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Monday, August 30, 2010


யாழ்ப்பாணம் பல்கலைக்கழகத்திற்கு நேற்று விஜயம் செய்த உயர் கல்வி அமைச்சர் எஸ். பி. திஸாநாயக்க, பல்கலைக்கழக விஞ்ஞானக் கட்டடத் தொகுதி அமைப்பதற்கான நினைவுப் படிகத்தை திரை நீக்கம் செய்து வைப்பதற்கு முன் எடுத்த படம். உபவேந்தர் பேராசிரியர் சண்முகலிங்கம், பாராளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர் ஏ.எச்.எம். அஸ்வர் ஆகியோர் அருகில் காணப் படுகின்றனர். (Thinakaran)

Indian hardware market abuzz with tablet PCs

Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal displays the ‘Rs. 1,500-laptop’at its launch in New Delhi.
For a country full of software developers, India has seldom made the right noises when it comes to computer hardware entirely conceived and developed in the country.


But all that seems to be old stories. At least three different gadgets — all tablet PCs — have captured the imagination of geeks across the globe in the past few weeks. Two of the devices are staking claims to becoming the lowest-priced tablet PCs, while the other is a stunner that promises to take on the best in the game.

The government-sponsored ‘Rs. 1,500 laptop' (approximately $35) was announced by Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal last month as an “answer to MIT” (Nicholas Negroponte's famous “One Laptop per Child” was conceived at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

By a very long haul, against $100 ‘xo' laptop of OLPC, the device ambitiously looks at becoming the cheapest computing device ever capable of running a complete operating system. There are questions as to whether the prototype would be viable for large-scale production, retaining the touted cost advantage. That the country does not have manufacturing hubs for computer components makes the questions pertinent.

There have been suggestions that the government could cross-subsidise the cost of the device to its target student groups against commercial sale in other markets, may be for a higher price. What remains to be seen is will the device keep up its promise of becoming the most affordable computer that reaches the hands of millions of students.

Mr. Negroponte, meanwhile, through his official blog for the OLPC project (blog.laptop.org), has welcomed the $35 laptop for educational purposes, and even opened up all resources of theirs for a possible free collaboration. He has urged the Indian team of developers to focus on its design, making it a fun device for children to use, and in the process killing “rote learning.”

Close on the heels of the announcement of the government laptop, another company headquartered in Bangalore, Allgo Embedded systems, unveiled Stamp, a prototype device that runs Linux and Android operating systems on i.MX233, a cost-effective and low-end processor. So while it is not really a competitor in the retail market, the device could find many takers in the B2B market. A video demo of the device, that sports a 7-inch touch screen, has been put on Allgo Embedded Systems official website www.allgosystems.com.

Speaking about the tablet, tentatively pegged at $50, the company's CEO, K. Srinivasan, said the device would target niche B2B applications, such as smart energy control panels or even for specific educational devices. The company is holding talks with manufacturers and hopes to go in for mass production in four or five months.

The most interesting development from the Indian hardware stable though is the impending launch of Adam, the tablet PC designed and developed by Hyderabad-based Notion Ink. Its young CEO and IIT graduate Rohan Shravan recently announced on the company's official blog that the device is headed for a global launch in November. He also hinted that four variants (LCD and Pixel Qi screens with Wi-Fi and 3G support) would be available in the price range of $399 to $498. (News-The Hindu)

Number of Indians on Interpol list on the rise

Red alert notices against 656 Indians over five years

The number of Indians, or people of Indian origin, on Interpol's ‘wanted' list is on the rise with as many as 656 having got red alert notices in a little over five years.

The notices have been issued by the global crime-monitoring organisation between January 2005 and May 2010, generally for crimes committed in countries other than India.

Last year saw the highest number of red notices issued in a year, at 150, while the number stood at 75 in the first five months of this year.

Many of these wanted people are involved in acts of terrorism or serious crimes like rape of a minor.
A red alert or red corner notice obliges immigration and police forces of all member countries to arrest the person and inform the authorities in his home country, or the country where the crime was committed.

Interpol is the world's largest international police organisation, with 188 member countries.

A total of 133 notices were issued in 2007 while the number stood at 119 in 2006.
About 85 such notices were drawn in 2008 and 94 others in 2005, said the CBI, which acts as a nodal agency for international policing in India, in reply to an RTI query.

The countries where the largest number of offences have been reported include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, the United States, Hong Kong, Russia, Belarus, Egypt, Australia and Belgium.

The offences include money laundering, tax evasion, sexual harassment, disrupting railway traffic, mail fraud and demanding dowry. (News-The Hindu)

Manmohan for quick action

MORALE BOOSTER: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh interacts with Sports Minister M.S. Gill and Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi during his visit to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main venue for the Commonwealth Games, in New Delhi on Sunday


People are expecting a spectacular, flawless opening, the Prime Minister tells Commonwealth Games authorities
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex here on Sunday and took stock of the preparations for the Commonwealth Games.

His visit comes amid reports of delay in construction works and sloppiness in the preparation of sporting venues for the mega event that begins on October 3.

Dr. Singh asked the authorities involved in the preparations to “redouble your efforts” and complete the work quickly, as “the people are expecting a spectacular and flawless opening” for the 12-day event.
He was accompanied by Sports Minister M.S. Gill and CWG Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi.
At the recently renovated Jawaharlal Nehru Sport Complex, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies besides the track and field events, Dr. Singh was shown various facilities, including playing fields, media facilities, the Royal Box (for Britain's royal family) and the stands for spectators.

After going round the stadium, Dr. Singh described it as “beautiful.”
his is the Prime Minister's first visit to any of the sporting venues since the formation of a high-level committee of bureaucrats, headed by Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar, which is daily monitoring the progress of the preparations. Dr. Singh intervened after allegations of corruption in the construction and other works emerged repeatedly, besides a prolonged delay in the completion of projects.

On August 14, Dr. Singh convened a high-level meeting and reviewed the preparations. Even a Group of Ministers (GoM), headed by Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy, was formed. Both the GoM and the committee have been asked to ensure that the projects are completed in a time-bound manner and streamline all the works. (News- The Hindu)

Pakistan cricketers at the centre of match-fixing scam

Property developer accepting £150,000 secretly filmed


The visiting Pakistan cricket team was on Sunday at the centre of a police investigation into allegations of match-fixing as a London-based Pakistani property developer was arrested after being secretly filmed accepting £150,000 from an undercover reporter. The journalist posed himself as a middleman for a betting syndicate ahead of the Pakistan-England Test match at the Lord's on Thursday.

Pakistan lost the match by an innings and 225 runs on Sunday – and with that the four-match series 3-1.

Footage from the film shows Mazhar Majeed (35) counting the money while telling the reporter of the News of the World that Pakistani bowlers would bowl three no-balls on the first day of the match on Thursday. Next day, three no-balls were bowled by Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif exactly at the times he predicted.

The Scotland Yard confirmed Majeed's arrest on suspicion of “conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.''

“Following information received from the News of the World, we have... arrested a 35-year-old man on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers,” it said in a statement.

Pakistan team manager Yawar Saeed said four players, including captain Salman Butt, were interviewed by Scotland Yard officers. “Scotland Yard detectives visited the team hotel where they took statements from [captain] Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamir, Mohammad Asif and Kamran Akmal,” he said.

The mobile phones of Aamir, Asif and Butt were taken away by the police.

In a joint statement, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) denied speculation that any player or team official was arrested.

According to News of the World, Pakistani players were bribed to bowl no-balls.

“In the most sensational sporting scandal ever, bowlers Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif delivered three blatant no-balls to order,'' it said in a front-page splash under the heading “Caught: Match-fixer trousers £150K as he rigs the England Test at Lord's.''

Majeed reportedly alleged that Butt and seven other Pakistani players were involved in match-fixing.

In a conversation, secretly filmed in a West London hotel, Majeed is seen and heard telling the reporter, “I'm going to give you three no-balls to prove to you firstly that this is what's happening. They've all been organised, okay? This is exactly what's going to happen, you're going to see these three things happen. I'm telling you, if you play this right you're going to make a lot of money, believe me!”

The newspaper said: “Having already trousered a £10,000 upfront deposit, which he insisted had gone to the stars, Majeed ... eagerly counted out the £140,000 balance in bundles of crisp £50 notes... In return for their suitcase of money Majeed then calmly detailed what would happen – and when – on the field of play next day, as a taster of all the lucrative information he could supply in future.''
At one stage Majeed reportedly boasted that “absolutely millions, millions” could be made by paying him up to £450,000 a time for information on matches, then placing bets on the fixed outcome. About the players, he said: “These poor boys need to. They're paid peanuts.”

Butt told reporters that he and his team-mates had “given our best.” “I would say that everybody in this team has given 100 per cent,” he said (News- The Hindu)

Vibrant gowns illuminate Emmys red carpet

A late-summer sunset with vibrant purple, red and blue gowns dominated the horizon Sunday at the 62nd Emmy Awards in Los Angeles.


January Jones and Christina Hendricks, both from the heavily stylized “Mad Men,” lived up to their on-screen fashionista counterparts in colorful look-at-me gowns. Jones wore a bright, electric-blue corset gown with an uneven hem and stiff A-line skirt by Versace, and Hendricks wore a pale lilac Zac Posen with feathers on the sleeves and hemline and the very low neckline audiences have grown accustomed to seeing her — and her hourglass figure — in.
Sofia Vergara went with the statuette look in a gold, ombre beaded Carolina Herrera.

The stars of “Glee” also made an impression, especially an all-grown-up Lea Michele in a navy blue Oscar de la Renta gown with a strapless neckline and ruffled mermaid bottom.


“I wanted to do blue — I've done black and green,” Michele said. “I was ready for blue to be the colour, and I love Oscar de la Renta so when I saw this, it was like he read my mind.”

Some of the other trends on the carpet were one-shoulder gowns — on Elisabeth Moss, Jane Lynch and Julie Benz, among others — and dangling drop earrings, seen on Tina Fey, Eva Longoria Parker and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Fey, Parker and Louis-Dreyfus also were all in the black-dress club that's always in force at awards shows.

A new member? Kelly Osborne, who's joining a E!'s Fashion Police, who showed off her post-”Dancing With the Stars” shape in a sophisticated black gown with a V-neck and jeweled gathered at the shoulders by Tony Ward. (News- The Star)

Fourth terror suspect held on unrelated charges

OTTAWA—The lawyer for a fourth suspect in a terrorism probe has accused police of piling on unrelated domestic abuse charges “out of the blue” in order to buy time for the RCMP to continue its investigation.


Richard Morris said that’s the only conclusion he could come to after his client Awso Peshdary was given bail Saturday on charges of assault and threatening, then immediately rearrested on another count of assault and threatening in connection with alleged domestic abuse in April.

“It became a pile-on yesterday at about three o’clock (Saturday) when they laid the second set of charges as far as I’m concerned,” Morris told reporters Sunday outside court, noting he also would be looking at whether Peshdary’s charter rights were being violated.

Peshdary was questioned Friday by RCMP investigating the domestic terrorism case but freed after several hours only to be arrested by the Ottawa police.

“It would appear . . . that the domestic charges are being used to further a different investigation,” he said, adding later these charges have “come out of the blue in what appears to me to be a very convenient manner.”

