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Father of broadcasting speaks no more
Livy Wijemanne, widely regarded as the father of broadcasting in Sri Lanka is now a voice from beyond.

The former chairman of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation and later the first to introduce private radio in Sri Lanka died last Sunday at the age of 84 and was buried on Thursday amidst a large and distinguished gathering.

Starting as a relief announcer in 1944, Livy Wijemanne covered the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in London and other big events with a brilliance that put him among top broadcasters in the world. He soon rose to be director of the English services and some of the best announcers in the country were handpicked and trained by him.
Livy Wijemanne in 1984 was appointed chairman of the SLBC.

Enduring justice for East
From Sinniah Gurunathan, Trincomalee correspondent
Permanent magistrate's courts would be established in Kantale and Mutur from Monday.

The new magistrate's courts are to function on all five days in the week. The Judicial Services Commission has issued directives in this regard to the authorities concerned.

The Mutur Magistrate's Court became defunct in 1987 owing to the ethnic conflict.

Since 1994 the Mutur courts functioned as a circuit court, every Wednesday. Its last circuit session was held on November 27. The first sitting of the permanent Mutur Magistrate's Court will be held on December 2 with Mr. T.L.Manaf as the Magistrate. The first sitting of the Kantale Magistrate's Court will also be on the same day, JSC sources said. Mr.Ajit Manasinghe is the new Kantale Magistrate.

Police bust porn mag network
By Shanika Udawatte
More than 10,000 copies of pornographic tabloids and magazines have been taken into custody from a building in the Gunasinghepura area by a police Special Crimes Division team, police said yesterday.

They said three suspects arrested in Thursday's raid were produced before the Maligakande Magistrate who remanded them. Assistant Superintendent Priyantha Jayakody said the raid was aimed at eradicating the pornographic menace and not just arresting individuals who sold them.

A police officer said that one of the suspects arrested was a wealthy businessman who owned three communications centres and about five newspaper stalls in and around Pettah area.

He said that prior to the raid police officers who posed as buyers went to one of the newspaper stalls and ordered 500 copies of a porn tabloid. The man who supplied the copies was later arrested and his confession led Police to raid the Gunasinghepura building where 10,000 copies of porn magazines were detected. These magazines were sold at Rs. 100 and above, police said adding that the total value of the magazines seized in the raid was more than Rs. 4 million.

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