Lanka News – Lanka Gazette – Sri Lanka News Portal

A team of officers attached to the Western Province Intelligence Division raided a private company situated at the Young Men’s Buddhist Association premises in Borella after receiving a tip-off that the company is producing fake documents, last Tuesday.According to the Police, they have uncovered many fake documents together with computer equipments including computers that were used to produce the forged documents.A suspect residing in Wanawasala in the Kelaniya area was arrested by the Police with regard to this crime.There were counterfeited birth certificates, marriage certificates, education certificates, special graduation certificates, business registration certificates, wage certificates among the documents which were uncovered by the Police. Also, they have apprehended rubber seals with names of different institutions and ranks.The Western Province Intelligence Division is conducting further investigations.

By Ishtartha Wellaboda The Trade Union Confederacy (TUC) demands that the Labour Minister should give up his responsibility of selecting representatives for the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Summit in Geneva. TUC General Secretary Saman Rathnapriya said that Minister Gamini Lokuge’s decision to not send trade unions representing public sector employees to the Summit indicated that the minister was neglecting his duty.”The ILO has given the government the responsibility to select representatives for the Geneva Summit. The minister’s inability to select representatives from the public sector employees clearly displays his incompetence,” Rathnapriya said.

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The Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) yesterday said they will not impose any regulation that would result in slowing down the internet speed, when The Nation contacted to inquire them the possibilities of banning people from accessing internet sites containing pornographic content through mobile phones.The Police Women and Children’s Bureau recently said they will negotiate with mobile telecommunication service providers in the country to prevent people from logging into porn sites as the Police have found out that people can even brows porn sites, which have already banned on internet, on mobile phones.Meanwhile, Police sources said mobile telecommunication service providers agreed to extend their support to a suggestion of ‘quelling the threat of porn sites’ in Sri Lanka, proposed by the Police Women and Children’s Bureau at a meeting held on Friday evening, Police sources said yesterday.”This measure was aimed at protecting the children, ‘the future of Sri Lanka’ while ‘preserving’ the Sri Lankan culture,” he added.

However, TRC Chairman Anusha Pelpita said he had not been informed in this regard so far. “Even so, the Commission would object any decision that would result in slowing downing the internet speed, given that strenuous attempts are being made to introduce speedy broadband access to Sri Lanka at cheaper rates,” he emphasised. According to the Women and Child Bureau, porn sites easily accessible on personal computers and mobile phones are the prime cause for sex-related crimes, moral decadence and the desecration of the cultural purity in Sri Lanka. Supposedly, two categories are adversely affected: The youth starting from 10 years of age till they get married, and the old staying at home after retirement. “The ideal way of combating the so-called menace would be to deny access whatsoever, following the footpaths of some of the Asian countries. The procedure would require filtering systems which may affect the speed of the network, the current situation badly needs repair, stressed the source. This project is still to be officially implemented as part of a mainstream task of cracking down ‘the obscene,’ which started with the removal of billboards exhibiting exposed female bodies. Furthering this mission, the existent laws of punishment of six month-imprisonment and Rs.5,000 bail for the possession of the pornographic material would be proposed to be increased up to five years and Rs.100,000 respectively,” the source said.

A poisonous species of jellyfish has been seen on the Mount Lavinia beach recently and the public is warned to be on alert when walking on the beach as the species known as blue jellyfish could be deadly.Senior Environmentalist cum lawyer Jagath Gunawardena told The Nation that the poison contained in this jellyfish, which is known as the ‘man of war’ jellyfish might cause the people to develop allergy conditions such as itching and reddening of the skin, if stung, or made bodily contact. No deaths caused by this jellyfish have been reported in Sri Lanka, but the toxin of the ‘man of war’ jellyfish is considered deadly as people tend to experience severe allergy conditions if stung or made bodily contact with this jellyfish.

The jellyfish can be identified by its blue colour and its shape resembles a “kithul flower.” The public is advised to be alert and be careful when bathing or wading in the sea as these jellyfish are washed ashore and it is hard to spot them even in shallow water when they are covered with sand.Every year from June to August different species of jellyfish are washed ashore, but the ‘man of war’ jellyfish is considered to be a harmful type. When the ‘man of war’ jellyfish stings or its tentacles get entangled on a human body, its cells release a toxin which is poisonous enough to kill, so it is not safe to touch these jellyfish, if they are seen in water or on the beach.

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Referring to recent media reports indicating that the ban on tinted glasses will apply to VIPs as well, Media Centre for National Security Director General Lakshman Hulugalle said any person with valid reasons could obtain special permission from the Defence Ministry to have tinted glasses for their vehicles.

“What I said was that the law would treat everyone equally. I did not make any comment on ministerial vehicles having tinted glasses,” he said and added that some vehicles can have tinted glasses after receiving special permission from the Defence Ministry.