Minutes later inside court, a publication ban, requested by assistant Crown attorney Nathalie Cote, was ordered by Justice of the Peace Ray Switzer prohibiting the publication or broadcast on information provided inside the court with respect to the case.

The slightly-built 20-year-old Peshdary, the father of a six-month-old girl, was held in custody and is to appear for a bail hearing Tuesday.

Morris told reporters if police were so concerned about the safety of his client’s wife and child then why did the RCMP wait more than four months to bring the matter — discovered during its terror investigation — to the attention of the Ottawa Police Service.

“It appears to me they made a considered decision to prefer their terrorism investigation over the safety of this woman and child,” he said.

“If they had an allegation of a death threat (back in April) and they chose not to act on it until the 29th of August one has to question what their reasoning was.”

The RCMP refused to comment, while Ottawa police officials couldn’t be reached.
Peshdary, who works at a call centre, was arrested Friday by the RCMP as part of its so-called Project Samossa. The RCMP has yet to identify the suspect.

On Wednesday, RCMP national security investigators arrested Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, 30, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, at their homes in Ottawa and Dr. Khurram Syed Sher, 28, in London, Ont.
Sher and Ahmed face one count of conspiring to facilitate a terrorist activity in Canada, Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai and Pakistan. Alizadeh faces additional charges of possessing or producing explosives for terrorist purposes and financing terrorism.

Sher’s arrest took on an additional twist when it was first reported by the Toronto Star that he unsuccessful auditioned for the 2008 Canadian Idol audition in Montreal that showed him performing the moonwalk and the robot while singing Avril Lavigne’s hit song “Complicated.”

Police say the group had instructional information and electronic material, including more than 50 electrical circuit boards that would have allowed them to remotely detonate bombs.

Money was also allegedly being sent overseas so unnamed terror groups active in Afghanistan could purchase weapons and other material to attack Canadian and coalition military forces fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

According to the RCMP, the arrested suspects were only months away from being able to detonate a bomb on Canadian soil. Police swooped in because they feared Alizadeh was about to leave the country to meet with international terror contacts. According to reports, one of the targets was Parliament.

On Thursday police also named three co-conspirators — James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta — who are believed to be outside of Canada.
Morris told reporters before his client was returned to custody that Peshdary had not had so much as a speeding ticket before heavily armed police surrounded his vehicle Friday on his way to work.

“He looks a bit like a deer in the headlights,” he said. “He has never been in any trouble before. He has never had any interaction with the police.”
Morris said his Muslim client, who is celebrating the month of Ramadan, has lost his appetite in jail.
“I remain of the view that there is no reason to hold him in custody,” Morris said after the court appearance.

“They are dragging things out unnecessarily.” (News- The Star)

Northern ministries to Kilinochchi from Sept.

With Provincial Council elections due in the North later this year, authorities have decided to move all its ministries from Trincomalee to Kilinochchi from September 1.


Northern Governor retired Maj-Gen G A Chandrasiri yesterday confirmed that he gave directives to the Northern Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Animal Husbandry to move from the beginning of next month.

The directive was conveyed in writing to Ministry Secretary N Pathmanathan on Friday.
The Governor also said he hoped to have the other vital ministries like Health and Education also in Kilinochchi before the end of the year as their services were urgently required for ongoing development work, especially in Wanni.

As reconstruction work gathered pace in the Wanni, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa, who is personally overseeing such operations, is once again due in the region tomorrow to chair all review meetings.
There is speculation, meanwhile, that Colombo district MP Prabha Ganeshan, who defected to the government from the Democratic People’s Front recently, might be appointed the new northern governor if Maj-Gen Chandrasiri takes up a diplomatic assignment, This, however, could not be independently verified.
Maj-Gen Chandrasiri said people were asking him about the diplomatic posting, but he knew nothing of it.

As a sign of the growing importance of the North, this year’s Government Agents conference is now scheduled to be held in Jaffna on September 6 and 7.

Jaffna GA Imelda Sugumar, who will chair the meeting, is busy making relevant preparations. (RA) (News- Nation)

PRESIDENT CAN CONTEST FOR EVER

NO TERM LIMIT AT ALL


17TH AMENDMENT AMENDED
 
 
The draft of the proposed constitutional amendments will be presented to parliament during the coming parliamentary sessions in the second week of September. The proposed legislation allows the president to contest any number of times.


“Amendments will also be proposed for changes in the 17th amendment”, UPFA General Secretary Minister of Petroleum Industries Susil Premajayanth said.

“There will be no great structural changes to the constitution. The main areas of amendments will be the executive presidency and the 17th amendment to the constitution,” he said.

“Section 32 (2) of the constitution which deals with the limitations on the number of times a person can hold the executive presidency will be removed and the composition of the Constitutional Council will be changed”.

A five-member committee which consists of the speaker, the prime minister and the opposition leader as an alternative to the Constitutional Council is proposed, while the other two members will be nominated by the opposition and the president.

“The independent commissions will remain as they are and the selection of members to the commissions will be by the new committee. We will present this draft to parliament when it meets in September,” Premajayanth said.

Commenting on the five MPs of the left constituent parties of the government who have consistently opposed the extension of the executive presidency term limits and tampering with the 17th amendment, Premajayanth said that everyone in the government has been informed about the proposed changes.

“We all belong to the UPFA. We should adhere to one policy and everyone has agreed to support (the changes.)”

But politburo member of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka Jayampathy Wickremaratne told LAKBIMAnEWS that they have not shelved the objections to the executive presidency.

“We have been opposing the continuation and strengthening of the executive presidency and we have not changed that. The politburo of the Communist Party will meet next week and decide what course of action to take,” he said.

President Rajapaksa obtained the support of eight MPs of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) on Friday. The UPFA with these MPs command 154 votes in the 225-seat parliament, giving the president the two-thirds majority. The support of the SLMC MPs came as the government and the main opposition UNP were in discussions to amend the constitution and reduce the president’s executive powers. (news-Lakbima)

Many sex workers executive grade female officers

35,000 to 47,000 full time professional prostitutes operate islandwide, says Dr.Shantha Hettiarachhi of the Health Education Bureau, quoting a recent survey.


However, if part time prostitutes also came under this survey the number could have been much more, according to Dr. Hettiarachchi.

A considerable number among these part time sex workers are said to be executive grade female officers. The Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) unit says that the number of HIV infected persons could increase with the rise in numbers of sex workers.

As of now there have been 1249 HIV infected persons out of whom 306 are AIDS patients. The STD unit says that 212 of them have already died.

There have been 44 children among AIDS patients and only 15 of them are alive today.

However, most of the HIV infected persons have contracted the disease not from sex workers but from casual acquaintances and persons known to them, according to the survey, Dr. Hettiarachchi said. (News- Lakbima)

சமய நிலையங்களை மையமாக்கி கிராமங்கள் அபிவிருத்தி செய்யப்படும்

அனைத்து சமய நிலையங்களையும் மையமாகக் கொண்ட கிராம அபிவிருத்தியை ஏற்படுத்தும் தேசிய வேலைத் திட்டமொன்றை அரசாங்கம் ஆரம்பித்துள்ளதாகவும், இந்தத் திட்டத்துக்கு அமைச்சரவையின் அங்கீகாரம் ஏற்கனவே பெறப்பட்டுள்ளதாகவும் பிரதமர் குறிப்பிட்டார்.


சமய அபிவிருத்தி மற்றும் அனைத்து சமய நிலையங்களையும் மேம்படுத்துவது தொடர்பான தேசிய வேலைத் திட்டத்தின் கீழ் மொனராகலை மாவட்ட வேலைத் திட்டத்தை கதிர்காமம் கிரிவிஹாரை வளவில் கடந்த வெள்ளிக்கிழமை (27) ஆரம்பித்து வைத்து உரையாற்றிய போதே பிரதமர் இவ்வாறு தெரிவித்தார்.

சகல கிராமங்களிலும் சமயத்தலைவர், கிராம சேவகர், சமுர்த்தி அதிகாரி, விவசாய அதிகாரி உள்ளிட்ட பொறுப்பு வாய்ந்த அதிகாரிகளுடன் கூடிய குழுவொன்றை அமைத்து அதன் மூலம் கிராமத்தை அபிவிருத்தி செய்வதே உத்தேசத் திட்டத்தின் நோக்கமென்று பிரதமர் அங்கு சுட்டிக்காட்டினார். பெளதிக வளங்களினால் மட்டும் ஒரு நாட்டை அபிவிருத்தி செய்து சிறப்பான பயனை பெறமுடியாது. அதற்கு சமயம் மூலமான அபிவிருத்தியும் சேர்ந்தால்தான் உண்மையான பயனைப் பெறமுடியும்.

ஒருசிலர் தமது பிறப்பு சான்றிதழில் மட்டும் தமது சமயத்தைக் குறிப்பிடுகின்றனர். இதுபல பிரச்சினைகளைத் தோற்றுவிக்கும்.

30 வருடங்கள் இந்நாட்டில் தமக்குத் தேவையான சமயத்தை முன்னெடுக்க சுதந்திரம் இல்லாமல் இருந்தது. எதிர்காலத்தில் அவ்வாறு ஏற்படாதவாறான சமய சூழலை கட்டியெழுப்புவது அவசியமாகும்.

இந்நிலையில் கஷ்டப் பிரதேசங்களில் உள்ள அனைத்து சமய நிலையங்களையும் மேம்படுத்துவதற்குத் தேவையான ஆலோசனைகள் கிடைத்துள்ளதாகக் கூறிய பிரதமர், அவற்றில் பலயோசனைகளை நடைமுறைப்படுத்தத் தீர்மானித்துள்ளதாகவும் கூறினார்.

ஊவா வெல்லஸ்ஸ பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின் வேந்தரும் கிரிவிஹாரையின் விகாராதிபதி யுமான அலுத்வெவ சோரத தேரர், ஊவா மாகாண முதலமைச்சர் சசீந்திர ராஜபக்ஷ ஆகியோரும் இங்கு உரையாற்றினர். (News- Thinakaran)

அரச இலவச மருந்தை மோசடி செய்வோருக்கு ஆயுள் தண்டனை

சட்டத்திருத்தம் விரைவில் வருகிறது

அரசாங்கத்தினால் நோயாளர்களுக்கு இலவசமாக வழங்கப்படும் மருந்து வகைகளைத் தனியார் மருந்தகங்களுக்கு சட்ட விரோதமான முறையில் வழங்குபவர்களுக்கு ஆயுள் தண்டனை விதிக்கக் கூடிய வகையில் சட்டத்தில் திருத்தம் கொண்டு வரப்படவிருக்கின்றது.


இம்மருந்து வகைகளைக் கொள்வனவு செய்து விற்பனை செய்யும் தனிநபர்களுக்கும் இத்தண்டனையை விதிக்கக் கூடிய வகையில் சட்டம் திருத்தப்படும் என்று சுகாதார அமைச்சர் மைத்திரிபால சிறிசேன தெரிவித்தார்.

அரச ஆஸ்பத்திரிகளில் நோயாளர்களுக்கு இலவசமாக வழங்கப்பட வேண்டிய ஒரு தொகை மருந்து வகைகளை புறக் கோட்டையிலுள்ள தனியார் மருந்தகமொன் றுக்கு நபரொருவர் வழங்கியுள்ளார். இந் நபருக்கும், இம் மருந்து வகைகளை கொள்வனவு செய்த தனியாருக்கும் ஆயுள் தண்டனை வழங்கப்படும்.

