Environmentalists and Buddhist organizations yesterday (07) condemned the government’s decision to donate blood ivory which was seized by the Sri Lanka Customs last May en route to Dubai from Kenya via Colombo, to the Dalada Maligawa and other Buddhist temples in the country.

General Secretary of Bodu Bala Sena, Ven. Galagoda-atte Gnanasara Thera told The Island that as a Buddhist nation Sri Lanka should be ashamed of adding value to the blood ivory by gifting it to Buddhist temples as objects to be valued and venerated.

The main opposition expressed its dismay in Parliament yesterday after the government declined to answer a question regarding the killing of a British national on Christmas eve in 2011 in Tangalle, and causing grievous injuries to his Russian girlfriend.

UNP MP Dayasiri Jayasekara directed two questions asking for details on the incident and the follow up action by the government to prosecute the suspects.     In his question, he asked whether     the government was aware of any such inc

The Sri Lankan government has requested the Indian government to provide security to its citizens residing in India after a branch of Sri Lanka's state-run bank was attacked, a statement said here Friday.

The ministry of external affairs said in a statement that the Sri Lanka Deputy High Commission in Chennai has reported that a mob of around 15 people, carrying iron rods, wooden sticks and knives, entered the office of the Bank of Ceylon Branch in Chennai Thursday.

The attack came ahead of Sri Lankan President

DMK president Friday said Sri Lankan President Mahindra Rajapaksa was not only trying to obliterate Tamils in the island nation but also their culture, tradition and the Tamil language itself.
Leading a massive protest held by Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO) against the president's India visit, Karunanidhi said: "Rajapaksa is trying to erase not only the Tamils in Sri Lanka but also the Tamil language."

Karunanidhi said the Sri Lankan government was changing the names of villages with Tamil names to

The existing system of law and order in the country, and the Constitution itself must be torn into bits, and rebuilt from the grassroots, if the dying principles of democracy in this country are to be saved, speakers at an event organized by   Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), said.


Dr. Sumanasiri Liyanage, Lecturer on Political Economy, University of Peradeniya, said, “The gravest problem faced by this nation lies with the fact that the Constitution of Sri Lanka is invalid.”
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Five suspects, held in remand over leaking some questions of the Ordinary Level science paper, on the day prior to the examination in 2012, were released on a cash bail in Rs. 15,000 and sureties in Rs. 200,000 when they were produced before the Kaduwela Magistrate yesterday, police said.

Police spokesman SSP Prishantha Jayakody said that the suspects were ordered to be present before Court on the day of the next hearing, March 28.

He said that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), conducting investigations,

MDMK chief Vaiko and his supporters were today detained when they tried to march towards the Prime Minister's residence in protest against the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the country.

Vaiko and scores of his supporters have been protesting at Jantar Mantar here since morning demanding that India close down the Sri Lankan High Commission in the capital.

"We will not forgive the Manmohan Singh government for supporting Sri Lanka in its war against Tamils," Vaiko said, addressing hi

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said the Central Government was in no way “insensitive” to Lankan Tamil issues and the protest was in “sync” with the people’s concern in Tamil Nadu.

“We understand the sensitivities which are involved with regard to the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils, especially in Tamil Nadu. We are absolutely in sync with some of the concerns which have been articulated...”, Mr. Tewari told reporters on Friday.

Mr. Tewari was responding

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Friday blamed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the watered down US resolution at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) against Sri Lanka last year.

Replying to a debate in the assembly, she said: "Last year, the US brought a strong resolution against Sri Lanka. The Indian government voted in favour of the resolution at my continued insistence."

In support of her charge, Jayalalithaa said Manmohan Singh wrote to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa later: "You

The government would not let anyone impose halal certification on others as it was the personal choice of the people to accept or reject it, Leader of the House, Irrigation Minister, Nimal Siripala De Silva told Parliament yesterday.

Replying to a series of questions raised, the previous day, by the Leader of Opposition, the Minister said: "The Sri Lankan government has not accepted this organization and there is no such need for the government to give its approval for this, since obtaining halal food certification is vol