| Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions |
Sri Lankan News & Discussions |
|
About this Sri Lankan News Forum
 Welcome to the largest news forum on Sri Lanka. This is a discussion table for millions of Sri Lankans living around the world to express their thoughts on the latest Sri Lankan news events. Lankanewspapers.com is a powerful tool for all Sri Lankan ethnic groups to share information, knowledge and wisdom. Join! today
About this Sri Lankan News Forum
Welcome to the largest news forum on Sri Lanka. This is a discussion table for millions of Sri Lankans living around the world to express their thoughts on the latest Sri Lankan news events. Lankanewspapers.com is a powerful tool for all Sri Lankan ethnic groups to share information, knowledge and wisdom. Join! today |
Most Recent News Discussions
|
| More Headline News |
|
UN wants human rights regional office here Friday, 16 March 2007 - 3:09 AM SL Time The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is seeking to establish a regional office in Sri Lanka, UN High Commissioner Louise Arbour told the Geneva Human Rights Council during an interactive debate on Wednesday. Her comments came after the German Ambassador Michael Steiner, speaking on behalf of the European Union, questioned what sort of action the international community should take to work with the Government of Sri Lanka. On the question of the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and the Government`s response to past incidents through the creation of a Commission of Inquiry and an international group of experts, Ms. Arbour said her Office had worked hard to support the Government`s efforts in that field and continued to be involved in the process. 
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 262 )
Sri Lanka storm to 243-run win Friday, 16 March 2007 - 1:49 AM SL Time Three fluent half-centuries formed the meat of Sri Lanka`s innings as they rolled along to 321 for 6 at the end of 50 overs. Choosing to bat on a flat deck, Sri Lanka`s power-packed line-up didn`t need to do anything out of the ordinary - Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara led a solid batting performance before Chamara Silva erected the skyscraper with an electric 55. Bermuda seemed to suffer from stage fright on their World Cup debut, turning in as lukewarm a bowling performance as the crowd response at Port-of-Spain. Kevin Hurdle`s 14-ball third over was a sign of things to come and all their bowlers, barring medium-pacer Saleem Mukuddem, were erratic. Sri Lanka`s batsmen concentrated on picking off the loose deliveries, of which there was plenty on offer, and simply needed to knock the ball around when it was on target. Bermuda were made to pay for costly lapses, that included letting off Jayawardene off the first ball he faced, but they somewhat made up with two blinding ones towards the end of the innings.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 70 )
Govt. probes Karuna group`s activities Thursday, 15 March 2007 - 3:54 AM SL Time The Government yesterday said a police probe had been launched into the alleged illegal activities of the Karuna faction even as Amnesty International reiterated concerns of cadres loyal to the breakaway LTTE faction abducting civilians from displaced camps in the East. Addressing the weekly defence news briefing in Colombo yesterday Government defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said investigations had been launched into complaints of the involvement of the Karuna faction in activities other than political work in Batticaloa. `The Karuna cadres are carrying out political work in the area but at the same time there are complaints they are doing other activities as well and we are investigating those complaints. We will reveal the outcome in due course,` Minister Rambukwella said.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 249 )
|
|
More Headline News
|
| Security
Security Forum
|
|
Massive exodus from LTTE areas Saturday, 17 March 2007 - 9:12 AM SL Time The unprecedented exodus of internally displaced persons in the Batticaloa and Trincomalee Districts has resulted in 155,568 persons fleeing LTTE held areas and entering government administered areas in the districts. They are housed in 75 welfare centres including 12 government schools in the Batticaloa District, Minister for Disaster Relief Amir Ali told The Island yesterday (16). IDPs of the Trincomalee District are housed in 16 welfare centres. These IDPs had arrived in government administered areas from the beginning of February upto yesterday (16) according to the official statistics of the District Secretaries of the two districts. Asked whether the government could handle the food, shelter, health and sanitation problems of such a large number of displaced people Amir Ali said 200 MT of rice, 150 metric tons of flour, sufficient quantities of canned fish, sugar and other essential food items have been distributed by government agencies in the districts.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 3 )
