Saturday, December 24, 2016
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
ලංකාවේ තල්මසුන් හා ඩොල්ෆින් මත්ස්‍යයන් 'වඳවීමේ තර්ජනයක්'
මිනිස් ක්‍රියාකාරකම් හේතුවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ තල්මසුන් සහ ඩොල්ෆින් මත්ස්‍යයන් වඳවීමේ තර්ජනයකට මුහුණ දී සිටින බව පරිසර විද්‍යාඥයෙක් පවසයි.
ත්‍රිකුණාමලය, මිරිස්ස සහ කල්පිටිය තල්මසුන් සහ ඩොල්ෆින් මත්ස්‍යයන් දක්නට ලැබෙන අතර, ඒ අතරින් වසරේ සෑම දිනකදීම එම සතුන් දැකිය හැකි එකම ස්ථානය මිරිස්ස මුහුදු තීරයයි.
එහෙත් මේ වනවිට මිරිස්ස ප්‍රදේශයේද ඔවුන් වඳව යාමේ තර්ජනයක් පවතින බව සමුද්‍ර පරිසර ආරක්ෂණ අධිකාරියේ සාමාන්‍යාධිකාරී ආචාර්ය ටර්නි ප්‍රදීප් කුමාර පෙන්වා දෙයි.
- නිල් තල්මසුන් වෙනුවෙන් කැපවුන ලාංකික විද්‍යාඥවරිය
- සංචාරක කර්මාන්තය නිසා 'ගිලිහී ගිය මානව හිමිකම්'
- ඩොල්ෆින් මසුන් සමග කල්පිටිය මුහුදේ සංචාරයක්
- හතලිස් ගණනකට වැඩි තල්මසුන් ගේ පොසිල චිලී රටෙන්
"වෙරළට ආසන්නයේම තිබෙන ගැඹුරු මුහුදේ එම සතුන්ට කිමිදෙන්න පුළුවන් නිසාත්, හොඳට ආහාර සොයාගන්න පුළුවන් නිසාත් මෙම ප්‍රදේශවල එම සත්වයින් ගොඩාක් එකතුවී සිටින," බව සමුද්‍ර ආචාර්ය ටර්නි ප්‍රදිප් කුමාර බීබීසී සිංහල සේවයට පැවසීය.
"ලංකාවේ තල්මසුන් හා ඩොල්ෆින් විශේෂ කිහිපයක්ම එක වතාවකදී බලා ගැනීමට හැකිවීම මේ ප්‍රදේශවල සුවිශේෂී ලක්ෂණයක්."
ධීවර කර්මාන්තය සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ආසන්නයේම තිබෙන ජාත්‍යන්තර නාවික මාර්ගය හේතුවෙන් තල්මසුන් හා ඩොල්ෆින් මසුන්ගේ ස්වභාවික දිවි පෙවෙතට දැඩි තර්ජනයක් එල්ල වී ඇති බවයි, ඔහු පවසන්නේ.
"ධිවර කර්මාන්තය සදහා භාවිත කරන දිග දැල් වර්ග මෙම සතුන්ගේ ඇඟේ පැටලීම නිසා මෙම සතුන් හානියට පත්වෙනවා. අනික තල්මසුන් හා ඩොල්ෆින් නැරඹීමකට වඩා සිදුවන්නේ ඔවුන් පසු පස පැන්නීමක්."
2012 දී පමණක් නැවුවල ගැටී මියගිය තල්මසුන් 12 දෙනෙකු වෙරළට ගොඩ ගසා තිබූ බවත් ආචාර්ය ටර්නි ප්‍රදීප් කුමාර සඳහන් කළේය.
මේ තත්වය පාලනය කිරීම පිණිස සතුන් නැරඹීමේ සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරය දැඩි පාලනයකට යටත් කිරීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවය ඔහු අවධාරණය කරයි.
