May 4 (DM) Claiming that the National People's Power (NPP) is ready to work in unison to rescue the country from its economic woes as requested by the Finance Minister, NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said today it would be a useless move unless the President and PM resign. He told Parliament that the President was responsible for the economic crisis and that the NPP was not ready to support an all-party government when the President is still steering the country. more..

May 4 (DM) A countrywide 24-hour railway trade union action will begin from midnight tomorrow in solidarity to the nationwide hartal on Friday, Railway Trade Union Alliance (RTUA) Co-Convener S.P. Withanage said. He said that the strike would begin at 12 midnight tomorrow and end at 12 midnight on Friday. More than 40 railway trade unions will join hands in the strike, and more than 1,000 trade unions will join the railway trade unions. During the strike, there will be no trains running more..

May 5 (DM) Whoever in his or her right mind would have ever imagined that a president elected to office by more than 6.9 million votes and vested with absolute power via the 20th Amendment to the Constitution and a govt elected by more than 6.8 million votes with a two-thirds majority in Parliament, could be made to bite the dust in just 30 months into their tenure? As Shirley James said, “Sceptre and Crown must tumble down and in the dust be equal made with the poor crooked scythe & spade”. more..

May 5 (DM) The extraordinary protests taking place around the country today are unlike anything this country has seen before. Its participants come from all walks of life, cutting across lines of race and class, not representing any political party or group. Demonstrations that started in response to an acute economic crisis, have evolved into a mass protest calling for a complete system change, a rejection of ruling political elites, whom protesters blame for beggaring the country at people’s expense. more..

May 5 (DM) The Galle Face Green has evolved from a mere protest site to a land that demands justice. This is evident with the various tents and their titles that dominate the space at GotaGoGama. From families of disappeared persons to students, doctors, artistes and in fact people from all professions have now made it a point to gather at the Galle Face Green and voice for a common cause. While some continue their protests more..

May 5 (Island) Successive govts allowed exporters to keep their USD earnings out of the country. Govts also turned a blind eye to people sending back money through illegal means (black market), especially with the help of private foreign currency dealers whatever the USD rate is. Basil Rajapaksa, during his short stint as the Finance Minister, went to the extent of commending the black market route much to the surprise of his colleagues. A British and SL passport holder says SL paid a huge price more..

May 5 (CT) It must be dawning on the political novice Gotabaya Rajapaksa, our Alice in Wonderland like President, ex-soldier turned mandarin, that two years is a very long time in politics. And what a two years they have been! Henry Kissinger, that shrewd observer of men and matters, once quipped that power is the great aphrodisiac. True, we are a minnow among in the scheme of things, a small country with no real power and only a little money, yet, more..

May 5 (TM) The files are finally out. For the first time in SL, on Tuesday (3), a large number of incidents of money laundering, the illegal acquisition of public funds, the misuse of public properties, irregularities, and favouritism, were publicly revealed, raising the question as to whether those acts of corruption played a role in creating the economic crisis that the country is going through. These explosive revelations were made by more..

May 5 (TM) JVP and NPP Leader MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s revelations about corruption that had plagued the country over the past decade is a new experience to Sri Lankans, especially because it came at a time when the people are paying the price for acts of corruption by the leaders they elected. Even though some of his revelations have already been rejected, disputed, and mocked by some, especially those in the political arena against whom allegations were leveled during more..

May 5 (CT) Eid-Ul-Fitr is the annual religious holiday which is celebrated by Muslims worldwide, because it marks the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan. The streets of Colombo, such as the Pettah, Maradana, Aluthkade and the Grandpass and Dematagoda markets and many local clothing outlets are flooded by Muslim customers, during the Eid festival, to purchase necessities to celebrate one of the main feasts in their culture. more..

May 5 (DM) The SL negotiating team led by the Minister of Finance was in Washington, discussing with the IMF officials regarding the role IMF could play in stabilising and restructuring the SL economy. The IMF officials have already mentioned three areas for reform to achieve greater economic stability in the future: reforms to taxation, restructuring govt economic entities and floating the exchange rates. Another dimension they are likely to focus is the curtailment of govt expenditure. more..

May 5 (Island) Opposition has stopped dillydallying and decided to go ahead with its motion of no confidence against the govt. Now, it will have to enlist the support of the SLPP dissident group consisting of about 40 MPs if it is to topple the govt. First of all, it will have to reveal what it intends to do in case of the govt falling. Who will be the new PM. Who will be in the new Cabinet? How does it propose to resolve the crisis? SJB and JVP have rejected the call for the formation of more..

