වැඩිම පිරිසකට එකවර තොරතුරු තාක්‍ෂණ විද්‍යාවේදී උපාධිධාරීන් ලෙස සහ විද්‍යාපීඨ ඩිප්ලෝමාධාරීන් ලෙස පත්වීම් හාරදහසක් ලබාදීමේ ජාතික මහෝත්සවය ඊයේ (29) දහවල් අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේදී පැවැති අවස්ථාවේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා එසේ කීය.

වසර 2005 සිට මේ දක්වා ගුරුවරුන් වශයෙන් පමණක් පනස්පන් දහසකට අධික පිරිසක් බඳවා ගනිමින් මේ රජය ඉතිහාසයේ රන් අකුරින් ලියා තැබෙන වාර්තාවක් පිහිටුවා ඇතැයිද මේ උත්සව සභාවේදී අනාවරණය විය.

එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ ජනාධිපතිතුමා මෙසේද කීය.

“අපි ණයක් ගන්න ගිය විට විවිධ අය විවිධ දේ කියනවා. අපි ණය ගන්නේ කන්නට, බොන්නට නොවෙයි, රටේ සම්පත් ගොඩනගන්නයි. අද ජාත්‍යන්තර මට්ටමේ වරායන්, ගුවන්තොටුපලවල්, අධිවේගී මාර්ග හැදෙනවා. ඒවා අපි කරන්නේ අනාගත ආයෝජන ලෙස සලකායි. මේ සම්පත්වල වටිනාකම අදටත් වඩා හෙට වැඩි වෙනවා.

රටේ සම්පත් ගොඩනැගීම අපේ වගකීමයි. අපි මේ ඉටුකරන්නේ ඒ වගකීමයි. රට සෞභාග්‍යමත් දේශයක් කිරීමට අපි ක්‍රියා කරනවා. මේ රටේ අනාගතය ඉතාමත් ම යහපත් සුබවාදී එකක් බවට පත් කිරීමේ වගකීමයි ඔබට මේ ගුරු මෑණිවරු, පියවරු ලෙස පත්වීම් පිරිනමමින් භාර කරන්නේ. ඔබ ඒ වගකීම යුතුකම රට ගැන රටේ අනාගත පරපුර ගැන සිතා ඉටුකරන්න.

අපේ රටේ රාජ්‍ය සේවය ලක්‍ෂ 13ක්. මේ තරම් විශාල පිරිසක් රාජ්‍ය සේවයට අපි එක් කළේ රාජ්‍ය සේවය ගැන විශ්වාසය තබලයි. අපි රාජ්‍ය සේවය හකුලන්නට ක්‍රියා කරන්නේ නැහැ. එයයි අපේ ආණ්ඩුවේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය.

අපේ රටෙන් බිහි වූ උගතුන්, විශේෂයෙන් තොරතුරු තාක්‍ෂණ විද්‍යාවේදීන් පිරිසක් තමයි එංගලන්තයේ කොටස් වෙළෙඳපොළ සියලුම තාක්‍ෂණික කටයුතු සිදු කරන්නේ. එය අපට ආඩම්බරයක්. මේ බව එංගලන්තයේ අගමැතිවරයා මේ නොබෝදා හමුවූ අවස්ථාවේ මට කිව්වා.

අපේ රටේ 2005 දී තොරතුරු තාක්‍ෂණ සාක්ෂරතාවය තිබුණේ සියයට 5 මට්ටමේ. එය මේ වන විට සියයට 35 දක්වා ඉහළ දමා ගැනීමට අපි සමත් වුණා. අපේ ඉලක්කය වසර 2016 දී සියයට 75 ක් බවට පත් කිරීමයි” ජනාධිපතිතුමා කියා සිටියහ.

මේ අවස්ථාව අමතා අධ්‍යාපන ඇමැති බන්දුල ගුණවර්ධන, මධ්‍යම පළාත් මහ ඇමැති සරත් ඒකනායක, දකුණු පළාත් අධ්‍යාපන ඇමැති චන්දිම රාසපුත්‍ර, මහාචාර්ය තීක්‍ෂණ සුරවීර, අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් ගෝඨාභය ජයරත්න යන මහත්වරු කථා කළහ.

සර්ව ආගමික නායකයෝ ප්‍රධානව මේ අවස්ථාවට පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ඒ. එච්. එම්. අස්වර්, පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරු ප්‍රධාන ඇමැතිවරු අධ්‍යාපන ක්ෂේත්‍ර ප්‍රධානීහු සහ පත්වීම්ලාභීු අතිවිශාල පිරිසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.

ජයසිරි මුණසිංහ
Source: Dinamina (Sri Lanka)

Hirunika to enter active politics

Hirunika Premachandra, the daughter of late Presidential Advisor Baratha Lakshman Premachandra, said today that she would enter active politics soon.

“My father didn’t do politics for money, and the people loved him for all the service that he rendered to the people. I want to continue the same politics that my father did and will do this from Kolonnawa” she said.

Hirunika made these remarks while addressing a ceremony to lay the foundation stone for the erection of a statue of her father in Kolonnawa. “When giving nominations in future, political parties should consider the moral character of the people who are given nominations. There is also a drug menace in the area and I want to spearhead the battle against it,” she said.

Speaking at the event, speaker Chamal Rajapaksa said that there should be an end to the violent political culture prevailing in the country. “Baratha Lakshman was a diehard SLFPer who did yeoman service for the party and his death was unfortunate. There should be an end to this violent political culture,” he said.

Leader of the House Nimal Siripala De Silva, speaking at the event invited Hirunika Premachandra to embark on a political career. “I invite Hirunika to continue the good work of her father, who did a lot for the party and the people of this area. She should follow in the footsteps of her father” he said.

Ministers A.H.M Fowzie and D.E.W Gunasekara and MPs Karu Jayasuriya, Namal Rajapaks and Thilanga Sumathipala and a host of other dignitaries participated in the event.

ISA & Shantha Senevirathne
Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Over 70% pay hike for academics

The salaries of university academic staff will be increased by over 70 percent with effect from October 1, University Grants Commission chairman Professor Gamini Samaranayaka said.

Prof. Samaranayaka said salaries of the academic staff have been increased to a great degree from time to time compared to the salaries of the parallel services.

The academic staff have already been receiving a certain portion of the salary increment but the final stage of the increment will be implemented from October 1, this year.

“Accordingly, the all inclusive salary of a senior professor will be Rs 140,721 per month from October 1 up from Rs 80,931.50, a salary increment rate of 73.88 percent.

The all inclusive salary of a professor will be Rs 122,250, an increase of 69.73 percent, from the previous all inclusive salary of Rs 72,026.50.

The new salary of an assistant professor will be Rs 108,736, an increase of 66.12 percent.

The salary revision would also give a grade one senior lecturer a gross salary of Rs 98,761, 61.13 percent increase while the gross salary of grade two senior lecturer will be Rs 86,950(58.68 percent increase).

while the gross salary of grade two senior lecturer will be Rs 86,950(58.68 percent increase).From October 1, a lecturer will have his gross salary increased by 52.39 percent making it Rs. 75,179 while a lecturer on probation will receive an all inclusive salary Rs 55,775 per month following an increase by 36.64 percent,” Professor Samaranayaka added.

Higher Education Minister SB Dissanayake said this salary increment of university academic staff has resulted in a severe imbalance of state services salaries. However, the government took steps to increase the salaries of university academic staff parallel to the ongoing university system restructuring process aiming to convert Sri Lanka as the Knowledge Hub of Asia.

By Dharma SRI ABEYRATNE
Source: Daily News(Sri Lanka)

සිවිල් ගුවන් සේවා අධිකාරියට නියෝගයක්

සිවිල් ගුවන් සේවා අධිකාරිය රජයේ අනුමතයකින් තොරව ස්ථාවර තැන්පතු සහ භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත්වලින් ආයෝජනය කර ඇති මුදල් වහාම ලබා දෙන්නැයි මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරය එම අධිකාරියට නියෝග කර තිබේ.

භාණ්ඩාගාර දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව අද (28) මේ නියෝගය ලිඛිතව දැනුම් දීමට පියවර ගත් බව එහි ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නිලධාරියෙක් “දිනමිණ” ට පැවසීය.

සිවිල් ගුවන් සේවා අධිකාරිය රුපියල් මිලියන හයසියයකට ආසන්න මුදලක් (593,732,847) ස්ථාවර තැන්පතු සහ භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත්වල  ආයෝජනය කර තිබේ. ප්‍රධාන ගණන් දීමේ නිලධාරියා ලෙස අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්වරයා භාණ්ඩාගාර අනුමත යකින් තොරව කවර හෝ මුදලක් ආයෝජනය කිරීමට පියවර නොගන්නා ලෙස අංකMCA/AC/F02/COPE -2011 හා 2012 – 02 – 13 දිනැති ලිපියෙන් සිවිල් ගුවන් සේවා අධිකාරියේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජෙනරාල්වරයාට දැනුම් දී තිබේ.

සිවිල් ගුවන් සේවා අධිකාරියේ අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ ජනරාල්වරයාගේ අංක DG/1/3 – 12 හා 2012 – 03 – 02 දිනැති ලිපියෙන් එම උපදෙස් පිළිබඳ එකඟ නොවන බව ද ලේකම්වරයා වෙත දැනුම් දී තිබිණි.

