Mar 31 (Island) The govt is planning to set up a separate university for business management as there is a high demand for experts in the field, a minister said. Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said that National Institute of Business Management (NIBM), a government owned business management institute, would be raised to the status of a university. Currently there are 15 universities in the country and most of them have faculties or departments of business management. more..

Mar 31 (Island) The JVP-led Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) said that it would go to Courts and the International Human Rights Organizations against the ban on the Students’ Council of the Sabaragamuwa University. IUSF Convener Sanjeewa Bandara said that the Students’ Council was a legal body under the University Act. He accused the university administration of dancing to Minister S. B. Dissanayake’s political tune by banning the Council. more..

Mar 31 (DN) Listing of buildings under the second stage of Population and Housing Census 2011 will be conducted in April, said Census and Statistics Department Director General DBP Suranjana Vidyaratne. She said that each and every housing unit and building will be given a number in this operation. This number is fixed as a label on each structure. All buildings will be categorized into three sections namely as 'housing units', 'collecting living quarters' and 'non residential units', more..

Mar 31 (FT) Sri Lankan apparel unions have taken their campaign for higher wages to the buyers by joining an international initiative to establish a common salary scheme for Asian workers so that all basic wage structures in the region will be the same thereby reducing competition between countries. Most Asian countries including Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal and heavyweights India and China are signatories as well. Under this campaign Sri Lanka is lobbying for a wage of Rs.20 000. more..

Mar 31 (BL) The Rs.800 million modern, high-tech Southern Expressway will see tenders called for all areas of maintenance. This will cover such spheres like garages, tyre shops, petrol filling stations, snack bars and toilets which will come under the expressway management, its Additional Director General, S. Meihandan said. “Once the main tender is procured to one contractor on the basis of the highest bidder we will also call for sub-contracts,” more..

Mar 31 (EAR) Proper reintegration of former militants back into mainstream society is one of the vital components of rebuilding post-conflict societies. In the Sri Lankan case, it is all the more important given the character of the LTTE, a secretive, ruthless and uncompromising militant group. Immediately after the end of ‘Eelam War IV’ and in due course of time, the total surrendered/identified LTTE cadres went up to 11,696. They were divided by the more..

Mar 31 (AN) The "Grama Niladhari" - literally "village leaders" - are the mediators between the government and communities, implementing the mandate and decisions promulgated by the executive. The regular annual census, for example, is entrusted to them. On 27 March, the christian officials, along with their families, met for the first time with representatives of the Christian Workers Movement, of the Diocese of Colombo. Under the guidance of Fr Reid Shelton Fernando, more..

Mar 31 (NP) Interpol has issued an arrest warrant for a British man accused of running the human smuggling network that sent 76 Sri Lankans to Canada aboard a cargo ship in 2009. Shanmugasundaram Kanthaskaran, 40, is wanted by Sri Lankan authorities for “people smuggling, trafficking and illegal immigration” as well as “terrorism,” according to the Interpol website. While the public Interpol notice is vague, classified details of more..

Mar 31 (LT) The government’s claim that it had sent two aircrafts to get down Sri Lankans who have been distressed due to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan is a huge fraud say Sri Lankans living in Japan. They charge that Srilankan Air Lines has charged them more than ten times the ordinary fare for a ticket to fly to Sri Lanka. Accordingly, those who travelled from Japan to Sri Lanka on ‘economy class’ have paid Rs.500,000. However, the normal rate charged by more..

Mar 31 (Island) The Colombo National Hospital, established 120 years ago, on a 35-acre block of land, has won the National Excellence Award as the best hospital in South Asia. Dr. Hector Weerasinghe, who has been the Hospital Director for the past 11 years, was presented with the Award by Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena at a ceremony held at the BMICH recently. The Colombo National Hospital was a great asset to the entire health sector in the country as it had been more..

Mar 31 (LT) Sri Lanka is moving towards a dictator ship, the President and the Government have not taken any measures to achieve economic development, national Unity or to establish good governance, the President's priority is to consolidate his family rule and to achieve his personal aims he has ignored the noble expectations of the people said the Leader of the JVP. Addressing a ceremony held at Cinnamon Grand Hotel yesterday to celebrate the 50th year of more..

