Category: Local News

Onlanka News – By Janaka Alahapperuma (Pix by: Chandana Perera) The Eighth National Scout Jamboree organized by the Sri Lanka Scouts Association commenced today on 27 December at the International Stadium in Eraminiyaya, Angunakolapelessa in Hambantota under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Chief Guest. The President was received by the Chief Commissioner […]

Indian Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar is scheduled to arrive in the island today on an official visit. […]

The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has no expectation to meet the UN Secretary General’s Panel outside the country. “In the event of the government facilitating them to visit Sri Lanka, we are willing to meet them here in the country,” LLRC media consultant Lakshman Wickramasinghe has said. Earlier the Commission had said any […]

Forty two persons including two monks have been marooned due to floods in the historic Somawathiya Chaitya area, Pulasthigama police said. Among the rest of the people marooned are 20 soldiers, 16 civil defence force personnel and six policemen. Vehicle transportation to the Somawathiya area has been stopped since Friday due to floods in the […]

To ensure effective risk reduction, it is important that the linkages between disaster and development are understood. As the theme of this event signifies a safer community depends on sustainable development, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in a message for the National Safety Day. More importantly, the public needs to be aware of the existing disaster […]

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka marked the sixth tsunami anniversary that claimed the lives of more than 40,000 people with a host of religious events Sunday. A two-minute silence was observed throughout the country at 9.25 a.m. (0355 GMT), the time the killer waves first hit the eastern coast. […]

The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) will write to Opposition United National Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, inviting him to testify before it. The move comes after the commission’s secretary S.B. Atugoda telephoned Mr. Wickremesinghe to inquire whether he could arrange for a date. Mr. Wickremesinghe told the Sunday Times, “I told him that I […]

The panel of experts appointed by the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon is arriving in the island not to give evidence before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, but to confirm their recommendations, says the National Patriotic Movement. This was stated by Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera, Chairman of the Movement at a seminar titiled […]

Six people from the same family were drowned when their boat capsized in the Mahasen tank in Welikanda, Polonnaruwa yesterday. Among the dead are four females and two males including a two and a half year old child. Of the seven in the boat one had managed to escape. The person who escaped is believed […]

The UN panel on human rights violations is coming and the Wansa has forgotten all about those death fasts, says former parliamentarian of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, Samantha Vidyaratna. Addressing a group of party members in the Ikiliyagoda area in Mahiyangana, he said that one had to remember that there was a big difference between […]

Stocks of imported eggs and chicken will reach Sri Lanka sometime in the evening today (December 23) while the stocks will be ready for distribution by tomorrow, Cooperatives and Internal Trade Minister Johnston Fernando stated. […]

News Source: BBC A proposed meeting between the United Nations and a Sri Lankan presidential commission has evoked opposition from international human rights watchdogs and Sinhala nationalists within the ruling coalition. Human Rights Watch (HRW) called upon the United Nations to be cautious in sending its investigators to meet the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission […]

The Ceylon Electricity Board yesterday stressed that the electricity charges of consumers who use less than 90 units a month will not be increased under any circumstances. The Power and Energy Ministry yesterday said President Mahinda Rajapaksa rejected the Public Utility Commission’s (PUC) earlier recommendation that eight per cent of electricity tariff increase should be […]

Salaries can be increased by confiscating the assets of Tigers, says Ranil Wickremasinghe, Opposition leader. The leader of the United National Party (UNP) said that the government had broken two promises – to confiscate Tiger assets and to increase salaries. “When the assets of Tigers are confiscated, increasing salaries is not difficult,” said the opposition […]

External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peris yesterday expressed hope that the US embassy in Colombo and the US Department would convey to the Senators and Congressmen the need to avoid being pushed by false propaganda towards the adoption of a pre-judgemental attitude towards the LLRC. The Minister made these remarks when he met the […]

Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, the Deputy Minister of Resettlement of the Rajapaksa Administration and former LTTE commander in the East, spoke to Ranga Jayasuriya of Lakbimanews on wide-ranging issues: about allegations of extortion levelled against groups loyal to him, diaspora tactics, regrouping of the LTTE and how Prabhakaran learnt his military tactics from movies. Excerpts: […]