Category: Local News

Following the arrest of TMVP members in Batticaloa President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ensured Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan that he will resolve the issue within a week, TMVP Media Spokesman Azad Mowlana stated. […]

Money and gold jewellery worth more than one million rupees had been robbed in a Colombo bound bus from Angunukolapelessa this morning, Panamura police said. […]

Senior Supreme Court Judge and one time Dean of the Faculty of Law, Colombo University, Dr Shirani Bandaranayake was sworn in before President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday as the country’s first female Chief Justice. The swearing in took place at Temple Trees yesterday. Dr Bandaranayake was the youngest woman judge to be appointed to the Supreme […]

Onlanka News – Pix by: Janaka Alahapperuma, Lal Dias and Ishan Bazeer Members of the British Sri Lankan Forum (BSLF)-UK visited No: 10, Dawning Street, the official residence of British Prime Minister David Cameron recently. They were allowed to go through the famous door, giving a very unusual time slot to hand over a petition […]

Onlanka News – Report and photos by Thakshila Udage (Submitted by Janaka Alahapperuma) The Midlands International Buddhist Association in the U.K. known as the Birmingham Buddhist Maha Vihara celebrated 2600th Sambuddattva Jayanthi at its headquarters. The participants included different Buddhist nationalities such as Sri Lankans, Indians, Nepalese, Bangladeshis, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Tibetans as well as […]

The teachings of the Buddha help us to bring to the world the means of resolving all disputes that arise from unbridled desire. Thus it behoves upon us to give to the world the path to peace and consolation from these great teachings of the Samma Sambuddhatva or Great Enlightenment of the Buddha, 2600 years […]

The National Vesak celebrations will be held at the Rajamaha Viharaya in Kottegoda, Matara with President Mahinda Rajapaksa attending the event. Around 10,000 devotees are expected to participate in the religious customs as well. […]

It is with immense fervor and devotion that we celebrate, with full State patronage, the thrice blessed festival of Vesak this year, which also marks the 26th Sammasambuddhatva Jayanthi. Through 2600 years the teachings of the Buddha have shown the correct path of livelihood to mankind. The comfort and consolation these provided to humans remain […]

Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka was taken for treatment to a private hospital in Colombo today. According to Newsfirst Correspondent, Fonseka was escorted to hospital amidst the security of prison officials. […]

DERA GHAZI KHAN: One of the terrorists involved in the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team on March 3, 2009 has been apprehended in Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan. Sources told The Express Tribune that police arrested Adnan Khosa for a bank robbery that took place on May 14 in Taunsa Sharif, a city in […]

Onlanka News – By Janaka Alahapperuma (Pix by: Sudath Silva) The Episcopal Ordination and Installation of Rt. Rev. Dhiloraj Ranjit Canagasabey as the 15th Bishop of Colombo at the Church of Sri Lanka took place this morning on 14 May at the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour in Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo. […]

Onlanka News – By Janaka Alahapperuma (Pix by: Sudath Silva) President Mahinda Rajapaksa participated in the sil campaigns organized in connection with the 2600th Sri Sambuddhathwa Jayanthi celebrations at the Ananda and Nalanda Colleges and Visakha Vidyalaya in Colombo on Friday 13 May. Many special religious programmes of Dhana, Seela and Bhavana including sil campaigns […]

Onlanka News – By Janaka Alahapperuma (Pix by: Sudath Silva) President Mahinda Rajapaksa officially inaugurated the 2600th Sri Sambuddhathwa Jayanthi Year and the Vesak week in Anuradhapura this evening on 14 May 2011. The state ceremony took place on a grand scale in the sacred area premises of the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura. […]

The home of MP Namal Rajapaksa’s Co-ordinating Secretary was shot at early morning today (May 15) in Beliatta. No one was injured in the attack while only a window had been broken in the shooting, Southern Province Deputy Inspector General Kingsley Ekanayaka told Ada Derana. […]

Leaders of political parties representing the Tamil-speaking people of the North and the East welcomed President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s recent announcement that the talks on power devolution to the North and the East will not be confined to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) but will also be extended to other political parties which represent the people […]

The European Parliament yesterday defeated an attempt by the Socialist group “to seek the immediate establishment of an international justice mechanism” on Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan Embassy in Brussels said. The eventual resolution adopted instead during an ‘urgency’ debate called by the Socialist and Green parties at the Strassbourg Plenary session to draw attention […]