Local politicians have influenced police calling for transfers of police officers who were adhering to the election law and were removing cutouts and posters of the presidential candidates. Presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa has also ordered the police to remove all cutouts and banners of him erected by some SLFP organizers around the country.
But the police were facing immense difficulty in adhering to the law since politicians responsible for erecting these cutouts were preventing them from bringing them down. More >>

Former chief justice, Sarath N Silva, revealed last week that he was providing input on constitutional reform to the joint opposition, particularly with regard to reshaping the executive presidency.
In an interview with LAKBIMAnEWS, Mr Silva said he wants to do “what he can” in assisting the United National Front in setting achievable targets. According to his proposals, the position of elected president would remain but parliament would become the supreme body. There will be someone answerable to parliament in respect of every ministry and, More >>

It is hilarious that the chief strategies as opposition and government party rev up their election campaigns are pocketbook gambits which are tried and tested over time ——- the goodie cart is now arriving on overdrive, (...or Santa Claus is coming to town, late?) Last week a government that refused to bring down the price of fuel for years, abruptly did so, even though there was a stubborn refusal earlier despite court orders. The president is pained by the price of rice which he is trying to bring down because rice, the staple, must be certainly an ingredient in the goodie-cart. More >>

Adding to the controversy regarding the hedging deal where the country lost millions, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation(CPC) is neck deep in corruption. Many senior officers of the CPC are heavily involved in making a quick buck on slick oil deals. Their hands are well ‘greased’ with cutbacks and commissions from various oily characters....
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) is involved in importing unmarketable lubricant oil products from Malaysia due to influence of certain individuals in order to earn huge commissions.... More >>

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, seeking his second term in office, while felicitating three of country’s great sports icons for their outstanding contribution to the field of sports during their exceptional careers, vowed to provide a welfare programme to all sportsmen and women in the country.
Olympic silver medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe, World record holder for highest wickets in Tests and ODIs, Muttiah Muralitharan and Sanath Jayasuriya for competing 20 long years of cricket, More >>

A youthful Sri Lanka national cricket team will meet Bangladesh in the opening fixture of the tri-series also involving India on Monday.
Sri Lanka without a number of key players as national selectors took a number of radical changes following team’s poor performance in India will bank on their young guns to fire.
The misfiring, Sanath Jayasuriya and Chamara Kapugedera, fast bowler Lasith Malinga and mystery spinner, Ajantha Mendis have all been axed while Muttiah Muralitharan and Mahela Jayawardene were rested. More >>

Always a blast to talk to, prolific author Carl Muller was full of stories and inimitable insights, and questions when presented with our query. He asked “What is the so called patriotism if people are not happy to live here, that they’d risk nuclear-war to live in the West rather than here? If there are no people, there’s no country. When people find there’s no money to buy their food everyday, what’s the point in putting up bridges all over that armies can march over? This is a fact that no one seems to look into properly. More >>

There are many more important issues other than ‘hair’ on our plates. This was the first thought that passed through my mind when I entered a room full of beauticians last week at the Image Academy, Bambalapitiya for a press briefing.
Hair is after all hair! My mind refused to give way to any other impression though there were so many smiling faces in front of me to convince me otherwise. I just couldn’t understand what is so important about ‘hair’ though a beautician might disagree with me here, and hold different sentiments regarding this matter. More >>

THE charred underpants of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tell the story of a terrorist attack averted only by luck. The 23-year-old son of a prominent Nigerian banker had hidden a fistful of high explosive in a package sewed into the crotch of his underwear. As Northwest Airlines flight 253 from Amsterdam prepared to land in Detroit on Christmas Day, with 290 people on board, he covered himself with a blanket and injected a chemical to detonate the explosive. More >>

People around the world have celebrated the turn of the decade and welcomed in the year 2010.
Spectacular fireworks displays were seen in cities including Auckland in New Zealand and Sydney, Australia. London and Paris and other European cities also enjoyed displays, while in Brazil, people watched fireworks from the beaches of Rio de Janeiro. Hundreds of thousands of people packed into New York’s Times Square were showered with confetti at midnight. Las Vegas welcomed 2010 with an estimated 315,000 revellers and fireworks from casino rooftops. More >>

The lending rate cut on three agricultural credit schemes operated by the Central Bank with effect from Friday (Dec 31) would boost the economy this year, pointed out Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivaard Cabraal. “End of war in 2009 laid the platform to reduce interest rates, creating a business environment that encourages entrepreneurship.” “In another two to three months, there would be a strong upturn in economic activity and a road map too will be released.” More >>

The annual average inflation rate, as measured by the Colombo Consumers’ Price Index (CCPI) (2002=100), computed by the Department of Census and Statistics, decelerated steadily to 3.4 per cent in 2009 from 22.6 per cent recorded in 2008. This is the lowest annual average (end year) inflation rate recorded since 1985. The point-to-point inflation reached 4.8 per cent in December, 2009 compared to 14.4 per cent recorded in December last year. Maintaining a low inflation rate generates numerous economic and social benefits. More >>

Gibraltar is a self-governing British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula and Europe at the entrance of the Mediterranean overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar. The territory covers 6.843 square kilometres (2.642 sq mi) and shares a land border with Spain to the north. Gibraltar has historically been an important base for the British Armed Forces and is the site of a Royal Navy base. According to the Jane’s Country Risk Ratings 2008, which measures the stability of 235 countries, territories and political entities in the world, More >>

John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy, often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. After Kennedy’s military service as commander of the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 during World War II in the South Pacific, his aspirations turned political. With the encouragement and grooming of his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., Kennedy represented Massachusetts’s 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat, More >>