Gorilla shot dead after 4-year-old boy gets into enclosure

A 4-year-old boy was lucky to be alive Saturday after falling into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo in a horrifying incident that ended with the 400-pound primate being shot dead.

The unidentified child crawled through a barrier and fell roughly 12 feet into the gorilla cage about 4 p.m., officials said.

A hulking 17-year-old male gorilla named Harambe grabbed the child and carried him into a moat. “It seemed very much by our professional team...to be a life-threatening situation,” Cincinnati Zoo President Thane Maynard said in an afternoon press conference.

The ape was dragging around the boy for about 10 minutes before the zoo's Dangerous Animal Response Team moved in and shot the endangered primate.

“It's a sad day all around," Maynard said. “They made a tough choice and they made the right choice. Because they saved that little boy's life. It could have been very bad.”

Maynard acknowledged that the gorilla wasn’t attacking the child but “all sorts of things could happen in a situation like that.”

The child was swiftly plucked out of the primate pen and rushed to an area hospital. He was initially reported to be in serious condition with non-life-threatening injuries.

Mattala Names As The World's Emptiest International Airport

Hardly anybody goes to Sri Lanka’s Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (HRI) because they have a flight. No, the air transport hub is currently a daily flight or two away from being completely defunct, and the people who do go there tend to be tourists making a side trip from the nearby wildlife parks to see the stunning, fully modern airport in the middle of the jungle for themselves.

I arrived at HRI, which is located in Sri Lanka’s southern Hambantota district, in the mid-morning to find a group of tourists huddle together in front of its passenger terminal. I asked them why they wanted to visit an empty airport.

“It is a really beautiful building,” one of them told me matter-of-factly.

This airport is a landmark, a sign of progress in this region of Sri Lanka, which is located in a forested area a 250 kilometer drive from Colombo. The airport has a 12,000 square meter terminal building, 12 check-in counters, two gates, a runway long enough to handle the largest commercial jets, and capacity for one million passengers per year.

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Eastern Province Chief Minister condemns boycott by tri- forces

In a letter, Eastern Province Chief Minister Nazeer Ahamed condemned the decision taken by the tri- forces to boycott events he attended.

The CM went on to say the decision made by the forces was political, whose leaders appeared to have joined hands to look at the issue from the limited perspective of protecting the offenders within their ranks and not from the broader prospect of establishing truth and justice.

“In any event, the issue has broader implications. It would be in the best interest of the country for the responsible officers to apologise,” the letter read.

The CM also said he would not hesitate to express his unequivocal regret and apologies to all those who were present, including the staff and students of the school, the foreign dignitary and the concerned naval officer for his strong but justifiable reaction.

Full letter

Sampur Maha Vidyalaya is a school under the Eastern Provincial Council. It is not a national school.

A well- known business organisation in Colombo had volunteered through the Sri Lanka Navy to donate computers and other items to the school. In appreciation of this good gesture, in my capacity as the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, I attended the function held at the school. The Hon. Minister of Education of the Eastern Province Hon. Thandayuthapani also attended the function. The function was organised by the school.

As I arrived at the function, the Hon. Governor’s name and the name of HE Atul Keshap, the Ambassador of the USA in Sri Lanka were announced by the compeer who was the English teacher of the school. My name or the name of the Minister of Education of the province was not announced, though both of us had arrived. The Hon. Governor perhaps, noticing the lapse, signaled me to come up to the stage.

When I came up on stage, a naval officer who was acting as the ‘master of ceremonies’, physically obstructed me from proceeding to take my place on the stage. It may be due to the fact that he was trying to stop the media personnel getting on to the stage. His grossly offensive conduct, an offence under the Penal Code, shocked me. I censured him, questioning him as to who he was to stop me. I also blamed the Hon. Governor for not directing the officials to follow proper protocol. I felt insulted in the presence of a foreign dignitary and a large public gathering.

