Fake ballot papers distorting the symbols of some candidates have been distributed by some groups around the country to confuse voters. These ballot papers have been distributed yesterday in the North and East, Central and Wayamba Provinces, our provincial correspondents said. A truck bearing number 8264 which was carrying material slandering a candidate, model ballot papers and a stock of alcohol was apprehended by the Kurunegala Police yesterday evening. More >>

Non cabinet Minister of Labour Relations and Manpower Mervyn Silva yesterday said that he was flummoxed that no one had still responded to his Rs 40 million bet on President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s triumph in the upcoming Presidential polls.
Speaking to LAKBIMAnEWS Silva said, “I announced that I was willing to take a bet of Rs 40 million that President Mahinda Rajapksa will win. I made this announcement so many days ago, but no one has responded . More >>

It is pointless reiterating what has been stated in this column in the last few weeks - - which is essentially that, though the addition of numbers seem to favour Fonseka, that the groundswell that President Rajapaksa expects from the Sinhala electorate could offset this seeming advantage.
Essentially what it means is whether the Sinhala electorate is overwhelmingly with Rajapaksa or not.
However, without reiterating this basic postulate that should weigh in on any election prediction, suffice to say that there is also, More >>

The number of election violations have passed the 850 mark according to election monitoring bodies and the police. Many fear that unlike in the previous provincial council elections, the violence will spill into election day.
Election monitors point out that despite the agreement between the general secretaries of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and United National Party (UNP) to cease violence, even before 24 hours passed SLFP (M) National Organizer and Gen. Secretary, More >>

The Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union’s (SLRFU) Interim Committee (IC) has decided to dispense with the popular inter-club sevens rugby tournament which usually acts as the bellwether of the domestic league season in view of the sevens rugby calendar drawn by the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU).
“The ARFU has indicated to the SLRFU the regional Sevens tournaments will be staged towards the latter part of the year,” Chairman of the SLRFU IC Dr. Maiya Gunasekera told LAKBIMAnEWS. More >>

Sri Lanka football team under new skipper Rohana Ruwanthilake will open their campaign in the South Asian Games with a match against Pakistan on January 29 in Bangladesh.
Sri Lanka, the defending runners up having lost the all important final at home to Pakistan last time, is grouped with Pakistan, the defending champions, four-time champions India and Afghanistan. More >>

The elections have left me seriously annoyed and no doubt many others too. Even apolitical people like moi have got caught up in the distasteful enterprise that is Sri Lankan politics. “Was it Dutugemunu or mason bass that built Ruwanweliseya” asks a government supporter passionately. “Why did the flyovers cost so much per square foot, the most expensive in the world,” replies a diehard green vehemently. More >>

Masturbation is a psyhco-sexual phenomenon. It, at one level, is a means of releasing tension. Once it is done, the masturbator is often left with a sense of momentary satisfaction; but, also a sense of ‘lack’. As much as it is a vehicle of ecstasy we often make a mental note that we would perform ‘better’ the next time. These are fairly common features in the masturbatory art; and these are also the elements that it shares with the Galle Literary Festival (GLF). Now running in to its fourth season, the said ‘festival’ will hit the old fort town soon after the elections are done. More >>

In one of the ramshackle tent cities that have sprouted in open spaces all across Port-au-Prince, Isa Longchamp, a dishevelled and dejected eight-year-old girl, starts to whimper. After losing her mother when the Haitian capital was devastated by the earthquake of January 12th, she is now struggling to survive. Batted aside when hundreds of desperate victims of the disaster swarmed around aid workers handing out a batch of supplies earlier in the day, she is still hungry. She depends on the charity of her new neighbours. But at least she is alive, and fairly healthy. Her home now is a precarious lean-to made from a couple of stained, More >>

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan-U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday the Taliban were part of Afghanistan’s “political fabric,” one of the clearest indications to date of the Obama administration’s willingness to accept the Islamist group playing a potentially central role in Afghanistan’s future.
Mr. Gates, wrapping up a two-day visit to Pakistan’s capital, told reporters here that the U.S. supported the Afghan government’s continuing outreach efforts to the Afghan Taliban. Afghan President Hamid Karzai plans to unveil a major new reconciliation initiative that will use hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign donations to offer fighters jobs, More >>

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has elevated Sri Lanka from the list of Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) countries, with effect from 11 January 2010.
Leading economist Geeth Balasuriya said, “At this point of time, Central Bank is giving more prominence towards fueling economic growth. We see them loosening the monetary stance by trying to keep rates low, so that credit demand, spending would increase. However, this might create inflationary pressure as we move on.” More >>

The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka granted investment approval for Northshore College of Business and Technology to provide tertiary education services under the BoI.
The company will establish a modern training institute to provide tertiary education. The institute will provide tertiary qualification such as bachelors’ degree programmes and masters’ programmes in Information Technology, Engineering and Business Management faculties. The qualifications are provided in affiliation with recognised foreign universities as well as local universities. More >>

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is often called the Lunar New Year, especially by people in mainland China and Taiwan. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year’s Eve is known as in English,” Year-pass Eve”.
Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Lunar Calendar. More >>

Bruce Lee (Lee Jun Fan) was a Chinese American and Hong Kong actor, martial artist, philosopher, film director, screenwriter, practitioner of Wing Chun and founder of the Jeet Kune Do concept. He is considered by many as the most influential martial artist of the 20th century, ad a cultural icon.
Lee was born in San Francisco, California, and raised in Hong Kong until his late teens. More >>