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Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has refuted recent media reports which claimed that the government has allocated Rs. 1000 million for the reconstruction of the Parliament building this year.
 
In a statement, the Speaker said that the 30 year old parliament building complex is owned by the general public of Sri Lanka and it is essential to repair and renovate the building from time to time, like any other building.
 
The timely renovation of this building cannot be ruled out he said. 
 
However, according to Jayasuriya this year the government has allocated only Rs. 200 million for the renovations and not Rs. 1000 million as some media reports have claimed, the Speaker clarified.

Claims of the Joint opposition that they will the topple the government after the President’s speech on the throne at the beginning of the new parliament session is baseless says Senior Advisor to the President, Attorney at Law Shiral Lakthilaka.

Lakthilaka made this claim following reports that the Joint Opposition along with a section of the SLFP are attempting to defeat the President’s speech from the throne at the new parliamentary session..

While the new session will commence on May 8, reports say the President will deliver a speech from the throne consisting of the government’s policies. 

In 1960, then Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake had to resign when his speech from the throne was defeated in parliament. 

However explaining the concept Lakthilaka said the speech from the throne is a British westminster tradition and this was discarded in Sri Lanka along with the introduction of the 1972 constitution. 

“Therefore the government cannot be toppled just because a speech from the throne is defeated” he said adding that there is no mention of a vote being called after such a speech in the parliamentary standing orders.

According to him it is also not a must for the President to make a such a speech at the beginning of a new session. “He can choose to not make a speech,” Lakthilaka said.

“Therefore statements regarding the speech from the throne by the JO is a mere public and media spectacle” he further added.

Colombo Fort Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne today issued an open warrant for the arrest of the former Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States, Jaliya Wickramasuriya.

The arrest warrant was re-issued as Wickramasuriya failed to appear in court when the case against him was taken up for hearing. He has failed to appear in court since court approved him to travel to the United States on July 2017.
 
The Magistrate also issued warrants for the arrest of Jaliya Wickramasuriya’s wife and a relative who signed for his bail application. The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) informed court that they were no longer at their places of residence prompting the courts to re-issue the warrant out on him. 
 
The former Ambassador, who was in remand custody after his arrest by the FCID on November 18, 2016, was granted permission in July 2017 to travel to U.S. for eight weeks for medical treatment.
 
Wickramasuriya was arrested for allegedly misusing state resources.

The President’s Media Division (PMD) has refuted the news circulating in certain media outlets, especially social media claiming that more than a hundred delegates accompanied President Maithripala Sirisena in his recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) tour.
 
Issuing a media release the PMD said that various false information is being reported regarding the official delegation accompanying President Maithripala Sirisena. 
 
According to the PMD the President was accompanied by the President’s spouse, his official doctor, Minister Tilak Marapana and his spouse, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, a Language Interpreter and two officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Moreover, print and electronic media personnel of the President’s Media Division and journalists representing private media institutions and few officers of President’s Security Division, who do not belong to the official delegation participated in this tour, the PMD added.

“Despite that, no person was included in the delegation under the expense of the Presidential Secretariat or attended the CHOGM or any meeting held simultaneously,” the PMD said.

UN peacekeepers from Nepal are facing allegations of child rape in South Sudan, with a UN spokesman describing the case as “especially heinous”.UN peacekeepers from Nepal are facing allegations of child rape in South Sudan, with a UN spokesman describing the case as “especially heinous”.

At the request of the UN, Nepal agreed to send a team of investigators to work with the UN office of internal oversight on the case.

“Any act of sexual abuse is horrendous,” Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said.

“One involving a child is especially heinous.”

The allegations were received on 13 April and involve Nepalese troops serving in the UN mission in South Sudan who allegedly raped two teenage girls, UN officials said. It remains unclear how many Nepalese soldiers are involved.

The UN has deployed 14,800 troops and police in South Sudan, with a mandate to protect civilians caught up in a brutal war between the forces of the president, Salva Kiir, and rebels.

