Jan 26 (N18) IMF Executive Director Dr Krishnamurthy Subramanian has said that the political will displayed by the SL leadership to speed up reforms and implement difficult tax increases in order to revive the economy deserves appreciation. Dr Subramanian, who called on PM Dinesh Gunawardena at the PM’s Office on Thursday said that almost all the requirements for the IMF relief package for SL have been completed and the moment the final assurances from more..

Jan 27 (GV) Last year, Covid dominated all conversations and contributed to the further exacerbation of a multitude of existing man-made environmental and conservation disasters. “Sadly, conservation management decisions seem now to be made at the political level. Politicians only look to the next election and the perpetuation of their power…History will be harsh on them all but by then, they would have overseen the greatest man-made environmental catastrophe that this country more..

Jan 27 (DM) The economic crisis and the resultant political upheaval that brought down the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime have created ridiculous political alignments. In fact, the major part of the credit for the creation of those alignments should go to Gotabaya’s younger brother and his Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa. The alignments have now grown into political alliances with the approach of the local govt elections that have now been scheduled to be held on March 9. more..

Jan 27 (DM) The Irrigation Dept, which is allegedly branded as a den of corruption, has become a haven for its corrupt employees. They are said to be well protected by the majority of their superiors. Following the National Audit Office revelation of how the Irrigation Engineering staff engaged in the construction of the Endagala Anicut (3rd phase) in Hiriyala Division, Kurunegala has defrauded millions of rupees from more..

Jan 27 (CT) No doubt the Egg and Poultry industry is in deep crisis that has shattered the government already in trouble. Egg prices are skyrocketing which cannot be controlled with the shortages of items in the market. The govt and CAA are working together to bring down or stabilize prices with no success aggravating the situation on indirect price control namely the maximum price mechanism found in the CAA when the Minister of the view on shortages he may advice CAA to publish maximum price more..

Jan 27 (DM) The Advanced Level Examination commenced on January 23 leaving candidates the opportunity to dream about the futures they would love to have. That’s of course if all goes well. Unfortunately Sri Lanka is undergoing turbulent times sans a leader elected by the people and to add to that the deepening financial crisis which is threatening the existence of even large businesses and banks as well. Children who are studying and facing exams are a small dot in this equation. more..

Jan 27 (CT) In his Budget Proposal for 2023, Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe called for the Upgrading of Hospitals and the re-implementation of the paying ward system. To quote the Parliamentary Debate from the Hansard of 14 Nov 2022 volume 297, PM Wickremesinghe said, “I propose to upgrade the Badulla, Kurunegala and Polonnaruwa hospitals to the level of Teaching Hospitals.” At the time, he also called for the re-implementation of more..

Jan 27 (CT) Not only State employees, but also non-State employees, are now suffering from a lack of timely payment. This is not the fault of the company’s owners or department heads. The country has become destitute as a result of the economic crisis, and even the wage payer is struggling to pay the wage earner. Govt recently announced that they must seek alternative methods of paying state employees’ salaries. Due to SL’s current financial situation, Govt decided to more..

Jan 27 (TM) The Govt and pro-Govt authorities have dealt with protests long enough to know that the expression of dissent can be suppressed only to a limited extent, and more importantly, that attempting to suppress such results in more dissent. As the country witnessed, and is still witnessing, regardless of both lawful and unlawful steps taken to suppress protests and protestors, groups that want to remind those in power of the latter's unacceptable conduct keep coming back. more..

Jan 27 (CT) Sandun Weerakkody and Ahan Wickramasinghe half centuries helped team Kandy take major honours against team Galle at stumps on day one of the SLC National Super League 4-day tourney in P. Sara Stadium yesterday (26). Put into bat first, Kandy were off to a decent start with a 49-run partnership for the first wicket between Udayawansha Parakrama (49) and Kasun Vidura (16). Kasun’s was the first wicket to fall when Asanka Manoj got breakthrough in 13th over. more..

Jan 27 (IPS) On the International Day of Education, the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) together with the UNESCO organised a panel discussion on Non-State Actors in Sri Lanka’s Education Sector at the Dr Saman Kelegama Auditorium, IPS. The event focused on disseminating the findings of the Global Education Monitoring Report 2022, South Asia which draws on the global comparative research by the Global Education Monitoring Report at UNESCO. more..

Jan 27 (ST) The murder of a young female undergraduate in broad daylight this week at the Colombo Racecourse premises highlights the alarming increase in homicides in the country and the negative effects of stigmatising mental health illnesses. Suspect Pasindu Chathuranga, a third-year university student was remanded following the killing of the woman, 27, said to be his girlfriend of 2 years. He is alleged to have carried a knife more..

