Mar 1 (CI) Zimbabwe's spinners made sure a record third-wicket partnership between Tatenda Taibu and Craig Ervine didn't go to waste, maintaining an asphyxiating grip on Canada's batsmen to secure a 175-run win in Nagpur. Taibu and Ervine's stand, which is Zimbabwe's highest for the third wicket in ODIs and their fifth largest overall, helped their team recover from a decidedly shaky start to reach 298 for 8 on a good batting wicket. more..

Mar 1 (LBO) Sri Lanka's World Bank office will accelerate its current programs start working on a new loan plan that will involve larger projects in fewer sectors at more market based rates, an official said. The World Bank announced in December 2010 that Sri Lanka is graduating into middle income status and will be eligible for more market based loans from its International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD). more..

Mar 1 (NN) The crucial third round of talks between the Tamil National Alliance, the main Tamil party in Sri Lanka, to find a political settlement to the grievances of the minority ethnic community has been indefinitely postponed. Sources in the Tamil National Alliance said today the talks with the government has been indefinitely postponed due to the on going local election campaign leading to the March 17 polls. The talks were to be held on March 1 and more..

Mar 1 (AD) The three member judge bench of the Colombo High Court has decided to call defense witnesses of the court case regarding the �White Flag� statement by Sarath Fonseka. The Deputy Solicitor General Buwaneka Aluwihare on a previous date had announced that the evidence hearing of plaintiff�s witnesses will be finished. Therefore the attorneys representing Fonseka stated at court today (February 28) that they wish to call witnesses for the defendant. more..

Mar 1 (NN) Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga is confident that the statue of her late father will not be removed from its present location at Galle Face despite the land adjoining it being sold to a Hong Kong based hotel. The land which formerly housed the Army Headquarters and the Defence Ministry was brought over by the international hotel chain Shangri La which will be begin construction in three months and the opposition is more..

Mar 1 (DM) Undergoing a medical test has been made compulsory for the workers in hotels in Colombo, a spokesperson from the Public Health Department said. He said, the step was taken after several complaints made by the public regarding the personal hygiene of these workers. He further said, these hotels and food outlets will be tested for the hygiene of food and water as well as the medical condition of the workers in the process of issuing and renewing their licences. more..

Mar 1 (CM) Muttiah Muralidaran - Test cricket's greatest wicket-taker - has dealt Cricket Australia's blueprint for spin reform a savage blow after backflipping on plans to mentor the country's next generation of tweakers. As the Sri Lankan wizard prepares to torment Australia in their ICC World Cup clash on Saturday, it can be revealed Muralidaran has turned his back at the 11th hour on a coaching cameo at the Brisbane-based Centre of Excellence. more..

Mar 1 (NN) Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pilayan has vowed to resign from his post if the TNA wins the elections in the east, TMVP Spokesperson Azath Maulana said. The Chief Minister was responding to a challenge issued by the TNA recently asking him to dissolve the Eastern Provincial Council and go for an election saying if he did so, the TNA will win the election through a majority. more..

Mar 1 (CI) Kemar Roach lifted the spirits on a dank day of World Cup action by becoming the sixth World Cup hat-trick-taker as West Indies cruised past a disappointing Netherlands outfit. His whippet pace and low-trajectory overwhelmed Netherlands who, set 331 for victory, were left to regret their captain's decision to field first. Roach finished the game in style, trapping Pieter Seelaar and Bernard Loots lbw before splattering Berend Westdijk's middle stump to seal a 215-run victory. more..

Mar 1 (AD) If state property is provided to any political party for election propaganda it is necessary that a formal fee be charged from that party, the Elections Commissioner has advised the heads of government institutions. The relevant properties have to be issued in the order of the requests received by political parties, the Elections Commissioner Dayananda Disanayake has informed through a circular. The circular also notes that if state property is requested more..

Mar 1 (NN) Sri Lanka today expressed deep concerns that remnants of the LTTE�s international network continue its criminal activities and secessionist agenda. The concerns were raised by Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe when he addressed the high level segments of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva today. Minister Samarasinghe, while noting that some governments were acting against pro-LTTE groups, their associates and operatives, more..

Mar 1 (NN) Over 36,000 cases have been filed against the individuals during the past seven months for harming the environment, the special environment unit of the police said. Police DIG Anura Senanayaka said that 40,000 people were also arrested islandwide for harming the environment during the past seven months including throwing garbage, breeding mosquitoes and illegal constructions. The DIG said that approximately Rs.124 million in fines was also collected from more..

Mar 1 (NN) The Juvenile Court in Battaramulla has issued an order preventing the mother of two Pakistani girls who have sought asylum in Sri Lanka from going anywhere near them until a ruling on the preliminary objection raised by the lawyer representing the two girls is issued in mid March. The criminal lawyer who is representing the two girls, Asela Rekewa said that the two girls had fled Pakistan over allegations that their parents were abusive towards them and more..

