External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived in Colombo on Friday on a two-day trip to set the stage for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Sri Lanka next week, the first bilateral visit to the country by an Indian premier in over 25 years.
ITC's first foreign venture in the hotel space - a premium and luxury mixed-use development - has been "adversely impacted" by Sri Lanka's economic crisis, the firm said. The $300-million project under WelcomHotels Lanka (Private) Limited (WLPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of ITC, comprises a luxury hotel and a super-premium residential apartment complex on 5.86 acres of prime sea-facing land in Colombo. In its latest annual report for financial year 2021-22 (FY22), ITC mentioned that the project's construction was running on schedule till the third quarter (Q3) of FY19, but was adversely impacted due to disruptions in the aftermath of the terror incidents in 2019 and thereafter by recurrent waves of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The 73-year-old leader on Thursday emailed his resignation letter to the Speaker soon after he was allowed by Singapore to enter the city-state on a "private visit".
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is currently facing public demand for his resignation over his mishandling of the economic crisis, is the man who ruthlessly ended Sri Lanka's nearly 30-year civil war with the LTTE with the death of its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran in 2009.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on a two-day visit during which she is expected to discuss the fishermen's issue and rights of minority Tamils with the Lankan leadership.
Sri Lanka's main Opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) on Tuesday handed over to the parliamentary Speaker motions of no-confidence against the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) coalition government and embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, even as the government announced the appointment of a cabinet sub-committee to look into the proposal for a new Constitution.
Indian writer Anuradha Roy on Saturday won the prestigious $50,000 (Rs 33.89 lakh) DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for her novel Sleeping on Jupiter at the Galle Literary Festival in Sri Lanka.
Maithripala Sirisena, who scored a stunning victory, was on Friday sworn-in as Sri Lankan president, bringing the curtains down on the 10-year rule of Mahinda Rajapaksa, marking a smooth transition of power.
Rajapaksa arrived in Thailand with three other people on a chartered flight from Singapore at Wing 6 of the military airport adjacent to Don Mueang International Airport around 8 pm local time on Thursday.
Sri Lanka's ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa left Singapore for Thailand after his short-term visit pass expired on Thursday, according to a media report.
'There is fear that the president and prime minister are dragging their feet and won't resign.'
Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as angry protesters stormed the prime minister's office in Colombo, hours after president Gotabaya Rajapksa fled to the Maldives on a military jet, amid the country's worst economic crisis in decades.
New Delhi has a chance to rid itself of its image as the bully in the subcontinent by helping a neighbour tackle problems that India, for once, has no role in creating. It should grab the opportunity with both hands, suggests Aditi Phadnis.
President Maithripala Sirisena's new Cabinet was also sworn in and Rajapaksa was named the new minister of finance and economic affairs.
Reacting to the apex court's ruling, sacked Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said, "We trust that the President will promptly respect the judgment of the courts.
Meanwhile, a three-member committee appointed to probe the attacks that killed 258 people, including 11 Indians, on Monday submitted its final report to President Maithripala Sirisena.
The Lankan naval personnel cut fishing nets of about 70 boats and pelted stones and bottles forcing more than 2,000 fishermen to flee and return to the shore on Thursday morning.
The ex-president returned to Sri Lanka on a Singapore Airlines flight.
President Maithripala Sirisena has issued a gazette notice banning three Islamic extremist organisations, including National Thowheeth Jama'ath that was blamed for the Easter bombings.
After nearly two days of political deadlock, the stakeholders are engaged in prolonged talks to try and appoint a successor to Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The SC ordered a halt to preparations for snap elections on January 5.
"My heart goes out to the families of the victims and the injured," Modi said.
The President had been moved out of his residence on Friday, in anticipation of Saturday's protests.
China's embassy in Colombo has sought an urgent meeting with senior Sri Lankan authorities after Colombo sought a deferment of the planned docking of a high-tech Chinese research vessel at the strategic Hambantota port over which India raised concerns, sources said.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The parliament has approved a no-trust vote against Prime Minister Rajapaksa, speaker of parliament Karu Jayasuriya announced in the House.
Here's a recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
Over 15 million voters are eligible to vote in the election being held under electoral districts-based proportional representation system.
They said they stand alongside India in defeating terrorism.
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa has debunked international criticism over the treatment of the island nation's Tamil minority population.
A major fire at one of Sri Lanka's largest ammunition depots triggered a series of explosions, killing one soldier.
Around 300 soldiers deployed for the rescue mission also saved some 180 people trapped in Aranayake village besides recovering 13 bodies from the area.
In his condolence message, Israeli Prime Minister Lapid said that the thoughts and prayers of all Israelis are with the people of India following yesterday's devastating bridge collapse in Gujarat.
In a Sri Lankan House of 225 members, the cut-off figure comes to 113. With Wickremesinghe side touching 102 and Rajapaksa's team at 101, the three-party Tamil National Alliance with 16 members and the left-leaning Sinhala-Buddhist nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna with 6 members hold the key. But with the latter declaring that they will not support either formation in a vote count,that leaves the TNA as the deciding factor, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Ending months of speculation, Sri Lanka's vanquished former president Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday announced his return to electoral politics, saying he will lead an opposition faction during the general elections in August.
21 fishermen were arrested and five boats were seized at Kankesanturai while 33 others on five boats were arrested at Talaimannar on Saturday night.
The country has a fiendishly complicated electoral system that is a combination of population-based proportional representation and party-based national lists, says Aditi Phadnis
Sri Lankans were on the edge on Tuesday as they waited whether embattled Gotabaya Rajapaksa will honour his offer to resign as president, amid signs that key members of the erstwhile powerful ruling family were attempting to flee in the face of massive public anger against them for mishandling the economy that has bankrupt the country.
India's stand is important against the backdrop of US FCC's decision to roll back its net neutrality rules adopted in 2015
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