CCD arrests 20 in Peliyagoda

The Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) arrested 20 suspects this morning who were part of an extortion racket at the newly built fishing complex in Peliyagoda, Colombo Range DIG Anura Senanayake said.

The breakthrough about the extortion racket came to the fold when the Fisheries Ministry informed the Defence Secretary about the racket.

The suspects were running the extortion racket by demanding cash within the range of Rs.25 to Rs.500 from each fish dealer. Among the arrested is a Vice Chairman of an Urban Council in the area.

The raid to arrest the suspects was carried out under the directions of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, DIG Senanayake said.

The investigations have been handed over to the Colombo Range from the Peliyagoda Special Crimes Division. (Supun Dias)

Murali faces new test for UK visa

Sri Lanka's legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan is struggling to qualify to play English county cricket this year - because he is scared of computers and examinations.

A recent change in Britain's work visa rules means the world record holder must prove his English language skills at an examination to secure a permit to play for Gloucestershire in June.

"I have a visitor's visa (for Britain) till 2013, but I have to sit for an exam now to work there," he told reporters on Tuesday, adding he was scared to write his exams on a computer.

"I don't know how to use computers."

Asked if he was frightened of the computer or the exam, he said: "Both."

"I last sat for exams in 1988 and passed six subjects for my (General Certificate of Education) Ordinary Levels. I left school afterwards. All I wanted to do was to play cricket."

Muralitharan, who turns 39 this month, quit international cricket after Sri Lanka's defeat in the World Cup final against India on Saturday with a record 800 Test and 534 one-day wickets under his belt.

Despite his aversion to computers, Muralitharan runs several charities which fund IT training, maintains schools and donates supplies to thousands of underprivileged children.

"I need about $100,000 each year for school books, uniforms, shoes and supplies to distribute to 20,000 children," he said.

His Foundation for Goodness charity is also raising cash to build a $5 million sporting facility, school and IT lab in the island's north to help thousands of war-displaced civilians.

An ethnic Tamil, Muralitharan runs a similar project in the island's Sinhala-dominated south that was affected by the 2004 Asian tsunami.

He plans to travel to Australia, Malaysia and the US to raise money from the expatriate Tamil community and well wishers.

"All my life it has been cricket. Now its my turn to help people less fortunate than me." Colombo, April 5 (AFP)

Sai Baba on life-support

Doctors treating Satya Sai Baba, 86, have said that his condition was critical and they needed to keep him on life support systems.

Sai Baba was admitted last week with chest and lung infections to the intensive care unit of the Sri Satya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences at Puttaparthi in Anantapur district. A panel of top doctors at the hospital are attending to him.

“Bhagwan Satya Sai Baba continues to be on ventilator support for helping his respiration and suction of the secretions from the lungs. He continues to be on CRRT system to help the functioning of the kidneys. The condition of Baba is critical,” the press statement issued by the Director of the Sri Satya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences, Dr A N Safaya, said. (Express news service)

MR unhappy with limited tickets?

Foreign officials from Sri Lanka are not happy with the level of courtesy extended to their President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his trip to Mumbai to watch the World Cup final.

Though no official complaint has been lodged with the Indian government, they have informally conveyed their displeasure at limited tickets made available to Rajapaksa’s entourage, and at the refusal let him meet the teams before the start of the match.
President Pratibha Patil greets her Sri Lankan counterpart in Mumbai

“The tickets for the Sri Lankan president were being organised by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). We would have been more happy if we had more tickets for the entourage,” the Sri Lankan Consul-General in Mumbai, Upekkha Samaratunga, told Mumbai Mirror.
Rajapaksa had decided to come to India for the final after Sri Lanka’s semi-final victory over New Zealand in Colombo.
A request for 40 tickets was made to the BCCI through the Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka.

Around the same time, the cricket board got another request for 36 passes from Rashtrapati Bhawan for Indian President Pratibha Patil and her group.

“Since it was not possible for us to accommodate everybody at such short notice, we made 10 passes available to both the leaders in President’s Box at the stadium,” BCCI’s Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty said.

“Since the Indian President is from Mumbai, we made another 20 passes available to her at the Garware pavilion. As for the Sri Lankan President, we could offer him only 10 additional passes in the Garware stand.”

Board officials said that since they were aware that Sri Lanka’s Sports Minister CB Rathnayake had purchased 40 tickets for the Garware stand a few weeks ago, they advised the Presidential entourage to use some of the seats blocked by him.

“In addition to that, I believe the Sri Lankan board president bought 10-15 more seats in the Vithal Divecha stand. But there was no problem,” Shetty said.

A senior official of the Maharashtra government said the Lankans were also upset because Rajapaksa’s request to meet the Sri Lankan players before the start of the match was denied at the last minute.

In the India vs Pakistan semi-final in Mohali, both Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Indian PM Manmohan Singh had the teams before the match began.

Consul-General Samaratunga said that a meeting with the players was scheduled in the President’s programme, but was later changed by Indian authorities.

Further, Rajapaksa was not allowed a picture opportunity with the winning Indian after the final.
When contacted, an MEA official in New Delhi said that Rajapaksa had not been invited by India, he had himself asked to come over.

In Mohali, Gilani was our guest. That’s why he was taken on the field to meet the players. "If there was no on-the-field interaction in Mumbai, it could be because of protocol issues.”

When contacted, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, Prasad Kariyawasam, confirmed that no complaint had been lodged with the Indian government on the issue. (Mumbai Mirror)

Kumar Sangakkara to step down as Sri Lankan skipper

Kumara Sangakkara. Sri Lankan skipper Kumara Sangakkara on Tuesday toldHeadlines Today that he was going to quit the national cricket team's captaincy. Sangakkara said he has already met the Lankan board officials and communicated his decision and said he felt that following the ICC World Cup finals defeat at the hands of Indian team it was time someone else took over as the captain of the Lankan cricket team. Sangakkara's disclosure came in an exclusive interview with Headlines Today Executive Editor Rahul Kanwal. Ruling out his retirement from the game, however, Sangakkara said, "I will continue to play for another two-three years." Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men had defeated Sangakkara's team by 6 wickets in the final held at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on April 2. It was Sri Lanka's second consecutive World Cup final defeat under his captaincy. In 2007, Lanka had lost the coveted trophy to the mighty Australians.

Sri Lankan to accommodate more fans to Mumbai final

Srilankan Airlines hopes to double its passenger capacity to bombay if Sri Lanka enters the world cup cricket final. The CEO of srilanakan Manoj Gunawardane said that they would introduce wide bodied air crafts to meet the demand if Sri Lanka beat New Zealand in the first semi final of the ICC World Cup now in progress at Premadasa Stadium.

Fake websites selling tickets

The National Centre for Cyber Security of the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Response Team (SLCERT) warned internet users to be on the alert for fake websites that claim to sell tickets for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.

SLCERT Senior Information Engineer Rohana Palliyaguru told Daily Mirror Online that they have already received two complaints regarding such websites. “Those sites are operating from abroad. Therefore we have taken measures to inform the authorities in the relevant countries against those sites,” he said.

He also warned the internet users to refrain from providing their personal information including credit card numbers to such sites as they could be used for illegal purposes. (Lakna Paranamanna)