North Centrel and Sabaragagamuva Provincial Council Election Results

North Centrel and Sabaragagamuva Provincial Council Election Results

http://222.165.136.67/ncs_elections_2008/

Minister's brother assaults JVP MP Subasingha-Serious injured

JVP MP S.K. Subasinghe was assaulted around 5.15 this afternoon (Aug. 23rd) when he visited Galthambarawa polling centre in Polonnaruwa to inquire into a dispute there.
He had received information that UPFA supporters had prevented his party's representative at the booth from leaving the place.
When Mr. Subasinghe had attempted to mediate, he was assaulted by a group led by Minister Maithripala Sirisena's brother Chaminda.
The JVP MP has been admitted to Polonnaruwa Hospital with serious injuries.

Provicial Council poll turnout between 65 - 70 pc

Voting to elect representatives to the North Central and Sabaragamuwa Provincial Councils closed at 4.00 pm today (Aug. 23rd), with a turnout of between 65 and 70 percent, said the Elections Secretariat.The sealed ballot boxes are being transported to counting centres by now, while the counting of postal votes is underway.

The EC expects to release the first result by 2.00 am tomorrow.

The special poll monitoring coordinating unit said the election had been relatively peaceful.

However, the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence said it has received 43 complaints, including 24 serious incidents.

Its co-convener Uvindu Kulakurasuriya said considering the serious nature of pre-poll violence and the terror situation that ensued, this election could not be considered a free and fair one.

Meanwhile, R. Yogarajan of the Ceylon Workers' Congress allege that around 10,000 Tamil estate workers were denied their vote due to national identity card being made compulsory at the polls

Why having an extra wife may lead to a longer life

The key to a long life could be as simple as getting a second wife.

Research suggests that men from polygamist cultures live 12 per cent longer than those who limit their affections to one woman at a time.

It is thought men benefit from having a fuss made over them by a gaggle of women.
They may also better care of themselves into old age when they have a large family to feed, this week's New Scientist reports.

Sheffield University researchers uncovered the 'benefits' of polygamy by scrutinising World Health Organisation data on marriage practices and on life span.

The analysis shows that men who live in countries where it is common to have more than one wife tend to outlive their monogamous counterparts.

The finding took into account a country's economic situation to minimise the effect of better nutrition and healthcare in monogamous Western nations.

It is thought that the pressure of having to provide for a big families may lead to men taking better care of their bodies and their health. They may also benefit from the care and attention of several wives.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1047659/Why-having-extra-wife-lead-longer-life.html

Army recovers suicide jackets and detonators at Colombo

Sri lanka Army recovers accessories for suicide jackets and 19 detonators from a Church at Pettah in Colombo today at 8Am military spokesman said .

Susanthika fails to enter finals

Susanthika fails to enter finals

Susanthika Jayasinghe failed to enter the finals of the women’s 200m event at the Beijing Olympics 2008.She clocked 22.98 seconds coming seventh in the first semi finals a short while ago .

Susanthika qualifies and Nadeeka fails for the Olympic semifinals

Susanthika qualifies and Nadeeka fails for the semifinals

Susanthika Jayasinghe was placed third in the second round of heats moments ago at the Olympics in Beijing. She clocked a time of 22.94 seconds and qualified for the semifinals in the Women’s 200m.But Nadeeka Lakmali fails to qualify for the final round in the Javelin throw at the Beijing Olympics.

Magistrate ordered IGP to arrest Minister Mervyn

Colombo Additional Magistrate ordered IGP to arrest Minister Mervyn Silva and 3 others immediately in connection with the Sirasa incident.

Army captures Tiger training base

The Army captured an LTTE training base at Andankulam in Welioya last evening. The base included 100 under ground bunkers, several buildings and a cemetery.

Air Force attack LTTE locations

Air Force Jets attacked an LTTE bunker line 8 km east of Nachikudah this morning. The Air Force says the attack was carried out in suport of ground troops of the 58th Division.

IFJ demands Sri Lankan President to end Minister's anti-media campaign

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) demanded immediate intervention by Sri Lanka's President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to order an end to Labour Minister Mervyn Silva's anti-media campaign of interrogation and violence against Sirasa TV.

According to the Free Media Movement (FMM), an IFJ affiliate, Minister Silva reportedly organized a protest with about 100 people outside the Sirasa TV station in Colombo on August 11 to call for a ban on the broadcaster.

