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Operation ‘Prosperity Guardian’: No SLN Red Sea deployment

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Julie Chung

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Contradicting a claim made by US Ambassador Julie Chung the previous day, authoritative sources denied the deployment of an Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) in support of operation ‘Prosperity Guardian’ in the Red Sea to combat Houthis.

Sources were reacting to Ambassador Julie Chung’s declaration on Wednesday that one of the three US Coast Guard Cutters donated over the years to Sri Lanka had been deployed in support of ‘Prosperity Guardian.’

The US envoy’s claim was made at the opening of the third Indian Ocean Security Conference organised by Pathfinder Foundation in Colombo on Wednesday (28). Among the participants were President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sri Lanka’s former High Commissioner in New Delhi Milinda Moragoda.

Sources said that two OPVs, SLNS Sayura (P 620) and SLNS Gajabahu, formally USCC Sherman (P 626) had been deployed on a special several weeks long mission in the Arabian Sea to intercept vessels carrying narcotics. After the conclusion of the given task, P 626 had returned to Colombo whereas SLNS Sayura, formally Sukanya class patrol vessel of the Indian Navy was on its way back.

Sources said that Sri Lanka lacked the wherewithal to deploy OPVs in a missile and drone operations environment in the Red Sea.The US formed a coalition in December 2024 to meet the growing threat posed by Yemen based Houthis to Red Sea shipping.

US Embassy quoted Ambassador Chung as having told the conference that the Sri Lanka Navy had joined a multinational coalition of naval vessels in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Arabian Sea from over a dozen countries to help safeguard the freedom of navigation and protect the busy sea lanes of commercial ship traffic from Houthi attacks. “This is a clear demonstration of Sri Lanka

playing an active role in helping to secure the global supply chain that benefits both Sri Lanka and economies around the world. Thanking Sri Lanka for this leadership was an important message conveyed during the recent visits of U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Verma, and others.”

Ambassador Chung also made reference to the Verma’s recent declaration in Colombo that a fourth US Cutter would be donated to Sri Lanka.Sources said that the deployment in the Arabian Sea appeared to have been misinterpreted as joining ‘Prosperity Guardian,’ involving US and its allies.



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One dead in US after being struck by taking off Frontier Airlines plane

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A Frontier Airlines jetliner taxis down a runway for take off from Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado [Aljazeera]

A person has died after jumping an airport perimeter fence in the US state of Colorado and being struck by a Frontier Airlines plane, according to authorities.

Denver International Airport said the unusual incident occurred late Friday, after the unidentified individual gained access to the tarmac.

It said the “pedestrian jumped the perimeter fence and was hit just two minutes later while crossing the runway”.

A brief engine fire followed the collision, which was put out by emergency responders, according to the airport.

It said that 12 of the 231 people on board suffered minor injuries, with five hospitalised.

The airport said investigators had examined the fence line where the individual entered and “found it to be intact”.

It added that the struck individual “is not believed to be an employee of the airport”.

“We are extremely saddened by this incident and express our sympathies to those involved,” the airport said.

Both local authorities and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) were investigating the incident.

Airport safety in the US came under renewed scrutiny earlier this year amid a prolonged shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which temporarily left both Transportation Security Agents (TSA) and air traffic controllers working without pay.

While instances of people being killed on airport tarmacs are rare, Friday’s incident came a day after a Delta employee was killed after an airport vehicle struck an airbridge at Orlando International Airport.

In March, two pilots were  killed after an Air Canada Express plane crashed into a fire-rescue vehicle at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

About 225,000 people travel through Denver International Airport a day.

[Aljazeera]

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Showers above 100 mm are likely at some places in the  Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Southern, Uva, North-western and Northern provinces and in Anuradhapura district.

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WEATHER FORECAST FOR 10 MAY 2026
Issued at 05.30 a.m. on 10 May 2026 by the Department of Meteorology

The low-level atmospheric disturbance in the vicinity of Sri Lanka is likely to develop into a low-pressure area around 11th of May. Therefore, the prevailing showery conditions over the island are expected to continue during the next few days.

Showers or thundershowers will occur at most places over the island, and cloudy skies are expected over the island. Heavy showers above 100 mm are likely at some places in the  Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Southern, Uva, North-western and Northern provinces and in Anuradhapura district.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damage caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

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Lanka Port City officials to meet investors in Dubai

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ECONOMYNEXT –Colombo Port City (CPC) officials will head to Dubai to meet with investors on June 11, as Sri Lanka’s most ambitious economic zone looks for further foreign investments.

“We are meeting people in Dubai and the Middle East in order to demonstrate that Colombo Port City can be a supplementary zone of investment,” Harsha Amarasekara, Chairman, Colombo Port City Economic Commission (CPCEC), told Economynext.

The meeting will be organised by CPCEC, China Harbour Engineering Company, Consulate General of Sri Lanka – Dubai, and the Embassy of Sri Lanka – Abu Dhabi.

Foreign investor meetings have been a consistent factor in marketing CPC, and identifying potential markets has been a priority for CHEC and CPCEC.

“We have shortlisted and identified primary markets and we have combed the globe in that to say have a rationale behind why you would want to do certain things, a road show in a particular country,” Thulci Aluwihare, Deputy Managing Director, CHEC Port City Colombo, told Echelon Media.

“Once we kind of shortlist on that, then we aggressively go and market Port City, first Sri Lanka I should say, then Port City.”

“Sri Lanka is known in the world as a tourist destination, not essentially for a doing business capital. That is the narrative that we are trying to change,” he added.

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