Mangala Pinsiri Samaraweera was a Sri Lankan politician. He was the first openly gay politician in Sri Lanka. He served as Minister of Finance from 2017 to 2019,and as the Minister of Foreign Affairs,for two terms from 2005 to 2007 and 2015 to 2017. He created a stir in Sri Lankan politics when he was sacked as a minister by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2007,after which he split from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party to form his own wing,which later merged with the United National Party in 2010.
Johnston Xavier Fernando is a Sri Lankan politician,former Cabinet Minister,Chief Government Whip and a former member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka from the Kurunegala District. He belongs to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. He is considered a leader of the Rajapaksa loyalist mobs that carried out violent attacks against peaceful protestors during the 9 May 'Black Monday' incident of the 2022 Sri Lankan Protests. He lost his parliamentary seat in 2024.
Venerable Athuraliye Rathana Thero,is a Sri Lankan Bhikkhu politician and a Member of Parliament. He is the only representative from Our Power of People's Party in the current parliament.
Weerasangilige Wimal Weerawansa is a Sri Lankan politician,Member of Parliament and current leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF). Weerawansa has served many cabinet positions,including Minister of Industries from 2020 to 2022,Minister of Small and Medium Business and Enterprise Development,Industries and Supply Chain Management from 2019 to 2020,Minister of Housing and Social Welfare in 2018 and the Minister of Construction and Housing from 2010 to 2015.
Arumadura Lawrence Romelo Duminda Silva,popularly as Duminda Silva or R. Dumindha Silva,is a Sri Lankan politician and a former Member of Parliament. He is the brother of Raynor Silva,owner of the Asia Broadcasting Corporation. On 8 September 2016 he was sentenced to death by the High Court of Sri Lanka for the murder of Sri Lankan politician Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra,a political rival.
Bodu Bala Sena,also abbreviated as BBS is a far-right anti-liberalist,and ultranationalist Sinhalese Buddhist organization,and a break-away faction from the right-wing nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya party. The BBS generally opposes pluralist and democratic ideologies,and criticizes non-extremist Buddhist monks for not taking action against the rise of other religions within Sri Lanka.
Ramesh Pathirana is a Sri Lankan politician,a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and former Minister of Health. He previously served as the Minister of Plantation Industries,Minister of Industries and Minister of Education.He belongs to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. He was educated at Richmond College,Galle and University of Peradeniya. He is a physician by profession and is the son of former Education and Higher Education minister Richard Pathirana.
Mahamood Lebbe Alim Mohamed Hizbullah is a Sri Lankan politician and state minister. He was a minor presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential elections.
On 21 April 2019,Easter Sunday,three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital,Colombo,were targeted in a series of coordinated ISIS-related terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day,two smaller explosions occurred at a housing complex in Dematagoda and a guest house in Dehiwala. A total of 269 people were killed,including at least 45 foreign nationals,three police officers,and eight suicide bombers. An additional 500 were injured. The church bombings were carried out during Easter services in Negombo,Batticaloa and Colombo;the hotels bombed included the Shangri-La,Cinnamon Grand,Kingsbury and Tropical Inn. According to the State Intelligence Service,a second wave of attacks was planned,but was prevented due to government raids.
National Thowheeth Jama'ath was a Sri Lankan Islamist jihadist militant group implicated in the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings. It is believed to have ties to the Islamic State (ISIL). President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena banned National Thowheed Jamath on 27 April 2019 and designated it as a terrorist organisation along with Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim.
The Sri Lankan anti-Muslim riots were a series of religiously motivated riots targeting Muslims in Sri Lanka. The riots originated as isolated incidents in the aftermath of the Easter bombings in the nation,beginning in Chilaw and subsequently spreading to much of the Northwestern Province.
Nagananda Kodituwakku is an attorney-at-law,public interest litigation activist and also a 2019 Presidential Candidate. Having held the office of the Head of Revenue Task Force in the Sri Lanka Customs Administration,Kodituwakku emigrated to the United Kingdom with his family following life-threatening circumstances in 2001. Since his return to Sri Lanka in 2009,he has played a key role in public interest litigation.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 virus. The first case of the virus in Sri Lanka was confirmed on 27 January 2020,after a 44-year-old Chinese woman from Hubei,China,was admitted to the Infectious Disease Hospital in Angoda,Sri Lanka. As of 15 December 2022,a total of 671,776 COVID-19 cases had been recorded in the country,654,919 patients had recovered from the disease,and 16,814 patients had died.
Lanka Sathosa also known as Sathosa is a wholesale and retail chain located in Sri Lanka. It is considered to be the largest state-owned retail chain in the country and was established in 2005. Sathosa was incorporated as a state-owned enterprise under Companies Act no 7 of 2007 and it is regulated by the Ministry of Trade,Commerce &Food Security. The main function of Lanka Sathosa Limited is to set prices of many essential items in the domestic retail market.
Shani Abeysekara is a Sri Lankan senior police officer. A Senior Superintendent of Police,Abeysekara is the former director of Criminal Investigation Department and current Director of the Criminal Intelligence Analysis and Prevention Division.
The following lists notable events that took place during the year 2021 in Sri Lanka.
Centre for Environmental Justice is an environmental conservation and public interest litigation organisation in Sri Lanka. The organisation is a member of the Friends of the Earth International network which is the world's largest international grassroots environmental network.
The following lists notable events that took place during the year 2022 in Sri Lanka.
The 2022 Sri Lankan protests,commonly known as Aragalaya,were a series of mass protests that began in March 2022 against the government of Sri Lanka. The government was heavily criticized for mismanaging the Sri Lankan economy,which led to a subsequent economic crisis involving severe inflation,daily blackouts,and a shortage of fuel,domestic gas,and other essential goods. The protesters' main demand was the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and key officials from the Rajapaksa family. Despite the involvement of several opposition parties,most protesters considered themselves to be apolitical,with many expressing discontent with the parliamentary opposition. Protesters chanted slogans such as "Go Home Gota","Go Home Rajapaksas",and "Aragalayata Jaya Wewa". Most protests were organized by the general public,with youths playing a major part by carrying out protests at Galle Face Green.
