Jul 20 (TM) Acting Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe, NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and SLPP MP Dullas Alahapperuma are the nominees for the Presidential ballot to be held today, after SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa pulled out at the eleventh hour to form an alliance with Alahapperuma, under which, if he wins, Premadasa will become the PM. In the Parliament yesterday, Wickremesinghe’s candidacy was proposed more..

Jul 20 (TM) A total of 80% of the pre-bookings of hotels in Sri Lanka by foreign tourists have been cancelled. Hotels Association of SL (THASL) Head M. Shanthikumar said that the arrival of tourists has dropped by 40%. “Normally, we get around 125,000 tourists in the month of July, but this year we only received 25,000. Most of the cancellations were reported from Europe & UK.” Shanthikumar said that these countries have issued travel warnings on SL, adding that the instability of the country and more..

Jul 20 (Island) Public Utilities Commission, said that power tariffs would be increased from the beginning of next month. PUCSL Chairman, Janaka Rathnayake, said that from August the existing electricity tariffs would be increased by 69%. He said that although the CEB had demanded a 130% tariff hike, the revision would be implemented by giving concessions to the lowest electricity consumers. However, he has recently said that despite the CEB seeking approval for 82% tariff hike, more..

Jul 20 (FT) The all-important Presidency will come up for a secret ballot today morning in Parliament with a close fight expected among the top two contenders in the 3-cornered battle. When nominations were called in yesterday in Parliament, Acting Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe was proposed by SLPP MP Dinesh Gunawardena who is tipped to be PM candidate and seconded by Manusha Nanayakkara. more..

Jul 20 (FT) An expert panel discussion on Surviving the Current Economic Crisis: Ex-Central Bankers in Dialogue was held in early June. Some speakers stressed that the need of the hour is an independent Central Bank (CBSL). But its relevance or impact on surviving the current economic crisis was not spelt out. May be we ignorant laymen could not understand. Perhaps independence may be for the survival of the CB and its officers who spend time in cold rooms away from the crisis. more..

Jul 20 (FT) With recent events, the youth of SL has shown its efficacy in enacting change to substantial political and social systems in SL. A key reason for these mass youth gatherings (Aragalaya) was that people were failing to fulfil their basic human needs and, in order to change this, inherent systemic changes were necessary. However, now a window of opportunity has opened for future generations to change the way in which their country operates. The issues start here because choosing a correct more..

Jul 20 (SLN) SL Navy seized a dinghy carrying about 575kg and 600g (wet weight) of Kerala cannabis and held 02 suspects, during a special operation carried out in seas off Old Casuarina Beach of Karainagar, Jaffna in the dark hours of 19th July. The Navy has been ever alert to prevent drug smuggling and other forms of illegal activities taking place via seas around the island. As an extension of these efforts, this special search operation was mounted off Old Casuarina more..

Jul 20 (AD) Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage today ordered the 4 suspects who were involved in the torching of the newly-elected Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence to be remanded in custody. When the complaint was called today, CID, which is conducting further investigations regarding the incident, submitted a report to the court, containing the progress of the investigations. After taking the report into consideration, the magistrate ordered more..

Jul 20 (AD) Parliament today elected Acting Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe as the 8th Executive Prez of Sri Lanka by majority votes. In a secret ballot that got underway in the House this morning, the MPs voted to elect a succeeding Prez to fill in the post left vacant after the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa last week. In the 225-member parliament, 223 had cast their votes and four were declared invalid. more..

Jul 20 (EN) Samanpriya Herath, a legislator from SLPP casted his vote at the parliament whilst receiving saline carried by an aide, the live telecast visual showed on Wednesday. MPs are in the process of electing a new president after former leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned last week plunging the country into a deep political crisis. Secretary General of Parliament, Dhammika Dasanayake asked the house, “Samanpriya Herath will be given the chance more..

Jul 20 (AD) Ranil Wickremesinghe is to be sworn in as SL’s 8th Executive Prez at the Parliamentary complex tomorrow morning. SL Parliament today voted acting prez Ranil Wickremesinghe as the next Prez of the country. He won 134 of the total 219 votes that were found valid. The other main candidate, ruling party lawmaker Dullas Alahapperuma received 82 votes while the third candidate, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, got just 3 votes. Following his victory, more..

Jul 20 (ANI) India on Wednesday categorically denied media reports that New Delhi is making efforts at the political level to influence leaders in SL regarding elections in the Parliament for the post of the SL President. "We have seen baseless and purely speculative media reports about efforts at the political level from India to influence political leaders in SL regarding elections in the SL Parliament to the post of the Prez of SL," more..

