Victor Melder

                                 SRI LANKA NEWS                                          (FEBRUARY  2020)                                     Compiled by Victor Melder. A proposal to provide increased pension benefits for those who retired after 2017 has been abandoned as the plan would cost the government a staggering Rs 130 billion annually. A senior Treasury official said that instead of increasing the pensions, the Government would come up with a revised scheme where the pensions of those who retired after December 31, 2017 would be calculated on the salary scales as at the end of 2017. Under a proposal of the former Government, the pensions were to be calculated on the basis that they had served until 2020. Accordingly, those retiring were to receive ...

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    SRI LANKA CRICKET NEWS – (JANUARY 2020) – Compiled by Victor Melder The national cricket team will undertake their first assignment of this year taking wings to India today for a three match T-20 series. The opening encounter will be played on Sunday (January 5) in the eastern city of Guwahati. The port city in the state of Assam is bordering China. The remaining two games will be played in Indore (January 7) and Pune (January 10). The team will fly to Madras today morning, where they have a five hour layover before taking the next flight to Guwahati. The Sri Lankan series is sandwiched between the tours of West Indies and Australia. Lasith Malinga’s side will not be playing in any of the major cities with all premier cricket centers allocated for the West Indies and the Australians. The tour was not on the Future Tour Programme ...

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    SRI LANKA NEWS (JANUARY 2020) – Compiled by Victor Melder Three more endemic species have been added to the Sri Lanka’s endemic gecko list. With this Sri Lanka now has 39 endemic species of gecko. In 2019, 13 endemic species were discovered. More new endemic gecko species will be discovered in 2020 with the ongoing research studies. The team of scientists that discovered the latest three species are S. Karunarathna, A de Silva, M. Botejue, D. Gabadage, L. Somaratna, A Hettige, N Aberathna, M. Madawala, G. Edirisinghe, N. Perera, S. Wickramaarachchi, T. Surasinghe, N. Karunarathna, M. Wickramasinghe, KDB. Ukuwela and AM. Bauer. Three new day gecko species of the genus Cnemaspis Strauch were found in three isolated granite cave habitats in Bambaragala (Ratnapura District), Dimbulagala (Polonnaruwa District), and Mandaramnuwara (Nuwara-Eliya District). One of the Chief Scientists of the study, Suranjan Karunaratna told The Island that all of those ...

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  VICTOR MELDER SRI LANKA LIBRARY ACQUISITIONS FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER 2019 THOSE WISHING TO DONATE BOOKS & OTHER PUBLICATIONS TO THIS LIBRARY, THEY ARE MOST WELCOME. PLEASE CONTACT ME AT ABOVE ADDRESS, BY EMAIL OR TELEPHONE. Thank You.                                ACQUISITIONS   FOR  THE  MONTH  OF  DECEMBER  2019 BOOKS. My Island Paradise by Dodwell Keyt 2019. (Donated by the Author, Rosebud, Victoria) MAGAZINES ‘Serendib’, The Inflight Magazine of Srilankan Airlines, Vol 39, No 9, November 2019  (Donated by Neville Fernando, Westmeadows, Victoria) ‘Hi’ Magazine, The Society Magazine, Sri Lanka, Series 17, Vol 5, 2019  (Donated by T.R, Keysborough, with assistance of Mr B. Sanjaya, Sri Lanka) NEWSLETTERS. Newsletter – St Peter’s College Old Boy’s Union, Colombo, Vol 1, July – September 2019 Newsletter – Burgher Association (Australia) Inc, Summer Newsletter, December 2019 Newsletter – Burgher Welfare League of WA Inc, Vol 30.2, November 2019. “Outreach” Newsletter – Voluntary Outreach Club ...

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  SRI LANKA CRICKET NEWS (DECEMBER 2019) – Compiled by Victor Melder Pakistan will be hosting Test cricket for the first time in more than ten years, that too against a full-strength Sri Lanka line-up, in December 2019. Dimuth Karunaratne will lead the Sri Lanka side, with experienced batsmen Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal present in the 16-member squad. The team leaves for Pakistan on December 8 to play two Test matches that will count towards the World Test Championship. Less than three months ago, Sri Lanka had toured Pakistan for a series of limited-overs matches, but as many as ten high-profile players had opted against travelling. The Test series was originally scheduled for October at a neutral venue because of security concerns, but the PCB requested Sri Lanka to play the entire bilateral series in Pakistan. The white-ball games were played as a test of sorts for the security ...

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  SRI LANKA NEWS – (DECEMBER 2019) – Compiled by Victor Melder. About 4,126 persons from to 1,156 families had been affected by the inclement weather conditions in several districts of the country, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said. Five persons are dead and one is missing in the Matale, Polonnaruwa and Nuwara Eliya districts owing to landslides. According to DMC Assistant Director Pradeep Kodipilli 569 persons of 158 families are being sheltered at four welfare centres in the Ampara District. Lunugala Divisional Secretary Nimal Dissanayake said that 35 families of Galula Estate in Madolsima have been evacuated and sent to welfare centres in schools in safer areas as there were landslide threats. Three persons have been killed while two others have gone missing in an earth slip which occurred in Malapattawa, Nuwara Eliya. Meanwhile, the National Building Research Organization (NBRO) has declared the Ratnapura, Badulla and Kegalle districts as ...

