Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

June 10, 2013 (LBO) - Sri Lanka has come second after Bangladesh for concentrations of cadmium in a listing of 12 countries where rice was tested for toxic metals, a media report said.

Cadmium had been linked to a mysterious kidney disease of which the original are still not conclusively known (chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology - CKDu) which has become increasingly prevalent in Sri Lanka`s North Central Province and is spreading.
Sri Lanka`s The Sunday Times newspaper said the rice study was published in the `Environmental Science and Technology` magazine of the American Chemical Society on May 13.

And why are people so riled up about it?

Perhaps you`ve seen the problem on Facebook or another forum:
6 2(1+2) = ?

It`s one of several similar math problems popping up on social networks recently. Perhaps you, too, thought, Duh! That`s easy, and then, as I did, became embroiled in an epically long comment thread while your blood pressure steadily rose because you could not possibly understand why the others doing this problem could not get the right answer.

Perhaps, if you`re a nerd like me, or you teach math as I do, you even fell asleep thinking about this problem, baffled and frustrated about why you were unable to convince intelligent, educated friends that your calculation of this deceptively simple problem was accurate.

The state gobbled up 85 percent of the Rs. 278.2 billion issued by the domestic banking sector by way of new loans during the first four months of this year with new loans increasing in the month of April and the private sector experiencing a sharp decline in new loans, official data showed.

New loans to the private sector from domestic banks amounted to Rs. 4.2 billion in April 2013, the lowest for a given month this year, down from Rs. 20.1 billion the previous month but government borrowings from the domestic banking sector amounted to Rs. 76.8 billion in April, the highest for any given month this year, up from Rs. 45.4 billion the previous month, latest data released by the Central Bank showed.

The immediate reintroduction of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution which established the independent commissions was more important than ousting the Rajapaksa regime,UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday in Colombo.

Addressing a `Peoples Assembly` which was attended by a cross section of civil society and members of various political parties at the J.R.Jayewardene Center to discuss the UNP`s new constitutional formulation, Wickremesinghe said that it was due to the absence of good governance and transparency that corruption and the law and order situation had deteriorated to unprecedented levels.

United People`s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) MP Sajin Vass Gunawardene said today his helicopter did not have the capability to carry out rescue operations.

He said this in response to a statement made by United National Party (UNP) MP Wijedasa Rajapaksa that Mr. Gunawardene had not provided a helicopter to be used in rescue operations last Saturday when the deadly cyclone hit the Balapitiya coastal belt.

He described Mr. Rajapaksa as a learned self-proclaimed legal luminary who was unaware that only twin-engine helicopters with the doors and other obstacle removed that could handle rescue operations.

Fifty for Kulasekara in 30 balls.

`He`s a nightwatchman, a proper batsman should be sent above him.` - Sunil Gavaskar commentary.

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Nuwan Kulasekara is popular far beyond his talent at home, and having walloped his first fifty in a Sri Lanka win, a nation will swoon when they awake to the scorecard. A cleverer pinch-hitting innings is difficult to recall.

`If Kulasekara`s promotion didn`t work, I think the team would have been torn to shreds,` Sangakkara said. `Angelo would have taken a lot of stick and criticism saying what was he doing and what were the coaches thinking. But when it does work it`s fantastic. Decisions like that can go both ways. I thought it was really strong of Angelo and the coaching staff to have taken that position. It was easy for (Kulasekara) to come and try and hit every ball, but he batted sensibly through Powerplay and then accelerated right after.`

Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said he would resign if the committee appointed to look into the weather disaster found his ministry guilty of any shortcomings.

I don`t intend to hold on to portfolios like some ministers who are greedy for perks, he told journalists today.

Mr. Amaraweera however said an investigation carried out by his ministry had confirmed that the warning had been successfully disseminated to the fisheries ministry and other relevant institutions. He said the Sri Lanka Telecom had confirmed that the Ministry of Fisheries had received the fax message sent by the Department of Meteorology.

Expressing dismay over the action by the ICC in playing a Hindi song while the Sri Lankan team was parading under the Sri Lanka banner during the opening ceremony of the ICC Champions Trophy cricket tournament in London, Minister Wimal Weerawansa said that the Sri Lankan cricket team should have withdrawn from the tournament until the error was regretted and corrected.

Each time when some politico or panjandrum declares the urgent need for reform of the media, some stout defenders of the freedom of the media in the government controlled sector go under the bed in the tradition of a revered king of Lanka to emerge days later with a confident announcement that it was a `pus vedilla`. Much more aggressive defenders of the media, will thunder in editorials, breathing fire and `vas kavi` against all those conspiring against this sacred freedom of ours.

Nothing happens after that and life goes on with daily editorials back patting of the authorities on `development` taking place in the country and the sagacious leadership we are blessed with. Whether this strategic pusillanimity and the practiced editorial bravado have saved our freedom of the media we do not know but like chicken pox and now dengue, the threats keep coming back.

The Ravana Balaya organization strongly objects the playing of a Hindi song during the introduction of the Sri Lankan Cricket team in the opening ceremony of the ICC Champions tournament which was held yesterday (06).

Its secretary Ven. Iththakande Saddhathissa thero says that the ICC should apologize Sri Lanka for it.

However, Sri Lanka Cricket institute too is concerned of the matter.

In an inquiry made SLC operations manager Ashley De Silva said that they had made a written request from the ICC.

Jun 05, Colombo: New Zealand Wednesday reaffirmed its support for holding the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka in November.

The New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully reaffirmed his country`s support when he called on Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa this evening at Temple Trees.

The New Zealand Minister wished Sri Lanka well in preparing for CHOGM and said the entire Commonwealth needs to see the progress in the country, pointing out that success in trade and the economy is important to the process.

The government has sacked the Chairman of the National Savings Bank (NSB), Sunil Sirisena, over the delay in the procurement of a US$ One Billion loan from the HSBC, which NSB was expected to procure and guarantee for the government. The government was expecting the loan from the HSBC, facilitated by the NSB, which would serve as the front organization as well as be the guarantor.


The loan was expected to be approved two days before Vesak, and also more importantly, prior to President Mahinda Rajapaksa`s official visit to China, where he was expected to announce to the Chinese Government and its leaders about the billion dollar loan the country was to receive, via the NSB.

Only 53 qualified persons have applied for teachng English though the Education Ministry has advertised 1,000 vacancies.

Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena said that it was a very pathetic situation that his ministry could not find 1,000 qualified graduates, to recruit as teachers of English, from unemployed degree holders in the country.

`We decided to recruit 1,000 graduates as teachers of English to work in government schools especially in rural areas,` he said.

Gunawardena said that the ministry had decided to present a new Cabinet paper to recruit English diploma holders.

It would certainly be a case of the henhouse being handed over to the fox, should the government give the green light to the proposal that seeks unrestricted powers to the Ministry of Public Relations and Public Affairs, to entertain and investigate complaints against public officials and recommend redress.

For, apart from such a proposal being wrong on so many counts, the minister seeking the powers to do what he wills with government officials happens to be Mervyn Silva, against whom the highest number of complaints, both by the public and parliamentarians themselves, has been recorded.

China`s Great Wall Industry Corp. has signed a contract to provide Sri Lanka`s first communication satellite.

The company, in which China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. has an equity interest, is China`s only authorized provider of commercial satellite launch services to the global market, the official media said. The contract will help further expand China`s growing presence in the strategically located Indian Ocean island nation.