Sri Lanka News

June 19, Colombo: A student union affiliated to Sri Lanka's Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna says the government is engaged in suppressing student activists as part of its policy to curtail the free education system in the country.

A new code of ethics for the media proposed by the Sri Lankan government could have a chilling effect on free speech, according to the organisation Human Rights Watch .

Colombo, June 19: At least 80 Sri Lankans were detained by the navy Wednesday for attempting to illegally migrate to Australia, the navy said.

Miles Franklin Literary Awards winner Michelle de Kretser with shortlist finalists Carrie Tiffany and Romy Ash.

June 19, Colombo: Sri Lanka's diversified conglomerate Hemas Holdings Tuesday declared open its newest hospital built at Thalawathugoda in Battaramulla in the outskirts of capital Colombo.

Last week the Asian Human Rights Commission reported the incident of the torture of a well-known interior decorator, Mr. Madawala Maddumage Don Aruna Nilupul Indika , of Mahagedara, Devala Road, Welipenna in the Kalutara District, by several police officers of the Mataguma Police Station.

Sri Lanka's Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the Northern Province should be opened up for all communities to live in without further delay.

June 19, Colombo: Sri Lanka Navy Wednesday intercepted and arrested 80 illegal migrants bound for Australia in the seas off the eastern coast.

June 18, Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has spent 5.9 percent of country's GDP as public investment in 2012 to provide major services despite a shortfall in the revenues, the Finance and Planning Ministry said in its 2012 report.

June 18, Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed all ministers and MPs of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party to cancel their foreign tours to devote time for the upcoming Provincial Council elections, government sources said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday told a delegation of Sri Lanka Tamil MPs that he was "dismayed" by reports suggesting that Colombo planned to dilute certain key provisions of the 13th Amendment on devolution of powers to provinces ahead of polls to the Northern Provincial Council.

June 18, Colombo: An ally of Sri Lanka's governing party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya today introduced a bill to abolish the provincial council system enacted by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1987.

June 18, Colombo: Analysis of rice samples from various fields in Sri Lanka have shown that rice grown locally in Sri Lanka does not contain any abnormal levels of cadmium, the Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena assured today.

June 18, Colombo: Sri Lanka Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa has ordered the officials to accelerate the preparatory work to build the railway line from Kurunegala to Habarana.

A tsunami in this area of the Western Indian Ocean could threaten the coastlines of India, Iran, Oman, Pakistan and further afield.

Sri Lankan Buddhist monks walk in line as they seek offerings of food in Colombo June 15, 2013.

June 17, Chennai: The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalithaa today slammed the Government of India for failing to take any effective measures at the diplomatic level to secure the release of the fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy and detained in Sri Lanka.

June 17, Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has called and assured a female school teacher, who was humiliated by a ruling party local politician in the school premises, that he would do justice regarding the incident.

June 17, Colombo: Sri Lanka's Ministry of External Affairs Monday launched the official website of the 2013 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to be held in Colombo in November this year.

A Company in China has been graced with the rights to ply its fishing vessels with the flag of the genocidal State in Sri Lanka and to use the facilities of the Dikovita fishing harbour.