සියලු රාජ්‍ය සංස්ථා අනුගමනය කරන පොදු කරුණක් පිළිපදින ලෙසට ප්‍රධාන ගණන්දීමේ නිලධාරියා ලෙස අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්වරයා දෙන උපදෙස් පිළිගැනීමට පවා එකඟ ‍නොවන බව දන්වමින් ප්‍රධාන ගණන් දීමේ නිලධාරියාගේ නියෝග ක්‍රියාත්මක නොකිරීමට තරම් අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ ජනරාල්වරයා බලවත් වී ඇත්තේ කෙසේද යන්න හා අත්තනෝමතික ලෙස කටයුතු කිරීමට තරම් අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ ජනරාල්වරයාට ලැබී ඇති බලය කුමක්ද? යන්න විගණනයට දන්වන ලෙස ද දැනුම් දී ඇත.

මීට පෙර අවස්ථා ගණනාවකදී ම සිවිල් ගුවන් සේවා අධිකාරියට භාණ්ඩාගාරය වෙත ලබා දිය යුතු ආදායම් ලබා දෙන ලෙසට දැනුම් දී තිබුණි.

එහෙත් ඒ ඉල්ලීම් නොතකා හැර ඇත.

සිවිල් ගුවන් සේවා අධිකාරිය රජයේ අවසරයකින් තොරව පවත්වාගෙන ගිය මේ ස්ථාවර තැන්පතු සහ භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් ආයෝජනය කිරීමෙන් රුපියල් මිලියන තුන්සියයක පමණ අමතර ආදායමක් ද උපයා ඇත.

සිවිල් ගුවන්සේවා අධිකාරියේ වෙනසක් වියයුතුයැයි ඊයේ (27) පළවූ වාර්තාවේ විගණනය යෝජනා කරයි. යන්න වෘත්තීය සමිති යෝජනා කරයි යනුවෙන් සදහන් විය යුතු වෙයි.

විජයානි එදිරිසිංහ
Source: දිනමිණ (Sri Lanka)

කටුනායක ගුවන් තොටට තවත් පහසුකම්

ජපානයෙන් ලද රුපියල් කෝටි 430ක ආධාරයෙන් සංවිධානය කිරීමට නියමිත කටුනායක බණ්ඩනාරනායක ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන් තොටුපළේ නව ඉදිකිරීම් වෙනුවෙන් මේ සතිය තුළදී ටෙන්ඩර් කැදවන බව රජය කියයි.

ගුවන්තොටුපලේ මගීන් එක්කෝටි විසිලක්‍ෂයක් හැසිරවීමේ ඉලක්කය වෙත 2015 වසර වනවිට ළඟා වීමට බලාපොරොත්තු වන බව ගුවන්  තොටුපල හා ගුවන් සේවා (ශ්‍රී ලංකා)  සමාගමේ සභාපති කර්නල් ප‍්‍රසන්න වික‍්‍රමසුරිය පවසයි.

නව මගී පර්යන්තයක් ද අලූතින් ඉදිකැරේ.

ලංකාදීප කර්තෘ මණ්ඩලය

Sri Lanka has least number of underweight children in South Asia

Of all South Asian nations, Sri Lanka has the lowest number of underweight and stunted children, World Bank’s South Asia Region Human Development Unit’s senior nutrition specialist Nkosinathi Mbuya said.

children are 33 percent in Afghanistan, 41 percent in Bangladesh, 43 percent in India, 39 percent in Nepal and 31 percent in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, 18 percent of Sri Lankan children aged up to five are stunted while it is 59 percent in Afghanistan, 43 percent in Bangladesh, 48 percent in India, 49 percent in Nepal and 42 percent in Pakistan. However, the stunting levels in tea estates are the highest (42 percent). Hence the government should intervene to improve nutrition levels in children, adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women in tea estates through community-based nutrition programmes targetting these areas, Mbuya said. He also praised the Sri Lankan government’s efforts to establish the National Nutrition Council in Sri Lanka.

“The President and the government should be praised for their assistance in eradicating malnutrition among children. Sri Lanka is the only country which has such a Council. It is the one and only institution chaired by the head of state in the entire world,” Mbuya said. Making a special presentation on the challenges of nutrition in South Asia at the South Asia Journalists’ Nutrition Workshop on the theme ‘reporting on nutrition’, in Kathmandu, Nepal recently, Mbuya said exclusive breastfeeding, proper complementary feeding and maternal nutrition are the main causes for decline in child malnutrition.

“This approach would facilitate healthy growth and development,” he said.

The workshop was convened by the World Bank and facilitated by Thomson-Reuters.

By Irangika RANGE
Source: Daily News (Sri Lanka)

SB AND BANDULA MUST RESIGN – UNP (Inc. Video)

The United National Party (UNP) today called on the Education Minister and Higher Education Minister to resign following the annulment of the 2011 Advanced Level examination z-score calculation.

Both ministers had claimed that even though a problematic situation had risen regarding the z-score of last year’s A/L examination, there is no fault in calculation method, says UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake.

However, the Supreme Court yesterday ordered that z-score calculation for 2011 G.C.E. Advanced Level examination be annulled and that old and new syllabuses be recalculated separately. Therefore the two ministers who declared there is no error in the calculation method must resign from their ministerial portfolios, he said at a press briefing today.

Attanayake further said that the UNP respects the Supreme Court’s decision and that said method is not appropriate when A/L examination is held under two syllabuses.

Source: Adaderana (Sri Lanka)

‘SL, most carbon efficient country in GDP terms’

Power and Energy Minister Patali Chamipka Ranawaka yesterday said Sri Lanka is the most carbon efficient country in GDP terms as the amount of Carbon produced here is very much less in every respect.

He made this observation making the keynote address as the Chief Guest at the Clean and Green Energy International Conference at the Grand Ballroom, Galadari Hotel, Colombo. The event was organized by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).

He said he was happy to say that when compared with countries where the per – capita income is more than US$ 2,000, we are the lowest Carbon Emitting country in the world to produce 1US$ per capita in real terms.

“Therefore, we must be proud that we are the most carbon efficient country in GDP terms” the minister said.

The minister further said though in the global context, it is an entirely different story. Putting it bluntly, he said we are a civilization sitting on a bubble of fossil fuel, and that bubble is definitely going to burst in the near future.

He also said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) established in 1988 by the UN has identified the Carbon Budget for the whole century to avoid the disastrous consequences of the environmental calamity which might lead to the Sixth Great Extinction of the living species of the planet.

But as per the recent data available, at the current rates the Carbon Budget will be exhausted by 2030, oil reserves by 2040, gas reserves by 2042 and coal reserves by 2062, which means Doomsday is coming very soon.

Minister Ranawaka further said governments alone cannot find solutions for them. As policy makers, scientists and engineers we must educate our people on the importance of clean and green energy not for our sake, but, also for the sake of future generations to come, as we as human beings have nowhere else to go.

“Therefore, we all must take urgent and meaningful action to quickly reduce anthropogenic carbon emissions to zero” minister said. “Therefore, I consider it is a timely and proactive decision for your institution to come up with an idea of having an international conference to deliberate on clean and green energy”.

He added it is well known, that Sri Lanka has over 4,000 MW of potential wind power mostly concentrated on the North-West coastal belt. But it is ironical that we can only tap about 260 to 650 MW of this potential energy till 2020 due to technical constraints.

“If we are to face this problem, we must focus on the evaluation of data related to the location and amount to overcome the intermittent problem, development of machines on problems related to harmonics, study and analyze the Demand Side Management.

By Sandasen MARASINGHE
Source: Daily News (Sri Lanka)

Govt. turns down India’s offer

The government has turned down India’s offer to develop the Palali airport and instead decided to handle it under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, it is reported.

After the war was over, India undertook several projects in the North and among them was the development of the Kankesanthurai harbour. India in addition came forward to modernize the Palali airport, but the agreement was not signed.

However, it is learnt that the government has decided to implement the northern airport project without going in for a joint venture with India.

Asked about this matter, Civil Aviation Minister Priyankara Jayaratne said his Ministry would undertake the project to expand the airport to be operated for commercial activities and for the use of the Air Force.

“We are planning to operate the airport jointly with the Air Force,” he said.

The Minister also said ten domestic airports would be constructed in the country with the Ratmalana airport being expanded as the largest base for internal flights.  He asserted that the government had only proposed a domestic airport in Kandy despite some people mistaking it for a third international airport.

“We have two international airports. One is the Katunayake airport while the second is being constructed in Mattala, Hambantota. It is only a domestic airport proposed in Kandy,” he said.

The Minister said the lands of the School of Agriculture in Kundasale and the adjoining seed farm would not be compromised for this airport.

“We have identified four lands for it. After the environmental impact assessment, we will select the most suitable one. We will not compromise agricultural activities for it. Some people cry to create unnecessary problems saying that the School of Agriculture will be relocated in view of the proposed airport project,” he said.

In the 2012 budget, Rs.750 million was allocated for the project.

By Kelum Bandara
Source:  Daily Mirror(Sri Lanka)

UN TO REVIEW SRI LANKA’S HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION

Sri Lanka has begun preparing for a key review of the human rights situation in the country at the UN in Geneva, officials said on Sunday.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of some countries including Sri Lanka will take place in Geneva between October and November this year.

As a prelude to this the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka said it had discussions with government officials on implementing the recommendations mentioned during the last Universal Periodic Review on Sri Lanka held in 2008 in Geneva.

Sri Lanka has accepted 52 and rejected 25 of a total of 85 recommendations given by the UPR working group in 2008 and has expressed a general response to 8, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka said.

The accepted recommendations include the strengthening and ensuring of the independence of human rights institutions such as the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, to take measures to safeguard freedom of expression and to adopt necessary measures to safeguard the human rights of internally displaced people in accordance with applicable international standards.

UPR recommendations such as to extend standing invitations under the special procedures and to accept an independent international human rights mechanism on the ground as soon as possible have been rejected by the government, while it has expressed a general response to recommendations such as to sign and ratify the International Convention for Protection of All persons from Enforced Disappearances.

The UPR is a human rights mechanism which was established by the UN General Assembly through which the UN Human Rights Council reviews, on a periodic basis, the fulfillment of the human rights obligations by each country.