Sirasa TV has consistently reported on a series of verbal and physical attacks by Silva against journalists, most notably a violent confrontation between the Minister and the news director of the state-run Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) in December 2007.

More recently, Silva assaulted journalist Thushara Saliya Ranawaka and video cameraman Waruna Sampath, on August 4 while they were reporting on a bridge opening in Kelaniya. Silva’s verbal threats against them were recorded on a camera, which was reportedly confiscated by the Minister.

Political observers say the minister is emboldened by the support of President Rajapaksa and his government turning a blind eye to his roguish behavior. They say the minister brings the party to disgrace by his thuggish actions.

Chinthana tops "C" category in weightlifting

Chinthana tops "C" category in weightlifting


Sri Lanka's premier weight lifter Chinthana Geethal Vidanage was the most successful competitor of Group "C" of the Olympic weightlifting under 69 Kg category.

Chinthana had an aggregate of 293 kilograms in the 'snatch' and 'clean and jerk', which is a newSri Lankan record.

Chinthana, who clinched the gold medal in 62 kg weight lifting event at the Commonwealth Games in 2006 in Australia also set up three records at the 33rd National Sports Meet held recently.

Chinthana was born in Polonnaruwa on the 31st of December 1981 and began his weight lifting career in 1996 when he was placed fifth at the Junior Weight-Lifting Nationals.

The Category A and B events are yet to be worked out

Police ordered to arrest suspects

A Colombo Magistrate yesterday ordered the police to arrest all suspects involved in the alleged assault on Sirasa photo journalists and the grabbing of their camera equipment in Kelaniya recently.

Colombo Additional Magistrate Manjula Thilakarane made the order after the Peliyagoda Police told court that they had recorded statements from the complainant Waruna Sampath and several other eye witnesses to the incident that took place during the opening of the second stage of the flyover .

According to the complainant a team of journalists headed by Waruna Sampath had visited the venue to cover the opening ceremony on an invitation made by Highways Ministry Media Secretary Shirantha Ellawala Premawardena by fax. The team of journalists comprised Waruna Sampath, his assistant cameraman Deeptha Ranasinghe and Provincial reporter Asela.

Air Force bomb Tiger locations

Air Force bomb Tiger locations

The Air Force said it had bombed a LTTE Supply base in Vishwamadu, Kilinochchi, a radar point at Nagasiwanturai, Poonaryn and an intelligence camp in Puthukuduirrippu, Mulaitivu both last night and this morning.

President visits Olympic villag

President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived in Beijing today (August 06) upon the invitation of the Government of the People's Republic of China. He will attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, scheduled to commence on August 8.

The President visited the Olympic Village and met the Sri Lankan team competing in the Games and wished the good luck at the forthcoming sports extravaganza.

Eight Sri Lankan athletes will compete in six sports in the 29th 2008 Summer Olympics which will continue until Augst 24.

UN wants SB's civic rights restored

UN wants SB's civic rights restored

The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) of the United Nations has called for the restoration of the civic rights of S.B. Dissanayaka as well as the payment of compensation.

Traditional August Madhu feast cancelled

Traditional August Madhu feast cancelled

The traditional Madhu feast scheduled to be staged this month has been canceled, Mannar Bishop Rayappu Joseph said in a press statement. He said that the Sacred Statue of Our Lady of Madhu will be taken to its original place of Madhu Church and enthroned after due penitential and purification service.

Breakfast meeting between the Prime minister and the president of Afganistan

JOINT STATEMENT

Breakfast meeting between the Prime

Minister of Pakistan and the President of Afghanistan

Picture--Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Gillani

The Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, His Excellency Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani and the President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, His Excellency Mr. Hamid Karzai met over breakfast today on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit in Colombo. The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere.

The President and the Prime Minister recalled the strong bonds of brotherhood between Pakistan and Afghanistan and exchanged views on the common challenges facing the two countries in terms of dealing with terrorism and militancy.

Both sides agreed that there was a need for the two governments to engage on all issues across the board with a view to developing a common strategy to overcome the challenges posed to the security and stability of both countries by terrorism and extremism. The two sides agreed to coordinate their efforts to stop cross border terrorism.

Picture:President Karzai

The Prime Minister and the President decided that their respective Foreign Ministers will meet to prepare grounds for a framework for close and constructive engagement between the two countries to build confidence and develop a common strategy at the political, military and intelligence levels in collaboration with their coalition partners and NATO/ISAF.

