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A 16-year-old school girl has died after drowning in Balangoda. Reports reveal that the incident occurred when the student had gone to bathe at the Randola Gorokgahakandura Falls in Balangoda. The deceased student, who was a resident of the area, had gone to bathe at the waterfall with a group of friends at the time of the accident. Police stated that the girl’s body was found about an hour after the incident occurred. The post-mortem investigation is scheduled to be carried out today (11).  - By Derana

Police Special Task Force (STF) personnel have arrested four persons for indecent behavior near the Moraketiya Temple in Embilipitiya. The men were under the influence of alcohol when they were arrested by officers of the Ambalantota STF camp and handed over to Embilipitiya Police for further inquiries.

A rare October snowstorm barreled up the East Coast on Saturday, cutting power to more than two million households, forcing cancellation of scores of airline flights and causing at least three deaths. Slippery conditions on a roadway caused the crash and death of a man driving in Colchester, Connecticut, said Scott Devico, a spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Emergency Management. In Temple, Pennsylvania, an 84-year-old man was killed when a snow-caked tree fell through his home, said a Muhlenberg Township Police Department dispatcher. And a 20-year-old man was electrocuted in Springfield, Massachusetts when he stepped out of his vehicle and touched an electrified guard rail, a Springfield police spokesman said. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts declared weather emergencies because of the storm. "We are expecting the snow to continue to fall from New York City through Maine. By tomorrow morning it should be pretty much wrapped...

Investigations are underway into a riot involving more than 100 people at an immigration detention centre in far north of Australia. The Immigration Department says a guard and two detainees have been treated in hospital after violence broke out Saturday afternoon at the Scherger detention centre. Ian Rintoul from the Refugee Action Collective says a Tamil detainee from Sri Lanka suffered several broken teeth and a suspected nose fracture after a dispute over internet use. Mr Rintoul says almost 700 people are crammed into the facility and it’s very tense. “There is a very high use of medications inside the place because of the long term consequences on the mental health of asylum seekers,” Mr Rintoul said. “Many of the Tamils have been in there 18 months and some of them over two years in detention waiting for answers. Some of them have been found to be refugees many many months ago and they’re still waiting to get security clearance,” he said. - ABC

Kenyan crewmembers of a Taiwanese ship that has been stranded in Sri Lanka for the last 10 months are finally headed home, according to Kenyan media. Six Kenyans and two Chinese of the fishing vessel FV TAI YUAN 227 had been stranded in Port Colombo since January 23, when they sailed to Colombo after Somali pirates freed them. On Saturday the Mombasa-based Seafarers Assistance Programme (SAP) announced they were on their way back. Andrew Mwangura, a director with SAP, said that he had received a call on Thursday from the crew saying they were at the Colombo airport heading to Kenya. Mwangura said the men sailed for ten days from Somalia to Colombo. After being dumped in Colombo, the crew reported their ordeal to the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) Inspector at the Port of Colombo, Ranjan Perera, who is also secretary of the National Union of Seafarers of Sri Lanka. Mr Perera told Mwangura that the ITF’s London office was trying to find ways of helping th...

President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced in Kandy today (October 2) that Sri Lanka has found a natural gas field for the first time, the President’s Media stated.

The employees of the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) in Deraniyagala have begun a protest after a bus conductor operating on the Avissawella-Deraniyagala road was assaulted by a group of passengers near the Digana junction. The assaulted conductor was admitted to the Avissawella hospital while the strike will continue until those responsible for the assault are taken into custody, the SLTB employees stated.

The Sri Lanka men’s volleyball team made history by advancing to the Super 8 (classification) round of the Asian Volleyball Championship, underway in Tehran, Iran, for the first time.  The classification round for 1st to 8th places in Pools E and F will be held from September 25 to 26 and will determine the ranking for the quarterfinals on September 27.

A Matale Municipal Council candidate for the UNP was assaulted along with one of her supporters by an unidentified group while she was attending to campaign promotions in Matale. Both victims were taken to the Matale District Hospital while a complaint was made to the Matale Police headquarters, the leader of the UNP candidate group, D. Aluvihare stated.

The Indian government has decided to release 35 Sri Lankan fishermen, arrested for allegedly venturing into Indian waters, along with 7 fishing vessels. The Fisheries Ministry stated that the released fishermen will be repatriated once the approval of the Indian government is received. 41 Sri Lankan fishermen in total were taken into custody by Indian Coast Guard recently while 8 of their vessels were sized as well. The remaining fishermen had not been released reportedly due to one of them filing an appeal.

Israel flew its ambassador home from Cairo on Saturday after protesters stormed its embassy building, plunging Egypt's military rulers into their worst diplomatic crisis since they took over from Hosni Mubarak. Three people were killed and 1,049 wounded in clashes between protesters and police, the Health Ministry said. The United States, which has poured billions of dollars of military aid into Egypt since it made peace with Israel in 1979, urged Cairo to protect the embassy after protesters hurled embassy documents and the Israeli flag from windows. "Our dignity has been restored," said Mohi Alaa, 24, a protester who was speaking near the site of overnight clashes with police around the building that houses the Israeli embassy. Bits of concrete and bullet casings were strewn over the street.

