The Election Commission states that new, gazettes extraordinary, have been issued on setting a fresh date for the Local Government polls.

The gazettes were issued on March 08.

Accordingly, all Returning Officers, in these communiqués, have declared that the Local Government polls would be held on 25 April 2023.

The National People’s Power (NPP) candidate of Ambalantota, who was wanted over defrauding nearly Rs.2 million by stranding people in Laos on the promise of securing jobs in Thailand, was arrested last evening (9).

He was arrested after surrendering to the investigation department of the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) through a lawyer.

The SLBFE received several complaints about people being taken to Laos on tourist visas and then stranding them in that country, after assuring jobs in a company in Thailand.

Accordingly, the SLBFE officers arrested one suspect on suspicion of being involved in this smuggling. He was remanded after being produced in the Hambantota Magistrate’s Court.

Meanwhile, investigations were carried out to arrest the NPP candidate who is contesting for the Ambalantota Pradeshiya Sabha. However, he had been avoiding the investigation units.

Minister of Labor and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara also spoke about this incident in Parliament last morning (09).

The arrested suspect is scheduled to be produced in the Hambantota Magistrate’s Court today (10).

Seven killed in shooting at Hamburg Jehovah’s Witness hall

At least seven people have been killed and dozens were injured after a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness centre in the northern German city of Hamburg, local media have reported, citing police and emergency services.

According to the Guardian, Police have said that the gunman was believed to be among the dead, and that a motive was as yet unclear.

“We have no indications of a perpetrator on the run,” a spokesperson said soon after the attack. Later, police said that they had found a “lifeless person … who we believe could be a perpetrator”. Investigations were ongoing to rule out the involvement of any other people, police said.

Seven people had died and 25 were injured – eight of them seriously – in the shooting, Bild newspaper reported, which it said began at the Jehovah’s Witness centre soon after 9pm.

As news of the shooting emerged, Hamburg Police said that a major police operation was underway in the GrossBorstel district of the city. Several streets were sealed off and the public was warned by text message to avoid the area. Local residents were told to stay indoors and only to use their phones “in extreme emergency” so as not to overburden the network.