May 28 (Island) A govt decision to allow all privately-owned bunker fuel operators to import and distribute diesel and fuel oil to various industries was a rollback of the nationalisation of the country’s petroleum industry and another severe blow to energy sovereignty of the country, trade union activist of the SJB Ananda Palitha said. Earlier, Minister Kanchana Wijesekera Tweeted that ‘approval was given to all the Private Bunker Fuel Operators to Import and provide Diesel and more..

May 28 (DM) Three Senior DIGs including Senior DIG in charge of the Crime and Traffic Ajith Rohana have been transferred. Police said Ajith Rohana was transferred as Senior DIG in charge of the of the Southern Province while M.D.R.S Daminda was transferred as Senior DIG in charge of the Eastern Province from Southern Province. Acting Senior DIG L.K.W.K Silva was transferred from the post of Senior DIG in charge of the Eastern Province to the post of SDIG in charge of Crime & Traffic Div. more..

May 28 (DH) Narendra Modi govt is mulling restoring the traditional rights of Tamil Nadu fishermen in Katchatheevu, an uninhabited island of 285 acres sandwiched between India and SL in the Palk Bay. Narendra Modi govt is mulling restoring the traditional rights of TN fishermen in Katchatheevu, an uninhabited island of 285 acres sandwiched between India and SL in the Palk Bay, with the BJP hoping the move could lift more..

May 28 (NIP) Hardly an hour away by flight from Tiruchy, Sri Lanka was once a favourite tourist destination for many a traveller from the central region of the State. However, the ongoing economic crisis in the island nation has led tourists to turn to Malaysia and Singapore as holiday getaways. While most of them who board the daily Colombo-Tiruchy flight are transit passengers, travel operators say tourists have not been planning holiday trips to Sri Lanka for safety reasons. more..

May 28 (DM) Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda who met Indian Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman yesterday said that SL needs bridge financing till the programme with the IMF is worked out. According to the SL mission in New Delhi, the India Minister and the High Commissioner explored the possibility of increasing and restructuring the assistance provided by India in the form of credits for essential commodities and fuel, more..

May 28 (EN) Sri Lanka will give immediate provisional approval for renewable projects but their prices have been to be revised to reasonable levels, Minister Kanchana Wijesekera has said. CEB is one of the last state agencies to develop an evidence based planning but powerful lobbies (generally called mafia’s) undermine the plan with ad hoc expensive plants inserted outside competitive tendering. more..

May 28 (FT) The half a century long political career of Mahinda Rajapaksa has ended in infamy, a fugitive hiding from a people sorely wronged by a political culture of which he was a most visible representation. During these five decades, Mahinda has held nearly every position a people’s representative could hold: MP, Cabinet Minister, Prez and Leader of Opposition. Generally, an extraordinarily lengthy public career, taken with the many positions occupied, more..

May 28 (FT) From shops in the UK, preened on ethical assurance, to the rolling acres of Prince Charles’ Highgrove farm, a chorus of cheers rang out as our misguided future President three years ago declared a revolution …the world’s first fully organic farming nation. It was revolutionary though more as a crackpot notion, contesting as it had to, with overwhelming data from the EU and other avid practitioners of this gospel. A revolutionary fervour would sweep the fields of SL. more..

May 28 (DM) Fishermen are gearing up to surround houses of Ministers and the PM soon, demanding fuel at a subsidized rate, a SJB MP said yesterday. SJB MP Dilip Wedaarachchi told journalists that this exercise has been planned to be held after the GCE O/L exam is completed. Mr. Wedaarachchi who claimed that he owns three boats said some members of fishermen organisations have informed him of this plan. “It will be very difficult to stop the fishermen if they take to the streets,” he said. more..

May 28 (AD) The body of the nine-year-old girl, reported missing from Atulugama area in Bandaragama since last morning, has been found in a marshland located close to her home, the police say. Her remains were recovered by the residents of the area this evening (28). The girl, named Fatima Ayesha, had gone missing since 10.00 a.m. yesterday. A complaint had been filed with the police after the girl, who went to a nearby shop to buy some food items, did not return home. more..

May 28 (ST) It was 2.30 pm. The vegetables brought in the morning could not be sold and remained at the shops in the Economic Centre at Narahenpita. Traders were desperately wondering how to make money with the vegetables they had bought by spending hundreds of thousands of rupees. P K P Sampath, a vegetable trader for 15 years, is experiencing a downward trend in his business for the first time. more..

May 28 (Island) Some of the politicians’s houses destroyed on 09 May had been estimated to be over 400 million rupees each and the govt must investigate and find out how funds were raised for building them, Education Secretary of FSP Pubudu Jayagoda said. Jagoda said that Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, PCs and LG, M. M. P. K Mayadunne had sent a letter to district secretaries asking them to stop all activities & prepare estimates of the damages caused more..

