Alagiyawanna appointed as COPA chairman

UN says drought, floods threaten food security in Sri Lanka

A severe drought followed by floods has slashed agricultural production in Sri Lanka, leaving some 900,000 people facing food insecurity, the United Nations said, warning that without help the situation might further deteriorate. Production of rice, the country’s staple food, is forecast to drop almost 40 percent to 2.7 million tonnes in 2017, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) said in a report on Thursday, according to Reuters. Other crops includin

22 Jun, 2017

Mahinda Rajapaksa termed by Pakistan as a true friend

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that stronger Pak-Sri Lankan partnership was key to promoting greater cooperation in the region and also a bulwark against the challenges facing the region including the issue of terrorism and poverty besides warding off any self-assumed notion of hegemony in the region, Pakistan’s The Nation reported. This he said while talking to former President of Sri Lanka Rajapaksa Percy Mahinda at Punjab House in Pakistan on Thursday when the latter call

23 Jun, 2017

Finance Minister proposes lenient laws on beer, wine sales

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera today proposed lenient laws on beer and wine sales. Speaking in Parliament,?Samaraweera said that steps will be taken by the government to discourage hard liqueur sales in the country. However he noted that even when there is a ban on liqueur sales for Poya Day, the public purchase and store liqueur a day earlier. The Minister also noted that imposing a ban on?liqueur sales on Christmas Day has a negative impact on tourism. He said that one way of?discour

22 Jun, 2017