Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

LiveScience.com/New England Journal of Medicine 2013

A 47-year-old Michigan woman developed a bone disease rarely seen in the U.S. after she drank a pitcher of tea made from at least 100 tea bags daily, for 17 years, researchers report.

The Detroit woman visited the doctor after experiencing pain in her lower back, arms, legs and hips for five years.

X-rays revealed areas of very dense bone on the spinal vertebrae and calcifications of ligaments in her arm, said study researcher Dr. Sudhaker D. Rao, a physician at Henry Ford Hospital who specializes in endocrinology and bone and mineral metabolism.

Auto rickshaws are usually only to be seen ferrying people about in high-density cities but last weekend these tiny little motors displayed another side by going off-road for a new sort of rally.

The Red Bull Tuk Tuk Rally saw teams of two a driver and a navigator racing the tiny vehicles fondly known as tuk tuks through the Sri Lankan countryside, past colourful villages and baffled onlookers. Cop a load of these photos from the event

Forty-seven tuk tuks entered the first ever Red Bull Tuk Tuk Rally on day one, but thanks to some treacherous conditions only 31 vehicles completed the first stage from Dambulla to Habarana.

A diplomatic mail bag has been found on Europe`s highest peak Mont Blanc - where an Air India plane crashed 46 years ago.

The sack containing letters from India`s foreign ministry was recovered by a mountain rescue worker after being spotted by tourists last week.

The Indian Embassy in Paris said it was now waiting for the delivery of its `very late mail`.

The passenger planed from Mumbai to New York crashed on the mountain in January 1966 - just before it was due to make a stopover in Geneva - killing all 117 people on board.

Picture 1:
This image provided by CERN shows a real CMS proton-proton collision in which 4 high energy electrons (green lines and red towers) are observed. The event shows characteristics expected from the decay of a Higgs boson but is also consistent with background Standard Model physics processes. To cheers and standing ovations, scientists at the world`s biggest atom smasher claimed the discovery of a new subatomic particle Wednesday July 4, 2012, calling it `consistent` with the long-sought Higgs boson € ” popularly known as the `God particle` € ” that helps explain what gives all matter in the universe size and shape

Picture 1
World`s largest: Pastry chefs unveil a chocolate Easter egg towering over 27ft tall at the Chocolate Festival in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

Picture 2
Crowds: Hundreds gathered at the City Centre for a taste of the monster concoction

Picture 3
Sweet treat: Spectators fills the square to admire the Easter egg

Pictures 4 + 5
Chocolate coma: A reported 8,800lbs (4,000kgs) of chocolate was used to create the egg

Picture 6
Dripping: Pastry chefs began breaking the egg for the crowd as the surface began to melt

Afghanistan`s fading hopes: All the wrong messages
The National People`s Congress: What worries Grandpa Wen
Japan a year later: The view from the north
The ICC`s first verdict: Bench-mark
Syria: No deal in Damascus
Germany`s coalition: Rising above bedlam
Slovakia`s general election: Fico enters the jungle
Bagehot: Ever closer, yet further apart

An American soldier went on an unprovoked shooting rampage in two villages close to his base in southern Afghanistan and killed 16 people, including nine children. The incident sparked a number of revenge attacks around the country, which was just starting to recover from a spate of violence in reaction to copies of the Koran being burned in an incinerator at an American compound. Leon Panetta, America`s defence secretary, went to Afghanistan to assess the situation. See article

The Human Right`s Theater Play is in full swing and my Feb. 25 notes have proven to be accurate.

Indeed, it`s interesting to see that
a) The US move against Sri Lanka came earlier than expected, which prompted Mahinda to change his travel schedule (and with him many other guys).
b) There is already a reference to the next sessions of the UNHRC to re-visit the subject.

The voting results will draw particular attention, especially in the case of India. Looks like March 23 will be a particular day for many people with a very tight result to be expected.

Hi,

This here is far away from LNP`s favorite subjects and buzz words and it`s about the strangest subject that has ever been treated in this forum. Who would have even thought of something like this would become necessary until very recently?

Please note that Claude Nicolier is the only Swiss astronaut having participated in NASA missions and who is now a key figure of this very innovative project that consolidates his countries` position as one of the leading nation in the high tech industry. Without any major natural resource, this small country can only prosper thanks to an innovative spirit and constant re-adjustment to a constantly changing environment.

Here just a few pictures of our wonderful winter landscape. As you might know, I`m a great nature lover and follow the various seasons with a particular attention.

The camera hasn`t been used since my last vacation in Sri Lanka and it was certainly high time to recharge the battery before going out in the cold! Don`t you worry minus 10 dc is still acceptable compared to the minus 30 dc in some East European countries (almost 300 deaths in the Ukraine and in Poland).

From the 20 destinations proposed in the National Geographic Magazine, I have selected 10 (including Sri Lanka, of course).

Your TravelElephant

What places are calling your name for 2012? Whatever your mood, Traveler magazine has a recommendation for you from the romantic hills of Croatia to the perfect beach in Thailand.

Iceland
Photograph by Johnathan A. Esper, Getty Images
Harmonic Convergence

As you might know, the Swiss Turanor Planet Solar vessel is due to arrive in Hambantota port tomorrow. Here the article in yesterday`s Colombo Page:

Quote
Swiss solar ship on a world-wide mission to reach Sri Lanka Hambanthota harbor
Sat, Nov 5, 2011, 11:03 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 05, Colombo: The world`s first and largest solar-powered vessel which is on a world-wide mission aimed at promoting the use of sustainable energy is to reach Sri Lanka`s Magampura Harbour in Hambantota on Monday (07).

With their father`s death confirmed Thursday, what has become of Moammar Gadhafi`s eight children?

Conflicting reports on the fates of Gadhafi`s seven sons and one daughter, Aisha, have emerged at various points over the last months of conflict. Libya`s transition forces have claimed at various points since the fall of Tripoli in August to have captured or killed some of Gadhafi`s sons only for them later to reappear.

But according to the latest information, four of Gadhafi`s children appear to be living in exile--two sons and his one daughter Aisha in Algeria, and one son in Niger. Three of Gadhafi`s sons appear to be dead.

It makes me really furious to read articles like this:

Environmentalists concerned over road being constructed through Sri Lanka`s World Heritage rain forest
Sat, Sep 10, 2011, 10:53 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.


Sept 10, Colombo: Environmentalists of Sri Lanka say that the government has taken steps to construct a road across the World Heritage Sinharaja rain forest ignoring the concerns raised by the environmentalists.

The photo gallery is entirely with pictures taken from our balcony last night. This was my first night shooting with the new digital camera and I still have to make some progress. Note that the last picture shows the illuminated symbol of the city, the famous fountain near the entrance of the port The Jet d`Eau / Water-Jet is a large fountain and is one of the city`s most famous landmarks. It is also one of the largest fountains in the world and it is visible throughout the city and from the air, even when flying over Geneva at an altitude of 10 km (33,000 ft).

By CAROL VOGEL


BASEL, Switzerland The German artist Hans-Peter Feldmann said that the sheer size of his $100,000 Hugo Boss Prize inspired him to paper a gallery at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York last month with 100,000 $1 bills.

Were Mr. Feldmann at Art Basel this week, $100,000 might not have seemed like so much after all. Examples of his work are in many booths at this granddaddy of contemporary art fairs, some priced around $50,000. And if business is as brisk as people say it is, by the time Art Basel ends on Sunday, Mr. Feldmann may have made another $100,000, and probably more.