Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

The United Nations is a pretty fun place. The headquarters hosts all kinds of cultural events. Everyone`s open-minded about the dress code. Delegates can even show up hammered to budget negotiations. Or at least they used to be able to.

At a General Assembly budget committee meeting on Monday, the United States ambassador for management and reform at the UN stood up to scold his colleagues for always showing up drunk to negotiations. `There has always been a good and responsible tradition of a bit of alcohol improving a negotiation, but we`re not talking about a delegate having a nip at the bar,` said Joseph `The Fun Police` Torsella. `We make the modest proposal that the negotiating rooms should in future be an inebriation-free zone.`

A few years after the death of Chairman Mao Zedong in 1976, as China began opening up to the world, a youthful Xi Jinping attended a fortnightly study group with other top leaders` children, known as princelings, to network and make sense of the momentous change around them.

In early March, Xi will be appointed president of China (he`s already the head of the Communist Party and the military). Throughout his ascent, Xi stayed close to many in the group as they climbed to the top of the party and came to identify themselves as Hong Erdai, or `Second-Generation Red.`

by Roshen Steelman

Neil Armstrong is well-known because he was the first man to walk on the moon but what about the second man to do so? Is he as famous as Armstrong? Michael Phelps is a famous sportsman today because he won eight gold medals in a single Olympics. But there are other stories in sports which are not about the winners, but about the losers, and the losers with a big heart.

You might be surprised to read that this is about a runner who came last in the 10,000-metre race in an Olympics. His name is

Nov 13, 2012 (LBO) - Sri Lanka`s move to allow tax free racing cars may sound like a pacifier for the rich kids of politicians, but the move could actually be aimed at cultivating a new culture to improve farm-related transport.

The 2013 budget took away the 300 percent tax on super luxury racing cars while slapping an additional tax on farm machinery including tractors. This may seem bizarre to ordinary folk but a deeper analysis reveals true genius behind the new tax logic.

Some interesting visualisations of Police Statistics here: http://srilankapolicestatistics.wordpress.com/

If anyone was interested. I was quite surprised to find out Nugegoda is one of the worst places!

Mung okomma ekai baluwama.

For decades, successive governments in India have failed to deliver on promises to hold the police accountable for human rights violations including arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and extrajudicial killings.

The Indian government should take major steps to build professional, rights-respecting police forces and overhaul a policing system that facilitates and even encourages human rights abuse.

Funny stuff...

Remember the scene in Sri Lanka, with the mentally handicapped man? Oh now how our neighbour stands as the distinct beacon of human rights and democracy in South Asia.

A series I thought was apt, given recent events, and is kind of funny. No hard feelings Indians. :)

The fathers version is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KPp5WSEDcY

Had I the heavens` embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams
I have spread my dreams under your feet
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Families say Somali pirates are demanding US$6 million (S$7.5 million) for the release of six Sri Lankan fishermen who were abducted three months ago.

Mr Niroshan Anthony said on Wednesday his brother and the other fishermen set out to sea in Negombo on Sri Lanka`s west coast last September for multi-day fishing, but contact with the vessel was lost after one month. Anthony is the older brother of abducted fisherman Shantha Sebastian.

This is one of the last songs Johnny Cash recorded. It was originally written for another band and he did a cover that ended up becoming more famous than the original.

You can hear the emotion in his voice, and reminiscing on his life and regretting it more or less. I like this song, its a nice reminder of the most important thing in life: how you feel before your time comes.

You can read about Johnny Cash`s life here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Cash

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What have I become

A sprightly centenarian has revealed the secret to staying sharp in old age - playing VIDEO GAMES. Instead of knitting or playing bingo Kathleen Kit Connell, known as Kit, spends two hours a day tapping away at her favourite console. And the grandmothers_day.jsp' class=black>mother-of-one, who still lives independently, said she has used the Nintendo DS Lite, so much she even wore out her first console and had to replace the computer. Kit, who according to the game has the mental age of 64, said: `It`s absolutely super. I don`t feel a day over 80.