Jul 20 (ANI) Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo after Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected as SL's Prez. Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was elected as SL's new Prez said that he was in a very difficult situation and that he faces big challenges ahead to lead the country out of the dire economic crisis. "The country is in a very difficult situation, we have big challenges ahead," Wickremesinghe said after defeating main rival Dullus Alahapperuma, more..

Jul 20 (EN) Speaker Mahinda Yapa has urged lawmakers who will vote to elect a new president, not to take their mobile phones to the polling booth as taking photos of the polling card is illegal-amid speculation that a party leader asked his party members to show the voted ballot to ensure they voted for a particular candidate. “Do not show your vote to anyone. Do not bring any cell phones to the booth. If you have a phone by the time you vote by mistake, there will be two officers beside more..

Jul 20 (Island) The bi-lingual Scholarly Dhamma Symposium that the Colombo-based Foundation for Buddhist Brotherhood conducted recently at the auditorium of the Buddhist and Pali University, Homagama, to coincide with the 87th birth day of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, was an overwhelming success with the discourses touching virtually on all aspects of Buddhist teachings and their relevance to today’s world. The discourses were also on the life-long and immense contributions of Nobel more..

Jul 20 (EN) For the first time in SL’s history, his centre-right UNP lost in the 2020 parliament election without winning any seats. Ranil Wickremsinghe, prez-elect through parliament vote, himself lost the election in Colombo for the first time in his entire political career since 1977. But nothing barred Ranil Wickremesinghe from entering the parliament with just one bonus seat, staying there for one year, becoming an accidental PM in May and then being elected as country’s eighth executive Prez. more..

Jul 20 (CI) A tense final morning, in which Pakistan had 120 to get with seven wickets in hand, began with the closest call. Mohammad Rizwan, coming forward to a Prabath Jayasuriya delivery, saw the ball slip between bat and pad before passing within a couple of centimetres of the off bail. There were plenty of other moments to fray Pakistani nerves. In the third over, Abdullah Shafique was hit on back leg by Jayasuriya, more..

Jul 20 (ES) In a dramatic turn of events, this morning SL’s MPs elected a new head of state: the man nicknamed the wily fox, Ranil Wickremesinghe. This follows months of chaos in the SL capital. Amidst widespread outrage over a devastating financial crisis, former Prez Rajapaksa secretly fled the island last week and is now reported to be hiding out in Singapore. However, despite change at the top, trepidation remains. Wickremesinghe remains deeply unpopular, having failed to be elected more..

Jul 20 (ANI) Ranil Wickremesinghe who was on Wednesday elected as Sri Lanka's new Prez said that he was in a very difficult situation and that he faces big challenges ahead to lead the country out of the dire economic crisis. The country is in a very difficult situation, we have big challenges ahead, Wickremesinghe said after defeating main rival Dullus Alahapperuma, with 134 votes to 82 in the parliamentary vote to become Prez of the island nation. more..

Jul 20 (BBC) Gathered outside the Presidential offices, still under the control of a small band of protesters - with the entrance hall turned into a community library - a number of activists watched a live stream from SL's parliament on their phones as Ranil Wickremesinghe was selected as the island's new leader. On the steps, a small group began chanting Ranil Go Home but the reigning mood was one of disappointment and resignation more..

Jul 20 (CI) 342: The target chased by Pakistan in Galle, their second highest successful chase in Test cricket. It is also the second highest target chased by any team against Sri Lanka. The highest for both is 377, which Pakistan chased down in Pallekele in 2015. 1: Pakistan's 342 is the highest successful chase by any team in Galle. The previous highest was 268 by Sri Lanka against New Zealand in 2019, while the previous highest for a visiting side was 164 by England in 2021. more..

Jul 20 (DM) The protesters at the Galle Face Green today said that they will continue with their protest until the newly-elected Prez, Ranil Wickremesinghe, resigns. Addressing the media, they said the new president must resign immediately. "A large number of people were gathered demanding the removal of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the first key demand. Our second key demand is that Ranil Wickremesinghe should resign," they said. "Now Mr. Wickremesinghe was elected as the president today." more..

Jul 20 (NR) MP Harin Fernando says he is elated over today’s win for Prez-elect Ranil Wickremesinghe, terming it fate. MP Fernando said the SL people were given fresh hope today. MP Fernando said a competent leader has been elected, which the govt must take full advantage of. When questioned by media over the allocation of Ministerial portfolios, MP Fernando said a national govt will be formed if all party leaders agree to it. However, he also noted that an open more..