Gotabaya has played out 600 million when purchasing MIGs- A complaint to the BC Thursday, 15 March 2007 - 4:02 AM SL Time Former Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Former Ports Development Minister Sripathy Suriarachchi lodged a complaint to the Bribery commission this evening regarding a cash fraud which they say had taken place when purchasing 4 MIG 27 fighter jets which are said to be 27 years old. The complaint lodged to the commissioner Anwar Ismile states, the 4 fighter jets bought on or a day close to the 26th of July was purchased for 1.064 Billion rupees. It also says that according to the agreement the manufacturing period of the jets are between 1980 to 1983. The complaint also states that on the 25th of May 2000 4 MIG fighter jets manufactured between 1982 and 1985 were purchased for 172.8 million rupees and that in October 2000 2 MIG`s which were manufactured in 1984 were purchased for 97.2 million rupees each. It adds that accordingly if the government spent such an amount in 2006 to purchase 4 MIGs, a sum between 77 to 94 million rupees have been played out from a jet, when compared to the previous purchases.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 43 )
Govt: UNP initiated military logistical agreement with US Thursday, 15 March 2007 - 3:58 AM SL Time The Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA) statute (formerly known as `NATO Mutual Support Act`) finalised on March 5, 2007 would simplify exchanges of logistic support, supplies, and services. The US has ACSA with 89 other countries. A senior government official rejected criticism by the UNP and JVP and concerns expressed by the LSSP, a constituent of the SLFP-led ruling coalition. The LSSP`s Politburo last week resolved that the ACSA signed by Defence Secretary Colonel (retd) Gotabhaya Rajapakse and US Ambassador Robert O. Blake should be published.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 14 )
|
|
|
| Politics
Political News Forum
|
|
Rajapakse sibling to be appointed national list MP Saturday, 17 March 2007 - 9:16 AM SL Time Basil Rajapakse, senior advisor to, and brother of, Sri Lanka`s President Mahinda Rajapakse, is to accept the position as a National List Member of Parliament next Tuesday, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) sources said Friday. Secretary of SLFP and Minister Maithripala Srisena has forwarded a letter to the Secretary General of Sri Lanka Parliament Ms Priyani Wijesekera to appoint Basil Rajapakse as an MP, according to parliamentary sources. Mr Mervyn Silva is to relinquished his position as Deputy Minister and National List Member of Parliament to pave way for the Rajapakse sibling to beome an MP representing SLFP.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 10 )
Mangala says Matara voters won`t desert him Saturday, 17 March 2007 - 9:13 AM SL Time Ousted Minister Mangala Samaraweera yesterday said that even though the Sri Lanka Freedom Party is under the Rajapakse `troica`, the people of Matara will not forgive the party for having dropped him as the Organizer for the district as they still have faith in him. He said although the SLFP Central Committee met on Thursday night at the Temple Trees and decided to remove him as the organizer for Matara and put Mayor of Matara Upul Nishantha in his place, the people were still with him as he was recognized as their leader. The SLFP CC also decided to replace Sripathy Suriyaraachchi as the Kelaniya organizer with Minister Mervyn Silva. It also decided to conduct a disciplinary inquiry against Samaraweera and Suriyaraachchi.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 13 )
Minister complains of extortion racket by Karuna group Wednesday, 14 March 2007 - 5:54 AM SL Time A massive extortion racket allegedly by the Karuna group has been reported to the Defence Ministry and the police by a government minister following complaints by a large number of Tamil businessmen. Several Tamil businessmen had complained to Deputy Vocational and Technical Training Minister, P. Radhakrishnan that persons claiming to be from the Karuna group had in the months of January, February and early March demanded a ransom of Rs. 5 million each in exchange for their security. The Morning Leader learns the ransom demand had been made of 20 businessmen from Old Moor Street, Colombo and 10 businessmen in Wellawatte. Ransom demands had been made by a person named Neelavan using mobile number 0723705608, a person named Seelan using mobile number 0779791317 and a person named Master using mobile number 0775947338.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 18 )
|
|
|
| Business / Economy News
Business News Forum
|
|
