Houses given by India consists only of the foundation !

So far none of the houses promised by the Indian government to the displaced persons in the North and East have been completed yet. The Indian government promised 50,000 houses to the displaced and so far it is only the foundation that was laid at the launching ceremony that is visible, an official from the Jaffna District Secretariat said. The Sri Lankan government announced the Indian government's decision to done the houses on June 10, 2010 and the first phase of constructing 1,000 houses commenced in December.


Although it was said that the 1,000 houses that were being constructed by India's Free Fab company would be handed over to the people in April, so far work on the houses have not commenced yet, the official said.


Source ; lankanewsweb

Civilians in two camps asked to leave on a Presidential order !

TNA parliamentarian Shivashakthi Anandan has said that civilians who were in the Punthottam and Sithambapuram in Vavuniya for the past 17 years due to the conflict in the Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi areas in the Jaffna District have been asked to immediately vacate the camps and return to their home towns.


There are 830 persons from 252 families in the Punthottam camp and 921 persons from 275 families in the Sithambapuram and they are faced with a great difficulty in being asked to vacate the camp they have been residing in for the past 17 years in such a hurry.
While there are school going children also in the camps, this sudden decision has posed a problem for them to continue in their studies as well. When Anandan had inquiredabout the matter from the Vavuniya District Secretary he had been informed that the order was made following a Presidential directive.


Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi areas were affected by the floods. The persons who were resettled earlier are still under trees. If there are more people taken there would be a bigger problem, Anandan says.


Vavuniya District Secretary P.M. Charles said that the displaced persons are being resettled in their former home towns together with the Resettlement Ministry.


When asked if the Presidential Secretariat had ordered these people to be resettled before the forthcoming local government elections, Charles said that the order was given by the Presidential Task Force.


Source ; lankanewsweb

Attorney General’s Department Biased Towards The Ruling Party (UPFA) - Claims JVP

The JVP has accused the Attorney General’s Department of being biased towards the governing party without safeguarding the public officials.

JVP parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake told a press conference that the people need to be aware of the current state of the judiciary and understand that the cases being heard against the rejection of nomination lists was more than what appears to be.

He also said that the governing UPFA and the main opposition UNP should not have challenged the rejection of its nomination lists, but accept the shortcomings on their part.

“If there has been a shortcoming in preparing the nomination lists, it has to be accepted. Two of our lists were also rejected and when our legal experts looked at them and explained things to us, we realized that we had made a mistake, so we did not file a case,” he said.
Dissanayake noted that in the event a political party has violated the laws that have been approved by them in parliament in the first place, it was fair for the nomination lists to be rejected on those grounds.

He also said the JVP would take legal action if the rejected nomination lists of the UPFA and UNP for the local government bodies in Akmemana, Akuressa and Moneragala Pradeshiya Sabhas were given the green light by courts.

Also in our web site, we did point out that this is an illegal move, ( even to postphone !) taking in to account what happened to UNP's Colombo Municipal Council nomination papers when they when to court last time. If by any decision, as JVP point out too, If green light is given for above rejections, it will be a black mark for Sri Lanka Internationally.

Elections for 60 councils postponed !

Elections for 60 local government councils have been postponed indefinitely. According to the Department of Elections the Commissioner of Elections has taken this decision as legal action has been taken by certain political parties and independent groups against rejection of nominations for these councils.

Accordingly, elections for these 60 councils will not be held on 17th March and they will be held only after the legal processes regarding them have been completed states the Department of Elections.

We have to wait a& see where this is heading to....

Lions Starts with a powerful victory - Full Match World Cup HighLights

For the many who slammed the ICC's decision to expel Associates from the next World Cup, this was a bad day. After Kenya were embarrassed by a modest New Zealand team, Canada desperately needed to showcase why minnow teams belong on the global stage. Instead they were overwhelmed by 210 runs against Sri Lanka, who opened their World Cup campaign as emphatically as their co-hosts India did on Saturday.


Mahela Jayawardene stroked his way to the fastest World Cup hundred by a Sri Lankan, sharing a 176-run stand with his captain Kumar Sangakkara, before the home side's pace bowlers rushed through a hapless Canadian line-up to deliver a crushing victory.


After India's fervoured opening in Mirpur, proceedings at Hambantota felt much more leisurely, and with a combination of sight screen problems and a few injuries, it took the visitors four hours to get through their fielding effort. For the first 20 overs of Sri Lanka's innings the scoring rate was almost as sluggish - despite a 59-ball half-century for Tillakaratne Dilshan - as Canada demonstrated the ideal model for Associate cricket. Disciplined dobbers combined with swift fielding and a slowish track to keep Sri Lanka in check.


It was only when Jayawardene arrived that Sri Lanka's campaign really kicked into gear. He was in total control, threading the spinners through the finest gaps and caressing boundaries at will. Sangakkara was not quite as fluent, needing 47 deliveries to find his first boundary. He survived two moments of alarm, when he was dropped on 12 by by 16-year-old Nitish Kumar, on as a substitute, and again on 48 by the rotund legspinner Balaji Rao.


Jayawardene barely mistimed a ball but twice survived reviews from Canada captain Ashish Bagai, who was convinced he was out caught behind. On both occasions the appeal was spontaneous and exuberant but the UDRS - without Snicko and HotSpot - revealed nothing. With those behind him, Jayawardene's glances, chips, pick-up-sweeps and even a reverse-thwack toyed with an attack that faded under pressure.


There was no route back for Canada as the pair cashed in against a tiring attack. It's becoming one of cricket's more quirky stats that Sangakkara can't seem to reach three figures in ODI cricket anymore. His last century was in June 2008 and he has now gone 60 matches without a hundred, despite scoring heavily over the period.


