May 10 (Island) The IMF is continuing discussions with Sri Lanka on emergency supports as the island is battling a Coronavirus crisis and facing tighter external conditions and debt repayments. In April Sri Lanka’s central bank asked for IMF support under its Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), while an existing reform-backed Extended Fund Facility which would have improved state finances was in abeyance pending the last review. Sri Lanka has asked the IMF whether the existing program, more..

May 10 (DM) Sri Lanka’s first-ever hundred per cent locally manufactured petrol and electric prototype cars would be launched by next year, SL's racing legend Dilantha Malagamuwa said. He said all arrangements had been made for the manufacturing of these cars. “We already have several vehicle brands which used to assemble in our country. But the vehicle which I am planning to build would be 100% made in SL,” he said. more..

May 10 (SO) It has been the fashion for frustrated critics to shower scorn on Sri Lanka cricket, accusing it of fiddling with the funds and what not, but proving nothing to date. The criticism comes mainly from those who had contested for positions and lost, to use cricketing parlance, by innings. Every time the losers open their foul mouths, they never have a good word, but they can only make allegations, but haven’t the backbone to prove anything. These critics contest for posts to more..

May 10 (IMS) Sri Lanka recorded its first Covid-19 related death on March 28th. But was the deceased a Sinhalese or a Muslim? On social media people were trying to identify the ethnicity of the victim. One query came from a social media user named Mohamed Rufinas, a Muslim. He was not looking for information about the ethnicity of the person who died, but rather hoped to get clarification about the cause of death. Responding to his Facebook query, another provided details released by more..

May 10 (CT) In a remarkable turn of events, the Director of the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital Dr Sarath Weerabandara has been issued a summary transfer after a complaint by the GMOA. In its letter to the Ministry of Health, GMOA points to Dr Weerabandara’s inefficient management of the hospital, his arbitrary handling of affairs at the hospital and a list of 13 charges against the director. The GMOA told the Ministry in its letter more..

May 10 (Island) To pay tribute to Nobel Laureate Gurudeb Rabindranath Tagore on the occasion of his 159th birth anniversary, a series of online performances from SL and Indian artists were organised. Deputy HC of India, Mr. Vinod K. Jacob, presided over an event on 08 May celebrating the occasion and offered a floral tribute to Gurudeb. At the event, Deputy HC read out a message from the HC Designate of India to SL, who arrived in Colombo on 08 May to assume his more..

May 10 (ST) Higher ordination rites of novice Buddhist monks, or Upasampada rituals, usually held between the full moon days of May and June will not be held at the Malwatte and Asgiri Maha Viharaya this year due to the coronavirus danger, the custodians of the Sri Dalada Maligawa have decided. Rites have been postponed to next year. This is not the first time that these rituals are being postponed since it was established in 1753 by Upali Maha Thera at Malwatte Maha Viharaya. more..

May 10 (DM) United Nations Director General (UNDG) in Geneva, Tatiana Valovaya has noted the particular relevance of the teachings of the Buddha such as compassion, solidarity and mindfulness, in times of global emergencies such as the current COVID-19 crisis. Ms. Valovaya said this at a ceremony held to commemorate the International Day of Vesak and the 20th anniversary of the adoption of UNGA resolution 54/115 more..

May 10 (Island) In stark contrast to how the SLPP and their allies in the govt were behaving, the UNP has advised its candidates at the General Election, not to engage political campaigns while the country was facing a serious health crisis. A senior UNPer said that party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had told them that they should be patient until such time it was clear that the General Election would be held as scheduled. "We should not behave like those in the govt while a pandemic is on. more..

May 10 (SO) SL is paying its foreign coaches who have yet to start their work with the national teams due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. “The foreign coaches who have been recruited last year are still waiting with hopes to start work as soon as possible. But we have to pay them in accordance with the contracts they have signed with us,” said KDS Ruwanchandra the secretary of the sports ministry. Sports Ministry was in the process of recommencing its functions with teleconferences more..

May 10 (Island) Former Kalutara District UPFA MP Kumara Welgama says that while the Coronavirus disease spreads, the only thing on the govt's mind was how to obtain a two-thirds majority at the next General Election, but that would remain a dream. He said last week that the Podujana Peramuna led govt having locked the stable door after the horse had bolted, was trying hard to create an impression that more..

May 10 (Island) In response to an urgent request by the Presidential Task Force for Covid-19 control, the Royal College Old Boys’ East Coast Foundation (RCOBECF) based in New York in partnership with Sukumar & Ann Nagendran, donated Rs. 15 Million for the construction and furnishing of a 16-room/32-bed nurses quarters at the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH). "The need for this facility was triggered by the overwhelming demand for nursing care required to treat the large number of more..

May 10 (EN) As of today (9) more than half of the patients infected by COVID 19 in Sri Lanka since the outbreak are from the so-called Navy cluster as all 12 new cases diagnosed today are from the Sri Lanka Navy, the Health Department said. This brings the total number of COVID 19 positive patients to 847. Out of the total 449 of the confirmed patients are Navy personnel or their close associates, the Epidemiological Unit of the Department of Health said. more..

