By Cheranka Mendis As you walk in to the children’s ward at the National Cancer Institute of Maharagama you cannot help but feel a lump in your throat, tears threaten to spill over and sobs have to be choked back. Turning towards you will be these little faces – eyes big as saucers, lips sometimes ...

BBC: The International Cricket Council’s chief executives’ committee (CEC) has suggested that an associate or affiliate member such as Ireland could host a ICC World Twenty20 tournament. The CEC said non-Test-playing countries “should consider submitting a detailed proposition

The only Sri Lankan sportsperson to have qualified for London 2012 Olympics has called on the country’s authorities to plan ahead to get the best out of sportsmen and women. Niluka Karunaratne, the national badminton champion for the last ten years, told BBC Sandeshaya that otherwise Sri

To commemorate the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, the Prefects’ Guild and senior students of the Colombo International School present ‘Smike: The Musical’ on 9 and 10 March. ‘Smike’, a pop musical based on Dickens’ novel ‘Nicholas Nickleby’, was created by composer Simon May, in collaboration with Roger Holman and Clive Barnett in 1973. It follows ....

To commemorate the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, the Prefects’ Guild and senior students of the Colombo International School present ‘Smike: The Musical’ on 9 and 10 March. ‘Smike’, a pop musical based on Dickens’ novel ‘Nicholas Nickleby’, was created by composer Simon May, in collaboration with Roger Holman and Clive Barnett in 1973. It follows ....

DUBLIN (Reuters): Leigh Halfpenny’s last-minute penalty gave Wales a 23-21 win over Ireland in an enthralling Six Nations see-saw battle on Sunday as the hosts failed to avenge last year’s World Cup quarter-final defeat. Wales, missing several first-team players, were well on top in the early exchanges of their championship opener. Ryan Jones was denied ...

Abu Dhabi: Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott had joked in his match commentary on the third day of the Abu Dhabi Test that he would sell his three houses if his side lost the match. Little did he know that Day 4 would turn the fortunes in Pakistan’s favour. Pakistan got an unassailable 2-0 lead ...

(Reuters): Malaysian-owned Caterham emerged at the head of the pack on Thursday as the first of the Formula One teams to show off their new car. If the green and yellow CT01 was unlikely to win any beauty parade, with some branding the ‘platypus-nosed’ car downright ugly, technical head Mike Gascoyne was sure it would ...

BBC: At least 31 people have been injured in clashes between guards and rioting inmates at Welikada prison yesterday. Most of the injured are prisoners who were shot by guards. Police deny claims that three inmates were killed. Several buildings were set alight in the remand wing of Colombo’

Media organisations in Sri Lanka have urged the authorities to investigate all recent attacks on media personnel and institutions. The watchdogs say they will stage a protest on 25 January in Colombo against a series of attacks against media personnel in recent years. It will especially mark “Black January” during which many prominent media personnel ...

The newly elected president of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has once again has predicted that at least five years will be needed to resolve its financial crisis. Upali Dharmadasa, who was elected uncontested on 03 January, said the SLC will get a considerable amount of income from future tours of other Test playing nations by ...

Reuters: Manchester City suffered a third loss in four matches as Steven Gerrard earned Liverpool a 1-0 victory in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday. Captain Gerrard, who has just returned from a long layoff with a groin injury, clinically converted a 13th minute penalty to put ...

The Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover’s sensational new SUV – a car that won 34 international awards in the three months after its first production model came off the line in September 2011 – has arrived in Sri Lanka. The smallest, lightest, most fuel-efficient Range Rover ever produced, the Evoque has been described as ‘one ...

Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna is to make an official visit to Sri Lanka on 16 January to discuss bilateral relations and security in the region. The Government web site news.lk said that in an interview given to the Indian Journal Business Standards, Krishna has said that the Indian Government has never provided overt or ...