இதற்கு ஏற்ற வகையில் சட்டத்தில் திருத்தம் கொண்டு வரப்படும் எனவும் அவர் குறிப்பிட்டார். இலங்கை மருந்துப் பொருள் உற்பத்தி யாளர்கள் சங்கத்தின் வருடாந்த அமர்வு நேற்று முன்தினம் கொழும்பில் நடை பெற்றது. இந்த அமர்வில் பிரதம அதிதி யாகக் கலந்து கொண்டு உரையாற்றும் போதே அவர் மேற்கண்டவாறு குறிப் பிட்டார்.

அவர் தொடர்ந்தும் உரையாற்று கையில், அரசாங்க ஆஸ்பத்திரிகளில் நோயாளர்களுக்கு இலவசமாக வழங்கப் படும் மருந்து வகைகளின் ஒரு தொகுதி புறக்கோட்டையில் தனியார் மருந்தக மொன்றில் விற்பனைக்காக வைக்கப்பட் டிருந்த சமயம் இரு வாரங்களுக்கு முன் னர் கைப்பற்றப்பட்டுள்ளது. இது தொடர் பான புலன்விசாரணையை குற்றப் புல னாய்வு திணைக்களத்தினர் மேற்கொண்டு வருகின்றனர்.

“எமக்கு இந்த மருந்து வகைகள் கொண்டு வந்து தரப்பட்டது. அதனை வாங்கி நாம் விற்பனை செய்தோம். மற்றபடி எமக்கு எதுவும் தெரியாது என்று தனியார் மருந்தக வர்த்தகர் வாக்கு மூலம் அளித்துள்ளார். இது எந்த வகையிலும் ஏற்றுக் கொள்ள முடியாத பதிலாகும். குறித்த வர்த்தகர் சிறுபிள்ளை அல்லவே. இப்படியான அர்த்தமற்ற கூற்றுக்களை நம்புவதற்கு அரசாங்கமோ, நானோ தயாரில்லை.

இப்படியான மோசடிகள் நீண்டகாலமாக இடம் பெற்று வந்தாலும் அவற்றைக் கட்டுப்படுத்துவதற்கு உரிய நடவடிக்கை உடனுக்குடன் எடுக்கப்படாததால் அவை கட்டுப்படுத்த முடியாத நிலையை அடைந்திருக்கின்றது. இவ்வாறான முறைகேடுகளை கட்டுப்படுத்துவதற்கும் தற்போது நடைமுறையிலுள்ள சட்ட ஏற்பாடுகளும் போதியதாக இல்லை. அதன் காரணத்தினால் இவ்வாறான மோசடிகளைக் கட்டுப்படுத்துவதற்கு ஏற்றவகையிலான சட்டத் திருத்தத்தை பாராளுமன்றத்தில் முன்வைக்கவுள் ளேன்.

இப்படியான செயலில் ஈடுபடுவோரு க்கு ஆயுள் தண்டனை வழங்கக் கூடிய வகையில் சட்டத்தில் திருத்தம் செய்து பாராளுமன்றத்தில் சமர்ப்பிப்பதற்கு உத் தேசித்திருக்கின்றேன் என்றார். (ரு-ஐ) (Thinakaran)

கிளிநொச்சியில் 54,000 ஏக்கரில் நெற்செய்கை விவசாயிகளுக்கு இலவச விதைநெல் வயல் பண்படுத்தலுக்கு 8000 ரூபா

இவ்வாண்டின் பெரும் போகத்தில் கிளிநொச்சி மாவட்டத்தில் 54,000 ஏக்கரில் நெற்பயிர்ச்செய்கையை மேற்கொள்வதற்கான நடவடிக்கைகள் முன்னெடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது டன் இதற்கான சகல உதவிகளையும் அரசாங்கம் விவசாயிகளுக்குப் பெற்றுக் கொடுக்கவுள்ளது.


விவசாயிகளுக்கான விதை நெல்லை இலவசமாக வழங்குவதுடன் ஒரு விவசாயக் குடும்பத்திற்கு தலா இரண்டு ஏக்கர் வயலை உழுவதற்கான 8,000 ரூபாவையும் அத்துடன் உரமானியத்தையும் அரசாங்கம் வழங்குவதென தீர்மானிக் கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

நேற்றைய தினம் கிளிநொச்சியில் பொருளாதார அபிவிருத்தி அமைச்சர் பசில் ராஜபக்ஷவின் தலைமையில் நடைபெற்ற மாவட்டத் திற்கான முன்னேற்ற மீளாய்வுக் கூட்டத்திலேயே இது தொடர்பில் கவனம் செலுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளது.

நேற்றைய இக் கூட்டத்தில் அமைச்சர்கள் டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தா, பி. தயாரத்ன, சம்பிக்க ரணவக்க, வடமாகாண ஆளுநர் ஜீ. ஏ. சந்திரசிறி, வட மாகாண அபிவிருத்திக்கான ஜனாதிபதி செயலணியின் செயலாளர் திவாரட்ன, மாவட்ட அரசாங்க அதிபர் திருமதி ரூபவதி கேதீஸ்வரன் உட்பட உயர் மட்ட அரச அதிகாரிகள் பலரும் கலந்துகொண்டுள்ளனர்.

பல வருடங்களுக்குப் பின்னர் கிளிநொச்சி மாவட்டத்தில் முழுமையான, நெற்பயிர்ச்செய்கைக்கு வழி வகுத்தல், சேனைப் பயிர்ச்செய்கையை ஊக்குவித்தல், மீள்குடியேற்ற நடவடிக்கை, வீடமைப்பு, கண்ணிவெடி அகற்றலை விரைவுபடுத்தல், யுத்தத்தினால் பாதிப்படைந்த அரச அலுவலகங்கள் மற்றும் பாடசாலைக் கட்டிடங்களைப் புனரமைத்தல் உட்பட அடிப்படைப் பொதுவசதிகள் தொடர்பில் இங்கு முக்கிய கவனம் செலுத்தப்பட்டு ள்ளது.

இது தொடர்பில் குறிப்பிட்ட கிளிநொச்சி அரசாங்க அதிபர் ரூபவதி கேதீஸ்வரன், மேற்படி விடயங்களை விரைவுபடுத்துதல் தொடர்பில் விரிவாகக் கலந்துரையாடப்பட்டதுடன் சம் பந்தப்பட்ட அதிகாரிகளின் கருத்துக்களும் ஆலோச னைகளும் இது தொடர்பில் பெற்றுக் கொள்ளப் பட்டுள்ளதாகவும் தெரிவித்தார்.

மீள் குடியேற்றப்பட்டுள்ள குடும்பங்களின் வாழ்வாதாரத்தை மேம்படுத்துவது மற்றும் அவர்களுக்கான வீடமைப்பு தொடர்பிலும் விரிவாக ஆராயப்பட்டுள்ளதாகத் தெரிவித்த அவர்; யுத்தத்தினால் பாதிக்கப்பட் டோருக்கு வீடுகளை அமைத்துக் கொடுப்பது தொடர்பில் ஆராய்வ தற்காக இந்திய விசேட குழுவொ ன்றும் நேற்று முன்தினம் கிளி நொச்சிக்கு விஜயம் செய்திருந்ததாக வும் தெரிவித்தார். (ஸ- ரு- ஈ)(News-Thinakaran)

Two-and-half year girl abandoned

A two-and-half-year old girl abandoned near the Sinharaja Forest at the Ninth elbow bend along the Rakwana-Deniyaya Road was found August 27 at about 4.15 a.m.


A private coach driver had seen the girl and handed over her to the Rakwana police. The girl is under the care of the Kuruwita orphanage on Pelmadulla District Judge Chandani Dias orders. Kuruwita police seek public assistance to find her parents.
(News-Daily News)

North-South Business Bridge

North-South Business Bridge Program has been organized as part of the Gampaha Integrated Accelerated Program.


The Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Ministry with the Support of the Industrial Development Board initiated a North-South Business Bridge Program in July 2010.

The Program’s objective is to create awareness among Jaffna youth on modern material and equipment and disseminate the business knowledge and technology from successful entrepreneurs of the Gampaha District to the Northern youth to boost opportunities to develop strong market linkages between Gampaha and Jaffna.

The North-South Business Bridge Program includes technology transfer programs on Leather products, bakery, batiks, emulsion paint, handmade paper, fruit based products and cement based products. (News- Daily News)

Over 200 Lankan fishermen released this year

The Indian authorities have released over 200 Sri Lankan fishermen from their custody during the year. This is the largest number of Sri Lankan fishermen to have been released from Indian prisons in a year, according to sources at the Fisheries and Aquatice Resources Development Ministry.


The Ministry’s Monitoring Controlling and Surveillance Unit (MCSU) Assistant Director Lal De Silva said, the Indian Coast Guard have arrested about 300 Sri Lankan fishermen for trespassing and violating the territorial waters of India during the year.

The majority of fishermen were arrested off the coasts of Andra Pradesh, Rameswaran off Tamil Nadu, Kerala , Andaman Islands and Orissa, he said.

There are no more than 80 Sri Lankan fishermen in Indian custody as at present, he said. The Tamil Nadu Government has released all Sri Lankan fishermen along with their boats.

Silva said ,Tamil Nadu State has released 67 fishermen and 13 boats. Of them around 57 fishermen have arrived in the country. The others await repatriation orders from India’s External Affairs Ministry in Delhi to return to the country.
Of the 20 boats held by them 10 were released along with their crew men, he said. The fishermen were released due to direct intervention by Fisheries and Aquatic Resourcces Minister Rajitha Senaratna.

Silva said, the fishermen were brought back to Sri Lanka without delay unlike in the past with prompt action by the Minister.

It is expected that all fishermen in Indian custody will have returned to the country by the end of the year, he added.9News-Daily News)

Foreign-educated students welcome to return - Prof G L Peiris

External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris invited those innovative Sri Lankan students who had attended foreign universities and received their higher education, to return to the mother country to serve it.


The External Affairs Minister expressed those sentiments when he attended the Certificate and Award-giving ceremony of the Edexcel institute of London at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium as the Chief Guest recently.

Edexcel, which was formerly known as the University of London Examinations and assessment Council, is the largest awarding body in the UK of academic and vocational qualifications. Formed over 100 years ago by Royal Charter, Edexcel is respected across the globe as an advocate of quality educational standards. It is now part of the Pearson Group, the world’s largest educational services company.

Prof Peiris said Sri Lanka’s unique resource was its creative human element that’s packed with great innovative potential. At the present time when the country was ready to step forward after three decades of a conflict-ridden period, it was essential to draw upon this distinctive resource for the country’s development.

Sri Lanka had achieved an unprecedented annual economic growth rate of seven percent and been able to maintain a foreign exchange reserve of US$ 6,200 million. The number of tourists visiting Sri Lanka had increased tremendously while New York Times had described it as a desired tourist destination. As such, there was a need to expand the infrastructure and the services in the tourism sector to cater to the increased arrivals, he said.
The Minister pointed out that the International Monetary Fund had stated their satisfaction with the path that the economy had taken in Sri Lanka and this increased acceptance by the international investor community had resulted in several internationally-renowned financiers and business houses visiting Sri Lanka.