May 10 (Island) Former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera urged the President and the PM to avoid a crisis by summoning Parliament under Article 70(7) to develop a plan in consultation with all stakeholders, and "let’s get through this, together". "Please, Mr. President and Mr. PM, enough with the politics. Do not fear democracy or the people’s representatives", he said. "An economic crisis is upon us. more..

May 11 (CT) “… to deal with an impending economic catastrophe like this nation has never seen before calls restructuring of the political apex, unity of diverse cultures to reach a common vision, and breaking free of the dominance of military cabal and narrow interest groups.” One cannot agree more than with what Kumar David has said in these words (CT, 10 May). This is the need of the time. Prez Rajapaksa (GR) must realise that he cannot win his triple battle: to win over Covid-19, more..

May 11 (TM) With SL easing its lockdown restrictions starting tomorrow (11), amidst the discovery of new Covid-19 cases on a daily basis, the real battle to contain the virus as well as resurrect the crashed economy is only just beginning. The biggest concern is to ensure that a second wave does not take place as has been the case in many countries that successfully contained the virus the first time. Countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, and South Korea did well more..

May 11 (MB) Twelve years ago, as a young undergraduate, Kanishka Ukuwela was trekking with his colleagues in the Ududumbara area along the 18 Hairpin Bends, a 6-kilometer (4-mile) ribbon of road in central SL, and was surprised to find a rock frog by the roadside. They didn’t think it was one of the critically endangered rock frog species, commonly known as the marbled rock frog or Kirtisinghe’s rock frog more..

May 11 (CT) A study by the Economist magazine has shown that Sri Lanka is one of the countries least able to deal with the economic fallout of the coronavirus induced world economic crisis. Out of 66 countries assessed, Sri Lanka came 61st in terms of its ability to handle the crisis without being economically debilitated and fared much worse than its South Asian neighbours. Bangladesh at 9th place, India at 18th and Pakistan at 43rd place all fared better than Sri Lanka. more..

May 11 (DM) Today, May 11, after almost a month of near total lockdown was imposed to stop the spread of the destructive coronavirus, Sri Lanka will be taking its first limping steps towards getting the country back to a semblance of normalcy. By some extraordinary coincidence, a number of countries worldwide have also decided to lift some of the restrictions today. For instance US Prez Donald Trump, now the epicentre of the coronavirus, with over 1,644,817 cases and 77,557 deaths more..

May 11 (TM) The season, starting from the first week of April which trickles through to the first week of June owing to the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, Vesak commemorations, and religious and seasonal activities, is considered the busiest months for many in the cottage industries of the country. Their capability to earn during these two months could allow them to sort their finances for rest of the yr, thereby enabling them to pay more..

May 11 (CT) Minister Dullas Alahapperuma, denying any report on reopening of schools, has pointed out that no decision has been taken to reopen schools and certain Media institutions have misreported that schools island-wide would be reopened on 1 June. The Education Minister has also mentioned that no directive has even been sent to the provinces to reopen the schools on 1 June. As far as reopening the schools is concerned, the Ministry of Education is compelled to act more..

May 11 (Island) Coronavirus is doubtlessly a dangerous germ, though some eccentric world leaders are convinced otherwise, and efforts being made, here, to curb its spread, must be redoubled if there emerge signs of the prevailing national health emergency getting on top of us. The best defence against any crisis is to prepare for the worst-case scenario. When lockdowns are eased, and the stir-crazy Sri Lankans begin to move about freely, the second wave of infections is likely to hit SL. more..

May 11 (TM) The meeting with the former parliamentarians, convened by PM Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday (4), was attended by all former MPs of the governing party. The TNA was the largest group to attend the meeting out of the Opposition political parties. A total of 16 political parties had attended the meeting. However, UNP, JVP, and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) did not attend. Former Prez Sirisena arrived a little late and attended the meeting as a former MP. more..

May 11 (Island) Governance in Sri Lanka, is once again, on familiar ground; a constitutional crisis, or at the very least, a constitutional conundrum. In the main, we are presented with two alternatives. Neither of these alternatives seem attractive at first brush; reviving a Parliament that had a mixed record in which we had a minority govt since Nov 2019 or conducting a general election during a pandemic to elect a new parliament. The legality of the curfew and approvals for public spending more..

May 11 (DM) China has reacted strongly against some countries who have called for an international investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 and China’s early response to the outbreak, stating that these politicians who have made such calls do not represent the mainstream opinions of the global community. Hu Wei, Chargé d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka, said that some politicians who were stigmatizing China on more..

May 11 (DN) Sri Lanka’s post covid-19 economy will receive a major boost from foreign direct investments (FDI) due to the way the government controlled the covid-19 situation, Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardena said. He said that even the projects like Colombo Port City and mega apartment projects will receive a keen interest from the foreign buyers and investors. Most of the affected and deaths from corona virus were senior citizens in Europe. more..

