President Anura Kumara Dissanayake will undertake a visit to the United Arab Emirates from February 10 – 13 at the invitation of President of the UAE Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to participate in the World Government Summit 2025.
The Foreign Ministry in a statement yesterday said that the President is scheduled to address the World Government Summit 2025 in Dubai and hold bilateral discussions with President Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan on a range of areas of mutual interest.
He is also scheduled to meet Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
“He will hold bilateral meetings with Heads of State and Governments from several countries who will attend the Summit. President Dissanayake will also engage with a number of CEOs of leading global companies in the sectors of IT, AI, Energy, Tourism, Finance, and Media to attract investments to Sri Lanka. The visit to the United Arab Emirates will further strengthen the bilateral ties between the two countries”, the statement said.
Sri Lanka Police have launched an investigation into a video going viral on social media, which depicts a female tuition teacher being escorted by police motorcycles and vehicles to an event organized by her.
Police Media Spokesperson SSP Buddhika Manathunga confirmed that the individual in question is a private tuition teacher who conducts classes for students preparing for the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination.
Addressing the controversy, SSP Manathunga explained that the Sri Lanka Police may provide officers and vehicles for specific public affairs — such as for filming a movie — but only after a thorough intelligence review of the request and its context, including the script.
He further clarified that police officers may also be deployed for public events such as musical shows or ticketed functions, but this is permitted only upon payment of a required fee.
In this particular case, the teacher is reported to have requested police support, claiming it was needed for a ceremony honoring students who had successfully passed the Grade 5 Scholarship Examination. The event was said to involve nearly 8,000 students and 35,000 parents.
However, preliminary investigations have revealed that the teacher may have used the police escort to boost her personal image, raising serious concerns about the misuse of state resources.
Police have since launched an inquiry into how the vehicles and officers were allocated for the event, and whether any police personnel were complicit in the unauthorized use of official resources, SSP Manathunga said.
According to reports, the SriLankan Airlines’ management has decided to immediately call up retired cabin crew members to service, following the ‘work to rule’ campaign launched by the Cabin Crew Members Association.
The SriLankan Airlines Cabin Crew Members Association launched a ‘work to rule’ campaign in April, citing several demands, including the reallocation of their onboard meal allowance.
In this backdrop, the national carrier is said to be operating with a reduced number of cabin crew which was further affected by the recent retirement of a significant number of experienced senior staff.
The staff were retired stating that individuals over the age of 60 would no longer be retained.
Efforts to extend the retirement age had been unsuccessful.
Even though they had directed a formal request to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Dec. 12, 2024, no response was received, reports add.
