President Maithripala Sirisena ordered Minister of Power and Renewable Energy Ranjith Siyambalapitiya not to leave the country on a pre-planned private trip, political sources said. Accordingly, the President has said that it will be irresponsible to leave the country at a time of a power crisis. However, the Minister had already planned to skip the trip due to the crisis, sources also said.

Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Chairman Dhammika Ranatunga, today threatened several journalists with death at the Colombo High Court premises. Ranatunga who arrived at the premises to attend the hearing for the bail application revision for his brother Nishantha Ranatunga, threatened the journalists when they captured visuals of him entering the premises.The journalists, representing several media outlets, captured Ranatunga

Security personnel of the Sri Lanka Army, Navy and Air force were deployed to provide security for all Ceylon Electricity Board installations and substations in the country this morning, Defence Ministry said. President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday directed the military to provide security to all CEB installations and substations after the island -wide blackouts.

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) today announced a 7 1/2 power cut for the next two days as the electricity crisis continued. Accordingly the CEB said that the electricity will be cut at several locations in two stages for 5 1/2 hours in the morning and two hours in the night tomorrow and on Thursday. The locations where the electricity will be cut have been divided into two groups. One group will have the electricity cut from 7am to 12.30 pm and again from 6pm to 8pm while the areas in the second group will not have electricity from 12.30pm to 6pm and again from 8pm to 10pm.

The man convicted in the rape and murder of young Seya Sadewmi in Kotadeniyawa has been sentenced to death by the Negombo High Court. Saman Jayalath, who confessed to committing the crime, was given the death sentence by the Negombo High Court today. The 4 1/2 year old child was taken from her home in Kotadeniyawa in September last year and was raped and later murdered.

A Sri Lankan illegal immigrant was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department this morning at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake, when he arrived this morning after being deported from Australia, BIA officials said. The Police said the 31-year-old man who was a resident of Negombo had left for Australia in a boat illegally. He is expected to be produced in the Negombo Magistrate

The rise in the spate of killings and other crimes in the country is the result of a large number of arms and ammunition leaking into the hands of society with the ending of the war, former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said. He said so while giving evidence before the Presidential Commission Investigating Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption, Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC).

High Court Commissioner Iranganie Perera yesterday sentenced LTTE cadres to two years RI. They had been held on remand for two years. They have been charged with aiding and abetting the crime of exploding a bomb on July 27, 1996 near the Dehiwala station, killing 64 persons and injuring around 400 others.The main accused were sentenced to death. They are Sinnappu Selvaraja and Selvaraja Sreedaran.

Three people were killed following an explosion at a fireworks factory in the Negombo area, the police said. The explosion took place at the factory in Katana in Negombo.

President Maithripala Sirisena has ordered the army to be deployed to protect all installations connected to the National power grid, the Power and Energy Ministry said.The move follows fears of attempts to sabotage the power sector resulting in Nationwide power cuts. The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had said earlier that damage caused to a transformer at the Biyagama receiving station following an explosion caused the island-wide power cut yesterday. The electricity was restored to the entire country after over seven hours.

The Colombo High Court today decided to revise the Kaduwela Magistrate

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa today slammed the government for blaming him for its mistakes, adding that he can run the country if he is asked to do so.Rajapaksa made this observation after the hearing of his son Yoshitha's bail application, when a journalist asked about the foreign loans obtained by his government.It was pointed out that the present government was blaming him for the loans that he had obtained. The government claims that it cannot do anything since its income is sufficient only to pay the interests of the loans, the journalist pointed out.

The Coordinating secretary to the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and former Minister Suranimala Rajapaksha passed away this morning at the age of 67. Rajapaksha was first elected to the Parliament from the United National Party (UNP) in 1994 and he was the Minister of School Education from 2001 to 2004.A strong member of the UNP and a member of the UNP Working Committee, Rajapaksha was a key politician who was behind the UNP election campaign last year.He was appointed as the Coordinating secretary to the Prime Minister on 27 January 2015.

A special meeting was held between Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on Saturday. During the meeting, the Indian President said that he is happy about the present situation in Sri Lanka and was hoping to visit Sri Lanka in the near future. The Indian President and Karunanayake also discussed about the economies of the two countries. President Mukherjee agreed to provide Indian assistance and share their experiences with Sri Lanka enabling Sri Lanka to be a powerful country in the region.