Jul 20 (AD) A special gazette was published today, officially declaring the election of Ranil Wickremesinghe to the office of Prez. The communiqué was issued by Secretary-General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake, pursuant to Section 17 of the Prez Elections (Special Provisions) Act, No. 2 of 1981. Earlier today, SL’s 225-member parliament voted Wickremesinghe in as the 8th Executive Prez of the country. Accordingly, at the election which was held today in Parliament, more..

Jul 20 (NR) The IMF hopes to complete rescue talks with SL as quickly as possible, Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said. Georgieva said the fund was very deeply concerned about the well-being of the people in SL, which has been gripped by severe shortages of fuel, food and other essentials after its foreign reserves dried up. Georgieva vowed that the moment there is a govt that we can continue our discussions with, more..

Jul 20 (FT) More than two centuries old landmark of Colombo – Prez’s House in Fort or Raja Gedera as referred to in common parlance regained international spotlight a few weeks ago as it was stormed by protestors. Centuries-old artefacts and paintings were vandalised and some looted to the dismay of heritage lovers. While some walls of this archaeologically important edifice were soiled with graffiti, floors were dented by those on the hunt for hidden passageways. more..

Jul 20 (CT) Electricity generated by the imported and pollutive fossil fuels (FFs) took the lead over the cheap and non-pollutive renewable energy (RE) to be SL’s lead electricity provider on Monday (18), CEB’s data showed. Of the total electricity supplied by the CEB to consumers in SL on Monday which was 39.75 giga Watt hours (gWh), FFs share was 21.27 gWh (53.51%) and RE’s share was 18.48 gWh (46.49%) respectively. In the 199 days that have transpired in the year up to Monday, more..

Jul 20 (AD) Colombo Fort Magistrate today issued a court order barring people from assembling around a 50-metre radius distance of the statue of late PM S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike at the Galle Face Green. The order was issued after taking into account a request made by the Colombo Fort Police. Police presented submissions to the, citing reports of impending damages to the statue by those who are engaged in protests there. Accordingly, Magistrate Thilina Gamage decided to issue an order more..

Jul 20 (TM) It is intriguing that the aragalaya (struggle) which has bravely done a magnificent job with much sacrifice to oust Gotabaya Rajapaksa from the office of the Executive Prez, Mahinda Rajapaksa from the office of the PM and brought the entire political establishment – particularly the 225 MPs to their knees has seemingly withdrawn into their shell after UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe took office as the acting President. Even the courageous Hirunika Premachandra of SJB more..

Jul 20 (DW) The unprecedented political and economic crisis in SL in the past few months culminated in the resignation of Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa with PM Ranil Wickremesinghe stepping in as the acting president. With protesters demanding that a new president be elected as soon as possible, SL parliament on July 20 assembled to vote through a secret ballot. The three presidential candidates were the current PM and more..

Jul 20 (AD) Ministry of Education says that schools will reopen on July 25, as announced earlier, and that in-person learning in schools will be limited to three days a week, until further notice. Accordingly, school will be held during normal school hours only on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, from July 25 until further notice. Meanwhile on Wednesday and Friday, when schools are not held, students should be given learning activities to be done from home or teaching should be carried out online. more..

Jul 20 (OHCHR) Independent Experts* today expressed alarm about record high inflation, rising commodity prices, power shortages, crippling fuel crisis and the economic collapse in SL, as the country grapples with unprecedented political turmoil. This crisis has had a serious impact on the enjoyment of human rights for the entire population. “Time and again, we have seen the grave systemic repercussions a debt crisis has had on countries, exposing deep structural gaps of the global more..

Jul 20 (AFP) A sullen crowd reacted to the election of Sri Lanka's new Prez with disappointment Wednesday, near the protest camp where they last week celebrated chasing his predecessor into exile. Around 200 people gathered under a sweltering morning sun to watch the contest outside the presidential secretariat in Colombo, one of several govt buildings invaded by protesters earlier this month. more..

Jul 20 (TM) Social media activists in the aragalaya (struggle) protest movement at Galle Face, deny claims of having received Rs. 45 million from a foreign source. Social media activist Dilan Senanayake charged that this canard was created by Govt supporters to destroy the image and credibility of the aragalaya. “We have no involvement in such an incident, but we would take legal action against the media publications who reported this one partially.” more..

Jul 20 (AD) Governor of the Central Bank of SL (CBSL) Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe says he is confident that SL can come out of this severe economic crisis within a period of 05 months. “We have a clear program and a clear path,” he added. In an interview with CNN, the governor said SL will, however, experience a difficult time until then. If Sri Lanka has a stable administration from tomorrow onwards, we can make strong decisions by the administration, Dr. Weerasinghe pointed out. more..