Nov 13 (DM) In Glasgow, the widely-publicized climate summit ended yesterday with most experts saying some clean-air results are likely since the US and China signed an agreement this week to prevent the temperature from rising beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius and take other measures to limit carbon emissions including the wider use of clean energy such as solar and wind power with most vehicles also being made to run on electricity. Coinciding with the summit in the capital of more..

Nov 13 (CT) It would be a crucial weakness, wrote Professor Ven. Walpola Rahula (1907-1997), “if you do not express your honest and forthright views fearing public opposition. Persons seeking personal gain, glory, praise and power are reluctant to go against public sentiment by expressing their honest opinion”. I quoted these words when I reviewed in this journal on 22 March 2019 the English translation of his Sinhala publication Sathyodaya. Even before that review and in another piece titled, more..

Nov 13 (Roar) The disastrous nurdle spill resulting from the May 2021 fire onboard the MV X-PRESS Pearl off the coast of SL led to extensive discussions about environment protection — particularly concerning marine and coastal conservation. Unfortunately, the focus has largely been on the specific event and less on the bigger picture — the combined impact of the worsening climate crisis and ineffective resource more..

Nov 13 (DM) The recent public statement by an erudite group of learned persons appearing in the press was so topical and forthright that it nudged the writer as a sovereign voter and a senior citizen to pen the following procedure to ensure transparency in Electoral Reforms under the new Constitution with a short preamble. It is public knowledge that a Presidential committee of legal experts was appointed to submit a draft report on the proposed New Constitution. more..

Nov 13 (ST) This week at a television discussion, the interviewer asked me an interesting question: “What is your view on selling Sri Lanka’s valuable resources to foreigners – particularly, stakes of public enterprises and pieces of the country’s valuable land?” I knew that the question had some relevance to the current discussions on selling such assets to foreign companies. It was just two weeks ago I wrote in this column about the sale of the100 percent stake of Air India to the Tata group. more..

Nov 13 (TM) Covid-19 pandemic has imposed many unpreceded challenges on humanity. Unimaginable losses, grief, separations, lockdowns and interrupted lifestyles have caused collective impact on mental wellbeing. Children and adolescents are being deeply affected by the school closure extended nearly for 2 years and the struggles with adapting to online learning. With the gradual reduction in the number of Covid-19 more..

Nov 13 (DM) Popular Tamil cinema actor Gemini Ganesan whose 101st birth anniversary falls on Nov 17th is regarded widely as the greatest romantic lover in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning more than five decades Gemini Ganesan made his mark in Tamil films as the romantic hero par excellence. In fact he was dubbed Kaadhal Mannan, meaning King of Romance. What is most interesting about Gemini Ganesan is the fact that his romantic on-screen and off-screen persona got intertwined more..

Nov 13 (CT) The Govt, on 29 Oct 2021, issuing a Gazette Notification announced that all pensioners would be compulsorily included in an insurance scheme, whereby Rs 600 was to be deducted from every pensioner each month. The pensioners were given a brief window to opt out of the scheme, failing which they would be automatically included in the scheme for life, with no chance of getting out later. This scheme, an extension of the Agrahara Insurance Scheme already in place for more..

Nov 13 (Island) I am not a fan of natural gas either in its gaseous state NG or the liquefied state LNG, both of which are very much under discussion now locally and at COP 26 in Glasgow. At the same time, I would like to consider myself a realist with the wellbeing and needs of Sri Lanka receiving the highest priority. Natural gas, mostly Methane (CH4), is present in deep underground strata in large pockets or closer to the surface in a more dispersed manner, emanating from decaying biomass more..

Nov 13 (Island) From mess to mess we stagger on. Strikes are still on between pedagogues and farmers. They, particularly the massed principals and teachers, bunch themselves up, masked they may be but the force of their vituperation would surely send germs, viruses, even COVID-19 fat coated protein filtering out of their masks and infecting the entire area. So, we stay-at-home-obeyers of health restrictions too are in danger. To add fuel to the fire of SL worker unrest, news on Wednesday, more..

Nov 13 (CT) Former West Indies skipper Darren Sammy cannot boast of many stand-out individual performances or statistics to show his class as batter or bowler, but as a leader he has two T20 World Cup titles under his belt and another semi-final appearance, and is the most successful T20I World Cup skipper of all time. Sammy - much like present SL skipper Dasun Shanaka - played down the order as a hard-hitting batter, more..

Nov 13 (ME) On Sept 30, Adani Group, India’s largest private port operator, signed what has been reported as a $700 million agreement to build a new container terminal in Sri Lanka. The deal to jointly develop the Colombo West International Container Terminal (CWICT) with SL’s largest listed company, John Keells Holdings and the Sri Lankan Ports Authority, will function under a build-operate-transfer arrangement for 35 years. Adani Ports will hold a 51% stake in the terminal partnership, more..

