"Although the previous government reduced the taxes on sanitary towels by 40%, the present government has increased it by 15%," Sri Lanka opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya Matale district MP Rohini Kavirathna said in the parliament today participating in the budget debate. She said that the government would go into history as a rule that taxed even the menstruation of women. An article ...

Ceylon Teachers' Union secretary Joseph Stalin said that four students of Thalawakele Tamil School who were undergoing quarantine had attended school today. He said that the government's unplanned re-opening of government schools had put the teachers in trouble. Stalin pointed out that when re-opening schools after the first corona wave, the government issued a circular for the safety of the

An incident of teachers not attending to a student who collapsed in the school was reported from a leading school in Embilipitiya in Sri Lanka on November 23. The teachers were afraid due to COVID-19 and the incident took place on the first day after the school re-opening. The teachers said they had not been informed about the actions to take in such situations and no protective equipment had

Journalists for Rights organization urges the government not to arrest and remand people for offences that can be severely warned for the first time. Journalists for Rights issued this statement while a number of social media users have been arrested by police for the alleged spread of fake news. Meanwhile, the opposition MP Imitiaz Bakir Markar accused the government of compiling a list of 200

Sri Lanka opposition United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickramasinghe has declined the offer to elect to the parliament through the national list, UNP sources say. UNP management committee members have demanded the leader in writing to accept this offer. Ranil Wickramasinghe first elected to the parliament in 1977 and failed to elect in the last election due to the party split. He became

The school re-opening in Sri Lanka appeared unsuccessful on the first day due to lack of trust by parents on the manoeuvres of the authorities, our study indicates. The attendance of students was very poor in the majority of the leading schools. However, attendance was comparatively better in rural schools. Many of the parents expressed a lack of trust regarding the safety of the students. 

An elderly prisoner died in a hospital was diagnosed with COVID-19. The 82-year-old prisoner of Mahara prison in Gampaha district died in Ragama hospital. He was a cancer patient but a PCR conducted after his death was reported positive, prison sources said. The number of COVID-19 persons in Sri Lanka's overcrowded prisons is around 700 now.

United National Party (UNP) of Sri Lanka has decided to appoint party leader and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe from the national list to the parliament. UNP won only one seat in the parliament at the election held in August. The party did not nominate any name for this national list seat. The latest decision has been taken at the management committee ...

Sri Lanka's Maharagama police station arrested a doctor for shooting at a child who entered into his garden to pick a ball. The 17-year-old boy was shot with an air rifle on his chest as he was playing with friends in the playground of Dharmapala Vidyalaya school ground in Erewwala.The boy sustained minor injuries and he was admitted to Colombo South Teaching Hospital. The doctor works in Cancer

Out of Sri Lanka's over 10,100 public schools, around 5,100 will open today for students from grade 6 to 13.All schools sans few in the Provinces other than the Western Province will start today. The schools in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts will remain closed. Few schools in the Eastern Province, Sabaragamuwa Province and Kurunegala district will also remain closed. Secretary to the

Arch Sinhala nationalist politician, former naval officer Sarath Weerasekara is slated to be promoted as the cabinet Minister of  Public Security, Sri Lanka government sources speculate. Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, RSP, VSV, USP, MP is current State Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government. Under an extraordinary Gazette notification dated November 20, President Gotabaya

Sri Lanka's National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 has issued an announcement regarding quarantine measures since tomorrow (November 23). Following police areas which are isolated now will not be isolated since 5 a.m. November 23, 2020. Colombo DistrictBorella (sans Wanathamulla Grama Niladhari Division)WellampitiyaColombo FortSlave Island (Sans Wekanda Grama Niladhari Division)

India Meteorological Department (IMD) says a well-marked but inconsequential low-pressure area over the South-West Arabian Sea is expected to become a depression by Sunday, November 22. This depression is forecast to move in a typical West-North-West direction towards the coast of Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu during the subsequent days, the IMD outlook said.Meanwhile, Met Department of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka police found a COVID-19 infected woman who had escaped the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (IDH). Police are investigating the woman's associations.  The woman was hiding in a thicket in Eheliyagoda and police found her with the help of the villagers. She is suspected of being a drug addict and a peddler. She was identified as 26-year-old Ruwani Nisansala who had been

Sri Lanka's highest number of COVID-19 deaths were reported on November 21 as nine people died increasing the number of deaths to 83. The deceased include five women of the ages 48, 69, 75, 76 and five men of the ages 57, 65, 89, 72 and 76. Seven deaths were from the Colombo city while one was from Wellampitiya in the city outskirts. The ...

Fishermen in Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu staged a protest on 21 November 2020, demanding the Union government to immediately intervene with the Sri Lankan government and take steps to bring back the boats seized from the fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy. The Ramanathapuram fishermen staged the demonstration on the Pamban seashore. They said that from 2013 to 2019, Sri Lanka seized 19 boats.These

The Australian Advocacy for Good Governance in Sri Lanka and the Voice for Democracy in Sri Lanka Collective President-elect Joe Biden, and Senator Kamala Harris as Vice President-elect, to revive the 2016 deal with Australia and give the refugees languishing in offshore detention centres an opportunity to start their life anew.Most of them have been languishing in offshore detention centres for

Following discussions with Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda and State Minister of Finance Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Maldivian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid that there would be no restrictions in importing fish and fish products from the Maldives to Lanka.However, Sri Lanka recently imposed a heavy tax of Rs. 302 on a kilogramme of

Sri Lanka major opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya Kandy district MP M. Velu Mumar said that entire Nuwaraeliya district has only one PCR testing machine. He expressed these views addressing a press conference held by the opposition today.He accused that the government had not allocated money to increase health facilities of the poor people like estate workers despite their vulnerability.  He

The Secretary to the Ministry of Education of Sri Lanka Prof. Kapila Perera said that the tuition and the nursery education was not allowed in the country although shools outside Western Province would be open from November 23.