KAMALIKA PIERIS revised 12.10.21 In the Udarata kingdom, the forests in the central highland were a protected reserve where elephants lived undisturbed. British and European writers have given us information on these habitats. The districts, in which the elephants most abound, are all hilly and mountainous, they said. There was not a mountain or a […]

Shenali D Waduge What is the reason for 99% of terrorists resorting to suicide terrorism & other forms of terror? What differentiates these terrorists from others is that they quote their holy verses before committing the crime. How connected is this to the overall fear by non-Muslims regarding these verses? If the duty of intel […]

Dr Sudath Gunasekara  Definitely one doesn’t need to be a financial or an economic wizard or a John Keynes to un-mess this mess that has emerged as a direct result of mismanagement of the nation’s economy by all those who were in charge of Governance in this country, since 1977. What you need is only […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Dhanesh Wisumperuma has researched into Religious Use of Elephants in Ancient Sri Lanka (Gajah 37 (2012) 16-21). He provides the following information. Elephants were first used in Buddhist ceremonial processions, to receive and transport Buddhist relics from one place to another.  King Devanampiyatissa   used the state elephant to carry   relics to be enshrined […]

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන, වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන, පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය මීට සමගාමීව වෘත්තීය මාර්ගෝපදේශනයේ නව දිශානතිය පෙන්වාදෙන Youthjobs.lk වෙබ් අඩවිය දියත් කෙරේ නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන, වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන, පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය, විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය සීතා අරඹේපොල මැතිණියගේ සංකල්පයක් අනුව පරිවාසභාරයේ සිටින ළමුන්ට නිවැරදි වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපනයක් ලබාදීම වෙනුවෙන් අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුමක් අත්සන් කිරීම රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය, විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය […]

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ළමා අයිතීන් සුරැකීම සඳහා ප්‍රමුඛතාව දීම සියලුම මානව වර්ගයාගේ අතිමහත් යුතුකමකි. වැඩිහිටියන්ට එම යුතුකම මතක්කර දෙමින් සැමරෙන ලෝක ළමා දින” සැමරුම වෙනුවෙන් සුබ පැතුම් එක්කරනුයේ ඉමහත් සතුටිනි. ලොව ලස්සන වන්නේ දූ දරුවන්ගෙනි. එමෙන්ම රටක මෙන්ම ලෝකයේ අනාගතය රැඳී ඇත්තේ ළමා පරපුර මතය. ඔවුන්ගේ ලෝකය වැඩිහිටියන්ගේ ලෝකයට වඩා අතිශය සුන්දරය. […]

Courtesy The Daily News For the first time US-Bangla Airlines, the leading premium airline of Bangladesh will fly to Colombo from November 1. Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunge said that with the successful COVID vaccination drive and the drastic reduction of deaths and infections, Sri Lanka Tourism is once again picking up and this is […]

Dhairya Maheshwari Courtesy Sputnik CC BY-SA 4.0 / Rehman Abubakr / Ships and gantry cranes at the Colombo Harbour, Sri Lanka The awarding of the contract for Colombo’s West Container Terminal to Adani Group marks the first time that an Indian firm will manage such operations in Sri Lanka. At the same time, a state-backed Chinese company already operates […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Eight prisoners detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) at the Anuradhapura prison today filed a Fundamental Rights petition in Supreme Court against the alleged criminal conduct on the part of the State Minister Lohan Ratwatte. The petitioners are seeking an order in respect of the alleged serious offences committed by […]

Courtesy Adaderana Health guidelines to be followed once the quarantine curfew imposed country-wide is lifted tomorrow (October 01) have been issued by the Ministry of Health. The quarantine curfew imposed on the whole country will be lifted with restrictions from 04.00 am tomorrow. As per the new guidelines, all non-essential travel is restricted from 10.00 […]

Courtesy Adaderana India’s Adani Group has signed a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) agreement with its local partner John Keells Holding s (JKH) and Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), to jointly develop the West Container Terminal (WCT) of the Colombo Port. The agreement will be an investment exceeding USD 700 million. In March, the WCT of the Colombo […]

Courtesy Adaderana An inquiry has been initiated into the unprofessional and irresponsible behavior displayed by certain officers of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) by interrogating several media persons disregarding the instructions not to do so, the Police Headquarters says. Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekara yesterday (Sep. 29) called for an inquiry into the relevant […]

Courtesy Adaderana Director-General of Health Services on Wednesday (Sep. 29) confirmed 59 new COVID-related deaths in Sri Lanka. According to the Department of Government Information, 28 males and 31 females have succumbed to the novel coronavirus in the recent past. New victims include 11 people aged between 30 – 59 years and 47 others aged […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Ministry of Health reported a total of 912 persons have tested positive for Covid-19 today, (September 30). This brings the total number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus registered in Sri Lanka to 517,377. Total recoveries have increased to 457,488 while currently, 46,983 infected patients are under medical care and home-based care.  The […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS REVISED 12.10.21 When the Portuguese captured the maritime provinces of Sri Lanka they found a flourishing export trade in elephants, developed   over the centuries by the Sinhala king. The Portuguese  , who had never seen an elephant before,  found that the Ceylon elephant was superior, compared to elephants from other countries, and traders […]

