A gift of a cash donation of more than Rs. 8.7 million given by the Catholic Bishops was given back to Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith by the Pontiff, the Archdiocesan Monthly Bulletin ‘Koinonia’ reported.

NEW DELHI: India and Sri Lanka will seek to open a new chapter in ties on Monday with a meeting between PM Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena who has chosen India for his maiden visit abroad as president. In a likely big takeaway from the visit, India and Sri Lanka will sign a civil nuclear cooperation agreement.

The National Freedom Front (NFF) yesterday said the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) cannot halt its strategy, of fielding former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Ministerial candidate, at the General Election, to defeat the United National Party (UNP).

Sri Lanka’s new president arrived in India Sunday on his first foreign trip in office, trying to rebuild ties hit by tensions over growing Chinese influence on the strategically located island.

Making the first overseas visit as the President of Sri Lanka, President Maithripala Sirisena left for India a short while ago for three-day official visit, the President’s Office said.

No monopoly should be allowed to be developed in the country states the JVP leader Anura Dissanayake. He states an economy should allow an economic procedure that ensures stable profits instead of extensive profits for the entrepreneurs.

Faiszer Musthapha, MP of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Azath Sally, Member of the Central Provincial Council, has asked President Maithripala Sirisena to appoint a commission to inquire into the “hate campaign and violence” against Muslims in the last four years and take appropriate measures to ensure that all Sri Lankans are protected.

The National Executive Committee has decided that only Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe can make statements on the controversial Colombo Port City project.

“Final days of war” and accountability is the hot topic in the diplomatic and international arena. Let us ask the Germans and the Japanese what they thought of when the Allied Troops flattened Dresden the night prior to Valentine’s Day in 1945 in a 2 night blanket bombing using 3,300 tons of high explosive and 1,500 tons of incendiary bombs that had no strategic goals except to murder 35,000 (some argue it is far more) German civilians

State Minister of Higher Education Prof. Rajiva Wijesinghe today said that it is “completely wrong” to bow down to pressure from groups and remove the UGC Chairperson, without even probing the allegations against her.

The Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has appointed MP Susil Premajayantha as the National Organizer of the party.

President Maithripala Sirisena ordered to reinstate 10 military officers including a Major General who were sent on compulsory retirement after the 2010 presidential elections, military spokesman Brigadier Jayanath Jayaweera said.

New Delhi must continue pushing Colombo towards the implementation of the 13th Amendment, senior Tamil leader R. Sampanthan said.

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister met with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday, and U.N. diplomatic sources said he pressed his government’s desire to delay the release of a U.N. report on alleged war crimes during his country’s civil war.