Mar 1 (CI) The last time Sri Lanka played Kenya in a World Cup, they did so despite security concerns in the country, choosing not to follow New Zealand, who forfeited their game in Nairobi. No amount of concerns over security would have prepared Sri Lanka for what happened: a shocking 43-run defeat against a spirited home side. It was 2003, and to borrow from the pop-sport anthem, it was time for Africa. Kenya were a seriously good side then, and more..

Mar 1 (LG) The latest cause for umbrage within Sri Lanka would be the assessment by the Economist Intelligence Unit of the Economist Magazine group that condemns Colombo to be among the world�s ten worst cities to live in. Any Sri Lankan who has travelled abroad would be strongly motivated to disagree. When compared to most countries in Sri Lanka�s neighborhood, Colombo would come out streets ahead in terms of its cleanliness, compactness and even beauty. more..

Mar 1 (LG) Biographies and autobiographies of leaders come in handy when they are ready to face elections or when they go into oblivion following their botched tenure. Biographies are commissioned with tax-payers� money and never from the leaders� own pockets.And there are enough starving writers and journalists in Sri Lanka to be enticed into imparting their writing skills to prop up their commissioners� as we have seen in the likes of Sugeeswara Senadhira more..

Mar 1 (Cimic) Hundreds of soldiers serving under Security Forces Headquarters � Jaffna (SF-J) received blessing of God Shiva attending a special pooja organized on the 9th day of annual Maha Shiva Rathri religious ceremony of historical Naguleshwaram temple at Keeramalai on Friday. Religious ceremonies commenced on 17th Feb and will last for fourteen days. Friday's ceremony conducted by the head priest of the temple Raja Raja Sri K Naguleshwaram Kurukkal more..

Mar 1 (DM) With local government elections to be held in March the soothsayer's warning to Julius Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March," might imbue the contestants with a sense of foreboding; not that usually representatives of the ruling party ever get such forebodings since wealth and political power diminish whatever forebodings that the Ides of March have for after all Caesar would never have thought with his power and might that someone so close to him and so very trusted would turn enemy. more..

Mar 1 (DM) Twenty five years ago, J.S. Tissainayagam, then a final year undergraduate at Peradeniya, declared to me �I am a feudalist�. That was a strange and one-of-a-kind confession. Feudalism after all is about lords and vassals, fiefs and fees, families owning and exploiting the lives of other families, horrendous terms of exploitation, legal and military service of tenants, forfeiture, eviction, homage, humiliation and even rights to sexual favours. more..

Mar 1 (NS) When JVP�s Anura Kumara Dissanayake moved an adjournment motion to scrap the emergency altogether on Thursday one of the strongest defenders of emergency was Communist Party Leader DEW Gunasekera who reminded the House that despite having been one of the first victims of the emergency soon after it was promulgated in 1983, he yet saw enough reasons to retain it because of continuing external and internal intrigues against the country. more..

Mar 1 (SL) Oo la la! Walls have been knocked down around the city with no Humptys crumbling to bits. A mite naked some places look, like the Cinnamon Gardens Police Station and the Thurstan College sports field along Stanley Wijesundera Mawatha. The pavements are being redone with a particular kind of tile and strips of light pink in the middle. Is it only these sites that are going to be made naked of covering walls and given new pavements or more..

Mar 1 (SL) A recent piece of breaking news from the New York Times couldn�t but provoke thoughts of what is happening around our Country of a Thousand Cabinet Members. The headline in the Times read: �New York Congressman Resigns After Internet Postings� and went on to a brief description of what had occurred, saying �Representative Chris Lee of New York, caught in the midst of a scandal involving a shirtless photo he reportedly sent to a woman on the Internet, more..

Mar 1 (TC) A recent report of the Economist Intelligence Unit of the 168-year-old Economist magazine would have rudely shattered the dreams of those visionaries of making Sri Lanka the �Asian Miracle� with its capital, Colombo, as the �Garden City of Asia�. After conducting a global survey on basic criteria essential for good living, the Economic Intelligence Unit declared that Colombo was among the �Worst Ten Livable Cities� more..

Mar 1 (NS) A group of Sri Lankan fishermen nabbed a large number of Indian fishermen poaching on high seas off Kankasanthurai and later handed them over to police recently. These Indian fishermen were, however, released and sent back to India. The release of the Indian fishermen became a main talking point in political circles and in the public domain as many wondered why these Indian fishermen were released when a group of Sri Lankan fishermen arrested by the Indian Coast guard are more..

Mar 1 (LB) The president uses KP to talk to the Tamil diaspora � and he hopes to talk to the Tamil parties of all persuasions, he says, in three stages � about development and reconstruction, about law, and about constitutional reform. However he says nothing �that Prabhakaran asked for would ever be granted.� That�s his take on the Tamil issues. The JVP in the meanwhile alleges that the president is creating unbelievable polarization in the North where the voters more..

