Feb 10 (FT) SJB called on Prez Rajapaksa to engage in a constructive dialogue with the opposition and all stakeholders to find a sustainable solution to the economic crisis that is crippling the nation. MP Dr. Harsha De Silva stated that neither the Govt nor the Central Bank seems to have a plan in hand to overcome the foreign exchange crisis and rising debt, and scoffed at statements made by the CB Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal that more..

Feb 10 (Island) UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday in Parliament asked the govt to give a date for a debate on an upcoming IMF report on Sri Lanka. Wickremesinghe said that the report would be published in the third week of this month. Therefore, it was better if the House could debate the report in the first week of March. The former PM said that such a debate would enable MPs to debate the content of the report without their party affiliations and Leader of the House should more..

Feb 10 (CT) Amid the continuous strike by non-medical health professionals and their expressed dissatisfaction of the Health Minister, another section of State health service employees breached the walls of the Health Ministry to stage a sit-in vowing that they would not budge until they are made permanent. The All Ceylon Dengue Prevention Assistants Union stormed the Health Ministry premises last afternoon demanding permanency in their jobs. Chairman S.R. Perera demanded more..

Feb 10 (FT) Prez Rajapaksa and PM Rajapaksa urged the public to rally around the Govt ushering an aggressive development drive without being deceived by the false propaganda of the power-hungry Opposition. The call on the masses by the duo in chorus was at the first major post-COVID political rally of the ruling SLPP in Anuradhapura. Both speeches were heavily weighted towards exposing the motives of more..

Feb 10 (FT) There is a right way and a wrong way to defend the country and/or the govt. SrL’s High Commissioner to Canada, Harsha Navaratna, showed the right way in a fact-based and reasoned rebuttal—yet, open to dialogue—of the wholly ludicrous genocide resolution passed by the Ontario legislature. By stark contrast, the Foreign Ministry’s aggressive and slyly sinister attack on Ambika Satkunanathan impacts GoSL’s case in Brussels for GSP+, at the UNHRC and on Capitol Hill more..

Feb 10 (FT) Until September last year the US Dollar (USD)-SL Rupee (SLR) exchange rate was determined on the basis of a managed float. This meant that demand and supply of USD in the market were the primary determinants of the exchange rate. Official (Central Bank) market intervention, by way of sale or purchase of USD in limited quantities, smoothened out any large fluctuations in the exchange rate, when needed. In Sept 2021 the Central Bank (CB) set an upper limit of more..

Feb 10 (ENS) Fishermen representatives from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry urged SL Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda for a peaceful resolution to the conflict between the countries. At a meeting organised by SL Deputy High Commissioner D Venkateshwaran at his office in Chennai on Tuesday, fishermen representatives from districts like Nagapattinam, Karaikal, Pudukkottai, and Ramanathapuram interacted with Minister Devananda via video-conferencing and more..

Feb 10 (DM) Former SL cricket captain and ICC Elite Panel Match Referee Roshan Mahanama said he had to face difficulties in clearing security to board the flight to Pakistan as he did not possess a vaccine card with all three vaccines from SL. In a statement Mahanama said he had received his 1st COIVD vaccine in SL while the 2nd and 3rd doses were from the UK as he was in the country due to family commitments. After facing the unfortunate incident, he has requested health authorities more..

Feb 10 (EN) The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has asked the public to minimise electricity use during night-time peak hours and support the CEB to provide electricity without power shedding. In a statement issued on Wednesday (09), PUCSL asked consumers to refrain from using high electricity consuming household devices such as hot plates, water heaters, irons, washing machines and more..

Feb 10 (AD) New chairpersons have been appointed to the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and Committee on Public Finance (COPF). Accordingly, SLPP MP Prof. Charitha Herath will serve as the chair of the Committee on Public Enterprises. In the meantime, SLPP MP Anura Priyadharshana Yapa was re-elected to serve as the chairperson of the Committee on Public Finance. His name has been nominated by MP Prof. Ranjith Bandara. New members of COPE were announced by more..

Feb 10 (EN) Sri Lanka police has arrested the parents and grandmother of a 10-year-old boy who died from a phlegm blockage allegedly as a result of their refusal to treat the boy choosing instead to pray away his sickness. The adult guardians were arrested on grounds of negligence, police said. Complaints had been lodged to local authorities by residents of Andimulla, Badalgama, due to an unpleasant stench, and during investigations the body was found in one of the rooms. more..

Feb 10 (DM) Health experts on ground yesterday sounded alarm bells as the country was presently sweeping through an Omicron wave with nearly 20,000 people infected within the past 10 days alone. While hospitalisations were still less compared to Delta wave due to a majority of people being vaccinated, health experts urged people to receive their booster doses without further delay in order to minimise the symptoms if infected. more..