Mar 31 (DM) Jaffna Bishop Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Savundranayagam has thanked Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa for granting permission to celebrate the feast of St. Anthony at the Kachchativu island. He has written expressing gratitude for the assistance provided by the Sri Lankan Navy which had taken much pains to carry out the necessary preparations for the feast. “The Parish Priest of Delft was granted permission to proceed with his assistance in order to prepare the church and more..

Mar 31 (DM) The Colombo High Court yesterday imposed the death sentence on three soldiers who were found guilty of the abduction, rape and murder of a 22-year-old woman in Jaffna in 1996. The three soldiers, Gamini Saman Uyanage, A.P. Sarathchandra and D. Gamage Kithsiri were indicted for the abduction and murder of Valaudan Pillai Rajini in Kondavil on or around October 30, 1996. Gamini Saman Uyanage and D. Gamage Kithsiri were also indicted for the rape of the 22-year-old woman. more..

Mar 31 (Island) Moneragala District UNP MP Ranjith Maddumabandara, the only nominee, so far, for the post of UNP National Organiser, said he hoped that he would be appointed through consensus. Else, he was ready to face an election to the post, which was earlier held by S. B. Dissanayake before he crossed over to the government, he said. MP Maddumabandara said that he had the backing of the party’s rank and file as well as a large number of UNP Parliamentarians. more..

Mar 31 (Island) Around 1,299 schools or nearly one million school children and around 200,000 families in the island do not have access to toilets, Deputy General Manager of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board, Deepthi Sumanasekera said following a survey conducted by the Water Board. Nearly 1,860 schools have dilapidated toilets or don’t have access to water. "Those who do not have access to toilets are bound to be easy prey to various diseases and kidney damage," more..

Mar 31 (IPS) The latest elections in Sri Lanka serve as yet another reminder that despite all its follies, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government is unshakable. In the Mar. 17 elections for 234 local government bodies, the UPFA led by Rajapaksa secured control of 205 bodies outright and seven more through allies and coalition partners. The opposition UNP won nine while the TNA won 12 councils, all of them from the north of the country. more..

Mar 31 (DM) Public health inspectors and family health officers in the Matara district have decided to boycott the national immunization programmes with immediate effect. The protest was against the serving of charge sheets on four PHIs during inquiries into the death Peshala Hansani of Elladeniya, a student of St Thomas’ Girls’ School who died after a shot of rubella vaccine in March 2009. The authorities had taken action against the PHIs for the mishap for which the doctors were responsible. more..

Mar 31 (DM) A CT scan was carried out on former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka at the Colombo National Hospital yesterday, prison officials said. Retired General Fonseka was admitted to hospital on the instructions of the prison doctor who wanted him to undergo a medical check up. General Fonseka’s wife Anoma said her husband was admitted to hospital after he complained of severe neck pain and of an attack of migraine. “The CT scan was necessary as he has several pieces of more..

Mar 31 (Island) In the wake of Ranjith M. S. Fernando quitting the Board of Directors at the Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, Lakshman Hulugalle, Director General of the Media Centre for National Security has been appointed to the Board at the Annual General Meeting. Hulugalle, who has over 20 year experience in government service, will represent the shareholdings of State funds in the bank. more..

Mar 31 (DM) Sri Lanka’s current chicken consumption will increase to 8 kg per person from the current 5Kg next five years, Chairman of the Ceylon Grain Elevators (GRAN), Cheng Chih Kwong Primus said recently reviewing the company’s annual performance. “With rapid development, change in lifestyle and purchasing power, we expect the consumption would increase in such a magnitude”. He pointed out that in the backdrop of market recovery from the global financial turmoil, more..

Mar 31 (Hindu) The Sri Lankan team led by Kumar Sangakkara arrived here on Wednesday to play in the cricket World Cup final at the Wankhede Stadium on April 2. Having defeated New Zealand by five wickets on Tuesday in Colombo in the first semifinal, Sri Lanka is all set to play its second successive final of the mega-event after finishing runner-up to Australia four years ago in the West Indies. The summit clash on Saturday would be the first-ever all-Asia final in the history of the tournament. more..

Mar 31 (DNA) 1996 World Cup hero Chaminda Vaas wanted to hang up his boots after playing the World Cup at home. He waited two years for the big moment, since he played his last match in 2008. But he could not fulfil his dream despite his good form in domestic and county cricket. However, he does not regret it. He understands that there is no place in the side for him, but is proud of the fact that his colleagues have made it to the World Cup final second time in a row. more..