Jan 27 (Island) Cassandra has stopped watching news at night for the sake of her wellbeing and peace of mind. Watching English news at 9 p m on a local channel caused her to toss and turn or wake up at the ungodly hour of 2 am to again toss and turn, but this time mentally with suppressed anger, frustration, and fear for the future surfacing and consequently inundating the mind with unease. Why all this? Because SL news is always of protests, ministerial pontificating with next to nothing more..

Jan 27 (Island) A group of CB employees, on Wednesday, joined other professionals in protesting against the recently-introduced steep tax hikes. As part of the ongoing Black Protest Week campaign conducted by a collective of professional associations, those workers put up black flags and stood up to the police, who tried to disrupt their demonstration. Some police officers tend to go out of their way to ingratiate themselves with their political masters, more..

Jan 27 (FT) Nations Trust Bank announced that Sherin Cader will be its new Chairperson with effect from 1 May 2023. The appointment follows the retirement of Gihan Cooray from the Board of Directors of the Bank with effect from 30 April 2023 in compliance with Direction No. 3(2Xii) (A) of the Rules of Corporate Governance for Licensed Commercial Banks issued by the CB which provides that the period of service of a Director of a commercial bank shall not exceed 9 years. more..

Jan 27 (EN) Shares fell on Thursday as profit taking entered the market mainly on financial and diversified sectors, brokers said. The ASPI fell 0.13% or 11.50 points to close at 8,926.56. “The market was trading on dull trade mainly due to profit taking,” an analyst said. “Also we saw investors taking a sideline as quarterly reports started to come”. The earnings in the first quarter of 2023 are expected to be negative with revised up taxes and an imminent electricity tariff hike. more..

Jan 27 (ST) Call to bring back seniors in the likes of Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and even Dimuth Karunaratne into the ODI side is growing every passing day as SL concluded a heavy loss to India in the recent tour. The batting unit failed to perform to expectations so much that the general public have started to believe that SL could do well with some of the dropped seniors making a comeback in the ODI format. more..

Jan 27 (CI) Nishan Madushka's 150 underpinned a strong reply from SL President's XI on day two of their warm-up match against England Lions in Colombo. Madushka went along at close to a run a ball before retiring out, while wicketkeeper Lahiru Udara cracked 93 off 85 balls to repay the Lions for some of their aggression on day one. SL President's XI eventually declared 58 runs behind but made deep inroads when Lions batted again. Visitors, who scored at 6.16 an over in their first innings, more..

Jan 27 (DN) Two Sri Lanka pacemen Vishwa Fernando (5 for 14) and Asitha Fernando (4 for 24) helped Dambulla restrict Jaffna to a low score. They were struggling at 62 in just 26 overs. Dambulla who were on 50 for 5 wickets at one stage managed to add a further 120 to their innings to make it 170 for 6 at close in their National Super league 4 Day match at SSC grounds yesterday. Vishwa and Asitha both swung the ball to pick up early wickets which put huge pressure on Jaffna. more..

Jan 27 (TM) Contradicting a press release issued by Parliament, which noted that an agreement had been reached to reconstitute the Election Commission (EC) at the first meeting of the Constitutional Council (CC) held on Wednesday, SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa claimed that the same was not discussed at the said meeting. He claimed: “At the CC meeting, there was no discussion on changing current membership more..

Jan 27 (FT) Commonwealth Secretary-General K.C. Patricia Scotland is scheduled to visit SL next week to attend the 75th Independence Day celebrations, the Commonwealth Secretariat said. Secretary-General has been invited by Prez Wickremesinghe to attend the events in Colombo on Saturday, 4 Feb marking the significant anniversary. Commonwealth Secretariat said Secretary-General Patricia Scotland will attend the significant event and reiterate the Commonwealth Secretariat’s commitment more..

Jan 27 (DN) The Sri Lankan govt should implement reforms and urgently execute measures to curb corruption, said Japanese ambassador to Sri Lanka, MIZUKOSHI Hideaki. He said that major creditors to Sri Lanka, such as China, India, Japan have spelt out positive sentiments towards debt restructuring and IMF staff level agreement too seems to be on the cards and Sri Lanka on their part has to undertake reforms and bring in new laws to curb corruption. more..

Jan 27 (Island) A delegation from the embassy of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire will be visiting SL from 31 Jan to 7 Feb. Eric Camille N’dry, the Ambassador designated of Cote d’Ivoire to Sri Lanka, will be presenting his credentials to Prez Wickremesinghe, while the delegation will be participating in the Conference on African Heads of Mission with the President, as well as the Independence Day celebrations. In SL the Côte d’Ivoire is represented by Sheran Fernando, Honorary Consul. more..

