Environment and Natural Resources Minister Champika Ranawaka yesterday said air pollution is estimated to be responsible for about half a million pre mature deaths every year in the Asian and Western Pacific region.
The minister was speaking at the 5th regional stakeholders cum regional coordination meeting of the Mal

Mariappa, a daily wage worker from Mutharayanapura in Kanakapura taluk, recently made a startling discovery. He found that the 160-foot borewell that irrigated the farm he works on had suddenly gone dry. Groundwater, which had once been in abundance here, was finally struck only at 350 ft.

A few die at childbirth, most go to primary school and almost all are vaccinated at the right time, but the sizeable number of Sri Lankan children are stunted, wasted and underweight for their age and are a cause for concern, according to nutritional authorities.

The number of HIV cases detected in Sri Lanka is 996 while mother to child contacts remain at 31. Specialist medical officer of HIV/sex related diseases prevention programme, Mrs. Sriya Kanthi Benaragama said that among the patients 410 were females and 563 males.

Regular awareness programmes were conducted islandwide in 2007 and 348,895 blood samples were examined during the year, she further said.

Since the first detection of an HIV patient in the country in 1987, by June 30, 2008 the number detected was 996 of whom 177 had died.

All female school teachers will be screened for cervical and breast cancer by the Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry shortly with the assistance of the International Cancer Research Institute (ICRI) in Leon, France, Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman W.M.D.Wanninayaka said.

The United Nations World Food Programme welcomed a major contribution of US$17.8 million from the Government of Japan to assist millions of vulnerable people in three Asian countries including Sri Lanka.
"WFP is truly grateful for Japan's leadership in addressing the global food crisis," said Eri Kudo, Officer-in-Charge of WFP's Japan Office. "This generous donation will help protect millions of people from being pushed deeper into poverty and hunger," he said.

A mini tornado hit Lunama in Ambalantota last afternoon completely damaging three houses and partially damaging three houses.

According to the Disaster Management Centre, the tornado hit last afternoon around 12.30 p.m. travelling a distance of 50 km.

A tree was uprooted blocking the road but it was cleared in the evening by the Disaster Management Centre.

The Disaster Management Centre said the tornado had come from the direction of the sea and had later returned towards the seaside.

The places of religious worship have now been relieved of the burden of paying huge electricity bills, as the Ceylon Electricity Board has decided to introduce a flat tariff rate of Rs. 12.50 per unit for these institutions.
Power and Energy Minister John Seneviratne told Daily Mirror yesterday that this decision was taken at a meeting attended by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and religious dignitaries last evening.

The Ceylon Electricity Board is planning to convert its thermal power plants from diesel and naphtha to Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) with a view to significantly reducing the operational cost of thermal power plants.
This project will review the relevant existing feasibility studies and prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment and engineering designs for the construction of LNG Receiving Facilities i.e. terminal/jetty and pipelines to the power stations located in northern Colombo.

The government is to borrow additional funds from the World Bank for several several development projects, a minister said.

Cabinet approved finance agreements with the IDA branch of the World Bank to get additional funding for the North East Housing Reconstruction Project (SDR 26.2 million), for the Road Sector Assistance Project (SDR 59.6 million) and for the Education Sector Development Project (SDR 6.1 million).