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Home » NewsSarnath Buddha relics in Viet Nam
As part of the United Nations Vesak celebration in Viet Nam, the sacred Buddha relics has been brought from Sarnath’s Mulaghandha Kuty Vihara built by Anagarika Dharmapala for public veneration. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake left for Viet Nam yesterday on a state visit and to take part in the UN Vesak celebrations as chief guest. [...]
Outrage as Buddhist relics go under the hammer in Hong Kong
By Graham Dixon in London Next week (May 7), on the eve of Vesak, Sotheby’s, the well-known British-founded brokers of fine arts, collectibles, and jewellery, will auction a collection of more than 300 sacred Buddhist relics unearthed in 1898 from the ancient Piprahwa stupa in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India, amidst an outcry of dissent and [...]
Hambantota refinery and Port City logistics centre projects face delays over new demands
Two Chinese projects—the proposed Sinopec oil refinery in Hambantota and a logistics centre at the Colombo Port—are still stuck in the pipeline, largely over benefits such as sweeping tax concessions that the investors are seeking. Sri Lanka has signed an initial agreement with Sinopec, the Chinese state energy giant, to build a US$ 3.7bn refinery [...]
Search op at BIA after India’s terror warning
Tipoff came after Chennai flight had landed; most passengers had left airport by then The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) conducted an urgent search at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) yesterday after the control tower received a message from India’s Chennai airport that suspicious persons could be aboard an incoming flight from that city. However, the [...]
Sirisena suicide attack suspects in remand for 16 years
By Ranjith Padmasiri Two accused charged with the 2008 LTTE suicide bomb attack that targeted former President Maithripala Sirisena when he was Agriculture Minister have been in remand custody for nearly 16 years, it was revealed this week at the Colombo High Court. When the trial began on Wednesday, lawyers for the two accused, Selvarajah [...]
Universities to get anti-ragging officers with added power
By Tharushi Weerasinghe The Higher Education Ministry has decided to appoint an additional officer to each state university vested with fresh powers to penalise students and initiate legal action in a renewed bid to curb ragging. This specially designated officer, responsible for handling ragging complaints, will be a member of the university’s governing council. “While [...]
Felicitation ceremony to honour Ven. Pallegama Hemarathana Thera
A felicitation ceremony was held yesterday (May 3) to honour the Most Ven. Dr. Pallegama Hemarathana Nayaka Thera, Chief Sanghanayaka of Nuwara Kalaviya and Atamasthanadhipathi, after being awarded an honorary doctorate from the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi, India in February. This is the first such honour bestowed on a Sri Lankan [...]
SLFEA suspends air ticket purchases from private sector for workers travelling to Israel, S. Korea
By Namini Wijedasa The state-run Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Agency (SLFEA) has temporarily stopped buying airline tickets from the private sector for workers travelling to Israel and South Korea after travel agents questioned the agency’s irregular procurement methods that flouted government tender procedure. The agency is now awaiting instructions from the National Procurement Commission (NPC) [...]
Govt. plans talks with China Exim Bank to resume work on Central Expressway
By Damith Wickremasekera The Government will renegotiate with the Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank) to resume work on the 35-kilometre Kadawatha-Mirigama stretch on the Central Expressway after nearly three years. According to officials, the Government owes the contractor, Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC), Rs. 45.9 billion for the work stoppage. Deputy Transport Minister Prasanna [...]
In few districts, crop pest count verification not complete
The Agriculture Ministry is yet to cover a few districts to complete the random survey and confirm the accuracy as well as validity of the problem animal census done nearly 50 days back. The five-minute census on problem animals was done on March 15 where people were asked to count Macaques, Langurs, giant squirrels and [...]
Govt. confirms commitment to GSP+ obligations
By Mimi Alphonsus The GSP+ monitoring delegation has met with various stakeholders including President Anura Kumara Dissanayake during its visit to Sri Lanka which ends on May 7. The visit was part of the EU’s routine monitoring on the implementation of 27 international conventions pertaining to labour rights, human rights, environmental protection, and good governance, [...]
