Aug 12 (Island) The Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa govt’s new Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution Bill was presented to Parliament on 10 August 2022. The earlier Bill, which was published in the Gazette in June 2022, lapsed as it was not presented before the recent prorogation of Parliament. The August Bill is an improvement on the June Bill from a Nineteenth Amendment perspective. Under 19A, Ministers and Deputy Ministers were appointed by the President more..

Aug 12 (CT) Startling evidence has now emerged that the newly appointed Director General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka P.A. Jayakantha was in fact an Air Force Officer attached to the Volunteer Force in the past whose services were terminated with the reasons highlighted as Withdrawal of Commission. This in fact was also documented in a Govt Gazette issued by the then President of SL Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga on the 31st of January 1997. more..

Aug 12 (FT) The Board of Investment (BOI) has surpassed the halfway mark of the $ 2.2 billion Committed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) target for 2022, which if realised would be thrice the value achieved last year. Amidst challenges, the BOI is confident of making 2022 a successful year with Director-General Renuka Weerakone expressing optimism in view of on-going initiatives to make it a seamless investment more..

Aug 12 (FT) Minister of Justice has instructed officials to expedite measures to take legal action and secure damages for the devastation caused by the MV -X Press Pearl fire. More than a year has passed since the vessel carrying a hazardous chemical cargo caught fire on 20 May 2021 while at anchorage 9.5 nm off Colombo Harbour. The fire and ensuing chemical leak caused serious damage to SL’s marine environment. It has been called the single worst incident of plastic marine more..

Aug 12 (FT) Hemas Holdings has continued to be resilient amidst challenging macroeconomic conditions to post a Group revenue of Rs. 24.8 billion in 1Q of FY23, an increase of 51.4% over the same period last year. Group CEO Kasturi Wilson said despite the macroeconomic challenges, Hemas continued strategic focus on defensive core sectors resulted in a growth in revenue of 17.7% for the Group against last quarter. Consumer and Healthcare Sectors contributed to improved more..

Aug 12 (CT) Wing attacker Gayanjali Amarawansha is likely to lead SL’s 12-member squad at the upcoming Asian Netball Championship 2022 which will run from 3-11 Sept at OCBC Arena, Singapore. Gayanjali has received high honours from a young age and has remained very grounded and focused on excelling at netball. The 27-year-old was also a member of the 2019 World Cup squad. Meanwhile, another bright prospect, young Dulangi Wannithilake, is likely to be appointed more..

Aug 12 (Island) Trainocate, being Asia’s largest IT and human capability development training provider, in a bid to create demand for future ICT related employees will be commencing a mega training program in Sri Lanka targeting youth and corporates. “With the rapid advancements in digitalization and digital services driven by AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), cyber security and 5G, old paradigms and business models are being challenged. more..

Aug 12 (TM) Sri Lanka received 47,293 tourists during the month of July this year despite the prevailing economic crisis, as per the SLTDA monthly report. Accordingly, the highest number of tourists arrived in the country from the UK – despite a travel advisory issued by its Govt – amounting to 9,257 arrivals. Meanwhile, the second- and third-highest sources of arrivals were India (6,031) and Germany (3,666), respectively. more..

Aug 12 (TM) Amidst reports of a conflict that has arisen between private bus owners’ associations and the National Transport Commission (NTC) following a discussion between the two on Wednesday (10) regarding the recent bus fare revision, the All-Ceylon Private Bus Owners’ Association (ACPBOA) stated that the conflict was not due to the reduction of bus fares, but due to the NTC’s alleged refusal to provide information related to the fare revision in the Sinhala language to bus owners. more..

Aug 12 (DN) For the first time, Abans PLC, partnered with EWIS Colombo Ltd (ECL), to produce and market locally assembled smartphones. These would be 4G enabled and would be available in the market this year. In addition, this partnership will also assemble smart UHD TVs from 32 inch to 55 inch and also engage in the assembly and manufacture of laptops. ECL CEO, Sanjeewa Wickramanayaka said all products assembled in will have a minimum local value addition of 35% more..

Aug 12 (SBS) Former SL president Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived in Thailand on Thursday to seek temporary shelter in a second Southeast Asian country after fleeing his island nation last month amid mass protests. Mr Rajapaksa arrived at Bangkok's Don Muang airport on a chartered flight from Singapore after the city-state's immigration authority said in a statement on Thursday he had left Singapore. more..

Aug 12 (FT) Guided by its highly experienced and skilled corporate management team, JAT Holdings PLC has achieved its highest-ever first-quarter revenue in FY 2022/23. The Group has also performed exceptionally well, across a range of other financial performance indicators, defying industry trends, amidst a highly challenging economic environment. Total Revenue for Q1 grew by a very handsome 39% to Rs. 1.935 billion, against Rs. 1.396 billion in corresponding more..