Recently the Chairman of the reputed Shangri La hotel Chain arrived here to explore the possibility of opening up a hotel in the country while Indian giants like Mahindra had made known their intentions to invest here. Prof Peiris also stated that it took long-time for the per capita income to reach US$ 1,000 whereas it’s more than doubled to 2,200 dollars in only three years.

All these factors indicated a successful future for Sri Lanka and thus it was necessary that the country should make use of the talents of those students who had received their higher education from the world’s best universities. Hence his invitation to them to return to Sri Lanka, the Minister said.

While pointing out that Sri Lanka supplied 80 percent of the world’s demand for cinnamon, the Minister said that a process of value-addition with regard to such spices as well as fruits, vegetables, gems, jewellery etc had been undertaken.
In addition new technological practices were to be introduced for the qualitative upgrading of natural products. He also said that efforts would be undertaken to tap the bountiful resources of the Eastern sea and the coast while new reforms in the education and health spheres would be embarked on with a view to streamline such services based on country’s needs. He also said that the Colombo Stock Exchange was performing in a highly satisfactory manner.

Among the others who addressed the gathering were Susil Premajayantha, Minister of Petroleum, Ms Jill Westaway, Director, British Council, Patrick Casey, International Director, Edexcel and Vivek Govil, Chief Executive Officer, Pearson India. The welcome speech and the vote of thanks were delivered by Ms Premila Paulraj, Manager, Tertiary Education and Kishore Roy, Examinations Manager of the Edexcel respectively. Awards and certificates were handed out by the two Ministers Prof G L Peiris and Susil Premajayantha and other guests.(News-Daily News)

Road rule lessons for jaywalkers

Police will launch a major awareness campaign shortly to educate the public on the hazards of jaywalking with possible penalties considered in the future, if the public fails to abide by the rules.


Police officers deployed in all major roads with special emphasis on identified hotspots will be talking to pedestrians and passengers about safety while keeping an eye on jaywalkers, Police spokesman SP Prishantha Jayakody said.
Emphasis will be on educating the public and imposing penalties has not been considered as yet, but may come into effect in the future if the move fails, he added.
Some tips the officers offer to the pedestrians are mostly common sense. First, never jaywalk. If crossing at an intersection use the zebra crossings and pedestrian lights, but be sure that the intersection is clear before stepping onto the road.
If there are no pedestrian lights, be sure to wait until it is safe to cross. Make eye contact with drivers and wait for vehicles to stop. Vehicles may slow down, but may not stop.

Be wary of drivers making unexpected moves and always assume drivers can’t see you. At night be visible. Wear reflective clothing. Make sure a vehicle has time to stop before stepping into the road or crossing.

“When there is a vehicle or pedestrian accident, both parties are left with some form of trauma so police have valuable information for drivers as well,” Jayakody said. “Always watch for pedestrians and cyclists, especially when visibility is poor. Even if you have a green light, approach intersections with caution.” “Yield to pedestrians crossing the street even if the crosswalk is not marked. Stop well in advance of a stop or crosswalk line,” he said.
“Never pass or overtake a vehicle stopped or stopping for a pedestrian. Let pedestrians know what you’re doing. Use your signals well in advance of a turn.

Be patient as some pedestrians take longer to cross the road than others,” Jayakody said.
Police will also talk to local administrators in any given area such as the Pradeshiya Sabhas and Municipal Councils regarding erecting road signs in needy places. Zebra crossings and signal lights are to be upgraded and installed in all identified hotspots, he said.
The awareness campaign will start from Colombo and later spread across the rest of the country, according to Jayakody.(News-Daily News)

Port Authority auction: Police, Army end mafia control

*Raid on instructions of Defence Secretary

*Army, Police to provide security for future auctions

In a coordinated operation, the Police and the Army raided the Port Authority auction during the weekend and arrested four persons linked to the underworld while some others fled. Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa on information that an organized underworld gang is controlling the auction had instructed the Security Forces and the Police to end this mafia control and ensure a secure environment for the auction.


Investigations have revealed that the underworld gang had been receiving the prices tendered for the goods to be auctioned from Port Authority sources.

Through intimidation the mafia had ensured that the goods will be bought by them at low prices. According to complaints made to the Police, anyone bidding over the prices bid by the members of the mafia had been either assaulted and chased away or threatened with death.

Having bought the goods quite cheap, the mafia had been selling them at a higher price at the Port itself.

The income from the weekend auction has been the highest in 20 years. On the instructions of the Defence Secretary the auction will be hereafter held under the protection of the Security Forces and the Police. Those taking part in the raid in the auction included a group of police personnel under DIG Anura Senanayake and SP K Ranaweera, a group of CID personnel headed by SP Senaka Kumarasinghe and a group of Army personnel headed by Brigadier Mahinda Weerasuriya.

The income denied to the Government by the intervention of the mafia is estimated to be several billions of rupees. (News-Daily News)

සැතපෙන ඉරියව් ඔබට කියන රහස්‌......

බිළිඳු සැතපෙන ඉරියව් (The baby)

දරු ගැබක සිටින බිළිඳෙකු නිදා ගන්නා ලෙස නිදා ගැනීමයි. දෑතම ගෙල යටින් තබාගෙන හෝ කකුල් අතර රඳවා ගෙන කවාකාරව නිදා ගනී. වඩාත් පොදු නිදන ඉරියව්ව මෙයයි. සාමාන්‍ය පෞරුෂත්වයක්‌ හිමි ඕනෑම අයෙක්‌ නිදා ගන්නේ මේ ආකාරයෙනි. වඩාත් සුරක්‌ෂිත සහ පුද්ගල සම්බන්ධතාවයන්ගේ සමබරතාවය රැක ගත් අයවේ.

කාන්තාවක්‌ නම්
නිවසේ දීත් සේවා ස්‌ථානයේදීත් දැඩි ශක්‌තිමත් තැනැත්තියකි. ඕනෑම දුෂ්කර අවස්‌ථාවකදී තමන්ගේ කටයුතු සාර්ථකව නිම කිරීමට තරම් දැඩි අධිෂ්ඨානයක්‌ සහ නොපසුබට උත්සාහයක්‌ ඇත. ආදරයේ දී ඉතා රසවත් තැනැත්තියකි. කෙනෙකු පහසුවෙන් විශ්වාස නොකළත් මිතුරු සමාගමයේදී වඩාත් උණුසුම් සහ සංවේදී අයෙකි. එසේ වුවත් අධික ලැඡ්ජාශීලී ගතියක්‌ද පෙන්වයි. සංවේදී පිරිමි පාර්ශ්වයෙන් ඇප උපකාර ලබා ගැනීමට සමත්ය. ඒවාට ප්‍රිය කරයි. විනීත ශිෂ්ටසම්පන්න භාවය නිහතමානීකම සහ අවංක භාවය ඔවුන් ඉතා ඉහළින් අගය කරති. ඔබ ඡේත්තු කාරයෙක්‌ නම් මෙවැනි කාන්තාවන් පිළිබඳ ව නොසිතුවාට කමක්‌ නැත. ඒ ඔවුන් අලංකාරය සඳහා හෝ විලාසිතා සඳහා වැය කිරීමට ඇත්තේ සීමා සහිත කෙටි කාලයක්‌ බැවිනි.

පිරිමියෙක්‌ නම්
මේ ආකාරයේ නිදන පුද්ගලයා සෑම විට ම වාගේ මවගේ ආදරය රැකවරණය සහ උණුසුම බලාපොරොත්තු වෙයි. ඒ නිසා ම ඔවුන් නිදහසේ නොවැඩෙන අතරම ඔවුන්ගේ ලෝකයේ අම්මා දැවැන්ත චරිතයක්‌ වේ. මෙවන් අයෙකු ඔබ ඇසුරේ සිටී නම් ඔබට මව් කුසෙහි උණුසුමට ආයාචනා කළ හැකිය. ඔහු එය අවස්‌ථානුකූලව ලබා ගන්නා අතරම කලාතුරකින් තමා පිළිබඳව අවිශ්වාස කරයි. කෙසේ වුවත් මොවුහු විශ්වාසදායී ස්‌වාමි පුරුෂයෝ ය.

ප්‍රේමණීය නින්ද (The Romantic)
තමන්ගේ අත් සහ කුස ප්‍රදේශය ඇඳට තද වන සේ යටිකුරුව නිදා ගැනීමයි. හිස වමට හෝ දකුණට හැරී තිබේ. වඩාත් සුව පහසුවෙන් මෙන් ම හොඳ සමබරතාවයෙන් ද පසුවේ. ඔවුන්ගේ මේ නිදන ඉරියව්ව කියා පාන්නේ ඔවුන් සිහින ලෝකයක සැරි සරන බවයි. ඔබ සැලකිල්ලෙන් බලන්නේ නම් ඔවුන්ගේ හදවත ගැහෙන රිද්මය මියුරු ගීතයක්‌ සේ ඔබට ඇසෙයි. මේ අවස්‌ථාවේ ඔවුන්ගේ දෑස මෘදු මන්දස්‌මිතයකින් සැරසී ඇත. ඒ ඔවුන්ගේ විනෝදකාමී බවයි.

කාන්තාවක්‌ නම්
මේ අයුරින් නිදාගන්නා කාන්තාව ආදරයේ දී ප්‍රවේසම් නොවන අයයි. ආදරයේ දී ඔවුන්ගේ අදහස්‌ හා කැමැත්තට ඉඩ නොදෙන්නේ නම් ඔවුන් තම ආදරවන්තයා නිය පිටින් මෙපිටට ඇතුල් කර නොගන්නේ ඊළඟ පුද්ගලයාට අවස්‌ථාව දෙමිනි. වඩාත් ප්‍රායෝගික ලෝකයේ ජීවත් වන මොවුහු පොළොවේ පය ගසා ජීවත් වීමට දනිති. සුවදායක නින්දකට හිමිකම් කියන මොවුන් විවාහයේ දී සිය සැමියා සමග දැඩි ආදරයකින් බැඳේ

අසංවර නින්ද (Wild Thing)
බඳ ප්‍රදේශයෙන් පිටතට නිදහසේ විහිදෙන හෝ පැද්දෙන ලෙස එල්ලා වැටෙන අයුරින් උඩුකුරුව නිදා ගැනීමයි. වඩාත් නිදහස්‌ ජීවිතයක්‌ බව විස්‌තර කරයි. ඔවුන් කිසි විටක සිය පවුලේ ආචාර සම්පන්න නීති රීතින් හෝ ගුණ ධර්මයන් පිළිවෙලින් පිළිගන්නා අය නොවේ. ඒවා ගැන කිසිදු තැකීමක්‌ නොකරන අතරම සමාජීය සාර ධර්මයන්ද නොසලකා හරිති. නමුත් ඔවුන් විස්‌මිත දේ කිරීමෙන් විස්‌මිත වස්‌තූන් හෝ නිර්මාණ සොයා ගැනීමේත් සූරයෝ ය. ඒවා සම්බන්ධයෙන් උනන්දුවක්‌ හා සිතේ ධෛර්ය ඇත්තෝ ය. සිහින්, සිනිදු සමකට හිමිකම් කියති. කිසිදු විටෙක විවේචනයට හෝ ගුණ දොස්‌ සොයනවාට කැමති නැත.

