The President has drove his vehicle in the Southern Expressway from Welipenna service area to Dodangoda interchange a short while ago. After driving to the Dodangoda interchange, he bought a ticket to drive back to Kurundugaha-hethekma interchange. Subsequently, the President drove to Karandeniya via Kurundugaha-hethekma where a public rally was held to mark the commissioning of the Expressway.
(JNW)
November 27, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Gateway to Miracle; the Southern Expressway was officially declared open by President Mahinda Rajapakse a short while ago. The President unveiled the commemorative plaque at the Pinnaduwa interchange marking the opening of the Sri Lanka’s first ever Expressway.
(JNW)
November 27, 2011 at 10:52 am
Gateway to Miracle; the Southern Expressway will be declared open for public by President Mahinda Rajapaksa today(27). This will be the first ever expressway in Sri Lanka. Total distance of the Expressway which runs from Kottawa to Galle is 96 kilometers. The expected travel time from Kottawa to Pinnaduwa when use this expressway will be about one hour.
It has been built at a cost of Rs. 85 Billion. The Expressway has 48 under-passes, 12 overhead-passes and 18 major bridges, including Sri Lanka’s longest bridge of 780 meters in length and 18 meters in width over the Bentara River. It also have eight interchanging points. They are situated at Kottawa, Kahathuduwa, Gelanigama, Dodangoda, Welipenna, Kurundu-gaha-hethepma, Baddegama and Pinnadoowa.
The maximum speed limit on the expressway is specified as 100 kilometers per hour. The main ceremony to mark the commissioning of the Expressway will be held at Welipenna area. Deputy Minister Nirmala Kothalawala says the southern expressway will be open for the public after 6.00 pm today(27).
(JNW)
November 27, 2011 at 7:00 am
Director General of Department of Irrigation G.G.A. Godaliyedda says 11 out of 69 main tanks in the island are overflowing. He added 6 spill gates of the Rajanganaya tank in Anuradhapura were also opened today(26).
(JNW)
November 26, 2011 at 5:53 pm
The ship ‘Sagara’ and 2 Dowra boats have been deployed in the southern sea by the Navy in search for the missing fishermen, the Southern Naval Commander Lakshman Ilangakoon said. It is reported that about 30 fishermen have gone missing due to the strong winds that were experienced in the southern part of the island yesterday(26).
(JNW)
November 26, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Remaining 500 vacancies in the administrative service are to be filled within the next 3 years, Minister of Public Administration W.D.J. Seneviratne said. The examinations for this purpose will be held as scheduled, he added.
(JNW)
November 26, 2011 at 4:55 pm
There was no respite for Sri Lanka. In one of the more closely-fought encounters on this tour, it was Pakistan who prevailed by five wickets after their opponents promised to deliver better, only to falter and give it away. First, with their batting, when they began aggressively and scored at around nine an over in the first ten overs before slowing down considerably and eventually capitulating in the second half. And then it happened with the ball, their spinners putting them in control through tight spells and wickets, not knowing Dilhara Fernando and some fielders would fail to hold their nerve at the death.
Misbah-ul-Haq stood tall for Pakistan, doing what Dinesh Chandimal, who made an enterprising half-century, failed to achieve after guiding the innings – seeing his team through to the end and finishing on a high. Pakistan’s seamers did what their counterparts failed to do – Aizaz Cheema and Umar Gul cleaned up the innings, taking five wickets in the last two overs, to restrict the visitors to a chaseable score; on the other hand, Fernando doled out length deliveries that brought down the required-rate considerably.
Ajantha Mendis, returning from injury, and captain Tillakaratne Dilshan restrained Pakistan in their pursuit of 142 after Imran Farhat began brightly. He inaugurated the innings with three crisp boundaries off the first over of the innings but brought on to bowl in the sixth over, inside the Powerplay, Mendis struck, removing Farhat, who holed out. Umar Akmal’s first-ball duck was crucial in reducing the tempo of the innings further when he adventurously made room to Dilshan and was bowled playing inside the line.
The next four overs yielded just 19, but at one end was Misbah, building up for a flourish at a later stage. He warmed up by slogging a six off Dilruwan Perera over midwicket and triggered the turn in the tide when 43 were needed off four overs, Afridi just having joined him at the other end.
