Gazette News (click here for more)

Monk dies from burn injuries

The monk who set himself on fire outside the Kandy Temple yesterday succumbed to his injuries late this evening. The Buddhist monk set himself on fire outside the Dalada Maligawa Temple demanding an end to cattle slaughter. The monk is a member of the Sihala Ravaya. Identified as the venerable Bohowatte Indararatna thero, ...

US to be asked to show cause

The US Embassy in Colombo is to be asked to show cause as to why it signed an agreement with the Trincomalee Urban Council to open an American information center in Trincomalee without informing the External Affairs Ministry. External Affairs Ministry Secretary Karunatillaka Amunugama told the Colombo Gazette that there is an ...

Valachenai teachers, principal arrested

The principal and two teachers of a school in Valachenai were arrested over the death of a child during a school outing. According to the police the 14 year old child had died after falling into the river while at a school scout camping trip. The principal and two teachers had accompanied ...

Elephant rampage injures 24 people

An elephant rampage at a Temple perahera (pageant) last night in Badulla injured 24 people. The police said that the elephant got disturbed while taking part in the Muniyangana Raja Maha Vihara Temple perahera. The police said that all 24 people were admitted to the Badulla hospital with minor injuries. Among those ...

K’nidhi wants citizenship for Lankans

DMK President M Karunanidhi today requested the Centre (Indian government) to provide citizenship to over one lakh Sri Lankan Tamils living in India as refugees, the Press Trust of India reported. Observing that continuous efforts were made to provide citizenship to the Eelam (separate home land) Tamils living as refugees when DMK ...

Indian police arrest 21 Sri Lankans in Kochi

The Q branch of the Tamil Nadu police, with the assistance of the Ernakulam North police, took 21 Sri Lankans who were about to sail to Australia in a fishing boat from Kochi, into custody. The operation was carried out after information about the same was passed on by the Intelligence Bureau, ...

Lawyers given access to Lankans

Australian Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor has granted lawyers access to two Tamil asylum seekers who feared they would be sent back to Sri Lanka, the Sydney Morning Herald reported today. One asylum seeker, who cannot be named, emailed refugee lawyer David Manne from Christmas Island on Wednesday seeking his help to apply ...

Man dupes museum suspects

A man had duped three suspects who are in prison over the Colombo National museum theft and got Rs. 50,000 from a family member claiming he can secure their freedom. The man had pretended to be an officer from the Attorney General’s department and had informed the suspects that in order for ...

Sri Lankan arrested in Cyprus

A court in Cyprus today issued a three-day custody decree against four people including a Sri Lankan in connection with accusations of an illegal marriage of convenience, the Cyprus Weekly reported. Two are from Bulgaria, a man and a woman aged 24 and 30 respectively, a man from Bangladesh aged 27 years ...

Monk sets himself on fire (Pictures)

A Buddhist monk today set himself on fire in Kandy demanding an end to cattle slaughter The monk who set himself on fire outside the Dalada Maligawa Temple is a member of the Sihala Ravaya. He had earlier staged a walk from Kattaragama to Colombo to protest against cattle slaughter. Identified as ...

Probe on police accountant

An investigation has been launched into allegations of fraud against the accountant of the Pollonaruwa police. The police media unit said that the accountant had been accused of misusing funds allocated for policemen attached to the Pollonaruwa police station. The police said that when paying policemen loans applied by them she at ...

Fire at Colombo port

A major fire broke out at the Colombo Port early this morning, the police media unit said. The police said that the fire broke out at the CFS, 01 warehouse at the port. The Navy, Colombo fire brigade, police and port fire brigade doused the flames in a joint operation. According to ...

Ban urges non-violence on Vesak

UN Secretary Geberal Ban Ki-moon says a spirit of non-violence is needed to help inspire peace and quell conflict. In his Vesak Day message, the UN Chief said that that Vesak is an opportunity for all members of the international community to benefit from their rich traditions. “This year’s observance, falling at a ...

Sri Lankans in people trafficking network

The National Investigations Department (DNI) in the Dominican Republic arrested members of a people trafficking network with possible links to international terrorist cells, who used Dominican Republic as a bridge from Cuba, France, Spain, Sri Lanka and Haiti, Dominican today.com reported. The website said that DNI chief operating officer Fidel Paulino identified the ...

Lankan asylum seeker to be freed

A Sri Lankan asylum seeker, previously deemed a security risk, will be released from Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney after her adverse security assessment was overturned by spy agency ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation), the Bernama news agency reported. Manokala Jenaddarsan, 41, fled war-torn Sri Lanka in 2009 with her now six-year-old ...

Mumbai Indians to face CSK in final

Harbhajan Singh seems to have a new lease on life in IPL 2013. The discarded and temperamental Indian off-spinner continued his impressive season, picking up three key wickets, and with some help from Dwayne Smith with the bat, guided the Mumbai Indians to a tense four-wicket win over the Rajasthan Royals last ...

Veteran Tamil playback singer dies

Legendary playback singer TM Soundararajan, popularly known as TMS, died in Chennai on Saturday due to prolonged illness. He was 91. Soundararajan gave his voice to southern actors like NTr, ANR, Gemini Ganesan, Jagayya, Kantha Rao, MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, Kamal Haasan, Kantha Rao, etc. The Veteran singer recorded for over 10,000 Tamil ...

Bombay being created in Sri Lanka for Ranbir-Anushka film

Come July, Ranbir Kapoor and Anushka Sharma will start shooting for Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Bombay Velvet’. However, the film will not be shot in Mumbai, but in Sri Lanka. Reason being that the skyline of the island city has changed over the decades and the upcoming monsoon could affect the shoot. Apparently, it’s ...

IOC, Ceylon Petroleum set to form JV

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) are set to form a joint venture (JV) for taking up various initiatives in the oil and gas sector, including supply of LNG to Sri Lanka by Petronet LNG Limited (PLL) to feed power plants in that country. The decision to form the ...

Sri Lankan journalist gets Thai award

Ivan Alvis, a journalist attached to The Island Newspapers, Sri Lanka, and a Guest Writer for the Lanka Times, Melbourne, has won the Friends of Thailand Award, in the International Media category, for his articles highlighting the many tourist attractions, sites and venues in Thailand. The prestigious awards ceremony will be held ...

Kingfisher Unawatuna rated among Asia’s best

Kingfisher Unawatuna has been rated among Asia’s best restaurants, in a survey carried out by a U.S.-based food website The Daily Meal, which does similar polls in the United States and Europe. The website has rated 101 restaurants in Asia and Kingfisher Unawatuna has been placed as the 25th best in Asia. ...

Alternative Sunday 14

There was jamming, beat boxing, rock, soul, RnB and well virtually every kind of music at Alternative Sunday 14 held at Kamikaze on May 12. Pictures by Easwaran Rutnam For all the images click HERE or go to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ColomboGazette