''සමහර අය මාළු අල්ලන්නෙත් ඩොල්ෆින්ලගේ උදවුවෙන්. නමුත් සමහර අය ආහාරයට ගන්න එයාලා මරනවා. ඒවගේම මම දැක්ක දෙයක් තමයි තල්මසුන් නැරඹීමේ තරගය නිසා එම සතුන්ගේ ආසන්නයට බෝට්ටු ගමන් කිරීමෙන් වන හානිය."
මේ තත්වය පාලනය කිරීම පිණිස දැඩි නීති විධිවිධාන හඳුන්වා නොදුන්නොත් ඉතා ඉක්මනින්ම මිරිස්ස ප්‍රදේශයේ තල්මසුන් හා ඩොල්ෆින් දැකිය නොහැකි තත්වයක් උදා විය හැකි බවට ඔහු අනතුරු අඟවයි.
දැනට තිබෙන සංචාරක බෝට්ටු ප්‍රමාණය වැඩි බැවින් රජය මැදිහත් වී මෙම තල්මසුන් නැරඹීමේ යාත්‍රා ප්‍රමාණය පාලනය කළ යුතු බව දිගු කලෙක සිට මිරිස්ස ප්‍රදේශයේ තල්මසුන් නැරඹීමේ සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරයක නියැලෙන රංගන මනෝච් බීබීසී සංදේශයට පැවසීය.
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dakshina fernando
Thursday, December 15, 2016
දින නවයකට පසු මාගම්පුර පණ ලබයි
හම්බන්තොට මාගම්පුර වරායේ සේවකයන් දින නමයක් පුරා පවත්වාගෙන ගිය අඛණ්ඩ වැඩ වර්ජනය සහ උපවාසය අද (15) දහවල් නිමා කරමින් සියළු සේවකයෝ සේවයට වාර්තා කළහ.
මාගම්පුර වරාය චීන සමාගමකට භාර දෙන බැවින් වරායේ සේවය කරන සේවකයින්ගේ රැකියා අහිමි වීමේ තර්ජනයට පිළියමක් ලෙස තමන් වරාය අධිකාරියට බඳවා ගන්නා ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටිමින් පසුගිය 07 වෙනිදා මෙම සේවකයෝ මාගම්පුර වරායේ ප්‍රධාන දොරටුව අභියස විරෝධතාවයක් ආරම්භ කළහ.
විරෝධතාවයේ නියැලී සිටි සේවකයන්ට එම ස්ථානයෙන් විසිර යන ලෙස දන්වා අධිකරණ නියෝගයක් නිකුත් කරනු ලැබීමෙන් අනතුරුව උපවාසය සඳහා ඉදි කළ වේදිකාව ඉවත් කළ සේවකයෝ මාගම්පුර වරායේ 'සයුරු පාය' ගොඩනැගිල්ල වෙත සේවයට වාර්තා කළහ.
වරායේ සේවකයන් 483 දෙනාගේම රැකියා සුරක්ෂිත කරන බවට වරාය සහ නාවික අමාත්‍යය අර්ජුන රණතුංග සහතික වූයෙන් වැඩ වර්ජනය අත්හැරීමට තීරණය කළ බව ඔවුහු පැවසූහ.
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dakshina fernando
Aleppo Syria battle: Evacuation of rebel-held east
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it expects this number to double by the end of the day.
Government forces, backed by Russian allies, took nearly all remaining rebel-held parts of Aleppo this week after a four-year battle.
It represents a major victory for President Bashar al-Assad.
He hailed the "liberation" of Aleppo and said history was being made.
The evacuation of civilians, rebels and their families had been due to take place on Wednesday but an earlier ceasefire deal collapsed.
It is unclear how many rebels are being evacuated along with civilians. The evacuees are being transferred to rebel-held areas in neighbouring Idlib province.
"This for us is the first step, it was a positive one," Robert Mardini, ICRC regional director for the Near and Middle East, told Reuters news agency in Geneva.
