Onlanka News – By Janaka Alahapperuma – (Pix by: Sudath Silva) As the people of Sri Lanka have given an overwhelming victory in the General Election –April 2010 for the 7th parliament, the jubilant President Mahinda Rajapaksa has already started consultations with trusted top bureaucrats of his government on selection of the new cabinet. According […]
The United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance created history by winning a huge majority close to almost two-thirds in the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka at the General election held Thursday. Under the proportional representation system combined with preferential voting and a system of bonus seats for the winner at district level the two-thirds barrier was conceived […]
COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s ruling party is running well ahead of the fractured opposition, early results showed Friday, in a vote marked by record low turnout and reports of violence and voter intimidation. President Mahinda Rajapakse’s United People’s Freedom Alliance was leading in 21 out of 28 polling divisions declared so far following Thursday’s […]
Onlanka News – By Janaka Alahapperuma (Pix by: Chandana Perera) President Mahinda Rajapaksa cast his vote early this morning at the D.A. Rajapaksa Maha Vidayalaya in Medamulana, his home town of Hambantota. The President was accompanied with his elder brother Minister Chamal Rajapaksa, his elder son Namal Rajapaksa and the First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa. Voting […]
Onlanka News – By Janaka Alahapperuma – (Pix by: Sudath Silva) President Mahinda Rajapaksa paid a surprise visit to the parliament which convened to pass the State of Emergency this afternoon on 6th April. The dissolved parliament met today to extend the State of Emergency by another month. The 6th parliament of Sri Lanka was […]
COLOMBO (AFP) – On the eve of Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections, the main opposition accused the ruling party Wednesday of campaign abuses and said it did not expect polling to be free and fair. The opposition United National Party (UNP) said President Mahinda Rajapakse’s administration had used state-owned vehicles and buildings for campaigning and turned […]
Despite the world economic recession, the Government was able to bring down the unemployment rate to 5.4 percent by the last quarter of 2009, Marketing Development, Co-operatives and Consumer Services Minister Bandula Gunawardena said. The Minister was quoting from a report issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka at a media briefing at the […]
COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s economy is poised to expand by 6.5 percent this year, the central bank said Monday, after slower growth in 2009 due to the operation to crush the Tamil Tigers and the global crisis. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka in its annual review of the economy said the intense fighting […]
COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s opposition on Monday vowed to deny the ruling coalition a two-thirds majority at this week’s parliamentary election, saying it would give an already powerful president too free a hand to rule. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, fresh from a landslide re-election in January, has said he expects his United Peoples Freedom Alliance […]
COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka placed nearly 20,000 troops on alert to reinforce police as violence escalated ahead of parliamentary elections, a police spokesman said Sunday. The private Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) reported 325 minor incidents of poll-related violence in the run-up to Thursday’s vote, with firearms being used in about 50 cases. […]
Onlanka News – By Janaka Alahapperuma (Pix by: Nalin Hewapathirana) President Mahinda Rajapaksa participated in a special religious ceremony at Nallur Hindu Kovil on his visit to Jaffna yesterday morning on 01st of April. This is President Rajapaksa’s second visit to the historic Hindu Shrine in the peninsula. His first visit was made prior to […]
Onlanka News – By Janaka Alahapperuma – (Pix by: Nalin Hewapathirana) President Mahinda Rajapaksa paid a visit to Naga Vihara, the historic Buddhist Shrine at Jaffna town yesterday on 1st of April. Venerable Maha Sanga headed by Chief Incumbent of the Naga Vihara Ven. Meegahajathure Gnanarathana Nayaka Thero invoked blessings on President Rajapaksa after he […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (Reuters) – Sri Lanka have called up uncapped wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Chandimal in their 15-man squad for next month’s Twenty20 World Cup. The highly-rated 20-year-old was included in the squad named by selectors on Wednesday after scoring 320 runs at an average of 53.33 in Sri Lanka’s domestic T20 league. The squad also […]
Daily Mail – By Paul Newman Paul Farbrace talks about the day he nearly lost his life in an almost unnervingly matter-of-fact fashion. ‘I was sitting in the team bus when I heard this popping and banging noise,’ said Kent’s new head coach. ‘I looked out of the window and saw this guy running with […]
President Mahinda Rajapaksa who declared opened the country’s first ever fully-equipped National Tele-Cinema Park at Ranmihithenna in Tissamaharama yesterday identified the facility as the biggest investment a Government could make on behalf of its local cinema. The Mahinda Rajapaksa Tele-Cinema Park built according to a concept by him is located in a sprawling 235 acres […]