Police says that individuals engaging in election propaganda in a manner that pollutes the environment will be arrested regardless of their political afflictions. Head of Police Election Secretariat, Senior DIG Gamini Navaratne said the police have received instructions to apprehend any person violating election laws. He stated that so far 17 individuals have been arrested for violating election laws while a majority of them are from Colombo and Nugegoda areas. In addition 17 complaints have been received thus far in connection to the upcoming Local Government election, the Senior DIG emphasized.

Preliminary results released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) today showed of the 31 destinations reporting half-year arrivals Sri Lanka was seen as one of the growth leaders with 37 per cent growth from January to June 2011. Myanmar and Thailand with gains of 29 per cent and 28 per cent respectively were the other two clear growth leaders. Collectively, these 31 destinations generated growth of 5.3 per cent for the Asia/Pacific region during the first half of 2011. “While European arrivals remain key to South Asia’s growth, Southeast Asia will be driven by the rapidly growing China and India outbound markets while Northeast Asia is expected to see strong gains in arrivals from Southeast Asia driven by the steadily growing LCC network,” Kris Lim, Director, Strategic Intelligence Centre, PATA, said. International arrivals growth to South Asia was a robust 12 per cent in June, boosted by double-digit increases in inbound numbers to Nepal (+38 per cent), the Maldives (+27 ...

Committee appointed to investigate the substandard petrol issue has found that proper procurement procedures were not followed and has recommended compensating vehicle owners whose vehicles were damaged due to the substandard petrol. The 20,000 metric tons of petrol were imported without following proper procurement procedures while 513 metric tons out of that was released directly to the market, the committee appointed to probe the import of the controversial petrol confirms. The committee comprising M.M.C. Ferdinando (Chairman) , E.M. Piyasena, S.M.C.P. Samaracoon had handed over their final report on the investigation to Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha today (August 29) morning.  The committee also recommends that the either the supplying company should be charged to cover the financial losses suffered by the CPC or gauge the responsibility of the officials to cover the mishap and to cover the loss by fining them. 

Authorities in UK have agreed to provide other colleges to the Sri Lankan students who are stranded in London due to the sudden closure of several colleges. The agreement was reached during discussion between representatives of the Sri Lanka High Commission in UK and officials of the University Grants Committee in the United Kingdom, the External Affairs Ministry stated. Nearly 80 Sri Lankan students who were studying in UK were left stranded after three (3) universities in the country abruptly shut down, due to various irregularities. The Sri Lanka High Commission intervened in the issue, subsequent to being informed regarding the matter by several of the effected students, and special discussion were held with the University Grants Committee in UK. Afterwards they had agreed to provide the students in question with other colleges to in order to continue their higher educational, the Ministry said adding that attention had been extensively towards the students’ course fees and visa...

In a special statement made today (August 27) UNP Parliamentarian Mohan Lal Grero said he is prepared to make more sacrifices if UNP leadership fails to honor his request by Tuesday. “I am prepared to make more sacrifices if my request to keep the mayoral candidate open for Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia Municipal Council is not honored by the leadership by Tuesday” the educationist had said.

The Wild Life Department is to release the report on the Elephant Survey by end of next week. The Digital and Computer Science Department of the Peradeniya University has commenced sorting the data on the elephant survey. The Survey was carried out from the 11th to 13th of this month covering all wild life zones in the country. All data has been computerized now, and the data include the number of elephants in each herd, their sizes, assumed ages, their sex and other physical features. If records of a herd were duplicated the programme automatically nullify the duplication. The data is being sorted under the supervision of the Director General of Wild Life H.D Rathnayaka and the Dean of the Science Faculty of the Peradeniya University, Prof. Parakrama Karunarathna. 40 university students are also assisting in this process. In order to minimize numerical mistakes scientific methods are being given priority. The Wildlife Department informs that this survey will help to find out...

Sri Lankan women in the Kingdom who want to go home for their Eid holidays are panicking over recent incidents in the country caused by night prowlers dubbed “grease devils.” A grease devil is a thief who wears only underwear and covers his body in grease to make himself hard to grab if pursued. Panic over midnight assaults by the alleged grease devils is rising across rural Sri Lanka, leading to the deaths of at least three people last week. This has prompted women to stay indoors and men to arm themselves, police and local media said. At least seven were wounded fighting with police outside the navy base in Kinniya after hundreds of mainly Muslim residents in the eastern coastal area demanded soldiers hand over two men who tried to abduct a 28-year-old Muslim woman the night before. The incidents are happening mainly in areas where there is a concentration of minority communities such as Muslims and Tamils. According to police, incidents relating to grease devi...

The Directorate of Enforcement is investigating the country's top mobile phone carrierBharti Airtel for suspected violations of foreign exchange rules, a junior finance minister said on Tuesday. Namo Narain Meena also told lawmakers in a statement the country's capital markets regulator had received complaints alleging that a shareholding increase by the founders of the mobile carrier had violated rules. The minister also said the country's tax office had received allegations of "improper accounting treatment" of licence and spectrum fee by the company.

The Securities and Exchanges Commission has permitted stock broking companies who have liquid assets to extend credit to retail investors with effect from today, SEC source