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The Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court today ordered Sugeeshwara Lenin Bandara, former Private Secretary to former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to be further remanded until September 9.

Bandara is facing allegations of criminal misappropriation of funds allocated under the Presidential Expenditure Head.

The court issued the order during proceedings held today, extending his remand in connection with the allegations.

He is scheduled to remain in remand custody until the next court date on September 9.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka on September 9 and 10 for talks focused on strengthening bilateral defence cooperation, with maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region expected to figure prominently during his visit.

According to sources in the Ministry of Defence, during the visit, Mr. Singh is expected to meet Sri Lankan President and Defence Minister Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya and Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) Sampath Thuyacontha.

The discussions are expected to include a review of the full and timely implementation of the India-Sri Lanka Defence Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Colombo on April 5, 2025, it added.

The five-year agreement was the first-ever umbrella MoU on defence cooperation between the two countries and provides a structured framework for bilateral military engagement while addressing shared security concerns in the Indian Ocean.

The pact covers a range of areas, including enhancing joint military exercises, capacity building, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief cooperation, and increasing port calls by naval vessels of the two countries. It also provides for exploring opportunities for cooperation in the defence industry.

The agreement is valid for five years and allows either side to terminate it with three months’ prior notice. It can also be extended for a further three years by mutual agreement.

The defence MoU was among seven bilateral documents exchanged during Mr. Modi’s April 2025 visit, which marked his fourth visit to Sri Lanka since 2014 and the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the country after Mr. Dissanayake assumed office in September 2024.

The April 2025 visit also saw agreements and understandings covering areas such as health, mass media, energy and connectivity. India and Sri Lanka also concluded bilateral amendatory agreements on debt restructuring.

The upcoming visit by Mr. Singh assumes significance amid India’s emphasis on maritime security and closer defence partnerships with Indian Ocean littoral states. 

It is expected to provide an opportunity to deepen military-to-military engagement and strengthen coordination between the two countries on shared regional security concerns.

Source: The Hindu 

A fresh 90-day detention order has been issued to former Director of the State Intelligence Service (SIS), Major General (Retd.) Suresh Sallay, allowing authorities to continue questioning him over the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks.

The new order permits investigators to further detain Sallay as inquiries continue into the circumstances surrounding the attacks in April 2019.

Sallay is being questioned as part of the ongoing investigation into the events connected to the Easter Sunday attacks.

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa says the government is inflicting severe financial hardship on local growers through unnecessary rice imports and unfulfilled promises.

Speaking at a Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Sathkaraya event in Dehuwala, Galewela, he highlighted the plight of rural farming communities who continue to struggle despite a recorded surplus in domestic production.

Flawed import strategy

According to official figures cited by the Opposition Leader, national paddy production stands at roughly 3.2 million metric tons, comfortably exceeding Sri Lanka's annual domestic requirement of 2.5 million metric tons.

He expressed strong criticism over the government's decision to import around 382,000 metric tons of rice regardless of this excess, noting that such moves directly contradict the stance the ruling party took while in opposition.

Premadasa argued that this policy heavily penalises local growers of paddy, maize, and potatoes.

Furthermore, he pointed out that while the Agriculture Minister acknowledged in Parliament that producing a kilogram of paddy costs approximately Rs. 137, the state guaranteed purchase price remains fixed at just Rs. 120 per kilogram, leaving farmers to absorb a net loss of Rs. 17 for every kilogram sold.

Unfulfilled pledges

The Opposition Leader emphasised that nearly two years after taking power, the government has failed to enact promised legislation establishing a legally binding guaranteed paddy price of Rs. 150 per kilogram.

He observed that despite a state allocation of Rs. 7,500 million intended to empower small and medium scale millers, farmers across the country are still unable to sell their harvest effectively, even as official purchasing signboards appear in rural villages without actual buying taking place.

He also warned that rising poverty levels affecting up to 40 percent of the population, factory closures, and potential climate disruptions like El Niño and La Niña pose grave threats to the national economy.

Premadasa called for urgent state intervention and relief measures to safeguard rural livelihoods and maintain key growth sectors like tourism.

The world's oceans are hotter than ever recorded, new data suggests, as they suffer from human-caused climate change and the growing El Niño weather phenomenon.

The average surface temperature of the planet's seas outside the polar regions hit 21.1C (70F) on Saturday, according to figures from the European Copernicus climate change service.

That edges past the 21.09C recorded on three separate days in March 2024, and is far above average for the time of year.

Warmer oceans can have wide-reaching consequences, including supercharging extreme weather, raising sea levels and harming marine life.

"This record is another clear signal of an ocean under growing stress," said Dr Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus.

"El Niño is adding heat to the system, but it is doing so on top of decades of human-driven warming," she added.

The data is based on sea temperatures 10m (32ft 10in) below the surface, using measurements from buoys, ships and satellites, which are combined to produce a global estimate.

While the margin of record is currently very small and any global estimate comes with uncertainties, scientists say its timing is particularly notable.

Average worldwide sea temperatures tend to reach their yearly peak in March or April, which corresponds to the end of summer in the southern hemisphere - and not in August.

The southern hemisphere contains more of the planet's ocean surface than the northern hemisphere and so exerts a bigger influence on average sea temperatures.

What is especially concerning to scientists is that the oceans are already so hot when the natural El Niño weather phenomenon is still some way off its expected peak.

El Niño brings unusually warm waters to the surface of the eastern and central tropical Pacific Ocean. Warmer waters across such a large area means that global average temperatures typically spike too.

El Niño is expected to keep strengthening until Christmas time, with scientists warning that it is on course to be the strongest in centuries.

This could see ocean temperatures climb yet further.

"The fact that we are already breaking records is an early indicator of how strong the El Niño is becoming," said Dr Jeremy Grist, senior research fellow at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton.

"All things being equal we might expect the ocean temperature record to be broken again in March [or] April 2027," he added.

The waters far away from El Niño's Pacific hunting ground are also extremely warm, including around the UK and Europe.

The western English Channel has seen almost continuous marine heatwave conditions for more than three years, peaking at 7C above normal in July, according to Prof Tim Smyth, director of science at Plymouth Marine Laboratory.

“This is unprecedented,” he added.

Scientists say such widespread warmth around the planet is a clear sign of the growing effect that human-caused climate change is having on the world's seas.

The oceans take up more than 90% of the excess heat trapped by humanity's greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels.

"The latest Copernicus data reinforce the troubling upward trend in ocean temperatures,” said Smyth.

Warmer seas help to fuel more extreme weather. They can provide storms with extra moisture and energy, and can intensify heatwaves on land in some coastal regions by reducing the cooling effect of sea breezes.

Warmer water also takes up more space, raising sea levels and bringing a greater risk of coastal flooding - while intense ocean heat can be devastating for sea habitats, such as coral reefs.

The increasing frequency of marine heatwaves is already "putting increasing pressure on marine ecosystems and the communities that depend on them", Burgess said.

(BBC)