Channel 4 documentary did not depict UN Chief's trip to Sri Lanka accurately, UN says





 
June 22, New York: The documentary recently aired by the British television station Channel 4 on the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka did not depict the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's trip to the island nation in May 2009, the UN said. During the daily press briefing on Tuesday, in response to a media question, the spokesperson for the Secretary-General said the Martin Nesirky said he does not think the UNSG has seen the film but he has been briefed on the film.
On the contrary to what the Channel 4 film showed, the UN Chief has visited more than one refugee camp and had talked to the internally displaced people in the camps during his visit to Northern Sri Lanka in 2009, the spokesperson said.
"�..The Secretary-General did much more than a whistle-stop tour to one refugee camp, and that he most certainly did speak to refugees in camps," Nesirky commented.
"This is something that is not correctly portrayed in that film," he noted.
When asked about UN follow-up on the report of the Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka, the Spokesperson said that response is being coordinated at the Secretariat.
"The process of coordinating between different parts of the UN system to ensure that the kind of internal look at how events unfolded and what lessons can be learnt from that, that's being coordinated between different agencies and different parts of the Secretariat at the moment," Nesirky told the media.
He reiterated that any follow-up investigation would need either cooperation from the Sri Lankan Government or a mandate from an intergovernmental body.
The UNSG is already implementing the recommendations that deal with the internal workings of the UN at the time with safeguarding the material that was gathered during the course of the Panel of Experts' work, Nesirky said.
According to the spokesperson the Secretary-General is working to ensure that there will be regular follow-up to keep an eye on the process that is under way through a national mechanism in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka's Higher Education Ministry to discuss lecturers' pay hike with the Treasury
Sun, Jun 19, 2011, 09:05 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.


June 19, Colombo: The Higher Education Ministry of Sri Lanka says it is to discuss the salary issue of the university lecturers with Treasury officials this week.
Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake says the government intends to resolve the university lecturers' salary issue at the earliest without allowing it to disrupt the university sector in the country.
Dissanayake has told the media that the government would however not be able to grant the salary increase as stated in 2008.
According to the Minister, the government wants to grant a reasonable pay increase to the lecturers.
The Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) has now proposed to the government to grant a salary increase in the range of 30 to 50 percent.

Sri Lanka declares National Dengue Prevention Week to eradicate mosquito menace
Sun, Jun 19, 2011, 07:43 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka


June 19, Colombo: Sri Lanka Ministry of Health has declared the week from 20th of June to 26th of June as the National Dengue Prevention Week to launch island wide cleaning campaigns for mosquito eradication as well as awareness campaigns.
The National Dengue Prevention Week is jointly launched by the Presidential Dengue Task Force and the Ministry of Health.
Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena will launch the programme from Nugegoda MOH division tomorrow.
The Ministry has divided the island into seven dengue zones and the programme is conducted in each zone on one day of the week.
The new programme is different from the previous dengue prevention weeks, a spokesman of the Ministry of Health said. Supervision of the premises for mosquito breeding and awareness programmes are a major part of the programme, the spokesman added.
During the week, special teams will inspect premises for mosquito breeding in 305 MOH divisions throughout the country.
The Minister has warned to take stern legal action against the people who hinder the inspections and services of health officials during the mosquito eradication program.
According to the statistics from the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry, the dengue menace has claimed 69 lives and 7,948 people have contracted the disease so far this year.
Nearly one-third of the dengue cases have been reported in the Colombo district. Colombo, Kalutara, Gampaha, and Batticaloa are the most affected districts.
According to the World Health Organization, there is no effective vaccine again dengue available or drug treatment for those who become infected.
Elimination of breeding places of the female mosquito is the most effective way to prevent the transmission of the dengue virus through the disease-carrying mosquitoes. Anything that can hold water, such as flower pots, empty coconut shells, jars, and places where the rain water collects are breeding grounds for the female Aedes mosquito.

President's son gets five year broadcasting rights for Sri Lankan Premier League

                                 
     Secretary of Sri Lanka Cricket Interim Committee Nishantha Ranatunge has agreed to give television and radio broadcasting rights of the Sri Lankan Premier League, which is to be held like the Indian Premier League, for five years to the Carlton Sports Network (CSN) owned by the President's son, Yoshitha Rajapaksa.

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May 12 (CP) Colombo- Statistics on road accidents and the causes for those have emphasized the need to pay immediate attention to road safety and educate the public regarding traffic rules, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Wednesday. Addressing the National Road Safety Conference held yesterday (11) at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo President Rajapaksa revealed that a report issued by a Parliamentary Select Committee has found that six people are killed daily by road accidents in Sri Lanka. The President underscored the need for urgent action to change this situation as the country is making progress in economic development. He urged the authorities to take stern actions against the pedestrians as well as the drivers who violate traffic rules.

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms). The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs. Flowers may facilitate outcrossing (fusion of sperm and eggs from different individuals in a population) or allow selfing (fusion of sperm and egg from the same flower). Some flowers produce diaspores without fertilization (parthenocarpy). Flowers contain sporangia and are the site where gametophytes develop. Flowers give rise to fruit and seeds. Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals, so as to cause them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen.
In addition to facilitating the reproduction of flowering plants, flowers have long been admired and used by humans to beautify their environment but also as objects of romance, ritual, religion, medicine and as a source of food.