He had the ideal opportunity today, but inexplicably popped a gentle return catch to John Davison when eight runs short. By this stage the only trouble for Jayawardene was the heat and he looked exhausted as he crawled the single to bring up his record-breaking century.


While victory was always going to be beyond them, a competitive showing with the bat would have lifted the spirits of a dank World Cup day but Canada's top order folded against a sparky new-ball pairing. The hulking Thislan Perera proved too quick for John Davison and Zubin Sukari before returning later to snare Bagai. The looming threat of rain forced Sangakkara to swap seam for spin to rush to 20 overs - the minimum needed to constitute a match - but once that threat cleared Sri Lanka's job was as good as done.


At 40, Davison has had plenty of experience but appears to be trading off the World Cup century he made eight years ago. In the build-up Canada were keen to point to the clutch of youngsters who had come through their Under-19s side but come the day Kumar and Hiral Patel - their two bright batting talents - were left out. After today's showing both can expect to make their senior World Cup debuts soon.


Rizwan Cheema offered a glimpse of the big-hitting that gave England a fright but by that stage that game was meandering towards the inevitable. After two matches and two crushing defeats, the Associates are doing the ICC's case no harm at all.


Written by Sahil Dutta - crickinfo

Doctors remove knife from man's head after 4 years ! - BEIJING

Surgeons in southern China successfully removed a rusty, 4-inch (10-centimeter) knife from the skull of a man who said it had been stuck in there for 4 years according to the reports from the hospital on friday.


Li Fuyan (30) had told that he had been suffering from severe headaches, bad breath and breathing difficulties but never knew the cause of his discomfort, said the senior official at the Yuxi City People's Hospital in Yunnan Province.


Li told doctors he had been stabbed in the lower right jaw by a robber four years ago and the blade broke off inside his head without anyone realizing it, said the director of the hospital's Communist Party committee's office who would only give his surname, He.


Surgeons worked cautiously to remove the badly-corroded blade without shattering it, He said. The hospital's website also reported the successful surgery.

Court Orders to Postphone Akmeena, Akuressa & Monaragala Pradeshiya Saba Elections !

The court had ordered the relevant authorities to posphone Akmeemana, Akuressa and Monaragala Elections untill the petitions are heard and the verdicts are delivered.


The Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka ordered the postphoning regarding the petitions filed by the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) on the rejection of party nominations to Monaragala and Akmeemana Pradeshiya Sabhas as well Independent Group's nomination paper rejection for Akuressa Pradeshiya Sabhas for the local government election.


General Secretary Susil Premajayantha had filed the petitions in the court for UPFA  .


All above three nominations were reportedly rejected due to the documents pertaining to the birth of candidates of the lists being incomplete.


but legal experts says that this is illegal. Mainly what they say is, if all parties & Independent groups who's nomination papers that were being rejected, goes to court what will happen ? Are they going to postphone all those provincial council elections ? if so, why didn't the Colombo Municipal Council Election was not postponed when UNP nomination papers got canceled having a similar issue like above last time?


The local government elections are scheduled to be held on March 17.

Bahrain mourners call for toppling of monarchy !

MANAMA, Bahrain – Thousands of mourners called for the downfall of Bahrain's ruling monarchy as burials began Friday after a deadly assault on pro-reform protesters that has brought army tanks into the streets of one of the most strategic Western allies in the Gulf.

The cries against Bahrain's king and his inner circle reflect an escalation of the demands from a political uprising that began just with calls to weaken the Sunni monarchy's hold on top government posts and address claims of discrimination against the Shiite majority in the tiny island nation.

Rajapakse asks Mervyn to do a pooja to nullify the effects of Anoma Fonseka's plea for divine intervention at Kebiliththe

The President who is disturbed by the divine intervention sought by Anoma Fonseka at the historical Kebiliththe devala located in the Yala sanctuary has asked Minister Mervyn Silva to do a pooja to nullify the possible ill effects that could affect him.

Devotees of Lord Kataragama believe that the god existed in real life form at the Kebiliththe devala. Anoma and a group of people had sought divine intervention against the President at the devala last September. The Rajapaksas believe that the President has faced many issues since then.
 
Western Provincial Councilor Hashan Thilekaratne and his wife Apsari Thilekaratne have also joined Anoma in the arduous trip to the great Kebiliththe devala that is situated in a difficult area in the Yala national park.
Hashan Thilekaratne and Mervyn Silva are also patrons of the historical devala.

Although a special pooja was organized at the devala on February 5 for the President, it had to be postponed due to the heavy rains experienced in the area that day.

Sources from Temple Trees say that the President who is under great mental stress these days has placed much faith in poojas and seeking divine intervention and has asked Mervyn Silva to do the needful.

Source; lankanewsweb.com

Sajin Vass asks IGP not to take upeksha's husband into custody

The parliamentarian supervising the work at the External Affairs Ministry, Sajin Vass Gunawardena has asked the IGP not to arrest parliamentarian Upeksha Swarnamali also known as Pabha's husband after he had allegedly assaulted her in an inhuman manner.

Upeksha Swarnamali's husband Mahesh Chaminda Walawegama is one of Sajin's friends. Sajin used Swarnamali's husband to force her to defect from the UNP and join the government when the vote on the 18th Amendment to the Constitution was taken in parliament last year.

On a request made by Sajin, the President asked well known casino businessman Ravi Wjieratne to pay a sum of Rs. 50 million in US dollars to Swarnamali's husband Mahesh Chaminda Walawegama at Wijeratne's residence at Gregory's Road for the transaction.

Swarnamali's husband who is an alcoholic and engage in many vices is frequently seen at Wijeratne's Star Dust casino and in the company of girls at karaoke nightclubs.

Several attempts by Swarnamali to divorce her husband has been prevented by Sajin.

Source; lankanewsweb.com