කාන්තාවක්‌ නම්
තමන්ගේ කැමැත්තට අනුව කටයුතු සිදු වෙයි නම් හෝ අපේක්‌ෂාවන් ඉටු වන්නේ නම් තමන් සතු සියළු දේ අත්හැරීමට වත් පසුබට නොවෙති. කාලය සහ ධනය ඇත්නම් ඔවුන් වටා හොඳ මිතුරු මිතුරියන් පිරිසක්‌ ද සිටී. බොහෝ පිරිමින් මේ කාන්තාවන් හා විවාහ වීමට කැමති වන්නේ ආදරයේ දී සහ ජීවිතයේ දී අවට ලෝකයේ අවධානය ගැන නොසලකා හරින බැවිනි.

පිරිමියෙකු නම්
රහසිගත ජීවිතයක්‌ තිබෙන මොවුන් ඒවා හෙළි වන්නේ නම් එතැනින් ඉවත්ව ඔවුන්ගේම ලෝකයක තමන්ගේ ම කටයුතු බලා ගනිමින් ජීවත් වන්නෝය. ලෝකය වටා යාත්‍රා කිරීම එවරස්‌ට්‌ කඳු මුදුනට නැගීම ප්‍රියතම නාලිකාවක රඟ පෑම වැනි වීර කියා පිළිබඳ ව සිහින දකිති. මෙවැනි දේ තුළිsන් සහ ඇවිදිමෙන් විනෝදාස්‌වාදය ලබන ඔවුන්ගේ සිතැගි වටහා ගත හැකි කාන්තාවන්ට ගරු කරයි. මේ ආකාරයේ පුද්ගලයන්ට සිටින්නේ පුදුම සහගත විශ්මය උපදවන සුළු මිතුරන් ය.

සෘජු නින්ද (The Straight jacket)
දෑත් බඳ දෙපසින් සිරුර දිගේ පහතට සමාන්තරව දමා ගෙන නිදා ගැනීමයි. දෙපා ද දිගු කර පතුළින් එකට එක්‌ වී තිබේ. මේ ආකාරයෙන් නිදා ගන්නෝ තමන් තුළටම නැඹුරු වූ අය වෙති. තමා විසින්ම පිළියෙල කර ගත් හෝ සමාජයේ දැනට පවතින නීති රීති සම්ප්‍රදායන් ආදී ප්‍රතිපත්ති රාශියකින් බැඳී සිටින අයයි. ඉතා දැඩි ප්‍රතිපත්ති ගරුක පුද්ගලයෝ වෙති. හදවත තුළින්ම බැස ගත් තීරණ හා ප්‍රතිපත්තිවලට අනුව කටයුතු කිරීම නිසා සිතට නිදහස්‌ සහනයක්‌ දැනෙන්නේම නැති තරම්ය. සම්ප්‍රදාය ආගම සහ සංස්‌කෘතික ජීවිතයටම බැඳී තිබෙන්නකි. වැඩි වශයෙන් නිශ්ශබ්ද ඔවුන් පිළිබඳව අනෙක්‌ අයට දැනෙන්නේ ජීවිතාවබෝධය ඉහළින්ම ලබා ගත් ශික්‌ෂාකාමි පුද්ගලයන් බවයි.

කාන්තාවක්‌ නම්
අන් අය හා ඇසුරේ දි ඉතා විනීතය. ඒ වගේම තම ඉරියව් ඉතා නිවැරදි ව පවත්වා ගනී. සාමාන්‍යයෙන් මෙවැනි කාන්තාවන් ත්‍රාසජනක ක්‍රියාවන් කිරීමේ සමත් පුරුෂයින් හෝ වැඩි ධන සම්පත් හිමි පුරුෂයන් සමඟ විවාහ වීමට හෝ ඇසුරු කිරීමට කැමැත්තක්‌ නැත. තමා සඟවා ගැනීමට වෑයම් කරන තැති ගැනීම් බියට පත්වීම් සහ කම්පනයට පත්වීම් වැනි අවස්‌ථාවලදී තමාගේ කඳුළු පිසලන ශක්‌තිමත් රැකවරණයක්‌ ඔවුන් තම සහකරුවාගෙන් අපේක්‌ෂා කරති. වැඩි වශයෙන් ඔවුන්ට හිමි වන්නේ තම පියාගේ ගති ස්‌වභාවයන් සහ ගුණාංගයන්ට සමානකමක්‌ ඇති ස්‌වාමි පුරුෂයෝය.

ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවිතයේ ස්‌වාමි පුරුෂයා යනු තමාටම හිමි සම්පතක්‌ පමණි. මේ නිසාම ඔබට සැහැල්ලුවෙන් සිටීමේ ක්‍රම පිළිබඳ ව ඉගෙනීමට සිදු වෙයි. නැතිනම් ඔබට සිදු වන්නේ පීඩාවට පත්වීමටය.

පිරිමියෙකු නම්
යුද හමුදා රෙජිමේන්තුවක පවතින දැඩි විනය නීති යටතේ හෝ දැඩි විනය ගරුක ආචාර සම්පන්න පුද්ගලික පාසලක පවතින විනය රීතින් යටතේ චරිතය හැඩගස්‌වා ගත් පුද්ගලයෙකි. යම් කිසි අණකට හෝ විධානයකට සරිලන සේ සකස්‌ කර ගත් හැසිරීම් රටාවක්‌ ඇත. ඒවා සම්ප්‍රදායට හෝ ආචාර ධර්මවලට අනුගත වූ නීතිරීතින් විය හැකිය. ඔවුන් විශ්වාස කරන්නේ ඒවායින් ජීවත් වීම වඩාත් පහසු කරවන බවයි. මෙවැන්නෙක්‌ සිටින නිවසක ජීවත් වන අයෙකුට කසළ තැන තැන දැමීමට හෝ බඩු බාහිරාදිය තැන් තැන්වල තැබීමට නොහැකි වනු ඇත. කෑම මේසයේදී වුව හඬ නගා සිනා සීම වැනි දේ කළ නොහැකි වනු ඇත. ඒ ඔවුන් නියමිත පිළිවෙල හා ආචාර ධර්ම ඉතා හොඳින් අගය කරන නිසාය. මෙවැනි පුද්ගලයන්ගේ හැසිරීම් රටාව ඔබ ටික කාලයක්‌ අවධානයෙන් සහ සැලකිල්ලෙන් සොයා බලන්නේ නම් ඔවුන්ට සමාජයෙන් ලැබෙන ගරු සත්කාර පහසුවෙන් හඳුනා ගැනීමට හැකිවේ. ඒ වගේම ඔවුන්ගෙන් අපේක්‌ෂා කළ යුත්තේ කුමක්‌දැයි ඔබට පහසුවෙන් වටහා ගත හැකි වේ. නිවසේ පවතින ආරක්‌ෂාව සහ රැකවරණයට කැමති ඔවුන් මෘදු ආදරණීය කලාත්මක දෙයට පමණක්‌ ඇලුම් කරති. කෙසේ වෙතත් කලහකාරී මුරණ්‌ඩු කාන්තාවෝ ඔවුන් පිළිකුලෙන් යුතුව බැහැර කරති.

අවිශ්වාසදායි නින්ද (The Seducer)

එක්‌ පැත්තකට හැරී ඉදිරියෙන් දෑතම කොට්‌ටය මත තබා නිදා ගැනීමයි. සමහර අවස්‌ථාවල දී මේ අයුරින් සැතපෙන්නේ මුහුණ ද කොට්‌ටය මත තබා ගන්නේ ඉදිරියට හෝ උඩට හරවමිනි. මේ සැතපෙන ඉරියව්ව තමා ගැනම වූ අවිශ්වාසදායී සහ අවිනිශ්චිත භාවය විදහා දක්‌වයි.

කාන්තාවක්‌ නම්

කිඳුරංගනාවියක්‌ වන් මේ කාන්තාවන්ට මිහිරි හඬින් ගී ගැයීමටත් මන බඳනා ආකර්ශනීය භාවයකටත් හැකියාව ඇත. අන් අයගේ සිතුම් පැතුම් වටහා ගැනීමේ සියුම් ඉවක්‌ ඇති මොවුන් අනවශ්‍ය අවස්‌ථාවලදී පැමිණෙන අනවශ්‍ය උත්තේජනයන්ගෙන් කළබලකාරී වෙති. ඇයව වටහා ගත හැකි පුද්ගලයෙකුට නම් ඉතා පහසුවෙන් තමන්ගේ කැමැත්තට නැඹුරු කරගත හැකිය. ඔවුන් ගේ සිතට ඇල්මක්‌ හෝ ආශාවක්‌ ඇතිවන කුමන කරුණක්‌ සම්බන්ධයෙන් හෝ ලුහු බැඳ යාම ඔවුන්ගේ ගතියයි. මෙවැනි ගති ඇති පුරුෂයන් කෙරෙහි මෙවැනි කාන්තාවන් දක්‌වන්නේ අඩු අවධානයකි. ඒ එවන් පුරුෂයන් ආදරයේදී ඉතා පහසුවෙන් විශ්වාසය කඩ කරතැයි ඔවුන් සිතන නිසාය.(News- Nawaliya)

ඔබ අන් අය සමඟ කතා බහ කිරීමට මැලිකමක්‌ දක්‌වන්නේද?

අද සමාජයේ ජීවත්වන ඇතැම් පුද්ගලයින් සමාජයට මුහුණ දීමට බියක්‌ හා මැලිකමක්‌ දක්‌වයි. මෙය ඉතා දැඩි වශයෙන් පවතී නම් එය මානසික රෝග තත්ත්වයක්‌ ලෙස සලකා ඒ හා සම්බන්ධ වෛද්‍යවරයෙකුගේ උපදේශනයක්‌ කරා යොමුවිය යුතුය. නමුත් බොහෝවිට මෙම තත්ත්වය ඇතිවන්නේ තමාගේ සිත තුළින්මය. ඔබ සෑම විටම සෘණාත්මක ආකල්ප හා "බැහැ" යන මතයේ සිටී නම් මෙම තත්ත්වය බෙහෙවින් සාමාන්‍ය වන අතරම එය ඔබටම මඟහරවා ගත හැකිය. ඔබ අනෙක්‌ අය සමඟ කථා කරන්නේ පොදු ස්‌ථානයක හෝ පෞද්ගලිකව හෝ දුරකථනය භාවිතයෙන් හෝ විය හැකිය. මෙලෙස කථාබහට බිය වන්නේ නම් ඔබ අන් අයගේ අප්‍රසාදයට පත්වන අතරම ඔබට ලැබෙන ව්‍යාපාරික අවස්‌ථා ආදිය මඟ හැරී යාම නිසා ඔබ දොම්නසට පත්වන අවස්‌ථා එමට වේ. එබැවින් පහත කරුණු උපයෝගී කොට ගෙන ඔබට දුරකථන සංවාදයේදී හෝ පොදු අවස්‌ථාවන්හිදී ඇති වන සංවාදය බිය දුරුකරගන්න.


ඔබ අන් අය සමඟ සංවාදශීලි වීමට දැඩි බියක්‌ දක්‌වන්නේ නම් එම පුද්ගලයන් කවුරුන්දැයි මදක්‌ විමසා බලන්න. ඒ ඔබගේ ළඟම මිතුරෙකු හෝ ව්‍යාපාර සහයකයෙකු හෝ විය හැක. එවිට ඔබට අපහසුතාවයකින් තොරව ඔවුන් සමඟ සංවාදයට එළඹීමට හැකිය.