"We were able so far to evacuate 26 wounded persons from east Aleppo and close to 1,000 civilians, who were transferred from east Aleppo to western rural Aleppo."
"Many more" rotations of buses and ambulances would be needed in the coming days, he added.
Syrian state TV had earlier said that "4,000 rebels and their families would be evacuated from eastern districts on Thursday", adding that "all the procedures for their evacuation" were ready.
A statement from the Russian Centre for the Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, part of Russia's ministry of defence, said the Syrian authorities had guaranteed the safety of all members of the armed groups who decided to leave Aleppo.
Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia Muslim movement backing the Syrian government, said there had been "big complications" but that "intensive contacts... led to re-consolidating a ceasefire to exit armed fighters from eastern districts".
The rebels confirmed a fresh ceasefire had come into effect at 03:00 GMT and that a new deal had been agreed.
As operations began, an ambulance service official in eastern Aleppo said that one convoy of ambulances had been shot at, with three people injured.
The White Helmets civil defence group tweeted that one senior volunteer had been shot and injured by a sniper while clearing an evacuation route for ambulances.
Where are the evacuees being taken?
Buses and ambulances are taking the injured, civilians and rebel fighters to the neighbouring province of Idlib, most of which is controlled by a powerful rebel alliance that includes the jihadist group Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.
The buses left Aleppo via the road through the government-controlled south-western district of Ramousseh, heading towards the nearby rebel-held towns of Khan Touman and Khan al-Asal.
The chief of the Russian military's General Staff, Gen Valery Gerasimov, told a news briefing: "A humanitarian corridor has been created for the evacuation of militants."
"This corridor is 21km long," he said, adding, "6km lie across Aleppo's territories controlled by government troops and another 15km through territories in the hands of illegal armed groups."
Twenty passenger buses and 10 ambulances were being used for the operation, the general said. Some rebels were using their own vehicles, numbering 100, he said.
Elizabeth Hoff, of the World Health Organization, said the operation was "going smoothly".
How many remain in eastern Aleppo?
The figures vary wildly. Generally it's believed up to 50,000 people remained ahead of the evacuation.
That is said to include about 4,000 fighters and about 10,000 family members of fighters.
However, one Turkish government minister said up to 100,000 people might have to be evacuated.
Aleppo's besieged residents have faced weeks of bombardment and chronic food and fuel shortages.
Medical facilities in the city have largely been reduced to rubble, as rebels have been squeezed into ever-smaller areas by a major government offensive, backed by Russian air power.
Russian Lt Gen Viktor Poznikhir said on Thursday that, with the evacuation, the Syrian armed forces had almost finished their operations in Aleppo.
Why did the earlier deal fail?
Syria's government and its ally Iran had insisted the evacuation from eastern Aleppo could happen only with the simultaneous evacuation of two villages - Foah and Kefraya - being besieged by rebels in north-western Syria.
- Trapped in Aleppo - in pictures
- 'The most beautiful city in the world'
- What happened to those who said last goodbyes?
Hours after the first agreement - brokered mainly by Russia and Turkey - collapsed, air strikes resumed.
What will the government do next?
In October, President Assad said victory in Aleppo would be "the springboard... to liberate other areas from terrorists", a term the government uses to describe all rebel fighters.
He singled out Idlib province, west of Aleppo, that is almost entirely controlled by an alliance of Islamist rebel factions and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as al-Nusra Front.
Idlib contains border crossings used by rebels to receive supplies from Turkey, a key backer. It also borders the coastal province of Latakia, the heartland of Mr Assad's minority Alawite sect.
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dakshina fernando
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
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Fossil footprints tell story of human origins
Footprints made by early humans millions of years ago have been uncovered in Tanzania close to where similar tracks were found in the 1970s.
The impressions were made when some of our distant relatives walked together across wet volcanic ash.
Their makers, most likely Australopithecus afarensis, appear to have had a wide range of body sizes.
