President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the government expects to fully implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, adding that a Social Justice Commission will be established in order to build a country where everyone can live in harmony, by solving the problems of the people belonging to all sections of the population.
Sri Lanka will slash its army by a third to 135,000 personnel by next year and to 100,000 by 2030, the state minister of defence said on Friday, as the country tries to cut costs in the face of its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades.
Former minister Reginald Cooray has passed away at the age of 75, the Director of Nagoda Hospital confirmed.
The Supreme Court has found that former President Maithripala Sirisena, former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, former IGP Pujith Jayasundara, former National Intelligence Chief Sisira Mendis and former Chief of State Intelligence Nilantha Jayawardena have violated the Fundamental Rights of petitioners, by failing to take action to prevent the Easter Sunday attacks despite receiving sufficient intelligence information.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that he will look into the possibility of a moratorium for loans to protect businesses and provide necessary relief to business personnel.
The ulterior motives of China’s geopolitical and diplomatic moves in relation to Sri Lanka over the years now seems to be exposed to the world in the light of the fact that the Chinese Ambassador in Colombo has hastily announced his decision to meet with the Maha Nayaka Theros of both the Asgiriya and Malwatte chapters in Kandy this week with convoys of food items purported as relief assistance under the current economic crisis.
The Supreme Court today (11) upheld the verdict issued by the Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar on former President Maithripala Sirisena’s Chief of Staff and the former Chairman of the State Timber Corporation (STC), and confirmed their jail sentences over charges of accepting a bribe of Rs. 20 million.
The leader of the 43rd Brigade Patali Champika Ranawaka says that neither the Ministry of Power and Energy nor the Cabinet have the power to increase electricity tariffs according to the Electricity Act and the Public Utilities Commission Act.
The Election Commission of Sri Lanka last night fired off a letter to all returning officers reminding them of their duties after a directive was issued by the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs Neil Bandara Hapuhinna earlier in the day instructing District Secretaries to stop accepting deposits from parties expecting to contest at the upcoming Local Government election.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe has informed the Cabinet that all ministries will have to cut 5 percent of the money allocated in this year’s budget, Cabinet spokesperson Bandula Gunawardena said.
