Former Minister Johnston Fernando, his private secretary Sakeer Mohamed and former Sathosa Chairman Nalin Fernando were remanded by Kurunegala High Court today in connection with the misappropriation of government funds in 2013. The suspects were remanded by Judge Menaka Wijesundara till the hearing of the case was concluded.

Kilinochchi Police have arrested the Officer-In-Charge (OIC) of the Kilinochchi office of Avant Garde Security Services, which is providing security to a major apparel company in Kilinochchi, for allegedly strangling his five-month pregnant mistress to death. The 42-year-old suspect identified as Vinayagapuram Kirus Krishna Pillay alias Krishna Keedan 42 is a former LTTE police officer and had served as an OIC for Avant Garde for some time, Sinhala daily Dinamina reports.

China is to train Sri Lankan athletes for international games after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the two countries' Olympic committees at the sidelines of the 18th Asian Games this week.

Northern Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran will consider either forming a new party and continue his politics or exert pressure on the government to win rights of Tamil people through a non political organisation with local and international support, the chief Minister said during a speech yesterday. He further went on to state that Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has deviated from it

Arrangements are in place for the long-awaited arrest of Sri Lanka

Wildlife officials will be armed with Russian-made Kalashnikov AK 47 assault rifles under a Rs. 42 million project to protect elephants from poachers and to save human lives in the human-elephant conflict, the Cabinet has decided. These weapons, more sophisticated than the standard issue of Chinese-made T-56 assault rifles, are to be bought on a recommendation by Sustainable Development, Wildlife and Regional Development Minister, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka. The total number of AK 47s to be imported is 2,568.

India has invited a multi-party Sri Lankan delegation to visit New Delhi for a familiarisation tour where bilateral matters will be discussed.

Parliament will, on Tuesday, debate a motion for the payment of emoluments to the 7 members of the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) including its Chairman. Payments to the Chairman will include a monthly allowance of Rs 100,000, a monthly telephone allowance of Rs 10,000 and an official vehicle with a monthly quota of 225 litres of fuel.

Petroleum exploration activities in the eastern seas, covering Trincomalee and Batticaloa, have commenced today with the arrival of a vessel of the BGP Marine seismic fleet (02). Accordingly, the research vessel BGP-Pioneer sailing under the flag of Panama to commence will acquire two-dimensional seismic data in the selected offshore areas of the island. The 3D streamer vessel arrived at the Colombo Port on Saturday and ceremonially commenced the operations this morning.

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Judicial Medical Officer S. Rajapakse said the skeletal remains excavated from a mass grave in Mannar where likely to be those of 12 children. He said 114 skeletons had also been excavated from the mass grave in the vicinity of the old CWE building in Mannar on Thursday. The JMO said a detailed analysis would be done later after samples of the skeletal remains were sent for a carbon test to California. A team of archaeological and judicial officers are carrying out investigations on a directive of Mannar Magistrate T.G.Prabhakaran

All the problems of the Tamil People would not be solved by a new Constitution, but a new Constitution was a fundamental necessity. Without that, no issue could be addressed, said TNA spokesman M. A. Sumanthiran speaking in Sinhala, recently, an an event in Galle on Constitutional Reform.

A resolution demanding the UN Human Rights Council to establish a special court in Sri Lanka to probe allegations of war crimes and human right violations in the North at the last stage of war on terrorism, has been has been adopted in the Northern Provincial Council (NPC). This resolution submitted by councillor M. K. Sivajilingam for a special court in Sri Lanka under the International Crimes Court was adopted in the council during the 130th session of NPC held in Kaithady, Jaffna at the PC premises.

Mohamed Nizamdeen from Sri Lanka who was arrested in Sydney and charged with terrorism-related offences, had Australia

The prices of 10 high-cost cancer drugs, 13 other varieties of essential pharmaceutical drugs as well as two medical equipment have been reduced with effect from midnight today (01), Minister of Health Dr Rajitha Senaratne said today. The Gazette notification to reduce the prices of these drugs was signed by Dr. Seneratne on Thursday. In October, 2016 also, the government reduced the prices of some 48 pharmaceutical drugs including the drugs used for diabetes, heart disease, and other related diseases.

The Office of Missing Persons (OMP) recommends the Government to pay a subsistence allowance to the family members of the missing persons, OMP Chairman Saliya Peiris PC said. The Chairman was addressing an event at the J R Jayewardene Center in Colombo yesterday to mark the

The Court of Appeal today declined to grant permission to the application filed on behalf of Ven. Gnanasara Thera, to file an appeal to the Supreme Court against his conviction. The Court of Appeal was of the view that there was no legal grounds for the application. However, the Counsel for Ven. Gnanasara Thera said an appeal will be filed directly at the Supreme Court by way of Special Leave to Appeal.

Former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who kept away from mainstream politics so far, said today that would not remain silent when the country was heading towards disaster and would join Wednesday's

A Sri Lankan man employed by a Sydney university has been charged over a document that police allege contained plans for terrorism attacks, the Guardian reported today. The 25-year-old was arrested by counter-terrorism officers at the University of NSW in Kensington Thursday afternoon, police said.

The United States dollar reached another milestone yesterday (29), with the greenback rising to Rs 162.50, in the average selling price for telegraphic transfer by commercial banks, gaining nine cents over its 28 August close. The dollar has been having a record breaking run for the past consecutive 14 days, aided by a strong dollar globally and political uncertainty locally.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said he had "extensive deliberations" on various aspects of India-Sri Lanka ties during a meeting with President Maithripala Sirisena here, and expressed willingness to assist the country in any way that it desires. Prime Minister Modi had a positive exchange of views with Sri Lankan President Sirisena on strengthening development cooperation and other areas of bilateral ties, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said in a tweet.

The UN Independent Expert on foreign debt and human rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, will conduct an official visit to Sri Lanka from 3 to 11 September 2018, at the invitation of the Government. "My visit aims at collecting first-hand information and examine questions related to debt and other financial obligations from a human rights standpoint," said Bohoslavsky. "The purpose of the mission is to identify good practices, challenges and potential gaps to be addressed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today held a bilateral meeting with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit to discuss ways to boost cooperation. Modi arrived here this morning to attend the 4th Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit.

Kilinochchi police are conducting investigations into the death of a 22-year-old woman whose body was found near a canal leading to a paddy field in Paranthan, yesterday. Police have not yet determined the identity of the woman or the cause of the death. There are multiple wounds on her body including ones caused by a sharp object. The slippers of the victim, two pens and a wrist band were found near the body, which was sent to the Kilinochchi hospital for a post-mortem.

Ports and Shipping Minister and SLFP spokesman Mahinda Samarasinghe yesterday denied Tamil National Alliance (TNA) allegation that there was a move to settle outsiders in the Mullaitivu district.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has extended birthday greetings to President Maithripala Sirisena on his 67th birthday to fall on September, 3. Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Cheng Xueyuan handed over a letter of birthday greetings from President Jinping to President Sirisena on Tuesday. President Xi in his letter congratulated his Sri Lankan counterpart and appreciated the good working relations between the two leaders, the Chinese Embassy said in a statement.

Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) General Secretary Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera, who was treated at the Sri Jayawardanepura Hospital, was transferred to the Prisons Hospital today, Hospital sources said. The Thera was discharged today after a surgery at the Hospital. He was sentenced to 19-years imprisonment to be served in six years, for contempt of court by the Appeal Court early this month.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has alleged that a project is underway to bring in outsiders from the South to the Mullaitivu District. The TNA took up the issue at a meeting, chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat, on Monday (27).