AL Jazeera Exposure - The match-fixers then made large sums of money from betting. We can make pitch do whatever we want

Reporter films Indian fixer boasting of bribing Sri Lankan groundsman to doctor pitch in Test matches.
Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit has revealed how criminals fixed two Test matches - the highest level of international cricket - and were planning to fix a third.
The two fixed matches were Sri Lanka versus India in July last year and Sri Lanka versus Australia in August 2016.
Both matches were played at Galle International Stadium in Sri Lanka.
In secretly filmed meetings, the match-fixers also said that they were planning to fix England's game against Sri Lanka, also at Galle, in November this year.
The world cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), has launched an investigation into Al Jazeera's findings.
Robin Morris, a match-fixer from Mumbai, told undercover reporters that he bribed the groundsman at Galle to doctor the pitch to ensure guaranteed outcomes.
The match-fixers then made large sums of money from betting.

Files on Tamil Tigers and MI5 in Sri Lanka erased at Foreign Office-The Guardian says.

Destruction of 1978-1980 files means there is no record of UK government’s work at the time

Britain’s Foreign Office destroyed almost 200 files on Sri Lanka dating from the start of a Tamil Tiger uprising during which MI5 and the SAS secretly advised the country’s security forces, it has emerged.

The loss of the files means that there is almost no record of the British government’s work with the Sri Lankan authorities at the start of a famously brutal civil war.

The destruction of the files raises fresh concerns about the Foreign Office’s attitude towards handling historic files on sensitive subjects. An official review in 2012 found that the department had destroyed thousands of documents detailing British counter-insurgency operations in Kenya and other colonies as the empire came to an end.

Under the Public Records Act 1958 government departments are obliged to preserve historic records. But, in response to a Freedom of Information request from the Guardian asking for information about the destruction of the files, the Foreign Office stated that it was not required to preserve the documents. It said the files’ content “may be of a policy nature but might also be administrative or ephemeral”.

The Foreign Office has now confirmed that it destroyed 195 files on Sri Lanka, dating from 1978 to 1980, three decades after the country became independent from Britain. The department would not say exactly when, where, or how the destruction occurred.

UAE will change labour law, minister tells FNC

Emiratis must account for 5% of private sector workforce and 6% of total UAE workforce

Abu Dhabi: The UAE Labour Law will be changed to live up to the ambitions of the leadership, citizens and private sector, and to fit the post-oil era, Nasser Bin Thani Al Hameli, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, told the Federal National Council on Tuesday.

Al Hameli was speaking as the human resources policy was discussed, but he did not give a time frame as to when the new law would be issued.

The minister stressed that the goal is to achieve the national agenda indicators, especially to have citizens in five per cent of the private sector jobs. “The new law will address all basic requirements of the post-oil era,” Al Hameli said.

Johann Peries second Sri Lankan to summit Mt. Everest

 Sri Lanka's Johann Peries successfully summited the 29,030 feet of Mount Everest at 5.55 a.m in Nepal time today.

This was his second attempt and Mr. Peries now has become the second Sri Lankan to summit Mt. Everest after Jayanthi Kuru Utumpala in 2016.

He left the Camp at 4.00p.m last evening.

His earlier attempt in 2016 was unsuccessful when his oxygen tank failed 400 metres from the summit.

Posting a Twitter message the Foreign Employment Bureau had wished their warmest congratulations.

daily mirror

Some can't identify difference between soldiers and terrorists - MS

President Maithripala Sirisena saya that our security forces have not been accused of war crimes in the resolution of the United Nations Human Rights Council as certain media and extremist parties falsely depict.

President Sirisena said that  today such accusations are made by the parties who support the L.T.T.E. and living abroad and those who are against the government and security forces.

The President stated this addressing the” National War heroes day ” held near the war heroes monument in parliament grounds today (19).

The President who speaking on this occasion said that it is a shame some have failed to identify the difference between the soldier and the terrorist.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry marry as millions watch

Couple exchange vows in Windsor Castle chapel before celebrity-studded congregation

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have become husband and wife after exchanging their wedding vows before an altar that has sealed royal unions for centuries, and a global television audience of millions.

