Sri Lanka News | Online edition of Daily News

The newly appointed two SLFP district organizers and an electorate organizer received their letters of appointment from President Mahinda Rajapaksa at temple trees recently. Here the new district organizer for the Rathnapura district Prabath Mahesh de Alwis being handed over the appointment letter by the President.

A school bus carrying children from a leading school in Colombo had a narrow escape Monday morning when the bus driver while travelling along the Marine Drive, Kollupitiya around 6.30 am lost control of the bus and hit a telephone pole on the side of the road and ended up on the rail track. A tragedy was averted as an alert motorist managed to stop the Matara bound express train which stopped just in time. The terrified children were evacuated with the help of passers by. Picture sent by a Daily News reader

Hospital attendant killed in accident

A 59-year-old attendant died on the spot after she was knocked down by a speeding private coach. Hemalatha Karawita of the Panadura Hospital was standing at the bus stop on Galle Road near the Panadura Police Station on September 19 when she was knocked down.

Electricity pirate fined

A man who pirated electricity for his home was fined Rs 10,000 by Horana Magistrate Mahinda Ranasingha and also ordered him to pay Rs 37,105.20 to the Ceylon Electricity Board.

The suspect, U.Edi Abepala Rodrigo, is a resident of Horana, Anguruwathota road.

Ragama devale Maha Perahara

The 16th annual Maha Perahera of the historic Ragama Devalaya will commence from the Devalaya premises on September 24 at 7 p.m.

The Perahera will proceed along Ragama town, Kadawatha road, Lankamatha road, Dabuwa road and return to the devalaya premises.

The Buddha pooja will be held on the same day. Also, Nawagraha pooja at 7 pm, a special Deva pooja at 9 a.m to bless the President, Three Forces and police, Deva Danaya at 11 a.m, Lama pooja at 3 p.m and Mathangeshvary pooja at 5 pm will take place.

A donation of dry rations will be made to 6,000 low income families and a rice dansala will also be held on the same day.

Authors of Buddhist books felicitated

The All Ceylon Buddhist Congress and the Buddhasasana and Religious Affairs Ministry in a jointly organized ceremony will felicitate authors of Buddhist books, to mark the 2600th Sambuddhathva Jayanthi and literary month. This ceremony will be held under the patronage of Asgiri Chapter Most Ven Udugama Sri Buddharakkitha Thera with the participation of Prime Minister D M Jayaratna at the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress on September 26.

Published and selected books of 2010 will be presented with awards. Colombo University Senior Lecturer Agalakada Sirisumana Thera will deliver the keynote address.

YWCA bargain sale

A bargain sale organized by the YWCA to celebrate its 60th Anniversary will be held on September 29 and 30 from 9 am to 6 pm at the YWCA Headquarters, Rotunda Gardens, Colombo 3.

Bed linen, crockery, cutlery, ready made garments, household and miscellaneous items will be on sale.

The proceeds of this sale will be utilized for the development work of the YWCA.

Media editing competition

The Colombo University Computer Science Society will organize a media editing competition to improve the creativity of students using computer technology. In addition, a two-day workshop will be conducted on October 4 and 5 to provide the basic knowledge on media editing under audio, video and image editing. Those willing to take part in the workshop are requested to confirm their participation on or before September 28 and the productions for the competition should be posted on or before October 28.Contact 0718405321 or 0719417343 for details.

Silver Mist: dinner dance

The Burgher Association has organized Silver Mist, the 10th anniversary celebration dinner dance on October 1 at the Grand Oriental Hotel, Colombo.

The dance is expected to be a pre-sold event with Black providing music together with Outburst DJs. The entrance ticket draw will take the winner to Holy Land courtesy of Superlink Travels.

Disabled man dies

A disabled person who was crossing the road in a wheelchair was hit by a lorry at Marawila along the Chilaw-Colombo road. He succumbed to his injuries at the Marawila hospital the same day.

The body was handed over to Mudukatuwa Grama Niladari for final rites at the government expense.

Vocational training in Batticaloa

The National Apprentice and Industrial Training Authority (NAITA) commences new training programme in the Batticaloa district in collaboration with St.John's Vocational Training Centre and Holcim Lanka (Pvt) Limited. GIZ assists the programme.

Multi skilled craftsmen and construction supervisor training will be conducted at St. John's Vocational Training Centres.

Tourist stung by snake

A tourist watching a snake-charmer on the Marawila beach on Monday was stung by the snake and admitted to the Marawila hospital and later transferred to the Chilaw hospital. He was identified as V. Spain (32) of the Netherlands. Hospital sources said he is out of danger.

Treasure hunters remanded

Seven suspected treasure hunters including a man in robes arrested by the Navagattegama police on September 16 while digging for a treasure at the Inginimitiya scheme H1 village, were remanded till September 29 when they were produced before the Puttalam District Judge and Magistrate Heshantha de Mel on Saturday. Investigations are continuing

AGM

The Old Nalandians 69 group will hold their AGM-2011 on September 24, 2011 (Saturday) at the Sovereign Corporate Hotel, Rajagiriya at 6.30 pm.

For details contact Sumith Weerasekera 0713427630 or Vijitha Purasinghe 0777300135.

'Rhythm of the Joes'

A musical and dance extravaganza organised by St Joseph's College, Colombo 10 will be held at the Rev Dr Stanley Abeysekera Auditorium on September 25 at 4.45 p.m. It will be a musical treat for the young and the old, said the priest in charge of co-curricular activities Rev. Fr. Prageeth Dishan.

The preliminaries were worked off at class, grade and school levels. The finalists, the best three singers and dancers will compete for the first place in each category. The best senior and junior instrumentalists will also perform.

Shakya Silva, Christopher Perera, Sandaruwan Fonseka. Proceeds from the show will be used to purchase instruments for the College orchestra. Nalin and the Marians will perform at the show.

Seminar

A seminar on Pre-Budget 2012 organised by the Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka (OPA) will be held on September 21 at the OPA auditorium No 275 Prof Stanley Wijesundera Mawatha, Colombo 7.

Physics and Astronomy Olympiads

The fifth Sri Lankan Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad competition, the first Sri Lankan Junior Astronomy Olympiad Competition and the seventh Sri Lankan Physics Olympiad competition conducted by the Institute of Physics, Sri Lanka will be held on September 24.

The examination centres are the Departments of Physics in the universities of Colombo, Peradeniya, Kelaniya, Ruhuna, Batticaloa, Jaffna and in the Vavunia campus.

Schoolchildren who have applied to participate at the Olympiad competitions are requested to visit the examination centres that they have applied even if they have not received the admissions yet. The Physics Olympiad competition will commence at 9.00 am and the two Astronomy Olympiad competitions will commence at 11.00 am on the same day. Contact Dr Chandana Jayaratne, Astronomy Olympiads national coordinator on 0714800800.

Lecture

Tadakazu Kanno, PhD Candidate at the Department of War Studies, King's College, London will deliver a lecture on "Conflict Early warning and a Critical Approach" at the ICES Auditorium, 2, Kynsey Terrace, Colombo 8 on September 26 at 5.30 pm. Kanno's PhD thesis focuses on conflict early warning mechanism.