Headline

When a fight between inmates on Sunday spiralled into the second deadliest prison riot in Sri Lankan history, 29 died. This includes eight guards brought to Negombo from Colombo, who didn't know the lay of the land. 14 of the bodies had bullets in them, but the STF denies shooting.

Some think the president favours the incumbent chief justice, Surasena, because he’s expediting high profile cases. The government says the idea to extend judges terms has nothing to do with personalities, its meant to retain expertise in the understaffed justice system.

The cricket board’s interim committee says Jay Shah, the ICC Chair, is impressed with their work. If there aren’t any googlies, a new cricketing constitution will cross the boundary next month, the committee hopes.

Dengue cases surge in Sri Lanka, with Western Province the worst-affected. Authorities are planning on rolling out new prevention methods like virus-resistant mosquitoes. The Qdenga dengue vaccine, registered in several Asian countries, is yet to be approved in Sri Lanka.

Suresh Sallay continues his hunger strike on saline, demanding his investigation be moved away from Shani Abeysakara’s purview. With two probes into these claims underway, opposition politicians temporarily halted their satyagraha.

The Malwatta chapter isn’t inquiring into one of their top monks, arrested on suspicion of child rape. They’re waiting for the courts to determine his culpability. Though the sangha has often called for the disrobing of errant monks in the past, they’re adopting a ‘wait-and-see’ approach now.

A fortnight ago, the rupee suddenly fell steeply, driven by higher fuel imports. The government and IMF stepped-in and the rupee recovered. But a cautious Central Bank jacked-up interest rates, and now the Public Debt Management Office is in the firing line.

The police irregularly transferred an investigation into allegations that Anuradhapura’s top monk raped a child. They didn’t arrest the monk for nearly a month and didn’t inform the child protection authority.

The police have arrested Chinese scammers for over a decade. But as South-East Asian governments crackdown, Sri Lanka is an increasingly popular destination for scam operations. Human trafficking risks follow.

Vijay’s two-year-old political party has redrawn the Tamil Nadu electoral map. Though he echoed the long-standing consensus on Sri Lankan issues, this fresh chapter in Tamil Nadu politics may be an opportunity to ‘reset’ Lanka-Tamil Nadu relations.