Apr 28 (NS) Political circles were buzzing this week with the news that elections to the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) will be held as scheduled in September, despite months of speculation suggesting that the polls would not be conducted. It was president Rajapaksa who triggered interest on the issue when he told a public gathering that the elections will be held in September and that the date would be �decided by his astrologer�! This was followed by the news that more..

Apr 28 (TOI) However there are always days in one's life when all that one wants is to get away from the maddening crowds, the hustle and bustle of the city, and the tropical heat of beach resorts. The heart longs for that moment of solitude among green foliage and the crisp mountain air that fills you with wonder, drawing you closer in spirit to Him. When I think of such places, there are many hillside towns that come to mind. They capture my imagination and soul and serenade me with the welcome more..

Apr 28 (NS) In a clear breach of protocol, the US Embassy in Colombo has taken matters into their own hands and started investigating what are undoubtedly the internal affairs of this country. Questions have arisen as to whether the US, which has a considerable and dubious history of exacerbating internal issues of other countries, is on a mission to create another hotspot in the world, cashing in on the present situation in SL. more..

Apr 28 (Island) In July this year, 20 Sri Lankan student leaders from 11 schools will head for the USA to attend Leadership Summits at three prestigious Ivy League Universities. They are the Harvard University in Boston, Stanford University in Palo Alto, and University of Chicago. All delegates have been selected on the recommendation of their respective Head of School and thereafter a competitive interview process. Every delegate is sponsored by their parents. more..

Apr 28 (ST) B. Shiromi will be selling flowers outside the Kalutara temple again tomorrow as nine of her friends prepare to face court for the same �offence�. Shiromi, 28, a mother three, has no choice: without the Rs.500 she brings in most days her family will starve. Shiromi, her husband, 52-year-old Nihal Shantha, and their two children, aged 13 and 11, were made homeless by the 2004 tsunami but received housing in the Kalutara area. They now have a third child, seven-year-old Dilini more..

Apr 28 (CT) The latest electricity tariff hike, which has granted over 50% concessionary rates on fuel adjustment charges for the high-end consumers � who would, according to the new pricing formula, be charged only Rs 15.87 per unit, vis a vis Rs 30.60 per unit charged from consumers who use less than 120 units � is in breach of a 2008 Supreme Court ruling that exempted those who use less than 90 units from fuel adjustment more..

Apr 28 (SL) Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe says members of the govt are blaming each other for the increase in electricity tariffs in a bid to cover up their corruption and irregularities. Addressing a party members and youth forum in Vavuniya he said that in order to cover up their sins the govt is coming up with astounding reasons for the increase in electricity rates. He has said that while the current Power and Energy Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi more..

Apr 28 (SL) The lack of a proper mechanism to determine the exact cost per unit of power and a tariff revision mechanism have resulted in the current issue over electricity tariff hike, said the former Power and Energy Minister Champika Ranawaka. He added that successive govts have failed to address these issues. Ranawaka said that it is vital to conduct a technical audit in order to ascertain the exact cost of power generation, as the private power suppliers are currently more..

Apr 28 (SL) The National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) has purchased sophisticated equipment to tap mobile and land phones, NIB sources revealed. The equipment was purchased last year and can be used to tap phones without obtaining the assistance of any telecommunication company. The Bar Association however said that such methods of phone tapping are illegal and can be challenged in Court. more..

Apr 28 (BBC) Sri Lanka's punishing 26-year civil war ended in May 2009, but the story of the last six months of a brutal conflict will not go away. Now alleged war crimes are being pushed onto the agenda of the Commonwealth. "Bad things happen in war, but there has to be a full accountability by both the government and the opposition for war crimes," Canada's Foreign Minister, John Baird, told me on a visit to London for the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG). more..

Apr 28 (ST) Highest growth was witnessed by the plantations sector last year, which saw its profits boosted by 375 per cent, a research report by NDB Stockbrokers says. Excluding non-recurring items (items of income or expense that is not a normal item and which has a one-off effect and/or is unlikely to occur again), sector profits grew by 89 per cent on the back of the global reduction in tea production, improving tea auction prices and the depreciated rupee that resulted in higher prices more..

Apr 28 (Island) Sri Lanka�s Northern and Eastern Provinces are under close US scrutiny ahead of forthcoming first Northern Provincial Council election with US ambassador Michele J. Sison touring Trincomalee and its suburbs on Friday to inquire into the wellbeing of Tamil speaking Muslims. Ambassador Sison was accompanied by several Colombo based US diplomats. During meetings in Trinco with representatives more..

Apr 28 (CT) For the first time since the 2010 General Election, the UPFA has been compelled to hold its May Day rally with the MEP as the only leftist constituent. The UPFA, which at present constitutes 17 major political parties had in the past, a common May Day rally with the exception of the JVP, since the Alliance was formed in 2004. "In recent times, all other leftist parties came in separate May Day processions and joined the main rally, which was often held at the CMC Grounds. more..