A Sri Lankan couple was killed when a speeding car ploughed into them as they strolled along a pavement in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng on Saturday, South African officials said. The 26-year-old driver, who was speeding in a BMW M4 after a night out with a friend, also died at the scene, Gauteng Traffic Department spokesperson Obed Sibasa said on Sunday, News24 reported. According to witnesses, the driver was speeding at excessive speed in a 60km/h zone in Vanderbijlpark when he lost control of the car, which overturned, hit a tree, and smashed into the Sri Lankan couple walking on the pavement before coming to a rest on the center island, spokesman Sibasa said.

The Chief Minister of Sri Lanka

Five suspects were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department in connection with the incident where five charred bodies were found inside a burnt van at Buthgampola, Dankotuwa on Friday morning. CID Director SSP R. Nagahamulla said the suspects, residents of Dankotuwa, were being investigated to determine the cause of the incident. The CID was investigating the incident, where five charred bodies were found inside a burnt van after a call to 119 on Friday morning, on the direction of Police Chief N. K Illangakoon.

An island-wide power failure was reported a short while ago, the Power and Renewable Energy Ministry said. Ministry Secretary Dr. Suren Batagoda said the cause of blackout experienced at around 2.15 this afternoon could be due to the tripping of a substation in Biyagama. He said engineers from the CEB were looking into the matter. On an earlier occasion a similar power outage occurred causing much uncertainty about the reason for it.

The Sri Lanka Navy yesterday arrested 23 Indian fishermen along with three trawlers poaching in Sri Lankan waters in the seas off Mannar. Police said Naval personnel at the Thalpadu had made the arrest and the fishermen between the ages of 15 to 56 were handed over to the Mannar Police for legal action. The fishermen will be produced in the Mannar Magistrate Court today.

India has rescheduled Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera

SLFP chairman, president Maithripala Sirisena has decided to suspend MP Mahinda Rajapaksa, if he attends the joint opposition rally organized by Basil Rajapaksa at Hyde Park on March 17, say SLFP sources.He has already given the necessary instructions to general secretary of the party Duminda Dissanayake.Ex-president Chandrika Kumaratunga too, has agreed to this proposition.Last Wednesday, the president warned that he would never let go of Rajapaksa if he supported a new party and opposed the SLFP.

The European Union (EU) has urged Sri Lanka to increase its cooperation with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The EU delegation at the UN Human Rights Council said that it welcomes Sri Lanka

Despite disruptions, the construction work of the Lotus Tower is scheduled to be completed by September 2017, the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) said yesterday. TRCSL Director General Sunil S. Sirisena speaking to the Daily Mirror stated that the structure, when completed, would be the tallest building in South Asia. However, the Director General pointed out that additional funds were required for the construction of the parking lot and shopping complex in the premises.

No clues have been received about the incident where five charred bodies were found inside a burnt van at Buthgampola, Dankotuwa yesterday morning, Police said. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said CID has launched investigations into the incident on the instructions of the police chief N.K. Ilangakoon. ASP Gunasekara said the postmortem was yet to be conducted and that its report would help the ongoing investigations by the CID. The five charred bodies were found inside the burnt van after a call to 119 police emergency telephone number last morning.

A parcel weighing 2 kgs of heroin was detected at Thondamanaru in Valvettithurai this morning while it was hidden in a forest area. The parcel of heroin was detected following a tip off received by the Valvettithurai police. Its value has not been estimated yet.

The Government has sought new loans from China to carry out various projects and proposes to set up a joint venture with that country to develop the Mattala International Airport, a minister said yesterday. International Trade and Strategic Development Minister Malik Samarawickrama who visited China recently said he had met key officials of the China Development Bank and the Export and Import Bank of China in Beijing. He said the talks were fruitful and cordial that the Government had sought financial co-operation to implement several the projects in the pipeline.

The Mahinda Rajapaksa regime allowed state institutions to obtain credit from foreign institutions during a six year period, and those details are not included in the budgets, says former senior deputy governor of the Central Bank W.A. Wijewardena. Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has a responsibility to investigate how much in total had been obtained as undocumented credit, he has told

Inspector General of Police (IGP) N K Illangakoon has directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to take over the investigation into the discovery of five charred bodies inside a van in Dankotuwa. Police have noted foul play is suspected in the incident and that this was now being treated as a criminal investigation. Five bodies were found inside a van gutted by fire in the Bujjampola area in Dankotuwa early this morning. Police said the discovery had been made following a call made to the 119 emergency hotline.

Tamil political prisoners have decided to suspend a fast following assurances received from the Attorney General

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother Gotabaya came under a hail of condemnation yesterday for