Quick Look

Castro gives up Cuban presidency

Fidel Castro permanently gave up the Cuban presidency yesterday, ending five decades of ironclad rule of the island marked by his one-man defiance of the United States.

Eighteen months after he was stricken with illness, the 81-year-old Castro said in a message published by the official media that he would not accept the presidency again.

"I neither will aspire to nor will I accept I repeat I neither will aspire to nor will I accept, the position of president of the council of state and commander in chief," Castro wrote almost 19 months after a severe illness caused him to hand power temporarily to his brother Raul.

Heavy fines on drug dealers

A.A.L. Dias, Matale district group corr.

The Matale District Excise Unit has collected Rs. 220,000 as fines last year from illegal drug dealers and consumers convicted before Dambulla and Matale Magistrate Courts.

These raids were conducted in Matale, Dambulla, Galewela and Sigiriya.