Foreign media reports that Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena recalled his top envoy to Austria and five other embassy staff for failing to answer his long-distance telephone calls, officials said Saturday (15).

The Joint Opposition (JO) yesterday said that there was an attempt to have the public blieve that the Rajapaksas were responsible for the case of abduction and assault of senior journalist Keith Noyahr.

At least four people were killed and another two hospitalised when the KKS –Matara express train crashed with a car at an unprotected railway crossing at Pandiyan Koyil Kulam in Omanthai this morning.

President Maithripala Sirisena announced plans to compile an official history of the country’s decades-long separatist war saying that books written by some retired officer were works of self-promotion as war heroes.

The government is attempting to control the cost of living, says Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday (14), filed a case against Parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake in the Colombo Fort Chief Magistrate’s Court for having allegedly provided false evidence before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) which probed the Central Bank Treasury Bonds scam.

The Inspector General of Police (IGP) has ordered the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to take over the investigations into the allegations against DIG Nalaka de Silva of the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID).

Five persons were reportedly injured and hospitalised due to an Ammonia gas cylinder exploding at a rubber factory in Ingiriya, Horana, Police said.

The UNP yesterday questioned as to whether former President Mahinda Rajapaksa opposed the proposed Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) and the Public Private Partnership deal with regard to the Mattala Airport during his visit to India in the same way he opposed them in Sri Lanka

China welcomes the remarks made by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and the two countries’ cooperation under the China-proposed Belt and Road (B&R) initiative has benefited both countries and their people, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang told a press briefing Thursday.

Western Province Governor Hemakumara Nanayakkara said he had ordered Western Provincial Council Chief Secretary to cancel the purchase of 144 chairs with immediate effect.

In a major public speech delivered in New Delhi on Wednesday former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa reached out to the Tamil community and said that the war of 2009 was against terrorism of LTTE and not against the community.

A fire broke out this morning at an apartment building located on Park Street, Colombo 02.

President Maithripala Sirisena has summoned a special Cabinet meeting today at 12.00 noon at the Presidential Secretariat, sources said.