Sri Lanka News Portal

July 31, Colombo: Sri Lanka Minister of Health and Nutrition on the request by the civil society has appointed a committee to propose a more honorable name to the country’s national cancer hospital in Maharagama.

July 31, Colombo: The investigations by the Department of Auditor General reveals that the government loses around 15 billion rupees annually due to the corruption and fraud in public departments, corporations and other establishments.

July 31, Colombo: The second of the series of rallies by Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) around the country will be held in Kurunegala on 4 August, SLFP sources said.

COLOMBO - Former Sri Lanka fast bowler Asantha de Mel was re-appointed chief of the national cricket selection committee which was reshuffled by the sports minister on Tuesday.

July 31, Colombo: The first batch of the 100 railway carriages ordered by the Ministry of Transport from China will arrive in Sri Lanka in the middle of September, Ministry sources said.

July 31, Colombo: Sri Lanka Postmaster General Shervin Senadheera said that the income of the Postal Department in 2006 was Rs. 2.9 billion while the expenses were Rs. 5.6 billion.

July 31, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s two major private bus owners associations are divided over the demand of redress for them at the outset of the recent fuel price hike.

July 31, Colombo: The Sinhala residents of the Aluthgama village in the Vavuniya district in the trouble-torn Northern Province say they are pressured to leave the village due to enhanced threats from the Tamil Tigers.

July 31, Colombo: Sri Lanka Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Services sources said that the government has to bear a huge loss due to the fertilizer subsidy provided to the farmers, mainly to the paddy farmers.

July 31, Colombo: President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday met the High-Level Committee of Experts to Examine and Report on certain concerns regarding the proposed DEOCOM Survey of the Continental Margin of Sri Lanka at the Temple Trees.

July 31, Colombo: All the assets of the collapsed Pramuka Bank of Sri Lanka will be transferred to the newly established Sri Lanka Savings Bank from tomorrow, the 01st of August, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka announced.

Veappavedduan Road located north of Iluppadichcheanai junction along Chenkaladi-Badulla road in Batticaloa has been renamed as Rajapathirana Mawatte, Saturday, civil society sources in Batticaloa said. Sri Lanka’s Defense Secretary, Gothabaya Rajapakse, who visited Kudumpimalai (named Thoppigala in Sinhala) area ceremonially declared open the new name board, sources said.

COLOMBO, July 31 - Sri Lanka’s rupee ended a shade weaker on Tuesday near life lows, while shares closed flat in thin trade as foreign investors bought select shares and sold some blue chips, traders said.

COLOMBO, July 31 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka’s rupee ended a shade weaker on Tuesday near life lows, while shares closed flat in thin trade as foreign investors bought select shares and sold some blue chips, traders said.

The Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Monday directed the Registrar not to entertain any Fundamental Rights (FR) application against the gazette notification declaring Champoor and Moothoor east division as high security zones (HSZs). The three-member bench of the Supreme Court chaired by the Chief Justice Sarath Silva that heard submissions on the matter, issued this directive. Justices Rajah Fernando …

In a letter addressed to the Minister of Resettlement and Disaster Relief, Abdul Risath Badiyudeen, Monday Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Batticaloa district, Ms T. Thangeswary, appealed for assistance to allow the civilians resettled in Paduvaankarai to live peacefully without being harassed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA).

COLOMBO, July 31 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka’s annual inflation rate, measured on a 12-month moving average quickened, to 17.2 percent in July from 17.0 percent in June, the government said on Tuesday, citing the impact of higher fuel and food prices.

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA: A human rights group has urged Saudi Arabia to reconsider the death sentence given to a Sri Lankan maid accused of killing a baby in her care, saying she was a minor at the time and cannot be executed under international law.

Wartorn Sri Lanka is to receive the first of a series of ecumenical living letters teams which will visit Christian communities facing situations of violence in different regions of the world

Two unidentified gunmen on motorcycle shot dead a three-wheeler owner in front of Aero Lanka office located at Naavalar road, Kantharmadam, around 11:30 a.m., Tuesday. The victim was waiting to transport passengers from the private travel agency located in an area inside Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Jaffna.

Hundreds of ethnic Sinhalese civilians fled three villages in northern Sri Lanka on Tuesday claiming the government had failed to protect them from attacks by Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said.

COLOMBO — England’s winter tours of Sri Lanka looked set to go ahead after local officials claimed yesterday that a security assessment team sent by the tourists was satisfied with the arrangements.

More than 245 students taking examinations in Mullaiththeevu Maha Vithiyaalayam fled from the school when Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) started shelling the coast Monday around 11:30 a.m from Mullaitheevu seas, 250 meters from the school, school officials said. Members of fisher families working on the shore cleaning and drying fish scattered in fear seeking safety as SLN Dvora gun boats fired shells …

In an event held last week in Mullaitheevu district by Fisheries Co-operative Federation, officials of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) gave Rs.100,000 towards medical expenses to the student who lost both legs in the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombing on fishing hamlet in A’lampil July 11, sources in Vanni said. The SLAF air raid also killed two others, and injured more than twelve.

The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stationed in Oamanthai heavily shelled Pu’liyangku’lam area along the A9 highway twice on Monday from 12:30 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. and then 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Local residents fled the area and sought safety in villages north of Pu’liyangku’lam, civil sources said.