Scientists say this gives clues to how this ancient species of human lived.
Australopithecus afarensis is one of the longest-lived and best-known early human species.
The fossil of "Lucy", a young adult female who lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago, is perhaps the most famous individual.
The newly discovered footprints may have been made by a male walking with smaller females.
"This novel evidence, taken as a whole with the previous findings, portrays several early hominins moving as a group through the landscape following a volcanic eruption and subsequent rainfall. But there is more," said lead researcher Prof Giorgio Manzi, director of the archaeological project in Tanzania.
"The footprints of one of the new individuals are astonishingly larger than anyone else's in the group, suggesting that he was a large male member of the species.
"In fact, the 165cm stature indicated by his footprints makes him the largest Australopithecus specimen identified to date."
Gorilla-like lifestyle
In 1976, preserved footprints thought to be made by Australopithecus were discovered at a site in Laetoli, Tanzania.
At 3.66 million years old, they are the oldest documented bipedal footprint trails.
Now, the discovery of a second set of footprints has been revealed in the journal, eLife.
The tracks were found during excavations for a museum only 150m south of the original discovery.
The researchers, based in Italy and Tanzania, think the two sets could belong together, giving clues to the lifestyle of Australopithecus.
"A tentative conclusion is that the group consisted of one male, two or three females, and one or two juveniles, which leads us to believe that the male - and therefore other males in the species - had more than one female mate," said Dr Marco Cherin, director of the school of paleoanthropology at the University of Perugia.
The finding suggests their social structure was "closer to a gorilla-like model than to chimpanzees or modern humans", they say.
In gorillas, one male and a number of females form a mating and child-rearing group.
The study also raises questions about how human feet were made for walking.
Bipedal walking
Australopithecus were capable of walking upright on two legs, but we don't know how much they resembled modern humans in the way they walked.
Prof Robin Crompton of the University of Liverpool, who is not connected to the study, said the latest footprints will give more information, once statistical work is done.
"Some people have argued that they have a slightly different gait, but I don't think there's any good evidence for that," he told BBC News.
"If humans have been walking the same way as we do now for more or less 3.65 million years, and human ancestors - in another genus - Australopithecus - then that's really fairly exciting."
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dakshina fernando
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Qantas to fly from London to Australia non-stop
Passengers will be able to fly from London to Australia non-stop for the first time when airline Qantas launches its new service from March 2018.
Australia's national carrier says it will connect Perth, in the west of the country, to the UK capital using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
The 9,000 mile (14,498km) flight will take 17 hours.
Perth will be a hub for passengers from eastern Australia going to the UK, tourism minister Steven Ciobo said.
He also said the new service would boost employment and tourism in Australia, a sector growing three times faster than the rest of the national economy, and one that supports 580,000 jobs.
Mr Ciobo also said that the UK was Australia's third-largest source of international visitors, with 660,000 people travelling from there to Australia in 2015.
"When Qantas created the Kangaroo Route to London in 1947, it took four days and nine stops," Qantas chief executive officer Alan Joyce said.
"Now it will take just 17 hours from Perth non-stop."
- Perth is often said to be the most remote city in the world as its nearest city of one million people is Adelaide - 1,207 miles (2,104km) away. However, Auckland in New Zealand is even more remote with Sydney its closet, some 1,337 miles (2,153km) away
- The city dates to 1829 when the Swan River Colony was established by the British government. Aboriginal people had however lived in the area for thousands of years
- It was named after the Scottish town of the same name, which was the birthplace and parliamentary constituency of then British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Sir George Murray
- The Perth Mint, which opened in 1899, is Australia's oldest existing mint - it struck more than 106 million gold sovereigns and nearly 735,000 half-sovereigns from 1899-1931
- Actor Heath Ledger and cricketers Dennis Lillee, Terry Alderman and Justin Langer, were all born in Perth, while actress Isla Fisher lived there from the age of six
He added: "The opportunities this opens up are huge.