Feb 10 (AD) Mayor of the Hambantota Municipal Council Eraj Fernando has resigned from his position due to personal reasons. Participating in the ongoing monthly session of the council, Mr. Fernando said that he will also be resigning from his post as a member of the Hambantota MC. Fernando was re-elected as the Mayor of the Hambantota Municipal Council at the 2018 Local Authorities Election after contesting from the UPFA. He had gained notoriety after being caught on more..

Feb 10 (DM) Laws should be introduced to take stern action against trade unionists who resort to strikes by crippling essential services and leaving the lives of innocent people in danger, Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardane said. He told Parliament that some trade union leaders with political objectives had launched a strike to create an anti-govt force. "Health service of any country is an essential service. There should be laws curbing strikes in sectors related to essential more..

Feb 10 (AD) The parents and the grandmother have been arrested over the death of a 10-year-old boy at a home in Badalgama. The boy had been sick since Monday (7) and the family had resorted to praying instead of giving him proper medical attention. The boy has passed away during the prayers. The boy had experienced a phlegm blockage from Feb 7 and his guardians had prayed for a speedy recovery and held a prayer service. Boy had died during the prayer service, and the parents and more..

Feb 10 (Island) The Supreme Court will resume hearing arguments supporting the Fundamental Rights Violation petitions challenging the Yugadanavi deal next Monday (14). The petitions have complained that the agreements between the govt of SL and the New Fortress Energy of New York, USA is in violation of the right to equality of the citizens of Sri Lanka and the generations to come. Hence the Court should cancel the agreement. Among the petitioners are the Venerable more..

Feb 10 (CT) Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told Parliament yesterday, the Ministry of Labour was opposed to taxing the money in the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF). In response to a question raised by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa over imposing a surcharge on the EPF, de Silva said, “The Inland Revenue Department has given an interpretation that the income earned by investing EPF and ETF should be taxed. more..

Feb 10 (DM) Plans are underway to promote Sri Lanka as a safe wedding destination, which would not only help uplift the hard-hit tourism industry but also the event management, fashion design and other supporting sectors that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to focusing on the high-potential MICE market, Sri Lanka Tourism will provide fresh impetus for wedding tourism as well. A separate portal will be launched by the SLTDA to support the endeavour. more..

Feb 10 (DM) The govt regulations are the major bottleneck that holds back the public and state sectors from embracing digitalisation, according to Digital Technology and Enterprise Development State Minister Namal Rajapaksa. “Unfortunately, though most of the govt leaders speak about digitalisation, we don’t realise that our own regulations and Acts in Parliament don’t allow us to transform the manual system to digital system,” said Rajapaksa, who is also the Youth & Sports more..

Feb 10 (CT) Department of Prisons presented Minister of Justice Ali Sabry with a project proposal on implementing a house arrest project in SL as an alternative to imprisonment. According to the proposal, offenders who are remanded for minor offences could be confined to their own homes for a set period rather than being imprisoned. This was presented to the Minister by the Commissioner General of Prisons, Thushara Upuldeniya, more..

Feb 10 (AD) Former Prez Maithripala Sirisena has left for Seoul, South Korea to attend the 2022 World Summit for Peace on the Korean Peninsula. Mr. Sirisena is expected to deliver the keynote address at this summit. Keynote speakers and participants from 157 nations will address both an in-person audience and a global virtual audience about the prospects for the peaceful reconciliation of the Korean Peninsula. More than one thousand are expected to gather in Seoul and more..

Feb 10 (Island) 28 Land Cruisers and one Prado are among vehicles and equipment handed over by Japan to SL yesterday for what the Japanese Embassy called counter-terrorism surveillance and investigations. The Japanese Embassy said that Ambassador Mizukoshi Hideaki had handed over counter-terrorism surveillance and investigation vehicles and narcotic analyzers to Prez Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat Office. A spokesperson said: “In response to more..

Feb 10 (CT) Land to set up a sugar factory in Wellassa was obtained following approval granted by Dr. Senarath Dissanayake, former Director General of the Department of Archaeological who is now a front-liner against the Bibile Sugar Corporation Project in Wellassa, the local agent of the project claimed. The company alleged that Dr. Dissanayake approved the project during his stint as Archaeology DG and that the latter had issued a letter to this effect dated 29 May 2008. more..

Feb 10 (AD) The District Court of Colombo has issued two enjoining orders against the Govt Nursing Officers’ Association and its chairman Saman Ratnapriya calling for the immediate suspension of their trade union action. The enjoining orders were issued after taking into account a request made by the Attorney General. He had filed action against the said union and its chairman, seeking an enjoining order from the court to immediately suspend the trade union action more..