මනා පෞරුෂත්වයකින් යුතු පුද්ගලයෙකු ලෙස සාර්ථකත්වය කරා පිය නැගීම සඳහා ඔබට අන් අයගේ සහය අත්‍යවශ්‍ය වේ. කිසිදු සහයක්‌ නොමැතිව සාර්ථකත්වය කරා පැමිණි කිසිවෙකු නොමැති තරම්ය. එබැවින් සමාජයේ අනෙක්‌ පුද්ගලයන් සමඟ ඇතිකරගන්නා අෙන්‍යන්‍යය සම්බන්ධතා ඔබට වැදගත් වේ. මෙහිදි ඔවුන් සමඟ සුහද සංවාදයකට එළඹීම එම මිත්‍රත්වයේ මූලික අංගයක්‌ ලෙස සැලකිය හැකිය. හැකි සෑම අවස්‌ථාවකදීම ඔබට සුව පහසු මාතෘකාවක්‌ යටතේ සංවාදය අරඹන්න. ඔබ එම මාතෘකාව පිළිබඳව යම් දැනීමක්‌ ඇති නිසා ඔබට කිසිදු බියකින් තොරව සංවාදය ඉදිරියට ගෙන යා හැකිය.

ඔබ කථාබහ කරන විට ඔබගේ නෙත් ඔබගේ සවන්දෙන්නා වෙත යොමු කරන්න. එසේ නොමැතිව ඔබ පොළව දෙස හෝ වහලය දෙස බලාගෙන කථාකරයි නම් අනෙක්‌ අය ඔබගේ ආත්මවිශ්වාසය සුළුකොට තකන අතරම ඔබ කෙරෙහි ඇති පැහැදීමද ඔවුන් කෙරෙන් ඉවත් වනු ඇත.

සෑම විට ම ඔබ ඔබව හඳුනාගෙන ආත්ම විශ්වාසය පෙරදැරි කොට ගෙන කටයුතු කරන්න. එසේ ම ධනාත්මක ආකල්ප දියුණු කරගෙන "බැහැ" , "නැහැ" යන වචන ඔබගේ ශබ්ද කෝෂයෙන් ඉවත් කරන්න. එවිට ඔබට කිසිදු බියකින් හෝ සැකයකින් තොරව අන් අය සමඟ සංවාදය කරගෙන යාමට හැකි වන අතරම ඔබගේ ඉදිරි වැඩකටයුතු සඳහා ඔවුන්ගේ සහාය ලබා ගැනීමටද හැකි වනු ඇත.

Agency banned

The Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB) has decided to ban with immediate effect the recruitment agency which sent L.T Ariyawathie to her Employers in Saudi Arabia.

The Chairman of the bureau, Kingsley Ranawaka said the bureau is to conduct investigations into the incident and will also look into complaints made against the recruitment agency.
Nails and pins had been inserted into Ariyawathie’s body by her Saudi employer while she worked as a maid at the house. She underwent a major three hour operation on Friday and is now recovering.(Daily Mirror)

Uni Lecturers Postpone Union Action

University lecturers who were planning on resorting trade union action tomorrow (30) if the government failed to address their salary issue by then, have postponed the trade union action till September 7.

However, the university lecturers are to launch an island wide protest on September 2 to impress upon the government the urgency to address the university lecturers’ wage issue.
The Federation of University Teachers’ Association (FUTA) has reportedly said the decision to postpone the trade union action was arrived at following request by the government for more time to resolve the wage issue.
FUTA Assistant Secretary, Dr. Nirmal Ranjith Devasiri has told the media today (29) that Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunge had previously assured to provide a solution by August 25. However, upon being reminded of the deadline set out by FUTA, Weeratunge had reportedly requested for seven more days to resolve the matter.
According to Dr. Devasiri, a decision was arrived at to postpone the union action until September 7 following Weeratunge’s request.(The sunday leader)

India denied me visa: KP’s cousin

COLOMBO: India had denied a visa to Sinnaiah Thavaratnam, detained LTTE leader Kumaran Pathmanathan’s (KP) first cousin, when he applied for it after being chosen to be part of a Sri Lankan fishermen team which toured Tamil Nadu to discuss bilateral fishing issues recently.

Thavaratnam, who is the chairman of the Federation of Jaffna District Fishermens’ Associations, told Express on Saturday, that he was given no reason for the rejection. When asked for permission to see a higher officer, it was denied.
“I do not know why they keep denying the visa to me these days. In 2006 too, I was denied. But, my wife was able to get it last year and she toured Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Over the 1980s and 1990s,I had visited India more than 25 times without a problem,” he said.
Asked if it was because he was KP’s first cousin (his father and KP’s father are siblings) Thavaratnam chose not to answer directly, but said that it was wrong to punish him for the deeds of a cousin.
“My wife and I had done a lot for stranded, arrested or wounded Indian fishermen and spent a lot of money on these. I have always spoken for amity between the fishermen of both sides. If I have done anything wrong or against India, I would like to know what it is, and am prepared to correct myself,” Thavaratnam said.
WORKING WITH KP’s NGO: Thavaratnam was out of touch with KP when the latter was abroad working for the LTTE as arms smuggler and funds manager. But he had met KP twice after he was captured in August 2009.
KP told Daily Mirror on Saturday, that Thavaratnam was president of his North Eastern Rehabilitation and Development Organisation (NERDO) and that he himself was its secretary.
But, Thavaratnam told Express that this was not so, and that he was working with NERDO only on issues concerning Jaffna fishermen.
LAUDS TN-LANKA FISHING PACT: Asked what he thought of the visit of the Lankan fishermen to Tamil Nadu, which he missed, Thavaratnam said that the agreements entered into were good.
“Tamil Nadu fishermen have promised to end trawling in the shallow seas by November 2011. I welcome this,” he said.(News-Express buzz)

Sunday, August 29, 2010

பாகிஸ்தானில் பெஷாவர் நகரில் அமெரிக்க துணைத் தூதரகம் மீது இன்று துப்பாக்கித் தாக்குதல்!

பாகிஸ்தானில் அமெரிக்கத் தூதரகத்தை குறிவைத்து இன்று மர்ம நபர்கள் துப்பாக்கித் தாக்குதல் மேற்கொண்டனர். 4 மணி நேரம் நடந்த துப்பாக்கிச் சூட்டுச் சம்பவம் அங்கு பெரும் பரபரப்பை ஏற்படுத்தியதாகத் தெரிவிக்கப்படுகிறது. பாகிஸ்தானில் பெஷாவர் நகரில் அமெரிக்க துணைத் தூதரகம் அமைந்துள்ளது.


பலத்த பாதுகாப்புடன் கூடிய அந்தப் பகுதியில், துப்பாக்கியுடன் நுழைந்த மர்ம நபர்கள், திடீரென அமெரிக்கத் துணை தூதரகத்தைச் நோக்கி சுட்டனர்.தூதரகத்தில் பாதுகாப்பு பணியில் ஈடுபட்டிருந்த பொலிசாரும் பதில் தாக்குதல் நடத்தினர்.

4 மணி நேரமாக நடந்த துப்பாக்கிச் சூட்டு சம்பவத்தில் உயிர்சேதம் எதுவும் ஏற்படவில்லை எனத் தகவல்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன. மர்ம நபர்களைப் பிடிக்க பொலிசார் தீவிர தேடுதல் பணியில் ஈடுபட்டுள்ளனர். அமெரிக்கத் தூதரகம் மீது தாக்குதல் நடத்த முயற்சி செய்த சம்பவத்தையடுத்து, அப்பகுதியில் பெரும் பதட்டம் ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது.பெஷாவர் நகரம் முழுவதும் பலத்த பொலிஸ் பாதுகாப்பு போடப்பட்டுள்ளது. (News-Neruppu)

Saudi govt. finds information regarding employers that tortured Lankan maid

Saudi-Arabian government has been able to detect information regarding the employers who had inserted nails in to the body of the maid who had gone to Saudi-Arabia From Kamburupitiya, Matara for employment.




According to the reports both electronic and printed media of Saudi-Arabia has given priority to this incident. The media had pointed out that the incident was a stigma to reputation of Saudi-Arabia and it produces misunderstanding about Arabic countries in rest of the world. Therefore Media institutions in Saudi-Arabia have requested their government to hold an investigation about the issue and operate the law strictly against the employers who had tortured the victim.
(News-Lankatruth)

Muslim Congress decides to support constitutional amendment

The Executive Committee of teh SLMC has decided to give their overall support to the government for the proposed constitutional amendment the leader of SLMC Mr. Rauf Hakeem said. He said this when he met the media following Executive Committee meeting of the party held yesterday (27).

SLMC has decided to give their fullest support for 2/3 majority to the government in Parliament and outside to pass the proposed constitutional amendment he emphasized.
(News-Lankatruth)

Vaima's solution to reduce failures in Maths

Minister of Education Bandula Gunewardana has decided to add extra half an hour to mathematics question paper part II of G.C.E (O/L) examination to reduce the number of students who fail mathematics. This decision will come to action from next December.

Even if extra half an hour is added the current syllabus of mathematics is not changed he pointed out. Two hour duration is not sufficient to answer the mathematics question paper part II so that large number of students fails this subject the Minister emphasized.(News-Lankatruth)

SLFP-President clash to follow constitutional amendment

It is reported that the conflict between SLFP and President has aggravated following the proposed constitutional amendment which is expected to be brought to extend the tenure of President. As a manifestation of this conflict General Secretary of Sri Lanka Nidahas Sewaka Sangamaya Mr. Lesley Devendra has vehemently criticized President and the action of Rajapaksha clan.


Trade Unions cannot be manipulated as president wishes and president's only purpose is to consolidate the power of Rajapaksha clan he had said. Mr. Lesley Devendra said this when he held a discussion on the 26th of August with President, Secretary, and Committee Members of Nidahas Sewaka Sangamaya in Lake House.
He further said that those who have crossed over to the government from the UNP have become the favorites of the president and two Ministers from them have challenged him. Moreover he has said that there is a difficult situation in certain Ministries to commence a trade union for SLFP due to this action of the President. So he has emphasized that the members of SLFP should rally against this trend immediately.
There is a massive slash of employees in Lake House at present so that Sri Lanka Nidahas Sevaka Sangamaya has expressed their opposition against that. They say that the Chairman of Lake House Bandula Padmakumara and his administration which is partial to him operate the programme of arbitrary retirement of employees. According to the reports it has been already decided to terminate 252 employees of the Lake House. (Lanka truth)

JVP denied access to IDP camps again

A Little Death In Dixie The JVP has once again been denied access to IDP camps in Vavuniya by the defence authorities, Parliamentarian Vijitha Herath said yesterday.




MP Herath told the Daily Mirror that he made a written request from the Defence Ministry to permit four MPs of his party to interact with the displaced civilians still being held in welfare camps.



“We asked for permission to visit these camps today and tomorrow. However, they did not even acknowledge our letter. We do not understand why it is,” he said.

Earlier, on several occasions, the JVP sought permission to meet with the displaced civilians. Each time, the party was not given permission. During the past few months, the JVP accelerated its political work in the Northern Province, where they conducted fact finding missions and had meetings with resettled people.



