Aug 7 (SO) The Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) has been placed on high alert against Sri Lankans leaving the country with doctored foreign visas and passports, recruited by human traffickers in return for large fees, a top official said yesterday. From the beginning of last week, at least seven people including one woman were taken in for questioning by Immigration Border Service Agents deployed under cover at the BIA, Immigration Controller Harsha Elupitiya said. more..

Aug 7 (SO) Ministry of Fisheries has introduced sea cucumber farms in the North and the East to provide a novel and more lucrative livelihood to the fisheries sector. Minister Douglas Devananda said that sea cucumber is a much sought after delicacy globally that can yield high foreign exchange. “As SL is bouncing back to normalcy we at the Fisheries Ministry are making an effort to promote sea cucumber farms with a dual purpose. Firstly it will give the much needed Foreign exchange more..

Aug 7 (Island) Sprinter Aruna Dharshana, javelin thrower Dilhani Lekamge, 1500 metres runner Gayanthika Abeyratne and the men’s 4×400 metres relay team will represent SL at the upcoming World Championships in Budapest. Sri Lanka Athletics announced the names of participants on Sunday after the world governing body confirmed the athletes who have reached qualifying standards. It will be the largest Sri Lankan team to more..

Aug 7 (ST) In a boost to domestic aviation, the Govt has gazetted significantly lower insurance liability limits for air transport within SL, ending a requirement for companies to pay prohibitive international rates of up to US$ 174,000 for a passenger. In the case of death or injury, the liability is now Rs. 5mn for a passenger, and for damage caused by delay in the carriage of persons it is Rs. 10,000 for a passenger. For destruction, loss, damage or delay in the carriage of baggage, more..

Aug 7 (FT) Council for Liberal Democracy (CLD) expressed its profound alarm at the recent report of a speech made by Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe at a meeting of the Coconut Growers Association. The headline of the report was The Govt will not heed orders or advice from any other party except Parliament with regard to debt optimisation measures – Prez Wickremesinghe. CLD said this refers to the Supreme Court in as much as later in the article the Prez declares that more..

Aug 7 (TM) Despite the Ministry of Health (MoH) launching an inquiry into how a Judicial Medical Officer (JOM) suspended by the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) continued to hold office, Public Services Commission (PSC) is yet to hear back from the Ministry regarding its action taken, the suspension and the alleged shortcomings in by the said JOM. It is learnt that the PSC has inquired from the Ministry of Health regarding action more..

Aug 7 (FT) The Board of Directors of People’s Bank has announced the appointment of Clive Fonseka as the CEO/GM, effective from 1 Aug 2023. He has been functioning as the Acting CEO/GM since 1 Jan 2023. Fonseka’s extensive experience and remarkable achievements in the financial industry make him the ideal candidate to lead People’s Bank into the next phase of growth and success. A veteran in the industry, Fonseka is a Fellow of the Institute of Bankers of SL and holds an MBA more..

Aug 7 (PMD) SL will launch the Climate Justice Forum (CJF) for the vulnerable and developing countries at the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 28) at the upcoming 2023 UN Climate Change Conference, Minister Naseer Ahamed stated. He said that SL has proposed the establishment of a CJF with the common objective of ensuring greater climate justice and accelerating the financing of losses and damages and providing an alternative and non-traditional approach. more..

Aug 7 (TM) Nearly 80 institutions of higher education have been listed for suspension, for allegedly running substandard courses of study. The decision follows recommendations submitted by the sub-committee on Tertiary Education of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) on the matter. It is learnt that the suspended institutions are suspected of having conducted substandard courses of study, with the prime consideration of only gaining financially. more..

Aug 7 (FT) One of the world’s largest accounting bodies convened with SL Govt officials last week strengthening the organisation’s expansion plans in the country. CPA Australia Global CEO Andrew Hunter and employees from CPA Australia’s Asia-Pacific offices visited Colombo from 2 to 3 August and met with Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe, business leaders, Govt officials and local members. CPA Australia also announced that it has teamed up with local firm HLB Lanka Business Advisory to more..

Aug 7 (FT) Creating automobile history, Ideal Motors will be launching Sri Lanka’s first electric car, Moksha to the market in Nov 2023. The mentor behind this historic project, Chairman Ideal Motors Nalain Welgama said that Ideal Moksha is fitted with a 22.46 kWh Lithium battery that provides a range of up to 200 kilometres on a single charge by plugging into a 15-amp domestic charger overnight. more..

Aug 7 (SO) Two persons who came on a motorcycle had shot at a house in Kandana Pio Mawatha with a T-56 weapon, where a businessman who had refused to pay extortion money of Rs. 5 million demanded by an underworld criminal in Dubai, was living and the culprits had fled yesterday. A call had been given to this businessman who was engaged in buying meat from farms and selling them to supermarkets demanding Rs.5 million. This demand had been made by a member of more..