May 5 (TM) Central Bank of SL (CBSL) has printed money worth Rs. 14.9 billion as net as of 29 April, from the date Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe took office as CBSL Governor on 8 April, with a daily average of Rs 1.14 billion. Accordingly, CBSL has printed money totalling Rs. 41.9 billion between 8-29 April, while Rs. 27 billion has been absorbed from the market, resulting in a net printing of Rs. 14.9 billion. more..

May 5 (FT) Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 case count rose to 663,469, following the detection of 43 COVID-19 patients yesterday. Previous day, 18 persons tested positive for COVID-19. 1,034 PCR tests and 473 RATs were conducted on Tuesday. Sri Lanka’s total COVID-19 detections include 483,090 persons from the New Year cluster, 82,785 persons from the Peliyagoda cluster, 9,154 persons from the Prisons cluster and 3,059 persons from the Divulapitiya cluster. more..

May 5 (FT) Former Prez Sirisena vehemently denied the accusations of corruption by JVP at a special disclosure with stacks of alleged files containing proof documents on Tuesday. “I deny all allegations made by JVP that my family received a portion of the money from the Perpetual Treasuries during CB Bond scam,” he said. Sirisena also said that he had already told JVP Leader and MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake to file a case against all accusations if they were confident about them, more..

May 5 (IE) Tamil Nadu Assembly’s move to pass a resolution Friday urging the Centre to allow the state govt to send humanitarian aid to the people of SL came in the wake of the BJP-led central govt not responding to its similar requests made earlier. The resolution was brought by the DMK-led govt in the midst of its escalating tussle with Governor R N Navi over various issues. After moving the resolution, which was passed unanimously by the House with the support of all parties including the BJP, more..

May 5 (AD) Former SL captain and former cabinet minister Arjuna Ranatunga claims that SL’s cricket board is the most corrupt institution in the country and that he believes the cricket body is even worse than the govt. “It is all about mismanagement, unprofessional, that is where the crisis has occurred in cricket. The worst subject is the cricket board, they are the most corrupt institution in the country,” he was quoted as saying by Indian media. Ranatunga was speaking during a visit to more..

May 5 (FT) Two more members of the Council of the Uni of Colombo have resigned over the recent appointment of the new Vice Chancellor, thereby increasing the number to five. The latest resignations came from Rev. Father Ivan Perera and Mano Ramanathan. Previously longstanding Council member Thilak Karunaratne along with Ajit Gunewardene and Sumith Cumaranatunge stepped down in protest. more..

May 5 (DM) Church of Ceylon said that they deplore the recent conduct of the Police in arresting a group of youth who were engaged in a peaceful demonstration without any threat to the breach of peace. Such arbitrary arrests and unlawful action by law enforcement is a blatant violation of the fundamental rights of our people. Such conduct will not help in mitigating the suffering of our people, the statement by the Church stated. "It is clear that there is a rejection of nepotistic family politics, more..

May 5 (CT) Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) announced an 18-man squad for the forthcoming Test tour of Bangladesh, which includes an experienced batting line-up but lacks teeth in the bowling line-up, especially in the pace department. Retirement of Suranga Lakmal and unavailability of Dushmantha Chameera means left arm paceman Vishwa Fernando is the most experienced pace bowler with just 16 Tests to his credit, while Kasun Rajitha is the next best with 7 Tests. more..

May 5 (TM) Following an order issued by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court and a heated debate between Police and protestors outside Temple Trees in Kollupitiya, vehicles parked on the pavement in the area and the constructions of the protest zone generally referred to as MynaGoGama were removed yesterday evening. The heated debate took place when the Police produced a court order to protestors more..

May 5 (DN) SL promising players Githmi Fernando, Devangi Sovis, Venuli Jayasinghe and Gehansa Methnadi qualified to play the girls semi finals at the ATF junior under 14 Tennis Tournament week 2 which is now in progress at SLTA courts. At the quarter finals played yesterday Githmi Fernando who won the champions titile at the same tournament week 1 once again in fine form to beat Akeesha Silva 7/5, 6/4 to enter the semi final while Devangi Sovis made a two sets victory more..

May 5 (Island) The debt-ridden CEB has to pay USD 60 million to Chinese engineers operating the country’s sole coal fired power plant complex at Norochcholai, and the amount would further increase with another one-year extension of their contract, informed sources said adding that the maintenance of the first plant would be completed by Friday. The Island learns that some 35 Chinese engineers’ contracts cost CEB more than USD 60 million by 2021. more..

