Gotabaya Rajapaksa will succeed President Maithripala Sirisena for a five-year term.
Sirisena said authorities were aware of “a small group” of Sri Lankans who had travelled abroad to receive training from Islamic State over the past decade.
Shiv Sena alleged that many Muslims have not understood the true meaning of their religion (Islam), and have confused it with traditions and customs like burqa, polygamy, triple talaq and resistance to family planning.
President Sirisena acknowledged during his meeting on Monday with the country's hoteliers, that the tourism and hotel industries were worst hit after the string of powerful blasts ripped through three churches and as many luxury hotels on Easter Sunday.
Jayasundara has refused to heed Sirisena's call to resign following the April 21 coordinated suicide blasts on three churches and three luxury hotels.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Easter terror attacks on three Catholic churches and three luxury hotels, that claimed 253 lives, but the government has blamed a local Islamist extremist group, National Tawheed Jamath (NTJ) for the bombings.
Addressing the nation, the President said he had decided to make drastic changes in the security establishment over the next 24 hours.
Outlook picked some of the important international events of the year that made headlines.
The 29 ministers chosen by Wickremesinghe, who is also the leader of the United National Party (UNP), were sworn in before Sirisena, according to a statement by the Presidential Press Department
Maithripala Sirisena's decision on October 26 to sack Ranil Wickremesinghe and install former Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place sparked a constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka.
As many as 13 petitions have been filed against Sirisena's November 9 order sacking the 225-member Parliament, almost 20 months before its term was to end, and setting the election date for January 5.
Sri Lanka has been embroiled in a political crisis since October 26 when President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Rajapaksa.
Wickremesinghe's party has a majority in parliament and Sirisena's bid to bring back the country's former strongman Mahinda Rajapakse has already failed.
The crisis erupted when President Sirisena suddenly announced on October 26 that he had sacked prime minister Wickremesinghe and installed ex-strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place.
All petitions filed against Sirisena's decision will be heard on December 4, 5 and 6, the apex court ruled.
Sirisena dissolved Parliament on October 9 and announced snap polls on January 5 next year after it became evident that he did not have enough support in the House to prove the premiership.
Sri Lanka PM Rajapaksa ended his five-decade-long association with the SLFP and joined the newly-formed Sri Lanka People's Party (SLPP).
The nominations will be filed from November 19, 2018 to November 26, 2018. The new Parliament will hold the first meeting on January 17, 2019.
He would take his colour, brushes and canvas outside to paint and talk with his love. He would stand close to the window and paint, keeping an eye on his muse.
They say the violin mimics the human sound. In his case, it was that of love, of longing. He didn’t know any other way of loving.
Younger people do not have much progressive beliefs; a 2017 survey found that one-third of young people opposed inter-caste marriage.
The pandemic has made it clear that virtual learning is here to stay. In the West, the big question is whether it will dilute the quality of the college experience and education. In India, which grapples with digital divide, the question remains whether this will reach most people at all.
Even after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, many 'informed' individuals in India continue to deny the virus with unscientific claims and unfounded data. The latest? Omicron will end the pandemic.
Across Asia there are deeply entrenched obstacles to a mode of higher education that is liberal in multiple senses – disciplinary and epistemological but also social and political.
The two incidents in the recent past, one in Mon district of Nagaland and the other at Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, undermined the core principles democracy and federalism.