The Prime Minister and the President also stressed the importance of closer bilateral engagement at the leadership level and, at Afghanistan’s suggestion, agreed that the engagement should also lead to expediting the process of convening the mini-Jirga, as soon as possible.

At the suggestion of Pakistan, the Afghan side agreed to re-engage on all bilateral and multilateral forums.

Nobel Prize-winning author Alexander Solzhenitsyn is no more

Alexander Solzhenitsyn is no more

Mr.Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize-winning authorAlexander Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize-winning author who shot to fame when he chronicled the horrors of the Soviet gulag system earning him 20 years of bitter exile, died late Sunday night (August 3) at the age of 89.

Beginning with the 1962 short novel "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", Solzhenitsyn devoted himself to describing what he called the human "meat grinder" that had caught him along with millions of other Soviet citizens: arrests for the most trivial or reasons followed by sentences to labor camps where cold, starvation and punishing work crushed inmates physically and psychologically.

His "Gulag Archipelago" trilogy of the 1970s left readers shocked by the savagery of the Soviet state under Josef Stalin and cultivated disenchantment regarding the Soviet Union among many leftist intellectuals, especially in Europe.


Although the West offered him shelter and showered him with accolades, Solzhenitsyn remained critical of Western culture for what he considered its weakness and decadence.

He returned to his native land After to undertake a 56-day train trip across Russia to become reacquainted with his native land but late expressed disappointment that most Russians hadn't read his book.

During the 1990s, his nationalist views, his Orthodoxy, his disdain for capitalism and disgust with the tycoons who bought Russian industries and resources for a song following the Soviet collapse, made him rapidly lose popular appeal among the emerging elite and he faded from public view.

Solzhenitsyn's vision of Russia as a bastion of Orthodox Christianity, as a place with a unique culture and destiny, saw resurgence however during the tenure of Vladimir Putin from 2002-2008.


Born Dec. 11, 1918, in Kislovodsk, Solzhenitsyn served as a front-line artillery captain in World War II. As the way drew to a close, he was arrested for writing what he called "certain disrespectful remarks" about Stalin in a letter to a friend, referring to him as "the man with the mustache." He served seven years in a labor camp in the barren steppe of Kazakhstan and three more years in internal exile in Central Asia.

That's where he began to write about the suffering and injustice of life in Stalin's gulag — a Soviet abbreviation for the slave labor camp system, which Solzhenitsyn made part of the lexicon.

He continued writing while working as a mathematics teacher in the provincial Russian city of Ryazan.

His "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", the story of a carpenter struggling to survive in a Soviet labor camp, where he had been sent, like Solzhenitsyn, after service in the war was published by order of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who was eager to discredit the abuses of Stalin, his predecessor.

Outside the Soviet Union the book was acclaimed for its bravery and its unpretentious language.

After Khrushchev was ousted in 1964, Solzhenitsyn began facing KGB harassment, publication of his works was blocked and he was expelled from the Soviet Writers Union.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970. The academy cited "the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature."

Soviet authorities barred the author from traveling to Stockholm to receive the award and official attacks were intensified in 1973 when the first book in the Gulag trilogy appeared in Paris.

Solzhenitsyn spent his last years in the USA in Cavendish, Vermont, with his wife and sons where he worked on what he considered to be his life's work, a multi-volume saga of Russian history titled "The Red Wheel".

Solzhenitsyn was never enchanted by Western democracy, with its emphasis on individual freedom and dismayed many when hi his Harvard speech he decried "Western pluralistic democracy" as the model for all other nations. It was a mistake, he warned, for Western societies to regard the failure of the rest of the world to adopt the democratic model as a product of "wicked governments or by heavy crises or by their own barbarity or incomprehension."

Life Expectancy of Sri Lankans improves -- WHO

Life Expectancy of Sri Lankans improves -- WHO


According to a recent study by the World Health Organization (WHO) the life expectancy of both Sri Lankan males and females has increased by 10%.

The life expectancy of a female has gone up to 79 years compared with 69 years in 2004 and that of a male has gone up to 69 years as compared to 60 years in 2004.

According to Health Ministry sources the percentage of people who smoke is down to 7.1% when compared with 16.5 % smokers both male and female in 2005.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Control Act of 2007 and the 'Mathata-Thitha 'programme is largely responsible for this significant drop, according to ministry sources while the improvement in life expectancy numbers is attributed to the Government's public health policy which has seen a general improvement in health standards.