"It's great news for travellers because it will make it easier to get to London. It's great news for Western Australia because it will bring jobs and tourism. And it's great news for the nation, because it will bring us closer to one of our biggest trade partners and sources of visitors."
The Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners used on the route will carry 236 passengers, Qantas said.
The new flights will make up the longest non-stop passenger route in the world.
The current longest non-stop scheduled flight is Emirates Airlines' 14,200-kilometre Dubai-to-Auckland, New Zealand, service, which takes 16 hours 35 minutes in an Airbus A380.
What else can you do in 17 hours?
- Watch Gone With The Wind four and a half times
- Fly to the International Space Station almost three times
- Read about a third of War And Peace - at an average of three words a second
- Watch the first 18 episodes of Games of Thrones, and still have half an hour to spare.
- Drive round the M25 - at 70mph, with no traffic - 10 times
- Play 11 games of football
The first air travel connecting the UK to Australia began in 1935, flying passengers from Sydney to Singapore, where services linked with London-bound flights.
However, the journey time to London was 12 days and included a section on a train.
Qantas launched its pioneering weekly service on the Kangaroo Route on 1 December 1947, initially taking four days and carrying 29 passengers and 11 crew from Sydney to London.
The journey flew to Darwin, in northern Australia, and then on to Singapore, Calcutta in India, Karachi and Cairo, before it travelled to Tripoli, in Libya, and then on to London.
The announcement of the new route comes as Boeing also announced airline Iran Air was buying 80 of its passenger planes.
The 10-year deal includes the purchase of 50 Boeing 737 aircraft and 30 777 planes.
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dakshina fernando
Thursday, December 8, 2016
Sri lanka President
Sri lanka President
අයුබෝවන්
සුබ සැන්දෑවක් ජනාදිපති තුමනී
මේ වෙනවිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුල ගැටලු රාශියක් පැන නැගී ඇත .
මහජනතාවගේ විරෝදතා උත්සන්නවන අවස්තවක් ලෙස හදුන්වන්න පුලුවනි .
ජනාදිපති තුමනී මේ රට වැරදි මර්ගයක යමින් පවතී .
ඔබතුමන් නොදන්න වෙන්න පුලුවනි . එහෙත් ඔබ තුමන්ගේ වගකීමක් ලෙස පවරී ඇතී රාජකරිය ගැන ඔබ තුමන් දන්නවා . මේ රට තුල විශාල අර්බුදයක් පවතිනවා . ඔබ තුමන් මේවා පිලිබදව සොයා නොබැලීමෙන් වෙන්නේ මේ රට නැවතත් ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ යටතට පත්වීමයි . ඔබ තුමන් ගැන මම විවේචනය කරන්නෙද නැත . එහෙත් ශ්‍රි ලංකාවේ පුරවසියෙක් වශයෙන් මම ඔබ තුමන්ගෙන් කාරුනිකව ඊල්ලා සිටිනවා මේ පිලිබදව සොයා බලා මේ රට විනාස විමට ඉඩ නොදී රැක ගන්නා ලෙසට . එසේම නව රජයේ වැරදි කරුවන් හටද දඩුවම් ලබා දෙන ලෙසත් .. රටේ ජතික අරක්ෂාවට තර්ජනයක් අතී අවස්තාවක මේ රට රැක ගන්නා ලෙසත් ඔබ තුමන්ගෙන් කාරුනිකව ඊල්ලා සිටිමි .
ස්තූතී ,
ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාත්‍රාන්තික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අති ගරු ජනාදිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මැතිතුමනී
ඔබ තුමන්ට චිරන් ජයතු
NEWS AND GOSSIP PAGE
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dakshina fernando
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Aleppo battle: Assad says victory in city would be 'huge step'
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said a victory for his army in Aleppo would be a "huge step" towards ending the country's five-year civil war.
But he added that the defeat of rebel groups in the northern city would not end the conflict.
