Authorities are monitoring the user activities of Facebook and Twitter social networking sites as some members of these networks allegedly defame prominent personalities and spread false rumours against the government. A special team at the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) is already monitoring the user activities on Facebook, LAKBIMAnEWS learns. More >>

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has appointed Major General Daya Ratnayake as the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army with Major General Mendaka Samarasinghe as Chief of Staff of the OCDS (Office of Chief Defence Staff) with effect from yesterday Jan 30, Army spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara told LAKBIMAnEWS.

Mahinda Rajapaksa won the presidential poll by a margin that was widely unanticipated. It was a cliff-hanger till the point of the election — the race was thought to be so close that the campaigns of the two main candidates were often laced with hysteria.
There was no photo finish. President Rajapaksa swept the polls in 16 of 22 districts and clinched 57.88 per cent of the vote. It was the will of the people and must be accepted. But the margin of victory is vast and may not bode well for democracy, particularly if the same difference is polled at the forthcoming parliamentary elections. More >>

President Mahinda Rajapaksa belied the projections of many an observer, including this correspondent who guessed that the election would be a close call. Rajapaksa romped home with a massive margin of 1.8 million votes in an election which many including the opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe described as relatively peaceful on the election day. That is a fair assessment. But, a relative peace in a polling day alone could not underwrite a free and fair election. This election was tainted by an overwhelming evidence of blatant abuse of state property and libelous coverage of the state media,More >>

Australia won its third ICC U19 Cricket World Cup title with a 25-run win over Pakistan – after its bowling attack expertly neutralized Pakistan’s batting threat. Set 208 to win at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Christchurch yesterday, Pakistan was bundled out in the 47th over after Australia’s paceman Josh Hazlewood and left-arm spinner Luke Doran ripped through the batting lineup. Pakistan started comfortably as Babar Azam and Ahmad Shazhad accumulated 54 for the second wicket, More >>

Sri Lanka won its first medal in the 11th South Asian Games (SAG) when the women’s cyclists finished third in the Individual time trial clocking an accumulated time of 47 minutes 07.08 seconds in an event dominated by the Indian cyclists.
India, who won event’s first gold medal, clocked a brilliant 44 minutes 22.15 seconds way ahead of the second placed Pakistanis who clocked 47 minutes 04.06 seconds. More >>

Can you say something about Geoffrey Dobbs the man?
Fourteen years ago I came here and fell in love with the country.

How would you describe yourself?
I’m a human being.

No, no it’s not a loaded question. I mean in a word what are you a businessman, academic, or...?
Of course I have been in business. By accident I started the Galle Literary Festival. More >>

Freshly Baked is, according to the artist is a tangible version of a dream, an emotion and a thought in his mind, at different times. But for me it is dominantly a question or a statement of sexuality.
The exhibition of drawings of acrylic and charcoal on canvas Freshly Baked by Saman Liyanage will be open for the public till February 3 at the Theertha Red Dot Gallery, Pitakotte.
Looking at the pictures as a whole they can be called abstracted or distorted images of men and women, mostly naked, discussing bravely sexuality and sexual freedom. More >>

THE first battalions of President Barack Obama’s military surge in Afghanistan are deployed and preparing to sweep the Taliban from a swathe of central Helmand province in the coming weeks. With commanders under pressure to achieve quick results before American troop levels begin to ebb next year, this could be the bloodiest year yet of America’s Afghan war. Yet several thousand miles away in London, More >>

North Korea has fired artillery shells near its disputed maritime border with South Korea for a third successive day. Pyongyang says the firing is part of an annual military drill but Seoul says it is “provocative” and on Wednesday fired retaliatory warning shots. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told the BBC the North was using the firing as a negotiating tactic. But he said he was still willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to discuss the country’s nuclear plans. More >>

Sri Lanka’s rate of inflation on a year- on-year basis, rose for the 4th consecutive month to 6.5 percent in January from 4.8 percent in December 2009 as consumer spending in the country increased. Central Bank Governor Nivard Cabraal has held interest rates at a five-year low since November last year as an attempt to achieve 7 percent economic growth in year 2010. Meanwhile the Central Bank announced that Sri Lanka has been ranked among the Top Ten Fastest Economies, More >>

The website www.visitsrilanka-2011.com for the CNN global campaign is to be launched tomorrow. This website is part of the global communication campaign launched in November 2009. The website is interactive and is designed in such a manner that users are invited to be a part of this campaign. “This website is launched with the Visit Sri Lanka Year 2011 and will serve as an impetus to kickstart the campaign. It is a tremendous potential for Sri Lanka Tourism to be partnering with such as international media powerhouse such as CNN. 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 >>