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් චීන අසූචි කාබනික පොහොර රටට ගෙන ඒමේ උත්සහය පරාජය වී ඇත. නිවේදනයට අනුව පොහොර තොගය රටට ගේන්නේ නැත. කතාව ඇත්තනම් නැව ආපහු හරවා යැවිය යුතුය.   ලංකාව ‘අර්විනියා උවදුරෙන් බේරාගත් රහංගල කෘෂිකර්ම පර්යේෂණ මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ ‘ඇලිස්නෝනා‘ නම් කාන්තාවයි. ඒ මෙයට වසර  57 පෙරය. අද එය නැවත කෘෂිකර්ම අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජෙනරාල්වරයා විසින් සිදු කර ඇත. […]

CNN In 1995, a baby was saved by the hug of her sibling. CNN’s Lisa Sylvester reports on a twin bond that has lasted.

 By Fermin Adriano Courtesy The Manila Times Sri Lanka, an island nation south of India, is experiencing a food and economic emergency. Just a decade ago, the country emerged victorious from the destructive and protracted war waged by the Tamil Tigers occupying the northeastern part of the country. After winning the battle against the internal insurgents, the […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka has suspended importing organic nitrogen fertilizer from a Chinese company for the Maha Season, says Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage. The decision was taken after harmful bacteria were identified in tested samples sent by the relevant company. Although the laboratory test results had revealed that the samples contained harmful microorganisms and bacteria, […]

Svetlana Ekimenko Courtesy Sputnik The Sri Lankan family of four were part of a group of impoverished refugees living in Hong Kong who agreed to shelter Edward Snowden for about two weeks after his bombshell revelations in 2013.A family of four who offered shelter to former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in their Hong Kong […]

By ASOKA BANDARAGE Courtesy  Asia Times Electrical union and opposition politicians blast the deal on economic and environmental grounds On September 17, New Fortress Energy (NFE), a US-based energy infrastructure company, signed a momentous legal agreement with the government of Sri Lanka. The signing apparently took place in the dead of the night, at 12:06am, and the foreigner […]

Courtesy Hiru News Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage stated that the mill owners are not able to determine the price of paddy, and it is done only by the Government. The Minister stated this in response to a statement made yesterday (28) by the owner of a large-scale paddy mill, Dudley Sirisena. Although the Cabinet decided […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Director General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawardena says that permission has been granted to administer the Pfizer vaccine as the third dose for those over 60 years and several other groups.  He stated that it has also been decided to provide the Pfizer vaccine as the third dose for those between […]

Courtesy Adaderana The government has decided to lift the quarantine curfew, which is currently in effect across the island, on the 01st of October. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has instructed to lift the islandwide quarantine curfew at 4.00 a.m. on Friday (01), Army Commander General Shavendra Silva said. He stated that the restrictions and new health […]

Courtesy Adaderana As the daily count of deaths from COVID-19 infection continues to drop below 100 in Sri Lanka, only 61 fatalities were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services on Tuesday (Sep. 29). According to the Department of Government Information, 25 males and 36 females have succumbed to the novel coronavirus in the recent past. […]

Courtesy Adaderana The daily total of new COVID-19 cases moved to 941 today (Sep. 29) as 256 more people were tested positive for the virus, the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry said. All new cases have been associated with the New Year Cluster. This brings the tally of coronavirus infections confirmed in the country […]

Courtesy Adaderana Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekara has called for an inquiry into the incident where the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) had interrogated media persons despite the instructions not to do so. The relevant directives have been given to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) C.D. Wickramaratne. Further, the minister has instructed the IGP to […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Ministry of Defence says that the news circulating on social media platforms and electronic media sources stating that a likely terror attack on Sri Lankan churches was based on basic information which is neither analyzed nor confirmed by the respective authorities.  Further, the Defence Secretary Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne reiterates that there […]

Courtesy Adaderana Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has requested the visiting delegation of the European Union not to discontinue the Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) concessions granted to Sri Lanka. This was mentioned during a meeting held between the Opposition Leader and the EU envoys yesterday. An EU delegation of five high-ranking officials arrived in […]

By Garvin Karunaratne Many articles have been published against the construction  of the Walkway on the bund of the Parakrama Samudra.  We should be thankful to the irrigation engineers and to Austin Fernando once the Government Agent at Polonnaruwa for their ideas. I too voiced my ideas but mine appeared only in Lanka Web.  Despite […]