BBC: Hoteliers in a popular tourist destination in Sri Lanka have accused a local politician of blackmailing them and demanding ransom from hotels at the peak of a tourism season. The Hikkaduwa Hoteliers Association (HHA) told BBC Sandeshaya that the town’s Mayor, Winnie Kariyawasam

Reuters: Asian factory output remained weak in December, with Chinese manufacturers narrowly avoiding contraction and South Korea’s industrial production shrinking the most in almost three years, while Europe data this week is expected to point to a recession. India, however, saw strong factory activity in December that defied recent weakness in Asia’s third-largest economy. Meanwhile,...

A shocked leisure industry yesterday decried the deadly attack on tourists in Tangalle over the weekend as the biggest setback for the sector which was rebounding following the end of the war. They urged the Government and law enforcement authorities to ensure harshest punishment against those responsible whilst calling for adequate measures to ensure safety ...

Reuters: Rider Mark Cavendish was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year on Thursday to cap a memorable 12 months in which the Briton won the road race world title and the Tour de France green jersey. The 26-year-old Manxman topped the poll, voted for by the public, beating off competition

LONDON (Reuters) – England captain Andrew Strauss is aiming to complete four successive Ashes series victories over Australia with wins at home in 2013 and again on the return leg in 2013-14. “Playing in back-to-back Ashes series would be a realistic goal,” Strauss told BBC radio

LONDON, Reuters: British swimmer Mark Foster has ruled out competing at his home Olympic Games next year as he does not envisage winning a medal, the six-times world champion said on Tuesday. Foster, 41, returned from retirement to compete at the 2008 Beijing Games, his fifth Olympics, and recently dropped heavy hints that he might ...

36,371 people were killed on the UK’s roads in the 10 years to 2010 according to the BBC.  But despite this, the lowest number of deaths occurred in the UK’s Motorways, which would be similar to Sri Lanka’s new Highway.  The Motorways are not crash-free

BBC to close half its website, cut radio stations: report

Reuters: Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt was quick to remind those who think young Jamaican training partner Yohan Blake will be the favourite for next year’s London Games 100 metres that he was still the man to beat. “A lot of people have said guys are going to beat me but I am still number ...

What to expect on 16 DecemberThe organisers behind the exciting and highly anticipated weekend set to take Colombo by storm, are ready to share their inside plans with the public. After many months of logistics and operational planning, the 16 and 17 of December is looking to promise an event unlike any event Sri Lanka ...

By Peter Day The Ray Wijewardene Charitable Trust that continues the legacy and the vision of the late Sri Lankan innovator is organising the inaugural ‘Ray Wijewardene Memorial Lecture’ to be held on 13 December 2011. The Ray Wijewardene Charitable Trust organises the lecture with the Institution of Engineers of Sri Lanka – of which ...

CARDIFF (AFP): In an era where even the backs are bulky, Test rugby will say goodbye to one man who has proved rugby can still be a game for all sizes when Shane Williams plays his final match for Wales this weekend. The Ospreys back, for whom the phrase ‘diminutive wing’ might have been coined, ...

Reuters: Sky television will launch a dedicated pay TV Formula One channel in Britain next year with live coverage of every race in high definition (HD) and without the interruption of advertisements, the broadcaster announced on Friday. Sky said it would show every practice and qualifying session live on Sky Sports F1 HD when the ...

Reuters) – Tests and Twenty20s are the future of international cricket and 50-overs matches should be scrapped, according to England spinner Graeme Swann. “I think one-day cricket will have to give at some point,” he told the BBC. “I don’t think that game should carry

(BBC) Conservationists in Sri Lanka have welcomed a decision by US-based multinational food firm Dole to abandon plans for a huge banana plantation. Campaigners say Dole had hoped to team up with a local company, Letsgrow Ltd, to plant the bananas in Somawathiya National Park. The park is home

NEW Zealand is a stronger country brand than Australia, an international survey shows. FutureBrand’s country brand index, which is run in association with BBC World News, assessed 113 countries. The latest annual index released at the World Travel Market in London on Thursday (UK time) rated