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‘Skipping summit would be counter-productive’:
Australia rejects calls to boycott CHOGM
SYDNEY, Saturday (AFP): Australia has vowed not
to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in
Sri Lanka despite mounting calls not to attend. Foreign Minister Bob
Carr said it would be counter-productive to skip the summit in
Hambantota in November. “Any suggestion of a boycott would be
counter-productive. It would simply isolate the country and render
it defiant of international opinion,” he told ABC television late
Friday.
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UNP leadership resorting to media gimmicks in North
Jaffna District parliamentarian Shashikala
Maheshwaran has accused the UNP leadership of conducting media
gimmicks in the North while keeping her in the dark. Accusing senior
UNP leaders of resorting to low level tactics to woo the Northern
voters, the only UNP MP in the North said that she could have got
people in Jaffna to protest against their visits while bypassing
her.
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No member of Govt wants change in venue - Kamalesh Sharma
Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma
said no member of Government has indicated any wish to change the
CHOGM venue from Sri Lanka, reaffirming that the Heads of meeting
will go ahead as planned in Hambantota in November this year. Sharma
told a press conference dominated by critics of Sri Lanka, such as
Channel 4,
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Sri Lanka’s HR record improved in 2012 - Dr. Mahanama Hewa
Commenting on the American State Department’s
Human Rights Report 2012 on Sri Lanka, Dean/Faculty of Law,
Kotelawala Defence University Dr. Prathibha Mahanama Hewa said far
from human rights violations, it is clear that Sri Lanka has
improved its human rights. Individual cases such as one Dassanayake
who died whilst in police custody are being dealt with according to
the provisions of the Penal Code.
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Quacks to be flushed out
A mobile tracking system will soon come into
force for the first time, as Health Ministry officials tighten their
net around medical quacks, as it is claimed there are over 40,000
islandwide. “We are collaborating with the police and a mobile
network system to develop an ‘SMS tracking system’.
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Massive crowds expected in Colombo for May Day
The main Opposition UNP opting to hold three
separate May Day rallies, Colombo will be a sea of blue and red on
Wednesday with hundreds of thousands attending the UPFA rally.”We
hope to have a mammoth rally presided over by President Mahinda
Rajapaksa,” UPFA General Secretary and Minister Susil Premajayantha
said. The SLFP would focus on a membership drive, this time around,
he said.
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President Maithripala Sirisena is in Thailand making a three-day official visit and attending the second Asia Cooperation Dialogue Summit. The Dialogue Summit that brings together 34 nations in the Asian region takes place from October 8 -10 in Bangkok under the theme "One Asia, Diverse Strength".
Official level discussions have commenced between Sri Lanka and Iran on reviving trade agreements that were signed between the two countries and will be put into operation soon after ironing out technicalities, Minister of Industry and Commerce, Rishad Bathiudeen said. 
Pakistan on Friday (September 30) officially postponed the 19th SAARC Summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad on November 9 and 10. A new set of dates for holding the Summit will be announced soon through the Chair of SAARC (Nepal), reports said. 
Due to the prevailing drought, water levels of the main reservoirs have dropped to half its capacity, with authorities warning that drastic measures may need to be taken if water is to be continuously released from the reservoirs for power generation. 
To avert a possible dengue outbreak in the next three months, when the number of mosquito breeding sites are likely to surge with the monsoon rains, the Dengue Control Unit of the Health Ministry will launch an island-wide Dengue Control Week starting on Tuesday, September 27 to Monday, October 3.
Sir Richard Jolly, former Deputy Executive Director, UNICEF, and Special Adviser to the Administrator, United Nations Development Programme (1996 to 2000), and Principal Coordinator of the widely-acclaimed Human Development Report will deliver a lecture on, “Development: Can Sri Lanka be a model for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs)?” on September 28 at 5 pm at the BMICH Committee Room D, on the invitation of the Gamani Corea Foundation. 
Richmondite Charith Asalanka joined the elite band of school cricketers by winning the coveted Schoolboy Cricketer Of The Year 2016 title for the second year in succession emulating the feats of former Sri Lankan greats Arjuna Ranatunga, 1980/82' ( Ananda) Roshan Mahanama, 1983/84'(Nalanda) Thilan Samaraweera 1994/95' ( Ananda) 'Lahiru Peiris 2004/2005 (St.Peter's) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa 2010'2011 (Royal) who had also won the award twice .
Cricketing legend and former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene will grace the occasion at the 38th Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year awards night scheduled to take place at the Galadari Hotel on September 20. 
Stern action will be taken against traders who sell sugar above the controlled price of Rs. 95. Instructions have been given to the relevant authorities to launch island-wide search operations, a press communique from the Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake said. 
Refuting speculations, Power and Renewable Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said, no decision has been taken to impose power cuts on account of the current dry spell in the country. 