May 11 (EN) Sri Lanka stocks may fall 10 to 15% amid a Coronavirus crisis before recovering in line with regional peers though underlying pre-crisis economic problems will continue to weigh on stocks where profits have been depressed for some time, analysts said. “If we look at our regional peers, the net impact year to date would be about minus 20 percent,” ,” Nikita Tissera, Head of Research, Bartleet Religare Securities said in an online forum by Sri Lanka’s Echelon Magazine. more..

May 11 (ST) Young inventors with a mobile machine to spray disinfectant SL Inventors Commission has allocated more than Rs. 10 million to develop prototypes of some 45 inventions, with patents being filed for 27 products, many of which could be of critical importance in fighting COVID-19. Innovations have been occurring at a great rate all over the island since late March, head of the Commission, Prof Rangika Halwathura, said, more..

May 11 (AD) Major Gen Sanjeewa Munasinghe is to be appointed as the Secretary to the Ministry of Health, according to sources. He is the Director General of Army Medical Services and former Colonel Commandant of Army Medical Corps. Maj. Gen. Sanjeewa is an alumnus of the Faculty of Medicine of Uni of Ruhuna. He completed his MBBS degree in 1986 and joined the SL Army in the same year. Following the completion of Basic Military training in Sri Lanka Military Academy, more..

May 11 (FT) The reopening of the stock market was hailed by both business leader and investor Dhammika Perera and PM’s Senior Advisor Ajith Nivard Cabraal, with the latter calling for an adjustment in investor mindset to focus on longer term stocks. Giving his views on the reopening of the CSE today after one and a half months of suspension due to COVID-19 countering measures, he was confident that the market will take the challenging circumstances in its stride. more..

May 11 (YC) SL cricket captain Dimuth Karunaratne lauded the impact of new coach Mickey Arthur on Sunday and said his side must target a top-four spot in the world rankings for both the test and 50-over formats. South African Mickey Arthur was appointed as SL's head coach on a two-year contract in December. Former first class cricketer Arthur has previously been head coach with the national teams of South Africa, Australia & Pakistan. more..

May 11 (TM) Cuban Govt, on a request made by the Govt of SL, has sent a medical team to attend to the medical needs of SL migrant workers in Haiti. 5-member medical team has arrived on 07 May at the facility within the Caracol industrial park in NE region of Haiti, where the majority of Sri Lankans live. Cuban medical team will advise the SL migrant workers with best practices for the prevention of COVID-19 spread, regular screening of medical conditions & primary care for those in need. more..

May 11 (EN) Sri Lanka has lifted a daytime Coronavirus curfew in Kaluthara and Puttalam districts from May 11. Daytime curfews will continue in Colombo and Gampaha but state offices and businesses will operate with minimal staff. “In the two districts of Colombo and Gampaha curfew will be in force until further notice,” the PMD said. “In other districts including Kalutara and Puttalam curfew will be effective only from 8 pm to 5 am daily from tomorrow (11), until further notice.” more..

May 11 (TM) Ahead of the long-awaited resumption of trading at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) after a 7-week closure today (11), CSE Chairman Ray Abeywardena said he believes there is considerable value in the market for the long-term investor. “We are virtually going into the unknown because we are trading for the first time after 20 March. However, there is tremendous value, and for investors who are thinking long term, more..

May 11 (FT) A Fundamental Rights violation petition was filed yesterday, challenging the Gazette notification that a body related to death either confirmed or suspected of COVID-19, should be exclusively cremated within 24 hours (preferably within 12 hours). Two Catholics Oshala Lakmal Anil Herath and Ranmal Anthony Amerasinghe filed two separate petitions through Gowry Thavarasha, citing Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Ministry Secretary Bhadrani Jayawardena, more..

May 11 (AD) Another special flight of SriLankan Airlines flight has brought back a group of Sri Lankans stranded abroad due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Accordingly, a charter flight carrying Sri Lankans stuck in Malaysia landed at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), earlier this evening (10). 178 passengers arrived on the island. Upon arrival, the returnees have been directed for a quarantine process at quarantine facilities as per orders of the Health authorities. more..

May 11 (FT) As the Govt begins rolling back COVID-19 countering measures in earnest, Sri Lanka will have to find ways to build resilience while implementing recovery strategies, two experts said yesterday. PM’s Senior Advisor Ajith Nivard Cabraal and business leader Dhammika Perera spoke of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the economy yesterday in a webinar titled Post COVID 19 Impact on the Economy and CSE, more..

May 11 (EN) Sri Lanka’s Consumer Price Authority has ended the black markets and shortages it created by imposing price controls from March 18, making the goods disappear from shop shelves and causing hardships to people already battered by curfews. “ACTING under the powers vested in it by Section 20(5) of the Consumer Affairs Authority Act, No. 09 of 2003, the Consumer Affairs Authority do hereby remove Mysore Dhal and Canned Fish from Order No. 61..” the CAA said. more..

May 11 (FT) Prez Rajapaksa has named MAS Holdings Vice Chairman Sherad Amalean to replace the company’s Chairman Mahesh Amalean as a member of the Task Force for Economic Revival and Poverty Alleviation. The Gazette notification issued in this regard said that the decision was taken while considering facts presented by Mahesh Amalean that it is appropriate to appoint a person with vast experience in working with the public sector to represent his field in member composition, more..