Eight women and two men, part of a Sri Lankan smuggling racket, who landed at the Bengaluru airport with gold weighing over 3 kg hidden in their bodies, were nabbed by the customs sleuths.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stressed yesterday that the country’s agriculture policy will be based on a green agriculture system that focuses on the sole use of organic fertilizers.

An Extraordinary Gazette notification has been issued by the Registrar of Pesticides revoking the Gazette issued in 2014 prohibiting the use and sale of several pesticides including Glyphosate.

Second reading of the budget 2022 passed in Parliament with a majority of 93 votes when the vote was taken a short while ago.

Restaurant owners in Sri Lanka announced that the prices of a packet of rice and a cup of tea will be increased, given the rising cost of living.

A mobile phone and a hands-free headset were recovered from former MP Ranjan Ramanayake, who is currently at the Welikada Prison Hospital last night.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has issued a special gazette notification summoning all members of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces to maintain security in all administrative districts and territorial waters of Sri Lanka.

The Attorney General today (22) read out before the Colombo Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar, the indictment consisting of 855 charges against former IGP Pujith Jayasundara over the Easter Sunday attacks.

Although several plans have been conceptualised and rolled out for Sri Lanka’s tourism industry to move towards recovery, branding and positioning of the island nation is yet to be effectively executed, a tourism industry veteran highlighted.

Before spending a colossal amount to construct and carpet roads, the Government should do something to ensure that people in the country have three square meals a day, SLPP MP Geetha Kumarasinghe said in Parliament.

SLPP MP Dr. Wijayadasa Rajapakshe said on Saturday that he would vote for the budget 2022 not because he subscribed to what was stated therein, but because the country needed a budget.

Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage yesterday said permission has not been given to import chemical fertilizer for paddy and vegetable cultivation.

Around 800,000 cylinders of domestic gas will be released to the market during the course of the coming week to remedy the ongoing scarcity, Litro Gas Lanka Ltd said.

The Ministry of Agriculture says that permission has been granted for the import of plant nutrients and agrochemicals for paddy, corn vegetables and other crops for the Maha season.

Former State minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne says the budget – 2022 presented by the Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa has an unrealistic dream of 8.8% deficit as per their own estimation. However according to the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2003 the budget deficit cannot exceed 5% of the GDP.

Four members of the same family of Sri Lankan heritage, including a boy and girl, have died in a house fire in south-east London.