Thirty three contestants who qualified for the Miss France 2014 Finale along with reigning Miss France Marine Lorphelin who is also the first runner up in 2013 Miss World arrived in Sri Lanka today on a tour. Pix by Deepa Adikari

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 governmen

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.

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 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

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

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 w

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.

Elephants bearing national flags of Commonwealth member-countries welcomed each of the representatives as they walked into the BMICH today. Pix by Kushan Pathiraja

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

Channel-4 journalist Callum Macrae is seen speaking to the media after he was refused entrance to this evening’s media briefing at the BMICH at which president Mahinda Rajapaksa was also present. Pix by Pradeep Dilrukshana

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 Minis

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.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is seen conducting His Royal Highness Prince Charles to his seat prior to the start of the inaugural session of the 23rd Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Nelum Pokuna Theatre this morning. Pix by presidential

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

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

CHOGM executive session 1 was held at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Exhibition Center under the chairmanship of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The CHOGM inauguration was held at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre this morning. Pix by Kushan Pathiraja

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.”

Chief Justice Mohan Peris today planted a Gooseberry (Nelli) sapling at the premise of the Supreme Court to mark the ‘Deyata Sevana’ National Tree-Planting Day. Pix by Nisal Baduge

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.

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.

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

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

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

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’ i

UNP MP Karu Jayasuriya is seen signing a document after assuming duties as the Chairman of the party’s Leadership Council at the UNP headquarters ‘Sirikotha’ today. UNP National Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and General Secretary Ti

Commonwealth Heads of Government today participated in a Tree Planting Ceremony in Mirijjawila Botanic Gardens in Hambantota. President Mahinda Rajapaksa seen here planting a ‘Neralu” Elaeocarpus Serratus tree, at the Tree Planting Cere

Prince Charles received a plate with a slice of cake from President Mahinda Rajapaksa today while Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa looks on.   Prince Charles, who arrived in the country to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government