Indian Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar will arrive in Sri Lanka to hold talks with Sri Lankan officials and Lankan leaders on 12 January according to Indian media. Jaishankar, who will be arriving from the Maldives in the morning, will immediately go into meetings with the Lankan Foreign Secretary, Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister, The New Indian Express reported. The Tamil parties have also expressed a wish to meet him but it is still not certain whether the official will find time within the tight schedule of his one day visit, the report said.

The main purpose of his visit is to pave the way for the India-Sri Lanka Joint Commission meeting in Colombo in February, sources said. Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is scheduled to attend the Joint Commission meeting next month. Swaraj is also expected to visit Jaffna where she is likely to hand over the Indian-built Duraiappah Stadium.

This will be Jaishankar's first stand-alone visit as Foreign Secretary, and is officially described as a routine one. But political circles attach importance to the visit given the fact that the Lankan parliament converted itself into a Constitutional Assembly on Saturday, to draft a new constitution for the country. The Foreign Secretary is also likely to urge the Sri Lankan government to get going on the Sampur 500 MW joint venture power project which has been stalled since it was initiated in 2006.

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A Fundamental Rights petition has been filed before the Supreme Court seeking an order preventing Ranjan Ramanayake from contesting the parliamentary election scheduled for November 14.

Claiming that Sri Lanka has come a long way in terms of undertaking reforms which have led to some hard won gains, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)said they could move fast towards the third review which will come up soon.

The Election Commission has decided to mark the voters' index fingers for this year's general elections, Commissioner General Saman Ratnayake announced. He said the elections are scheduled for November 14, 2024.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake is set to hold a series of meetings with the High Commissioners of South Africa and New Zealand, along with the Ambassadors of Iran and Myanmar, as well as a delegation from the European Union today (25) at the Presidential Secretariat.

Three suspects have been arrested in connection with the security threats to Israeli nationals in the Arugam Bay area, Public Security Minister Vijitha Herath said.

Sri Lanka should get its foreign policy right in the wake of the escalating Middle East crisis, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Mujibur Rahman said today.

The Canadian government has issued a travel advisory urging travellers to exercise a high degree of caution in Sri Lanka due to demonstrations, the threat of terrorist attacks and crime, particularly in the Arugam Bay area.

Sri Lankan security forces have been alerted to a potential attack on Israelis in the Arugam Bay area by Indian intelligence agencies. According to intelligence information, the threat is believed to be targeted at foreign nationals.

Former Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara asked why the government did not take action to beef up security for foreign tourists in advance if it had received information on a possible threat on October 7, according to the statement made by Acting Chief of Police.