Former Sri Lankan cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan has withdrawn from a Rs 1,650 crore investment project in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua, amid controversy surrounding the supposedly “free” allocation of land to his company.

The company, Ceylon Beverage Can Pvt. Ltd. which had been granted nearly 26 acres of land, will now relocate the proposed bottling and can manufacturing plant to Pune, officials confirmed.

The Sri Lankan government has once again ruled out any international accountability mechanism for addressing war crimes, stating that it will rely solely on domestic institutions such as the judiciary and the police to pursue justice.

China’s Minister of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission, Pan Yue, led a high-profile delegation to Colombo last month, where he discussed ‘ethnic harmony’ and ‘reconciliation efforts’ with Sri Lankan officials.

The Sri Lankan government has revealed that former president Ranil Wickremesinghe hired a butler for a trip to the United Kingdom, paying an astonishing £1,000 per day, for which he tried to claim expenses through the High Commission in London.

The two-day trip, made in September last year, cost a staggering £40,000 in total, said Leader of the House Minister Bimal Rathnayake.

The United States has reaffirmed its commitment to expanding economic ties with Sri Lanka, as US Ambassador Julie Chung championed Donald Trump’s trade policies in a speech at the Rotary Club Joint Meeting on March 12. 

While touting Sri Lanka as a key partner, Chung placed heavy emphasis on Trump’s "America First" vision, which she argued does "not mean America alone" but rather signals a new phase of US-led economic expansion.