Feb 10 (AD) Bill to amend the Prevention of Terrorism Act No. 48 of 1979 was tabled in the parliament today by Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris. After the Bill was presented, TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran quoted the Justice Minister as saying that the PTA would be totally repealed. In response, the Foreign Minister said, “All these criticisms can be made on the floor of parliament when this Bill is debated. It is presented in keeping with more..

Feb 10 (CT) UNP Senior Vice Chairman Sagala Ratnayaka has been appointed acting National Organiser of the party, following Navin Dissanayake’s pull out. The latter was appointed last year and since he was not satisfied with the party’s reorganising procedure had not taken up the post. Dissanayake said he and Arjuna Ranatunge had said that changing chairs within the party would not make a difference. “The party must be completely reorganised. If we fail to do so, more..

Feb 10 (AD) The Director General of Health Services has confirmed another 31 coronavirus related deaths for February 09, pushing the death toll in the country due to the virus to 15,723. The fatalities reported today includes 16 males and 15 females. Five of the victims are between the ages 30-59 years while the remaining 26 are in the age group of 60 years and above. Meanwhile this also brings the Covid-19 deaths reported in the country within the last three days to over 100. more..

Feb 10 (TM) Claiming that nearly 160 national schools islandwide do not have principals at present, Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) stated that the main reason for this is that the exam for the recruitment of officers to the SL Education Administrative Service (SLEAS) has not been held in five years. CTU President Priyantha Fernando said that although the first grade officers of the SLEAS should be appointed to the post of principals more..

Feb 10 (CI) Australia take the field for the first time as the men's T20 World Cup champions and only have nine months until they need to fight to keep it. Such is the cricket calendar in the era of playing Covid catch-up that this is the beginning of the next build-up. However, if things go to plan it should not be the most taxing of preparations for Australia (we'll leave aside for a moment the recent loss of a head coach). It will be in home conditions and there is unlikely to be much turnover in personnel more..

Feb 10 (TC) An investigation into an alleged attempt to fix matches in the recent Lanka Premier League has been opened. A complaint was lodged with Jagath Fonseka, head of the sports ministry's corruption prevention unit in Sri Lanka, following the conclusion of the recent Lanka Premier League. According to Fonseka, a leading batter reported to the unit that he had been approached with a view to fixing matches in the second edition of the tournament, which took place in December. more..

Feb 11 (TM) Today (11) the world celebrates a day dedicated to females in science. While SL has a high number of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), the recognition and support they receive are at an extremely low level. Needless to say, SL women are facing a plethora of issues due to the SL social construct, which is heteronormative in nature. Overcoming it is in fact the whole society’s responsibility, and a lot of attitudinal changes more..

Feb 11 (GV) Nearly three years have passed since the deadly 2019 Easter Sunday bombings. While failing to prosecute the actual perpetrators, the state has singlehandedly used the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) as a cudgel to persecute the entire Muslim minority. As was experienced by Tamils during the civil war, women are uniquely victimized by the state’s overreach – either collateral damage of PTA arrests or themselves targeted because of family ties with detained men. more..

Feb 11 (TM) Inflation has become a normal part of Sri Lankans’ everyday lives, and during the past few months, inflation has risen to an unbearable level. Inflation has affected almost all aspects of people’s lives. However, the rising cost of food is unlike other issues, as our existence depends on it. During the past few months, people have had to adjust their eating habits to match their income and the prices of food. more..

Feb 11 (DM) As the 9th Intake of officer cadets, we celebrate 41 years, since joining the SL Air Force on Feb 12, 1981. When we joined, the SL Air Force Air Chief Marshal Harry Goonetileke was the Commander. Just to reminiscence, we did our basic combat training at Diyathalawa as a batch of 30 cadets and one student officer all from leading schools. Whilst being under training at Diyathalawa the branches were allocated to us that encompassed a majority of the disciplines more..

Feb 11 (DM) The tea estate workers continue to be in the news, but their lives haven’t changed much. This is a country which has promised them much. Lawmakers have spoken aloud in parliament about them, but the main matter concerning them-the salary- has been akin to cold tea. Just the other day Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Palani Digambaram underscored the plight of estate workers and proposed the Govt of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to give these workers an addition of Rs 5000. more..

Feb 11 (ST) The Royal Botanic Gardens Peradeniya, beloved to Lankans and known simply as the Peradeniya Gardens celebrates a rare milestone on February 21 – its bicentenary. Founded by the British as a premier research institution for agriculture and plantation crops in the country, it was brought under the purview of the Department of Agriculture and in 2006, the Department of National Botanic Gardens more..