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  SRI LANKA NEWS –  (NOVEMBER  2019) –    Compiled by Victor Melder. Sri Lanka’s top court on Tuesday effectively blocked a plan by the president to bring back hangings for the first time since 1976 before he leaves office this month. Maithripala Sirisena said in June that he had signed death warrants for four drug offenders — mirroring the Philippines’ no-holds-barred anti-narcotics drive — alarming rights groups and the international community. A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court extended on Tuesday a stay order until the hearing of 15 petitions filed against Sirisena’s bid. “The bench extended the stay order till December 9,” a lawyer representing civil society groups, who call hanging a “cruel and degrading”, said after a brief hearing. Sirisena is not seeking re-election and must leave office as soon as a winner is declared after the November 16 election, more than three weeks before the court resumes hearings. There ...

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  VICTOR  MELDER  SRI  LANKA LIBRARY 7, Benambra Street, Broadmeadows, Vic 3047, Australia. Telephone + 61 3 9309 4040 E-mail < melder.rjvm1935@bigpond.com > Web Site < www.vmsl-library.com > THOSE WISHING TO DONATE BOOKS & OTHER PUBLICATIONS TO THIS LIBRARY, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT ABOVE ADDRESS, BY EMAIL OR TELEPHONE. Thank You.                                ACQUISITIONS   FOR  THE  MONTH  OF  NOVEMBER  2019 BOOKS The History of Royal College, 2019 (Donated by Senaka Weeraratne, Colombo 5, Sri Lanka)  Lions of Sri Lanka, Cricket – An Island Passion, Featuring the 30 Greatest Cricketers, LMD Publication, May 2019 (Donated by Roland de Silva, Media Services (Pvt) Ltd, LMD, Colombo 5, Sri Lanka) Cultures of the World: Sri Lanka by Nanda Pethiyagoda Wanasundera, 2002 Sri Lanka, a Travel Survival Kit by Tony Wheeler, 1982. Tamil Tigress by Derek Bartholomeusz, 1997. Island of a Thousand Mirrors, by Nayomi Munaweera, 2012. (No’s 3 – 6, Donated by Cuthbert Lethbridge, ...

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  OBITUARIES Compiled by Victor Melder (E & O.E.) (OCTOBER  2019) VAN STARREX – HANS ANTON, son of late Mr Hans Andreas Van Starrex and Gertrud Therese Van Starrex, in Sri Lanka. (Daily News, 1.10.2019) JURIANSZ – LORENZO (SHANNON), aged 21 years, tragically in Melbourne. (Contributed) AMBROSE – ANTHONY  (TONY), in Melbourne (Contributed) PIETERSZ- KENNETH  (KENNY), in Melbourne. (Contributed) MARCELINE – MARK, husband of Sonia, father of Dina, Anil, Nirmali, Zaneta and Sanayi, grandfather of Ashani, Nicolai, Camila, Marco and Marianna, great grandfather of Troy. Brother of Hedy and the late Frances, Greg, Annette, Bertha, Bernie, Billy and Hilary, in Sri Lanka. (Daily News, 2.10, 2019)   FOENANDER – OLGA  (nee Gerreyn), daughter of the late Joe & Nita Gerreyn. Wife of Gordon (Weenie), mother of Karen Foenander and Denise Greep, grandmother of Jake Greep. Sister of the late Crosby, Annesley, Flo, Doreen, Lucien, Genevieve, Rita, Stelmond, Trixie and of Phyllis, ...

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       VICTOR  MELDER  SRI  LANKA LIBRARY 7, Benambra Street, Broadmeadows, Vic 3047, Australia. Telephone + 61 3 9309 4040 E-mail < melder.rjvm1935@bigpond.com > Web Site < www.vmsl-library.com >   THOSE WISHING TO DONATE BOOKS & OTHER PUBLICATIONS TO THIS LIBRARY, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT ABOVE ADDRESS, BY EMAIL OR TELEPHONE. Thank You.                                ACQUISITIONS   FOR  THE  MONTH  OF  OCTOBER  2019 BOOKS Ivor Beven, ‘Fieldview’ and Beyond  by Joanne Russo, 2017 (Donated by Michael Roosmale-Cocq, Elanora, Qld) Kachchativu: and the Maritime Boundary of Sri Lanka by W. T. Jayasinghe, 2003  (Donated H. E:  W.P.S.Prasanna Gamage, Sri Lanka Ambassador to Vietnam) The Empire’s Other Anzacs, The Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps, by Lieutenant Colonel Neil. C. Smith, AM, 2014  MAGAZINES NEWSLETTERS. “Thorathuru”, News Magazine, Sri Lanka Association of New South Wales Inc , 2019 First Half issue Newsletter of the Ceylonese Welfare Organisation Inc (CWO), Vol 37, Issue 4, October 2019.   ...

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