Category: Local News

The name of the game is divide and rule, self-determination and balkanization all hallmarks of what India cannot ignore despite its efforts to avert or delay the inevitable. Importing Eelam from India to Sri Lanka managed to avert balkanization of India by 30 years, a period used by India to subtly form the foundation for Indian influence over Sri Lanka’s North which was immediately countered by foot soldiers in the form of Christian NGOs that took over LTTE’s vision and mission.

India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will arrive in Colombo on Friday to set the stage for the visit to Sri Lanka by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 13. During her two-day stay, Ms. Swaraj will meet Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

Sri Lanka is concerned with the roughly $5 billion in Chinese loans it has and will send its finance minister to Beijing to discuss the issue, the foreign minister said on Saturday, as he also ruled out future Chinese submarine visits to the country.

Malaysia has proposed to implement several infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka under a government-to-government understanding which, among others, include the Colombo City Monorail by Scomi International, oil pipeline, highways, and housing development.

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) yesterday said if anyone has a problem about the appointment of Ranil Wickremesinghe to the office of Prime Minister, they can bring a no-confidence motion against him.

President Maithripala Sirisena is to undertake an official visit to Britain on March 7. He will attend the Commonwealth Week celebrations at Westminster Abbey in London on March 9, as the Chair of the Commonwealth.

China on Friday formally backed a trilateral partnership with India and Sri Lanka to establish a Maritime Silk Road (MSR) and promote the rise of Eurasia.

The court has ordered BMICH to pay a compensation of Rs. 180 million to Dr. Samitha Samanmali. She was paralyzed when a shelter collapsed on her at ‘Deyata Kirula’ exhibition in 2008 at BMICH.

The Police on Thursday said that the Judicial Medical Officer’s report into the mysterious death of former Havelock’s captain and Sri Lankan ruggerite, Wasim Thajudeen, had revealed that his death could not have been due to natural causes.

Former Minister Wimal Weerawansa’s wife Shashi Weerawansa, who was arrested and remanded on charges of falsifying documents to obtain a diplomatic passport, has been granted bail by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court.

Sri Lanka’s new government on Thursday slammed the police for dragging their feet over high-profile cases including the murders of journalists and corruption under the previous regime.

Having briefed a parliamentary group chaired by Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe as regards the SLFP’s constitutional proposals on Thursday afternoon in Parliament, the SLFP discussed the same with President Maithripala Sirisena later in the day.

Former Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and Police Media Spokesman Prishantha Jayakody,who arrived from Australia a short while ago, claimed that he fled the country because of threats by former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and some of his henchmen.

The Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs Dr. Harsha de Silva has pointed out that a pension Scheme will be introduced to all workers in the country under the Government that will be set-up after the 100-day programme.

The CID yesterday recorded the statements of the former Monitoring MP of the External Affairs Ministry Sajin de Vas Gunawardane and former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage over corruption charges made against them by Voice against Corruption (VaC), an organization spearheaded by JVP Provincial Councillor Wasantha Samarasinghe, it is learnt.

Lieutenant Yoshitha Rajapaksa, son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been assigned as a security officer of his father’s security team with effect from February 12, Defense Ministry sources said.