May 28 (MFA) High Commissioner of the UK to SL, Sarah Hulton, called on the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor G.L. Peiris on 26 May 2022, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and congratulated him on his reappointment as the Foreign Minister of SL. Foreign Minister Prof. Peiris and High Commissioner Hulton discussed the bilateral engagements, domestic developments and assistance from the international community in overcoming the current economic challenges encountered by SL. more..

May 28 (EN) President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has assured full independence to the Central Bank following a meeting with Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe, his office said. President Rajapaksa met Governor Weerasinghe and Monetary Board member Sanjeeva Jayawardena and assured “his fullest and unqualified assurance of freedom to discharge their functions independently and without any extraneous constraints.” more..

May 28 (NR) President of the CEB Engineers Union says an increase in the monthly electricity tariff must be enforced promptly. Anil Ranjith said a number of issues have arisen as a unit of electricity is currently provided to consumers at a low price in comparison to the cost. When contacted over a statement by Minister Kanchana Wijesekera that electricity tariffs could be increased by 300-400%, Ranjith said the increase in electricity tariffs is a necessity as CEB is incurring a cost more..

May 28 (NR) JVP says a plausible solution to the country’s current economic situation must be found. Secretary of the Party Tilvin Silva said making short sighted decisions as a quick remedy to the problem will result in making wrong choices and worsening the country’s situation. Silva said many JVP supporters have requested him to take up a post in the govt and develop the country. However he explained that major problems cannot be solved through short-term solutions. more..

May 28 (CT) World Bank (WB) has ranked Colombo Port 24th last year (2021), down seven positions, after being ranked 17th in the previous year (2020). The publication titled The Container Port Performance Index 2021, tracked 370 ports last year as opposed to 351 in 2020. The Hambantota Port, built during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime after taking a commercial US dollar loan from China, is not captured in either of these two studies. The 23 ports in descending order which were ahead of Colombo last year more..

May 28 (AD) Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa says the outcome of the educational reform should be to create a good citizen who is also productive to the economy. The President made these remarks during a discussion held at the President’s House, Colombo last morning (27) on a number of issues that need to be addressed as a matter of priority and urgency in the education sector. The drafting of the National Education Policy has been completed fulfilling a major requirement in the country. more..

May 28 (EN) SL’s pharmaceuticals suppliers are hit by payment delays and are also facing regulatory delays, and price controls which are making a shortage of drugs in the country worse an industry official said. Local suppliers are owned around 7 billion rupees from a state pharmaceutical agency. It had made it difficult for companies to continue supplies. “If you to get a heart attack today it’s likely that you will not receive clot dissolving therapies,” more..

May 28 (ANI): As SL faces a severe economic crisis, the people of the island nation continue to protest in front of the Presidential Secretariat at Galle Face Green in Colombo for the 50th consecutive day on May 28. The protests demanding the resignation of Prez Rajapaksa started off on April 9. Since then it has been continuing 24/7 irrespective of the adverse weather and attacks by the govt supporters on May 9. People from all walks of life -- doctors, lawyers among others more..

May 28 (ST) The wind usually brings fortune to sailors, but the present situation is keeping them ashore. The wind on the sails and the water combine to propel a boat through the water. The aerodynamics are simple: The wind blows against the boat at an angle, inflates the sail, forms a similar foil shape, and it pushes the sail perpendicular to the wind direction. How wonderful a sailboat is when it sails without the fuel – petrol – but the wind which is still freely available to man! more..

May 28 (ANI) Acting High Commissioner of India in SL Vinod K. Jacob handed over a consignment of over 25 tons of medical supplies, donated by the Govt of India to Minister of Health, Keheliya Rambukwella in Colombo on Friday. Taking to Twitter, the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka said that the consignment is valued at close to Rs 260 million. Acting High Commissioner handed over a donation of more than 25 tons of medical supplies, with a value of SLR 260 #million, more..

May 28 (CT) All Ceylon Medical Officers’ Association (ACMOA) is on the war path and warned they would rally other health sector trade unions for trade union action from Monday (30), if the Health Ministry failed to annul the circular issued to cut salaries and reimburse the slashed amounts. ACMOA Co-Convenor, Dr. Jayantha Bandara, when contacted, warned on Friday, the Health Ministry would be given time only till 30 May before the ACMOA wages a series of trade union action starting with a protest. more..

May 28 (CT) A Right to Information (RTI) request revealed that a copy of an agreement, between India and SL, on a solar power plant project in Sampur, could not be made public without India’s consent. CEB and NTPC, owned by Ministry of Power in India, signed the said agreement on 11 March, to build a solar power plant in Sampur, Trincomalee. But, the CEB refused to share a copy of the agreement on the plant and said that NTPC has not given its consent to share the complete document. more..