The rebels called for a five-day truce to allow the evacuation of civilians, after withdrawing from their last strongholds in Aleppo's Old City.
But Mr Assad ruled out any ceasefires, as his army continues its offensive.
This is despite new calls for an immediate truce from the US and five Western powers.
In an interview with Syria's al-Watan newspaper, President Assad said: "It's true that Aleppo will be a win for us, but let's be realistic - it won't mean the end of the war in Syria.
"But it will be a huge step towards this end.
"Terrorists are present elsewhere. Even if we finish with Aleppo, we will continue our war against them."
Utter ruins in recaptured districts - the BBC's Lyse Doucet in Aleppo
Rebel-held districts in east Aleppo are falling fast, faster than expected. The full story from the battlefield is still emerging.Areas we've been able to visit are a testament to intense fighting.
The district of Al-Shaar, cleared on Tuesday to enable the army's assault on the Old City, is now in utter ruin. The smoke of battle still hung in the air a day later as did the residue of explosives.
There are also reports of deals to allow rebel fighters to retreat, including from the Old City.
But the most battle hardened fighters, including forces known as the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front are vowing to fight on in what remains of the opposition enclave.
The Syrian military, and its Russian and Iranian allies, aren't listening to calls for a truce, or even for humanitarian corridors.
Monday's mortar attack on Russia's field hospital is said to have stiffened Moscow's resolve to finish the battle for Aleppo as soon as possible.
Tens of thousands of civilians are still trapped in rebel-held districts of south-eastern Aleppo.
The rebel groups said those residents were in great danger, adding that they would support any initiative to ease their suffering.
One resident said those districts were now heavily crowded and there were fears that people faced being captured, detained and tortured to death.
"I know people who literally did nothing, they just kept doing nothing for four, five years, they just wanted to stay in their homes and now they are being arrested by the regime," Wissam, a teacher and activist said.
Food supplies are exhausted and there are no functioning hospitals after months of heavy bombardment.
Government forces now control about 75% of eastern Aleppo, held by the rebels for the past four years.
The rebels, who had been left with just a spit of land north-east of the citadel after recent government advances, had abandoned it by Wednesday morning, retreating to territory they still hold further south.
Plea for ceasefire
Meanwhile, the US, Britain, Germany, Italy, France and Canada jointly called for an immediate ceasefire "to allow the United Nations to get humanitarian assistance to people in eastern Aleppo".They also condemned the Syrian government and its main backer Russia for "their obstruction of humanitarian aid", accusing them of targeting hospitals and schools "in an attempt to wear people down".
But fresh talks on Wednesday evening between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ended without a breakthrough on the issue.
Russia and China earlier vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on a week-long ceasefire.
French President Francois Hollande responded by accusing Russia of "systematic obstruction" which "bolsters the regime of Bashar al-Assad in its destructive drive which is harming the defenceless civilian population".
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described all the remaining rebels in Aleppo as "terrorists", saying they had united around the jihadist group formerly known as the al-Nusra Front.
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dakshina fernando
Pakistan International Airways flight crashes in north
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight with more than 40 people on board has crashed in the north of the country.
Flight PK-661 "lost contact with the control tower on its way from Chitral to Islamabad a short while ago", the airline said in a statement.
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) told the BBC that the wreckage had not yet been found.
In the last major crash in 2006, 44 people died.
The plane came down in the Hevalian area, about 70km (43 miles) north of Islamabad, local media are reporting.
The plane took off from Chitral at around 10:00GMT (15:00 local time), losing contact 90 minutes later, shortly before it was due to arrive at its destination, media report.
A famous former pop singer turned Islamic preacher, Junaid Jamshed, and his wife were on the flight's passenger list, according to leading private news channel GEO TV.
The army says it has dispatched troops and helicopters to the location, AP reports.
The EU banned PIA flights from flying to Europe in 2007 over safety concerns.