Though it was clearly a usurpation of the functions of the Eastern Provincial Council and in violation of the country’s Constitution, I attended the function without raising any issue, out of respect to Your Excellencies and the foreign guest in attendance in the province of which I happened to be the Chief Minister.

I also understand that the Tri-Forces have today decided to boycott functions attended by me even before Your Excellency the President had looked into the matter. I condemn this as a political decision by the forces whose leaders appear to have joined hands to look at the issue from the limited perspective of protecting the offenders within their ranks and not from the broader prospect of establishing truth and justice.

In any event, the issue has broader implications. It would be in the best interest of the country for the responsible officers to apologise. I would not hesitate to express my unequivocal regret and apologies to all those who were present, including the staff and students of the school, the foreign dignitary and the concerned naval officer for my strong but justifiable reaction.

I wish to leave any further steps in this regard in the hands of Your Excellencies.

Rangana Herath completes 300 wickets in Test Cricket

Rangana Herath has been the backbone of Sri Lanka’s spin bowling after the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan  from International Cricket. Herath has reached 300 wickets now in Tests with the wicket of Steven Finn on Day 2 of second Test.

It took him 29 overs to take a wicket in this innings. Herath with the wicket of Alex Hales on day 2 of the first Test match between Sri Lanka and England, went past Derek Underwood’s record for second-most wickets in Test Cricket by a left-arm spinner after Daniel Vettori.

Before this match Herath had 299 wickets under his belt. He started posing problems for the English batsmen from the first ball he bowled in 20th over of first innings. he remianed wicketless at the end of the Day of 2nd Test. He gave 74 runs in his 24 overs at Stumps.

Herath was the only impressive bowler in their practice match against Leicestershire, taking two wickets at an economy rate of 1.63. Not only he stopped the flow of runs but created pressure on the batsman to trick the batsman into making a mistake. He also had an adventure with the bat, scoring a fifty when Sri Lankan middle had a crisis situation against the home team. He scored 55 runs, sharing a 174 run stand for eighth wicket with Dasun Shanaka.

Rangana is the only spin bowler who has managed to play for Sri Lanka regularly, cementing his berth in the side.  He has taken 300 wickets in 69 matches in a career span of 16 years which is quite similar to that of Derek Underwood. He has a crucial role to play in this tournament as England batsmen tend to struggle against spin bowling.

He is the senior most bowler in the Sri Lankan side and has the weight of guiding the youngsters to take wickets on overseas pitches. With the retirement of Sri Lanaka’s legends Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and injured Lasith Malinga. Sri Lanka are now in  a rebuilding face after a humiliating T20 Asia Cup and T20 World Cup. They will be seeing this series as an opportunity to regroup and give some exposure to the youngsters and future of Sri Lankan Cricket. (cricketcountry)

Sri Lanka Vehicle prices increase again

Prices of motor vehicles with a cylinder capacity between 1000 cc and 1500 cc and three-wheelers have risen as a result of the increase in the Unit Rate Tax from midnight yesterday, the Vehicle Importers Association of Sri Lanka (VIASL) said today. 

The VIASL President Indika Sampath Merenchige said the Unit Rate Tax has increased from Rs.2.6 million to Rs.3 million resulting in the price of a Toyota Prius increasing from Rs.3.3 million to Rs.7.7 million and would likely discourage people from importing Japanese vehicles in the future. 

“This is the highest tax increase on vehicles in recent history. The excise duty which was maintained at a lower level during the past three weeks has also been increased,” Mr. Merenchige said. 

The prices of electric vehicles will be increased according to its battery capacity while the Customs duty on electric vehicles with battery capacity of 100KW has been reduced.   

As such the Customs duty of Rs.2.9 million on a Nissan Leaf electric vehicle would be reduced to Rs.1.7 million. Tax on vehicles such as lorries, buses and vans have not been increased. “If this practice continues, only vehicles below 1000cc engine capacity will be imported to the country in the future.  

