The Health Services Trade Union Alliance charges that officials are providing a sub standard Saline solution to Dengue patients.

Chairman of the Alliance, Saman Rathnapriya noted that the sub standard Saline was discovered in Kurunegala and Homagama.

Members of the Health Services Trade Union Alliance who attended a media briefing in Colombo displayed the Saline solutions to the public. Close inspection of the solution shows that the solution is not pure.

Minister of Education Bandula Gunawardena states that Sri Lanka is yet to reach the development achieved by Japan through education.

The Minister made this observation at a ceremony to present airline tickets to students participating in the Asia Pacific Children's Convention.

Seven students who will be participating in the 25th Asia Pacific Childrens' Convention in Japan were presented airline tickets at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Education.

The Indian police foiled an attempt made by a group of Sri Lankan nationals to migrate to Australia by sea.

The police said the group, a majority of whom gave a slip to authorities manning the Sri Lankan Refugee Open Camp area at Subramaniyapuram, Tirunelveli, assembled at the house of Jothiraja of Oothukadu near Wallajahbad, who also came to India from Sri Lanka in 1983 as a refugee and later secured Indian citizenship, The Hindu newspaper reported.

While the Lanka Private Bus Owners' Association (LPBOA) was scheduled to go ahead with the nationwide bus strike, midnight yesterday, Inter-provincial Bus Owners' Association (IBOA) and All Island Private Bus Owners' Federation (AIPBOF) announced they would stay away from the strike.

General Secretary of the AIPBOF, Anjana Priyanjith, told Ceylon Today they decided not to support the bus strike, alleging the LPBOA has always deceived bus owners.

A woman who was assaulted by unidentified persons who had jumped into her house along Temple road in the Rathgama area in Galle has now been admitted to the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital.

The Rathgama Police have arrested two individuals identified as residents of the Dhadella area in Galle in connection to the assault.

A Sri Lankan Tamil living in London has moved the Madras High Court bench here seeking custody of his two minor children.

A division bench, comprising Justices S.Rajeswaran and T.Mathivanan, adjourned the case till July 30, with directions to the litigant to implead the Oomatchikulam police as a respondent.

The petitioner claimed that his wife had left London for Madurai with their children without intimating him on April 8, 2011. After that she refused to let him talk to their children, he alleged.

While claiming that the government would not allow the private bus strike scheduled for tonight to be a success, the Private Transport Services Minister C.B. Rathnayaka said he was ready to face the strike.

“We have informed them to stop their strike. Only one association is to join the strike. However, 17 bus companies and 14 unions are with us. We have instructed all provincial councils to take the necessary steps to ensure that commuters would not be affected. Buses will run on schedule tomorrow. We will corporate wit

Women who seek foreign employment as house maids would not be allowed to go abroad after July 15, if their family background was found not conducive, Foreign Employment Minister Dilan Perera said today.

“The conduct of the husband, the number of infants and children, protection and education of children after their mother went abroad, the age and the health of the women would be considered from July 15 when issuing permission,” he said.

The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court refused bail to the first suspect in the assault of a 21-year -old youth at the Kama- Colombo nightclub, after a motion was filed by the suspect’s lawyers seeking bail a shortwhile ago.

C.R De Silva PC and Shanaka Wanasinghe PC appearing for the suspect submitted that their client be given bail because the offence was a bail-able offence and that the suspect poses no threat to the witnesses of the victim

The JVP yesterday accused the government of planning to mill and export its excess stocks of paddy to free its warehouses for the next season’s harvest.

Former JVP MP and president of the All Ceylon Peasant Association Namal Karunaratne said that the government was without a strategy to purchase paddy. "It is a shame to export rice while it is being imported in to the country," he said, adding that a system was needed to buy paddy and stock it.

Karunaratne said that the government’s paddy