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Land and Land Development Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon has warned of the possibility of a different kind of terrorism erupting in the country over land disputes if they are not resolved.

Tennakoon addressing a ceremony in Pottuvil has said that land disputes needed to be resolved soon. He has said that terrorist activities had contributed to the increase in land disputes as a large number of people, especially the Muslims, lost their residences and lands pushing them to the status of IDPs. Read the rest of this entry »

The Government has approved changes to the ongoing oil & gas drilling program in the Gulf of Mannar basin, as requested by the explorer Cairn Lanka. Cabinet Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said, “A thorough interpretation of the seismic survey conducted by the company has revealed that changes in the drilling programme are necessary”.

The explorer has said owing to the findings, drilling locations and drill depths may need changes at short notice due to operational difficulties and emergencies during drilling. Read the rest of this entry »

The Foreign Employment Bureau (FEB) while dismissing media speculation of the public execution of Rizana Nafeek in Saudi Arabia said they are working hard together with Saudi authorities for her release.

FEB Chairman Kingsley Ranawaka speaking to Daily Mirror Online today said that the speculation of her execution is most probably triggered by the recent execution of an Indonesian maid who was beheaded for murdering her employer who had repeatedly abused her. Read the rest of this entry »

The Channel 4 programme “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” mixes a large collection of samizdat amateur footage from mobile phones and video cameras – mostly un-attributed and uncorroborated, with comment from unnamed sources with distorted voices and shadowed faces. And human rights lawyers. It was brutal, it was shocking, but it wasn’t journalism”, states the UK’s Sunday Times journalist and TV Critic, AA Giles, in a critical comment on the programme.

“Not a second of this has been shot by Channel 4; none of the eyewitness accounts comes from journalists,” he observes. Read the rest of this entry »

The establishment of 60 new courts around the country will be completed within this year. A number of new courts are to be established in the areas of Northern and Eastern provinces, the Ministry of Justice said.

The new courts will end the delay of justice delivered by courts, the Minister of Justice Rauf Hakeem said. With the establishment of the new courts, the Ministry of Justice expects to change the court divisions of the country. Read the rest of this entry »

Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem said Sri Lanka will take legal action against the ‘Channel 4’ television channel for telecasting a concocted and controversial video to damage Sri Lanka’s image abroad.

“Steps have already been taken in this direction at diplomatic level,” he said addressing the media after a meeting held with judges and lawyers at the Kandy Courts Complex on Thursday Read the rest of this entry »

Saudi Arabia has handed over the ownership of 500 housing units it built for the 2004 tsunami victims. Saudi Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Abdul Aziz Al-Jammaz handed over the symbolic key to the 500 tsunami houses to President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees yesterday.

Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2006 to build 1000 housing units for the people affected by the 2004 tsunami in the Ampara district Read the rest of this entry »

The Southern Province Governor banning school principals and teachers to travel abroad for religious obligations on school days. Accourding to the The Nawamany paper news, a circular had been circulated by the Governor. that  circular has been sent to all zonal directors of all educational divisions of south province.

It is learned that as a result of this circular Muslim principals and teachers are the mostly affected ones.   Further Muslims teachers are taking leaves to go to Makkah for their religious activities such as Hajj and Umra, the Sinhala teachers are applying leaves to go to Dambadiva’ in India for their religious activities and Tamil teachers are also taking such leaves go abroad Read the rest of this entry »

The Higher Education Ministry and the Minneriya Infantry Training Centre yesterday denied Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) allegations that participants in the leadership training programme were exposed to sexually explicit material at the Minneriya Centre on June 4.

Minneriya Infantry Training Centre Commandant Asoka Amunugama said none of the students was exposed to such material and added that the misleading rumours were connected to a beauty culture programme, which was conducted for three hours as part of the personal grooming course Read the rest of this entry »

The tourism development project proposed by the government in several islands in the Kalpitiya area has come under fire by environmental and fisheries organizations.The government proposed the development of 14 islands in the Kalpitiya area aimed at promoting tourism.

The organizations have expressed concerns over the huge development projects that would take place in the islands after a land grab by the private sector Read the rest of this entry »

CMA Sri Lanka signed a MoU with International Airline and Business Academy FZ. LLC. (IABA) – situated in the Dubai Knowledge Village, to launch the CMA Sri Lanka professional management accounting online e-learning course for Sri Lankans employed in Dubai and the Middle Eastern countries.

The CMA Sri Lanka online course is specially meant for the Sri Lankan community and is a flexible fast-track route for those in employment, a professional qualification for graduates and under graduates and students after A/Levels Read the rest of this entry »

The Supreme Court has informed the Attorney General to look into the possibility of postponing the leadership training program for university students for 07 days.

The program targeted at new students receiving university entrance is scheduled to commence on June 23.Supreme Court Judge Bench headed by Justice K. Shripavan had informed of this to the AG when the petition, filed by the Students’ Movement for Human Rights, challenging the training program was taken up today (May 20) Read the rest of this entry »

The Census and Statistics Department has said the results of the census that is currently being carried out will be issued step by step from August this year. According to the Department, this is the first national census to be taken island wide after almost three decades.