Apr 28 (ST) A two-day strike by railway workers gets underway midnight today after talks between the Govt and trade unions ended in a stalemate yesterday. Last-minute efforts to avert a 48-hour railway strike from midnight today failed after the Government turned down the trade unions� request for a written assurance at three hours of talks yesterday between Transport Ministry Additional Secretary Malkanthi Jayawardena and representatives of 11 railway unions. more..

Apr 28 (ST) An infection that caused two deaths has been effectively contained and all admissions, clinics and routine activities of the premier women�s hospital are continuing, a top official said. The viral infection which caused the two deaths has been identified as Influenza A by the MRI and all precautions taken to protect the other patients, Dr. W.K. Wickremasinghe, the Director of the 485-bed Castle Street Hospital for Women, Colombo, more..

Apr 28 (SO) Jaffna District MP Shashikala Maheshwaran has accused the UNP leadership of conducting media gimmicks in the North while keeping her in the dark. Accusing senior UNP leaders of resorting to low level tactics to woo the Northern voters, the only UNP MP in the North said that she could have got people in Jaffna to protest against their visits while bypassing her. Moderate peace-loving people in Jaffna alleged that Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe more..

Apr 28 (ST) Hoteliers are aiming at reducing their electricity bill in the wake of the recent price hike but are unlikely to resort to seek legal remedies, similar to a previous rise in power rates, industry officials said. Last week hoteliers were readying to meet up with the electricity board authorities to ensure they would be able to find a resolution to the present crisis. �What we are trying to do is to get the industrial rate,� City Hoteliers Association President K. Shanthikumar told the Business Times more..

Apr 28 (ST) The massive rise in electricity tariffs to at least partly avert the loss of billions of rupees by the CEB has met with some protests by the opposition and trade unions. Parliament sittings were interrupted this week by MPs holding lit candles inside the chamber as a show of disapproval. The tariffs did not come down, but the sale of candles in Colombo was brisk. A motley collection of trade unions, a few more..

Apr 28 (DN) Its decades long ethnic conflict over, Sri Lanka is steadily emerging as a major competitor to Kerala's ayurvedic system of medicine, a leading industry expert says. But officials are quick to point out that as long as Kerala sticks to its pristine form of ayurveda school, no challenge from anywhere can upset what is clearly the biggest tourist draw to the southern state. "Sri Lanka has slowly come up as a threat to our market," said Sanjeev Kurup V., Secretary of the influential Kerala Travel more..

Apr 28 (SO) The UNP opting to hold three separate May Day rallies, Colombo will be a sea of blue and red on Wednesday with hundreds of thousands attending the UPFA rally.�We hope to have a mammoth rally presided over by President Rajapaksa,� UPFA General Secretary and Minister Susil Premajayantha said. The SLFP would focus on a membership drive, this time around, he said. The UPFA allies, the Communist Party, LSSP, CWC and the NFF will hold separate rallies in Colombo. more..

Apr 28 (SO) With Sri Lanka focusing on sending more skilled labour who would fetch enhanced salaries abroad, Minister Dilan Perera expects Sri Lankan migrant worker remittances to pass seven billion US dollars in 2013. This will be an increase of over 16% from the previous year where migrant worker remittances exceeded six billion US dollars. "In the Mahinda Chinthana policy of the Govt, the need to promote and improve more..

Apr 28 (ST) It was his 57th birthday last Sunday. After a late night he was still asleep that morning when the first call arrived. Staffers at �Temple Trees� asked for Mangala Samaraweera and said President Rajapaksa wanted to speak with him. A member of the household who answered the mobile phone said that Samaraweera was still asleep and the room remained locked. The staffers did not give up. Two hours later the call more..

Apr 28 (NS) The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) is set to implement a comprehensive strategy to combat false, deceitful, highly exaggerated and misleading claims by producers, distributors and advertisers of a wide range of products, CAA Chairman, Rumy Marzook said. Marzook pointed out that a lot of undesirable and even harmful products are consumed by ignorant and gullible sections of the public. more..

Apr 28 (CM) Fang Fenghui, member of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), met with Jayanath Colombage, the visiting commander of the Sri Lankan Navy, and his party on the morning of April 26, 2013 in Beijing. Fang Fenghui said that China and Sri Lanka share traditional friendship. more..

Apr 28 (PTI) Slamming the Centre on the issue of attacks on Indian fishermen allegedly by Sri Lankan navy, former UPA ally DMK on Sunday said the govt thinks that its job on the matter is over just by making a statement. Party chief M. Karunanidhi said Tamil Nadu was expecting the Centre to show �at least one per cent�, of the concern it was showing in the Italian marines case, where two are charged with gunning down more..

Apr 28 (ST) Eight years ago, S. de Silva and her husband, a British national, invested almost Rs. 20 million in a luxury apartment along Marine Drive in Wellawatta. Though permanent residents of Britain, they were keen to have a place of their own where they could stay while on holiday in Colombo. But, despite the hefty sum they invested, after being taken up by the fancy promises made to them by the developers of the more..