Aug 12 (EN) Sri Lanka plans to use 20 million US dollars from a billion US dollar credit line from India to import maize to make animal feed, Trade and Food Security Minister Nalin Fernando said. “One of the biggest problems we had in recent months was the difficulty in getting raw materials for poultry farmers to make feed,” he told parliament. “That is one reason the price of chicken and eggs went up so sharply. “So we have allocated US$ 20 million from the Indian credit line to import maize.” more..

Aug 12 (DM) Transshipment container volumes at the Port of Colombo in June took a blow from the political crisis and social unrest that prevailed in the country, which raised law and order concerns among main shipping lines. In June, the container transshipment volumes declined by 4.5% Year-on-Year (YoY) to 483,070 TEUs, as the main shipping lines moved to alternative routes avoiding Port of Colombo, as they were disturbed by political crisis and social unrest prevailed in the country. more..

Aug 12 (CT) Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe has said chairpersons of the parliamentary committees will be given equal power and representation and will be required to attend Cabinet discussions when necessary. He said this when he met leaders of several Opposition Parties for a discussion on the formation of an All-Party Govt on Wednesday. During the meeting, Wickremesinghe said his aim is to prepare a governance structure with fair representation of each party in Parliament. more..

Aug 12 (TM) Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe PC said that he has made a recommendation to Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe to grant a pardon to former SJB MP Ranjan Ramanayake, who is serving a four-year term of rigorous imprisonment over contempt of court – but only after the latter submits an affidavit to the court expressing his regret for the statement in question he made regarding the Judiciary. more..

Aug 12 (Island) Director of the Sustainable Finance Hub of the UNDP Marcos Neto has called the decision to do away with a range of taxes here a fundamental mistake committed by SL. The comment was made at the Parliament complex during an interactive dialogue on Revenue Generation as a Pathway to SL’s Economic Recovery on Tuesday (09). It was organised on a request by Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, former Chair of Committee on Public Finance to UNDP. more..

Aug 12 (CT) Batagodage Wesley Keerthi Kumara, the kapuwa of Metaramba Sathara Maha Dewalaya in Unawatuna was arrested by the CID over accusation of sexually molesting a number of students at a popular boys’ school in Galle. He was remanded by Court till 23 August yesterday. The students were aged between 9 and 12 years. The suspect has filmed these sexual activities and sold them to overseas buyers. According to CID sources, investigation on the suspect was commenced more..

Aug 12 (TM) TMTK Leader and Jaffna District MP C.V. Wigneswaran claimed that Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe had agreed to release all Tamil political prisoners, abolish the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), withdraw the Presidential Task Force (PTF) for Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province and halt related land grabs, demilitarise North & East, and end the Sinhalese colonisation of Tamil-majority areas. more..

Aug 12 (TM) While welcoming many aspects of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution Bill presented to Parliament this week, both the SLFP and SLPP independent MP Gevindu Cumaratunga have however opposed the provisions allowing for the increase of the number of Ministerial portfolios, in the context of the formation of a national Govt. The SLFP has meanwhile planned to appoint a committee to study the said Bill, which was presented by Minister Wijeyadasa more..

Aug 12 (Island) Ella is one of SL’s most popular destinations highly dependent on tourism. Today many tourism businesses are left high and dry because of the drastic drop in tourist arrivals to the area. However, tourism-dependent individuals and businesses in Ella breathed a sigh of relief yesterday on hearing the news that the Dept of Railways has made arrangements to run an inter-city super luxury train – Ella Odyssey – between Colombo and Badulla every Sat. from coming weekend. more..

Aug 12 (TM) Chinese space and satellite tracking research vessel Yuan Wang 5, which was scheduled to dock at Hambantota Port last morning (11), did not arrive at the port as scheduled, and instead remains 600 nautical miles away from the port, awaiting the necessary approvals, following a request by the Govt of SL to defer the arrival of the ship following concerns raised by the Govt of India. However, SLPA Harbour Master more..

Aug 12 (FT) The article I wrote titled Ranil’s Destiny and published in the Daily FT last week, had received the attention of a large number of readers; also there were several criticisms published against it. Many people in Sri Lanka seem to have lost the ability to think logically not only on the issue of the appointment of Ranil Wickremesinghe to the presidency but also on the issue of the crisis facing the country. I was surprised to watch a video where a leader of a leftist party was asking more..

Aug 12 (FT) I think there has been a major misunderstanding of the Aragalaya, either purposefully or accidently as there was no official strategic department to define a single roadmap or promotional department to communicate the roadmap or the lack of it. Aragalaya was born naturally to express the displeasure of the general public who could not stand the failures of the govt that directly impacted their livelihoods. As the robber barons Rajapaksas headed by Gota became more..