The UN Human Rights Council in March this year passed a resolution on Sri Lanka calling for accountability on some of the incidents alleged to have taken place during the final stages of a 30 year war with the Tamil Tigers.

The Council also wants Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of a local war commission known as the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).

By  Xinhua
Source: Adaderana.lk

 

තමිල්නාඩු කඳවුරුවල සිටි ශ්‍රී ලාංකික 150ක් අතුරුදන්

තමිල්නාඩුවේ සරණාගත කඳවුරුවල රැඳී සිටි ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සරණාගතයින් 150 දෙනකු පමණ පසුගිය සති දෙකක කාලය තුළ අතුරුදන් වී ඇති බව වාර්තා වේ. මේ පිළිබද වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කර ඇත්තේ යාබද කේරළ ප්‍රාන්තයයි. කේරළයේ සිට මුහුදු මාර්ගයෙන් විදේශගතවීමට උත්සාහ කළ ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් 151 දෙනෙක් කේරළයේ කොල්ලම් නගරය ආසන්නයේ දී මීට සති තුනකට පෙර පොලිසිය විසින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගනු ලැබූහ.

තමිල්නාඩුවේ කදවුරුවලින් පලා යන ශ‍්‍රී ලාංකික සංක‍්‍රමණිකයන් මුහුදු මාර්ගයෙන් සිය රටට පැමිණෙනු ඇති බවට ඕස්ටේ‍්‍රලියාව ද බිය පළ කර ඇත.

මෙම සරණාගතයන් මුහුදු මාර්ගයෙන් වෙනත් රටකට යාමට උත්සාහ දරා ඇත්නම් ඉන්දීය සාගරයේ මෝසම් සුළං පවතින මේ කාලය තුළ පසුගිය දා ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ ක්‍රිස්මස් දූපත අසල මුහුදේ දී සරණාගතයන් පිරිසක් රැගත් යාත්‍රාවක් පෙරළී සිදුවූ අනතුර වැනි තවත් අනතුරක් පිළිබඳව බලධාරීන් සැක පළකරයි.

තමිල්නාඩුවේ සරණාගත කඳවුරුවලින් සරණාගතයින් අතුරුදහන් වන බවට වාර්තා ලැබී ඇති බව කේරළයේ කොල්ලාම් පොලිසිය සඳහන් කරයි.

එමෙන්ම පසුගිය සති 2ක කාලය තුළ සරණාගතයින් රැගත් කිසියම් යාත්‍රාවක් පිටත්වී ඇද්ද යන්න පිළිබඳ විමර්ශන කටයුතු සිදුකරන බව ද එම පොලිසිය පවසා ඇත.

කෙසේවෙතත් මේ සරණාගතයින් පිරිස එසේ ඉන්දියාවෙන් පිටත්වී ඇද්ද යන්න පිළිබඳ තහවුරු කිරීම සඳහා මෙතෙක් කිසිදු වාර්තාවක් ලැබී නොමැති බවද කේරළයේ කොල්ලාම් පොලිසිය පවසයි.

ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ සිට ඍජුවම ඕස්ටේ‍්‍රලියාව බලා නීති විරෝධී සංක‍්‍රමණිකයන් ගමන් කිරීම දැන් මුළුමනින්ම නතර වී ඇති බවට නාවික හමුදාව පෙන්වා දෙයි.

මහින්ද අලුත්ගෙදර සහ රක්ෂණ ශ්‍රියන්ත
Source: Dinamina (Sri Lanka)

 

SB hits at Medical Council

While claiming that it was not necessary to get permission from the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) to establish the Malabe Private Medical College (MPMC), Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake said arbitrary action that was being taken by the SLMC brought disgrace to the well experienced veteran specialist doctors.

“The SLMC is represented by a few doctors who do not include the reputed and recognised doctors of the country. Arbitrary action being taken by the SLMC brings disgrace to the well experienced veteran specialist doctors. They conduct protests in order to protect their financial advantages and the selfish wishes of these small groups could not be allowed to hinder the education system of the country,” Minister Dissanayake said addressing at a ceremony held in Udunuwara.

He also said the authorities had already finalised all the arrangements for the legal recognition of the MPMC and the “acceptance of degrees offered by the MPMC, despite the protest by some interested parties who are silent when various universities are opened for different fields of studies.”

By R.S. Kiriyawatta
Source:  Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Midland Lankans T20 Cricket Fiesta -2012

Midland Lankans Cricket Fiesta once again provided a day of enthralling and nail biting cricket for the Sri Lankan community in the Midlands area on Monday the 4th June , 2012 at Aston Unity Cricket Club Grounds, Tamworth. This annual event was organized with the purpose of providing a time of fellowship and enjoyment for the Sri Lankan community around the Midlands area whilst providing an opportunity for the cricket enthusiasts to display and hone their cricketing talents. We are delighted to share that we were able to achieve our goal successfully.

 

The torrential showers pouring down throughout the weekend ceased early Monday morning giving a glimmer of hope to the organizing committee who have been working hard to make this event a success. We were able to start the proceedings without a delay thanks to the ground staff. All present at the Cricket Fiesta had a day of fun and excitement whilst savoring some spicy Sri Lankan food and humming some familiar baila tunes along with the rest of the crowd.

After two hard fought rounds of T20 cricket, Midland Lankans CC (the defending champions) and the Bristol Sri Lankans CC managed to earn their slots in the final. After the team introductions to the eminent panel of guests, Midland Lankans decided to bat first after winning the toss. Midland Lankans failed to get off to a good start as they lost 3 wickets in quick succession. However, the two talented brothers, Navoda (61 n.o) and Dhanushka (21) shouldered the burden of rebuilding the innings against the strong bowling attack of Bristol Sri Lankans. The patient knocks ofNavoda and Danushka and the cameo from Manjula managed to take MLCC to a formidable score of 142. In their pursuit, Naufel and Thisara laid a firm platform for Bristol Lankans before Irfan (23) and Ali (18) started to take it completely away from Midland Lankans. However, an astonishing mid innings spell from Dhanushka managed to peg them backwith a couple of quick wickets which paved the way for a nail biting finish. Bristol Lankans faced their last over with 3 runs to get possessing only 2 wickets. Despite the commendable effort from the MLCC captain with the ball, Bristol Sri Lankans managed to get home with 2 balls to spare.

Champions 2012 
Bristol Sri Lankan CC
Runners Up 2012  
Midland Lankans CC
Man of the Final 
Irfan (Bristol Sri Lankans CC)
Man of the Tournament 
Navoda (Midland Lankans CC)

The eminent panel of special guests included Ven. Keppetiyagoda Gunawansa Thero and many other sponsors and well wishers. There were many prizes and surprises at this event which was graced by a cheerful crowd from midlands who were rewarded with an enjoyable day out. Apart from cricket, this event also included several games for kids.

 

Cricketer Tom Maynard’s death on tube tracks casts cloud over England match

A cloud will hang over England’s one-day international against West Indies at the Oval after the death of Tom Maynard, a gifted young Surreybatsman well-known to many of those involved, who was found dead on the tracks of the District Line in south London after a police chase in the early hours of Monday.

Maynard, 23, whose father Matthew is a former England player and coach, played in a Twenty20 match against Kent in Beckenham on Sunday afternoon. Hours later, at about 4.15am, Metropolitan police officers stopped his black Mercedes in Wimbledon, south London, “after it was seen being driven erratically”.

According to a police statement, the driver – Maynard – fled, and was not seen again until 5.03am when he was pronounced dead at the scene, a tube driver having alerted the authorities to a body on the line. The incident has been reported to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, but is being treated as non-suspicious.

British Transport Police said: “BTP officers were called to the line near Wimbledon Park London Underground station on Monday, 18 June after a man was struck by a District line train. London Ambulance Service medics attended but the man, believed to be 23-years-old, was pronounced dead at the scene.

“The incident was reported to BTP at 5.03am and is currently being treated as non-suspicious.

“A file will be prepared for the coroner.”

Surrey and England players were stunned when the news was broken to them, in England’s case by team director Andy Flower before a practice session at the Oval, where the flag on the pavilion flew at half-mast. England squad member Jade Dernbach, who was a Surrey team-mate and a close friend, has been given the option of taking compassionate leave for the remaining two matches of the one-day series.

Surrey have postponed a Twenty20 match against Hampshire due for the Oval on Wednesday as a mark of respect. The one-day international will go ahead at their request, with both teams expected to wear black armbands and a minute’s silence to be held before the start.

“It’s an absolute tragedy,” said Hugh Morris, the managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board who was a long-time team-mate of Matthew Maynard’s at Glamorgan.

“I’ve known Tom since he was a little boy. Our hearts go out to his parents, Matthew and Sue, and to all his friends and family. He was an incredibly talented cricketer and an incredibly likeable young man who had the world at his feet.”

Maynard was born in Cardiff and, after attending Millfield School in Somerset, followed his father’s path to Glamorgan, where as a swashbuckling strokeplayer he was inevitably regarded as a chip off the old block, Matthew having scored more than 20,000 runs for the county.

They even played together in a game against the local university team in May 2010, when Matthew was coach and came out of retirement at the age of 44. But at the end of that season both left Glamorgan, Tom signing for Surrey, where his Millfield contemporary Rory Hamilton-Brown had been appointed captain.

He scored more than 1,000 runs, including a maiden first-class century against Glamorgan, and earned selection for the England Lions team on a tour of Bangladesh earlier this year. “In many respects he played just like his old man did,” Morris added. “Matthew played for England, and Tom was very much on that pathway. He played for the Lions this winter and impressed all the coaches there.”

Richard Thompson, the Surrey chairman, described his death as “an utterly senseless tragedy”. It is the third to hit the Surrey club in 15 years, following the death of the wicketkeeper Graham Kersey in 1997 and Ben Hollioake, another highly gifted young cricketer who had played for England, at the age of 24 in March 2002, in each case after a car crash in Australia.

