Malta to host CHOGM 2015

Malta is to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2015 following a unanimous decision this morning by the Commonwealth heads of government.

Video: Abbott donates patrol boats to SL

The Australian government will donate two retired patrol boats to the Sri Lankan Navy today in a gesture aimed at securing the sustained co-operation in operations against people smuggling of a force long rumoured to have had a hand in the illegal trade ???

Key dovish on Sri Lanka, wins elephant

New Zealand has gained an elephant and Prime Minister John Key has fired off a tweet to someone who isn't the British prime minister while attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

PC and wife fatally stabbed, son injured

A Police constable (PC) and his wife were allegedly hacked to death late last night in Kambrupitiya, while their two-year-old son who also received injuries is currently being treated at the Matara Hospital.

Road closures today

Several roads in Colombo and the Colombo-Katunayake expressway would be closed intermittently for a short periods today due the VVIP movement, Police said

Collision kills five

Five people including three women, a boy and a girl were killed and 20 people were injured in an accident when a van collided with a private bus at  Thalathuoya in Kandy this morning, police said. Pictures

Maldives election: Yameen wins run-off vote

Abdulla Yameen has won the presidential election run-off vote in the Maldives.Mr Yameen secured 51.3% of the vote, compared with 48.6% for ex-President Mohamed Nasheed, the Election Commission said.

Import tax on potatoes and onions reduced

The Ministry of Finance and Planning announced today that the import tax on 1 Kilogram of potatoes is to be reduced by Rs. 30, big onion by Rs.25 and red onion by Rs.10 with effect from midnight of today

Cameron meets Murali

Visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron met world famous Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan in Colombo, the BBC reported.

We will resist any international inquiry: Govt.

Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said today that Sri Lanka would resist any international inquiry as a policy of the government because it believed that there was no need for an international inquiry within a short span of time now that the government had done its best in the reconciliation process

Video: Cameron issues ultimatum on SL

British Prime Minister David Cameron said today that he will "fully back an international investigation" into alleged war crimes, if Sri Lanka fails to establish a credible mechanism to investigate the allegations, by March 2014.

Cameron was using SL visit to win UK Tamil concerns-MR

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ‘suggested’ that visiting UK Prime Minister David Cameron was using the visit to win favour with the Tamil community in the UK, the UK’s The Guardian reported. Pictures

Mauritius pulls out of hosting 2015 CHOGM: PM

Mauritius will not host the next Commonwealth summit in 2015 as planned because of its boycott of this weekend's meeting in Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Navin Chandra Ramgoolam told British television

I wanted our PM to visit Jaffna first: Khurshid

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid expressed regret on Friday that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could not visit Jaffna, a feat undertaken by his British counterpart David Cameron, who became the first head of government to visit the war-torn Northern Province in Sri Lanka since its independence in 1948

Colombo cool

The Met Department yesterday forecast gloomy weather with low temperatures in most parts of the country with heavy showers of up to 150mm in the North and East resulting from a tropical depression developing in the Bay of Bengal.said the depression was located 300km to the East of Jaffna and 200km to the North-East of Trincomalee.

NZ sits on fence on SL war crimes

New Zealand Foreign minister Murray McCully returned from the Tamil-led north of Sri Lanka last night and indicated he believes New Zealand should not support an independent investigation into war crimes.

Abbott expected to unveil Sri Lanka boat deal

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is expected to soon unveil a new deal with Sri Lanka on stopping asylum seeker boats.

PM not at CHOGM due to domestic compulsions: Khurshid

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided against attending the CHOGM summit as he was pressed by "competing sentiments" in India about outstanding issues with Sri Lanka and domestic compulsions like polls in five states, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said.

Road closure

The Colombo-Katunayake Expressway will be closed from 7.00 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. this evening due to VIP movements, police said.

Cameron meets Wigneswaran, visits ' Uthayan' office

Prime Minister David Cameron is currently visiting the Uthayan newspaper office in Jaffna after concluding a meeting with the Northern Province Chief Minister C.V Wigneswaran at the Jaffna library. Pictures

Video: SL diplomat says rights criticism a 'proxy propaganda war'

Sri Lanka's high commissioner to Britain has blamed criticism of his country's human rights record on a "proxy propaganda war" being carried out by those who funded the nation's "terrorist conflict."

Nawaz praises SL for hosting C’wealth summit

Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan has congratulated Sri Lanka on hosting the Commonwealth leaders' summit

C-4 ready to pay driver subject to conditions

Channel-4 journalists said they would pay the vehicle driver, who drove them to Colombo from Anuradhapura “if he was forced to drive them against his will and at his own cost.”

SL had confronted great adversity in recent years- Prince Charles

Prince Charles said that Sri Lanka had confronted great adversity in recent years.“I am especially pleased to be back among the people of Sri Lanka who, in recent years, have confronted great adversity,” the Prince said.

Abbot says ' justice tomorrow in SL will be better than today'

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Addressing the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) said that the willingness of Sri Lanka to host CHOGM displayed the country’s commitment to democratic pluralism.

MR says CW should not be judgmental

President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the CHOGM said that “we must first focus on eradicating common -poverty, prior to focusing on the common- wealth”.

CHOGM begins

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was inaugurated a short while ago at the Nelum Pokuna complex in Colombo.

CHOGM at Nelum Pokuna begins at 10.15 a.m.

The inauguration ceremony of CHOGM 2013 will be held at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre from 10.15 am to 11.15 a.m. with much fanfare and the participation of nearly 25 heads of state and delegations from 51 commonwealth countries

Visiting leaders could get horoscopes cast

Culture and the Arts Minister T.B. Ekanayake said yesterday the Heads of the Government visiting Sri Lanka for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) could get their horoscopes cast free of charge at the ‘Nekath Gedara’ in the newly opened Janakala Kendraya in Battaramulla  

Help SL in its reconciliation-Singapore

Singapore Foreign Affairs and Law Minister, K Shanmugam, who is now in Sri Lanka encouraged member countries of the Commonwealth to cooperate constructively with Sri Lanka to help in its reconciliation process with the Tamil population, as well as help it grow economically and distribute the proceeds of that growth to its citizens