The Government has appointed Prasanna Wickramasuriya as the new Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services Ltd from today.
This follows the resignation of Chandima Rasaputra, the former Chairman. Airport and Aviation Services also provides air traffic control services and manages the Sri Lanka airspace as well as the Colombo flight information region.
A tragic death was reported from Settikulam yesterday when a flying peacock knocked and injured a four year old girl in the face.
According to Settikulam police, the child who faced the unexpected tragedy was returning from Service at the Asikulam Catholic Church in Vavuniya with her father and grandmother on a motorbike when a flying peacock knocked her. The child was on the petrol tank and the grandmother was on the pillion when the mishap occurred.
The peacock died on the spot and the child succumbed to her injuries on admission to the Vavuniya General Hospital. Vavuniya Magistrate Alex Raj held the magisterial inquiry while the Post moretem was conducted by Judicial Medical Officer Lavan Selvaratnam. Police Constable Samarasinghe led evidence.
Posts and Telecommunications Minister, Mahinda Wijesekera who sustained head injuries in the suicide bomb attack in Akuressa on March 10, has been taken out of the Intensive Care Unit after making steady progress, Colombo National Hospital Director, Dr. Hector Weerasinghe said yesterday. "However he remains in the hospital, with specialists predicting at least a further two month stay," Dr. Weerasinghe added.
He noted that in the case of serious head injuries, like the one Minister Wijesekera had suffered, close scrutiny was needed over a period of time with the recovery process being lengthy.
However Minister Wijesekera has made steady progress, he added.
Minister Wijesekera, 66, suffered serious head injuries in the LTTE suicide attack at the National Milad-Un-Nabi festival at the Jumma Mosque in Akuressa. He was later airlifted to Colombo where he underwent a four hour surgery.
Fifteen people were killed and another 46 sustained injuries in the LTTE attack.
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Mr. Dissanayaka told a news conference that the income of the public was also dropping due to adverse financial situation. He said that earnings from exports including tea and rubber have sharply dropped and the tourism industry is in a crisis. |
A blue whale swims in the deep waters off Mirissa. Pods of Blue, Sperm and Humpback whales can be easily seen around Sri Lanka for six to eight months a year, while Bryde’s whales are somewhat rarer. Out of 81 species of whales, 27 can be seen in the waters around the island. Sri Lanka has begun whale watching tours to lure foreign visitors to see its natural wonders. AFP
Colombo: Newly appointed Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara on Saturday gave a thumbs up to John Buchanan’s concept of multiple captains and feels it opens up endless possibilities for the game.
Former Australia coach Buchanan, who is in charge of the Kolkata Knight Riders team in the Indian Premier League, proposed more than one captain for the side which has sparked a furious debate in India with Sourav Ganguly fans claiming this was a move to sideline the former India skipper. Sangakkara though found the concept pretty interesting and said it can be tried out in Twenty20 cricket. However, he also said communication between the coach and players would be vital for this experiment to be successful.
"If it’s a way to go forward and it shows results, why not? Everyone is looking for the edge to win. If this is going to provide them that in the future, then it’s well and good," said Sangakkara, who will lead Sri Lanka for the first time in the Twenty20 World Cup in England this June.
Sangakkara said he understands Buchanan’s concept because he believes that leadership is always situational. "I believe that leadership is always situational. It’s a very interesting concept, and I think it’s all about using the best man for a specific situation," he told ‘cricinfo’.
"It will be tried and tested, and then you’ll find that some people are better at ensuring that bowlers are changed correctly, and someone might be good for field settings," said Sangakkara, who represents Kings XI Punjab in the IPL.
The wicketkeeper-batsman, though, claimed Buchanan’s concept was not new in international sport. "Cricket is evolving. In American football, you have an offence and defence, a defensive coach and an offensive coach. And cricket, going forward, might have to look at itself differently. Things like fielding captains and bowling captains are experimental tactics where teams are trying to find the best way forward in Twenty20," said the 31-year-old. He also claimed that Sri Lanka have been employing the basic thought for some time now.
"The traditional idea of one captain doing all the work is never really true. In Sri Lankan cricket, at different times and difficult times, different people step up to lead the side. Also, we’ve always encouraged a team of leaders who are independent thinkers and who are not afraid to contribute ideas and information on and off the field. (PTI)
The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft
KOROLYOV, Russia (AP) - A Russian cosmonaut was forced to dock a Soyuz capsule carrying U.S. billionaire tourist Charles Simonyi manually at the international space station Saturday after a sensor monitoring the engines apparently malfunctioned.
Engineers played down the incident, but it renewed recent questions about Russia's otherwise famously reliable spacecraft.
Vladimir Solovyov, flight director for the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said that just a few minutes before the docking time an autopilot signal went off showing that one of Soyuz engines might have failed.
Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka reported that the engines were operating normally and he took manual control of the capsule to keep an emergency computer program from thrusting the engines and sending the craft backing away from the station.