The JVP contested the April 8 General Election in alliance with the DNA led by MP Sarath Fonseka. The alliance won seven parliamentary seats, and four of them, belong to the JVP. They are Mr. Herath, Sunil Handunnetti, Ajith Kumara and Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

My Father was abducted, says Apsara Fonseka

Apsara
"He was not arrested but was abducted. One whole day our whole family did not know where he was taken," Apsara Fonseka, daughter of General Sarath Fonseka said in an interview with the Boston Lanka News that covered wide range of issues from the detention of General Fonseka to the accusation of Danuna Tilakaratne to the inner strength of Anoma Fonseka. Apsara Fonseka who lives in the United States also spoke freely about the bond between her father and her mother and about her loving relationship with her husband and how she is coping in a foreign land not having her husband and her father in detention. .





Responding to a question about the detention conditions of General Sarath Fonseka, Apsara said: "He does not get to see his personal doctor. He is in his 10X10 room 24 hours a day. He does not see the sunlight. As a person who is not convicted he has a right to stay outside under the sunlight at least for 4 hours every day. He is not given a chance to take x-rays. He has lots of shrapnel inside his body from the 3 suicide attempts on his life and those shrapnel are moving, so it's really vital that he does take x-rays . They don't bring the x ray machines to him or do not let him go to a hospital."

When asked about the accusations the retired army captain Upul Illangange who lives in Oklahoma came out against general Sarath Fonseka and Danuna Thilakarathne, Apsara responded by saying that "Its all because of money and he will do anything for money.

A Little Death In Dixie

Responding to the comments made by Upul Illangange to the Sri Lankan media that he was the person who helped General Fonseka and his family getting the Green Card, Apsara went on explaining on how her mother won the green card lottery in 2003 and the reasons why General Fonseka initially opposed the idea of getting the Green Card in and how he changed his mind. Apsara went on saying that if Upul Illangange thinks that he is all power and all mighty and that He can get anybody green cards in USA he thinks very highly of him.
Talking about her husband Danuna, Apsara said that "on the day we believe that that he will be treated fairly he will come out." She went on further saying that the family cannot bear the thought of having two men in the family: one in detention and other missing.

Reflecting on how Government changed their propaganda of General Fonseka from being war hero to a political prisoner, Apsara said, " I think he is still a war hero to lots of people and I don't think that will change even though he is a political prisoner now."

Part of Apsara's interview will be included in the Boston Lanka News Edition on August 30th and the rest will be in the Boston Lanka: Point of View that will be out on First week of September.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

UNP slams SLMC

The UNP has criticized the move taken by the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) to support the government for constitutional reforms and is to discuss the matter next week.


The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya speaking to Daily Mirror online said that the SLMC had contested past elections under the UNP symbol and as such SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem should have consulted the UNP leadership before arriving at any decision.



HE said that the UNP will meet next week to discuss the latest developments following the SLMC backing the government for constitutional reforms. (ISA)

බේරේ වැව සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘතිය යටතේ තැපැල් මූලස්‌ථානයේ සංචාරක හෝටලයක්‌

ඩී. ආර්. විඡේවර්ධන මාවතේ පිහිටි තැපැල් මූලස්‌ථාන ගොඩනැඟිල්ලේ පවත්වාගෙන යන තැපැල් හා විදුලි සංදේශ අමාත්‍යංශය සහ තැපැල් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ගොඩනැඟිලිවලින් කොටසක්‌ එම ස්‌ථානයෙන් ඉවත් කර සංචාරක හෝටලයක්‌ ඉදිකිරීමට රජය සැලසුම් කර ඇතැයි තැපැල් හා විදුලි සංදේශ අමාත්‍යංශ අභ්‍යන්තර ආරංචි මාර්ග සඳහන් කරයි.

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බේරේ වැව සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘතිය යටතේ මෙම හෝටලය සහ සංචාරක කලාපය ඉදිකරන බවද මේ නිසා තැපැල් මූලස්‌ථානය සහ ඒ අවට අලුතින් කිසිදු ගොඩනැඟිල්ලක්‌ ඉදිකිරීම රජය තහනම් කර ඇති බව ද වාර්තා වේ.



යෝජිත නව සැලැස්‌ම ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමෙන් පසු තැපැල් හා විදුලි සංදේශ අමාත්‍යංශය බත්තරමුල්ල ප්‍රදේශය වෙත රැගෙන යැමට නියමිතය. තැපැල් මූලස්‌ථාන ගොඩනැඟිල්ල වෙත තැපැල් හා විදුලි සංදේශ අමාත්‍යංශය රැගෙන යැමට පෙර එය පවත්වාගෙන යනු ලැබුවේ ලෝක වෙළෙඳ මධ්‍යස්‌ථාන ගොඩනැඟිල්ලේය.

ආරියවතීගේ සිරුරෙන් ඇණ 13 ක්‌ හා කම්බි කැබලි 4 ක්‌ ඉවත් කරයි

සැත්කමට පැය 3 කට වැඩි කාලයක්‌
වෛද්‍යවරු 5 දෙනෙක්‌ සැත්කමට එක්‌වෙති

සෞදි අරාබියේ සේවයේ යෙදී සිටියදී සිරුරට ඇණ ගැසීමෙන් පසු යළි දිවයිනට පැමිණ කඹුරුපිටිය ආඳපාන රෝහලට ඇතුළු වූ එල්. පී. ආරියවතී මහත්මියගේ සිරුරේ ඇණ සහ කම්බි කැබැලි ඊයේ (27 වැනිදා) උදේ පැය තුනකට වැඩි කාලයක්‌ කළ සැත්කමකින් පසු ඉවත් කරන ලදී.
එම සැත්කමට එක්‌වූ වෛද්‍යවරුන් ඇතුළු කාර්ය මණ්‌ඩලය ඡායාරූපයේ දැක්‌වේ.

ආඳපාන රෝහලේ ශල්‍ය වෛද්‍ය විශේෂඥ කමල් වීරතුංග මහතා ඇතුළු කාර්ය මණ්‌ඩලය මෙම සැත්කම සඳහා සහභාගි වූ අතර ඇගේ සිරුරේ තිබූ ඇණ 13 ක්‌ සහ කම්බි කැබැලි 04 ක්‌ මේ වන විටත් ඉවත් කර ඇත.
මෙම සැත්කම සඳහා වෛද්‍යවරු පමණක්‌ පස්‌ දෙනෙක්‌ සහභාගි වී සිටියහ. සැත්කමින් පසු ආරියවතී මහත්මිය ගේ සෞඛ්‍ය තත්ත්වය සාමාන්‍ය බවත් ඇය හොඳ තත්ත්වයෙන් පසුවන බවත් වෛද්‍යවරු පවසති.
ඇගේ සිරුරේ තවත් ඇණ සහ කම්බි කැබලි කීපයක්‌ ඇති නමුත් ඒවා ඉවත් කිරීම අත්‍යවශ්‍ය නොවන බව වෛද්‍යවරුන්ගේ මතයයි. (Divaina)

Sri Lankan leader has votes to change constitution

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday secured the two-thirds parliamentary majority he needs to change the constitution after an opposition party with eight legislators pledged its support.

"We will not join the government, but we will support the proposed constitutional amendments," Basheer Segu Dawood, the chairman of the ethnic minority party Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, told Reuters.

The president's United Peoples Freedom Alliance won a sweeping majority in an April parliamentary poll after Rajapaksa's re-election to the presidency three months earlier.

Rajapaksa has already struck a tentative deal to return Sri Lanka to rule by an executive prime minister. That would allow him to by-pass the existing two-term limit as head of state and run the country as prime minister.

With the latest support, Rajapaksa's ruling United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) can command 154 votes in the 225-seat parliament, giving the president more than the two-thirds majority required for a constitutional change.

The crossovers come as the government and the main opposition United National Party are in discussions to change the constitution and reduce the president's executive powers.

Critics blame the president's strong executive powers under the present constitution for political interference in the judiciary, public service and police, allowing the head of state to manipulate the system as he or she wishes. (Reporting by Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Alex Richardson) (News-Reuters)

Friday, August 27, 2010

President with Kandyan dancers : Traditional costumesPresident Mahinda Rajapaksa with a group of dancers in traditional Kandyan dancing costumes. Picture by Sudath Silva

Abu Dhabi to breathe life into coral reefs

Abu Dhabi: On a mission to breathe life into degrading coral reefs, the Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi (EAD) has embarked on a two-year project to learn more about the colourful world of corals.
The Coral Reef Restoration programme was launched in March this year in association with Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology (TUMSAT) and Japan Oil Development Company (JODCO).
Scientists on the programme are interested in gathering information about two aspects — the reproductive cycle of coral reefs and information that would help in restoration of damaged reefs in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Experts have been diving into the waters close to Saadiyat Island and Al Dhabeiyah to install devices that would help them explore the world of corals.
Separate devices are used for each purpose.
"We have installed coral settlement devices with the hope that they will eventually help us with restoring degrading coral reefs. And marine blocks have been installed to throw light into their reproductive cycle", Suaad al Harthi, a scientist with the EAD's coastal zone management division said.
The coral settlement devices were developed by Dr. Mineo Okamoto of TUMSAT. The devices have proven successful in rehabilitating corals in various parts of Japan including one in Sekisei Lagoon, the largest coral reef in Okinawa Prefecture-Japan.
Whether the success can be replicated in Abu Dhabi can only be found out by the end of the project, in two years, as coral reefs are very slow growing, Al Harthi explained.
"These resemble stacked trays and are made up of calcium carbonate and other materials", she said.
Settlement devices
In nature, the coral larva settles on any hard substrate and they grow by building several colonies over that. The settlement devices are meant to replicate this environment.
"Typically they tend to settle in little crevices".
Once the devices become homes to corals, they can easily be transferred to labs to be studied closely for the types of species that have settled, their growth pattern etc. These could then be moved to a nursery site where they could be cared for until they are installed at sites with damaged coral reefs, thus help restoration.
Presently no such nurseries have been set up. Based on the success of the project EAD will decide on setting up nurseries at a later stage, Al Harthi said.
The second device, called marine block, resembles bricks and has hundreds of holes in it. "These were installed in phases in March, April and May, during the expected spawning period of corals".
By installing in phases, the reproductive cycle of corals could be better understood.
The holes in the blocks reveal the actual growth rate, she added.
EAD first began monitoring coral reefs in 2005. Ten permanent monitoring stations have now been established. Coral reefs in waters off Abu Dhabi survive in stressful conditions. This is due to extreme seasonal temperature variations and very high salinity levels.(Gulfnews)

UAE petrol prices to rise for third time in a year after Eid

Abu Dhabi: Petrol prices in the UAE are set to rise for the third time this year, a source in oil company, Adnoc, has told Gulf News.
A number of different types of petrol including Special, E-plus and Diesel, will be affected by the increase, which the source said will take place after the Eid holiday.
The rise in fuel costs is in line with a report by Gulf News three months ago which stated that a rise in petrol prices would take place in three stages, before the end of the year 2010. This is the third such rise. (Gulfnews)
RCMP police officers remove two computers from a home in west-end Ottawa on Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010. Two men were arrested and charged with terrorism-related offences, and a third was detained Thursday.(The Star)

