Quick Look

Monks to be feted

Maharagama special corr.

A felicitation ceremony organised by the Manel Mal Movement to honour, and felicitate monks who encouraged troops from temples in North and East will be held on September 2 at 3 p.m. at the National Youth Theatre, Maharagama. Wheel chairs with commodes will be presented to disabled war heroes.

New para medical staff

A batch of 276 medical laboratory technicians and radiologists who have completed their training will be absorbed into the Para Medical Service by the Health Ministry.

They include 216 laboratory technicians and 60 radiologists and they will receive their appointment letters from Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva at a ceremony at the National Blood Centre Auditorium on August 27.

205 of these technicians will be posted to institutions affiliated to the Health Ministry while 10 others will be posted to Security Forces’ hospitals and one to a university. The radiologists will be appointed to Hospitals where there are existing vacancies.

Diverse Expressions

Diverse Expressions, an exhibition of drawings and paintings by ten pupils of Lathifa Ismail will be held at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery in Colombo from August 26-27 from 9.00 a.m. - 8.00 p.m. Dominic Ockersz, a wildlife sketchist who is keen on promoting wild life conservation and promoting awareness on wildlife diversity will feature various forms of wildlife in his drawings.

Iran gifts for IDPs

Iran has donated a consignment of 500 tents and 500 ground mats to Sri Lanka. The consignment is expected to arrive in Colombo shortly. Tehran is airlifting the consignment.

The tents and mats are intended for use by the internally displaced people. The Iranian donation follows appeals by Sri Lanka’s Ambassador of Iran M.M. Zuhair.

Arms and ammunition recovered

Police STF officers attached to several camps in Batticaloa and surrounding areas have recovered a large haul of terrorist arms, ammunition and explosives during recent search operations.

Among them are 2 claymore bombs, four mortars, one mortar bomb, 7mm detonator cord, 121 pressure mines, 1 roll flexible wire, five cans of C4 explosives, five chargers, 2 hand grenades, 130 T56 cartridges, four T56 magazines, two nine watt batteries, 1 wire roll, one interim antenna, one map, 530 iron balls, 3 dressings, 1 cap included.

Needs kidney

S. Galagedara of 153, Hiripitiya Pannipitiya is suffering from end stage of Kidney failure. He has regular Haemodialysis pending early kidney transplant surgery.

He appeals for the donation of a Kidney class of blood group O, A, B or AB+ please call on 0112-780563 or 0112-782518.

Buddhist talk

Prof. Oliver Abeynaike will deliver a public Buddhist talk in English on “The five precepts: An introduction” at a meeting of the Servants of the Buddha Society on Saturday, August 29 at 4.30 p.m. at the Maitri Hall, Lauries Road, Bambalapitiya.

Public lecture

N. Sathya Moorthy, the well-known political analyst, writer, author and journalist from Chennai will be delivering a public lecture at 5.30 p.m. on Friday August 28 at the BCIS Auditorium in the BMICH premises on “The Dynamics of Inter-Party Politics in Tamilnadu”.

The event is organized by the Sri Lanka India Pragathi Sansadaya (SLIPS) in collaboration with the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS). The meeting will be chaired by Kumar Nadesan, Co-Secretary of SLIPS and Managing Director of Express Newspapers (Cey) Ltd.

Sathya Moorthy who heads the Chennai Chapter of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), the multi-disciplinary Policy Think Tank headquartered in Delhi has been a keen observer and student of the political scene in both Tamilnadu and Sri Lanka.

He is the author of several books including ‘India, Sri Lanka and the ethnic war’ published in 2009 and is currently working on a new book that will analyse the Dravidian Polity of his native Tamilnadu.

Free health program

A free program on managing back pain will be conducted by a Physiotherapist on August 29 at 10 a.m. at the Healthy Life Clinic.

Included is free Osteoporosis risk Assessment test and free blood sugar tests. Call 4700700 for details.

Maldivian, Lankan held on prostitution charges

A Maldivian man and an expatriate woman have been arrested on suspicion of engaging in prostitution in a guest house in Male.

According to Maldives Police Services, the Maldivian man is 25 years and the Sri Lankan woman is 27 years.

Miadhu News

Former Bishop of Chilaw passes away

Former Bishop of Chilaw Rt. Rev.Frank Marcus Fernando passed away yesterday. He served as the Chilaw Bishop from 1965 to 2006. Funeral arrangements will be notified later.

Did teen 'lovers' jump to their deaths?

Asela Kuruluwansa

Bodies of a 18-year-old youth and a 14-year-old girl believed to be his girlfriend were recovered from the slopes of the Daulagala hill in Kandy by Daulagala Police on Sunday afternoon.

Police suspect the couple to have committed suicide by jumping from the hill top. The deceased were identified as Dinushka Bandara of Handessa and Shashikala Saparamadu of Kantalai. Investigations revealed that Shashikala's sister is married to Dinushka's brother and the two had stuck up an acquaintance during the girl's visit to her sister's house.

The tragedy had occurred when Shashikala visited her sister for the current school holidays.

The bodies were removed to the Kandy Hospital for an autopsy.

Illicit liquor haula

Police stations in the Nikaweratiya Division have seized 476 drams of illicit liquor, 1,920 drams goda, 1,000 mg heroin and 9,470 mg ganja and arrested 14 suspects during operations between August 18 and 19.

Welikada Police have seized 1.300 kilos of ganja and arrested a suspect on August 17 while the Walana Frauds Bureau seized 336 gallons of goda and arrested a suspect during an operation on August 17.

New political era to dawn

Ishara Mudugamuwa

A historical change of the country's political arena will take place with the beginning of the next year, Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services Minister Maitripala Sirisena said at the opening of the Moragahakanda-Kalu Ganga project. As the the SLFP General Secretary he requests all other political parties like UNP, JVP and Tamil political parties to join SLFP to bring about this change. If problems arise they can be solved through discussion, he said.

The project is started to uplift the living standards of the agricultural families who will be settled in the area. Every crop possible will be cultivated in the area.

Two thousand five hundred and ninety farmer families and 650 non farmer families will be resettled under the new system.

Sanitary labourers to become health assistants

Nadira Gunatilleke

The health workers union attached to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party met Healthcare and Nutrition Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva yesterday where the Minister agreed to grant all four demands presented by them, a Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman said.

He said that during the meeting the Minister agreed to change their designation from `Sanitary Labourers' to `Health Assistants'.

There are about 12,368 of them in the health service at present. Minister de Silva also agreed to absorb 1,000 temporary Sanitary Labourers into the permanent cadre.

The Minister also agreed to pay their salaries and overtime payments immediately. The workers pointed out that they received their salaries and payments for overtime separately in two occasions and it caused financial difficulties for them.

The workers also requested the Minister to allow them to sit for the examination conducted to recruit attendants. The sanitary labourers can get promoted to the position of attendants as the next step in their career. But at present the relevant examination is not conducted in Sri Lanka. Minister de Silva ordered the relevant authorities to call applications for this examination as soon as possible.

Death of Upali Cooray

A prominent leader of the Left Movement Barrister at Law Upali Cooray died in London last Friday.

He was the founder of the Resource Centre for Community Groups, the International Secretary for the Commission for Democracy and Justice and a former lecturer of the Faculty of Law, Guild University of London, U.K. The cremation will take place in London tomorrow.