Nov 13 (CT) The triple crises in Sri Lanka -the economic, the epidemiological, and the political- appear to be aggravating day by day. Although many countries suffered from a COVID-19 outbreak are slowly but gradually coming out of the economic crisis created by the pandemic, there are no signs of such a development in Sri Lanka. The prices of all essential goods have rocketed. Farmers are still indecisive as to whether they cultivate or not for the Maha season. more..

Nov 13 (ST) “I told them I would kill myself.” Now 20, she was 17-years-old when they tried to wed her to a 30-year-old man. She threatened her parents with suicide, she said. She knew she was entitled to an education, to university, and she resorted to the most desperate threat to hold on to her future. Loopholes in the marriage registration system and personal laws like the Muslim Marriage & Divorce Act (MMDA) more..

Nov 13 (FT) Amid Hindu religious rites and rituals, General Shavendra Silva, Commander of the Army, during a visit to the SFHQ-J on Wednesday (3) was invited by the 51 Division HQ to symbolically warm and vest an Army-built new house in a widowed family, resident in Uduvil, Jaffna. The project, sponsored by the Church of the American Ceylon Mission in Jaffna, was made a reality by the 9 SL Light Infantry (SLLI) Regiment troops who volunteered with their manpower, technical more..

Nov 13 (ST) A family of three in Kirimaduthenna, Passara who miraculously escaped death after torrential rains destroyed their home completely are seeking help to rebuild their lives. Continuous rains had resulted in an earth slip that dragged down their house about 800 feet. The owner of the house K.D. Lionel had been staying the night over at his shop and his wife and daughter had been visiting relatives at the time of the tragedy. “My 14-year-old daughter and I had gone to Obbegoda,” more..

Nov 13 (Reuters) Knee deep in mud and sprinkling rice seeds over two acres of land in Sri Lanka late last month, D.M. Rupasinghe said he was worried about his crop following a govt decision to ban imports of chemical fertilisers. The ban on chemical fertilisers, as well as pesticides and herbicides, was introduced by Prez Rajapaksa's govt in May for environmental reasons but it has plunged the sector into crisis. Rupasinghe, 57, said the govt had told farmers to switch to organic farming more..

Nov 13 (DM) Open-source technology provider WSO2 announced that the company has closed US $ 90 million in financing from client vehicles advised by Goldman Sachs Asset Management Private Credit. The flexible capital solution will be used to accelerate WSO2’s worldwide business expansion, drive growth of the company’s global partner network and support the roll-out of its next-generation, cloud-native solutions for securely delivering APIs, applications, digital services. more..

Nov 13 (PMD) Prez Rajapaksa declared open the National Defence College, today (11). National Defence College (NDC) was established as the premier institute that promotes strategic thinking for the senior officers of the tri-service, Police and Public Service to provide holistic knowledge in view of developing highly qualified strategic decision-makers in the realm of national security, statecraft, diplomacy & public policy more..

Nov 13 (ST) Ironically my first association with Shan was not as a team mate but as an opponent in 1983. Called in by Kandy Sports Club at the end of the school season to take on newly crowned ‘A’ Division champions CH&FC in the knockout tournament at Nittawela, where as a naïve schoolboy I was told my task was partly to take care of Shan Perera head on, in order to not provide him any space, not realising there weren’t many takers at Kandy who wanted that job. I can’t remember how many times more..

Nov 13 (ST) SL has seen a massive rise in awareness in technology. The nation has a very promising potential to build itself as a destination for technology-based services and products. In fact, this industry holds the fifth highest foreign revenue for SL as of now. Following the end of the civil war in 2009, the technology sector was one in which SL placed high hopes. However, the target of achieving the desired revenue per year was not accomplished. Target of achieving US$3b by 2025 was set, more..

Nov 13 (EN) SL’s budget for 2022 has proposed new taxes after a value added tax cut in 2019 for fiscal stimulus devastated state revenues, triggering money printing which has resulted in a balance of payments crisis. The budget proposed to raise revenues from a revised 1,556 billion rupees in 2021 (9.4% of GDP) to 2,284 billion rupees (12.3% of GDP) in 2022. Authorities hope to bring the deficit down from 1,826 bil rupees (11.1% of GDP) more..

Nov 13 (FT) Govt’s Budget 2022 yesterday outlined several initiatives to boost much-needed Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) whilst highlighting some of the issues. The new moves, their effectiveness, as well as the challenges will specifically come under the spotlight at the popular Daily FT-Colombo Uni MBA Alumni Association organised post-Budget forum on Monday (15) at The Kingsbury from Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s 2022 Budget laid heavy emphasis on attracting FDIs, more..

Nov 13 (DN) SL Women’s cricket team will leave for Zimbabwe on Monday (15) to take part in the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier which is scheduled to be held from Nov 21 to Dec 5 in Harare. Sri Lanka is grouped with Netherlands, Ireland, West Indies, Papua New Guinea in Group A while the five-team Group B comprises Bangladesh, Pakistan, Thailand, USA, and Zimbabwe. The top three teams from the qualifier will progress to the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup in NZ from March 4 to April 3. more..

