The United National Party (UNP) reforms report will be presented to the Working Committee (WC) in the third week of July, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said. He added that the reforms report presented by MP Joseph Michael Perera was not final and is subject to amendment by the WC.
“The report has not yet been circulated among MPs but it will be presented to the WC for debate the next time it convenes, More >>

The opposition accusation that the 2010 budget confirms government a pawn of the World Bank and neither IMF nor government’s claim that its budget is excellent, is accurate --- Management Consultant and Chartered Accountant M Thiyagaraja said in an interview. He added that historically, Sri Lanka’s opposition, whether SLFP or UNP, accuses the government of being pawns of international lending institutions. More >>

President Rajapaksa walked into the UN compound in Colombo last afternoon — and soon in a jiffy the death fast, oops, farce, was over.
Refer our editorial - - any donkey would have known that his was the way it was going to end, and that W. Weerawansa has to be given the ham-actor award for his performance. However, there was some drama in that the diplomatic community in Colombo was agitated, More >>

Never in recent times have relations between the UN secretariat and Colombo been this acrimonious or so unashamedly mishandled over an issue that could have been easily resolved through diplomatic channels.
When Wimal Weerawansa, a minister, recently encouraged the public to lay siege on the UN compound in protest against Ban Ki-moon’s appointment of a special advisory panel, More >>

Sri Lanka cricket selectors have dealt a harsh blow to the country’s legendary cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya as he has been left out on a national contract in the list of 20 cricketers announced yesterday. Star paceman Lasith Malinga and ‘mystery’ spinner Ajantha Mendis too have been given a raw deal.
Two of the country’s genuine match-winners Malinga and Mendis have only been offered category four contracts while Test regular Thilan Samaraweera is controversially given a top, More >>

For both of the nations competing in football’s biggest match, the World Cup final represents a chance to bury the ghosts of the past and look forward to a glorious future. However, for the loser, the pain of defeat may linger long after the dust has settled at Soccer City.
Somewhat surprisingly, the two sides have never met at a World Cup and, in fact, have only clashed nine times in history, with each side claiming four wins and one draw. More >>

It was late afternoon Friday at Coffee Stop. And I had come with the (almost) single determination - to find out if the Danu in real life was anything at all like the Danu on our television screens - nice, polite and down-to-earth? I’m seated on the putrid beige lounge chair (someone call a decorator) and watch as he says good bye to “aunty Ramani” [Fernando] and walks in through the glass doors.
[Exchange pleasantries, order coffee for me,..... More >>

About 20 black and white stills and a few “digitally altered” photographs of the south region of France - Languedoc-Roussillon, composed the exhibition, pictures taken by Seneka with his trusty Nikon D40X Digital-SLR (“with a 18-55 zoom lens. I don’t possess any other lenses!”) during his last exhibition in France. The region lays claim to the Mediterranean sea, the Atlantic ocean and the Pyrenees and the Massif Central mountain ranges as surroundings and bordering Spain, More >>

Though poor in quality, the video is sufficiently clear to reveal the horror that is unfolding. We see a patch of open ground in front of a low building. A crowd of men stand and stare as two figures, shrouded from head to toe, are carried into their midst. Some of the spectators produce spades and begin to dig with a febrile enthusiasm. Soon there are two holes into which the trussed figures are planted upright, as far as their waists. More >>

WASHINGTON - Ten convicted Russian sleeper agents were whisked out of the United States on a plane headed over the Atlantic Ocean late Thursday as part of a deal with Moscow to put a quick end to an episode that threatened to disrupt relations between the two countries. Igor V. Sutyagin, a former arms control researcher, in a Moscow courtroom in 2004. More >>

Central Bank’s Provincial office in the North is to conduct surveys on the regional progress, extending assistance to commercial banks, it was revealed.
K.G.D.D. Dheerasinghe, Deputy Governor Central Bank opening the Provincial Office (PO) in Jaffna said, “We have to conduct a survey to see where we stand. Nobody is aware of the population in the North. The last census conducted in this region was in 1981, and we do not have a complete set of data ever since.” More >>

The biggest news for the week was from Odel, which successfully concluded an IPO, attracting a record breaking 63 times of the capital required. Odel’s Initial Public Offer was for 16.7 million shares at a price of RS 15.00 per share, to raise Rs 250.5 million. Once the final count was done, the share issue had attracted almost 23,000 applications for a total of Rs 16 billion. This was a new record for the stock exchange and for IPO’s, and was indicative of the level of liquidity in the market. More >>

Snare drum
Snare drum (side drum) is a small, shallow, cylindrical drum which came to the orchestra from the military parade ground (it is also called side drum, being slung to the player’s side while marching). The snare drum has two drumheads, of calfskin or plastic: the upper batter head, and the lower snare-head. The snare-head has snares of gut or metal stretched across it. As the batter-head is played, usually with two hard-headed sticks, the snares, vibrate against the snare-head. More >>

Kataragama belongs to the ancient Rohana Kingdom and it is an old village situated close to the Menik Ganga. According to present provincial borders it comes under the Monaragala district. According to Pali scriptures Kataragama is mentioned as Kacharagama It is one of the 16 principal places of Buddhist pilgrimage to be visited. According to the great chronicle, the Mahawansa, when the Bo-sapling (Bodhi tree under which Gautama Buddha attained enlightenment in Buddha Gaya in North India 2550 years ago) was brought to Anuradhapura from India 2300 years ago, More >>