Mar 1 (ST) Fishermen and farmers in the Batticaloa District are having a hard time recovering from the effects of the devastating floods which swamped their area recently. Edman Yakulam from Veechkalmunai, Batticaloa said she pawned all her jewellery to find enough money for food after the floods swept through her home and destroyed her belongings. Yakulam and her husband were engaged in fishing in the lagoon for a living. more..

Mar 1 (SL) In 2003 schoolboy D. N. Fernando attempted suicide. He did so after having been subjected to severe ragging by senior prefects in the Prefects� Room at S. Thomas� College � Mount Lavinia. Attorney-at-Law Aritha Wickremanayake and Merril Aluwihare both on the Board of S. Thomas� College intervened. As a result, several members of the Board took up the position of extreme indiscipline amongst the prefects and said this was a matter of grave concern. According to a Board Minute 4762 more..

Mar 1 (ST) The Uva-Wellassa University (UWU), Sri Lanka�s first all entrepreneurial university, has a set of highly disciplined students, a ragging free environment, no student unrest and from its inception in 2004 is �nothing short of a miracle,� says a 2011 report reviewing the performance of this university. A 5-member team headed by Prof. Lakshman Jayathilake, a well-known academic from the University of Peradeniya, noted in the institutional review report 2011 that more..

Mar 1 (DM) Head of the European Parliament�s Delegation for relations with South Asia, Jean Lambert spoke to the Daily Mirror on the curtailing of the military presence in the north and livelihood opportunities there, as well as the issues of human rights and media freedom in Sri Lanka. Ms. Lambert, part of a seven-member team was in the country for the sixth Inter-Parliamentary Meeting with the Sri Lankan Parliament. Excerpts of the interview follow; more..

Mar 1 (Island) People have manifestly lost interest in the LG polls, eclipsed by the World Cup cricket. They seem to prefer flannelled fools in action to real fools in kapati suit. But, the government has taken the mini polls seriously, given its high stakes. Its goons have stepped up attacks on the Opposition. The worst affected is the JVP, which is more vociferous and active than the UNP in the throes of a leadership crisis. The latest incident of election related violence more..

Mar 1 (DM) As we enter March we face something like the Shakespearean Ides. The world fuel market is on fire and blazing higher than ever before because of the ongoing revolution in Libya, the regime changes brought about by people power in Tunisia and Egypt and turmoil in other countries like Bahrain and Yemen. Interested parties and vested interests have agendas within agendas in the explosive Middle East areas though even the leaders of these countries or even the super more..

Mar 1 (LB) Environmentalists alleged that a decision taken by the government to cut a new highway track through the old Mannar road and right across the Wilpattu National Park will have detrimental effects not only on the environment of the district, but also on the park itself -- and its wild life. An environmentalist who spoke to this newspaper maintained that the government had allegedly decided to cut a road right through the Wilpattu National Park more..

Mar 1 (Island) Retired Brigadier H. F. Rupesinghe says the media remains a key element in the LTTE arsenal though the group lost its conventional military capability in May 2009. The LTTE rump and its supporters both here and abroad are working overtime to offset the debilitating battlefield defeat through a media onslaught, the former Jaffna Security Forces Commander says. In an interview with The Island, the retired Artillery Officer said that in spite of more..

Mar 1 (Island) Operations of the new Automated Delivery System (ADS), for the clearance of cargo from the Port of Colombo, have been inordinately delayed due to the loss in kickbacks to many connected with cargo clearance, sources said. Currently, the Automated Delivery System, which would eliminate waste of time and money and where payment of Customs duties and harbour charges could be made online, is being tested for its speed, reliability, accuracy and efficiency, more..

Mar 1 (LT) The residents of Andudolakande area at Nawagamuwa carried out an agitation opposite the Central Environmental Authority today demanding the removal of a quarry that seriously threatens people�s lives. The Secretary of the Environmental Organization to Protect Andudolakande Ms. Aruni Samanmalee said, �When we came here to carry out an agitation last week, Minister Anura Yapa promised to give us a decision in a week�s time. However, the quarry is still functioning. more..

Mar 1 (UCAN) Catholic priests and nuns say the Church needs new �peace strategies� to help rehabilitate the Tamil community affected by decades of ethnic strife. People are kidnapped and still disappear and the area is under heavy military control, Tamil priests working in the former war-ravaged northern Sri Lanka told two bishops and 15 priests and nuns during a Caritas organized meeting in Colombo on February 24. According to the priests there is still mistrust and more..

Mar 1 (Island) In the context of a global economic crisis and a financial meltdown, Sri Lanka had been able to defy all odds and maintain an annual economic growth rate of around 8%, thanks to the far-sighted economic plan that has been implemented, with a special emphasis on equal distribution of economic resources to all parts of the country, said Minister of External Affairs Professor G. L. Peries. more..

Mar 1 (DM) A group of 20 Ministers and 15 Deputy Ministers had requested for official residences from the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs as an allowance of Rs. 50,000, which was the amount given for them to rent a house in Colombo, was not enough. They have stated that since they spent most of their time in Colombo on official duties it was essential for them to have a residence in Colombo to perform their official duties. more..