Nov 13 (UCAN) The SL govt has decided to hear all cases related to the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks on a daily basis even as Catholic bishops questioned its sincerity in conducting the investigations. The local Church has been demanding implementation of the recommendations of the PCoI into the attacks that left 269 people dead and over 500 injured. Speaking in the national parliament on Nov. 11, Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera, minister of public security, said cases related to the 24 main suspects more..

Nov 13 (DM) Lawyer Panduka Keerthinanda will take reigns of the Royal Turf Club (RTC) as its sixth President while former Committee Member Ryota Hakariya has been elected as Secretary. Keerthinanda, who enjoyed a successful tenure at the top position previously, will be succeeding Nihara Jayatilake who was the first female to head an equestrian sports club in the Asian region. Following her resignation in April, the RTC continued the show with a vacant top-seat, but with more..

Nov 13 (EN) Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa targeted big firms big firms, spectrum auctions and a cascading turnover tax to boost revenues as the economy struggles back from a Coronavirus pandemic. Rajapaksa’s maiden budget is aiming to increase revenues by 333 billion SL rupees (US$ 1.64 billion) for the cash-strapped govt that is faced with both an external debt crisis and ballooning budget deficit. more..

Nov 13 (FT) SL’s COVID-19 detections rose to 548,784, with 723 persons testing positive for COVID-19 yesterday. The patients detected yesterday were from the New Year cluster. On Thursday, 715 persons tested positive for COVID-19 and 714 patients were from the New Year cluster and one patient was from the Prisons cluster. The Health Promotion Bureau states that 5,884 PCR tests and 3,388 rapid antigen tests were conducted on Thursday. A total of 443,960 patients more..

Nov 13 (EN) Sri Lanka will release around 700 vehicles which have been seized by Customs after applicable taxes are paid, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa said. “They have been stuck over several years,” Rajapaksa told parliament. “Some of them are rotting away (dirapath wenawa). “There are about 700 such vehicles.” Rajapaksa said the SL Customs had seized them for non-payment taxes as well as other reasons. SL has banned vehicle imports after printing money and more..

Nov 13 (CT) For the first time in the Board of Investment’s (BOI) 43-year history, All its Executive Directors, Directors and Unions have unanimously decided to unite against the actions taken by the Chairman, Sanjaya Mohottala and Director General Pasan Wanigasekara, claiming that certain measures taken by them were detrimental to the future existence of the BOI. The unity is against misuse of funds at the BOI. more..

Nov 13 (Island) President of the SL College of Paediatricians, Professor Shaman Rajindrajith said that they had already vaccinated over a million schoolchildren between the ages of 16 and 19. Moreover, 22,000 children with comorbidities, too, had been vaccinated, he said. “We are now giving the second dose to children with comorbidities. So far not a single instance of serious side effects has been reported. Those between 16 and 19 too have not reported any adverse reactions,” he said. more..

Nov 13 (CT) Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa accused that the Govt has presented a Somalia-like Appropriation Bill which deceives its citizenry. Speaking to the media after the Budget speech on Friday, he said, “The people hoped for a progressive budget for next year. But what did they get? They got only empty words from the Govt. They expected a people-friendly budget, but got a regressive one. This budget proposal lacks a proper plan and a systematic approach.” more..

Nov 13 (FT) Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa yesterday termed his maiden Budget presented in Parliament as a futuristic and people-centric budget that would deliver inclusive economic development and make SL prosperous, provided everyone rallies behind and supports the new framework. Unveiling a host of progressive and innovative proposals including reforms and several controversial one-off measures, Basil said more..

Nov 13 (FT) Sri Lanka has every opportunity to emerge as a fresh water fish exporter if we consider augmenting inland fishery production similar to what is being done in Vietnam. If a systematic approach can be adopted, augmentation of fresh water fish may bring about: Increase in exports; Give birth to many new entrepreneurs in the MSME sector; Provide gainful employment to thousands of people; Will provide the much-needed protein content in the diet of the rural communities in our country more..

Nov 13 (FT) Vilifying private spending in higher education is a favourite past time of students and teachers in public universities and trade unions of Govt employees such as the GMOA and teacher unions. Politicians happily join the fray, especially if there is nothing to show for their time in Govt. Dr. Neville Fernando invested his own money to start SAITM, a private university that included a medical faculty, and he and the institution were hounded until SAITM closed down. more..

Nov 13 (AD) The second reading debate of Budget 2022 is scheduled to be held for seven days from today (Nov 13) until Monday (22). The vote on the second reading of the budget will take place at 5 p.m. on Monday. Meanwhile, the Committee Stage Debate will commence on Tuesday (23) and will continue for 16 days, including Saturday, until Friday (Dec 10). Third reading vote will be held on Dec 10th at 5 pm. The 2022 Budget was tabled in the House by the Minister Basil Rajapaksa at 2 p.m. more..