Sri Lanka Cashew Corporation (SLCC) will supply cashew nuts to SriLankan airlines from next month, SLCC Chairman Damsiri Bandara Karunaratne said today.

Quality of the cashew nuts served on SriLankan flights came up for scrutiny after President Maithripala Sirisena remarked on the quality of the cashew nuts served to him on a Colombo-bound flight.

Within Sri Lanka’s illustrious fashion industry, sustainability hasn’t traditionally been a top-notch priority.

In an era of conscious consumption, however, where ethical production, recycling, and up-cycling are now entering the mainstream, House of Lonali has more than just a few tricks up its sleeve.

As Lonali Rodrigo, Head Designer and Founder of the brand passionately explained to me, up-cycling refers to the process where waste material is recreated to produce high-quality items. Through this process, House of Lonali transforms discarded or unused material into bold pieces of clothing, perfect for individuals with a taste for clean and classic looks.

China’s acquisition of the strategic Hambantota port from Sri Lanka has given it “control of a territory” just a few 100 miles off the shores of India, highlighting its “debt trap” and ambitious use of loans to gain influence around the world, a media report has said.

An investigation by New York Times about Sri Lanka’s handover of the Hambantota Port to China in December 2017 illustrates how China turned an ally’s struggles to its strategic advantage. The report says feasibility studies had found that the port would not work and “frequent lenders” like India had refused to provide loans or assistance for the port, developed during Sri Lanka’s president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s rule. “However, every time Rajapaksa turned to his Chinese allies for loans and assistance with the ambitious port project, the answer was yes,” it says.

Kusal Perera battled through a painful chest injury in partnership with namesake Dilruwan Perera to guide Sri Lanka to an historic series-levelling four-wicket victory over the West Indies in the third and final Test at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Tuesday (Jun 26).

Set a target of 144 and resuming on the fourth day at the overnight position of 81 for five, Sri Lanka reached their goal for the loss of one additional wicket to become the first Asian team ever to win a Test match at Caribbean cricket's most iconic venue.

That wicket, which fell in the very first over of the afternoon to West Indies captain Jason Holder, ushered in Kusal, whose further participation in the match was in serious doubt when he injured himself crashing into the advertising boards when attempting to take a catch nearing the end of the West Indies second innings the previous night.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has activated the Emergency Response Unit of the Ministry, to coordinate rescue and relief measures related to the flood situation in several parts of Sri Lanka.

A Chinese delegation headed by Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kong Xuanyou is reported to have held five hours of discussions with the Sri Lankan authorities on the entire gamut of bilateral relations. The delegation arrived in Sri Lanka on Monday in the wake of some of the proposed Chinese investments in the country hitting a snag amid public protests and legal action. 

Though over 20 SLFP MPs in the Joint Opposition in parliament have had discussions with the top rung in the Maithri-Ranil Government to cross over and support the government, President Maithripala Sirisena and Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe had told them that the numbers in the Cabinet of Ministers would not be expanded at any cost as it violates the 19th amendment, highly placed government sources told Nation.

The two leaders had conveyed to these MPs that a few vacancies exists in the ranks of deputy ministers and state ministers and they could be considered to fill such vacancies in the event they crossed over.