Customs impotent to halt substandard imports Saturday, 17 March 2007 - 9:15 AM SL Time Confectionary manufacturers were a group of entrepreneurs to suffer the trauma of Government impotence to deal with substandard imports of confectionery and allied ingredients. Shocking revelations were declared to the press yesterday at a press briefing where leading confectioners grouped themselves to unanimously complain that cheap imports were permitted from dubious sources. This had its debilitating repercussions universally which affected manufacture of confectionary and unerring results would likely be that workers would be retrenched if the industry crashed. Chairman Lanka Confectionery Manufacturers Association R. S. Wickramasinghe said there were approximately 200,000 people dependent on this industry. This number was representative of the actual persons directly employed or who were small time entrepreneurs. Already about 30 percent of them had now sunk to the ranks of penury, and it would not be long if bigger industrialists laid off their workers because of closure and insolvency.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 1 )
Jobless Ayur. doctors to stage massive strike Saturday, 17 March 2007 - 9:13 AM SL Time Unemployed Ayurvedic doctors, who are currently performing a Satyagraha opposite the Ayurvedic Teaching Hospital in Borella, have decided to launch a massive protest together with health sector workers against the government`s delay to provide them with appointments. They said their Satyagraha would enter its sixth day today but the discussions, with the Indigenous Medicine Minister Tissa Karalliyadda, were unsuccessful. Deputy General Secretary of the All Ceylon Health Service Union Gamini Kumarasinghe told The Island yesterday that they had a discussion with the Minister last Wednesday, but it ended without any solution. `There are about 800 Ayurvedic Graduates without appointments. Some have been waiting for the past six years for appointments. The government nor the Indigenous Medicine Ministry has a proper plan to give appointments to the Ayurvedic doctors,` Kumarasinghe said.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 4 )
US$ 5 million up for grabs in ICC CWC Thursday, 15 March 2007 - 3:56 AM SL Time A total of US$5 million in prize money will be up for grabs; the 2007 champions claiming almost half of that, with a winners` cheque of US$2.24 million to be awarded to the team which prevails in the Final at Kensington Oval in Barbados on April 28. The runners-up will also be rewarded handsomely, receiving a purse of US$1 million for their second-place finish. In addition, the losing semi-finalists will each pocket US$450,000 while the teams ending the tournament in fifth to eighth position ? determined by the outcome of the Super 8 phase of the Event ? will win the following sums respectively: US$200,000; US$150,000; US$100,000 and US$50,000. During the 24 Group Stage games the victorious team in each match will receive US$10,000 while the losers get US$5,000.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
|
|
|
| Editorial News
Editorial News Forum
|
|
Who will guard the guards? Saturday, 17 March 2007 - 9:14 AM SL Time The Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) has arrested an underworld gang led by a top cop`s relative notorious for organised crime, according to our main news item yesterday. Murder, armed robberies including the recent heist in Nugegoda, forgery, abductions, extortion, land grabs and a large number of other criminal activities have been blamed on this gang which is said to have had the blessings of the police officer concerned. This is not the only criminal gang with links to the police. Behind almost every underworld group, there is a police officer as well as a powerful politician. It is thanks to their involvement that the underworld has allegedly divided the city of Colombo into separate `crime zones` to carry out their sordid operations in a systematic manner. Hardly a property transaction gets carried out without protection money being given to underworld kingpins. Even the big real estate companies are unable to defy those extortionists, as they are so powerful due to their political connections. A few years ago, we reported how a crime czar had arrived in a leading lawyer`s car to receive kappan (protection money) only to be arrested by a special police team, which had been following him. Lawyers, too, are in league with criminals. They are facilitating land grabs by helping them with forgery of land registry documents. Some members of the black-coated fraternity are appearing for criminals, free of charge! So strong are their bonds! Therefore, those `criminal lawyers` in cahoots with the underworld must also be probed and dealt with appropriately, as part of the on-going operations against organised crime.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 1 )