Several others in the game have also expressed their shock on Twitter. Mark Ramprakash, Maynard’s team-mate at Surrey, said: “Life can b so cruel! Tom Maynard – a really nice guy who was a pleasure to play with & will b really missed. RIP Tom.”

The former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff tweeted: “Tragic news that a great lad, Tom Maynard is no longer with us. All my thoughts are with his family at this awful time xx,” while the former England captain Michael Vaughan wrote: “Thoughts are with Matt Maynard and his family … Words can’t describe the terribly sad news that Tom Maynard has died aged 23 … #RIPTOM.”

Adam Hollioake, Ben’s elder brother and a former Surrey captain, wrote: “Wot is going on at Surrey? R we cursed or something? Graham Kersey, my bro, now this …”

Steve James, another former Glamorgan and England opener, added: “The lovely kid who was always in our Glamorgan dressing room grew into a man who would have played for England. How can he be gone so soon?”

By Andrew Wilson
Source: guardian.co.uk

Hemakumara drops bombshell over agricultural mishap

While faulting the government for its “stupid” and “foolish” decisions with regard to its Agricultural policy, former Presidential Advisor on agricultural affairs Hemakumara Nanayakkara said he would decide on his future political path “in the next few days”.

“ The Agricultural policy of this government is not going in the right direction, farmers were guaranteed a purchase price of Rs.26 for paddy but the price has now been reduced to Rs. 18 causing severe hardship and distress to farmers. I don’t make these statements while sitting in an air-conditioned room in Colombo. I have visited farmers in areas including  Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Medirigiriya,Kawudulla, Ginidama and Hingurakdamana among other farming areas. After these visits I submitted a report requesting all responsible people to immediately rectify this problem but there were no efforts taken to rectify this” he said.

The former Minister went on to state that the issues do not end with the farmers. “ Now there is an issue with vegetables, there is an issue with milk production and the marketing of milk and the government is trying to give some sort of excuse to escape from the situation which I personally don’t like and do not approve”.

Nanayakkara went on to say that the government’s agricultural policy in recent times has been ‘sinful’  “They came out with a stupid plan of bringing down the Kundasale School of agriculture and building an airport. In the same way they want to establish an airport in Seethaeliya. These  are the most pivotal points of the country’s agricultural development. If the government is interested in the country’s agricultural development it will not make these kind of foolish decisions, so I don’t want to be a party to this sin, this curse, which Is why I decided to relinquish my duties”

When the Daily Mirror asked Nanayakkara about the remarks made by the Minister of Agriculture in parliament yesterday denying reports of building an airport in Kundasale, Nanayakkara said it was the same minister who told the media a few days ago about the proposed airport. “ He must be under pressure. That is why he is making these statements, but i’m not under any pressure, ” he said.

When asked about the political future of the Galle district heavyweight , he said he would continue to be actively involved in Politics ” I will continue to be involved in active and honest politics. My politics has always been honest and I will make a decision regarding my political future in the next few days” he said.

By Hafeel Farisz
Source:  Daily Mirror(Sri Lanka)

‘There are bigger things than getting out or not out on 199’

Kumar Sangakkara, who was left stranded on 199 during the second day between Sri Lanka v Pakistan 1st Test, said that there are bigger things that getting out or not out on 199.

He wasn’t laughing, though, when he watched Sri Lanka’s No. 11, Nuwan Pradeep, get bowled by Mohammad Hafeez’s offbreak. Sangakkara had become only the second batsman, after Andy Flower, to get stranded on 199 in Tests. Cricket, being such a numbers obsessed game, will probably remember his innings for the one run he didn’t get, rather than the labour behind the 199 achieved in just under two days in sultry Galle.

Sangakkara said there was no point beating himself up for what had happened. “I was thinking about getting as close as possible [to 200] so if I’m a shot away, I’ll take that shot on,” he said. “It was a case of trying to farm the strike with the tailenders, with the hope that we could get to a total of 500. I don’t usually count until I’m six or seven short of where I want to be.

“The scoreboard showed 194 and so did the screen, so what can you do, that’s life. It [the scorecard error] was an honest mistake. You’ve got to learn to live with disappointments. I’d rather be on 199 than 1 or 2 or 0.”

There were references to his heroic 192 against Australia in Hobart, where he was denied a double-century due to an umpiring error, for which Rudi Koertzen apologised later. Sangakkara said experience had taught him to deal with such setbacks.

“You need to be on your own for five minutes, take a few deep breaths, calm yourself,” he said. “It’s strange how you change as a player. When you’re young, you’re angry and you throw the bat in the dressing room. Now, when you go back and take a breather, you realise there are bigger things than getting out or not out on 199. As long as you put everything in perspective, you’ll be fine. You just have to stay calm.

“It’s also my dad’s birthday today, and he’s been coaching me since I was 14 so I might not have to buy him a gift.”

There was plenty to be satisfied about. During his unbeaten 199, Sangakkara became the quickest to 2000 Test runs against a single opponent, reaching the milestone in 26 innings. He was faster than Sunil Gavaskar (28 innings v West Indies), Brian Lara (28 v England) and Don Bradman (29 v England).

Source: ESPNcricinfo and agencies

අනතුරට පත් වූ යාත්‍රාවේ ශ්‍රී ලාංකික කිසිවෙක් නැහැ

ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ ක්‍රිස්මස් දූපත ආසන්නයේදී අනතුරට පත්වූ යාත්‍රාවේ සිට දිවි බේරාගත් සරණාගතයන් අතර ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් කිසිවකු නැතැයි විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය අවධාරණය කරයි.

මෙලෙස දිවි බේරාගත් පිරිස අතර ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් කිසිවකු නොමැති බවට ඕස්ට්‍රේලියානු සාගරික ආරක්ෂක අධිකාරිය මඟින් සඳහන් කළ බවට එරට ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ කොමසාරිස් අද්මිරාල් තිසර සමරසිංහ මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කළේ යැයි විදේශ කටයුතු අමාතයාංශයේ පොදු සන්නිවේදන අංශයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් සරත් දිසානායක මහතා දිනමිණ ට පැවසීය.

මේ අතර බේරාගනු ලැබූ 110 දෙනාගෙන් සිව්දෙනකුද පසුව ජීවිතක්ෂයට පත්වූ බව ඉන්දුනීසියාවේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති නන්ද මල්ලවආරච්චි මහතා සඳහන් කර ඇත.

කෙසේ වුවද ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාව බලාගිය මෙම යාත්‍රාවේ සිටි තවත් 90 දෙනකු පමණ අතුරුදන් වී තිබෙන අතර ඔවුන් සෙවීම සඳහා ඕස්ට්‍රේලියානු හා ඉන්දුනීසියානු නාවික හමුදා, ගුවන් හමුදා කණ්ඩායම් ඒකාබද්ධ මෙහෙයුම් ආරම්භ කර තිබෙන බවද ඒ මහතා සඳහන් කළේය.

අනතුරට පත් යාත්‍රාවේ ගමන් කළ සියලු දෙනාම පිරිමින් වන අතර වයස අවුරුදු 13 ක කුඩා දරුවකුද ඒ අතර වන බව වාර්තා වෙයි. මෙම යාත්‍රාවේ සිටි බොහෝ පිරිසක් ඇෆගනිස්තාන ජාතිකයන් බවට හඳුනාගෙන ඇති අතර බේරාගත් පිරිස අතරින් තිදෙනකුගේ සෞඛ්‍ය තත්ත්වය අයහපත් වීම හේතුවෙන් රෝහල්ගත කර තිබෙන බවද සෙසු සාමාජිකයන් විශේෂ රැඳවුම් මධ්‍යස්ථානයක් වෙත රැගෙන යාමට ඕස්ට්‍රේලියානු බලධාරීන් පියවර ගත් බවද වාර්තා වෙයි.

ඉන්දීය මුහුදු සීමාවේ සිට නාවික සැතපුම් 120 ක් සහ ඕස්ට්‍රේලියානු ක්‍රිස්මස් දූපතට කිලෝමීටර් 2600 කට ඈතින්වූ ඉන්දුනීසියානු මුහුදු සීමාවේදී මේ යාත්‍රාව අනතුරට පත්ව තිබෙන බව විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය සඳහන් කරයි.

මේ අතර විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ නීති විරෝධී ආකාරයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සංක්‍රමණිකයන් විශාල පිරිසක් පසුගිය කාලයේ ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවට ඇතුළු වීමට උත්සාහ දරා තිබෙන බවත් ඔවුන්ගෙන් වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයක් එරට බලධාරීන්ගේ අත්අඩංගුවට පත්ව ක්‍රිස්මස් දූපතේ රඳවා තිබෙන බවත්ය.රුපියල් ලක්ෂ ගණනින් මුදල් වැය කොට ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවට ගියද කිසිඳු ඵලක් නොවන බව පෙන්වා දෙන එම අමාත්‍යාංශය ඊට අමතරව සිදුවූ අනතුරු හේතුවෙන් ඇතැමුන් ජීවිතක්ෂයට පත්වූ අවස්ථා වාර්තා වන බවද කියාසිටී. (මහින්ද අලුත්ගෙදර)

Source: Dinamina (Sri Lanka)

President, Indian PM to strengthen Indo-Lanka ties

President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Thursday stressed they would not leave any room for a disruption of the longstanding ties and friendly relations between Sri Lanka and India.

There are ample opportunities to resolve contentions issues if any, through friendly discussion and dialogue, they emphasised when they met in Rio de Janeiro on the sidelines of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20.

During the meeting, President Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Singh recalled the historic ties and friendly relations between the two countries and said they would pay constant attention to guarding and protecting them.

