Feb 1 (DM) Although SL’s vaccination programme against COVID-19 has been hailed by many the prospects of attaining herd immunity or the Community immunity is still in the balance. According to the Health Ministry only around 14 million out of a population of around 22 million in the country have been fully vaccinated or given two doses of vaccines. This is just 63%. Herd immunity, according to medical experts occurs when a significant portion of a population becomes more..

Feb 1 (DM) For the past 20 years or more different govts which ruled our country have borrowed large sums of money, amounting to millions of US$. Much of these funds have either been spirited away via corruption rackets running into millions of dollars or or have been expended on projects which have not had a capacity to bring in income sufficient to repay the said loans. Two classic examples stand out -the bond scam (an example of mega corruption) and the construction of the Mattala airport more..

Feb 1 (DM) Lord Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, Minister for Central and South Asia in the UK who arrived in Sri Lanka recently speaks to Daily Mirror in an exclusive interview about bilateral relations, the UNHRC process on SL, the current economic challenges of Sri Lanka. During his stay in the country, he interacted with the leaders of the Govt including Prez Rajapaksa. He also visited the north and the east to see projects more..

Feb 1 (DM) The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI) in partnership with the Delegation of the European Union to SL and the Maldives hosted a half-day conference on the theme, The EU Indo-Pacific Strategy through SL’s Lens: Opportunities for Cooperation and Partnership on Jan 27 2022. The event supported by the Delegation of the European Union to SL and the Maldives and the Friedrich Neumann Foundation was organized more..

Feb 1 (CT) The lead story of this newspaper yesterday said the JVP-led JJB’s Gampaha District Party Convention held on Sunday was pelted with stones and eggs. The meeting was presided over by JVP and JJB leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake (MP), the target of this attack. Dissanayake’s vehicle was damaged and some of his bodyguards were injured. Two persons arrested in this connection have confessed that they carried out this attack on orders of a powerful politician in Gampaha. more..

Feb 1 (CT) Palm oil is said to be one of the world’s most commonly used vegetable oils, present in around half of the frequently used food and consumer products, from snacks to cosmetics. The rapid expansion in use is attributed to yields nearly four times that of other vegetable oil crops and with similar production costs. The direct environmental impact and indirect health impact of oil palm cultivation is high in South-East Asia. more..

Feb 1 (ST) High jinks in high places are common enough that average man, as DH Lawrence once called them, takes these often sordid happenings, as a part of everyday life they can do little about and those who can don’t. What is intolerable though is when politicians in and with power and their acolytes with access to power rob and mislead the very people they claim to serve. How often does one hear of corruption, fraud, abuse and misuse of power and a cynical disdain for laws that other citizens more..

Feb 1 (TM) After a meeting between several prominent politicians representing both the Govt and Opposition parties, TNA Spokesman President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran on Sunday (30) urged the Govt to restructure SL’s external debt obligations, and focus on protecting economically disadvantaged groups from the prevailing economic crisis. “The Government’s emphasis on avoiding a default at any cost appears to be downplaying a fundamental question – can our people eat? more..

Feb 1 (Island) JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake came under a goon attack at the NPP district convention at Kalagedihena, Gampaha on Sunday. He had some eggs thrown at him. A similar attack took place in Pettah recently, during a JVP protest march led by Dissanayake. It behoves all those who cherish democracy to take such incidents very seriously, condemn them unreservedly and ratchet up pressure on the govt to prevent them, for there is the possibility of the violent elements more..

Feb 1 (Island) The day starts with friends calling and asking, Machan, any power cuts today? The main item of news on television is also of possible power cuts. Even overseas television stations carry news about possible power cuts in SL. In SL, a potential power cut of even one hour is viewed with trepidation. Despite the issue of power cuts being of great importance to the public and being constantly in the news, none of us knows what the future holds. No one seems to know what needs to be more..

Feb 1 (ST) Govt has not yet settled a claim of around Rs 5bn from the project consultants for the Japan International Cooperation Agency-funded Light Rail Transit (LRT) for work already done, expenses and loss of profit caused by the cancellation of the project in 2020. The consultants are a joint venture between Oriental Consultants Global of Japan and SL’s Consulting Engineers & Architects Associated. more..

Feb 1 (FT) Booster dose coverage in the country has risen to 35.6% among the population over 20 years, but a drop in daily vaccination numbers was seen with only 25,121 persons receiving a COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday. 5,200,047 persons have received the booster dose in the country. This includes 21,414 persons vaccinated on Sunday. Health officials continue to urge the public to get vaccinated. “All pregnant women can receive the booster dose 3 months after the 2nd dose,” more..