May 29 (CT) The spirit of my heading is not a mocking: He can’t get anything done; his Interim Administration (IA) is an exercise in futility gesture. Not at all, it is a serious even bookish question about what RW’s IA with a bit of luck is likely to achieve and what, even a congenital optimist will grant, it cannot do. And in between there are a raft of maybe and may-not-be options. I have never been a UNP supporter but I will not let my political views stand in way of the assessment offered here. more..

May 29 (CT) Sunrise on the Galleface Green is not as spectacular as sunset. It is the essential distinction between the West and the East. Man rises to another day in his life with sunrise. When he is deprived of the delight and splendor of the intrinsic enchantment of a ballet, which sunrise usually is in the East, his morning’s enthusiasm and energy has every misfortune to turn into uncertainty and anxiety. However, sunset on the Green is totally different poetry in celestial movement. more..

May 29 (TM) Constitutional amendments can ensure political stability, which is urgently needed for economic stability, says TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran. Commenting on the 21st Amendment Bill presented to the Cabinet by Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe on 23 May, which was being studied by parliamentary party leaders over the last week prior to being taken up for discussion on Friday (27), MP Sumanthiran said that more..

May 29 (ST) The Central Bank Governor spoke in plain and lucid terms to the Press Club earlier this week giving a grim but realistic picture of the state of the economy. He said the people will have to brace themselves for the long haul while the authorities try to fix the crashed economy with inflation running continuously at around 40%. He said the poorest will be the hardest hit, and the process – of the country returning to the status-quo-ante where the current turbulence will be stabilised and more..

May 29 (Island) At long last the nation has a new PM who has a unique record of having been PM of the country five times in the past. The wealth of experience such a person must have will be invaluable in the present context. There are some who are opposed to his appointment. They are of the opinion that since he is not an elected member of parliament, as he entered the House through the National List, he is not entitled to be made PM. Further, he being a single member more..

May 29 (TM) Parliament must move quickly to find a consensus on the proposed 21st Amendment (21A) and then chart a course towards a new constitution, newly-appointed Minister of Justice Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said. According to the Justice Minister, Prez has in principle agreed to step down. However, there hasn’t been a detailed discussion on the timeline for him to do so yet. The Justice Minister stated that the new Govt more..

May 29 (SO) Indian PM Narendra Modi’s assertion in Chennai last week that Sri Lanka will never be forgotten as it undergoes economic hardships, could not have come at a better time. India has already done more than any other country to alleviate the suffering of the people in Sri Lanka, who are faced with chronic shortages of everything from fuel to milk powder, not to mention an economy that is down on its knees. The assistance has come in the form of a US$ 500 million oil line of credit; more..

May 29 (TM) Yesterday (28) marked 50 long days since the people of Sri Lanka launched a peaceful struggle to assert and regain their constitutionally-prescribed rights, pre-eminent among them the right to life itself. Having endured burden after burden on the economic front – to the point that existence itself had become a challenge due to the mistakes of their Govt – while its Head stood aloof to it all thanks to a piece of legislation known as the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, more..

May 29 (GV) There has been a lot of violence and also a lot of talk about violence in this last month. It shouldn’t come as a surprise because violence has underlined our SL existence at least throughout my life time. From the time our band-playing triforces were transformed into killing machines in 1971, guns military technology, poles, Molotov cocktails and bombs have been used by the forces, the vigilantes and the so called terrorist groups to wage destruction on the LTTE, on the JVP and against many local minority groups, more..

May 29 (Island) An internet blogger put it very well when he said that Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a man nobody wants and Ranil Wickremesinghe, a man nobody elected, are in command. We would add that the former obviously assured the latter, possessed of a parliamentary group comprising himself, that he would have the support of the SLPP to form a govt. But things are clearly not moving the way GR intended – if he was sincere in his assurances – or the way Wickremesinghe expected when more..

May 29 (ST) Since the 1974 agreement was reached between SL and India on demarcating each country’s territorial waters and international maritime borders, there was burning resentment from Tamil Nadu that the islet of Kachchativu was handed over to SL without the consent of the state govt led by late DMK leader Muthuvel Karunanidhi. His son M.K. Stalin is the current Chief Minister of TN and continues more..

May 29 (Island) After half a decade of struggle in white-ball cricket, the national cricket team is gradually showing signs of coming out from the slump and they should be a force to be reckoned with at this year’s T-20 World Cup in Australia. The IPL allowed several Sri Lankans to showcase their skills and leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga was the biggest draw. He is SL’s best hope when they take on Australia in the upcoming series. There are several other players who have benefited more..