A press release by the President’s Media Unit said the proposed scheme to build 50,000 houses in the North and East with Indian assistance also figured at the bilateral talks between

the Sri Lanka President and Indian Prime Minister. It was agreed to start work on this project immediately. Construction work on the Sampur Power Plant was also discussed during the meeting.

A meeting between the Sri Lanka and Indian delegations preceded the bilateral talks between the two leaders.

Ministers Prof G L Peiris, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Wimal Weerawansa, Patali Champika Ranawaka and Mahinda Amaraweera, Deputy Minister Ms Nirupama Rajapaksa, Parliamentarian Sajin Vaas Gunawardene, Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunge and Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in the UN Dr Palitha Kohona were also present.

Source: Daily News (Sri Lanka)

තිරසාර සංවර්ධනයේ සුබවාදී ප්‍රතිඵල ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අද අත්කරගෙන තිබෙනවා – මිහිකත සමුළුව අමතමින් ජනපති කියයි

මීට වසර දෙසීයකට පෙර සිට තිරසාර සංවර්ධනය පිළිබද සංකල්පය ක්‍රියාවට නැංවූ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඒ තුලින් කැපී පෙනෙන ප්‍රතිඵල අත් කරගෙන තිබෙන බව ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අවධාරණය කරයි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පුරාණ රාජධානි විසින් නිර්මාණය කරන ලද කෘෂිකාර්මික ආර්ථික කළමනාකරණය, විනය ගරුක සමාජය හා ආර්ථික සංවර්ධනය සමඟ දැඩි ලෙස බද්ධ වූවක් බව පෙන්වාදෙන ජනාධිපතිවරයා අපේ මුතුන් මිත්තන් අනුගමනය කළ මෙම සුසංගත භාවිතය හේතුවෙන් පාරිසරික හා ආර්ථික තිරසාරත්වය සේම සමාජ හා දේශපාලන ස්ථාවරත්වය ලබා තිබෙන බවද ඒ මහතා පෙන්වා දෙයි.

ජනාධිපතිවරයා මේ බව සඳහන් කළේ බ්‍රසීලයේ රියෝ ද ජනයිරෝ නගරයේදී පෙරේදා (20) ආරම්භ වූ ලෝක පරිසර සමුළුව හෙවත් මිහිකත සමුළුව අමතමිනි.

එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දක්වමින් ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සඳහන් කළේ, පාරිසරික අර්බුදය ආමන්ත්‍රණය කිරීමේ කටයුත්ත සංවර්ධන වෙමින් පවතින රටවලටම දරා සිටීමට නොහැකි බවත් පාරිසරික අර්බුදයට එදා දායක වූ හා තවමත් දායක වෙමින් සිටින සංවර්ධිත රටවල් තම ආර්ථික සංවර්ධනයේ වියදමින් සංවර්ධනය වෙමින් පවතින රටවලට පරිසරය බේරා දීමේ වගකීම පැහැරහැරිය නොහැකිවාක් මෙන්ම ඔවුන් එය පැහැර නොහැරිය යුතු බවත්ය.

හරිත ආර්ථිකයකට මාරුවීම සිත් ඇදගන්නා සුළු වුවද එය තිරසාර නොවූ පරිභෝජනය හා නිශ්පාදන ක්‍රියා අවම කිරීමට හැකි බොහෝ මෙවලම්වලින් එකක් බව පෙන්වා දුන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා හරිත ආර්ථිකයකට මාරුවීම රටක සමාජ හා ආර්ථික සංවර්ධනය හින කිරීමට තුඩු දෙන අසුබවාදී ප්‍රතිඵල ඇති නොකළ යුතු බවද සඳහන් කළේය. මේ නිසා තිරසාර සංවර්ධනය සඳහා විසඳූම දරිද්‍රතාව දුරලීම, සම්පත් හා බලශක්ති කාර්යක්‍ෂමතාව, සියලු ජනතාව සඳහා සමානතාව හා වඩා හොඳ ජීවන තත්ත්වයන් සමඟ එක් කළ යුතු යැයි පෙන්වාදුන් මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙයට විසි වසරකට පෙර එනම් 1992 දී බ්‍රසීලයේ රියෝ ද ජනෙයිරෝ නගරයේදී පවත්වන ලද පරිසරය හා සංවර්ධනය පිළිබඳ ඵෙතිහාසික සම්මේලනයට වසර 20 ක් සැපිරීම සිහිගන්වමින් 2012 සමුළුව රියෝ + 20 ලෙස නම් කොට තිබෙන බවද ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වත්මන් ප්‍රගතිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් පළකළ ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සඳහන් කළේ රටේ යටිතල පහසුකම් ශීඝ්‍රයෙන් සංවර්ධනය වෙමින් හා ආයෝජන අවස්ථා විශාල වශයෙන් වැඩි වෙමින් පවතින නිසාවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අද වන විට අපනයනය මඟින් මෙහෙයවන වෙළඳාම හා වානිජ ව්‍යාපාර සඳහා දැනුම පදනම් කරගත් කලාපීය කේන්ද්‍රයක් බවට පත්වී තිබෙන බවය.

ඊට අමතරව අපි මේ සියලු ආර්ථික සාර්ථකත්වයන් අත් කරගෙන සිටින්නේ පරිසර සංරක්‍ෂණය ආරක්‍ෂා කරන අතරතුර බවත් එහි ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස වසරකට ටොන් 0.6 ක් වන අපගේ ඒක පුද්ගල කාබන් දහනය බොහෝ රටවල් හා සසඳන විට ඉතා සුළු අගයක් බවත් පැවසූ ඒ මහතා අපේ සංවර්ධන ආකෘතිය පරිසරයට ගරු කරන, අපෙන්ම හැදුණු ආකෘතියක් බවද ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

රියෝ + 20 සමුළුව සඳහා ලෝක නායකයෝ රැසක් සමඟ විවිධ සංවිධාන රැසක නියෝජිතයන්, පෞද්ගලික අංශයේ සාමාජිකයන්, රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධානවල සාමාජිකයන් සහ වෙනත් විවිධ අංශවලට අයත් නියෝජිතයන් දහස් සංඛ්‍යාත පිරිසක් මෙවර සහභාගී වී සිටිති.

Source: Dinamina (Sri Lanka)

Boat with asylum seekers capsized

Australian police said Thursday that early reports suggested up to 75 asylum seekers had died after their boat capsized off remote Christmas Island en route from Sri Lanka.

Western Australia police commissioner Karl O’Callaghan said a “large number” of the 200 on board were feared to have perished.

“Some of the very early reports suggest that up to 75 people may have drowned, but I do stress that they are unconfirmed at this stage,” O’Callaghan told reporters.

“There were about 200 refugees on board we think. Currently there’s about 40 on the hull and the rest are in the water,” he added.

O’Callaghan said police were “very concerned for a large number of people who may have drowned” as a result of the capsize, which occurred in Indonesian waters 120 nautical miles north of Australia’s Christmas Island.

“We know from what we’ve been hearing from the aircraft that there’s not 200 life jackets on board,” he added.

O’Callaghan said it looked as though the operation “will have to go well into the night”.

Source: AFP

Only Nikayas can prevent Bhikkus from entering Parliament – Thera

‘It is not acceptable to ban monks from entering Parliament unless it is decided by the various Buddhist Nikayas. One day such organizations will say that doing politics needs to be banned for monks. Nobody can influence against Buddhists monks, Buddhist Cultural Center Director Ven Kirama Wimalajothi Thera said.

A massive conference will be held in Wanduramba, Galle on June 24, the Thera said. It has been named Bodu Samuluwa.

Ven. Wimalajothi Thera was addressing the press organised by the Bodu Bala Sena Organization at the Buddhist Cultural Center in Colombo yesterday.

“Many Non Governmental Organizations and certain elements which have Buddhist faces are against Buddhism. At present, most have forgotten that around 95 percent Buddhist monks in the country supported the election of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. It enabled to eradicate 30 years of terrorism,” the Thera said.

“If this situation continues,one day Buddhist monks might to go Geneva asking for their rights,” the Thera said.

Chief Secretary Ven Galagodaaththe Ganasara Thera said the Hela Uruymaya came forward to counter the various anti-Buddhist activities of many NGO’s. “Due to their entry into Parliament, Ven. Bhikkhus ,such as, Ven Ellawala Medhananda Thera was able to bring to light archaeological findings in the North and East. These are the heritage of Buddhists.Other individuals had attempted to pass a Bill against Buddhist monks entering Parliament, “the Thera said. “In 2003, the Indian government banned 404 NGOs which operated in their country due to unethical conversions. Now these organizations are activated in Sri Lanka. They had been registered here under Company Registration Act. They launched their activities to convert people from other religions. It has an impact on all religious practices in the country,” the Thera said.

“As Buddhist monks, we have a duty. We are the protectors of the nation from historical times, the Thera said.

Bodu Bala Sena National Organizer Ven Vitharandeniye Nanda Thera, Bodu Bala Sena Deputy Organizer Embilipitiye Vijitha thera and Ven Aluthwewa Ananda thera also participated in this event.

By Priyanka Kurugala
Source: Daily News (Sri Lanka)

UNP calls for common opposition

The UNP said today that the country needs a united opposition to take on “this corrupt and dictatorial regime”. Speaking at the Opposition leaders’ office UNP General Secretary Tissa Aththanayake urged former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka to join the UNP in its fight against the government. “We invite Sarath Fonseka to join us to take on this corrupt and dictatorial regime” he said.

The Kandy District Parliamentarian said that a divided opposition would not help the common cause of the opposition and that common ground should be derived from the need to bring down the government and not a shift in policy by any party.

“ We want all opposition parties to join us because taking on this government separately is not feasible, we urge all those opposing this corrupt and dictatorial regime to join hands with the UNP in the common bid of toppling this government” he said.

Atthanayake said that there is evidence that those responsible for the shooting in Katuwana Hambanthota have state protection. “We have received information to say that those accused of this heinous crime have clear state protection, if not how else have they been operating for this long in the open at the city of Hambanthota ?” he asked.

He stated that incidents of this nature have been continuously taking place in the past and that there is a dire need of a united opposition to form against this dictatorial and anti democratic behavior of the government. “ This isn’t the first time this has happened, the example of the abducted provincial councilor claiming that he was released because of the intervention of the highest levels in the defense establishment is clear indication of this state protection for the underworld. It is against this that we have to rise” he said.

By Hafeel Farisz
Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

වසන් කළ යුතු කිසිවක් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නැහැ – රජය අවධාරණය කරයි

රට අභ්‍යන්තරයේ මෙන්ම බාහිර වශයෙන්ද වසන් කළයුතු කිසිවක් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නොමැති හෙයින් කිසිවෙකුටත් බිය වියයුතු නැතැයි රජය අවධාරණය කරයි. ඒ නිසාම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සංචාරය කිරීම සඳහා ජගත් මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සලය කර ඇති ඉල්ලීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් සුබවාදී ප්‍රතිචාරයක් දැක්වීමට සූදානම් බවද විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශයේ ලේකම් කරුණාතිලක අමුණුගම මහතා දිනමිණ ට පැවසීය.

මේ සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කර තිබෙන බවද එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස් නවනීදන් පිල්ලේගේ උපදෙස් මත එක් නියෝජිතයෙකු මෙරටට පැමිණීමට නියමිත බවද හෙතෙම සඳහන් කළේය.

මෙලෙස මානව හිමිකම් සම්බන්ධයෙන් නියෝජිතයෙකු ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණියද ඔහුගේ හෝ ඇයගේ න්‍යාය පත්‍රය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට අවශ්‍ය පරිදි සකස් කරන බව සහන් කළ ලේකම්වරයා ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අවශ්‍ය නම් දෙපාර්ශවය අතර සාකච්ඡා කළ හැකි බවද පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

කුමන නියෝජිතයෙකු ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණියද ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයේ ස්ථාවරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කිසිදු වෙනසක් නොමැති බවද සුපුරුදු පරිදි ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ක්‍රියාත්මක වන බවද ලේකම්වරයා සදහන් කළේය. පසුගිය දිනවල එක්සත් ජාතින්ගේ සංවිධානයේ මෙන්ම විවිධ රටවල නියෝජිත කණ්ඩායම් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණි බවද ඔවුන්ට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ යහපත් වාතාවරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අවබෝධ කරදීමට හැකිවී තිබෙන බවද පැවැසූ කරුණාතිලක අමුනුගම මහතා එවැනි නියෝජිත කණ්ඩායම් වෙත සියයට 80 ටත් වැඩි ප්‍රමානයක් හිතකර තොරතුරු ලැබෙන බවද කීවේය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයේ සාමාජික රටක් වහයෙන් සුපුරුදු ලෙස කටයුතු කරන බව සදහන් කළ ඒ මහතා එම සංවිධානය සමග ශ්‍රී ලංකාව විවිධ ගැටළු පවතින බවට ඇතැමුන් ප්‍රචාරයන් ගෙනයන බවද එවැනි තත්ත්වයක් කිසිවිටෙකත් නොමැති බවද පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

මහින්ද අලුත්ගෙදර
Source: Dinamina (Sri Lanka)

ලංකා බැංකුවෙන් රුපියල් ට්‍රිලියනයක ශේෂ පත්‍රයක්

ඉතිහාසයේ පළමු වරට ලංකා බැංකුව රුපියල් ට්‍රිලියනයක ශේෂ පත්‍රයක් පෙන්නුම් කිරීමට සමත් වෙයි.

මෙවැනි ඉලක්කයක් කරා පැමිණි ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පළමු ආයතනය ලංකා බැංකුව වන අතර එම අගය පසුගිය මැයි මස 31 වනවිට වාර්තා කර ඇතැයි ලංකා බැංකුවේ සභාපති ආචාර්ය ගාමිණී වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා පවසයි.

සැලසුම් සහගත ලෙස නිවැරැදි ඉලක්කයක් ඔස්සේ කටයුතු කිරීම, විධිමත් හා කාර්යක්ෂමතාව, කැපවීම, නිරවද්‍යතාව ආදිය හේතුවෙන් මේ ජයග්‍රහණය ලබා තිබෙන බවද ඒ සඳහා සමස්ත කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයේ සහයෝගය ලැබී තිබෙන බවද හෙතෙම පෙන්වා දෙයි.

සභාපතිවරයා මේ බව සඳහන් කළේ ලංකා බැංකු මූලස්ථානයේ ඊයේ (18) පැවැති විශේෂ මාධ්‍ය හමුවකට සහභාගි වෙමිනි.

ලංකා බැංකුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ප්‍රමුඛතම රාජ්‍ය බැංකුව වශයෙන් මෙන්ම සෙසු බැංකු සඳහාද ආදර්ශයක් වෙමින් ඉදිරියට ගමන් කරන බව පෙන්වාදුන් සභාපතිවරයා පසුගිය 2010 වර්ෂයේදී රුපියල් බිලියන 10 ක (රුපියල් කෝටි 1000) ලාභයක්ද පසුගිය 2011 වර්ෂයේදී රුපියල් බිලියන 15 ක (රුපියල් කෝටි 1500) ලාභයක්ද ලබා තිබෙන බව සිහිපත් කළේය. වසර දෙක හමාරක් වැනි කෙටි කාලයක් ඇතුළත මෙවැනි දැවැන්ත ඉලක්කයක් කරා පැමිණීමට හැකිවී තිබෙන බව සිහිපත් කළ ආචාර්ය ගාමිණී වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා එම ඉලක්කය මේ වසරේ දෙසැම්බර් 31 වනවිට සම්පූර්ණ කිරීම අරමුණ වී තිබුණද ඊට මාස 7 කට පෙර ළඟාවීමට හැකිවීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් අතිශය සතුටට පත්වන බවද සඳහන් කළේය.

මීට පෙර සිටි කළමනාකාරිත්වය මෙන්ම කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයද තම බැංකුව දිගු ගමනක් කරා රැගෙන යාම වෙනුවෙන් ප්‍රශංසනීය කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටුකර තිබෙන බව සිහිපත් කළ ලංකා බැංකුවේ සභාපතිවරයා ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ සංකල්පයකට අනුව අපේ රට ආසියාවේ ආශ්චර්යය කරා යන ගමනට තම බැංකුව විශාල ශක්තියක් වී තිබෙන බවද ඉදිරියටත් සහයෝගය ලබාදීමට සූදානම් බවද පැවසීය.

මේ අතර ඒ මහතා පෙන්වා දුන්නේ ලාභ ලැබීම පමණක් නොව ජනතාවගේ සංවර්ධනය මෙන්ම රටේ ආර්ථික වර්ධනය වෙනුවෙන් දායකත්වය ලබාදෙන ලංකා බැංකුව උතුරු නැඟෙනහිර සංවර්ධනය ‍සඳහා දැවැන්ත කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටුකර තිබෙන බවත් ඒ ඒ ප්‍රදේශයන්හි ජනතාවගේ ජීවනෝපාය ශක්තිමත් කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් කෘෂිකර්ම, ධීවර, නිවාස, වාරිමාර්ග, මහා මාර්ග, ව්‍යාපාර ඇතුළු සෑම ක්ෂේත්‍රයක්ම වෙනුවෙන් සහාය ලබා දී තිබෙන බවත්ය. උතුරු හා නැඟෙනහිර ප්‍රදේශයන් වෙත සංවර්ධන කටයුතු වෙනුවෙන් රුපියල් බිලියන 80 ක මුදලක් ආයෝජනය කර තිබෙන බව සඳහන් කළ ආචාර්ය ගාමිණී වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ඒ හරහා එම ප්‍රදේශ විශාල දියුණුවක් ලබා තිබෙන බවද කියා සිටියේය.

ඊට අමතරව රට සංවර්ධන වේගවත් කිරීම සඳහා ඉතිරි කිරීම් ඉහළ දැමිය යුතු බව පෙන්වාදුන් ඒ මහතා මේ වනවිට එම අගය සියයට 16 – 17 අතර අගයක් ගන්නා බවද එය සියයට 35 – 40 දක්වා ඉහළ නැංවිය යුතු බවද කීවේය. මෙහිදී ලංකා බැංකුවේ සභාපතිවරයා සඳහන් කළේ අපේ රටට විදේශ විනිමය අත්‍යවශ්‍ය බවත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට විදේශ විනිමය රැගෙන ඒම සඳහා ලංකා බැංකුව සැලකිය යුතු කාර්යභාරයක් ඉටුකරන බවත්ය.

මහින්ද අලුත්ගෙදර
Source: Dinamina (Sri Lanka)

Britisher living in SL honoured by the Queen

Michael Meyler, a British National living in Sri Lanka, has been honoured by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in her Birthday Honours List for 2012 a press release issued by the British High Commission, Colombo, said.

Meyler was the first to write a comprehensive book on “ Sri Lankan English” which he published in 2007. The book included a host of native terms that are now intertwined with the ‘ Queens english’

Mr. Meyler, a part-time teacher at the British Council in Colombo was awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) for his services to the English Language the release said.

Michael Meyler came to Sri Lanka in 1985 as an English teacher. Since 1995 he has worked at the British Council in Colombo, where he teaches beginners’ classes in Sinhala and Tamil. His book, A Dictionary of Sri Lankan English, was published in 2007. He has also published a trilingual children’s book and DVD called Keerthihan’s Kite, and illustrated flashcards of the Sinhala and Tamil alphabets. He is currently working on a trilingual learners’ dictionary of colloquial Sinhala, English and Tamil.

