Category: Featured Headlines

Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) Parliamentarian Mano Ganesan says that there is no issue with re-appointing former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister.

Speaking to the media in Colombo, MP Ganesan also emphasized that regardless of the appointments made for the posts, the President needs to take immediate actions to dissolve the Parliament and hold a parliamentary election.

“There’s a huge rave in the country that Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa is requesting the PM post. We have no problem in appointing him as the PM”, he said.

“But dissolve the parliament immediately and hold an election for us. There’s no issue. We will form a government. Then you have the presidency. We have a government.”

“The other thing is that the country can know with whom the public mandate lies”, MP Ganesan claimed.

Another round of discussions between President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Members of Parliament mainly representing the North and East district will be held today.

The meeting is scheduled to be held at the President’s Office at 5.30pm.

During the meeting, discussions will mainly focus on power devolution, releasing of lands in the Northern and Eastern Province and the release of political prisoners.

A round of discussion was also held last week between the two factions.

The Hambantota International Port (HIP) launched its Duty Free Complex with the opening of 2 duty free shops within the port’s premises. The complex is designed to grow the duty-free business catering to the vessels calling HIP.

The first two operators to set up at HIP’s duty free complex are Royale Electronics and United Life, both organizations with over 30 years of experience in the duty free trade. They offer a wide array of international duty free goods ranging from imported liquor, confectionery, perfumes, tobacco, etc.

As HIP gears itself to facilitate an increased number of passenger cruise vessels calling at the port, both Duty Free Shop operators will be an essential value addition to overseas passengers and crews.

Apart from contributing towards uplifting tourism in the country by promoting cruise liner calls, the port is rapidly progressing in its development of port services, such as the industrial park, marine services, energy hub and integrated logistics; which will automatically increase tourist and investor footfall and require more end-to-end services to be offered.

The port’s duty free complex which is of international standards is housed under HIP’s International Commercial Centre will provide integrated support to all of the port’s business platforms. Chairman of China Merchants Group (CMG) Miao Jianmin who was on an official visit to Sri Lanka recently, also toured the HIP duty free complex.

Royale Electronics (Pvt) Ltd., a Sri Lankan company incorporated in 1997, envisions expanding its network across all connecting & international airports and seaports in Sri Lanka. Their operations in the country currently extend from the Colombo Port, Bandaranaike International Airport, Mattala International Airport, Jaffna International Airport and now to HIP.

United Life, in business since 1982, is one of the oldest private bond license holders in Sri Lanka. The company has now expanded into international markets with its presence in the Maldives and will also expand its products range at their duty free shop at HIP.

COO, Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) Tissa Wickramasinghe, was chief guest for the opening of Royale Duty Free, and Raymond Mu, Chief Financial Officer, HIPG was Chief Guest at the opening of United Life Duty Free and representatives from Sri Lanka Customs, Royale Electronics, United Life and HIP Staff also participated.

Vavuniya Headquarter Police says that an army soldier was arrested on suspicion of stealing a brass idol of Nataraja from the Ganadevi Kovil in Vavuniya.

The arrested suspect is a 21-year-old soldier attached to the Akkarayankulam Army Camp.

The suspect was caught by a group of drivers at the Vavuniya van parking lot and handed over to the Vavuniya Headquarters police when he was taking the statue stolen from the Hindu temple in a bag to sell.

The priest of the temple is said to have told the police that the idol is worth 55,000 rupees.

The National Election Commission has announced that the process to amend the Voter Register has commenced.

Accordingly, Grama Sevegar officers will be visiting residences across the country to gather information to amend the Voter Register.

Due to the COVID-19 crisis and the volatile situation in the country, during the last couple of years, Grama Sevegar officers did not visit residences to collect or verify details to amend the Voter Register.

However, the Commission noted that Grama Sevegar officers will be visiting the residences to verify details.

The Commission also noted that if any individual is not present at their house when a officer visits to verify details, they should take steps to provide the details to the respective Grama Niladhari officer at the earliest.

The Election Commission has stressed on the importance of including the names of all eligible individuals in the Voter Register, since a Presidential Election is scheduled to be held next year.

Following the conclusion of the initial process, the list of names that will be removed and included in the Voter Register will be displayed at Divisional Secretariat offices.

The public must contact relevant Grama Sevegar officers in the event of any concerns regarding the revision of the Voter Register.

The certification of the Voter Register will be carried out on the 31st of October.

The President’s Office has taken steps to remove four provincial governors who have refused to resign from their positions. Sources from the President’s Office have stated that state officials will be informed not to consider these governors as the President’s representatives.

The President’s Office is also focused on appointing a committee headed by a judge to remove the governors from their positions and appoint other people to take their place. The governors who have been notified to resign will also not receive any money.

According to sources, the relevant governors are not prepared to resign, so measures have been discussed to remove them from their positions. The governors of Eastern, Northern, Sabaragamuwa, and North-Western provinces were informed to resign by the President’s Office.

A senior spokesperson from the President’s Office explained that it is a normal tradition for governors to resign when a new president is appointed, similar to the abolition of the Cabinet of Ministers when the prime minister resigns. However, since these governors did not resign when the current President Ranil Wickramasinghe took office, the President waited for some time for them to resign voluntarily.