Jan 27 (FT) France on Wednesday repatriated 38 SL migrants who arrived illegally by boat on the French territory, Réunion Island on 14 January. This return comes after the repatriation of 46 other migrants on 13 January. France said it will continue to implement a policy of combating illegal immigration, while applying the humanitarian principles of rescue at sea for people in distress. Expulsions from Réunion will continue as necessary, in compliance with French law & int'l law. more..

Jan 27 (TM) The GMOA has made a request to the WHO to intervene to provide solutions to the problems faced by the people due to the shortage of pharmaceutical drugs and medical equipment in the country by providing material and technical support and exerting necessary pressure on the relevant authorities including the Ministry of Health. Speaking to the media after handing over the relevant request to the WHO Office more..

Jan 27 (DN) Room to Read Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), rang the market opening bell in commemoration of the Int'l Day of Education 2023, which falls on January 24, themed to invest in people, prioritize education. CSE Chairman, Dilshan Wirasekara highlighted that, “CSE’s education arm has also taken many successful initiatives throughout the past years and also wishes to take steps in the future, towards raising more..

Jan 27 (AD) An individual is under arrest for uploading threatening posts on Facebook against the attendees of the 75th Independence Day celebration. The officers of the police cybercrimes division arrested the suspect following an investigation into a complaint received in this regard. During its investigations, cybercrimes division uncovered that the man in question had uploaded multiple intimidating posts on his personal Facebook account pertaining to the upcoming more..

Jan 27 (DM) Panadura North Police have arrested four men and two women in connection with sexually exploiting a 13-year old girl from Panadura. Police said the girl's mother was also among the arrested and she had allegedly engaged the girl in prostitution with her consent. A police team rescued the girl and taken her to the hospital after SDIG in charge of WP Deshbandu Tennakoon received information that the underage girl was being sold to adults for money.their sexual thirst. more..

Jan 27 (DN) According to the Education Ministry, out of 329,668 students who sat for the 2022 Grade 5 Scholarship Exam, 48,257 students have passed the exam. The grade 5 Scholarship Exam was held on Dec 18, 2022. Examination Commissioner General Amith Jayasundara said that this group is eligible to apply for other schools and receive bursaries. Twenty thousand scholarship winners are expected to be offered bursaries this year. He said that 198 is highest mark obtained in scholarship exam more..

Jan 27 (TM) The resignation of an Election Commission (EC) member will not affect the Local Govt (LG) Poll, Chairman of the EC, Attorney Nimal Punchihewa noted. When queried as to whether the resignation of an EC member – in the backdrop of media reports that EC member P.S.M. Charles has resigned – would affect the upcoming election in any way, he noted: “No. It won’t affect the election process or our activities.” more..

Jan 27 (TM) Prez Wickremesinghe has advised the relevant officials that it is their responsibility, as well as that of the political authority, to pay attention to the current financial situation of the country while estimating the expenses required for the 75th Independence Day celebration and in spending in a practical manner and reducing expenses. While pointing out that there is huge opposition among the people regarding the allocation of funds for 75th Independence Day celebration, more..

Jan 27 (Island) The CEB says it is not in a position to discontinue power cuts despite an assurance from some quarters that there will be no power cuts till the end of GCE A/L exam on 17 Feb. CEB Chairman Nalinda Illangakoon, contacted for comment, he said that they had not taken any decision to halt power cuts, especially at night. He however stressed that during the examination hours there would be no power cuts. “We have not agreed with anyone to do away with power cuts,” he said more..

Jan 27 (AD) Human Rights Commission of SL (HRCSL) has warned that it would seek legal action if the relevant authorities fail to provide an uninterrupted power supply while the 2022 GCE A/L is taking place. In a press release, the human rights body vowed to present facts to the Supreme Court if the power cuts are imposed during the exam month (from Jan 23 to Feb 17), pursuant to the provisions of Article 21 of HRCSL Act more..

Jan 27 (FT) According to Reuters, the World Economic Forum annual meeting was dominated by discussion and discourse of the risk of headwinds ahead, including inflationary pressures from China’s reopening and rising debt distress in the developing world, particularly emerging markets. Significantly the hardest bit according to Reuters, for Western nations – getting inflation down to 2%. According to Daniel Pinto, JP Morgan’s President and Chief Operating Officer, “Things are not great, but more..

Jan 27 (FT) The timing of the arrival of India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar carrying an invitation from his PM to Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe, and the unpacking of a series of Indian initiatives to help the struggling economy, could be the manna for RW and a game changer to save him politically. New Delhi had always been supportive of SL in times of need; but the assistance promised now and the initiatives announced so far come at a crucial moment more..