June 30 (AD) Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena today confirmed that a discussion did take place between President Sirisena and former President Rajapaksa and that they had only denied the location of the meeting. It was recently reported that a meeting between the two rival candidates of the Presidential Election took place at the Speaker�s residence on Thursday. However, both the Presidential Media Division and more..

June 30 (CI) Sri Lanka batsman Upul Tharanga will replace Kumar Sangakkara for the third Test against Pakistan starting Friday in Pallekele. Sangakkara made himself unavailable for the last Test of the series partly because of commitments with Surrey. He will also not play the third Test against India in August, having already announced his international retirement. Tharanga's last Test was also against Pakistan, in Colombo last year, where he made 92 and 45. more..

June 30 (CG) One person was killed and two others were injured in incidents which were reported across the country over the past 24 hours in election related violence. Executive Director of CAFFE, Keerthi Tennakoon said that the incidents had occurred between supporters of UNP and the UPFA. Tennakoon said that the police were probing the latest incident which was reported on Monday night in Ratnapura, when a supporter of UNP had been attacked and killed by an unidentified group more..

June 30 (ENS) SL politics has now got a new player, Budhu Jana Peramuna (BJP), an offshoot of the radical Sinhalese-Buddhist BBS. Translated into English as Intelligent Peoples� Front, BJP will be contesting the August 17 parliamentary elections from at least 15 districts which have a Sinhalese-Buddhist majority. Ven. Gnanasara Thero said, that the BJP will represent the country�s Sinhalese Buddhist majority in parliament. more..

June 30 (LBO) Sri Lanka�s leading construction company, Access Engineering is to enter into the highly growing property development sector with 524 million rupees of investment, the company said. The company has invested 273.6 million rupees to acquire Horizon Holdings Ventures private limited incorporated in this month. It has also invested 250 million rupees to buy 50 percent of the ordinary shares in Horizon Holdings private limited which incorporated in March 2014. more..

June 30 (EN) Sri Lanka's consumer prices rose 0.1% in the 12-months to June 2015, falling back to the rate in March and April. Prices rose 1% during the month of June, highest rate since January, the central bank said. Sri Lanka's consumer prices are now at their lowest since the 0.5% reported in January 2004 with the government having cut taxes on some consumer goods and dropped fuel prices earlier this year. The annual inflation rate had edged up to 0.2% in May. more..

June 30 (EN) President Sirisena today ruled out granting nominations to former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa to contest as a prime ministerial candidate at up coming general elections. Sirisena in a special broadcast over state television, rejected opposition-initiated reports that the former president will make a come back as a PM candidate from UPFA. President Sirisena is the leader of UPFA as well as its main constituent, SLFP. more..