Feb 1 (FT) Daily COVID-19 detections remained over 1,000 for the second consecutive day with 1,082 persons testing positive for COVID-19 yesterday. The patients detected include 1,076 persons from the New Year cluster and six overseas arrivals. The previous day, 1,054 persons from the New Year cluster and two Sri Lankan overseas arrivals tested positive for COVID-19. 8,207 PCR tests and 4,296 rapid antigen tests were conducted on Sunday. more..

Feb 1 (FT) Reaffirming worsening cost of living, inflation in January has increased to 14.2% up from 12.1% in December. The year-on-year (YoY) food inflation increased to 25%, up from 22.1% in December, and the year-on-year inflation of Non Food Group increased to 9.2% in January 2022 from 7.5% in December 2021. The moving average inflation rate for the month of January 2022 is 6.9%. more..

Feb 1 (ST) The status of SL’s men’s team has flighted and flourished, leave aside their performance. But how about the status of the nation’s women’s team? Is it only hardly noticed and grabs the attention only whenever an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence is recorded? Even for these to happen, that is, the status of women’s cricket becoming half of their men’s level, Apsari Tilakaratne, convenor of women’s cricket but above all, doing a significant, substantial and more..

Feb 1 (Island) Debarwewa Central College in the Hambantota district has a good cricketing heritage having produced a Test captain in Suranga Lakmal but has fallen on hard times trying to maintain their cricket activities. The school received a generous sponsorship from Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club for a three year period. The club will donate a sum of Rs. 250,000.00 to the school annually. Cricket team of Tamil Union, led by Lakmal visited Debarawewa Central College on more..

Feb 1 (Island) SL’s Sachin Dias and Thilini Hendahewa overcame India’s MR Arjun and Treesa Jolly 21-16, 22-20 in a final that lasted 36 minutes to clinch the Mixed Doubles title at the Odisha Open Super 100 badminton tournament in Cuttack on Sunday. SL Badminton Association termed it as a historic feat and said that it could be considered as one of their biggest career achievements. “This is the first Super 100 championship title won by SL. We are so proud of our achievement,” more..

Feb 1 (FT) The Board Trustees of Mahapola Higher Education Scholarship Trust Fund has decided to operate a Mahapola Online Lottery and has called for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) from both local and international firms. The Trade Ministry’s Procurement Committee has called for EOIs by 28 February from reputed international and local firms with proven experience of over 10 years in lottery implementation and management either globally or on a national scale. more..

Feb 1 (TM) The Water Supply Ministry is currently in the process of preparing a cabinet proposal seeking permission to recover the due payments from the monthly salaries or pensions of ministers and MPs who continue to default on their water bills, The Morning learnt. It was revealed last week that more than 45 current and former ministers and MPs have not paid the water bills of their official and private residences for years. more..

Feb 1 (CT) The first step in finding a solution is the need for SL economic policymakers to understand the seriousness of the Forex crisis, Professor of Economics at the Arndt-Corden Department of Economics, Crawford School of Public Policy, and Australian National University Premachandra Athukorala said. “Admitting the severity of the problem is the first step towards finding a solution and the Ostrich approach to crisis management is not going to help the country,” he asserted. more..

Feb 1 (DN) He made these observations while making the keynote speech at the Daya Wettasinghe Oration ceremony last week. “Sri Lanka has sunshine around the year but the solar energy that SL generates is around 1% of our requirement. A European country that has 4 months of sunshine has 50% of their power generated from renewable energy. Why is it that we haven’t had any investments in renewable energy in the recent past?” he asked. more..

Feb 1 (Island) SJB lawmaker Mujibur Rahuman says the Attorney General’s Department hadn’t responded to his query pertaining to the withdrawal of indictments in a number of cases following the last presidential election in Nov. 2019, whereas the CIABOC side-stepped the query by sending only numbers of the cases. The former UNPer alleged that both the AG and the CIABOC hadn’t responded positively to his queries more..

Feb 1 (FT) SLs Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs) sector is getting nimbler following fresh capital infusion by several firms, as well as acquisition or amalgamation by others needing fresh funds and stability. The positive development is following the fast tracking of CB’s Masterplan for Consolidation of Non-Bank Financial Institutions. CBSL said that under the masterplan, nine finance companies had already introduced fresh capital of Rs. 12.56 bil to meet regulatory capital more..

Feb 1 (ST) Finance Ministry has tightened domestic borrowing while controlling expenditure of ministries, depts and state institutions owing to its rising debt payments this year. As per the existing budgetary estimates, the govt debt to GDP ratio is to decline to 101.7% of GDP in 2022 from 102.8% in 2021. SL Govt debt is projected to trend around Rs. 1.95 trillion in 2022 and Rs. 2.2 trillion in 2023 from Rs.1.65 trillion in 2021, according to econometric models and provisional estimates more..