In February, 46 UN peacekeepers from Ghana were recalled from their base in north-western South Sudan after the mission received allegations of sexual exploitation of women.

Guterres, has vowed to toughen the UN response to allegations of misconduct against the blue helmets, whose mission is to protect vulnerable civilians in conflict zones.

Minister of Disaster Management Ranjith Siyambalapitiya announced that the government has provided Rs. 485 million worth relief to the 167,000 families affected by the drought in the Puttalam district.
 
According to the Minister instructions have been given to provide relief to those who have not received assistance through a cabinet paper at a special meeting held in the Puttalam District Secretariat recently.
 
The special meeting had been  called to discuss the issues of the people affected by the drought prevailing in the district.
 
At the meeting the minister also said that measures will be taken to provide drinking water to 25,000 families.

Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, Lt Gen Mahesh Senanayake, called on Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday.Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, Lt Gen Mahesh Senanayake, called on Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday.

Matters relating to bilateral defence relations and mutual cooperation were discussed during the meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office, said an official statement.

Expressing satisfaction over the existing level of security cooperation between the two countries, PM Abbasi observed that regional peace is a shared objective of the two countries, and therefore calls for greater cooperation and sharing of expertise in the field of defence.

Lt Gen Senanayake thanked the premier for his warm welcome and appreciated the huge sacrifices of the Pakistani nation and its valiant armed forces in the fight against the menace of terrorism, the communique added.

He said that Sri Lanka is keen to further strengthen its ties with Pakistan and promote multi-faceted cooperation in the areas of security and defence.

The customs officials at Bandaranaike International Airport arrested a Sri Lankan couple today, when they were trying to smuggle out 2.35 kg of gold worth over LKR 9.1 million.The customs officials at Bandaranaike International Airport arrested a Sri Lankan couple today, when they were trying to smuggle out 2.35 kg of gold worth over LKR 9.1 million.

Assistant Customs Media Spokesman Vipula Minuwanpitiya said that the suspects were identified as traders hailing from Maradana. They were scheduled to board a flight to Mumbai this morning.

The Ministry of Finance recently imposed a 15% tax on its value on gold due to rising concerns of gold being smuggled out of the country after detecting a rapid spike in duty-free gold imports in recent months.

The Sri Lankan Navy apprehended three Sri Lankans who possessed gold worth over LKR 170 million at the Talaimannar coast on April 12. The suspects were attempting to smuggle 242 gold biscuits weighing 100 grams each to India by a boat.

India has made a strong pitch for increased lending by the World Bank and its affiliates for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, in a meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund held in Washington on Saturday. India has made a strong pitch for increased lending by the World Bank and its affiliates for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, in a meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund held in Washington on Saturday. 

Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary of the Economic Affairs Department of the Indian Finance Ministry said that these four countries not only constitute the highest growing economic block in South Asia and the world at large but also face widespread poverty.

The World Bank Group—Inter-national Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Development Association (IDA), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)—has supported the growth and development of the four countries but they (WB) will need to continue to do so in the foreseeable future, Garg added.

Sri Lanka's State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne, who also attended the meeting in Washington, said that the government recognise the importance of putting in place policies to reduce debt vulnerabilities and also look forward to hearing the perspectives of the WB and the IMF on supportive multilateral responses.

"We are calling on the IMF and the World Bank to increase their assistance on liability management as an area of priority and to develop a more comprehensive and transparent debt reporting system,"  Minister Wickramaratne said.

The US State Department's human rights report for 2017 said Sri Lanka's military and police harassed civilians with impunity although civilian authorities generally maintained control over the security forces.
 
The US State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor published its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017 and Acting US Secretary of State John J. Sullivan on Friday released the report to the public.
 
The report said that according to civil society, military intelligence operatives conducted domestic surveillance operations and harassed or intimidated members of civil society in conjunction with, or independent of, police.
 
"Impunity for conflict-era abuses also persisted, including military, paramilitary, police, and other security-sector officials implicated in cases involving the alleged targeted killing of parliamentarians, abductions, and suspected killings of journalists and private citizens," it said.
 