Director in charge of the national census, H.R. Gunasekara has told the media that once the census is completed, it will be used as the official data on demographic, social and population and the living patterns of Sri Lankans for the next decade Read the rest of this entry »

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has told the visiting Sri Lankan Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen that Iran is ready to enhance ties with Sri Lanka in industrial and commercial fields.

Reports from Tehran said that the discussion included construction of cement factory, machine manufacturing, and building construction. The two Ministers also have discussed plans to establish a joint Business Counci which would support the activities of the private sectors of both coountries and bring their businessmen closer Read the rest of this entry »

The education sector trade unions have opposed the leadership training programme proposed for new entrants to universities by the government.

Students unions affiliated to universities have already objected to the proposed leadership training programme to be held for university students in military camps. The Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) has already threatened legal action against the move Read the rest of this entry »

Saudi Arabian authorities have agreed to increase the quota of Haj pilgrims granted to Sri Lanka to more than 8,000 during the forthcoming pilgrimage season, said Environment Deputy Minister and Member Sri Lanka Haj Committee A R M Abdul Cader.
The deputy Minister who was a member of the Haj Committee which visited Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Saudi Arabian Authorities at diplomatic level said their Saudi counterparts treated them in a very friendly manner and offered a very positive response to the representatives made by the Sri Lankan Haj committee. He said the Saudi authorities also agreed to provide more guides for Sri Lankan pilgrims during the Haj pilgrimage. Read the rest of this entry »

Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Trincomalee district MP M.S.Taufeek had to leave the Parliament chamber today after he came dressed in red colored short sleeved shirt which was deemed unsuitable attire for a legislator.

The MP who walked into the Chamber and occupied a back row seat was asked to leave the Chamber shortly afterwards by Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms Narendra Fernando. Male legislators are required to wear the national suit, tunic or full suit while attending sittings. Female legislators are required to be clad in sari.- sundaytimes

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will declare open the two day conference on Inter-Faith Dialogue on ‘Building World Peace – Role of Islamic Buddhist Dialogue’.  The conference will be held at Hotel Galadari today (4th).

This was announced by the Chancellor of the Sabaragamuwa University, Professor, Venerable Kumburugamuwe Vajira Thero participating in an Inter-faith Conference on 2600th Sambuddhathva Jayanthiya held in Colombo yesterday Read the rest of this entry »

Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has said that people should not have an unwanted apprehension about a tsunami, as the Ministry of Disaster Management has a streamline mechanism to inform the people if there is any such danger.

He has said that the Disaster Management Centre and the Met Department are in readiness round the clock to inform about such situations. More than 50 tsunami warning towers have been erected throughout the country Read the rest of this entry »

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been omitted from the final list of Time magazines 100 most influential people in the world, which was announced today, despite being selected in the online poll.

While the President was ranked fourth at the time online voting in the poll closed yesterday, the final 100 selected by the Editors of the prestigious magazine saw him being dropped Read the rest of this entry »

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has reached the top ten of TIME Magazine’s ‘TIME 100’ polls most influential people in the world. The President is currently ranked 4th in the list with a total of 85,934 votes. He is the highest ranked political leader in the list thus making him the most influential political leader.

The President, appearing for the very first time in the online poll carried out by Time Magazine, is also the first Sri Lankan leader to be featured in the TIME 100 Top Ten. President Rajapaksa is the only politician among the top order in the list, with South Korean pop idol Rain taking first place. Read the rest of this entry »

As grateful and longstanding friends of Sri Lanka, we Palestinians express our deepest concern over the repeated attempts made by Secretary General of UN Ban – Ki – Moon in association with U.S. State Department to launch a war crime probe against Sri Lanka. We also vehemently condemn any such attempt as we are fully convinced that no such crimes were committed by the government of Sri Lanka during its war against the most ruthless terrorist organization in the world.

We are aware that western imperialists having failed to divide Sri Lanka and create a separate state for the terrorist group called LTTE are now trying to drag Sri Lanka and its leaders before various tribunals having prepared reports based on information provided by the interested groups now living in western countries Read the rest of this entry »

The fishing industry in the Puttalam area is in the doldrums currently. Fishermen complain that everything from fishing gear to the environment here is being destroyed. This problem is being faced by around 25,000 fishermen in Kalpitiya, Kandakuliya and Battalangunduwa, their spokesman Anton Rex said.

“The crisis involving the multi-day boats has now reached a climax. There are about 64 multi-day boats which generally go fishing for about three weeks at a stretch costing around Rs. 250,000 per trip. These boats are bought on bank loans and to meet the bank instalment repayments at least 3,000 kilos of fish must be caught. Today they do not go deep sea fishing as it does not yield a good harvest,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »

The colossal sums of monies that nations spend on conflicts and wars must be diverted towards development, research and technology to reduce poverty and suffering of the masses. Sri Lanka’s humanitarian initiatives have enabled the government, not just to end conflicts but to divert resources earlier spent on conflicts, now towards welfare and development, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sri Lankan President inaugurated the Ministerial Summit of the Eight- member South Asian Conference on Sanitation in Colombo Wednesday Read the rest of this entry »