UNP Kalutara District MP Ajith P. Perera yesterday told Parliament that he had been informed by the Ministry of Defence that there was evidence to prove that Prageeth Ekneligoda had been abducted by an organized group.

MP Perera, participating in the debate on Parliamentary Scholarship Board (Repeal) Bill, said that he had also been informed by the ministry that the abductors of Eknaligoda had not been identified as yet.

Colombo University yesterday said that it would conduct a separate investigation into the death of first year Science Faculty student Randimali Gunawardena, who is said to have jumped off the fifth floor of a building within university premises on Monday. She succumbed to her injuries at the National Hospital, Colombo in the early hours of yesterday.

The National Ocean Affairs Committee, (NOAC) says Sri Lanka is not in dispute with India to refer any matter pertaining to the oceans to ITLOS, which is a body set up within the UN for resolution of disputes.

Chris Dharmakirti, Chairman of the National Ocean Affairs Committee, said that at the present moment, only Bangladesh, Myanmar and India have declared disputes in the Bay of Bengal basin, and the resolution of those disputes have been brought before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), and Sri Lanka

Once again India is behaving as if Sri Lanka is not a sovereign state, and trying to bully the country solely for India’s own benefit.  The latest Indian claim is that it just wants to ensure a better deal for Tamils in Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan Tamils are not citizens of India. They are Sri Lankans, who are represented in the parliament of Sri Lanka by those who they vote for. India has 72 million Tamils in Tamil Nadu who are far worse off economically than Tamils who live in Sri Lanka so why does the Indian Government not

The National Transport Commission (NTC) is planning to increase bus fares by 6.2% from July 1, but the minimum fare of Rs. 9 is likely to remain unchanged.

During a discussion held yesterday between the NTC and representatives of the Inter Regional Bus Companies presided over by NTC Chairman Roshan Gunawardene, some bus owners lamented that the percentage of increase was not sufficient and sought a bigger hike. 

At the outset, I want to make what I consider is an important distinction in terms of the situation we are in.  The distinction is between a post–war situation and a post-conflict one.  Whilst we are in a post-war situation- the guns having fallen silent following the military defeat of the LTTE – I do not think we are in a post-conflict one, defined in terms of one in which the roots of conflict are not being sustained and certainly not being reproduced.  My concern is that the trajectory of developments, sinc

Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha, the new High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka arrived in Colombo today.

Y.K. Sinha is a seasoned diplomat and during his career of 32 years, has handled several important assignments at the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi and in Indian diplomatic missions in the Middle East, Europe, South America and the Permanent Mission of India at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Before coming to Sri Lanka, he was Additional Secretary in the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division at the Ministry of

The media code of ethics draft, made public by the Media Ministry, has an advertising code which notes that advertisements carried out in the electronic and print media including websites shall be so designed as to confirm to the laws of the country and not offend morality, decency and religious susceptibilities of the subscribers.

The advertising code also discourages exploiting the National emblem, National flag and National Anthem or any part of the Constitution or the person or personality of a national leader or a state d

The government successfully deflected attempts to move the Commonwealth Heads Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled for November out of Colombo, and secured promises of participation from UK’s Cameron and India’s Singh. This was a diplomatic success in the aftermath of the setback at the UN Human Rights meeting in Geneva in March.

CHOGM also earn President Rajapakse a two year stint as head of the Commonwealth which will show on his CV. But it has all turned into a curate’s egg, creating more problems than benefits, and

Former Convenor of the Free Media Movement senior journalist Sunanda Deshapriya says that Sri Lankan journalists who are in self-exile have no need to live in hiding.
Deshapriya says that any of the Sri Lankan journalists who are in self-exile can be easily contacted at any time by any person using modern technologies.

In an exclusive interview with Newsfirst via Skype from Geneva, Switzerland, Deshapriya these views.