The imports of motor vehicles with cylinder capacity between 1000cc and 1500cc would be reduced by 85 per cent,” Mr. Merenchige said. Meanwhile, Chairman of Lanka Vehicle Importers' Association Mahinda Sarathchandra said prices of vehicles with cylinder capacity exceeding 1599cc (1600cc) would be increased because of the newly introduced Transected Value or Unit Rate Tax according to the Extraordinary Gazette Notification issued yesterday. He said the tax on a Nissan X-trail which is currently taxed at Rs.4 million would increase to Rs. 8 million, a two-fold increase in the price. A Mazda Axela now costing Rs.3.8million would rise to Rs.8 million. 

Petrol Prado 150 was increased by Rs.5 million, a Land Cruiser 202 was increased by Rs.10 million. “This price increase is an unusual increase by the government and it is unfair to have such vehicle price increases again in a situation where vehicle prices increased repeatedly in a short time, Mr. Sarathchandra said. (Chaturanga Pradeep)

Monks Protest Against Eastern Province Chief Minister For Reprimanding Naval Officer

Group of Buddhist monks who visited the residence of Eastern provincial council Chief Minister Nazeer Ahamed, staged a protest against reprimanding a Navy officer.

Reports indicated that a group of monks including Deputy Chief Sangha-nayake of Eastern province – Chief incumbent of Batticaloa Mangalarama Vihara Venerable Ampitiye Sumanarathana Thera were among the protestors.

Meanwhile, Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi has stated that a decision has been taken to ban the Eastern provincial Chief Minister from entering any military camp in the island.

The Defence Secretary further noted that the decision was taken to protest against the Chief Minister for reprimanding a Naval officer in public.

The incident took place on the 20th of this month, when Eastern provincial council Chief Minister Nazeer Ahamed reprimanded a navy officer who was remaining close to the stage, during a prize giving ceremony held at Trincomalee Sampoor Maha Vidyalaya.

The event was organized by the navy.

The Chief Minister reprimanded the naval officer, charging that he was not treated according to the procedures.

It was noted that Governor of Eastern province Austin Fernando and the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka were present at the occasion when the incident took place.

The Defence Secretary noted that a report pertaining to the matter has been handed over to the President and the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has released a communiqué, condemning the incident.

In his communiqué, the former President stated that an investigation should be conducted with regard to the incident and the attitude of the Eastern provincial Chief Minister.

The Former President also recalled the incident where a group of TNA politicians attempting to forcibly enter a military camp, charging that no action was taken concerning the matter.

In addition, the former President stated that a scheme is underway to debase the dignity of the war heroes since the beginning of previous year.

Meanwhile, the chief incumbent of Mangalarama Vihara, questioned the Eastern provincial Chief Minister, whether he was ready to apologize.

However, according to our correspondent, the Chief Minister has not offered a direct response.

Daughter Of Horowpathana OIC Killed By Husband

The 46-year-old wife and the 20-year-old daughter of Horowpathana Police OIC had been stabbed by his son-in-law last night at their residence in Galenbindunuwewa, Anuradhapura, Police said. 

They said the two victims who were in critical condition were admitted to the Anuradhapura Hospital and the daughter succumbed to injuries at the hospital.

Harin Fernando apologises to Parliament over words he used

Minister Harin Fernando today extended an apology for using unparliamentary language in Parliamentary recently.

Making a special statement in Parliament today, the Minister said that the words he used were instigated by the opposition.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya accepted the apology and urged the members of the House to respect Parliament in future.

Fernando was heard saying “mother f*****” in Sinhalese in Parliament recently during his speech but the words were later removed from the video posted on the Parliament website.

The joint opposition had slammed Fernando over the words he used in Parliament. Opposition member Dinesh Gunawardena had said that the words used by Fernando was unparliamentary and should not be repeated in future.

The unparliamentary words were used during a heated exchange between the Minister and former Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage.