News

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s wife, Shiranthi Rajapaksa, has been instructed to appear before the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) today (27) to provide a statement as part of an ongoing investigation.

According to reports, she was formally notified on January 23 to present herself at the FCID at 9.00 a.m. The summons is linked to investigations into alleged financial irregularities involving a bank account operated under the name ‘Siriliya’ during Mahinda Rajapaksa’s time in office.

The FCID noted that inquiries into this matter were initially launched during the period of the ‘Yahapalanaya’ administration and are now being pursued further.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) National Organizer and Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa has also been issued a notice to appear before the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The notice required him to be present yesterday .SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam stated that the summons was issued yesterday morning while Namal Rajapaksa was on an official visit to India.

The Government Radiologic Technologists’ Association (GRTA) has announced an island-wide, continuous strike across government hospitals, set to commence at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow (28).

According to GRTA President Chanaka Dharmawickrama, the industrial action will significantly affect hospital operations, with radiological services coming to a halt. He said examinations such as CT scans, MRI scans, mammograms, as well as surgical procedures that require the use of radiation in operating theatres, are likely to be disrupted during the strike period.

He explained that the decision to escalate trade union action was taken after authorities failed to present an acceptable solution following a 24-hour token strike held on January 21.The GRTA states that the protest is driven by concerns over radiological examinations allegedly being carried out by individuals without proper qualifications at the Maligawatta Hospital, an issue the association says poses serious risks to patient safety.

The Department of Meteorology has forecast a mix of isolated showers, gusty winds, and misty conditions across parts of the country today (27).

According to the Met Department, brief showers may develop in the North-Central and Eastern provinces during the day. In addition, a few locations in the Sabaragamuwa Province, along with the Galle and Matara districts, could experience showers or thundershowers after 2.00 p.m.

Fairly strong winds, reaching speeds of around 30–40 kmph, are expected at times, particularly over the eastern slopes of the central hills. Similar windy conditions may also affect the Northern, North-Central, North-Western, Eastern and Uva provinces, as well as the Hambantota district.

Meanwhile, misty weather is likely during the early morning hours in parts of the Western, Sabaragamuwa and Central provinces, including the Galle and Matara districts.

The general public is advised to remain alert and take necessary precautions to reduce potential damage from sudden strong winds and lightning associated with thundershowers.

Transport, Highways and Urban Development Minister Bimal Rathnayaka faced an unexpected interruption yesterday during an inspection visit to the Colombo Fort Railway Station, where he was reviewing plans for a proposed flyover connecting the Pettah bus stand.

The disruption came from civil activist Kamantha Thushara, who addressed the Minister publicly in front of officials and onlookers. Thushara voiced his frustration over a previous encounter, accusing the Minister of responding dismissively when he sought an appointment.

“We brought you to power, and you must remember who we are,” Thushara said, alleging that the Minister had questioned his identity during the earlier request. He added that he is widely known among the people of Peradeniya.

Minister Rathnayaka did not immediately engage with the comments and proceeded with the scheduled inspection programme without response.

The visit formed part of an on-site review of proposed infrastructure developments intended to reduce chronic traffic congestion in and around the busy Pettah transport hub.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday said that a “successful India” makes the world more “stable, prosperous and secure”, a statement that came ahead of the “historic” trade agreement between New Delhi and the 27-nation bloc.

von der Leyen, who is on three-day visit to India, attended India’s Republic Day celebrations as a chief guest and said it was an “honour of a lifetime”. von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa were the chief guests as India marked its 77th Republic Day.

“A successful India makes the world more stable, prosperous and secure. And we all benefit,” von der Leyen posted on X.

Von der Leyen is in India for summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which are scheduled for Tuesday.

India-EU Trade Deal

At the India-EU summit, the two sides are set to announce the conclusion of negotiations for the much-awaited free trade deal.

Days before her trip to New Delhi, von der Leyen said that India and the European Union were on the cusp of a “historic trade agreement” that would create a market comprising two billion people accounting for almost a quarter of the global GDP.

“I will travel to India. There is still work to do. But we are on the cusp of a historic trade agreement. Some call it the mother of all deals. One that would create a market of 2 billion people, accounting for almost a quarter of global GDP,” she said in an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos last Tuesday.

“And, crucially, that would provide a first-mover advantage for Europe with one of the world’s fastest-growing and most dynamic continents. Europe wants to do business with the growth centres of today and the economic powerhouses of this century,” she said.

The European Union is India’s biggest trade partner, with bilateral trade in goods recording USD 135 billion in the financial year 2023-24.

The EU and India had first launched negotiations for the free trade agreement in 2007, but the talks were suspended in 2013. The negotiations were relaunched in 2022.

India reportedly plans to slash tariffs on cars imported from the European Union to 40% from as high as 110%.

The Indian government has agreed to immediately reduce the tax on a limited number of cars from the 27-nation bloc with an import price of more than 15,000 euros ($17,739), Reuters reported. 

This will be further lowered to 10% over time, easing access to the Indian market for European automakers like Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW.

Source: adaderana.lk

Sri Lankan health authorities have stepped up vigilance following the discovery of a cluster of Nipah virus infections in India’s eastern state of West Bengal, as countries across Asia tighten health surveillance.

A senior official from the Ministry of Health confirmed that the situation is under close observation, emphasizing that precautionary measures are already in place. While there is no immediate risk to Sri Lanka at this stage, authorities remain prepared to respond swiftly if the regional situation evolves.

“We are closely monitoring developments and coordinating with international health agencies. Sri Lanka remains alert, and any necessary actions will be taken based on emerging evidence and global guidance,” the official stated.

Meanwhile, airports in several Asian countries including Thailand, Nepal, and Taiwan have enhanced screening procedures after Indian officials confirmed at least five Nipah virus infections, some involving healthcare workers.

The Nipah virus, a zoonotic disease that spreads from animals to humans and can also transmit between people, is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a high-priority pathogen due to its epidemic potential. Currently, there is neither a vaccine nor a specific treatment available for the virus.

Past outbreaks have shown fatality rates ranging from 40% to 75%, underscoring the seriousness of the disease and the importance of early detection, surveillance, and regional cooperation.

Lanka is preparing to make a major leap in public healthcare by introducing In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) services at the Castle Street Hospital for Women in Colombo, marking the first time test-tube baby treatment will be available at a government hospital.

Hospital Director Dr. Ajith Kumara Danthanarayana said the new IVF unit is expected to become operational within the next three months, significantly widening access to advanced fertility care. The initiative aims to support couples who are unable to afford costly private treatments and to bring reproductive health services within reach of ordinary citizens.

Currently, IVF treatment in Sri Lanka is limited to a handful of private hospitals, with costs ranging from Rs. 2–3 million per cycle, placing it beyond the means of many families. By introducing the service in the public sector, health authorities hope to ease both the financial and emotional burden faced by couples struggling with infertility.

IVF, a procedure where fertilization takes place outside the body before the embryo is transferred to the uterus, is commonly used to address infertility linked to medical and unexplained causes. The move is widely seen as a milestone in public healthcare, offering new hope to thousands of couples seeking the chance to start a family.

The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) has revealed that 84 individuals were arrested in 2025 for offences related to bribery and corruption.

According to the Commission, these arrests resulted from 130 raids conducted across the country between January 1 and December 31, 2025. The Sri Lanka Police recorded the highest number of arrests, with 30 police officers taken into custody. Those arrested from the police service included 13 Police Sergeants, nine Police Constables, four Sub-Inspectors, and two Chief Inspectors.

CIABOC further stated that arrests were also made among 11 individuals attached to institutions under the Ministry of Justice, five officers from the Department of Agricultural and Public Services, three Grama Niladharis, and three officials serving in Pradeshiya Sabhas.

In addition to raid-related arrests, the Commission noted that a further 56 individuals were taken into custody following investigations conducted throughout the year.

Those arrested include a range of public figures such as former ministers, ministry secretaries, heads of government departments, medical professionals, former chairpersons of Pradeshiya Sabhas, and several other public officials.

During 2025, CIABOC filed 115 cases against 153 individuals and successfully concluded 69 cases. The Commission also reported receiving 8,409 complaints during the year, with investigations initiated into 569 of them.

Meanwhile, CIABOC Director General Ranga Dissanayake emphasized that eliminating bribery and corruption within the public service is a shared responsibility. He made these remarks while addressing a recent awareness programme conducted for public officials.

A new and improved Siri may finally make an appearance, but this time, it could be with a Google Gemini glow up.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple wants to announce a new Siri in “the second half of February” that will show off the results of its recently announced partnership with Google and offer demonstrations of the Gemini-powered capabilities.

After this reveal, Gurman reported that the new Siri will make its way to iOS 26.4, which is also slated to enter beta testing in February before its public release in March or early April.

Apple has been meaning to launch its next-gen Siri ever since its announcement at WWDC 2024, but now we know that this Gemini-powered Siri will behave more like an AI chatbot, similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, thanks to another Bloomberg report from last week.

Following the reported demo that’s scheduled for late February, Gurman said Apple will have a grand reveal of the new Siri, which is currently codenamed Campos, at its annual developer conference in the summer.

After that, the latest Siri and the accompanying Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence features are expected to arrive with iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27, which are expected to be available as beta releases in the summer.

(Source: Engadget)

Many in the U.S. faced another night of below-freezing temperatures and no electricity after a colossal winter storm heaped more snow Monday on the Northeast and kept parts of the South coated in ice. At least 30 deaths were reported in states afflicted with severe cold.

Deep snow — over a foot (30 centimeters) extending in a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) swath from Arkansas to New England — halted traffic, canceled flights and triggered wide school closures Monday. The National Weather Service said areas north of Pittsburgh got up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of snow and faced wind chills as low as minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 31 degrees Celsius) late Monday into Tuesday.

The bitter cold afflicting two-thirds of the U.S. wasn’t going away. The weather service said Monday that a fresh influx of artic air is expected to sustain freezing temperatures in places already covered in snow and ice. And forecasters said it’s possible another winter storm could hit parts of the East Coast this weekend. 

A rising death toll included two people run over by snowplows in Massachusetts and Ohio, fatal sledding accidents that killed teenagers in Arkansas and Texas, and a woman whose body was found covered in snow by police with bloodhounds after she was last seen leaving a Kansas bar. In New York City, officials said eight people were found dead outdoors over the frigid weekend.

Hundreds of thousands without power

There were still more than 560,000 power outages in the nation Monday evening, according to poweroutage.com. Most of them were in the South, where weekend blasts of freezing rain caused tree limbs and power lines to snap, inflicting crippling outages on northern Mississippi and parts of Tennessee. Officials warned that it could take days for power to be restored.

In Mississippi, officials scrambled to get cots, blankets, bottled water and generators to warming stations in hard-hit areas in the aftermath of the state’s worst ice storm since 1994. At least 14 homes, one business and 20 public roads had major damage, Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday evening.

The University of Mississippi, where most students hunkered down without power Monday, canceled classes for the entire week as its Oxford campus remained coated in treacherous ice. Oxford Mayor Robyn Tannehill said on social media that so many trees, limbs and power lines had fallen that “it looks like a tornado went down every street.”

A pair of burly, falling tree branches damaged real estate agent Tim Phillips’ new garage, broke a window and cut off power to his home in Oxford.

“It’s just one of those things that you try to prepare for,” Phillips said, “but this one was just unreal.”

The U.S. had more than 12,000 flight delays or cancellations nationwide Monday, according to flight tracker flightaware.com. On Sunday, 45% of U.S. flights got cancelled, making it the highest day for cancellations since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

The impact extended far beyond the storm’s reach because such major hubs as the Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport were clobbered by the storm, stranding planes and flight crews.

More light to moderate snow was forecast in New England through Monday evening.

New York City saw its snowiest day in years, with neighborhoods recording 8 to 15 inches (20 to 38 cm) of snow. Though public schools shut down, roughly 500,000 students were told to log in for online lessons Monday. The nation’s largest public school system saw snow days stripped away after remote learning gained traction during the coronavirus pandemic.

Bitter cold grips much of the nation

Meanwhile, bitter cold followed in the storm’s wake. Communities across the Midwest, South, and Northeast awakened Monday to subzero weather. The entire Lower 48 states were forecast to have their coldest average low temperature of minus 9.8 F (minus 12.3 C) since January 2014.

In the Nashville, Tennessee, area, electricity returned for thousands of homes and businesses Monday, while about 146,000 others still didn’t have power Monday evening after subfreezing temperatures overnight. Many hotels were sold out overnight to residents escaping dark and frigid homes.

Alex Murray booked a Nashville hotel room for his family to ensure they had a working freezer to preserve pumped breast milk to feed their 6-month-old daughter. Anticipating a long wait until power gets restored at his home, Murray planned to extend their hotel stay through Wednesday.

“I know there’s many people that may not be able to find a place or pay for a place or anything like that, or even travel,” Murray said Monday. “So, we were really fortunate.”

