The sentiments expressed by the Bodu Bala Sena monks do not represent the views of the entire Sangha community, Anunayake Bellanwila Wimalaratana Thero said yesterday.

“In any community, there are those who hold extremist views. But a majority of Sinhala Buddhists look at this issue in a far more balanced way,” the Thero told a news conference.

He said one of the fundamental teachings of Buddhism was religious tolerance. “The views of the Bodu Bala Sena are not the views of the entire Sangha commun

The Bodhu Bala Sena (Buddhist Power Force)that has been conducting a widespread anti-Muslim campaign has achieved a significant victory over the controversial Halal Certification issue.

The Sri Lankan Government headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa has caved into the chief demand made by the Ethno-religious Fascist Organization Bodhu Bala Sena that the Halal certification process should be abolished.

A 25-year-old woman, who was raped by her boyfriend and two others on Sunday night and thrown into a well, was rescued by the Meerigama police in the early hours of yesterday with the assistance of her brother.

Police spokesman Superintendent Buddika Siriwardana told The Island that the young woman, while returning home with her boyfriend, after having danced at a musical show in the area on Sunday night, had been taken to a deserted land and raped by the boyfriend and two of his friends who had then pushed her into the well.

A draft resolution on strengthening the reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka is scheduled to be presented to the United Nations Humans Rights Council today or tomorrow.

Voting for this is set to take place on March 22.

Commissioner of Human Rights in Sri Lanka Prof. Prathiba Mahanamhewa says, the resolution will consist of eleven points.

Our government should back UN calls for justice by urging the Commonwealth to move its summit elsewhere

Queen Elizabeth II Attends A Commonwealth Heads Of Government Lunch
The Queen shakes hands with Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting last year.
In early 2009, as foreign secretary, I travelled to Sri Lanka with Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, so that we could see for ourselves the situation at the end of the brutal 26-year civil war. We met the presiden

The Sri Lankan government has asked the United States to abandon the prosecution of a Canadian charged with buying equipment and laundering money for the separatist Tamil Tigers rebels.

The extraordinary request, in a letter sent to the U.S. State Department, concerns Suresh Sriskandarajah, 32, who was extradited to New York in December to stand trial on terrorism charges.

The letter, which surfaced at Mr. Suresh’s bail hearing last month, urged the U.S. to drop the charges against Mr. Suresh “in light o

Under pressure from the international community, Sri Lanka has appointed a committee to study the draft resolution presented by the U.S. at the ongoing UN Human Rights Council sessions (UNHRC), local report said here on Monday.

Local media reports quoted External Affairs Secretary Karunathilaka Amunugama as saying that the Sri Lankan government had appointed a committee to study the draft resolution presented by the U.S. last Friday.

"We will make a response once the committee has presented the government with t

David Miliband, the former Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom has urged the British Government which has trumped its priority of making the Commonwealth a model of good governance and democratic values to make its voice heard.

In an article on the Guardian newspaper, Miliband notes that Canada has robustly called for the Commonwealth heads of Government Meeting which is due to take place later this year in Sri Lanka, to be moved to another venue.

Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa says that they were able to end the war within two and a half years because they highly regarded the blessings of the Maha Sanga.

He made this statement during a function held in Galle.

The event was held to donate a house which earlier belonged to a German national to the Bodu Bala Sena organization.

The house has been named the Methsevana Buddhist Cultural Cent

A special function was held to present credentials to the new Mahanayaka thera of the Sri Lanka Ramanya Maha Nikaya, most venerable Naapane Pemasiri thero.

The event was held at the Independence Square in Colombo under the auspices of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

President Rajapaksa presented the credentials to the most venerable thero while the Prime Minister presented the Vijinipatha.