Aug 7 (EN) Several directors of Golden Key Hospitals Ltd were restrained from altering the share register, by an interim order issued by the Commercial High Court of the Western Province. The order prevented A R Gunawardene, R Ranganathan and T N M Pieris from voting to approve the appointment of E. T. L. Ranasinghe, P. D. M. Cooray, P. A. Jayawardena, S. R. Abeynayake, W. C. J. Alwis, H. D. K. P. Alwis and U. Witharana as Directors of Golden Key Hospitals Ltd. more..

Aug 7 (ST) Kusal Janith Perera has returned to the ODI side after more than two years as selectors have named the batter for the 15-man Asia Cup squad. Angelo Mathews and Chamika Karunaratne, however, have failed to find a place. The squad includes left-arm spinner Dunith Wellalage, who was out of favour since his wicketless series against India early this year. Sahan Arachchige, who made a match-winning half century in his maiden int'l innings against Netherlands at WC Qualifiers more..

Aug 7 (AD) The National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) emphasizes that schools will be charged for the additional water usage exceeding the allotted unit quantity, due to the fact that the free supply of water hitherto provided to the schools has been misused. Commenting further on the matter, Deputy General Manager of the NWSDB Piyal Padmanatha said that he had recently received information regarding such schools misusing the free water supply. more..

Aug 7 (ST) Govt has decided to cancel a tender awarded to a China-Pakistan consortium to supply Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and lay a pipeline network after being selected through an international open competitive bidding process and instead consider an offer by an Indian company. China-Pakistan Engro Consortium was selected last year as part of a step towards reducing the cost of power production. more..

Aug 7 (AA) Iran has voiced readiness to share its scientific and technological knowledge and expertise with friendly countries, including the South Asian island nation of Sri Lanka. Iranian Prez Ebrahim Raisi made these remarks on Sunday in a meeting with SL’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry in Tehran. According to a communique issued by his office, Iran’s president emphasized the need to activate the joint commission for economic cooperation between the two countries. more..

Aug 7 (FT) The Budget deficit in the first five months of this year had crossed the Rs. 1 trillion mark whilst rise in expenditure outpaced that of revenue. According to the latest data released by the Central Bank, during January to May Govt revenue and grants increased by 38% to Rs. 1.12 trillion as against Rs. 812.7 billion in the corresponding period of last year. Total expenditure and net lending increased by 47% to Rs. 2.13 trillion in comparison to Rs. 1.45 trillion a year ago. more..

Aug 7 (AD) Minister of Education Susil Premajayantha says that a decision has been taken to conduct only one school term test for the entire year from Grade 01 and above, commencing from 2024. The minister mentioned that measures will also be taken to provide the children with one textbook per school term, in order to reduce the excessive weight of the students’ schoolbags while protecting their physical health. more..

Aug 3 (FT) At the conclusion of the lecture series on macroeconomic trends at the Postgraduate Institute of Management, or PIM, for the students following the Executive Master of Business Administration Degree, a student made a fine suggestion about the role of the private sector. One of the topics covered in the course was Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe’s plan to deliver richness to Sri Lankans by 2048 when the country will be celebrating the centenary of independence from Britain. more..

Aug 7 (FT) This is a critical but largely ignored aspect of leadership and perhaps even national success. Many of us have been in key strategic meetings where the same issues come up over and over again, vague priorities are established, insincerity abounds and nobody leaves with any real accountability for action. Not only meetings, but sometimes this is symptomatic of an entire pattern of interaction in a culture. What is happening here in essence is arguably the crux of what more..

Aug 7 (FT) SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne suggested that the Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella should convene a meeting with former Health Ministers from both the ruling party and the Opposition to devise a new health policy amidst the current health service crisis. He proposed that former health ministers including Maithripala Sirisena, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, A.H.M. Fowzie, Tissa Attanayake, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, and Nimal Siripala de Silva and more..

Aug 7 (DM) All Ceylon Farmers’ Federation (ACFF) together with other farmers have planned to file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of SL (HRCSL) as thousands of farmers are faced with a crisis due to the non-release of water from the Samanala Wewa reservoir for paddy cultivation. National Organizer of ACFF Namal Karunaratne said that 65,000 acres of paddy lands cultivated under the Udawalawe reservoir are at risk of being completely destroyed due to the lack of water. more..

Aug 7 (EN) SL will see no tariff revision on electricity in the foreseeable future as the govt has decided to revise prices biannually in January and July, Power & Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara said. “[The CEB has planned for an uninterrupted supply of power islandwide throughout the year with no scheduled power cuts. Currently, full capacity of available power plants are in use for power generation,” more..