A Dictionary of Sri Lankan English contains approximately 2,500 examples of words and expressions which are characteristic of the English spoken in Sri Lanka. While originally intended for Sri Lankan students and teachers of English, foreigners living in Sri Lanka and anyone with an interest in international varieties of English, it has also proved popular with non-specialist Sri Lankan speakers of English, by drawing attention to the unique character of the English spoken here. The book illustrates how the English language evolves and adapts to different cultural contexts.

“I am amazed and very grateful to receive this unexpected honour,” said Michael Meyler. “The main thing I would like to think the book has achieved is to raise awareness of Sri Lankan English among learners, teachers and speakers of English in Sri Lanka, by bringing it out of the academic realm into the public domain. It certainly seems to have sparked a fair amount of debate on the subject.”

By Shabnam Farook
Source: Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka)

Magnificent Mathews brings Sri Lanka victory

A magnificent unbeaten knock of 80 with four fours and two sixes by Vice Captain and player of the match, Angelo Mathews helped Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by two wickets with two balls to spare and take the ODI series 3-1 under lights at the R.Premadasa Stadium, yesterday.

It was great thinking by skipper Mahela Jayawardena to drop Sanjeewa Weerakoon and play all rounder Jeevan Mendis. He did so to strengthen the batting if Sr Lanka had to chase.

Mendis obliged in style and justified his inclusion with 19 and a stand of 37 with Mathews for the 8th wicket which put Sri Lanka on the road to victory. Then Mathews and Nuwan Kulesekera 10 put on 36 for the 9th wicket to secure an exciting victory.

When Sri Lanka chased a target of 248 for victory, it was paramount that the three big batting guns Tillekeratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena fire to get there.

The first gun was silenced when Sohail Tanvir bowling good pace knocked back Tillekeratne Dilshan’s leg stump with a stunning Yorker for 10 at 18 and then the bowler sent Upul Thranga’s off stump cart wheeling for 2 at 19. It was not the start the Lankans were looking for.

The second gun Kumar Sangakkara fired, but not sufficiently for 40 with 3 fours in 68 balls and at 97 was stumped off Afridi and then the gun that could have destroyed the opposition Mahela Jayawardena was silenced.

Next ball Afridi caught and bowled him with a slow ball for no score at the same score 97. Dinesh Chandimal played a plucky innings making 54 with 4 fours in 74 balls.

The early morning showers had not affected the ground nor the wicket and when Captains Mahela Jayawardena and Misba Ul-Haq walked out to spin the coin the sun was shining.

Misbah was lucky with the toss this time and elected to bat. Pakistan made two changes shedding Younis Khan and Saeed Ajmal and bringing in Imran farahat and Mohammed Sami. Sri Lanka tinkered with the winning team.

They dropped left arm spinner Sajeewa Weerakoon who made his debut in the previous game and tossed in leg spinning all rounder Jeevan Mendis adding muscle to the batting if they were to chase. Pity when one considers the dropping of Weerakoon. However he must be thankful for small mercies.

The dropping of Khan whose form has been wretched did not come as a surprise. Off spinner Ajmal has won many matches for the Pakistanis and his dropping was inexplicable.

The wicket which was covered played easy and Mohammed Hafeez and Imran Farhat gave them a fair start putting on 22, before Hafeez who has not been having a good series was bowled through the gate by a Kulesekera inswinger for 6.

But it was left hander Farhat who provided the sparks that was missing in the Pakistani batting. He raced to his 12th fifty in ODI cricket in 56 balls hitting 9 well timed boundaries. His square driving was exquisite.

When Farhat and Azhar Ali had put on 60 in 73 balls and seemed to be going strong, it was that man Thisara ‘Midas’ Perera again.

Everything he touches seems to be turning to gold these days.

It was he broke the threatening stand when he induced Farhat to pull a short ball to Dinesh Chandimal who took a well judged catch at mid wicket. He made 56 in 63 balls.

Pakistan lost Azhar Ali for 30 in 49 balls, Asad Shafiq for 38 in 46 balls when Misbah and Umar Akmal hurried the scoring putting on 61 runs in as many balls, before Misbah trying to hoist Mendis out of the ground found Perera taking the catch at mid wicket. Misbah made 32 in 48 balls.

Sahid Afridi who is hopelessly out of form went for 9 and Sohail Tanvir made 11. But the best batting of the innings came from right hander Umar Akmal who found form at last. He was in a belligerent mood and raced to his 15th ODI 50 in 49 balls with 5 fours and two massive sixes off Thisara Perera. He remained unbeaten on 55 when the innings ended at 247 for 7 in 50. It was a competitive score.

Of the Sri Lankan bowlers Nuwan Kulesekera had 2 for 53 and Jeevan Mendis 2 for 30. The Sri Lankan fielding was excellent, especially on the ground although one catch was dropped by Upul Tharanga.

Pakistan
Imran Farhat c Chandimal b Perera 56
Mohammad Hafeez b Kulasekara 6
Azhar Ali c Thirimanne b Mendis 30
Asad Shafiq run out 38
Misbah ul-Haq c Perera b Mendis 32
Umar Akmal not out 55
Shahid Afridi c Jayawardene b Kulasekara 9
Sohail Tanvir c Tharanga b Malinga 11
Umar Gul not out 2
Extras (b2, lb3, w3) 8
Total
(for seven wickets; 50 overs) 247
Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Hafeez), 2-82 (Farhat), 3-113 (Ali), 4-146 (Shafiq),
5-207 (Misbah), 6-229 (Afridi), 7-244 (Tanvir)
Bowling: Malinga 10-1-52-1 (w1), Kulasekara 10-1-53-2, Mathews 10-0-41-0,
Dilshan 3-0-12-0, Perera 8-0-54-1 (w1), Mendis 9-0-30-2 (w1).
Sri Lanka
U. Tharanga b Tanvir 2
T. Dilshan b Tanvir 10
K. Sangakkara st Ahmed b Afridi 40
D. Chandimal c Sami b Hafeez 54
M. Jayawardene c and b Afridi 0
A. Mathews not out 80
T. Perera run out 0
L. Thirimanne run out 11
J. Mendis c Shafiq b Tanvir 19
N. Kulasekara not out 10
Extras (lb10, w12) 22
Total (for eight wickets; 49.4 overs) 248
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-19, 3-97, 4-97, 5-135, 6-138, 7-175, 8-212.
Bowling: Gul 10-1-43-0, Tanvir 10-0-42-3 (w7),
Hafeez 10-0-30-1, Sami 9.4-0-75-0 (w2), Afridi 10-0-48-2 (w3).

By Elmo Rodrigopulle
Source: Daily News (Sri Lanka)

‘Mahela may have to lead till 2015’ – Dilshan

Tillakaratne Dilshan, the Sri Lanka batsman, has said the current captain Mahela Jayawardene may have to lead till the 2015 World Cup in order to provide sufficient time for a successor to be groomed.

Angelo Mathews, the 25-year-old allrounder, is widely seen as a leading candidate to take over when Jayawardene steps down. Mathews has established himself in all three formats, but has struggled with injuries during his three-year career. Dilshan cautioned against thrusting the leadership on Mathews too soon.

“You can’t give someone the captaincy all of a sudden. He (Mathews) has to be groomed under a good captain for two to three years,” Dilshan said after a training session at the R Premadasa Stadium. “Not just on how to handle things on the field, but also off the field. Those are some of the things I learned. It’s not easy, mind you. I hope Angelo will be a good captain, but he has time. He has to work under Mahela.

“Kumar [Sangakkara], Mahela and I are nearing our retirement age. After the next World Cup we would be gone. I think Mahela will have to shoulder the burden till the next World Cup.”

Dilshan also defended his decision to step down as captain five months ago, following the tour of South Africa. He had never spoken publicly about the main reasons for quitting and said he wanted to remain tight-lipped about it till he gives up the game.

“There were many reasons for me to step down. I don’t like to discuss them at this point as I am still involved in the game,” Dilshan said. “But when I retire I will reveal why I quit.”

Dilshan took over as captain from Kumar Sangakkara after the 2011 World Cup, led his team on tours to England, the UAE [against Pakistan] and South Africa and at home against Australia. His captaincy came under severe criticism as Sri Lanka lost both the Test and ODI series against all the four countries.

His form with the bat also dipped during his captaincy. Dilshan led Sri Lanka in 11 Tests since May 2011, of which his team won one Test and lost five. His own average during his tenure was 33.60, well below his overall average of 40.89. In the same period, he led in 21 ODIs, winning eight and losing 13. His batting suffered even more on the ODI front, as he averaged 20.95 against his overall figure of 34.68.

“At that point, with the way things were going, I felt that it’s good to give up the captaincy and concentrate on my game,” Dilshan said. “During that eight-month period I learned a lot of things. That experience taught me who people were. I think it was the right decision to step down.”

Dilshan said he was the only realistic choice to captain Sri Lanka after Jayawardene and Sangakkara both had leadership stints. Mathews, who was named vice-captain before the home series against Australia last year, wasn’t seen to be experienced enough to take over the leadership. Dilshan said he accepted the role because of the lack of options. Jayawardene took over for his second stint at the helm early this year before the one-day tour of Australia.

“I didn’t want the captaincy and back then no one wanted to take over the captaincy,” Dilshan said. “There was no leader and that prompted me to take over the leadership.”

Reflecting on the positives of his captaincy, Dilshan said winning the Durban Test, Sri Lanka’s first Test win in South Africa, gave him tremendous satisfaction.

