The Government’s final goal is to improve and enhance the living standards of the people; it is the goal for which we have obtained the approval of the people at the election, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe said in Parliament presenting the Government’s Mid-term Economic Policy Framework.

A heated verbal battle arose at the Cabinet meeting last morning over the Avant Garde private security firm and Public Order Minister Thilak Marapana’s statement in Parliament over the conduct of the company.

Sri Lanka’s future infrastructure development projects should be done in consultation with the people, without resorting to any adhoc and haphazard measures, Minister of Megapolis and Western Regional Development Patali Champika Ranawaka said.

Proprietor of the EAP group Soma Edirisinghe has passed away at the age of 76 at a private hospital in Colombo, a family member said.

The Viharadhipathi of the Kotte Naga Viharaya Ven Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera who was ill and receiving treatment at a Private Hospital in Colombo has been transferred to a hospital in Singapore for further expert treatment on the directions of President Maithripala Sirisena.

Chief Opposition Whip Anura Kumara Dissanayake made potentially tangible revelations in Parliament yesterday regarding the controversial Avant Garde case, in the course of which he mentioned the names of several powerful ministers in the government.

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) yesterday (03) filed charge sheets against six suspects over the murder of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj.

Against the backdrop of over 100 Tamil Nadu fishermen continuing to be in Sri Lankan prisons, DMK chief Karunanidhi wondered if the island nation was ‘slighting’ India’s request for their release.

Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan yesterday queried in Parliament as to why retreating student demonstrators at Ward Place were attacked by the Police last Thursday.

Two men aged between 20 and 25 who were traveling in a motorcycle had been shot dead in Ranthotuwala, Elpitiya this morning by two unidentified gunmen.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) and top credit rating company Moody’s Investors Service Singapore Pte. Ltd indicate that Sri Lanka will maintain 5 to 5.5 percent growth in 2016.

A Maldive national who was suspected in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate Maldivian president Abdulla Yameen was arrested last night in Nedimala area by the Emigration and Immigration Department along with Boralesgamuwa police.

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake has been admitted to the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital following a brief illness, the hospital Director said.

President Maithripala Sirisena invited Sri Lankan intellectuals living in Thailand to return to Sri Lanka to provide their service to Motherland as freedom and democracy established in the country.

Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman, who was Special Commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Batticaloa and Ampara districts, says that the rift between him and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran took place in December 2002 when the Tiger chief accused him of “betrayal” of the kind Mahendrarajah alias Mahattaya was accused of in the early 1990s.