The future of the commission to investigate allegations of bribery and corruption hangs in the balance as the term of the commission is set to expire in five weeks and the constitutional council which appoints members to independent commissions is defunct.
The bribery commission was appointed for a five -year- term in March 29,2005 under the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption Act of 1994. More >>

Rumour was rife that former speaker W.J.M.Lokubandara would join the UPFA , but when asked he denied such a move.
The President’s media division said that W J M Lokubandara and his wife were among the distinguished persons who participated at yesterday’s SLFP working committee meeting that took place at the Bandarawela Town Hall. When contacted, former Speaker Lokubandara denied rumours that he had crossed over to the SLFP at a special party conference in Bandarawela. More >>

Well, it has to be said. The story of this pre-election week was the story of the governing UPFA consolidating its hold and becoming more powerful, with the opposition showing it cannot hold together its new found unity - - at least not in the ideal form that was seen at the presidential election.
This might be a portend of things to come in this country - - a one party state, a strong government, and a splintered frustrated opposition trying eternally to cobble itself together. More >>

During his heydays in office, general Sarath Fonseka, the first ever four star General of the Sri Lankan military, vied to be a field marshal, a rank too big to be accommodated in a third world military. Though he couldn’t realize his self confessed dream, his seniority in the military means that the court martial of the former general is set to trigger a legal conundrum. Article 46 4 (4) of the Army Act, which sets out the procedure for court martial states that “The president of a general court martial shall be appointed by the authority convening such court martial, More >>

Sri Lanka Cricket will make an independent security assessment before allowing its players to play at next month’s Indian Premier League (IPL) as the security fears regarding the IPL intensified after a string of warnings issued by 313 Brigade, the Al-Qaeda’s operational arm in Pakistan.
Following this, the firm in charge of the league’s security said organizers would have to reconsider hosting the IPL if the threat goes beyond the safety strategies of the tournament. More >>

Chairman of national cricket selection committee Asantha de Mel is firmly of the view that the reported entrance into party politics by former skipper Sanath Jayasuriya will be an issue the player concerned has to grapple with and his selection to the team will hinge on form and fitness as it is with all players.
Veteran left-handed opener Jayasuriya who is no longer active in Test cricket but plays only ODI and T20 cricket is set to contest the April 8 general election on the UPFA ticket from his home-town of Matara. More >>

As someone who hunches pretty much all the time -- my spine hurts when I try to straighten up -- I greeted the news about the new, ergonomically designed school bags that were to be introduced this year (and made compulsory the next) gladly. As a goody-two-shoes student I lugged the appropriate (and extremely heavy) textbooks to school five days a week for very many years, while the not-so-goody classmates -- who now stand perfectly straight --- simply did not bring their textbooks to school obviously because carrying them on the back or on the side, hurt a lot. More >>

Valentines have come and gone. Many more Valentines will come and go. Still, how many more of those Valentines will it take for one to realize that Valentines has a different story to tell than the one it is relating to you now? By the looks of it, today’s article (at least the opening paragraph of it) sounds more like an indictment against the celebration of the Valentine’s Day. Well, looks are always deceptive, I tell ya. So, albeit by the looks of it, the article makes a negative comment on the celebration of ‘love’, it wishes to do something more sensible than make a biting criticism against poor St.Valentine. More >>

Pune mourns and hopes in the 15 months since Pakistani militants launched a three-day assault on Mumbai, India has been largely terror-free. This has enabled its prime minister, Manmohan Singh, despite much domestic opposition, to start rethreading the diplomatic ties that India cut after that outrage. Senior diplomats from India and Pakistan are due to meet in Delhi on February 25th. Yet on February 13th-the day after that meeting was announced-a bomb blast ripped through a cafe‚ in Pune, in western Maharashtra, killing 11. Almost as fast, Indian fingers pointed to Pakistan, which has an ugly record of launching terrorism in India. More >>

U.K. denies Daily Mail claims Israeli spies tipped off MI6 before assassinating Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. Israeli agents tipped off British intelligence that they were going to carry out an ‘overseas operation’ using fake British passports before assassinating a Hamas official in Dubai, the Daily Mail reported on Friday. A Mossad operative said the U.K. Foreign Office was also told hours before Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was murdered in his hotel room by a hit squad they had entered the United Arab Emirates using fake foreign documents, the British newspaper said. More >>

In the backdrop of Tourism Ministry’s efforts to achieve the target of 2.5 million tourists by 2016, hotel construction work is said to be at a standstill particularly in the North and East, due to protracted tender procedures.
“The tender and land acquisition (lease) procedures have been delayed for nearly 5 months from the time of call, and how could Sri Lanka fulfill the requirement of 58, 000 rooms by the year 2016 to accommodate tourists?” hoteliers question. More >>

“Sri Lanka is a country with an emerging economy in South Asia after eradicating terrorism. The growth of the Colombo Port during the recent past is tremendous. Our target for 2010 is 4 m TEUs and we are quite confident that we could achieve it without difficulty. We experienced a rapid increase in volumes in the recent months (nearly 20 %) compared to previous years”, said Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Chairman, Dr. Priyath B. Wickrama. More >>

A balloon is a type of aircraft that remains aloft due to its buoyancy. A balloon travels by moving with the wind. It is distinct from an airship, which is a buoyant aircraft that can be propelled through the air in a controlled manner.
The “basket” or capsule that is suspended by cables beneath a balloon and carries people, animals, or automatic equipment (including cameras and telescopes, and flight-control mechanisms) may also be called the gondola. Types of balloon aircraft There are three main types of balloon aircraft :.. More >>

Early life
This greatest man was born on 14 March, 1879, in the town of Ulm in Wurttemberg but left with his parents when he was a year old and moved to the large south German south of Munich.
His father had started a small electro chemical factory there with his brother, and the family settled into a cottage in the suburbs of the town while the father busied himself (not too successfully) with the commercial aspects of his business and the uncle took charge of the factory. More >>