The Sundaytimes Sri lanka || Sunday 11 July, 2010

A kneeling President Mahinda Rajapaksa giving a glass of water to Mr. Weerawansa to end his three-day death fast. With the President are Mr. Weerawansa’s wife and little daughter. Pic by Saman Kariyawasam

TOP NEWS

President abandons bid for third term

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will abandon moves to amend the Constitution to enable him to contest any number of times for this post. Instead, he has agreed ‘in principle’ to create the office of an Executive Prime Minister.

Lanka dilutes draft to woo Non-Aligned countries

After having failed in its last attempt to get the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) to back Sri Lanka against Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the government is making a last ditch effort to convince the 118-member group to take sides in the growing political confrontation at the United Nations.

Weerawansa’s death fast ends; President gives him ......

Trouble brews in B’wela over Muslim feast

Conservationists set to crush banana project

UNP reforms: New advisory council to play major role

Jumbo-size holes in elephant strategy

Residents seek justice after midnight ordeal

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LATEST NEWS

MAGAZINE

Chaat cuisine hits Colombo’s streets

Chaat is one of the great, if lesser known delights of Indian cuisine. Its combination of unusual flavours juxtaposes sweet with sour and then throws in some spice. Chaat is essentially Indian fast food, and it’s sold on street corners across the country by bhelwalas. Fresh curd, raw onions, tamarind sauce, boiled potatoes and channa join a host of other flavours. Quick and basic, chaat isn’t five star food, its authentic street food.

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BUSINESS TIMES

UN office siege could hurt Lanka’s rating prospects

With public protests growing against the United Nations to force the world body to cancel its investigation of alleged abuses committed by the government during the war in the North and East, Sri Lanka could lose the goodwill of the international communiy, badly affecting the country’s efforts to upgrade its sovereign ratings, official sources said this week.

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INTERNATIONAL

Is it okay to cheat in sports?

Shortly before half-time in the World Cup elimination match between England and Germany on June 27, the English midfielder Frank Lampard had a shot at goal that struck the crossbar and bounced down onto the ground, clearly over the goal line.

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EDUCATION

ICASL Educational Trust awards scholarships to students

The ICASL Educational Trust awarded scholarships to 27 registered students of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka at its annual scholarship awards ceremony held recently at the Hotel Renuka, Colombo.

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SPORTS

Lessons ICC can learn from FIFA

Last week the news of the Nigerian soccer development hit me like a flash of lightning from the blues. In our younger days we learned that Africa consists mostly of politically unstable countries with leaders of limited vision and a part of the world where democracy is a semi-luxury.

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EDITORIAL

Diplomatic farce and hara-kiri

Within 48 hours of the state media heralding the triumphant return of President Mahinda Rajapaksa after settling a dispute in the neighbouring Maldives, came the news of one of the worst comedowns in the country's recent history as far as its external relations are concerned; the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recalling his envoy in Colombo for 'consultations' - diplomatic speak for telling the host they are not impressed with what has happened.

COLUMNS

The battle with Ban boomerangs -- Political Column

The urgent telephone call came to President Mahinda Rajapaksa when he was on an official visit to Ukraine. The caller was Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Maldives. He urged Rajapaksa to use his good offices to resolve a deepening political crisis in his country.

Time is short; life is precious! -- 5th Column

For instance, just this week, first there was GLP losing the GSP. Well, you can hardly understand what he says at the best of times, but first he tells us that we don’t need the GSP and that we can survive without it. Then he visits the European Union, pleading for it.

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PLUS

Her courage that is ‘unputdownable’

You need to meet her in person to experience the full impact of her incomparable spirit. There she is, so thin, looking like a small girl as she sits in her wheelchair, unable to use her voice ever since a tracheostomy was performed to help her breathe. She greets me with a kind of a smile and you don’t immediately notice the obvious signs of the debilitating Motor Neuron disease that has afflicted her for the last three years. It is the same rare condition that afflicted the brilliant scientist, Stephen Hawking, and is also called Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

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FUNDAY

King Dharmapala

There spread another rumour to the effect that it was a Portuguese national who had been bribed to kill King Buwanekabahu of Kotte. The ministers who were fond of the king had been repeatedly advising him to be more concerned about his security.

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FREE HOLD

BOC expands overseas wings with the re-launch of BOC UK

With a far reaching view of expanding Sri Lanka's banking services in the United Kingdom (UK) and in the European union, the Bank of Ceylon will be re-launching its 60 year-old London branch at No1, Devonshire Square , London EC2 tomorrow (Monday the 12th) ......

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