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The debate over the 1978 Constitution and the executive Presidency deepened when the Leftist leaders expressed their trenchant criticism of the ‘hegemonic’ executive, at a seminar on ‘Constitutional Reforms Necessary for Today,’ held at the auditorium of the National Library and Documentation Services Board recently.Presenting the keynote address, General Secretary of the Socialist People’s Front Raja Collure expressed his concern that the executive powers could be exploited by the not-yet known successor of the present President despite the fact that President Mahinda Rajapaksa is not exercising his powers to the fullest. “A major broken-promise since 1996, the executive Presidency should be aborted at least now, in order to save the administrative structure from the phenomenon of politicisation,” he conceded. Proposing to lift the regulations over the times of terms of office was “a tragicomedy” in this context, according to Democratic Left Front Leader Vasudeva Nanayakkara. A mixed system empowers Parliament to be independent of a single dominant was proposed by the speakers. Most notably, they also invited President Rajapaksa to remain in politics as an executive Prime Minister. (DK)

United National Party (UNP) General Secretary Tissa Attanayake yesterday expressed his surprise and puzzlement at the continued accusations thrown at him by UNP Puttalam District MP Palitha Range Bandara.”From the day this incident happened I have gone beyond my official duties to take action on this matter, and still Range Bandara keeps accusing me of many things,” Attanayake said. “To start an inquiry I need to have a report of the incident. No one sent me such a report or even a request for an inquiry. On my own volition I sent a request to our district manager from Puttalam, asking him to send a report on the incident. However, he rejected the request because he was not in good terms with Range Bandara. Thereafter, I asked the Additional District Secretary to send me a report. No one asked me to do this,” he explained.

Attanayake explained that, after obtaining the initial report he had given the details to the party legal division. Thereafter, the legal division had prepared a charge sheet, which had been forward to the accused, Shantha Abeysekara on April 30. Abeysekara had been given a month to respond to the charge sheet. According to Attanayake, the Disciplinary Committee will meet on June 13 to hear the case. The committee is headed by Attorney Ashendra Siriwardena, and includes two other members. “The response to the charge sheet is handled by the disciplinary board. The disciplinary board is headed by Karu Jayasuriya. I’m also a member of the board as I am the General Secretary. Several other party members are also part of the disciplinary board,” he said.Deputy Leader of the party, and head of the disciplinary board Jayasuriya said, “Shantha Abeysekara handed in his response before the deadline. The board met last week and after reviewing his response we decided that there were grounds to move forward.”When contacted, Bandara continued with his accusation and said, “Tissa Attanayake delayed this process on purpose.” However, he did not elaborate any further.

The chaos in the Colombo Port since the sudden pullout of inter-terminal trucker involved in shuttling containers, especially between the privately-run South Asia Gateway Terminal and SLPA terminals from June 1 is likely to improve a great deal next week with the stopgap shuttle operator who was inducted into the job the same night adding 20 new prime movers to the job early next week.

As a result of this chaos, shippers said hundreds if not thousands of container boxes have already missed their connection vessels. And more than the financial cost and the inconvenience caused it would reflect badly on the port’s position as a transshipment hub in the region.Shipping industry sources said even by yesterday the situation had not returned to more than half the normal capacity despite the interim shuttle operator increasing its fleet to about 30 prime movers.The industry is primarily blaming SAGT for the situation as they had in the first place given the shuttling service exclusively to Sea Consortium Lanka (Pvt) Ltd since 1999, though in concurrence with the SLPA. “Had there been some competition in shuttling such a total breakdown wouldn’t have happened,” a leading member of the industry charged.

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Members of the United National Party (UNP) have threatened to walk out if Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe gives SLMC the upper hand to hold the position of opposition leader of the Eastern Provincial Council at their meeting tomorrow (31).”Mohamed Furkan is the next person in line to be appointed as a member of the EPC to succeed the position, which fell vacant after Segu Dawood was elected as a MP,” said Ariyaratnam Sasikaran, a UNP member from the Eastern Provincial Council. “However, we members are also in the dark as to what Leader Wickremasinghe would say because he is said to have signed a pact with the SLMC in this regard.”He added that all provincial council members were meeting tomorrow (31) and were going to question Ranil on what the pact dictates. He, however, added that party members felt strongly about the leadership position and have already threatened to walk out if Leader Wickremasinghe gives up the Eastern Provincial Council opposition leadership to the SLMC.”We cannot sell the Tamil community to the SLMC,” he said vehemently. “We members have decided not to team up with the SLMC in future, never again, after what has been happening,” Sasikaran said.Crisis has been brewing in the EPC on who would occupy the post of the leader of the opposition in the EPC after a seat fell vacant when Basheer Segu Dawood was elected a MP from the Batticaloa UNP District list. The candidate eligible to fill the seat from the UNP is Mohammed Furkan from Meerodorai. However, the SLMC has demanded that the UNP nominate Mohammed Ismail, commonly known as ‘Ismail Haji’ of Valaichcheni, whose name appears below that of Furkan to fill the post. Earlier, it was decided that the two members would hold the position in turns, Ismail Haji for the first 15 months and Mohammed Furkan for the next 15 months. This was decided at a meeting of the SLMC Eastern Provincial Council members held last week which was attended by Party Leader Rauff Hakeem, General Secretary Hassan Ali and Chairman Basheer Segu Dawood.

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is to pay Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) Rs.3.4 billion out of the Rs.60 billion debt it owes to the CPC, following an understanding between the two parties.Last year October, Treasury intervened into a dispute in a bid to facilitate the reimbursement of billions of rupees owed to CPC by government entities – the majority of which is incurred by CEB – as per government’s commitment to International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Petroleum Resources Ministry Secretary Titus Jayawardene confirmed to The Nation that at a meeting held on May 17, 2010, CEB had undertaken to settle the outstanding, starting within two weeks or by May 31, 2010. However, a CPC official said that there was a dispute with regard to the amount agreed. “During 2009, CEB’s debt owed to CPC surged to Rs.46bn on principal alone and a further Rs.14bn on interest. Although even Treasury minutes state that they have agreed to pay back Rs.8bn, the CEB is of the view that it undertook to repay only Rs.3.4bn, which is the balance after deducting the last payment out of the initially agreed Rs.8bn,” he said.

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