Category: Local News

Japan has pledged to help strengthen Sri Lanka’s maritime security, authorities said Tuesday, as Tokyo tries to counter China’s strategic grip on the Indian Ocean island.

A Rs.25,000 fine will be imposed on errant drivers who ignore railway level crossing signals, Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said yesterday.

Chandra Tudor Rajapaksa, one of the brothers of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, passed away at the age of 70 in Tangalle today, family sources said.

Sri Lanka’s first Special High Court established to hear financial fraud and corruption cases, was officially declared open today (21) at the Hulftsdorp Court Complex in Colombo 12 by Minister of Justice and Prison Reforms Thalatha Athukorale.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said it was regrettable that an organization headed by the daughter of former prime minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike had acted to produce radio programmes bearing titles that insulted Buddhism and its culture.

A tense situation at the Welikada Prison left three inmates and eight officials injured.

The Pentagon has released its annual report on China’s military capabilities, and it noted several developments that could be of concern for U.S. military planners.

Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said the Gazette Notification announcing the price reduction of another 25 medicines, including 10 cancer drugs will be issued within the next two weeks.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is not qualified to contest the upcoming Presidential election, Higher Education Minister Wijeyedasa Rajapakshe said yesterday.

Railway fares are to be increased for the first time in over a decade. The fares will go up by 15 per cent with the next month, according to the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayeewas a “true friend” of Sri Lanka and had assisted the country in the civil war against the LTTE, Prime Minister

There is no lacuna or provision in the 19th Amendment and its application for legal arguments to be made that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is eligible to contest in the upcoming 2019 presidential election, a top constitutional expert said, amid frantic attempts by the Joint Opposition to push for a third term for the controversial ex-President.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa says that SLPP will be inquiring with the Supreme Court whether, under the 19th Constitutional Amendment, a person who had previously held the post of President twice, could run at a Presidential election again.

The current government was able to prevent the bankruptcy and economic downfall of the country, after it came to power, says Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The open economy has destroyed the social norms and values practiced by the people of this country, Colombo’s Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith said.

Nineteen couples from China and Sri Lanka were wedded at a mass wedding ceremony in Negombo here on Thursday, strengthening the island’s position as an ideal wedding destination.