President Mahinda Rajapaksa has alerted State security apparatus to immediacy douse communal disharmony and take stern action against those who try to provoke clashes between communities.


The President, in his response to Muslim politicians said the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Defence intelligence agencies have been alerted to look into the elements that attempt to fan ...ethnic and religious unrest in the country, when a group of Muslim political leaders met the President Wednesday.

A total of 25 university colleges are to be founded with state and private sector sponsorship.

Twenty of the colleges, to be established at a cost of Rs.1,600 million, would be affiliated to the University of Vocational Technology. The training centres which came under the purview of the Youth Affairs and Skills Development Ministry would form the nucleus of the project, Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said on Thursday.

He said that the Cabinet had also approved a Memorandum, by Youth Affairs and Skills Developm

In a significant gesture welcomed by residents of Shafi Nagar in Moothoor the Sri Lankan Army has commenced work to build a new house for the family of Rizana Nafeek who was unjustly executed in Saudi Arabia on January 9th 2013.

In a simple ceremony attended by residents of Rizana’s village Shafi Nagar,officials,Religious leaders and military personnel the foundation stone was laid formally on Friday January 25th 2013.

Rizana’s father Mohammed Sultan Nafeek and Mother Fareena Nafeek jointly laid the foun

 Officers-in-charge (OIC) of three police stations were interdicted on Thursday over an assault in the Negombo police station five years ago.

The interdicted officers are the OICs of the Koswatta, Rasnayakapura and Saliyawewa police stations.

The investigation had been conducted by the police special investigation unit in 2007 and the report had been forwarded to the Attorney General.

Irrigation and Water Resources Management Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva yesterday lamented that two groups in the Moratuwa University, the engineering undergraduates and those following the Diploma in Technology, were fighting at a time their services were badly needed by the country.  

The country was in need of the services of the two groups as the government had vacancies to be filled. The Mahaweli Authority and the Irrigation Department were looking for NDT qualified personnel, but they could not be found. Sri Lank

The Jaffna Music Festival returns to the Jaffna Municipal grounds in March this year. This time around the festival will host an eclectic array of music – including folk, contemporary and classical to name a few. This is a sister event of the Galle Music Festival, which attracted an audience of over 22,000 people over two days in 2012. The Jaffna festival promises to be as exhilarating as the Galle festival bringing together an exciting line-up of musicians, dancers, performers and ritualists.

On March 1 and 2, 2013, the

Two of the four Jaffna University undergraduates held at the Protective Accommodation and rehabilitation Center(PARC) at Welikanda have been released on Tuesday January 22nd 2013.

Rehabilitation Commissioner-General Brigadier Tharshana Hettiarachchi confirmed to the media that the two students — Jaffna University Student Council President V.Bavananthan and Science Faculty third year student and union member S.Solomon were released today 22nd.

They were released after undergoing “rehabilitation” at

A group of lawyers, led by President’s Counsel Thirantha Walaliyadda, met President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Temple Trees on Thursday and explained that the rural folk have been highly inconvenienced after the fee for registration of marriages was increased to Rs 5,000.

"Both, the public and lawyers, have been thoroughly inconvenienced by having been made to pay exorbitant fees to obtain extracts and copies of deeds for the purpose of registration of lands," the lawyers had told the President.

Walali

Several roads in the eastern and north central areas were flooded as heavy rains continued yesterday, Disaster Management Centre (DMC) sources said. “The Batticaloa - Kattankudy, Manampitiya - Gallella and Sungawila - Somawathiya roads were inundated,” they said.

DMC sources said the extreme weather conditions displaced 456 people mainly in the North Central Province as landslide threats in some areas loomed large. Some people were evacuated on grounds of safety, they added.

Rizana Nafeek's execution was not a question of money, Mass Media and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said.

"There are baseless allegations against the government over the execution of Rizana Nafeek. These allegations make out that the government didn't take any measure to provide enough funds for the release of Rizana," the minister said.

"As a responsible person of the government, I strongly bare witness that the government was ready to pay blood money. I personally know that Presid