Category: Local News

A Malaysian diplomat and his wife treated a Sri Lankan national virtually as a slave, making her work 15-plus hours a day for no more than $1.71 per hour — “when she was paid at all,” according to a new lawsuit.

President Maithripala Sirisena said that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) will contest the upcoming local government polls under the SLFP’s traditional ‘hand’ symbol.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday the government was working towards introducing a pay hike to the working class, and also to provide employment opportunities to the youth.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms reports that Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Malaysia had been assaulted by a group of persons at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport yesterday, 4 September 2016.

President Maithripala Sirisena says the Cabinet of Ministers should take steps to approve the proposal tabled by him to the Cabinet to increase the tax on tobacco products to 90 percent without taking much time.

The chief monk of the Sri Lankan Buddhist temple in Sentul was assaulted by a small group among demonstrators conducting a protest against former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa who is visiting Malaysia.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday urged Sri Lanka to do more to redress wrongs committed during 26 years of war with Tamil rebels, including returning land and restoring the accountability of the judiciary and security services.

President Maithripala Sirisena said the media should not mock or ridicule a noble concept like reconciliation as that would give a wrong interpretation about a positive concept to the younger generation.

The two suspects arrested and remanded for hacking the official website of President Maithripala Sirisena have been released on bail.

A Sri Lankan national who is also a former LTTE cadre was detained at the Pune international airport, India on Thursday morning for allegedly using a fake Indian passport in his bid to fly out of the country to Germany.

Dozens of Sri Lankan nationalists on Thursday protested against a three-day visit by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, demanding he leave the island and stop an investigation into alleged abuses at the end of the civil war.

The Colombo Chief Magistrate today issued notice on former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and 7 others to appear before the court in connection with the case filed against them for unlawfully authorizing the establishing of a floating armoury.

China’s top diplomat in the country yesterday said that the world’s second largest economy is prepared to commit over US $ 5 billion in foreign direct investments (FDIs) over the medium to long term for special economic zones, if the Sri Lankan government is prepared to authorize them.

Chief Minister of Northern Province, C.V. Vigneswaran, has managed to get a separate meeting with the visiting UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, after being clubbed together with other leaders of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for a full-scale official session with the UN chief when he comes to Jaffna on September 2.

Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, accompanied by Mrs. Ban Soon-taek, will arrive in Sri Lanka today 31 August for an official visit.

The new head of the United Nations environment agency, Erik Solheim, says that he had gained valuable lessons, including the importance of dialogue and compromise while serving as a negotiator of the peace process in Sri Lanka.