Mar 31 (DM) A disciplinary inquiry is to be held by the Elections Commissioner against the Senior Returning Officer who manned the Hettipola polling station in the Kurunegala District, for allowing the photographing of an MP casting his vote at the recently concluded local government polls. This Returning Officer had been suspended from any future election duty, black listed and payment of duty allowances withheld stated the Kurunegala Elections Deputy Commissionr more..

Mar 31 (Island) Candidates elected on the UNP ticket, at the March 17 local government elections, yesterday pledged to abide by party discipline, declare their assets and work to improve the living and economic conditions of the people. The 892 UNP councilors took their oaths at a swearing-in ceremony presided over by party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at ‘Srikotha’. Party General Secretary Tissa Attanayake, addressing the councilors, said that party discipline was paramount, more..

Mar 31 (DM) In another post war bonanza, agricultural loans have resulted in the production of Rs.10 billion worth of vegetables and fruits during the Maha season in the North, particularly in the Jaffna peninsula, the Central Bank said yesterday. During last year’s Maha season beginning in September, 14,284 farmers in the North were given loans of up to Rs.1.1 billion for agricultural purposes. more..

Mar 31 (DM) Opposition and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday that the party’s working committee had decided to not have internal elections for any posts in the party in future and that suitable people for the top posts would be selected through consensus. This decision had been taken despite the newly adopted constitution of the party which stated that suitable people for top posts should be chosen by secret ballot. more..

Mar 31 (DM) The Power and Energy Ministry will explore each and every options before taking a firm decision on the construction of an atomic power plant in the country but Sri Lanka will not need to turn to atomic energy at least for the next 15 years, Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka said. He stressed that the with commissioning of the first and second phases of the ‘Lakvijaya and Sampur’ coal power plant, Upper Kotmale hydro power plant and more..

Mar 31 (Hindu) The Sri Lankan government has revoked the suspension imposed on the import of Indian locomotives and rolling stock after India addressed the concerns raised by Sri Lanka. A locomotive on the Galle – Matara section stopped on its tracks on March 11, following an electrical short circuit leading to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Transport writing a strongly worded letter to RITES, suspending the contract for more..

Mar 31 (Island) Around 95 State-run hospitals in the North, East and the estate sector have remained closed for the past five years due lack of resources. Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena, has expressed dissatisfaction at this poor state of affairs and instructed Ministry Secretary Dr. Ravindra Ruberu to take immediate action to refurbish the hospitals and reopen them. more..

Mar 31 (LT) The President has taken measures to postpone by another 6 months election to the 22 local govt councils of which elections were first postponed on the pretext of the ICC World Cup. According to Presidential Secretariat the President has taken this step under emergency regulations or the Public Security Ordinance. The special gazette postponing elections to the 22 local councils was to be issued at midnight yesterday. more..

Mar 31 (NN) The Editor of Lanka e News Benette Rupasinghe has been arrested after being questioned by the police over an alleged threat to a relative of a suspect who had been arrested earlier over the attack on the Lanka e News office. The Wellampitiya police had asked Rupasinghe to report to the police station this morning to record a statement. The website Editor had allegedly threatened the brother of a suspect identified as “Boothaya” who more..

Mar 31 (BN) Sri Lanka’s inflation accelerated to a 26-month high, increasing pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates. Consumer prices in the capital, Colombo, climbed 8.6 percent in March from a year earlier after gaining 7.8 percent in February, the statistics department said on its website today. The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of five economists was for an 8.9 percent increase. more..

Mar 31 (DM) India has advised the TNA to go beyond the 13th Amendment when it holds discussions with the Sri Lanka government on power devolution, a TNA front-liner said yesterday. Jaffna District TNA MP Mavai Senathirajah said that however at a recent meeting between the TNA and a government delegation, President Mahinda Rajapaksa had categorically stated that under no circumstances would police powers be devolved. more..

Mar 31 (CI) Injury concerns over Muttiah Muralitharan and Angelo Mathews have forced the Sri Lankan team to call up Chaminda Vaas and Suraj Randiv as standbys ahead of the World Cup final against India on April 2. Muralitharan has struggled with niggles through the course of the tournament, including a hamstring injury, a side strain, a troublesome knee and a groin issue. There was speculation that he would be rested for the semi-final against more..