Sri Lankan rupee forwards fell on Tuesday on importer dollar demand, while dealers said they expected the currency to depreciate further due to rising imports, selling of government securities by foreign investors and slowing dollar inflows.

Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Ven. Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera was further remanded by Homagama Magistrate Ranga Dassanayake till February 23 for allegedly threatening Pradeep Eknaligoda’s wife Sandhaya Eknaligoda.

Russia and Sri Lanka has held the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade-Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation, the ANI reported.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena visits Germany on Monday, seeking political support in a fight to reinstate a trade concession for garment exports, the government said, after the European Union abolished the measure six years ago.

Our major concern was the lack of transparency with the way infrastructure projects were originally awarded to the Chinese, Deputy Minister Foreign Affairs Harsha Desilva said in an interview.

India, after signing a road transport agreement with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal, is said to be considering an ambitious bridge or undersea tunnel linking the Indian mainland with Sri Lanka, the Live Mint news agency reported today.

The Attorney General has directed to arrest Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thera and produced before the Court for illegally keeping a baby elephant at the Alan Mathiniyaramaya Temple, Polhengoda

President Maithripala Sirisena will be arriving in Germany this evening and will stay till February 18 on an official visit, the first time in 43 years a Sri Lankan Head of State will undertake a visit to the country.

Condemning a television station for using the term ‘belli’ (meaning bitch) to describe the way a woman sang ‘Danno budunge’ at the Independence Day ceremony…

President Maithripala Sirisena emphasized that the Government will not enter into any agreement , which will endanger the local economy and the culture of the country.

Speculation is rife in political circles as to which prominent MP or State official of the previous regime will next be incarcerated.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s new political and public relations office was opened at Nelum Mawatha, Battaramulla this morning.

Pablo de Greiff, the UN Special Rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence, has said that Sri Lanka should not be hasty in trying to meet its commitments to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in regard to issues of transitional justice.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Yoshitha and four others including Nishantha Ranatunga, Rohan Weliwita were remanded until February 25 by the Kaduwela Magistrate over the alleged financial irregularities at the CSN.