Markle, 36, a former actor, also exchanged her Ms prefix for the style HRH and the title Duchess of Sussex as her marriage to the 33-year-old prince made her an official member of the royal family.

The couple emerged into the sunshine, her long train covering the chapel steps, and kissed in front of a cheering crowd.

Then the new Her Royal Highness Princess Henry, Duchess of Sussex, Countess of Dumbarton and Baroness Kilkeel, and her husband, were driven through Windsor and up the Long Walk back towards the castle in a horse-drawn Ascot Landau. 

The service was conducted before a congregation of 600 in the 15th-century St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, a key symbol of the British monarchy from which the modern royal family has taken its name.

Army commander tells the Hindu newspaper :sri Lanka is the only country that eradicated terrorism.

                                                                          Pic :army.lk

The Sri Lankan Army Chief on the army’s role and challenges in the post-war context, efforts towards resettlement, and on international scrutiny

Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake took over as the 22nd Commander of the Sri Lankan Army in June 2017. The conduct of the army in the past, during the island’s civil war that it ended by defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam in 2009, and its contentious presence and role in the country’s Tamil-majority north and east since then continue to dominate the discourse around post-war resettlement and reconciliation. Amidst growing calls from the Tamil political leadership and the people for demilitarization of the war-scarred areas, what is the army’s role and vision as Sri Lanka tries transitioning into peace? Excerpts from an interview in Colombo:

It is nine years since the civil war ended. The period has witnessed some crucial political developments, including a regime change in 2015. The current government came to power on the promise of strengthening democracy. In this post-war context, how do you see the role of the army?

The Sri Lankan army had been a traditional army, a ceremonial army, back in the 1970s, early 1980s. Due to the negative incidents that took place in the early 1980s, the army was expanded to face the challenges and threats that came in the way of the country’s territorial integrity and internal security. The army put in the main effort to ensure there is peace that the people aspired for, making many sacrifices. In recent history, Sri Lanka is the one and only country on the world map that has eradicated terrorism from its soil. We are a victorious army

Once the combat is over, it is the responsibility of the army itself to understand its role and task. The last nine years were very critical to understand what happened 30 years ago. What must this government and army do to ensure that we don’t go back to the roots of the conflict that began 30 years ago? We have to find a mechanism, a commitment within the country to satisfy our own people more than the people outside. Today, we are closer to a better solution. Democracy was restored, elections were held [in 2015], good governance was brought in.

In this context, we are right-sizing and building a capacity-based army. We have to give back to the people by right-sizing and ensuring that the war will not recur. We are engaging with the people in the north and east to identify our responsibility. The 30 years of war were brutal, many lives were lost on both sides. This is a sort of testing period for us. Maybe till 2020. I believe that will be the time to take a good jump. As Chief of the Army Staff, I can say that the army is the only organisation which has the biggest capacity, be it human resource or anything else.

Govt should prevent LTTE ideologies from resurfacing - Warnasinghe

How sex toys are being redesigned to help survivors of sexual assault

A healthy sex life can feel unattainable for survivors of sexual assault. But new products, from brushes to non-penetrative tools, are giving women a powerful way to reclaim their bodies

For many survivors of sexual assault, a happy sex life feels out of reach. While much of the treatment on offer is focused on emotional and psychological healing, people are often left to work out for themselves what sex after trauma looks like for them.

But some people are working to change that, and are reconfiguring and reappropriating sex toys as tools for healing. Last year, the Dutch designer Nienke Helder created a range of objects to help survivors reprogramme how they deal with physical sensations. Drawing on her own experience, she wanted to redress what she saw as the “clinical” approach to recovery currently employed. “The tools are an opportunity to explore your personal sexual recovery,” she says. Her collection, titled Sexual Healing, includes a horsehair brush to explore touch and tickling, a mirror designed to help you better view your vulva, as well as a pelvic device that vibrates when your muscles are too tense, and a bean-shaped sensor that lights up if you’re breathing too fast, to remind you to slow down and relax. “By getting biofeedback through the tools, you can visualise what kind of processes are happening inside your body, which can help you understand in which situations your body reacts with a reflex.”

U.S. Embassy to open in Jerusalem soon

104 Year-Old Biologist Dies in Assisted Suicide