Colombo - Two foreign trawlers packed with over $33 million worth of heroin and crystal methamphetamine were seized in Sri Lanka's biggest-ever drugs bust at sea, a navy spokesman said Thursday.

Colombo - The luxury tourist destination of the Maldives has hired prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney to represent it at the UN's highest court in seeking justice for Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya Muslims.

Colombo - Sri Lanka on Sunday said the US should reconsider its decision to refuse entry to the island's army chief over his alleged war crimes and warned that relations were being "unnecessarily complicated".

Colombo - Sri Lanka arrested a former ambassador to Russia after he was extradited from Dubai Friday to face money laundering charges over a controversial MiG aircraft purchase, police said.

Colombo - A Tamil-language version of Sri Lanka's national anthem was dropped from independence day celebrations Tuesday, with critics saying the move was a setback to reconciliation after years of ethnic civil war.

Colombo - Commonwealth nations on Saturday welcomed back the Maldives 40 months after it angrily quit the organisation over criticism of its human rights record under strongman president Abdulla Yameen.

Colombo - Sri Lanka's presidency said Friday that death certificates for thousands of people missing presumed dead from the country's civil war will only be given out after proper investigations.

Colombo - A Sri Lankan attempt to set a world record for the largest gathering of twins may have failed Monday after an unexpectedly large turnout overwhelmed organisers who vowed to try again.

Colombo - Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has acknowledged for the first time that more than 23,500 people missing for a decade since the end of the country's protracted Tamil war are dead.

Colombo - Sri Lanka's government on Thursday gave bus operators two weeks to turn down the notoriously loud music in their vehicles following complaints from passengers.

Colombo - Sri Lanka's President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said Thursday the alleged kidnapping of a Swiss embassy staffer which triggered a diplomatic spat between Colombo and Bern had been concocted to discredit his election victory.

Colombo - Newly elected Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday named his brother Mahinda as Prime Minister, cementing the grip on power of a clan credited with brutally crushing the Tamil Tigers a decade ago.

Colombo - Sri Lanka's prime minister will announce his resignation to the nation later Wednesday, bringing his government to an end following his party's presidential election debacle, officials told AFP.

Anuradhapura - Sri Lanka's new president and scourge of the Tamil Tigers Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday urged minorities unnerved by his election victory to work with him, as he was sworn in at a ceremony steeped in symbolism for his core supporters.

Anuradhapura - Sri Lanka's new president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was sworn in Monday at a Buddhist temple revered by his core Sinhalese nationalist supporters, following an election victory that triggered fear and concern among the island's Tamil and Muslim minority commu...

Colombo - Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 70, set to be Sri Lanka's new president, was the de facto military chief who crushed Tamil guerrillas a decade ago, making him a revered figure among the Sinhalese majority and the powerful Buddhist clergy.

Colombo - Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who spearheaded the brutal crushing of Tamil Tigers a decade ago, stormed to power Sunday but promised to be a president for all Sri Lanka's races and religions after a divisive election.

Colombo - Sri Lanka's former wartime defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa took an early lead Sunday in a fiercely fought presidential election conducted under high security seven months after deadly Islamist attacks.

Colombo - Gunmen fired at buses carrying minority Muslim voters on Saturday as Sri Lankans elected a new president, with the powerful Rajapaksa clan eyeing a comeback seven months after Islamist extremists staged deadly bombings.

Colombo - Sri Lanka's presidential election is a showdown between a man offering free sanitary pads and a former soldier dubbed the "Terminator" by his own family.