One should not hold rallies and dinners and spoil the UNP, its assistant leader Ravi Karunanayake said yesterday.

Sports Minister Harin Fernando yesterday (30) told news media that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has never said that he would not chose UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa as the UNP Candidate for the oncoming Presidential Election.

The Police Department says they are trying out new technology that would enable them to identify and prosecute wanted and known criminals more speedily.

Dates for the presidential election would be announced during the second half of October, Elections Commission sources said yesterday.

Dullas Alahapperuma and Keheliya Rambukwella had been appointed as the official media spokespersons of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the presidential candidate of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.

A special discussion between senior members of the United National Party and party leader Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will take place today.

An Australian Federal Court judge has granted an extended injunction preventing the deportation of a Tamil family from Darwin to Sri Lanka until after another court hearing next Wednesday.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, yesterday, said he saw nothing wrong in the conflict between two groups in the government over the presidential candidate to be named. He said so in response to a question, raised by The Island, at a hurriedly summoned press conference at the Finance Ministry.

All party leaders have unanimously approved the draft Constitution of the proposed new United National Front alliance that would be led by the UNP to contest the Presidential elections and the Presidential Candidate will be announced on the day the alliance is formed, Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Minister Rajitha Senaratne announced yesterday.

The Archbishop of Canterbury emphasized the need for Christian unity on Thursday as he paid tribute to the victims of the Easter Sunday bomb attacks at a Roman Catholic church in Sri Lanka.

Parliamentarians S.B. Dissanayake and Dilan Perera, have obtained the membership of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) from the National Organizer of SLPP, former Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

The Japanese government will provide a grant of 1 billion Japanese Yen (approximately Rs. 1.6 billion) to Sri Lanka, to strengthen counterterrorism capabilities and public security.

A person has been arrested in Wattala, Hendala with ‘Ice’ and ‘Hashish’ worth over Rs. 15 million.

The Opposition today said the moves by the UNP to get the executive presidency abolished by requesting the President to do so was an attempt to cover up its inability to face the presidential election.

Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) Dr. Sinniah Sivaruban, who was arrested by the Jaffna Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) while serving at the Palai Hospital, has requested TID officers to increase the security of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Police recovered three claymore mines and a small pressure bomb at Paragammala forest reserve in Pannala this afternoon, police said.