Secret pacts, Uncle Sam and Cardboard Sandows Thursday, 15 March 2007 - 3:57 AM SL Time The JVP has blown a gasket over the Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA) recently signed between Sri Lanka and the United States. It is making an issue of the reference therein to `peace keeping missions`. It demands that the contents of the agreement be made public forthwith. Strangely, the UNP, too, has lashed out at the government over that pact. The UNP has chosen to dub it a `secret deal.` (It looks as if there were a secret deal behind every bush in this country.) One may have thought the contents of the agreement were fairly well-known. But, since some political parties seem to have doubts about the pact, it behoves the government to allay them. As the UNP says, it is in a position to reveal the details of the `secret deal` in Parliament, it should be asked why it doesn`t do so presently without holding the public in suspense like in a cheap soap opera.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Of that Secret Pact Wednesday, 14 March 2007 - 5:45 AM SL Time Our politicians are blessed with a remarkable ability. They can make mountains out of molehills or even dunghills. Before the last Presidential Election, the UPFA as well as the JVP let out a howl of protest against what they termed a secret pact between Ranil and Prabhakaran. They obviously blew a tacit understanding that some UNPers were believed to have with the LTTE out of proportions to discredit the UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. Today, Mr. Wickremesinghe, in an apparent bid to avenge injustice the UPFA caused to him at that vital election, is demanding an explanation from President Mahinda Rajapakse on the alleged secret pact between the LTTE and the government. Mr. Wickremesinghe doesn`t seem to be satisfied with the explanation that Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremenayake provided in Parliament recently.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 8 )
|
|
|
| Sports News
Sports News Forum
|
|
Prerequisites to winning the World Cup Thursday, 15 March 2007 - 3:55 AM SL Time Several well known past and present cricketers have voiced their opinion on the ultimate winners of this World Cup. While most of them do not point to a clear favourite, nearly all of them, including the mercurial former Pakistan captain Imran Khan has pointed out that Sri Lanka is the best team with a chance of winning it. They point out that the key to winning depends on a team`s ability to score around 200 to 215 runs by the fortieth over and also at least three bowlers conceding not more than 45 runs per spell of 10 overs and the other two conceding not more than 55 runs in their respective spells. This then should be our vision for each and every game. A very tall order, no doubt. But this can be achieved if our players play to their potential. For this to be achieved, the first prerequisite is Sanath and young Upul Tharanga remaining at the crease for the first 15 to 20 overs scoring around 115 to 125 during that time. Then in the next 20 overs, with the field spread out Mahela, Sangakkara, and Marvan can score in singles and twos without much risk. Then, the likes of Chamara Silva, Maharoof and Vass should score at least 65 to 70 runs in the next ten overs and get a total around 300 runs.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 6 )
Sri Lanka vs Bermuda 15th March 2007 Wednesday, 14 March 2007 - 5:49 AM SL Time Queen`s Park Oval is generally thought of as the most picturesque of the old grounds in the West Indies. It is also the largest, accommodating 25,000 spectators in comfort. Home of the Queen`s Park Cricket Club (QPCC) since 1896, it hosted the English teams touring the West Indies early in 1897 one under Lord Hawke, the other under Arthur Priestley. The capacity of the ground has made it most profitable (holding at least 7000 more than any other ground in the West Indies). The pavilion was erected in 1896 and by and large, remained unchanged until 1952 when it was replaced by a two-tiered structure. Natural turf was used in the early years for matches. However, damage cased by the mole-cricket in the soil rendered it impossible to prepare turf pitches. For forty years thereafter, a clay strip was used, over which matting was laid. The final Test played on matting was in 1954 when West Indies scored 681 for 8 and England 537 in reply. Within three months, the pitch had been removed and efforts were underway to replace the centre square with turf.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 18 )
Sri Lankans expecting flying ball at World Cup Wednesday, 14 March 2007 - 5:48 AM SL Time Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardena said on Sunday his team will not know what to expect on the newly laid out pitches at the cricket World Cup and feared the ball could swing in all directions. `Most wickets have been re-laid and none (of the teams) have had the opportunity to play on them.`It can be a surprise,` Jayawardena said. `The first game, the ball could be flying.` The 1996 champions are regarded as early favourites due to their all-round strength on pitches which many feel will play slow like those in the Indian sub-continent. But Jayawardene said such predictions proved wrong in the ICC Champions Trophy in India late last year, where champions Australia, finalists West Indies, New Zealand and South Africa entered the last four.
Full Story
Post Reply To This
Read Replies ( 1 )
|
|
|
(C) 2000-2007 www.lankanewspapers.com - Sri Lankan News & Discussions - Contact Us - RSS Feed - News Archives - src - FAQ |
Search All News and Discussions 