Storm leads to deaths in a number of states

In Emporia, Kansas, police found a 28-year-old teacher dead in the snow after she was seen leaving a bar without her coat and phone.

Police said snowplows backed into two people who died in Norwood, Massachusetts, and Dayton, Ohio. Arkansas and Texas reported two deaths apiece.

The cause of deaths for the eight people found outside in New York City as temperatures plunged between Saturday and Monday morning remained under investigation.

Officials reported four deaths in Tennessee, three deaths apiece in Louisiana and Pennsylvania; two deaths in Mississippi; and one each in New Jersey, South Carolina and Kentucky.

Kramon reported from Atlanta. Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Associated Press writers around the country contributed.

Source:adaderana.lk

Former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton issued pointed calls on Sunday (Jan 25) for Americans to stand up and defend their values after the second killing of a citizen in Minneapolis by immigration agents that Donald Trump blamed on Democratic “chaos”.

The Trump administration has faced intensifying pressure over its mass immigration crackdown, particularly after federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, on Saturday while scuffling with him on an icy roadway.

That incident came less than three weeks after an immigration officer fired on Renee Good, also 37, killing her in her car in the same Midwestern city.

Trump administration officials quickly claimed Pretti had intended to harm the federal agents - as they did after Good’s death - pointing to a pistol they said was discovered on him.

However, video shared widely on social media and verified by US media showed Pretti never drawing a weapon, with agents firing at him seconds after he was sprayed in the face with chemical irritant and thrown to the ground.

Trump provocatively attributed the deaths to Minnesota’s Democratic elected officials, including Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, writing on his Truth Social platform: “Democrat run Sanctuary Cities and States are REFUSING to cooperate with ICE.”

“Tragically, two American Citizens have lost their lives as a result of this Democrat ensued chaos,” he added.

After top officials described Pretti as an “assassin” who had assaulted the agents, Pretti’s parents issued a statement Saturday condemning the administration’s “sickening lies” about their son.

With tensions high, protesters gathered Sunday in Minneapolis, denouncing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). One person held a cardboard sign that read: “Be Pretti, be Good.”

The double tragedies have stirred outrage, including from two of Trump’s Democratic presidential predecessors. Barack and Michelle Obama on Sunday said in a statement that Pretti’s shooting should be a “wake-up call” that core US values “are increasingly under assault”.

Hours later, Bill Clinton delivered a fierce indictment of the current administration, saying peaceful protesters “have been arrested, beaten, teargassed, and most searingly, in the cases of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, shot and killed”.

“All of this is unacceptable,” Clinton said in a statement as he urged Americans to “stand up, speak out”.

“If we give our freedoms away after 250 years, we might never get them back.”

“WE’RE REVIEWING EVERYTHING”

US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press, said an investigation was necessary.

While administration officials have defended the officer who shot Pretti, Trump, in a brief Sunday interview with the Wall Street Journa,l declined twice to say whether the officer had acted appropriately.

“We’re looking, we’re reviewing everything and will come out with a determination,” the president told the paper.

Multiple senators from Trump’s Republican Party have called for a thorough probe into the killing, and for cooperation with local authorities.

Trump’s administration controversially excluded local investigators from a probe into Good’s death.

Walz posed a question directly to the president during a press briefing Sunday, asking: “What do we need to do to get these federal agents out of our state?”

On Sunday, business leaders from 60 corporations headquartered in Minnesota - including retailer Target, food giant General Mills and several professional sports franchises - signed an open letter “calling for an immediate de-escalation of tensions” and for authorities to work together.

VOTERS UPSET

Thousands of federal immigration agents have been deployed to heavily Democratic Minneapolis for weeks, after conservative media reported on alleged fraud by Somali immigrants, which Trump has repeatedly amplified.

The city, known for its bitterly cold winters, has one of the country’s highest concentrations of Somali immigrants.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison pushed back against Trump’s claim, telling reporters “it’s not about fraud, because if he sent people who understand forensic accounting, we’d be having a different conversation. But he’s sending armed masked men”.

Since Operation Metro Surge began, many residents have carried whistles to notify others of the presence of immigration agents, while sometimes violent skirmishes have broken out between the officers and protesters.

Recent polling has shown voters increasingly upset with Trump’s domestic immigration operations, as videos of masked agents seizing people off sidewalks - including children - proliferate.

Source:adaderana.lk