Feb 1 (CT) SLT-MOBITEL has deployed Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solutions, reinforcing its commitment towards digital transformation and optimising operations for enterprise customers a spokesman for the Company said. To strengthen its customer process automation offering, SLT-MOBITEL has signed a strategic agreement with UiPath LLC, a leading software company in RPA technology recently. By partnering UiPath, SLT-MOBITEL is able to maximise the benefit of more..

Feb 1 (ST) The annual religious celebrations in the Kachchativu island to mark the feast of St Anthony will be held this year without Indian pilgrims due to the COVID19 situation. The decision was taken this week at a meeting presided over by Jaffna’s District Sectary K.Mahesan and attended by Jaffna’s Bishop the Rt. Rev. Justin Gnanapragasam, health officials and senior security personnel. Mr Mahesan said that based on the advice of the health authorities, Indian pilgrims would not be allowed to attend more..

Feb 1 (FT) An aggressive yet persuasive stance by the Public Utilities Commission (PUCSL) by ensuring there is no regular load shedding amidst the energy crisis has averted an economic loss of Rs. 31 billion in the past three weeks, it has been revealed. “Over Rs. 31 billion has been saved to the national economy from 8 to 31 January. This amount otherwise would have been the economic cost due to loss of electricity,” more..

Feb 1 (DM) Whilst the SJB is expecting that former MP Ranjan Ramanayake who is serving a prison sentence for contempt of court to be released on Feb 4, 2022, the Spokesman for Prisons Department Chandana Ekanayake said the matter could be confirmed by Thursday. “We have not received any information on the release of Mr. Ramanayake while the list of prisoners who will be released on Independence Day will be finalised by Thursday,” Mr. Ekanayake said. more..

Feb 1 (FT) The Gem and Jewellery Association (SLGJA) is gearing to create a unique Sri Lanka Sapphire experience to boost sales globally as well as to visiting tourists locally. SLGJA Vice Chairman Jewellery Segment Akram Cassim said that the jewellery industry has the potential of being one of the largest foreign exchange earners for the country. The industry also has the scope to generate more employment by adding more value to every tourist visiting the country, he added. more..

Feb 1 (CT) Director, Family Health Bureau (FHB), Dr. Chithramalee de Silva said 500 pregnant women are being treated for Covid-19. Dr. de Silva urged pregnant women to obtain the Covid-19 booster shot immediately. She said the booster dose can be obtained three months after the second dose. “There was a marked decline in maternal deaths after the Covid vaccine was rolled out for them in June 2021,” she added. more..

Feb 1 (ST) Across SL today, supermarket shelves are bare and restaurants are unable to serve full meals due to acute food shortages and high inflation. Families, like that of travel agent Banduka Karunaratne in Colombo, are eating two meals a day, if at all, and have reined in spending. Mr Karunaratne has had only one paid job in two years, guiding an Indian American family on a beach holiday last November. "Foreign tourists just disappeared during the Covid-19 pandemic, more..

Feb 1 (DM) SLFP Member of Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) Pradeep Jayewardene had come under attack with chilli powder by another member of CMC today. Mr. Jayewardene who is a grandson of late President J.R. Jayewardene said that a female member of the council threw water mixed with Chilli powder at him. “I was attacked by this female member of the council after I defeated her father who is also a member of CMC at the vote held to elect a chairman of Standing Committee more..

Feb 1 (FT) Govt has taken fresh measures to stabilise prices of essential goods amidst shortages due to global and local supply chain issues. With food prices rising by a record 21.5% in December, Minister Bandula Gunawardena said the new initiatives would help ease the cost of living on the people. Trade Ministry entered into a MoU with Coconut Development Authority (CDA) to sell large coconut at Rs.75 throughout the year, more..

Feb 1 (FT) If one said that 70% in SL are Sinhala Buddhists that would be an accurate statement. But we have people in high places saying that we are a Sinhala Buddhist country. That has a ring to it that connotes that the country belongs to the Sinhala Buddhists and that the rest will not have the same status, and rights as the Sinhala Buddhists. The end of the days with a level playing field. Those who sing the Sinhala Buddhist country theme, must clarify what migration from a country more..

Feb 1 (FT) The parliamentary procedures require an assessment of its performance; this is an opportune time to achieve a result-oriented approach. Introducing a system similar to the Executive Committees functioned under the Donoughmore Constitution would be an option for consideration. This suggestion had been made by several people on different occasions. However, no serious steps have been taken to make it effective. This is an appropriate time while the Committee more..

Feb 1 (Island) The Upali Group of Companies, its employees and sales agents countrywide, have made arrangements to invoke blessings on its Founder Upali Wijewardene, who disappeared 39 years ago. Bodhi Pooja, Pahan Pooja and an alms-giving will be held, in his memory, on Feb 13 (Sunday). On 11th Feb (Friday) 9 a.m. Holy Mass will be held at the Mattakkuliya De Mazenod House, opposite Carmelite Convent. A blood donation camp will be held at Kelani Raja Maha Viharaya more..