Aug 12 (EN) Opposition lawmaker-turned govt backer Diana Gamage said the government must consider privatising the loss-making state-owned national carrier SriLankan Airlines. “It’s a huge burden on the govt and this is the time to [seriously consider] privatising it,” Gamage said speaking in parliament on Friday. Gamage called SL a broken nation, referring to the country’s worst economic crisis since independence. She did not, however, mention the reasons for the crisis, such as more..

Aug 12 (DM) The govt has reportedly taken over the handling of the diplomatic issue regarding the Yuan Wang 5 ship directly through the Chinese Embassy in Colombo instead of going through the Sri Lankan mission in Beijing, Daily Mirror learns. Sri Lanka asked China to postpone the port call of this ship following security threats cited by India. The Yuan Wang 5, en route from the Chinese port of Jiangyin, was due in the Chinese-run Sri Lankan port of Hambantota on Aug 11. more..

Aug 12 (EN) Opposition MP Harsha de Silva says he has no intention of joining a cabinet that comprises largely the same faces currently in power and will only support a genuine attempt at an all-party govt. Speaking in parliament on Friday on Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe’s policy statement, de Silva said while he agrees with the contents of the president’s speech, there are no visible signs of it being actively implemented. more..

Aug 12 (SLN) Pakistan Navy Ship (PNS) Taimur arrived at the port of Colombo on a formal visit this morning. The visiting ship was welcomed by the SL Navy in compliance with naval traditions. The 134m-long ship is commanded by Captain M Yasir Tahir and it is manned by 169 as the ship’s complement. In the meantime, the Commanding Officer of PNS Taimur is scheduled to call on Commander Western Naval Area at the Western Naval Command Headquarters today. more..

Aug 12 (AD) The notorious drug kingpin and the leader of an organized criminal gang in SL, Nadun Chinthaka alias Harak Kata has been arrested during a covert operation in Dubai. The raid was conducted by the Police Narcotics Bureau in coordination with the international police. The arrest was made when the suspect tried to flee to Malaysia with a woman who is said to be his wife. The sources further mention that the suspect has travelled to several countries using a fake more..

Aug 12 (EN) SL is built on loans and not on tax revenue, and social reform should come from all sectors, Minister Ramesh Pathirana said. Minister addressing parliament said SL has developed significantly in academics and infrastructure, but the country has been built on loans and not by income earned through taxation. “In 1948, only 10% of the households had electricity and now 99% of households have power more..

Aug 12 (AD) The Kandy Esala festival of the Temple of the Scared Tooth Relic in Kandy drew to an end today with the water-cutting ceremony held at the Mahaweli River in Getambe, early this morning (12). The final Randoli Perahera of the Kandy Esala festival paraded the streets last night (11) with usual pomp and pageantry. Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe also joined the occasion to witness the procession. Meanwhile, a huge crowd thronged also thronged to Kandy for the procession, which paraded more..

Aug 12 (AD) Colombo Magistrate Thilina Gamage has ordered to further remand four suspects including activist Dhaniz Ali until Aug 26, Ada Derana correspondent says. The accused were arrested in connection with the forcible entry to the Prez’s House and damaging its properties. Ali, a 31-year-old, from Webada in Kurunegala, was arrested on the night of July 26 while trying to fly out to Dubai on a flight from the BIA. He is also accused of forcibly entering SL Rupavahini Corporation with more..

Aug 12 (NR) MP Mano Ganesan says hunting down average citizens who entered the Prez’s House and the Temple Trees in recent days, has become the latest duty of Police officers. Speaking in Parliament today, MP Ganesan said the people were motivated to enter such places after observing the actions of certain security and police personnel. MP Mano Ganesan said people through videos saw several Police officers in uniform using the gyms or playing the piano at Prez’s House & Temples Trees. more..

Aug 12 (EN) A Catholic priest that was prominently involved in SL’s Aragalaya (Struggle) anti-govt protests has been released on bail hours after he surrendered to court. Father Jeevantha Peiris was released on bail by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court on Friday. Attorney-aw-law Lasantha Nanayakkara said that Fr Peiris was charged for allegedly being connected to a protest that was held in violation of a court order, for breaking into the Prez’s House and hosting a press conference more..

Aug 12 (Island) The SLMC has set several conditions for its support for the proposed National All-Party Programme. Among the SLMC’s demands are the immediate lifting of the emergency regulation, discontinuation of the ongoing wave of arrests, the jetitioning of reports commissioned by ex-Prez Rajapaksa and review of investigations into 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. The SLMC contested the last general election more..

Aug 12 (TM) Alliance of Trade Unions and Mass Organisations warns that a major social decline may occur in the country through the new programme proposed by the government to provide part-time employment opportunities to school-age children. General secretary of the CTU, Joseph Stalin claimed that the govt is planning on providing children of school age with the opportunity to work in the private sector for 20 hours per month and that it intends to amend laws for this purpose. more..