News
President to address 78th session of the UN General Assembly on 21st
President Ranil Wickremesinghe is set to take the helm of the Sri Lankan delegation at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He will address the General Assembly on September 21 and his speech will revolve around the theme ‘Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all.’
Notably, President Wickremesinghe is slated to participate in a Heads of State/Government Leaders Dialogue during the 2023 SDG Summit and will also lend his voice to the Climate Ambition Summit, convened by the UN Secretary-General.
He will participate at a Roundtable Discussion with over 40 prominent private companies from the United States on Economic Opportunities in Sri Lanka. In addition, he will participate in the Ocean Nations: The 3rd Annual Indo-Pacific Islands Dialogue, an event organized by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Sasakawa Foundation in New York.
President Wickremesinghe will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Ali Sabry P.C., Secretary to the President. E. M. S. B. Ekanayake, Foreign Secretary Aruni Wijewardane and other senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
(PMD)
Accepting deposits from political parties and independent groups who intend to contest the forthcoming Local Authorities Election ended at 12noon today [19].
Deposits were accepted at respective District Secretariats from 3rd March 2025.
The Elections Commission has announced that the deadline for the accepting of nominations for the LA poll is set to conclude at 12:00 noon tomorrow (20).
It has been reported that the former Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon has appeared before the Matara Magistrate’s Court this morning (19),
The former IGP had been evading arrest after the Matara Magistrate’s court had ordered his arrest regarding a shooting incident that took place in front of the W15 Hotel Pelena, Weligama, Matara, in 2023.
The government has begun recovering funds obtained by former Lands and Land Development, Environment and Wildlife Resources Minister SM Chandrasena for the Janatha Lanka Chilli Marketing Limited (JLCML), which he headed, Parliament was informed yesterday.
Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation Minister Namal Karunaratne said that as the Chairman of JLCML, Chandrasena had obtained a loan of Rs. 1,275,000 from the Mihintale Govijana Seva Bank in 2001.
The principal of the loan had not been repaid until the end of last year. “After we came to power, we demanded that the loan be settled. Then, we discovered that the interest on the loan had not been paid for the past 24 years, and attempts had been made to have the loan written off. We stopped that and are now in the process of recovering the interest of Rs. 1,975,233 on the loan,” Karunaratne said.
Karunaratne added that JLCML was registered as a company with the Registrar of Companies on March 21, 2001. As Chairman of the company, Chandrasena requested a loan of Rs. 10 million on April 19, 2001, for the purpose of purchasing chillies from farmers in 12 farmer colonies in the Mihintale Agrarian Service area.
The request was approved by the Mihintale Agrarian Service Committee on the same day and referred to the Anuradhapura District Agrarian Operations Committee, which approved it on April 23, 2001. However, the Agriculture Development Commissioner General recommended that a loan of Rs. 1.2 million would suffice for this purpose. JLCML took the loan and failed to repay it until the end of last year. When the matter was raised, the principal was paid, and we are now in the process of recovering the interest that was not paid for the past 24 years,” Karunaratne added.
By Saman Indrajith
Accepting deposits for Local Authorities Election concludes
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