Hundreds of employees in state sector organizations have been politically victimized, while some have been transferred to various departments without any valid reason, while still others have been prevented from reporting for duty.
According to reports from several districts and from what’s gleaned by documents forwarded by several organizations, More >>

The United National Party (UNP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) have drafted their election petitions and will file them in courts this week. The petitions will be handed over on Monday or Tuesday before the 21- day deadline given to hand over such objections. UNP MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told LAKBIMAnEWS that all the evidence has been gathered and the petition has been compiled by party lawyers.More >>

By now it’s sufficiently clear that there was an exchange of words between the military team that arrested general Sarath Fonseka last Monday, the general himself, and the political leaders who were present at that time at the general’s office close to Royal College. However, it appears that there is also the usual political capital being made out of the manner of arrest.
Apparently the general resisted arrest on the grounds of the fact that he is now a civilian, and that only the police could legally arrest him. More >>

With a victory margin of seventeen percentage points over his main contender, President Mahinda Rajapaksa ought to be confident of his future. Why then is he swooping down on the same media that he once actively courted in his quest to achieve political supremacy?
Since the election of January 26, the government of President Rajapaksa has become widely noticed. Not for magnanimity or pity towards its handsomely trounced political opponents but for a seemingly single-minded mission to quell its adversaries..... More >>

Fijian sevens rugby legend Waisale Serevi who arrived in the country last November (2009) in his capacity as coach of the Papua News Guinea (PNG) team for the inaugural edition of the Carlton International Sevens held in Colombo, has expressed serious interest in coaching the Navy SC rugby side this year, well-informed sources told LAKBIMAnEWS. According to these sources attached to the Navy SC rugby team, the celebrated former Fijian sevens skipper has intimated his keen interest in being involved with the sailors either as a coach or player. More >>

International Cricket Council (ICC) Curator Andy Atkinson and ICC World Cup 2011 Coordinator Dhiraj Malhotra, who visited Sri Lanka last week for an inspection tour of the Suriyaweva International Stadium at Hambantota and the Kettarama Stadium, Colombo, expressed optimism that the local venues would be ready to host World Cup games next year.
“We visited Hambantota to look at the ground there,” Atkinson who along with Malhotra said addressing reporters at a press conference held at SLC headquarters yesterday morning. More >>

I was late when I arrived at the quaint orange cottage like house that houses Safeer’s black box theatre, the first of its kind in the country somewhere in Rajagiriya -- just don’t ask me for directions. I walked through a black billowy curtain and straight into the little theatre where Nadeeka sat chewing gum and Nalaka was reciting his lines as they rehearsed. S. Dayalan was looking on from a step below. I removed my shoes and was showed into Safeer’s office and then the library. Black billowy curtains were everywhere. More >>

What hot blooded man does not like to see the likenesses of naked women --- but that is not why Ranjan Aluwihare paints female nudes, at least that’s what he tells me. The reason he likes to draw naked women and use water colours to do so is the challenge of mastering the depction of the human body. Ranjan has 51 paintings on display at his exhibition - Water colour nudes to prove his mastery.
The first look at Ranjan’s paintings tell me that his paintings are nothing like most of the stuff I have seen created by Sri Lankan artists. More >>

China has again urged the United States to cancel a planned meeting between President Barack Obama and the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
The two men will meet at the White House on 18 February, US spokesman Robert Gibbs has confirmed. He said the Sino-US relationship was mature enough to disagree while finding common ground on international issues.
China had already said that such a meeting would seriously undermine relations with the United States.
Mr Gibbs said the Dalai Lama was “an internationally respected religious leader”. More >>

Taliban fighters who have maimed and murdered but who lay down their weapons will be given immunity from prosecution according to a law that came into force without announcement in the weeks running up to last month’s London conference on Afghanistan.
The sudden implementation of the controversial law, which had been shelved for almost two years since it was passed by a slim parliamentary majority in 2007, has raised fears that the Afghan government is ignoring the rights of Taliban victims for the sake of President Hamid Karzai’s push for a quick peace deal with insurgents. More >>

The CSE had a volatile week with the indices ending mixed, as speculation and rumours drove up stocks early in the week, and forced selling brought them down end of the week. The large cap laden MPI ended the week down as foreign investors were seen exiting the market. The ASI index of all stocks gained 3 points, or 0.09%, for the week to close at 3,710. The MPI meanwhile lost 53 points, or 1.3%, to end the week at 4,216. The week also saw net foreign sales of Rs 224 million with total sales at Rs 1.4 billion and purchases at Rs 1.2 billion. More >>

“There are exciting opportunities now in Sri Lanka, that never existed during the past two decades. During the time we gained independence, Sri Lanka was economically stable and well ahead of Korea and India. We fell back as a result of exploitation and misuse of resources,” said, Prof G. L. Peiris, Minister of Export Development and International Trade addressing National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) at its 51st Annual General Meeting (AGM), last week. More >>

The revelation
Telling nothing happened is not right; something did happen. The door of the room I stayed opened suddenly. Relieved, but scared, I hurried out of the room. In the living room, all my friends and my cousin were waiting for me; with another girl and an older man. I gasped. It was Rosy and if I weren't mistaken, her father.
"Rosy?" I whispered." How on earth…" she did not let me finish.
"'How in the universe did you find me?' is more appropriate" she told me with a small smile. More >>

It was almost midnight on 25 October, 1881, when the artist who was to alter the whole course of art history was born at Malaga, in Spain. The infant was called Pablo Ruiz Picasso. His father’s name was Don Jose` Ruiz Blasco and his mother was Maria Picasso Lopez.
Painting and Education
There was no doubt that the young Picasso learned a great deal about painting, and about art in general from his father, who was also a painter, though not a notably gifted one. More >>