Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A Pakistani diplomat and a U.N. expert have expressed concerns over Sri Lanka’s proposed move to ban the wearing of burqas.

Sri Lanka announced plans over the weekend to ban the wearing of burqas — garments worn by some Muslim women that cover the body and face — and also said it would close more than 1,000 Islamic schools known as madrassas, citing national security.

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka will ban the wearing of the burqa and shut more than a thousand Islamic schools, a government minister said on Saturday, the latest actions affecting the country’s minority Muslim population.

Minister for public security Sarath Weerasekera told a news conference he had signed a paper on Friday for cabinet approval to ban the full face covering worn by some Muslim women on “national security” grounds.

COLOMBO, March 2 (Xinhua) -- A Secretariat for Trilateral National Security Advisers (NSA) on Maritime Security Cooperation between India, the Maldives and Sri Lanka has been inaugurated at the Sri Lanka Navy headquarters in the capital Colombo, local media reported on Tuesday.

COLOMBO, Feb 18 (NNN-SLNEWS) – Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry, said yesterday that, the temporary travel restrictions, introduced by the government on visitors travelling from Britain, due to the spread of a new COVID-19 variant, were lifted with immediate effect.

The Foreign Ministry said, in a statement, that, following discussions with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, it was decided to relax the restrictions on travellers from Britain, who are still subject to 14 days of quarantine and PCR tests, determined by the health authorities.

COLOMBO, Jan 4 (NNN-SLNEWS) – Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry said, an estimated 68,000 Sri Lankans are awaiting repatriation, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Foreign Ministry said, it has been carrying out the task of repatriation for almost a year and to date 60,470 Sri Lankans, including pilgrims, students, officials of government or armed forces, migrant workers, short term visitors, seafarers and cases on compassionate grounds, have been repatriated from abroad by the ministry, through Sri Lankan missions overseas.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Six inmates were killed and 35 others were injured when guards opened fire to control a riot at a prison on the outskirts of Sri Lanka’s capital, officials said Monday. Two guards were critically injured, they said.

Pandemic-related unrest has been growing in Sri Lanka’s overcrowded prisons. Inmates have staged protests in recent weeks at several prisons as the number of coronavirus cases surges in the facilities.

COLOMBO, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said Wednesday in a special address to his nation that the government was ready to strengthen efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, corruption and poverty.

In the statement televised on all television channels and radio stations on his first year anniversary since being sworn in as president, Rajapaksa said, with the world presently experiencing a second wave of the COVID-19, the country was acting according to a plan.

COLOMBO, Nov 2 (NNN-SLNEWS) – Sri Lanka-China friendship groups condemned U.S. disinformation about Sri Lanka-China relations, following a recent visit to the country by U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

The groups also affirmed their country’s independent foreign policy.

“In the last few weeks, the U.S. and its allies had been engaged in a massive campaign of misinformation and disinformation about Sri Lanka’s relationship with China,” said a statement by the Sri Lanka-China Friendship Association (SLCFA).

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday brought the Trump administration’s anti-China campaign to two Indian Ocean island nations considered particularly at risk for what American officials allege is Chinese exploitation.

Pompeo is visiting Sri Lanka and the Maldives to press the two countries to be on guard against potential predatory lending and investment by China.

COLOMBO, Oct 18 (NNN-SLNEWS) – The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), approved 966 million U.S. dollar-loans, under a relief programme for COVID-19-affected businesses, local media reported, today.

A total of 61,907 applications for loans, under the Saubagya COVID-19 Renaissance facility, have been approved, according to an official statement issued by the CBSL’s Regional Development Department.

Out of 966 million U.S. dollars, approved by the CBSL, a total of 723 million U.S. dollars have been disbursed through licensed banks to 45,581 businesses across the country.