Fernando dropped slightly short to be pulled to the square boundary, and then overcompensated by bowling too full; Misbah unleashed a cracking drive through cover and whipped a full toss behind square to make it 14 in the over. Mendis still had an over left, but Dilshan gave Fernando another go, much to, presumably, his regret. Two length balls followed in the penultimate over – Cheema picked up three wickets at the same stage in the Sri Lankan innings while aiming at the blockhole – and Afridi dispatched them over long-on and deep midwicket. Though he fell off the final delivery, he’d brought down the equation to nine off the last over.
The win was hastened by a botched-up fielding attempt. The first ball of the final over, Misbah drove Malinga to long-off. What should have been a single became two as the fielder took time to get to the ball, and if that wasn’t enough, his wayward throw, missed first by Kumar Sangakkara and then by the short fine leg backing up awkwardly, resulted in six runs in total. With two needed off four, Shoaib Malik edged one wide of third man to seal victory with Sri Lanka still appealing desperately, thinking it was a deflection off the pad.
Pakistan 142 for 5 (Misbah 48*, Shafiq 33) beat Sri Lanka 141 (Chandimal 56, Cheema 4-30) by five wickets
(ESPN)
November 26, 2011 at 8:16 am
9 persons including 8 from Matara and one from Matara have died due to windy weather so far, the Disaster Management Center said. 30 persons are reported missing, it added. Furthermore 1200 houses have been damaged as well due to strong winds.
(JNW)
November 26, 2011 at 7:45 am
Army detachments are ready to assist the people in an emergengency, Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya said.
(JNW)
November 25, 2011 at 4:42 pm
Matara District Secretariat H. G. S. Jayasekara says four persons have died, while 200 houses have been damaged due to the strong winds. Furthermore, 15 boats have also been stranded in sea. The Navy has launched an operation to rescue the fishermen in the stranded boats, its spokesman Commander Kosala Warnakulasuria said. However, approaching them have become difficult due to the rough condition of the sea.
Meanwhile, the Met Department said rainy weather will continue.
(JNW)
November 25, 2011 at 3:30 pm
Disturbance in the lower atmosphere has caused the strong winds that is reported from Galle, the Met Department said. Rough winds are expected at times with the showers that can occur in North, East, North Central, Uva and Southern provinces throughout the day it added.
(JNW)
November 25, 2011 at 11:22 am
Strong winds have been reported from Galle, Media Spokesman of the Disaster Management Center Pradeep Kodippili said. However, no damages have been reported yet, he added.
(JNW)
November 25, 2011 at 10:20 am
Sri Lanka does not need external guidance on reconciliation, Defence Secretary Gotabhya Rajapakse has said. “It will only act on its own accord”, he told the inaugural National Reconciliation Forum which began in Colombo today(24).
“It is only the people of Sri Lanka, but nobody else who understand the ground situation of the country very well. It is them who are now reaping the benifits of peace after suffering from terrorism for more than 30 years”, he added.
He also emphasized that Sri Lanka will realise the goal of national reconciliation, with the same determination in which it acted to defeat terrorism.
(JNW)
November 24, 2011 at 12:44 pm
Former Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratawatte has passed away at the Kandy hospital today(24), family sources said. He was 73. Mr. Ratwatte provided the political leadership when the Security Forces liberated Jaffna Peninsula from the Tiger terrorists in 1995 from the ‘Riviresa’ operation. He also held the portfolio of Power and Irrigation in the Peoples’ Alliance government headed by former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge.
(JNW)
November 24, 2011 at 12:30 pm
President hopes to table the final report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, during the current session of the parliament, Minister of External Affairs Professor G.L. Peiris said. ”The objective of is to make it a public document’, the Minister pointed out.
President is currently studying the complex document and the recommendations the Commission has made. The relevant report will be presented to the foreign diplomats as well. ”The government welcomes constructive criticisms. Therefore, make an objective appraisal regarding the report”, he requested them.
(JNW)
November 24, 2011 at 11:41 am
Admissions of the G.C.E. Ordinary Level Examination are to be posted from tomorrow(25), Commissioner General of Examinations Anura Edirisinghe said. Around 550,000 candidates will sit for the examination which begins on December 12, he added.
(JNW)
November 24, 2011 at 7:26 am
A four-wicket haul from Sohail Tanvir and a fluent stand between captain Misbah-ul-Haq and Umar Akmal were the stand-out features of Pakistan’s convincing win – they took the series 4-1 – in the dead rubber played on a slow pitch. The pair didn’t get bogged down at the fall of two wickets off successive deliveries and their positive approach kept their team on track, but the platform for a win was set up by a superior bowling attack that restricted Sri Lanka, whose batting let them down again, to a gettable total.
