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The strike action taken by the private bus operators on Colombo, Avissawella and sub-routes has been called off with immediate effect, the Lanka Private Bus Owners Association stated. Private buses on High Level Road from Avissawella to Colombo and several other sub routes stopped services as a protest over the issuance of route permits earlier today.

Sri Lanka’s first Communications Satellite SupremeSAT – 1 was launched today (November 27) on board China’s Long March 3B/E Launch Vehicle from the Xi-chang Satellite Launch Centre.  SupremeSAT – 1 was launched successfully at 15:43hrs (Sri Lankan time) from the Space Center in China, Vijith Peiris Group CEO of SupremeSAT said. “This is a proud moment for us as citizens of Sri Lanka,” he told Ada Derana. Sri Lanka becomes the 45th country to own a Communication Satellite and becomes the third South Asian country to have launched a satellite after India and Pakistan. The Satellite will be positioned above Sri Lanka in the Geo-Stationary orbit at 87.5 degree east approximately 36000 km above the surface of the earth. Built by Thales Alenia Space of France, SupremeSAT – I will operational for commercial purposes and has a design life of 15 years. Its design is based on SB 4000 series satellite bus which comes under the medium class telecommunications satellite category with its lau...

A person was stabbed to death with a sharp object in the Mendis Road, Moratuwa last night.  The body of the deceased, a 38-year-old man, has been placed at the Kalubowila Hospital while the postmortem examination is scheduled for today. Moratuwa Police is conducting further investigations. 

Sri Lanka’s maiden satellite launch has been delayed by five days due to technical difficulties and weather conditions, Space Systems Engineer Rohitha Rajapaksa stated. The Supremesat’s engineers are working with the Chinese engineering team to fix these issues at the moment while he stated that a new launch time will be announced by tomorrow (November 23). Sri Lanka’s maiden satellite was scheduled to be launched today (November 22).

At least two persons have been reported dead while nine others have been hospitalized after inhaling poisonous gas due to a gas leak at the Sapugaskanda oil refinery today. 

British Prime Minister David Cameron is being urged to follow Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s example and threaten to boycott next year’s Commonwealth leaders’ summit in Sri Lanka. The Canadian prime minister’s threat — designed to spur changes in Sri Lanka’s dismal human rights record — is being held up by the British House of Commons’ foreign affairs committee as an example for Cameron to emulate. The committee made the recommendation in its report on the future of the 54-country Commonwealth. Committee chairman Richard Ottaway tells The Canadian Press from London that a boycott could force the Sri Lankan government to properly investigate atrocities committed by its forces. Harper wants Sri Lanka’s government to independently investigate war crimes allegations by its own forces against Tamil rebels and civilians in the dying days of the civil war in 2009. A United Nations report this week offered scathing self-criticism of the world body’s inability t...

Public Relations Minister Mervyn Silva stated that the government is willing to not only reduce the price of racing cars but even air planes if it was to promote sports. Speaking to the media, Minister Mervyn Silva stated that the President comes from a sporting family while he and his sons are sportsmen. He added that no one had the right to complain about the budget proposals on tax concessions for racing cars because it was to encourage a sport. Furthermore, the Minister stated that no one can be blamed if the critics cannot afford to buy their sons Lamborghinis and proclaimed that he would buy one for his son if it was for racing purposes. Mervyn Silva went on to claim that he would like to purchase one himself as he also enjoys racing. The Minister finally requested all Sinhalese friends and relatives to produce more children while suggesting that he was undertaking just such a task himself. In view of promoting sporting tourism all vehicles used for racing spo...