Apr 28 (ST) The sale of the former British High Commission premises to the United States is to be concluded within a few days. Once its purchase of the 434-perch block in Kollupitiya is through, the US will hold sizeable tracts of prime property in Colombo. Not only is its embassy situated on the plot adjoining the former British High Commission, the US also owns the land on which the United States Information Service office is built. more..

Apr 28 (ST) Office workers came out alongside labourers this week to sign the JVP�s petition against high electricity tariffs, and the party says it will extend its campaign to village areas in the coming days. The party has gathered more than 50,000 signatures since launching the petition campaign on Wednesday in cities around the country following a torchlight demonstration in Maharagama on Monday. more..

Apr 28 (ST) Parliamentarian Duminda Silva returned to public life yesterday after spending 17 months in hospitals in Singapore and Colombo. Mr. Silva is the eleventh accused in the Mulleriyawa shooting incident where Presidential Advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and three others were killed. Last morning Mr. Silva left the private hospital in which he stayed since he arrived in the country on March 5. more..

Apr 28 (ST) The Cabinet has approved a staggering more than two and half billion US dollars (over Rs. 315 billion) for a re-fleeting programme of SriLankan Airlines which is already saddled with severe losses. The programme, approved on April 18, entails the purchase of six Airbus A 330-300 aircraft with Rolls Royce Trent engines at a cost of over Rs. 29.5 billion. Also to be purchased are four state-of-the-art Airbus more..

Apr 28 (CT) SWRD Bandaranaike, one of our most controversial Prime Ministers is commonly credited with the aphorism �a river does not flow backwards�. Since on our gravity bound planet no human being from the time of Adam to now has observed a river flowing backwards one might think such an example somewhat superfluous. The Prime Minister was at pains to make the point that social �development� is progressive, a proposition he would have been hard put to maintain in spheres more..

Apr 28 (SO) Health officials have warned that although malaria is on the brink of being eliminated in Sri Lanka, there could be a re-emergence of the disease due to the rise in the number of 'imported' cases. "We had 70 'imported' cases of malaria as against 23 indigenous cases last year. The imported cases included a large number of refugees who arrived from Benin in West Africa; they were tested at the airport and 50 were found to be positive. The rest were from India and Pakistan," more..

Apr 28 (SO) Over 200 students representing 21 schools from the Northern, North Central and Eastern Provinces boarded the Peace Train from Badulla to Kandy marking the end of the Finale of the Twinning Schools Program (TSP) of the UNDP, an initiative which aims to improve interaction, understanding and co-existence between young people from different backgrounds and regions in Sri Lanka. more..

Apr 28 (ST) Despite govt�s assurance that it would install railway gates at unprotected level crossings, there still remain around 600 unprotected crossings which are veritable death traps. One of these death traps is the crossing at Rockland junction, Beruwala. Last week about 30 persons were injured when an express train rammed into a van at this unprotected level crossing. A similar accident occurred on Friday night at another unprotected crossing which resulted in the van being severely damaged. more..

Apr 28 (CT) UPFA MP, A.H.M. Azwer, had received several death threats in the recent past. MP Azwer said that most of the threatening calls had originated from the Kalmunai region of Ampara District. �I was accused of supporting President Rajapaksa and working against the Muslim community of Sri Lanka, which is entirely false,� he said. According to him, the callers had given him a �deadline� until the Ramadan festival of 2013. �In the last call which was received on 19 April, more..

Apr 28 (ST) Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa is making drastic changes in the fuel procurement process. He said that the move was prompted by previous incidents of low quality fuel entering the market and purchasing fuel at higher prices. Under the plan, the Govt is to drop several international fuel suppliers registered with Sri Lanka. �Buying from smaller companies has turned out to be disadvantageous with more..

Apr 28 (CT) Three hundred boxes of dates, out of a consignment of 20,000 tonnes that had been donated by the Saudi Government and intended to be distributed among the mosques, had been moved from the warehouse in McCallum Road to the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs, in order to be distributed among politicians, well-placed sources alleged. The boxes, each weighing 20 kg, were part of an annual Saudi gift intended for the Muslims, who celebrate Ramadan. more..

Apr 28 (NS) Minister of Housing, Wimal Weerawansa�s Jathika Nidhas Peramuna (JNP), is completely against the holding of provincial council elections in the North, and is asking the government to amend the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. �Such an opportunity would pave the way for a separate Eelam state where, among other powers, such an elected Tamil body would enjoy police and land powers,� the party�s General Secretary, Priyanjith Vitharana told �The Nation� more..

Apr 28 (Island) The govt is now trying to pass the buck after pushing up power tariffs to an unbearable level to cover up corruption, waste and irregularities, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said. "Incredible stories are being dished out in a bid to justify this unwarranted and unprecedented spike in electricity rates", he told a UNP membership drive program and a youth front meeting in the Vavuniya town. more..

Apr 28 (SO) Deputy Minister Muralitharan said the pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora which spread disinformation against Sri Lanka have not properly realised the ground situation in the North and the East. Some of the Tamil diaspora members had left the country 40 years ago and most of their children have been born after they went to those countries. These children don't know anything about the North and the East. They are only getting wrong disinformation spread by the pro-LTTE more..