The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said today (01) it has reached a staff-level agreement with Sri Lanka to provide 2.9 billion US dollars over four years to help salvage the country from its economic crisis.

The United Nations has said the Sri Lankan government has taken steps in the right direction with regard to missing persons, even as there are calls to the international community to ensure justice for victims of enforced disappearances in both the north and the south.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis is a consequence of the corruption over two Rajapaksa regimes, said former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

Sri Lanka is on track to receive enough petroleum supply to overcome the present fuel crisis till the end of this year as three international suppliers have been awarded contracts in accordance with proper procurement procedure, Energy Ministry sources confirmed.

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) has had an internal dialogue on whether it was a mistake for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign from the executive presidency.

Exiled former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is expected back home from Thailand tomorrow night (02), according to reliable sources.

‘Daily Mirror’ online recently quoted a Chinese embassy official as saying that Sri Lanka had not responded to an intimation by Beijing to the Finance Ministry three months ago that it was willing to discuss the island’s debts to China’s banks.

Former president Maithripala Sirisena has led a group of Sri Lanka Freedom Party politicians at a second round of talks with visiting representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In a first in Sri Lanka, the magistrate’s court in Welisara has ordered interim protection for a lesbian girl from her abusive parents.

Minister Vidura Wickremanayake says all state institutions incurring losses in the long-term should be privatised.