Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said people need to be careful not to allow themselves to be ‘distracted’ from the ‘bigger picture’, saying the country would be ‘destroyed’ if people fail to “distinguish between what is politically important and politically unimportant.”
The United National Party (UNP) yesterday (29) strongly denied it received USD 10 million from the Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) when it signed agreements in 2017 and 2018, saying that its official denial — alongside that of the embassy of the United States in Sri Lanka — only ‘called into question the credibility of the [Gunaruwan] report.’
Across the largest Gulf State, more than hundreds of Sri Lankan workers wait in hope to return home. It has been over three months since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a COVID-19 pandemic, but none of the stranded workers in Saudi Arabia have yet been repatriated.
In a special statement issued yesterday (28), Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said local and foreign conspirators had not given up trying to divide the country.
The 2019-20 financial year dealt two heavy blows to Sri Lanka’s tourism industry. The tragic Easter Sunday attacks came first, and just as the industry was starting to make a recovery, along came COVID19. With the country under curfew for a greater part of the past few months the entire tourism sector, among others, came to a screeching halt.
The ‘Itukama’ COVID-19 Healthcare and Social Security Fund that was initiated by the Ministry of Defence to support and strengthen efforts at mitigating the spread of COVID-19 and towards related social welfare programmes has surpassed Rs. 1.4 billion, the President’s Media Division reported on June 24.
Repatriation of Sri Lankans stranded abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic is to continue, with ten more flights scheduled for the next two weeks, the Cabinet of Minister announced yesterday (26).
The Ministry of Justice, which earlier this month said it was considering building a prison and court facility at the now-defunct leprosy hospital on Mantheevu Island in the East, is currently in discussions on how to proceed with the proposal, Secretary to the Ministry S. M. Mohammed told Roar Media.
The Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) grant from the United States government to Sri Lanka continues to fuel debate as both nations remain locked in unceasing deliberation over the issue.
The Colombo Law Library, affiliated to the University of Colombo, together with the Colombo Law Society and Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) last week demonstrated a new online platform through which cases could be tried in a ‘virtual courtroom’—to minimise crowding at courtrooms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The recent uproar within Sri Lankan cricket administration has reached new heights, with the International Cricket Council (ICC) saying it would investigate allegations the 2011 World Cup final between Sri Lanka and India, which India won, was fixed.
Former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) eastern military commander Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, commonly known as ‘Karuna Amman’, has been summoned before the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to record a statement into controversial comments made on Friday last week (19).
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has said that Rs. 30 billion is owed to it by consumers for the months March, April and May, which were mostly spent in COVID-19 curfew.
The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCOI) probing the Easter Sunday terror attack in Sri Lanka has ordered security for the former General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera, after he gave evidence at a hearing yesterday (18).
Sports Minister Dullas Alahapperuma instructed Secretary K. A. D. S Ruwanchandra to lodge a complaint with the Ministry's investigation unit, and has asked for a report on progress every two weeks.
Speaking to European Union (EU) ambassadors at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (18), President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stressed the need for new investments, not further debt.
The weekly Cabinet media briefing was held earlier today (18) during which significant government decisions were announced. The briefing was conducted by Co-Cabinet Spokespersons Minister Bandula Gunawardana and Ramesh Pathirana.
Clinical trials in the United Kingdom yesterday confirmed that an affordable and widely-available drug, dexamethasone, could help save the lives of patients seriously ill with coronavirus.