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dakshina fernando
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
Trump says Air Force One Boeing order should be cancelled
US President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants to cut government costs by cancelling the order for new planes to carry the American president.
Mr Trump tweeted: "Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!"
The government has a contract with Boeing to build two or more new planes.
The White House appeared to cast doubt on the figures quoted by Mr Trump.
"Some of the statistics that have been cited, shall we say, don't appear to reflect the nature of the financial arrangement between Boeing and the Department of Defence," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
The new planes would enter service around 2024.
Boeing shares fell more than 1% after the president-elect's tweet, but recovered most of their losses in afternoon trading.
- Boeing, Trump and his chaos theory
- Trump: A list of potential conflicts of interest
- Trump tariff plan faces Republican block
- Trump's Irish wall plans withdrawn
- Trump aide loses job after 'Pizzagate'
The president-elect also announced on Tuesday that Japan's SoftBank has agreed to invest $50bn (£39.4bn) in the US aimed at creating 50,000 new jobs.
Mr Trump revealed the plan after meeting with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son at Trump Tower.
"Masa said he would never do this had we (Trump) not won the election!" he tweeted.
In other developments:
- In his last major speech on national security, President Obama warned the US should not lose sight of it founding values while fighting terrorism
- Mr Trump sold his entire share portfolio in June, his spokesman says, in a move that could address conflict-of-interest concerns
- Congressional Republicans warned Mr Trump they would block his plan to impose punitive tariffs on US companies that relocate abroad
- A Republican elector in Texas vowed to withdraw his backing of Mr Trump when the electoral college meets next week
- Vice-President Joe Biden, 74, suggested he would be open to running for president for a third time, in 2020
'Could cost more' - Zoe Thomas, BBC New York business correspondent
As president and commander-in-chief, Donald Trump will have the power to cancel the contract with Boeing for the new planes.But if he does, it could cost the US taxpayer even more as the new president tries to save money. The US government has already signed a contract with Boeing for $170m (£134m; €158m). Additional funding has also been earmarked for the two new planes.
The Government Accountability Office - an independent government auditor - estimates the final cost will be $3.2bn. The planes are still in early design phases, though - much of the money has yet to be spent and has not had a chance to overrun the cost estimates.
Negotiation between Boeing and the US government could cut some of the costs, but if Mr Trump pulls out of the Boeing contract entirely the country may lose the money it is already contracted to pay.
Mr Trump now uses his own plane, but as president he would travel aboard Air Force One, which is equipped with special safety, defensive and communications equipment.
He is known for his admiration of his Trump-branded Boeing 757 jet, boasting to Rolling Stone last year that his aircraft was "bigger than Air Force One, which is a step down from this in every way".
The president-elect told reporters on Tuesday at Trump Tower in New York that Boeing was "doing a little bit of a number" and the cost was "ridiculous".
"We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money," he added.
A flying Oval Office
- Technically, "Air Force One" is a call sign for any aircraft carrying the US president. However the term is mostly used to refer to two customised Boeing 747-200B jets
- Capable of in-flight refuelling, and equipped with secure communication equipments, they have been described as "flying Oval Offices"
- Inside, the president and his travel companions enjoy 4,000 sq feet (400 sq m) of floor space on three levels
- This includes a presidential suite as well as quarters for advisers, Secret Service officers, and the travelling press corps
- A medical suite can function as an operating room, and a doctor is always on board
- The plane's two food preparation galleys can feed 100 people at a time.
"If we do not lead when it comes to writing these (trade) rules, our competitors will write them for us," Mr Muilenburg told the newspaper.
The Government Accountability Office estimates that the project's overall cost will be $3.2bn, a figure that is expected to rise.
The US Air Force said it had budgeted $2.7bn for the project, "but expects this number to change".
Boeing spokesman Todd Blecher, in a statement, said: "We are currently under contract for $170m to help determine the capabilities of these complex military aircraft that serve the unique requirements of the president of the United States.