"We took the decision not to allow that," Solovyov told a news conference at Russia's mission control in Korolyov, on Moscow's outskirts.
"We have to figure out what happened," he said.
The docking by Padalka appeared otherwise smooth and was slightly ahead of schedule, roughly two days after the capsule blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan's barren steppe. Applause broke out among space officials and crew relatives gathered at mission control after the hookup was announced.
Cosmonauts typically receive extensive training in the event that Soyuz's autopilot fails or some other problem pops up.
"Everyone worked wonderfully, on the ground and on the space craft. There were no uncontrolled situations," said Vitaly Lopota, chief engineer with Soyuz manufacturer RKK Energia.
Padalka and U.S. astronaut Michael Barratt are joining the station's current crew, while Simonyi, who is making his second trip as a paying customer to the space station, returns to Earth on April 7 along with cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov and NASA astronaut Michael Fincke.
Some three hours after docking, the crews opened the hatches and Padalka, Barratt and Simonyi floated in to greet the station's occupants - Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, NASA astronaut Michael Fincke and cosmonaut Yury Lonchakov - with hugs, smiles and handshakes.
"We had a great ride up here and the docking was a little bit of excitement but we're very glad to be here and the station looks great," Barratt said later in a video-hook up with mission control.
"It was an awfully fun ride," he said after wishing his wife Michelle a happy anniversary.
Simonyi, a Hungarian-born software designer, exchanged greetings with his brother in Hungarian. Padalka's daughter sang a small song while Padalka played with a small stuffed animal that floated about the station's compartment.
A dispute between UPFA MP Sarana Gunawardena and one of his employees, Primal, over the latter switching allegiance to Prasanna Ranatunga, contesting the forthcoming elections to the WPC yesterday led to the abduction of the employee’s 12-year-old son.
According to a complaint lodged with the Gampaha police, the Attanagalle organizer and three other persons allegedly stormed Primal’s residence at No 160/03, Yakkala, Viragula around 3.00 am and attacked the occupants. Unable to find Primal, the gang allegedly abducted Lahiru Yomal Sampath, a Grade 7 student of the Gampaha Vidyalaya.
It is alleged that Primal was pistol whipped and forcibly held before being released around 8 am yesterday.
Sources said that Primal had been with the MP for about 15 years and recently joined Ranatunga’s camp.
Political sources said that Ranatunga, a former minister of the WPC, was tipped to be the next WP Chief Miniser in case of the UPFA’s victory.
Troops of 53 Division and Task Force 8 (TF-8) confronted with LTTE terrorists while continued that advances in general area east of Puthukkudyirippu causing heavy damages to terrorists yesterday, 29 March, military report said.
Infantrymen of 5 Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment (5 VIR) uncovered 2 bodies of LTTE terrorists killed during the confrontation along with more military items. 3 x T-56 weapons, 1 x pack and 1 x mortar bike are also among the items found.
Meanwhile, troops of 6 Gajaba Regiment (6 GR) uncovered 3 bodies of LTTE terrorists killed during the confrontations took place in the area. 1 x T-56 weapon and 1 x I-Com set are also among the recoveries.
Separately, 7 Gemunu Watch (7 GW) troops uncovered a T-56 weapon and 3 x LTTE packs while conducting a search and clear operation in the same area yesterday.
During two fierce gun battles that erupted in the seas off Chalai and Mullaithivu, Sri Lanka Navy destroyed four Sea Tiger boats killing twenty- six Sea Tigers on board, around midnight on the 29th and at dawn on the 30th March 2009.
The units of the Navy's elite Boat Squadrons, the SBS and the RABS, based at Chilawatte and Chundikulum, intercepted and engaged two clusters of sea tiger boats with heavy Naval gunfire on two separate occasions. Three sea tiger boats were destroyed in the seas off Chalai around 29th midnight and the other sea tiger boat was destroyed in the seas off Mullaithivu during the wee hours today (30th March).
During the fierce gun battles that ensued, the Navy inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy repulsing their desperate attempts. The LTTE sea tiger boats were desperately attempting to speed off when the Naval personnel targeted them directing heavy Naval fire. As a consequence, all four sea tiger boats were completely destroyed engulfed in a ball of fire.
Monitoring of the enemy transmissions has revealed that several LTTE leaders including Maran have been killed. One sailor sacrificed his life and three Naval personnel including one officer received injuries in the incident.
Sri Lanka Navy exercises maximum precautions when confronting LTTE Sea Tiger movements in order to maintain zero casualties to Tamil civilians who also use the seas to flee into cleared areas. A well-fortified Naval blockade has been put in place to cut off all sea tiger movements in the seas off Nayaru, Mullaithivu, Chalai and Chundikulum. This has forced LTTE sea tigers to make desperate attempts at breaking through the Naval defences even at the expense of heavy cadre and vessel losses.
Courtesy: SL Navy
Mr. S.B.Dissanayaka, opposition leader of the Central Provincial council said that the goverment was heading to a major financial crisis with several jobs already lost, factories closed and foreign earnings dropping. 