Retired Appeal Court Judge appointed as an RTI Commissioner
Rtd Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice D.N. Samarakoon has been appointed as an Right to Information Commissioner by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to fill a vacancy on Sri Lanka’s Right to Information Commission (RTIC) pending for more than four months. Justice Samarakoon was nominated by the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI). His appointment [...]
The Sri Lankan mission speaks of its work in quake-struck Myanmar
By Dilushi Wijesinghe Across Nay Pyi Taw, multi-storey housing complexes had crumbled, their ground floors reduced to rubble while their top floors, once home to thousands of people, remained eerily standing. The city was badly hit by the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, affecting around five million people. The disaster [...]
‘‘It was God who saved me’’: a Sri Lankan’s hairbreadth escape in the earthquake at Mandalay
Nishan Wimalasuriya, 40, who served as a teacher in the city of Mandalay, Myanmar, was one of those who were lucky to survive the powerful earthquake on March 28. It was a Friday and Nishan, looking forward to the weekend, had just returned to his apartment complex, ‘Sky Villa’. He was residing on the 10th [...]
Homagama gets antlers in a tangle over deer
By Kasun Warakapitiya The Department of Wildlife Conservation is in a dilemma over the rising numbers of deer in the Homagama area. Farmers see them as a nuisance, but there are those who do not like capturing the deer. Wildlife officials have to balance the claims of those who oppose removal and those who do [...]
A day out
Thousands of NPP supporters gathered at Galle Face Green on May Day but as happens whenever there is a massive gathering, they left behind a trail of destruction including damage to a turtle hatchery. Also ignored were warnings of crocodiles being present around the area with many taking a sea bath as part of the [...]
Election campaigning continues on Workers’ Day
Major political parties held their traditional May Day rallies in the backdrop of a looming local government election, with campaigning for the polls also part of their usual rallies and marches. The National People’s Power (NPP) held its May Day rally at Galle Face Green under the patronage of its leader, President Anura Dissanayake. Senior [...]
Percentage eligible to enter university ‘a cut above’ last years
The percentage of students who have qualified to enter university based on the GCE (A/L) 2024 results shows a marginal improvement compared to recent years, the Examinations Department revealed. According to an analysis of the performance, 177,588 students, or 64.73 per cent of those who sat the examination, have qualified to apply to enter university, [...]
Sri Lanka to lose OGP membership due to non-submission of action plan
Sri Lanka risks losing its membership of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) – a global initiative to secure commitments from governments to promote open government, combat corruption and improve governance – as it has not submitted the mandatory OGP action plan or indicated a desire to stay on. Membership will expire next week. “Should the [...]
All logistical arrangements in place for LG polls, say officials and monitors
Over 70, 000 candidates will be contesting from 4877 wards and results will be issued by each ward By Sandun Jayawardana Authorities and election monitors are making final preparations for the 2025 local government elections, with polls set to open at 7 a.m islandwide on Tuesday (6). Voting for the elections will begin at 7 [...]
Local councils should be able to act independently as in other countries, says Election Com Gen
Political parties and EC express views on the MMPR system By Ishu Bandara While the opposition stated that they are satisfied with the Mixed Member Proportional Representation (MMPR) system combining both ward based and proportional representation methods as it offers them more advantage, Election Commissioner General Saman Sri Ratnayake told the Sunday Times that it [...]
LG polls 1991: When Gladstone had to pack his bags and leave
By Chandani Kirinde Elections to local councils draw less enthusiasm from voters, politicians or the media unlike national level elections but an exception was the local government (LG) elections held on May 11, 1991 when events of the day not only made news in Sri Lanka but around the world, and ended with the expulsion [...]
Door opens for electricity tariff upward revision in June
By Kapila Bandara Policymakers stirred up by repeated IMF admonitions have left the door open for an upward revision of electricity tariffs by June, when the next financing slice of US$344 million is due for executive board approval. Twice in recent days (in early April and in Washington the week before) the IMF reminded Sri [...]