Suspects planned explosive devices in Canada: RCMP

An Ottawa-based terrorist cell with international connections was only “months” away from exploding bombs on Canadian soil, a senior RCMP official said Thursday.
The three suspected home-grown terrorists arrested over the past two days — two in Ottawa and one in London, Ont. — are charged in connection with a plot to make and detonate improvised explosive devices as well as financing terror groups operating in Afghanistan.
The arrests follow a year-long investigation and have stopped an imminent threat to targets not only in Ottawa but possibly across the country, said Chief Superintendent Serge Therriault, the RCMP’s chief of criminal operations in the nation’s capital.
Police refused to identify the targets of the alleged terrorists, saying that information would come out in court.
Over a 36-hour period, the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team arrested Hiva Mohammad Alizadeh, 30, and Misbahuddin Ahmed, 26, in Ottawa, and Khurram Syed Sher, 28, in London, Ont. All are being held in custody.
Police allege that since February 2008, the three men conspired with three others — James Lara, Rizgar Alizadeh and Zakaria Mamosta — in a terrorist plot they have traced back to Iran, Pakistan and Dubai.(The Star)

Foreigners can vote for DPJ leader ¥2,000 annual fee to sign up as a party supporter is all it takes

As the Democratic Party of Japan's presidential election nears, an interesting fact has surfaced regarding internal regulations on who gets to vote for the ruling party's leader — and effectively the prime minister.
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The Sept. 14 election, the DPJ's first major presidential race since 2002, will be open not only to Diet lawmakers but also to regional assembly members and the estimated 350,000 registered party members across the nation.
With kingpin Ichiro Ozawa throwing his hat in the ring Thursday to face off against Prime Minister Naoto Kan, it will be the most heated presidential race in the party's history.
But here's the catch. DPJ regulations allow anyone who is 18 or older to become a member of the party, provided they dish out an annual fee. Membership comes in two flavors: being a "member" costs ¥6,000, while being a "supporter" takes ¥2,000. This includes Japanese nationals living abroad and foreigners living in Japan.
The issue was no big deal back when the DPJ was still in the opposition, but now that it's the ruling party, critics have pointed out that resident foreigners have a chance to vote for the next DPJ president, and ultimately the prime minister.
The Political Funds Control Law states that foreigners are not allowed to donate to political parties, but while the ¥6,000 and ¥2,000 payments are calculated as party membership fees — not donations — and do not directly come under the fund control law, critics question the legality of such money.
In contrast, the Liberal Democratic Party, the main opposition force, limits its membership to Japanese nationals. The same goes for the Japanese Communist Party and Your Party.
"It's fine for Japan to be open to foreign nations, but extreme caution should be required when dealing with issues of sovereignty or deciding on the nation's leader," said Yasuharu Ishizawa, a professor of media and politics at Gakushuin Women's College, adding that the same goes for the ongoing debate on whether to give foreigners living in Japan the right to vote in local elections.
Staunch opponents of granting suffrage to foreigners have argued that the foreign community could vote as a bloc to elect governors and assembly members they favor, thus indirectly influencing Diet members elected from their areas and ultimately undermining national interests.
Critics have also pointed out how this might breach the Constitution, which states that sovereignty rests with the people — who are defined as those who possess Japanese nationality.
But to be fair, the chance is rather slim that resident foreigners who sign up as DPJ members will have a significant impact on the outcome of the presidential election.
It is difficult to tell what percentage of party members are of foreign nationality, as the DPJ doesn't keep track of the number of foreigners registered. A DPJ representative said the entry sheet for membership doesn't require applicants to state their nationality.
Under the party's voting system, the winner will be whoever gets the majority of 1,224 total points up for grabs.
DPJ Diet lawmakers, of which there are currently 412, each get one vote that counts as two points.
This means they will account for 824 points.
The 2,382 regional assembly members will share a total of 100 points between them, while the roughly 350,000 party members will be responsible for 300 points.
Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Sophia University, said it is unrealistic to think resident foreigners could have a significant impact on the outcome.
"Considering how the ruling party's president becomes the prime minister, I can understand how there might be further debate on the DPJ's current system," he said. "But I believe it's highly unlikely that foreigners will realistically hold sway in national politics — it's best to avoid any hysterical reactions."(The Japan Time)

Ozawa to challenge Kan for DPJ helm: Kingpin amasses backers, gets Hatoyama's nod

Democratic Party of Japan heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa broke his silence Thursday to announce he will run against Prime Minister Naoto Kan in the ruling DPJ's Sept. 14 presidential election, raising the possibility of a third prime minister in a year if he wins.
After much speculation, Ozawa met with former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama Thursday morning and announced his decision to run in the poll, the winner of which, as party president, will also presumably become prime minister. After the meeting, Ozawa told reporters he decided to run after receiving Hatoyama's backing.
"Former Prime Minister Hatoyama said that he would fully cooperate and back me up if I decided to run in the presidential election," Ozawa said. "Therefore, I have just come to the decision to run."
Separately, Hatoyama told reporters Thursday morning that he would back Ozawa. The former prime minister explained that he had been the one to invite Ozawa and his Liberal Party to merge into the DPJ back in 2003.
"Considering that it was at my invitation that Ozawa joined the DPJ, I think that it is justifiable for me to support him," Hatoyama said.
Hatoyama had been acting as a go-between, trying to prevent a head-on collision between Kan and Ozawa that would split the party in two. Hatoyama had voiced his support for Kan earlier this week, but apparently changed his mind after meeting with Kan on Wednesday and only receiving a vague response when he urged the prime minister to "sincerely seek" Ozawa's cooperation.
"I said (I support Kan) in the natural sense that I was backing him up as a Diet member of the DPJ," Hatoyama said.
Meanwhile, Kan said during a meeting with the party's first-term lawmakers Thursday morning that he welcomed Ozawa's bid and promised a clean fight.
"We shall fight fair and square, and the winner will become the prime minister and head of the party," Kan said. "If re-elected, I will devote every second to my job as the prime minister and the party's leader."
It remains unclear how much support Ozawa, who just stepped down as DPJ secretary general over a political funds scandal, can garner from his party members and supporters. The next couple of weeks will likely see a fierce battle between his and Kan's allies.
Campaigning for the race will begin Sept. 1. Voters consist of 412 DPJ lawmakers, 2,382 local assembly members and about 350,000 party members.
According to Kyodo News, Kan has around 120 supporters among DPJ Diet members — about 50 from his own group, 40 from transport minister Seiji Maehara's faction and 30 from Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda's supporters. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, who does not belong to a faction, has also voiced his support for Kan.
Meanwhile, Ozawa has a great deal of strength, with about 150 in his faction alone. The group led by Hatoyama, the second-largest in the DPJ, has about 60, bringing the total to around 210.
Other factions include the estimated 30 members of the former Democratic Socialist Party and about 30 members of the ex-Social Democratic Party of Japan, neither of which have decided whom to support.
Unlike the Liberal Democratic Party's factions, however, these DPJ groups are not as strongly bound and their votes are likely to be fluid.
The reaction among DPJ lawmakers was mixed. Some are confident Ozawa will win and others are concerned the party will be divided.
"I hope that the candidates will fight a fair presidential election and after that, I would like the DPJ to come together as a whole and cooperate one and all," said Environment Minister Sakihito Ozawa(The Japan Times)

U.S. Exim Bank to finance $900m Reliance Power project

Reliance Power has won a $900 million loan from the United States Export-Import Bank for the purpose of building a coal-fired power plant in India
USEIB reportedly reversed an earlier decision to reject the financing request when its Board of Directors unanimously voted to approve the loan for the 3,960 megawatt Sasan power plant in Madhya Pradesh.
According to reports the USEIB’s earlier refusal to finance the project stemmed from criticism of the power plant by environmental groups, which argued that the project would elevate carbon dioxide emissions levels and contribute to global warming.
Although financing decision had been made, reports said, approval for the project would still have to be obtained from the U.S. Congress.
Yet the bank’s President Fred Hochberg expressed optimism, saying in a earlier statement, “We are pleased that Reliance is making this commitment to renewable energy, which allows us to sustain U.S. jobs and promote both conventional and renewable energy exports.” The company further noted that this project was the largest funding supported by USEIB to any Indian corporation.
In terms of the purpose of the loan USEIB said that Reliance Power would use the loan guarantee to “support the sale and export by Wisconsin-based Bucyrus International of mining equipment.”(The Hindu)

Bill to protect whistleblowers tabled in Lok Sabha

The government on Thursday introduced a legislation that would protect whistleblowers and provide severe punishment to those who expose the identity of, or try to victimise, such people.
The Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosures Bill, 2010 also provides for setting up a regular mechanism to encourage disclosure of information on corruption or wilful misuse of power by public servants, which cause “demonstrable losses” to the government.
The Bill, introduced by Minister of State for Personnel Prithviraj Chavan, brings under its ambit employees of Central and State governments, public sector firms, local authorities and societies, among others.
According to its Statement of Objects and Reasons, the Bill seeks to provide punishment for false or frivolous complaints as well. The legislation was necessitated as it was felt that there were impediments in eliminating corruption in the government due to “lack of adequate protection” to complainants.(The Hindu)

Headley, others gave U.S. reputation of terror exporter: CIA

The Central Intelligence Agency harboured deep concerns over the possibility that America might be viewed as an exporter of terrorism, and the case of David Headley, prime accused in the Mumbai terror attacks, only substantiated such fears, according to a confidential memo released by the Wikileaks whistleblower website.
The latest in a string of controversial government documents revealed on the Wikileaks website was a paper titled “What If Foreigners See the United States as an 'Exporter of Terrorism'?”, reportedly authored by the CIA's ‘Red Cell.’ According to reports the Red Cell was a think tank set up after the 9/11 attacks by then-CIA Director George Tenet, to provide “out-of-the-box” analyses on “a full range of analytic issues.”
In the report the CIA argued that the actions of Pakistani-American Headley, among others, might indeed have led to the view that the U.S. was a “terrorism exporter”. Headley, who was linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba terror group, pled guilty to undertaking surveillance prior to the 2008 attacks and is currently in U.S. custody.
The CIA further remarked, in the paper, that even other terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda must have been aware of how easily operatives such as Headley moved in and out of the U.S, Pakistan and India.
Reacting to the release of the paper CIA spokesperson Marie Harf however downplayed the significance of the paper. “These sorts of analytic products – clearly identified as coming from the Agency's 'Red Cell' – are designed simply to provoke thought and present different points of view,” she was quoted as saying.
Yet the Red Cell paper clearly noted that even as counterterrorism experts focused on threats to the homeland, al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups “may be increasingly looking for Americans to operate overseas.”
In this context, the CIA expressed concern that "If the U.S. were seen as an exporter of terrorism, foreign partners may be less willing to cooperate with the United States on extrajudicial activities... including detention, transfer, and interrogation of suspects in third party countries.”
However the paper also acknowledged a wider context of American citizens’ involvement in terror-related activities abroad, arguing that such involvement was neither a recent nor rare phenomenon.
The report said, for example, that “Baruch Goldstein, an American Jewish doctor, killed 29 Palestinians praying at a mosque at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron in 1994.” It noted that that incident triggered a wave of bus bombings by the extremist Palestinian Hamas group, in 1995.
Further, U.S. citizens also provided “financial and material support” for armed groups in Northern Ireland and a significant amount of funding for the Irish Republican Army came from Irish-Americans.
In a candid admission the CIA’s paper concluded that the American export of terrorism or terrorists was not associated “only with Islamic radicals or people of Middle Eastern, African or South Asian ethnic origin.” (The Hindu)