Venerable Athuraliye Rathana Thero has commenced a protest fast in front of Sri Dalada Maligawa this morning (31).

Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka says Minister Rishad Bathiudeen should resign from his post until investigations into alleged charges are completed.

The number of complaints received by the Kurunegala and Dambulla Hospitals against Dr. Siyabdeen Mohamed Safi who is alleged to have engaged in sterilisation surgeries has reached 377 as at yesterday, the spokespersons of both hospitals revealed.

More than 1,800 telephone numbers, including those used by the Easter Sunday suicide bombers and others who were occasionally connected to them, are being analysed by the CID at the moment, Police Spokesman, Superintendent of Police Ruwan Gunasekara said yesterday (30).

Senior State Counsel Lakshmi Girahagama yesterday informed Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne that Minister Ravi Karunanayake would be prosecuted for giving false evidence before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on bond scams, once the investigations were complete.

When bombs planted in churches and hotels killed more than 200 people in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, few had realised that the nation had a problem with Islamist militancy. One man who did, reports the BBC’s Secunder Kermani, was Mohammad Razak Taslim.

An event to mark the 77th birth anniversary of late Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha thero was held in Colombo yesterday. The event was attended by members of the maha sanga as well as the Speaker, and other political representatives.

All faculties of the Kelaniya University excluding the Medical Faculty, have been closed until further notice.

Relaxing the travel restrictions imposed on Sri Lanka by countries such as Germany, Switzerland, India and China will put new life into the country’s tourism industry that was severely affected by the Easter Sunday terror attacks, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday.

The senior Finance Ministry official arrested yesterday with 93 rounds of ammunition for 12 bore guns has been released following questioning.

Chief of National Intelligence (CNI) DIG Sisira Mendis yesterday told the Special Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), probing the Easter Sunday carnage, that though he briefed the then Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando on the impending terrorist attack, the National Security Council (NSC) had not met till the coordinated suicide bombings took place on April 21.

President Maithripala Sirisena has left for India to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India.

The number of complaints received by the Kurunegala General Hospital and the Dambulla Hospital against Gynecologist Dr. Siyabdeen Mohamed Safi has soared to 236 as at yesterday, hospital sources said.

IGP Pujith Jayasundera has filed a fundamental rights petition at the Supreme Court today stating that his removal from his post is unlawful.

The Media Director of the Ministry of Finance Mohamed Ali Hassan has been arrested over possession of ninety-three 12-bore gun ammunition at his house at Malwatte in Malwana this morning, the Police said.