Sri Lanka

The High Commission of India in coordination with Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre in Colombo has organised a grand event at Colombo Port to celebrate the International Day of Yoga on Wednesday with participation of senior defence hierarchy and personnel from navies of the two neighbouring nations.

World Air Transport Summit, the world's largest gathering of airline leaders, officially started in Istanbul on Monday, reports Xinhua news agency.

In his address at the "Nikkei Forum: Future of Asia" held in Tokyo, he stressed on Asia's significance as the world's largest economic zone, home to 60 per cent of the global population, and a major contributor to global growth. As per the full speech shared by the President's Media Division (PMD) in Colombo, Wickremesinghe highlighted.

Participating in a TV talk show on Monday night, Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakshe had said that Sri Lanka has to pay INR 890 million to the Government of India for assisting Sri Lanka to control fires onboard MT New Diamond and X-Press Pearl in Sri Lankan waters.

The military, police, Special Task Force and Riot police had been summoned to the capital following unspecified intelligence information that a group of more than 750 people is getting to resort to public protest as happened during last year. Police media spokesperson SSP Nihal Thalduwa said that the security has been beefed up due to an intelligence information.

The IAF chief arrived here on Monday on the invitation of Commander of Sri Lanka Air Force, Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana. He will lay the foundation stone for India-Sri Lanka Friendship Auditorium at Sri Lanka Air Force Academy in Trincomalee under 250 Million LKR grant assistance by Government of India (GoI).

Addressing the 30 year development plan of the Colombo North Port workshop here, Wickremesinghe highlighted the importance of probing the development in India to find the connectivity that is going to take place between India and Sri Lanka and pointed out the opportunities that India's southern neighbour would receive.

"We call on commercial and multilateral creditors to take part in Sri Lanka's debt restructuring based on fair burden-sharing," China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said while adding the Beijing would work with relevant countries and international financial institutions to jointly play a positive role in helping Sri Lanka navigate the situation, ease its debt burden and achieve sustainable development.

In a message to mark Easter, Wickremesinghe on Saturday said that legal proceedings related to the Easter Sunday attacks are being processed independently and impartially, without any influence, Xinhua News Agency reported. The necessary groundwork towards this end has been laid, to ensure justice.

The Indian Navy is represented by advanced anti-submarine warfare corvette INS Kiltan and offshore patrol vessel INS Savitri, while Sri Lanka Navy will have advanced OPV SLNS Gajabahu and OPV SLNS Sagara. Indian Navy Chetak helicopter and Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft, along with Sri Lanka Air Force Dornier and BEL 412 helicopters, would join the exercise which would also feature the Special Forces of the two navies.