China is hoping to establish Confucius Centres and a TV channel in Sri Lanka to popularise the Chinese language and telecast educational programmes, train teachers and school principals, an Education Ministry spokesman said yesterday.

The alleged billion-rupee fraudster Sakvithi Ranasinghe and several others will be indicted soon at the Colombo High Court, in connection with the defrauding of Rs.1,060 million belonging to 2,135 depositors, the Attorney General has informed court.&

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said today Sri Lanka should learn lessons from countries such as China, Russia and the United States and move forward by developing new ways of thinking, innovating, and training of the country’s work force if it was

A 21-year-old Sri Lankan died in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Wednesday; however the cause of death is unclear according to the Sri Lankan Consul General in Dubai. According to the Consul General the postmortem does not reveal the cause of death.

The Inter University Students Union (IUSF) condemns the military shramadana underway at universities islandwide, the IUSF spokesperson Sanjeewa Bandara said today.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), during its meeting with the ruling party today, stressed the ongoing process of registration of lands in the north and the east, the decision to attach the Sinhala populated Welioya area to the Mullaitivu District a

A hotel room boy who had allegedly stolen a perfume bottle valued at Rs.2,000 belonging to a French national at a hotel in Kollupitiya was remanded till October 27 by a Colombo Court today.

The Prisons Department is awaiting a response from the Treasury prior to advertising for the two vacancies for hangmen.

Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi died of wounds suffered in his capture near his hometown of Sirte on Thursday, a senior NTC military official said.

Commanders for Libya's transitional authorities say they have captured former Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.

The heads of police stations are being appointed today based on recommendations by the ruling party organisers in respective areas instead of consulting the Inspector General of Police for the purpose, the UNP charged in Parliament on yesterday

A cabinet memo has been submitted by the Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs, W. D. J. Seneviratne, to increase the powers of District Secretaries. Approval for this was given yesterday.

Prices of cigarettes were increased with effect from midnight yesterday. Gold Leaf, Benson and Pall Mall increased by Rs.2, while Dunhill by Rs.3, the Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) said

A proposal was made by Prof. G. L. Peiris to establish diplomatic relations with the Republic of Mali. Mali is a republic with a population of 14,159,904 and the country is located in the interior of Western Africa

A marked drop in drug peddling activities and in the use of narcotics has been noticed in Colombo and the suburbs during the past few weeks, the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) said yesterday

The Probation and Childcare Department today appealed to mothers who abandon their children due to economic and social reasons to hand over their children to the department for adoption and to refrain from taking their children’s lives or aband

Over 80 pedestrians, who ignored the pedestrian crossing and crossed the road from other places, were fined Rs.100 each by the Colombo Traffic Court Magistrate today

A man who was accused of having provided accommodation to an LTTE suicide bomber and aided and abetted in the killing of former Highways Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle was indicted in the High Court today

There is a debate in certain quarters whether to legalise ‘Kasippu’ which is a local brew of alcoholic drink presently considered illicit, Senior Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama said in Parliament today

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has incurred a daily loss of Rs.167 million since August, this year due to the dependence on thermal power for electricity generation, Minister Champika Ranawaka said in Parliament today

The JVP dissidents had taken away a collection of CDs that contained valuable information   about the party, and deleted the template of the party’s official newspaper ‘Niyamuwa’, MP Sunil Handunnetti said today

Addressing the first press conference after the split in the party, the JVP said today that they were not in a hurry to take action against the dissidents who defected from the party over ideological issues

Pakistan Customs’ Drug Enforcement Cell (DEC), Karachi Airport Unit, on Tuesday claimed to have recovered 16kg's of fine quality heroin being smuggled to Sri Lanka

The family of presidential adviser Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra yesterday asked why parliamentarian Duminda Silva was not a prime suspect in the investigation into Mr. Premachandra’s assassination and said they had no confidence in the probe

Sri Lanka's High Commissioner has accused human rights groups and jurists of being pawns of a well-funded and sophisticated Tamil lobby, but claimed allegations that he may have committed war crimes will not damage relations between his country a

The Sri Lankan government has allocated Rs.19.5 billion to rehabilitate and upgrade three main highways employing local contractors by concrete surfacing instead of commonly used carpet surfacing

Parliamentarian Duminda Silva’s official bodyguard who is alleged to have shot former parliamentarian and presidential adviser Baratha Lakshman Premachandra on Election Day at Mulleriyawa was further remanded till November 1 pending an identifi

The US GSP Programme, which came to a temporary halt at the end of 2010 due to some domestic concerns, has now been extended till the end of 2013 and the US President is expected to sign the Reauthorisation Bill into law shortly, the Department of Co

A big-time Minuwangoda extortion gang leader was arrested when he was allegedly on his way with four other gangsters to kill a businessman of the area, the Special Task Force (STF) said today

he Appropriation Bill for 2012 was presented in Parliament by Prime Minister D.M. Jayarathne this afternoon