“When I took over as captain, I wanted to give younger players opportunities. Most players made most of those opportunities and I am glad that those players are taking the initiative these days to win us games. That’s my biggest achievement as Sri Lanka captain. The other thing that I look back with fondness is being able to win a Test match in South Africa which no captain has been able to do. Even that ODI series in South Africa we could have won, but we lost unfortunately due to rain.”

By Kanishkaa Balachandran
Source: ESPN Cricinfo

Civilian property used by Army in North handed back

Northern Governor, Major General G.A.Chandrasiri yesterday said that state land will be provided to relocate troops who are currently occupying civilian property in the Jaffna peninsula within the next 2- 3 months. He said that the matter had been discussed in detail with government officials in the Northern Province recently where an agreement had been reached. The Governor said officials were currently in the process of identifying state land within the peninsula.

Meanwhile Security Forces Commander of Jaffna Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe said he had made a request to the Governor seeking state land to relocate troops occupying private property.

He said that 56 per cent of the private land occupied by troops had been handed over already and at present troops were only occupying 400 private houses within the peninsula.

Meanwhile, the troop strength in the Jaffna peninsula has decreased by over 10,000 during the last two and a half years.

Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe who took over as Security Forces Commander for Jaffna in the latter part of 2009, said the troop strength in Jaffna has come down from 26,000 then to around 15,600 today.

Referring to the status of military occupied civilian property, Major General Hathurusinghe said 56 percent of private properties occupied by troops in Jaffna have been cleared and handed over.

He said others which can be cleared without compromising security will be handed over soon as the military finds adequate space to relocate troops occupying those properties. He said a request has been made to the Northern Governor in this regard.

Major General Hathurusinghe said since 1995, the military had to occupy some private properties. “However the government has always paid full rent to owners of these properties at all times.”

Questioned about the validity of claims by some about troop numbers increasing instead of decreasing, he said the numbers expose the lie.

Commenting on the current security situation in the peninsula, Major General Hathurusinghe said it has been very peaceful and the incidence of crimes and violent acts was low.

“In fact it is on par or better if you compare with other parts of the country,” he said.

By Rasika SOMARATHNA
Source: Daily News

ඩෙංගු රෝගීන්ගෙන් රෝහල් ඉතිරෙයි – රට පුරා ඩෙංගු අධි වසංගත තත්ත්වයක්‌ මාස 5 ට රෝගීන් 14,500 ක්‌! මරණ 80 ක්‌

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ප්‍රධාන රෝහල් සියල්ලම ඊයේ (14 දා) පෙරවරුව වනවිට ඩෙංගු රෝගීන්ගෙන් පිරී ඉතිරී ගොස්‌ ඇතැයි සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නිලධාරියෙක්‌a “දිවයින” ට කීය. මේ වනවිට ඩෙංගු අධි වසංගත තත්ත්වයකට රට පත්ව ඇතැයි කී හෙතෙම රජයේ රෝහල්වල ඊයේ වනවිට ඩෙංගු රෝගීන් සියයක්‌, දෙසීයක්‌ බැගින් ප්‍රමාණයක්‌ ප්‍රතිකාර ලබමින් සිටි බවද ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

මෙම වසරේ ගතවූ මාස පහ තුළදී පමණක්‌ ඩෙංගු රෝගීන් 14500 ක්‌ වාර්තා වී ඇතැයිද ඉන් අසූ දෙනෙක්‌ මරණයට පත්ව ඇතැයිද හෙතෙම කීය. ජුනි මාසය වෙද්දී රට පුරා ඩෙංගු අධි වසංගත තත්ත්වයකට වර්ධනය විය හැකි බැවින් මදුරු කීටයන් බෝවන ස්‌ථාන විනාශ කර දමන ලෙස සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය, පාසල්, රාජ්‍ය ආයතන සහ මහජනතාවට කලක සිට අනතුරු හැඟවූ බව ද හෙතෙම කීය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පළාත් නවයම මේ වනවිට ඩෙංගු රෝගයට ගොදුරු වී ඇතැයි කී හෙතෙම මදුරු කීට ඝනත්වය බස්‌නාහිර පළාතේ පමණක්‌ සියයට අසූව දක්‌වා වර්ධනය වී ඇතැයි ද කීවේය.

පාසල්, රාජ්‍ය ආයතන අවට පරිසරය පවිත්‍රව තබා ගන්නා ලෙසට විදුහල්පතිවරුන්ගෙන් සහ රාජ්‍ය ආයතන ප්‍රධානීන්ගෙන් සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය කළ ඉල්ලීම සත පහකට මායිම් කර නැතැයි කී ඉහත නිලධාරියා ඩෙංගු මදුරුවාගේ ග්‍රහණයට වැඩිපුර හසුවන්නේ පාසල් දරුවන් බව සොයාගෙන ඇතැයිද කීය.

ඩෙංගු මදුරුවාගේ බිත්තර වර්ධනය වීම සඳහා දවසකට කිහිප වරක්‌ ලේ උරාබීම අවශ්‍ය බැවින් එම කටයුත්ත පහසුවෙන්ම ඉටුකර ගැනීමට ඩෙංගු මදුරුවාට අවස්‌ථාව ඇත්තේ පාසල් තුළදී බව ද හෙතෙම කීය. පාසල් දරුවන්ගේ අත්පා නිරාවරණයවී තිබීම සහ එකවිට ළමයින් කිහිප දෙනකුට දෂ්ට කිරීමේ හැකියාව නිසා ඩෙංගු මදුරුවාට එය පහසුවක්‌ව ඇතැයි ද ඉහත නිලධාරියා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

එහෙත් කිසිම පාසලක, විදුහල්පතිවරයකු ඩෙංගු මදුරු කීටයන් සිටින ස්‌ථාන විනාශ කිරීම සඳහා සාර්ථකව ක්‍රියාකර නැතැයි ද හෙතෙම ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

ඩෙංගු රෝගීන් වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයක්‌ වාර්තාවූයේ 2009 වසරේදී බවද එය 35700 ක්‌ ලෙස වාර්තා වී ඇතැයිද කී හෙතෙම එම වසරේදී ඩෙංගු රෝගයෙන් 364 දෙනකු මරණයට පත්වූ බව ද කීය.

එහෙත් මෙම වසරේ මුල් මාස පහ තුළ වාර්තා වී තිබෙන ඩෙංගු රෝගීන් ප්‍රමාණය සමඟ සැසඳීමේදී ඉදිරි කාලය තුළ මෙම ප්‍රමාණය තවත් වැඩිවීමේ අවදානමක්‌ ඇත. පවතින වර්ෂාව සහිත කාලගුණය නිසා මෙම තත්ත්වය උද්ගතව ඇති අතර රෝගීන් සංඛ්‍යාව ඉහළ යද්දී මිය යන සංඛ්‍යාව ඉහළ යා හැකි බව ඉහත නිලධාරියා කීවේය.

සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය විසින් මේ වනවිට රජයේ ප්‍රධාන රෝහල් 190 ක දැඩි සත්කාර ඒකක පිහිටුවා ඇති අතර රෝහල් දහසක ඩෙංගු සඳහා ප්‍රතිකාර ඒකක පිහිටුවා ඇතැයිද ඒ සඳහා ඇඳන් 1250 ක්‌ ලබාදී ඇතැයිද ඉහත නිලධාරියා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

ඊට අමතරව විනාඩි පහළොවක්‌ තුළදී ඩෙංගු පිළිබඳ රුධිර පරීක්‍ෂණ වාර්තා ලබාදීමට ජාතික රෝහල විසින් සිදුකරන බව ද සෙසු රෝහල්වලද මෙම රුධිර පරීක්‍ෂණ වාර්තාව පැය භාගයක කාලයක්‌ තුළදී බාහිර රෝගී අංශයෙන් ලබා ගැනීමේ පහසුව සලසා ඇතැයි ද ඉහත ප්‍රකාශකයා කීය.

දින දෙකකට වඩා පවතින උණ තත්ත්වය හෝ එකවරම උණ වැළඳී එකවරම එම තත්ත්වය පහව ගියොත්, මස්‌ පිඬු, හන්දි වේදනා, හිසරදය බඩේ අමාරුව වැනි රෝග ලක්‌ෂණ ඇත්නම් වහාම පළපුරුදු වෛද්‍යවරයකු වෙත යන ලෙසට සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය උපදෙස්‌ ලබා දෙයි.

අජිත් අලහකෝන්
Source: Divaina (Sri Lanka)

Parents failing to read stories to babies as TV takes first place

Parents spend more time watching TV with their babies than reading to them, new research suggests.

Mothers and fathers are more likely to watch a DVD or television programme every day with their children than they are to read them a bedtime story every night.

The new research from charity Booktrust also reveals that two thirds of parents have still not started reading to their babies by the time they reach seven months.

Will White, spokesman for Booktrust, said children should be read to as soon as they are born. He said: “The statistic is shocking because we know that babies who are read to during this crucial window in their development go on to do much better at school than those who don’t.

“They also bond better with their parents and develop language and literacy skills quicker.”

The charity, which questioned more than 500 parents, has been sending free books to babies and toddlers for 20 years. They are handed to parents of young babies by health visitors.

Today’s survey revealed that almost 60 per cent of parents do not own a baby book until they receive the pack from the Bookstart scheme.

It also found that 22 per cent of parents read with their baby every day, compared with 29 per cent who watch television with their baby daily.

Today’s figures come after the Evening Standard’s literacy campaign revealed that one in three children in London does not own a book.

The Get London Reading campaign also revealed that in parts of London one in three 11-year-olds cannot read properly, and a million adult Londoners are functionally illiterate.

Mr White said: “The Evening Standard’s figures on book ownership are worrying. Parents may not be reading to their children because they do not own a book, or because they do not know what to do with them.

“They might not know why it is important to read to their children, or how to do it. It can be embarrassing, particularly if they are not confident with reading themselves.”

By Anna Davis
Source: Evening Standard London