Plenty of talent and depth in their bowling reserves served Pakistan well again. In conditions that were aiding swing and movement initially, and not discounting the advantage of using new balls at each end, Pakistan’s seamers stepped up, and were supported by their spinners later on. Tanvir didn’t have the pace of the man he replaced, Aizaz Cheema, but made up with his prodigious swing – by Middle East standards – and wily, selective variations. He fooled opener Upul Tharanga with an away swinger after feeding him three deliveries on the trot that moved in through the air. He was more threatening when he pitched the ball short of a driving length, something he realised quickly after being driven down the ground by Dinesh Chandimal. He worked at him with a spate of away-going deliveries and held one back a little more, prompting an attempt at a steer from Chandimal that was snapped up by slip.
In the interim, Umar Gul forced a loose shot from Tillakaratne Dilshan, who was caught behind. Thirty two for 3 soon became 46 for 4 when Chamara Silva, replacing an injured Mahela Jayawardene, was sucked in by a length ball that he nicked straight to slip, giving Junaid Khan a wicket in his first over.
The only batsman unflustered by the travails around him was Kumar Sangakkara, once again charged with the responsibility of rebuilding his team’s innings. Despite the early assistance for the seamers, he didn’t hesitate lurching forward to execute his favourite drives past extra cover on one knee, and took Tanvir for three fours in an over. The spinners, Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal, erred on occasion, and Sangakkara was quick to latch on. He found an able partner at No.6 in Angelo Mathews, who counterattacked by launching Gul for two straight sixes when that early support from the conditions had withered away, and ran superbly between wickets.
Sangakkara and Mathews did an admirable job, rotating the strike and not getting bogged down in a stand of 118. The field was spread out but a significant proportion of their runs were singles earned by just tapping the ball around the in-field, often in front of cover and point, and sprinting across. The boundaries, however, had dried up and when Sangakkara tried to break the 14-over drought with a drive over extra cover against Mohammad Hafeez, he was caught. Not long after, Jeevan Mendis was stumped off Afridi and Mathews, who’d survived a couple of close shaves while walking across to Ajmal, was eventually bowled round his legs. Sri Lanka only managed two fours and a six in the second half of their innings, struggling to push on as the track got increasingly slow and Tanvir returned to nip out a couple more.
Pakistan began their pursuit cautiously, going through a 24-ball runless phase at one stage, but Mohammad Hafeez and Asad Shafiq, in particular, were beginning to get set before losing their wickets. The experienced hands of Younis Khan and Misbah, however, guided them in typical, workmanlike fashion. Misbah was given a life at backward point by Jeevan Mendis, but consolidated well amid periodic bursts of aggression. Younis pulled Fernando past square leg and drove Prasanna inside-out over extra cover. Misbah warmed up by launching a length ball over Mathews’ head, blazed Perera through the covers and reverse-swept a couple of boundaries past short third man.
In a little over ten overs together, the pair added a half-century stand and strengthened Pakistan’s position. That was undermined when Younis and Shoaib Malik were trapped in front by Mendis off consecutive deliveries in the 26th over. The hat-trick ball was an early indication of the Pakistani response – Umar stepped out to a flighted delivery and drove it confidently to mid-off, seemingly unaffected by the pressure created by those two wickets. The final ball of the over was a long hop that was promptly dispatched, and the tone of his innings changed little after that.
Umar often left his crease to get to the pitch of the ball and comfortably kept the runs flowing. Misbah, on the other hand, opted to play from the crease, sweeping, reverse-sweeping, shuffling from one side to the other restlessly but effectively and keeping the required-rate under control throughout. The boundaries came from the other end: Umar muscled Thisara Perera through the covers, guided Malinga past third man, swatted Dilhara Fernando through midwicket and creamed Seekkuge Prasanna past mid-off. There was a slight hiccup when Misbah and Afridi fell in quick succession, but Pakistan were secure with Umar at the other end; the pressure was off with a couple of crunched boundaries off Malinga and Fernando, and the win followed shortly after.
Pakistan 219 for 7 (Misbah 66, Umar 61*, J Mendis 3-36) beat Sri Lanka 218 for 9 (Sangakkara 78, Mathews 61, Tanvir 4-34) by three wickets
(ESPN)
November 24, 2011 at 6:08 am
