island.lk

The war has left 89,000 women in the North and the East widowed and most of them are from the Batticaloa District, Deputy Minister of Child Development and Women’s Welfar, M. L. A. Hisbulla says.

Addressing the media at the Government Information Department yesterday (29), he said there were 40,000 widows in the North and 49,000 in the East. Some of them were the wives of…

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Sri Lanka will be in a position to use thorium, a radioactive metal, to generate nuclear power as 30 per cent of the world’s deposits lay between Kerala in India and Beruwala, Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka says.

The Minister said he was confident that thorium would be an asset on the completion of the ongoing extensive studies conducted by Indian and…

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As the final wave of voting for the CEAT People’s Player of the Year gained momentum ahead of Friday’s close, three national cricketing stars had surged ahead of the field and were in hot pursuit of the coveted award, organizers of the contest said.

The national team’s iconic batting duo of Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena and the exciting all-rounder Angelo Mathews…

island.lk

The police have launched a high profile investigation following allegations that unscrupulous elements, with political backing, had obtained trade stalls, at Bodhiraja Mawatha, meant for pavement hawkers removed on a Defence Ministry directive.

DIG Anura Senanayake yesterday told The Island that he received instructions from Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to conduct…

dailymirror.lk

The case where former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka is facing charges of having made a statement to a newspaper that Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa ordered the security forces to shoot LTTE activists who surrendered while carrying white flags was re fixed for today.

The trial-at-bar comprising Judges Deepali Wijesundera, W.M.P.B.…

island.lk

There is no need for a federal political solution in Sri Lanka, BBC Sandeshaya quoted UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake as saying on Monday.

The UNP, that has agreed for a federal solution with the LTTE, said it is no longer necessary to devolve the centralised power into regions as there are no longer ‘armed militants’.

In the Oslo statement, agreed by…

island.lk

Insists Speaker desist from interfering in the process

The UNP says party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is ready to appoint his nominee to the five-member Parliamentary Council, though his first choice, TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran refused to accept the appointment.

WPC member Kithsiri Manchanayake says the Opposition leader shouldn’t be…

island.lk

Farmers in the Jaffna Distric have made preparations to cultivate 28,967 acres of paddy this Maha Season. That will include 3,000 acres of land within what was once the High Security Zone (HSZ), government sources said yesterday.

Minister for Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa will participate in the main ceremony, the ‘Wap Magul’, in the Ariyalai area, which was once a…

island.lk

Even some judges and lawyers are not conversant with the new laws passed by Parliament, Deputy Minister of Justice Reginald Cooray says.

Addressing the media at the Ministry Auditorium, the deputy minister emphasised the need to educate the public on the laws passed by Parliament.

Cooray said that judgments on similar cases could vary according to personal…

island.lk

Sri Lankan and Indian naval authorities will meet on Wednesday (Sept. 29) at the Indo-Lanka maritime boundary to discuss ways and means of preventing fishermen from poaching in each others’ waters.

The Sri Lankan delegation led by Northern Naval Area Commander Rear Admiral Thusitha Weerasekera will comprise…

island.lk

For the first seven months of this year ,the Motor Traffic Department has registered 185,595 new vehicles compared to 204,075 vehicles for the whole of last year (2009).

A spokesman for the Motor Traffic Department told The Island that motor cycles topped the list with 113,953 registrations. According…

sundayisland.lk

General Sarath Fonseka’s wife, Anoma last week appealed to the Mahanayakes of the Asgiriya and Malwatte Chapters to intervene on the former general’s behalf. Although she was accompanied by a delegation of DNA representatives, Anoma Fonseka is widely believed to have sought their help to secure her husband’s release.

Well informed sources told The Sunday Island that…

sundayisland.lk

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had yesterday told President Mahinda Rajapaksa in New York for the sessions of the UN General Assembly that his committee on Sri Lanka ``was in no way empowered to investigate charges against Sri Lanka, but was solely to advice him on matters relating to Sri Lanka,’’ according to a news release from the president’s office.

Ban’s…

nation.lk

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in New York for the UN General Assembly, told The Wall Street Journal that rising labour costs in China present an opportunity for Sri Lanka to attract foreign companies seeking an alternative low-cost manufacturing base.

He said European and US retailers were increasingly turning to Sri Lanka to produce apparel at costs below those in China.…

sundayisland.lk

UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya, yesterday accused the government "which adopts a policy to suit its political agenda," of keeping mum on media reports of a plan to abolish the 144-year old Colombo Municipal Council (CMC).

The government was well aware that they are losing the support of the people living in municipal areas and was hence trying to overcome this…

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Close on the heels of a move to do away with the CMC to pave the way for an authority, IGP Mahinda Balasuriya yesterday called a media briefing at police headquarters, where the police top brass explained why they had been compelled to intervene to ensure the CMC carried out its duties.

The police chief explained action taken by the Colombo police on a Defence Ministry…

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UNP and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said in Parliament that the army couldn’t violate DNA leader Sarath Fonseka’s right to attend sittings. An irate Wickremesinghe accused the army of depriving the former…

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Ruling out sabotage or terrorist activity, IGP Mahinda Balasuriya says a Chinese engineer was responsible for the Karadiyanaru blast. He had mishandled detonators, the police chief said.

The IGP called last Friday’s blast nothing but an industrial mishap.

Balasuriya rejected a recent JVP claim that a rivalry between two countries, engaged in major construction…

island.lk

Norway is preparing to launch a full scale inquiry into the failed Norwegian peace efforts in Sri Lanka from 1997 to 2009 with special emphasis on the final stage of the war between January and May 2009, while Premier Jens Stoltenberg’s government is seeking a new role in the post-war Sri Lanka, The Island learns.

The Norwegian government is likely to hire a…

island.lk

The UNP Youth Front was yesterday urged by party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to play a leading role in the countrywide protests that were being organised to protest against the 18th Amendment to the Constitution and unbridled power that had been vested with President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

He told a meeting with the UNP Youth Front in Colombo that the task of taking the party…