Co-Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne today said that the government was reviewing the Horana Tyre Factory project deal after it received considerable flak from several fronts.

Speaking to the media today, Senaratne said that the Prime Minister was unaware of the identity of the investor till the morning of the day on which the work commenced.

The investor is Nandana Lokuwithanage, the supposed nominal owner of the Marriot Hotel in Dubai, which is allegedly owned by the Rajapaksa family.

The Anti-Corruption Front recently alleged that the land was leased on US $ 1 per acre per year, whereas the normal lease would amount to US $ 3850. Therefore, the government incurs a loss of US $ 3849 per acre per year, which amounts to US $ 384,900 for the 100 acres, the ACF said further.

The ACF also claimed that BOI Chairman Upul Jayasuriya was facing the threat of dismissal as he had opposed the deal. However, Jayasuriya later refuted the claim that his position was at a risk.

The Trade Minister, Todd McClay, met with Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland reported Radio NZ.

Mr McClay noted that Sri Lanka and New Zealand are complementary economies with potential for greater trade both ways.

He further added that Mr Wickremesinghe had agreed to open a diplomatic post in New Zealand and New Zealand is doing the same in Sri Lanka.

Officials in both countries were instructed to consider how New Zealand and Sri Lanka can grow their economic relationship through a trade arrangement.

Two-way trade between New Zealand and Sri Lanka was worth $307 million in the year to October 2016.

UNP National List MP Athuraliya Rathana Thera announced that he will act as an independent MP in future.

Rathana Thera, who was a leading figure in the Jathika Hela Urumaya, said that he now belongs to no party.

Announcing his decision to the media today, he said that he will be forming a new national movement.

He also said that he will not sit in the opposition in parliament. His aim is to guide the government in the correct path, he added.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party must contest the upcoming elections on its own, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva insisted, saying that it was the expectation of the party members.

Speaking at a public meeting recently, he said that the government should find solutions to serious matters as well as day-to-day problems of the people.

The SLFP is currently a part of the United People's Freedom Alliance. However, under the leadership of President Maithripala Sirisena, the party has largely conducted on its own, with the UPFA more or less insignificant.

A journalist from Kilinochchi has complained to police that he received death threats after reporting on the recent statement made by State Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran glorifying the slain LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

A freelance journalist, S.N. Nibojan, filed this complaint on December 31 at Kilinochchi police.

The journalist said that he was threatened over the phone and the call came from abroad. The number was displayed as "private number" and the journalist suspects it was a satellite call. The caller had identified himself as a former Black Tiger and had warned that the journalist will be killed if "our elder sister" was harmed.

The caller had also said that he can make even a whole village just disappear since he was a trained Black Tiger.

What you have reported on our elder sister (akka) is wrong" the caller had said. Even if she said something wrong, the journalists should reported it such that she is not portrayed wrongly, the caller had also said.

The Black Tigers were the suicide cadres of the LTTE terror group.

State Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran raised some eyebrows with her recent speech where she admired the slain LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran as an exemplary figure. She praised him as someone of a higher calibre than leaders in world politics.

Some Sinhalese politicians dismissed this as an immature statement of a person who was making attempt to retain some popularity by a controversial statement on a terrorist leader.

However, Vijayakala Maheswaran's mistake of glorifying Prabhakaran blunted her message's real meaning.

She did not address the Sinhalese community. She was addressing the Tamil community and political leaders.

The key to this can be found in the words she spoke prior to glorifying Prabhakaran. She asks the politicians not to divide people on Jaffna or Kilinochchi basis. She also asks not to discriminate the fishing community. Recalling that Velvetithurai is also a fishing community, she says they also have people of good education.

It is as an example she recalled Prabhakaran. Then she went to glorify him.

This speech became controversial among the Sinhalese community because of this glorification. Her speech became controversial among the Tamil politicians because of what preceded her reference to Prabhakaran, which the Sinhalese community could not understand in general.

It should be recalled that the caste system plays a much bigger role in Tamil politics in both Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu, than in the Sinhalese community. Maheswaran herself is from Karainagar, where most people are fisher folk.

A protest march staged byInter University Students' Federation started from Malabe today evening. It is supposed to reach till the entrance of Dr. Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital (NFTH).  The protest is regarding the alleged death of a young female patient. 

The special jury today released the three accused intelligence personnel over the murder of former TNA MP Nadarajah Raviraj after a long final day of the trial.

The jury deliberated on the case and returned to give the verdict just after midnight and said that the accused are not guilty.

The presiding Colombo High Court Judge, Manilal Waidyathilake, inquired if all six, including those who were absconding, were not guilty. The jurors said they want to deliberate more on the three absconding accused and left the court chamber.

A few minutes later, they returned and said all accused were acquitted and released.

This could be the first time in recent history that a jury trial went beyond midnight on the final day.

Defence secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi sent a letter of demand to Prof. Sarath Wijesuriya seeking Rs 1000 million in compensation for damages allegedly caused to his reputation and good name by statements made by the professor.

Wijesuriya has claimed to meedia some weeks back that Hettiarachchi was involved in instances of corruption.

Wijesuriya, the Convener of the National Movement for a Just Society, was known for his recent controversial remarks on some members of the government and the security apparatus.

While Sri Lanka is discussing electoral reform which could change the preferential votes system, there is growing demands for electoral change in Canada.

All elections are held in Canada in the first-past-the-post system, almost similar to the system in Sri Lanka before 1978 constitution. Of course, Canada does not have multi-member constituencies like in Sri Lanka before 1978.

Fair Vote Canada, a grass root organization, suggested three systems of electoral reform, which included two already used systems and one system somewhat similar to what was used in Sri Lanka before 1978.

The three types recommended are: (1) Mixed Member Proportional (MMP), used in Germany, New Zealand, Scotland and Wales; (2) Single Transferrable Vote (STV), used in Ireland, Malta, parts of Great Britain and a few U.S. cities: (3) Rural-Urban, which would be a new form and which is essentially a combination of single-member districts in sparsely-populated areas and multi-members in densely-populated areas.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in his 2015 election campaign, promised electoral reform and said that 2015 election will be the last in the country with first-past-the-post system.