"We look forward to working with the US Air Force on subsequent phases of the programme, allowing us to deliver the best planes for the president at the best value for the American taxpayer."
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dakshina fernando
North Korea 'hacks South's military cyber command
South Korea's military cyber command, set up to guard against hacking, appears to have been breached by North Korea, the military has said.
A spokesman told the BBC that classified information was thought to have been stolen, although it is not clear exactly what data was accessed.
The North has previously been accused of hacking into banks and media outlets but never the South's military.
Pyongyang has in the past rejected allegations of cyber crime involvement.
"It seems the intranet server of the cyber command has been contaminated with malware. We found that some military documents, including confidential information, have been hacked," a military spokesman told South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
It is not clear whether low-grade documents or more important details like war plans were accessed.
The military said that the compromised section of its network was isolated once the attack was detected.
North Korea is believed to have thousands of personnel involved in cyberwarfare.
Since 2010 they have been focusing on application programming interfaces (APIs), which can be designed to attack national infrastructures, North Korean defector and computer science professor Kim Heung-Kwang told the BBC.
The North has a track record of alleged cyber attacks in recent years against South Korean government agencies, banks and media companies.
An apparent concerted campaign involving the planting of malicious code began in 2014, Reuters news agency quoted police as saying.
It was aimed at laying the groundwork for an attack on a massive scale, the agency said.
The campaign was discovered in February this year after defence-related material including blueprints for the wings of F-15 fighter jets was stolen.
Some 140,000 computers at 160 companies were attacked up until this June, according to police.
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dakshina fernando
බැසිල්ට එරෙහිව ගොනුකරන ලද නඩුව ඉල්ලා අස්කරගනී.
දිවි නැගුම අරමුදල් සාවද්‍ය ලෙස
පරිහරණය කළ බවට හිටපු ඇමති බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ ඇතුළු විත්තිකරුවන් දෙදෙනෙකුට
එරෙහිව ගොනුකර තිබූ නඩුවක් නීතිපතිවරයා විසින් අද (දෙසැ.06) ඉල්ලා අස්කරගනු
ලැබීය.
ඒ අනුව, කොළඹ මහාධිකරණය නියෝග කළේ බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ අදාළ චෝදනාවලින් නිදහස්කරන ලෙසය.පසුගිය ජනාධිපතිවරණය සමයේ දේශපාලන වාසි ලබාගැනීමේ අරමුණින් 'ලිත්' ලක්ෂ 5ක් බෙදාහරිමින් දිවි නැගුම අරමුදලේ රුපියල් ලක්ෂ 290ට වැඩි මුදලක් සාවද්‍ය ලෙස පරිහරණය කළ බවට චෝදනා නගමින් බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ ඇතුළු පුද්ගලයින් දෙදෙනෙකුට එරෙහිව නීතිපතිවරයා නඩු පවරා තිබිණි.
එම නඩුව අද කැඳවූ අවස්ථාවේදී රජයේ නීතිඥවරයා පෙන්වා දුන්නේ අදාළ චෝදනා පත්‍රවල තාක්ෂණික දෝෂ පවතින බැවින් යළි නඩු පැවරීමේ අපේක්ෂාව ඇතිව නඩුව ඉල්ලා අස්කරගන්නා බවය.
චෝදනා පත්‍ර ඉල්ලා අස්කරගැනීමට ඉඩ දෙමින් විත්තිකරුවන් දෙදෙනා නිදහස් කළ අධිකරණය, බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ විදෙස්ගතවීම වළකාලමින් පනවා තිබූ තහනම ඉවත් කිරීමට ද නියෝග කළේය.
දිවි නැගුම අරමුදල් සාවද්‍ය ලෙස පරිහරණය කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂට එරෙහිව ගොනු කළ තවත් නඩු දෙකක් මේවනවිට මහාධිකරණය හමුවේ විභාග වෙමින් තිබේ.
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dakshina fernando
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