The private bus operators are planning to take strict action if the 7% bus fare hike is not approved tomorrow.

Speaking to The Sunday Leader the Secretary of the All Island Private Bus Companies Federation, Anjana Priyanjith said with the increase in diesel prices, the increase of bus fares should be around 7%.

“The government does not seem like they are going to grant us the bus fare hike as promised.

JVP politburo member and Co-convener of the Anti Imperialist People’s Movement, K. D. Lalkantha says people should reject the resolution passed at the UNHRC at its 19th sessions, the report presented by the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the 22nd session of the Council, the resolution adopted at the 22nd session and the LLRC report. He added that their rejection does not mean that human rights are unimportant. He explained that government’s intention is to only allow one family to exploit the country’s resources

The Indian government has cleared the decks to appoint Ashok K Kantha as a new secretary in the ministry of external affairs (MEA), Daily Mail India reported today. Kantha is currently India’s high commissioner to Sri Lanka.

He will be in-charge of East Asia.

His name has been sent for approval to the appointments committee of the Union Cabinet that approves all secretary- level appointments in the government.

The police say they have not yet made a firm breakthrough into the shooting incident involving The Sunday Leader journalist Faraz Shauketaly.

Police spokesman SP Budhika Siriwardena said that investigations into the February 16 shooting incident were still continuing but the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) had not arrested any suspects as yet.

Faraz Shauketaly was shot at by a group of unidentified men in his house at hotel road in Mount Lavinia.

India’s Union Minister V Narayanasamy says Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to decide on calls by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and DMK President M Karunanidhi for India to boycott the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be held in Sri Lanka this November, the Press Trust of India reported today.

India was one of the 25 countries that voted in favour of US-sponsored resolution at UNHRC against Sri Lanka where New Delhi pushed for an independent a

Leader of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and Minister of Justice, Rauff Hakeem, has requested President Mahinda Rajapakse to convene a cabinet meeting to discuss the rising religious unrest and civil disturbance in the country.

Minister Hakeem has also contacted all the Muslim parliamentarians including Senior Minister M H M Fowzie (who is currently out of the country) and Ministers Rishard Bathiutheen and A L M Athaullah for the meeting, with this regard.

Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to India, Prasad Kariyawasam says that India voting in support of the US sponsored UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka is merely a "blip" in Indo-Sri Lanka relations

He shared his views with the media in New Delhi on Thursday.
".. We were disappointed that India did not vote us but relations between two countries are very deep, very longstanding - as I explained it little while ago - it has a very historical connection at people to people level,

President Mahinda Rajapaksa says all religions have freedom in Sri Lanka as it is a democratic country.

He also said that while protecting Buddhism in Sri Lanka Buddhists should set an example to others through their actions.

“We should not help arm those waiting to raise false allegations against us. When the world is looking at us I believe we must set a good example in everything we do,” he said.

The President said this at a ceremony held in Matara today.

Even as much of the nation took time off to ring in a colourful spring this Wednesday, Tamil Nadu's lawmakers were hard at work. Later that day, the state's assembly passed a resolution that was remarkable because of both its ambit and its timing. The resolution, moved by Tamil Nadu Chief
Minister J Jayalalithaa, urged that the Centre return to the United Nations with a demand for a referendum in Sri Lanka, which would give the island nation's Tamil population and diaspora the opportunity to carve for themselves the inde

Although rumours abound on the tense situation created by an attack on a textile shop in Pepiliyana by an unruly mob on Thursday night, the root cause of the incident was a personal dispute, said Police Spokesman SP Buddhika Siriwardena.

He said a love affair between a youth and an underage girl had been the reason for the attack on this reputed textile store in Pepiliyana. A violent group attacked and pelted stones at the popular clothing store causing severe damage to the premises and merchandise.