High Commissioner for Australia in Sri Lanka, Ms. Robyn Mudie said the Australian government has enhanced its aid package for water and sanitation in plantation schools.

"This sector will now receive AUS$ 4.8 million through UNICEF and the Ministry of Education for drinking water, sanitation and the promotion of hygiene for around 100 schools in these areas", she said.

Ms. Mudie was addressing the 20th Plantation Human Development Trust (PHDT) AGM as the chief guest in Colombo recently.

The discovery of a mass grave, adjacent to the Matale hospital, with the remains of about 200 human beings in it, dating back to the late-nineteen eighties does not appear to have provoked the kind of consternation that it should have in any country with even a pretence to democratic practice leave alone a constantly-invoked adherence to all that is humane within Buddhist philosophy.

Representatives of Bodu Bala Sena and All Ceylon Jammiyaathul Ulama, on an initiative by Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa recently, had a wide range of discussions and decided to have regular meetings from next month to iron out differences, if any.

“We will meet and discuss issues, topic by topic, so that any misunderstandings or misconceptions between us could be overcome, ”spokesman for Jammiyaathul Ulama Ash Shaik Fazil Farook said.

There were verbal tirades between these two factions which starte

The Health Ministry is to propose amendments to the Private Medical Institutions Registration Act in order to give more teeth to the Health Minister to control private medical institutions including hospitals.

Deputy Health Minister Lalith Dissanayake said that some private hospitals mislead patients and yet the Health Minister cannot take action against them.

He said that there have been complaints about some private hospitals charging for blood given free from the blood bank.

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has threatened to go on strike after 19 April, if the Ministry of Health fails to amend the service minute of doctors within the coming week Secretary of the GMOA, Dr. Chandika Epitakaduwa said, though it has been seven years since the introduction of the 2006 circular, renewal of the service minute of the doctors has still not been effected due to the inefficiency of the Health Ministry.

“The ministry should implement the renewal immediately, because the Public S

Early morning incident – printing machine scorched, press set on fire by unknown group this morning.
An attack is again executed against the "Udayan" daily newspaper published from Jaffna today in the early morning hours.
 
Unidentified armed group stormed into the printing press point blankly carried out shooting.  Shooting was executed towards the print machine, doused the printing machines with petrol and set fire to them.
 

Net working for rights, a network for media freedom and human rights in Sri Lanka condemns in strongest terms the dastardly armed and arson attack on Uthayan news paper in Jaffna, which took place at dawn today. This is a yet another major blow to independent news paper culture in Jaffna and freedom of expression rights in Sri Lanka.

According to NfR sources in Jaffna around 4.30 am shooting randomly, a three armed men forced their way in to the Uthayan Jaffna. At that time the office was full of news paper delivery personal a

FMM condemns burning of the printing press of the Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna; calls on the government to prevent on-going violence against the Tamil media

Just 10 days after the attack on its offices in Kilinochchi, the printing press of the Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna was set on fire at dawn today (13th April) by three unidentified, armed men. The FMM vehemently condemns this latest attack on the Jaffna-based newspaper and demands that the government calls on the security establishment in the North to take responsibiity for

Sri Lanka's police Friday broke up a protest by dozens of activists denouncing religious extremism and hate speech for fuelling a wave of attacks against minority Muslims, witnesses said.

Police armed with guns, batons and tear gas dispersed the activists before they could stage a candle-light vigil against the nationalist Bodu Bala Sena (BBS, or Buddhist Force), in a campaign organised through Facebook.

The protest by "Buddhists Questioning Bodu Bala Sena" asked those opposed to the BBS to join the pr

Three armed men set fire to the printing machine of a Tamil-language newspaper that is critical of the Sri Lankan government, forcing the paper to halt printing, the editor said on Saturday.

The attack on the Uthayan newspaper office is the fifth attack on the media since January in Sri Lanka's former war zone in the north, and the second after the United Nations passed a resolution on March 21 calling on the government to address human rights violations.