SC unhappy that order to arrest Royal Park murder convict not carried out for more than a year
By Ranjith Padmasiri The Supreme Court (SC) has expressed strong disapproval that its order to arrest Royal Park murder convict Jude Shramantha Jayamaha had not been carried out for more than a year. State Counsel Sajith Bandara told the SC this week that there has been a delay in arresting Jayamaha because the original case [...]
Bleak weather on the cards
Scattered showers and spells of thunderstorms may occur in several parts of the country with the approach of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the Meteorological Department stated. While periods of showers will continue to impact Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Southern, Uva, Eastern, and North-Central provinces in the mornings, fairly heavy rainfall exceeding 75mm is forecasted mainly after [...]
Kandy’s 10-day garbage pile a lingering headache for council
By Kasun Warakapitiya The Kandy Municipal Council is still grappling with the segregation of nearly 500,000 kilograms of garbage, after a 10-day exposition of the Sacred Tooth Relic. Over 10 days, 630,000 kilograms of waste was left behind by pilgrims. Kandy’s Municipal Commissioner, Indika Abeysinghe told the Sunday Times that efforts have been intensified to [...]
Offering of enadangered Ran Dothalu by President stirs debate
By Malaka Rodrigo A recent religious offering by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has drawn sharp criticism from conservationists and botanists, reigniting concerns over the use of endangered plants in religious rituals. The controversy centres around the Ran Dothalu (Loxococcus rupicola), an endangered palm species, which was offered by the President during the Aluth Sahal Mangallaya— [...]
Non native palm introduced 150 years back, becomes invasive
By Malaka Rodrigo While native plant species like Ran Dothalu continue to decline in Sri Lanka, a non-native ornamental palm is rapidly spreading through the country’s southwestern rainforests, posing a threat to native biodiversity, according to a recent study. The palm in question, Areca triandra, is native to Southeast Asia and has now naturalised in [...]
Friend’s disclosure linking Sabaragamuwa University student’s suicide to ragging triggers social media outrage
University VC surprised that ragging incident had not been reported to authorities; says committee appointed to probe incident in addition to police probe By Tharushi Weerasinghe Investigations have been launched on multiple fronts following the death of Sabaragamuwa University student, which has been linked to ragging. The suicide of 23-year-old Charith Dilshan, a second-year student [...]
Revealing census on government and semi-government employees concluded
The estimated number of employees in all Public and Semi-Government Sector institutions is 1,156,018, the latest survey conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics has revealed. Among them, the proportion of males (50.5%) is slightly higher than that of females (49.5%). However, a higher proportion of females are employed in the provincial government compared [...]
Largescale logging racket raided within buffer zone of Wilpattu
Wildlife officers surprised that it had gone undetected by nearby Navy camp By Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe The Eluwankulama wildlife office raided a large-scale illegal logging racket inside the buffer zone of the Wilpattu National Park on Wednesday, confiscating nearly Rs. 1mn worth of timber. Among the haul were weera, palu, mahogany and halmilla trees, an [...]
State Vesak Festival to dazzle Nuwara Eliya
By Shelton Hettiarachchi in Nuwara Eliya The State Vesak Festival will be held this year at the Nuwara Eliya International Buddhist Centre under the patronage of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake. Special ceremonies are scheduled to be held at all temples throughout the Nuwara Eliya district from the 10th to the 16th, as part of the [...]
Police to expand CCTV traffic offender detection islandwide
By Sandun Jayawardana Police are planning to gradually expand using CCTV cameras to identify traffic violations in other parts of the country, in addition to Colombo. Legal action has been initiated against more than 4000 motorists who were identified as traffic offenders using CCTV cameras installed in Colombo City. The project began on February 1 [...]
Overseas Sri Lankans pump Rs 543b into economy in three months
By Kapila Bandara Sri Lankans working overseas, mostly women in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates, have poured billions into the economy in the first three months, underwriting their homeland at a crucial time of structural and policy reforms driven by the International Monetary Fund under a financing programme. Up to March, Sri [...]