Ministers Champika Ranawaka and Pavithra Wanniarachchi are taking turns at blaming one another, however no one is blaming the President for the recent hike in the electricity tariff, an anti-corruption group said today.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will “earn marks” by declaring on Workers’ Day (May 01) electricity concessions for the masses, Dr Nirmal Ranjith Dewasiri said, addressing a press briefing by the Organization Against Corruption in Colombo.

There is no need to tell the people separately

India has said that the recent attacks on Sri Lankan Buddhist monks in Tamil Nadu were isolated incidents and did not reflect the strong people-to-people bonds.

"These were isolated incidents and did not reflect the strong people-to-people bonds that have been an integral part of the close historical, cultural and civilisational ties between the India and Sri Lanka," Indian High Commissioner here Ashok K Kantha has said.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) in charge of Ratnapura Division, Prishantha Jayakody who had received a threatening phone call, which was traced back to a payphone booth in Galle, says he remains unbowed and unafraid.

The former Police Spokesman said the threat against his life and his family’s was made following a raid on a karaoke bar operating in Ratnapura last Saturday and therefore suspects a connection between the bar and the threat call.

A Sri Lankan judge has been named in an international tribunal to hear a case by the Philippines against China on the West Philippine Sea dispute, the Philippine Star reported.

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has included Chris Pinto from Sri Lanka in the five-member tribunal that will hear the case.

An April 24 letter to Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza, head of the Philippine legal team, disclosed that the three last judges of the Arbitral Tribunal of the United Nations Convention on t

Reminiscences of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy triumphs spearheaded by the late lamented Lakshman Kadirgamar are fresh in my  mind given that it was only the other day (12 April) that we marked what might have been  his 81st birth anniversary with a tribute to the former Foreign Minister. It is, therefore, doubly sad to reflect on the fact that Sri Lanka’s relations with the world outside our shores are in tatters at present. To say that our foreign policy today lacks coherence,  direction  and depth is to be

The Government must win over the Tamil people to preserve democracy and the territorial integrity of the State as one nation.

In a democracy the State must obtain the willing consent of the people. The people include not only the majority religio-ethnic group however large such group is. The Sinhala Buddhists constitute 70% of the population but that leaves out 30% who will be a permanent minority. Majority decision-making does not permit the violation of the fundamental rights given to all citizens by the Constitution. T

Sri Lanka is experiencing an increase in the proportion of its labour force seeking employment in foreign markets, the 2012 report of the Central Bank (CB) reveals. The report indicates that during the period 2003-2012, there was a 33 per cent increase in total employment placements overseas.

The report signalled a rise in the percentage of male foreign employers accompanied by a fall in the percentage of females seeking employment overseas. The proportion of males employed abroad consistently outstrips that of females f

A full meeting of the Bar Council on April 23, 2013, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has resolved to support the right of Sri Lankan judges and lawyers to adjudicate and practise law freely, fairly and independently. The resolution comes following the impeachment of Sri Lanka’s Chief Justice, Shirani Bandaranayake.

Maura McGowan QC, Chairman of the Bar, said:

“The Bar Council of England and Wales is extremely concerned about the impeachment of Shirani Bandaranayake, which we believe cons

The House of the Editor of the Ethalaya and Gindara (Fire) magazine Srilal Priyantha was searched by the police this afternoon.

He said that a police team had initially attempted to arrest him but later took down a statement from him and then searched his house.

The journalist said that the police had questioned him about some missing documents from the police headquarters.

A US delegation is in Jaffna for talks on the ground situation and to assess the latest developments.

US Embassy staff are in Jaffna meeting with civil society as part of its normal bilateral engagement with the people of Sri Lanka, a US Embassy spokesman told the Colombo Gazette.

The visit comes just days after the annual human rights report released by the US State Department had claimed that in the east and the north, military intelligence and other security personnel, sometimes allegedly working with paramilitar