According to the report, civil society organizations asserted the government and the courts are largely reluctant to take action against security forces, although this situation improved compared with 2016.
 
The government, however, took steps to investigate, prosecute, and punish some officials who committed human rights abuses, it said.
 
Prosecutions for abuses committed by the security forces and police are rare but increasing, as are prosecutions for government corruption and malfeasance. The police said authorities prosecuted 26 officers for criminal offences during the year.
The government also implemented human rights training in the defence academy to increase respect for human rights and sponsored in-house training by the ICRC.
 
Source : Colombo Page

Angry mobs of Buddhists in Sri Lanka last month attacked minority Muslims, burning mosques and killing at least one. Those riots appear to have been triggered in part by false stories spread on Facebook and WhatsApp. And despite efforts by governments and nonprofits to alert them to the mounting risk, Facebook is accused of doing next to nothing to remove clear incitements to violence in the weeks leading up to the attacks.Angry mobs of Buddhists in Sri Lanka last month attacked minority Muslims, burning mosques and killing at least one. Those riots appear to have been triggered in part by false stories spread on Facebook and WhatsApp. And despite efforts by governments and nonprofits to alert them to the mounting risk, Facebook is accused of doing next to nothing to remove clear incitements to violence in the weeks leading up to the attacks.

The sequence of events in Sri Lanka is detailed in a bruising new report by the New York Times, which threatens to undermine Facebook’s longstanding claim to be a force for good in the world. At their heart were allegations of a plot by Muslim Sri Lankans to sterilize the country’s Sinhalese-speaking Buddhist majority, supported by a false story on Facebook saying that police had seized 23,000 sterilization pills from a Muslim pharmacist in the town of Ampara.

In an episode eerily reminiscent of reactions to the Hillary Clinton Pizzagate conspiracy theory, those stories led a mob of Buddhists to storm a Muslim-owned restaurant in the town of Ampara, falsely claiming its food was laced with drugs. The exchange exploded into beatings, rioting, and mosque-burning. Video of those events was also uploaded to Facebook, feeding further violence and the death of a 27-year-old aspiring journalist.

Aside from the brutal violence itself, the most disturbing part of the Times report is the allegation that Facebook, which has no offices in Sri Lanka, ignored or deflected repeated attempts by government officials and nonprofit monitors to intervene in a growing storm of hatred. As early as October of 2017, Sri Lankan officials pleaded with Facebook to better police hate speech, hire more Sinhalese-speaking content screeners, and establish a direct point of contact with local authorities.

Instead, Facebook insisted its content-flagging tool would be enough to alert the company to dangerous content. Members of a Sri Lankan group called the Center for Policy Alternatives did as recommended, repeatedly flagging posts including messages such as “Kill all Muslims, don’t even save an infant.” But “nearly every report,” according to the Times, was deemed to not violate Facebook’s standards. According to the Times, Facebook still has not filled around 25 positions for Sinhalese screeners that have been open since June.

The violence in Sri Lanka mirrors similar events in Myanmar, India, Mexico, and even the United States. They strike at the heart of Facebook’s utopian promise to connect people, showing that such connections can spread violent hatred as quickly as cute baby pictures.

Ethnic and religious resentments are not created by Facebook. But as the Times points out, Facebook’s core structure – including an algorithm that prioritizes content that gets the most engagement – may help foment outrage and tribalism. In nations with weak legal systems, citizens may be more likely to take justice into their own hands.

“The germs are ours,” as one Sri Lankan official told the Times, referring to the sectarian divisions in Sri Lanka, “but Facebook is the wind, you know?”

David Z. Morris

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) General Secretary Mahinda Amaraweera said he would not allow the posts of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) be given to members of other parties. Amaraweera also stated that however he is ready to withdraw from his post any time.
 
The government has fallen in disfavour due to the failure of not properly conveying the services done by them to the public, Amaraweera further added.