Deputy Minister of Economic Development M.L.A.M. Hisbullah yesterday said he would soon send an official invitation to Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) to visit Kattankudy, a predominately Muslim area to see for themselves what the Muslims were doing there.

Minister Hisbullah was addressing Jammiyathul Ullemas (Muslim theologians) in Kattankudy

The minister said that the BBS could visit prominent Arabic colleges and Mosques there to see whether these institutions were promoting religious extremism as well as training terrorists

The Presidential Commission, appointed to investigate the skeletons found in the Matale mass grave, has directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to submit a full report containing the Court proceedings on the findings.
This was revealed by the CID officers yesterday, when the case was taken up for the first time by newly-appointed Magistrate, Sampath Gamage.

 

Time magazine, carrying a cover story comparing the Myanmar Buddhist Monk Wirathu and his organization 'Buddhist 969' to the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), has been withheld by customs at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).
The Myanmar Government has taken steps to ban the July issue of Time, as the cover page of the magazine portrays the Monk with the headline describing him as 'The Face of Buddhist Terror.'

As the three-month amnesty period for all illegal migrant workers to leave Saudi Arabia is due to expire early next month, Sri Lanka has been offered an extension of the time period to repatriate migrant workers, who are living under the bridges in Jeddah. The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) told Ceylon Today, negotiations with the Saudi Government to request for an extension, has borne fruit and that all Sri Lankan illegal migrant workers in Saudi Arabia can be repatriated even after the amnesty period expires.

Secretary to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa laid foundation stone for the new Teaching Hospital complex which is to be built at General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) premises at Werahera today, (28th June).
Proposed 704-bed fully fledged teaching hospital comprising of operation theatres, laboratories, other ultra-modern facilities including eight intensive care units and an oncology unit, will be a boast to the state of the art medical facilities that are on par with internationa

In a few weeks time, the Editors Guild will be organizing what has now come to be their annual 'Oscars' or 'Academy Awards' or by whatever name it has come to be known, where journalists of our tribe will be honoured with trophies and medals. We can only beg, our distinguished and intelligent readers, to pardon us for devoting or squandering today's editorial to write about ourselves.

In post war Sri Lanka, where triumphalism is an ever-present threat to reconciliation, and where issues of religious and language diversity continue to engender conflict, we are encountering a reassertion of Sinhala-Buddhist nationalism through the powerful medium of film. In the recent past we have seen the grand dramatization of several episodes in the vamsic account of Sri Lankan history. These include Abá (2008), Mahindagamanaya (2011) and Vijaya Kuweni (2012), which are now complemented by the recent release of Siri Parakum.

The era when graduates suffered due to unemployment has come to an end as another step forward in achieving the Mahinda Chinthana future vision, Social Services Minister Felix Perera said.

At present, the unemployment rate in Sri Lanka has decreased to 4.5 percent under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the government has marked the end of privatization of government institutes, he added.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $ 200 million in loans to help the Government of Sri Lanka revamp its secondary school system to cut youth unemployment and meet the country’s urgent need for a skilled workforce.
“The current system needs a major overhaul so that young people have the skills to enter the labour market once they move on from secondary schools,” said Rita O’ Sullivan, Country Director of ADB’s office in Sri Lanka. “This is now essential in a digital age where technologi

The Government is ready to solve the all the problems facing Public Health Inspectors who are performing a selfless public service and to motivate and encourage them, according to Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa.
He said this at the meeting held to mark the Public Health Association’s 78th Anniversary and the centenary of the Public Health Service in Sri Lanka, at the Convention Hall, Colombo on June 27th. The Minister was the Chief Guest at the event.