Passenger arrested at BIA attempting to smuggle cigarettes

Twitter also temporarily blocked in Sri Lanka

The Government has taken steps to temporarily block twitter in Sri Lanka as social media continued to be used to spread hate among communities. Earlier the Government had blocked access to Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber as well as YouTube after violence broke out in the North Western Province. However as the situation began to escalate the authorities blocked access to twitter as well.

14 May, 2019

IMF approves extension to Sri Lanka, releases US$ 164.1 million

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed the Fifth Review of Sri Lanka?s economic performance under the program supported by an extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). Completion of this review, upon the granting of waivers of nonobservance for the end?December 2018 performance criteria on the primary balance and net official international reserves, makes available SDR 118.5 million (about US$ 164.1 million), bringing total disbursements un

14 May, 2019

Island-wide curfew lifted except in North Western Province

The island-wide curfew declared last night as violence targeting Muslims spread, has been lifted. However, the Police said that the curfew in the North Western Province will remain. The Police, who initially declared a curfew in the North Western Province and Gampaha yesterday, later declared an island-wide curfew to be in effect till this morning. Violence broke out in parts of Chilaw on Sunday, mainly instigated by a post on Facebook and then spread to parts of Kurunegala. As the situation

14 May, 2019