Prisoners under treatment escape

A group of prisoners who had been referred to the Prisoner’s School at Wataraka has escaped custody. The Commissioner General of Prisons, Chandraratne Pallegama said

Hirunika tops list?

Hirunika Premachandra, Prasanna Ranathunga and Shan Wijeyalal have reportedly topped the preferential votes list in Colombo, Gampaha and Galle respectively.

Anarkalii, Nadeesha fail to secure seats

Unconfirmed reports said that the two leading actresses contesting the Southern Provincial Council elections, Anarkalii Akarsha and Nadeesha Hemamali have failed to secure seats.

Comfortable victory for UPFA

President Mahinda Rajapaksa led UPFA has secured a comfortable victory at yesterday’s Western and Southern Provincial Council elections with a majority of 388,977 votes in the SPC and 683,993 votes in the WPC.

Ranatunga tops in Gampaha

Former Western Province Chief Minister Prasanna Ranatunga, with 249,678 votes, has received the highest preference votes in the Gampaha District.

Pasada, Shan Wijayalal top in Matara, Galle

UPFA candidate Pasanda Yapa Abeywardana, the son of Investment Promotion Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardana, has topped the preference vote list from the Matara District and former Chief Minister of Southern Province Shan Wijayalal De Silva has received the highest number of preference votes in the Galle District.

UNP leads in Colombo area

UPFA wins Matara and Hambantota districts

The UPFA won the Matara and Hambantota districts by obtaining 231,102 and 174,687 votes respectively at the Provincial Council from the elections.

UPFA wins postal votes in Hambantota

The UPFA has secured the postal votes in the Hambantota district with 7,527 votes (64.2%) and UNP has secured the second place with 1761 votes (15%), in the Southern Provincial Council election, concluded this evening.

Video: Overall 55%-60% voter turnout: no major incidents

With an overall 55% to 60% voter turnout was reported from the just concluded Western and Southern Provincial Council election, People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said.

Beruwala tense after UPFA-UNP clash

A tense situation is reported from Deenagoda in Beruwala during a clash between the supporters of UPFA and UNP this afternoon, police said.

US disappointed over India’s decision

The United States on Friday expressed disappointment over India abstaining from US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

35% voter turnout as at 12 noon

As at 12 noon about 30% to 35% voter turnout has been reported in the Western and Southern provinces, PAFFREL director Rohana Hettiarachchi said.

PC polls: 20% turnout so far

Declaring a voter turnout of 20% by 11 am today, election monitors said the election in the two provinces has been peaceful so far

'Inam' scenes clipped after uproar in India

Following protests against the release and screening of Santosh Sivan’s Inam, five scenes that showed the humane side of Sinhalese soldiers as well as the loss of LTTE chief V Prabhakaran were clipped.

Accident in Warakapola claims 3 lives

Three persons were killed and another eight were seriously injured when a Colombo-bound intercity bus from Kandy collided head on with a tipper at Tholangamuwa in Warakapola last night.

Suspect detained in alleged sexual abuse case

Bambalapitiya Police today obtained a 48-hour detention order from the Colombo Magistrate Court to detain for further questioning, a suspect who was arrested for alleged sexual abuse on a German woman.

Congress downplays Chidambaram’s remark on Lanka issue

Congress today downplayed Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s remark that India should have supported the US-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka.

Medical student knocked down by train

A 22-year-old female medical student was killed after she was knocked down by a train in Wellawatte, opposite the Ramakrishna Road this afternoon.

Cooperate with resolution-US to SL

US Ambassador Michele J. Sison on Friday urged Sri Lanka to cooperate with the resolution and the plan laid out for a comprehensive international investigation adopted at the UNHRC on Thursday.

DMK flays India’s UN vote, says ‘no’ to Congress

DMK president M. Karunanidhi Friday condemned India’s decision to abstain from voting on a UN resolution against Sri Lanka and said no electoral pact will now be possible with the Congress.

Video: Govt. responsible for Geneva debacle; JVP

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said today the Government was solely responsible for the adoption of the UNHRC resolution because the Government was unable to win the confidence of the 12 countries that abstained due to continuous human right violations and the inability to uphold democracy in the country after the war

We were never against SL: India

Indian envoy Dilip Sinha said India does not support the operative para 10 OF the resolution  which asks for an international inquiry but encourages Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of an internal inquiry's report and findings

MR orders to release all Indian fishermen

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has advised authorities to release all Indian Fishermen in Sri Lankan custody, President's media announced today

UNHRC decision on SL victory for its people: Cameron

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday welcomed the decision of the UNHRC to initiate its own independent investigation into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka

Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination cannot be brushed aside

The Centre on Thursday asserted in the Supreme Court that the assassination of the former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, in 1991 was a very serious and heinous crime which could not be forgotten so easily or brushed aside

German woman, abducted from night club, abused

A twenty-one-year-old German woman, who had been in an intoxicated state while at a night club, had allegedly been taken a house owned by a millionaire businessman in his car and abused

'Flt MH370 is 3.5km under the sea: Prof. Pattiaratchi

University of Western Australia - Professor of Coastal Oceanography Charitha Pattiaratchi, who is playing a leading role on the Australian side, which is engaging in finding the missing Malaysian Airline, said that the ill-fated plane is in the bottom of the Indian Ocean, just below the Southeast Indian ridge

India had cheated SL Tamils: TNA

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) opposed India for its decision to abstain from the US sponsored resolution in UNHRC which was passed today

A serious breach of int’l law-SL

Sri Lanka today described the resolution and its content which calls for an international investigation on Sri Lanka as a serious breach of international law and added it ‘poses a grave threat to the sovereign independence of the states in the UN.’