Aug 7 (CT) Starting from Jan 2024, NWSDB will exclusively deliver monthly water bills to consumers through email and SMS services, NWSDB Commercial Deputy General Manager, Piyal Pathmanatha announced. He urged consumers to promptly register for the convenient SMS and E-bill services. He mentioned that since 1 Oct, the e-bill and SMS services have been successfully rolled out in Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee, Colombo South, and Kandy South. more..

Aug 7 (AD) DMC says that 12 districts across the island are currently facing drinking water shortages, owing to the prevailing dry weather conditions. Director General of the DMC, emphasized that around 48,000 families have been affected by the issue thus far. “Arrangements are being made to distribute drinking water to nearly 156,000 affected individuals in 40 DS Divisions within these 12 districts, using the bowsers attached to the Disaster Management Centre”, he said. more..

Aug 7 (TM) National Audit Office (NAO), in a recent report revealed the total losses incurred by the Mattala Rajapaksa Int'l Airport (MRIA) between 2017 and 2022 amount to approx Rs. 42.81 billion. The report indicated that the Airport’s operating costs for the year 2022 amounted to Rs. 2.03 billion, which is 26 times higher than its income. Airport had, meanwhile, incurred a loss to the tune of Rs. 22.21 billion last year (2022). more..

Aug 7 (AD) The Minister of Agriculture, Mahinda Amaraweera has instructed the Agriculture and Agrarian Insurance Board to immediately commence the activities of assessing the condition of damage caused to rice cultivation as a result of the looming drought. Amaraweera has given these instructions to the Chairman of the Agrarian Insurance Board, W.M.M.B. Weerasekera, following a discussion held with the representatives of the farmers in North Central Province more..

Aug 7 (DM) Reports about the 12-year debt moratorium for the repayment of loans from India hold no truth since it is possibly an option under consideration with no concrete decision yet. There were media reports earlier in India, quoting India’s Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) Ltd’s chairman-cum-managing Director M. senthilnathan that India plans a 12-year debt moratorium on SL. The top source said the secretariat established by France, India and Japan discusses more..

Aug 7 (TM) A training aircraft from the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) crashed at the SLAF Academy China Bay claiming the lives of two SLAF personnel. The aircraft, designated as a PT 6 type—an export version of the Nanchang CJ-6A—is primarily utilised for training operations under the No. 1 Flying Training Wing stationed at SLAF China Bay. This unit plays a crucial role in providing fundamental pilot training for the SLAF. The aircraft's ill-fated test flight commenced earlier today more..

Aug 7 (DM) Head coach of SL’s netball team Thilaka Jinadasa has said the players cannot escape responsibility for losing to Singapore twice at the Netball World Cup in South Africa, which led to their last-place finish in the tournament. SL, 2022 Asian Netball champions, lost 55-52 to Singapore in the Preliminary Round Stage Two of this year's Netball World Cup before going down 49-46 in the 15th place classification match. “The players need to take responsibility for these defeats as they did not more..

Aug 7 (Island) Convenor of Samagi Joint Trade Union Alliance Ananda Palitha alleged that the bankrupt country was being exploited to the hilt by the powers that be and external powers. One-time director of the CPC said that the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa govt increased diesel and petrol prices on 30th July, in spite of unprecedented profits accrued, since September last year, while claiming there were sufficient more..

Aug 7 (Island) Jathika Jana Balawegaya (JJB) has accused Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe of seeking to influence the judicial process in respect of a petition against domestic debt restructuring at the expense of EPF and ETF. Attorneys-at-Law Sunil Watagala, Upul Kumarapperuma and J. M. Wijebandara said Prez Wickremesinghe had intervened in a matter before the Supreme Court. JJB lawyers found fault with the President’s declaration that he wouldn’t, under any circumstances, accept advice, more..

Aug 7 (DM) Some 81 institutions offering NVQ certificate courses have been suspended so far due to their low standards, the Sub Committees on Tertiary Education of COPE has revealed. The Sub Committee recommended formulating a proper mechanism to publish the names of such institutions through newspaper notices and to take legal action to ban them. The Sub Committees met in Parliament recently chaired by the Chairman of the sub-committee, MP Madhura Withanage more..

Aug 7 (Island) Brain drain is the worst manifestation of the country’s economic crisis, FPC member and MP, Prof. G.L Peiris, said. He said that a large number of academics had left state universities. In recent years, the number of students enrolled at the state universities had risen significantly, he added. “I was at state universities for 33 years. There are a large number of academics who can secure jobs abroad. more..