May 5 (CT) Nobody from the respondent’s party had turned up at the Court of Appeal yesterday following a case filed by Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) against the suspension imposed by the Ministry of Sports recently. Respondent party includes former Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa, current Minister Thenuka Vidanagamage, Director Sports Amal Edirisooriya and Ministry Secretary. Former Minister of Sports Namal Rajapaksa issued a Government Gazette temporarily suspending SLR on 1 April 2022 more..

May 5 (FT) The Colombo stock market closed on an indecisive note following the long weekend, amidst lacklustre investor activity and turnover yesterday. The ASPI ended with a loss of 26.22 points or -0.34% whilst S&P SL20 gained marginally by 0.7% or 1.75 points. Turnover was Rs. 1.06 billion involving 46 million shares. Asia Securities said the market ended on a mixed note with the ASPI closing in fractionally low mainly due to price declines in EXPO (-2.8%) VONE (-7.4%) DFCC (-4.6%) more..

May 5 (AFP) Gota Go Home -- graffiti calling for Prez Rajapaksa to quit has appeared on the roads of Hambantota, the traditional stronghold of the family that dominates SL politics. That this could happen in a district where until recently people would jostle for a glimpse of the gilded dynasty is testament to how detested they have become over SL's dire economic crisis. Sagara lives in Medamulana, a village in Hambantota more..

May 5 (Island) LOLC, the largest diversified conglomerate in the country has launched LOLC Divi Saviya, an island wide humanitarian relief programme in partnership with News First. A majority of the SL population are within the communities of daily waging, agriculture, cultivations and manufacturing. Given the current economic downturn many of these workers are unable to buy raw materials or to sell their products and the people are finding it impossible to encounter more..

May 5 (Island) An online petition, initiated by Save Sri Lanka, to be forwarded to the UN, IMF and WB, attributes SL’s present plight to bad economic decision making, poor fiscal planning and management as well as rampant corruption by politicians and govt officials. As stated in the petition, for the first time in its history, SL has failed to honour debt repayment and declared bankruptcy. In response to this crisis, SL govt is currently negotiating to restructure existing foreign more..

May 5 (DM) Tooting vehicle horns for extended durations such as the present popular rhythm of Kaputu kaak kaak kaak may cause vehicles to catch fire, former engineer at IBM World Trade Corporation Moorthi Dewasurendra said. While explaining the technical issue, he told the Daily Mirror that using horns for extended periods generates heat in the wiring and may create wire shortage. Accordingly, vehicles generally draw about 5–15 amps for tooting while pressing the horn for a long time. more..

May 5 (Island) SJB MP Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka in Parliament called on police and security force members not to harass or attack the protesters demanding the resignation of the govt and the Prez. “I call on the war-heroes in the police and tri-forces not to forget the fact that people have taken to the streets as they cannot bear the pressure on them under this govt. I also call on the security force members to discharge their duties in a fair and just manner. more..

May 5 (FT) Minister Ali Sabry told Parliament that the country’s economy is at a critical level and warned that painful reforms lie ahead irrespective of who is in power. In a detailed statement to the House on the present fiscal situation as well as the way forward, Sabry admitted that wrong policies of the current administration had contributed to the present plight of the country, saying the tax cuts given in late 2019 more..

May 5 (CT) Lack of funds has led to the operations at the crematorium of Borella General Cemetery coming to a standstill, a CMC top official revealed. According to the official, this was due to non-availability of gas required for the crematorium to function. “CMC owes nearly Rs 500,000 to the gas supplier, in addition to not having funds to purchase gas consignments for the future as well,” the official said. “The crematorium will be closed for a few days. It is not because of the present gas shortage. more..

May 5 (AD) The Dept of Immigration & Emigration says it has temporarily halted accepting applications for passports today (5). In a public notice, the department stated that a computer system malfunction has occurred again. Earlier this week, the department requested the general public to refrain from arriving at its head office on Wednesday (4) for non-essential services due to a breakdown in its computer system. However, it was later rectified and all services resumed as per usual. more..

May 5 (DM) Several trade unions, including health, transportation, railways, electricity, and education sectors, have decided to join with the trade union action in solidarity with the nationwide hartal on Friday (6), the trade union coordination center claimed. If the hartal on Friday and the island-wide joint strike are not answered, the trade union coordination center says that the continuous strike & continuous hartal will continue from May 11 more..

May 5 (FT) Though the root of the crisis is economic, the portal to the solution is political. Which country, international institution or corporate conglomerate is likely to readily lend to, assist, or invest in a SL led by Gotabaya Rajapaksa whose departure is being demanded by 90% of the island’s citizenry (going by more than one opinion poll), as well as in unprecedented demonstrations by Sri Lankans in all corners of the planet including those domiciled in the 50 states of the USA? more..