Parliamentary watchdog committee, COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises), yesterday approved its Chairman’s report holding former Central Bank governor Arjuna Mahendran responsible for Treasury bond scandals.

The Gazette notification to reduce the prices of 48 varieties of essential pharmaceutical drugs has been signed by the Minister of Health Dr Rajitha Senaratne.

A UN rights expert reiterated calls for Sri Lanka to step up reconciliation efforts and reduce the military’s presence in former war zones seven years after the end of fighting.

Having targeted to make Sri Lanka self-sufficient in sugar manufacture, plans are afoot to increase sugarcane cultivation and set up of 15 new manufacturing plants in the country.

Sri Lanka will regain the GSP plus facility by early next year without a doubt, as the European Union authorities are ready to grant the facility by about that time, said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought up the matter in his recent meeting with President Maithripala Sirisena in Goa, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, highly-placed Indian government sources said.

Referring to the recent remarks by President Maithripala Sirisena about the FCID, CID and the Bribery Commission, Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila noted that this indicates there was a hidden hand involved in the governance of the country.

President Maithripala Sirisena said although former leaders say that the government had not done anything in the past 2 years, as a government what we fulfill today are the responsibilities neglected by the former leader.

The Colombo High Court today remanded former United National Party Secretary, Tissa Attanayake until December 5.

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) said there may be a political hand behind the resignation of the Director-General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery Or Corruption (CIABOC) Dilrukshi Dias Wickramasinghe.

Sri Lanka’s state run airline carrier, Sri Lankan Airlines and and budget airline Mihin Lanka, on Tuesday said that it had banned the use and carriage of ‘Samsung Galaxy Note 7’ phones on its aircraft.

Sri Lanka has said it hopes to obtain the GSP Plus trade concession from the European Union (EU) by the end of this year following successful discussions held in Brussels.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin, expressing his appreciation over the transformation in Sri Lanka assured that he will provide every required support to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka will turn off electricity across the country for one-and-a-half hours daily with effect from Monday, the state-run power firm said

Businessman Thirukumar Nadesan has been arrested by the police Financial Crimes investigations Division (FCID) today.

Director General of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption Dilrukshi Dias Wickramsinghe had tendered her resignation to President Maithripala Sirisena today.