Jun 23 (CT) A Truth and Reconciliation commission is to be set up to usher peace in Sri Lanka. There is pressure exerted on the govt to settle Tamil demands for autonomy in a meaningful manner. For reconciliation to begin, justice must be meted out. This is what happened in South Africa when power was transferred to Africans. When not only there is denial of justice, and people continued to be harassed, speaking about reconciliation is mere empty rhetoric. more..

Jun 23 (Island) SriLankan Airlines came under a scathing attack in Parliament on Wednesday. In what turned out to be a rare moment of unity among warring political parties, both sides of the House joined forces to bash the so-called national carrier left, right and centre. Not that the beleaguered airline does not deserve such a roasting, but the question is whether the holier-than-thou MPs can absolve themselves of the blame for the plight of the national airline. more..

Jun 23 (Island) Cassandra recently was at the receiving end of an act of hooliganism. After the incident occurred, the thought of making it to the nearest police station and complaining did come to mind, but all three involved were unanimous in their decision that it was useless and a sheer waste of time. Also, that the hooligans involved might even cause more trouble to them since the police were surely on their side. The police now bow to ruffians too. With a friend, Cass was returning home to Colombo more..

Jun 23 (FT) Banking giant HSBC’s Global Research has declared that SL is a story of hope and some progress in its battle to achieve stability followed by growth after suffering its worst economic crisis. In its latest June 2023 commentary on SL’s economics, SL is pressing ahead with reforms and the economy should gradually recover from its 2022 lows. It acknowledged the progress on the macro stability front with economic activity recovering, inflation easing more..

Jun 23 (FT) JFS Holdings Ltd., one of the emerging conglomerates in SL, was honoured with a Merit award in the Medium Category for the ICT sector at National Business Excellence Awards 2023. This is the fourth award in a row, JFS has been decorated for the fiscal year 2021/22. This prestigious event, organised by National Chamber of Commerce SL, took place on 20 June at the Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo. Madhushan Raigamage, CEO of JFS participated in the award ceremony on behalf of the company. more..

Jun 23 (FT) Capital Maharaja Group (CMG) celebrated its achievements in supporting SL’s economic and social progress during turbulent times, with the Group Review and 43rd Executive of the Year awards ceremony at Stein Studios in Ratmalana on 16 June. Capital Maharaja Group Chairman Sashi Rajamahendran congratulated the entire CMG family of executives and employees for their innovation and rapid responses in the face of the most daunting challenges over the past three years. more..

Jun 23 (Island) When Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage unceremoniously sacked Duleep Mendis as Chairman of Selectors in 2012, the former Test captain took the blow on the chin. Rather than grumble about his misfortune – which had come less than a month after Sri Lanka had won a Test match in South Africa – he ventured at other opportunities and Oman came calling offering him a job as the Head Coach of their cricket team. Oil-rich Oman was a cricketing outpost. more..

Jun 23 (CT) SL will take on a confident Oman in their second outing of the Cricket World Cup Qualifiers 2023 scheduled to be played today at Queens Sports Club, Zimbabwe. The former World Champions made a confident start to the tournament with a 175-run win against the UAE. Oman have also done well in their two games and defeated the UAE in their last game. SL team looks in excellent form with the bat. The top order played well in the last game & this will be a confidence booster more..

Jun 23 (TM) Despite it having been more than five months since the Supreme Court (SC) ordered former Prez Maithripala Sirisena and several others to pay a compensation sum of Rs.311 million to the Easter Sunday terror attack victims and their families, only Rs.2 million has been so far credited to the relevant fund. The Office for Reparations had, as per the order of the SC, established a fund on 19 Jan 2023, more..

Jun 23 (DN) Fine centuries by Minod Bhanuka and Pasindu Sooriyabandara were the highlighte of the Sri Lanka A and South Africa ‘A’ second four day game which ended in a draw at P. Sara Oval yesterday. Sri Lanka A scored 327 for 3 wickets in their second innings and made declaration. South Africa ‘A’ , chasing a 324 winning target were156 for 4 wickets when the two umpires Prageeth Rambukwella and Lyndon Hannibal called off the game at 4.30pm with 15 mendatory overs to spare. more..

Jun 23 (DN) Galle District team emerged Champion of the Women’s Under 23 Inter District Cricket tournament yesterday. Galle District team beat Gampaha District team by 18 runs in the final played at Surrey grounds Maggona yesterday. Galle District Women’s team batted first and were bowled out for 92 runs in 18.2 overs. Nethagi Isuranjali scored 30 runs in 43 balls with 2 boundaries and Sumudu Nisansala (10) helped to build their innings. Nipuni Navodya and Kavishki Hansima claimed more..

Jun 23 (Island) Canadian High Commission in Colombo on Wednesday said that the Canadians’ thoughts were with the victims, survivors, and their loved ones, who continue to live with the pain caused by senseless violence. HC spokesperson said that Canada remained steadfast in advocating for the rights of victims and survivors of the conflict in Sri Lanka, as well as for all those who still face hardships. more..

Jun 23 (FT) Sri Lanka’s Tourism Minister Harin Fernando has been appointed as one of the two Vice Chairs for the South Asia Commission of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) for the period 2023 to 2025. This achievement highlights SL’s dedication to promoting tourism and sustainable development within the region. The announcement was made at the 59th meeting of the UNWTO Commission for South Asia (CSA), held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. more..

Jun 23 (DN) After a lapse of nearly 25 years Lanka Phosphate has finally received approvals to export Phosphate, said Minister of State for Primary Industries Chamara Sampath Dasanayake at the opening of the Industry 2023 at BMICH yesterday. He said that there was a legal issue with the Lanka Phosphate Limited for 23 years and after he took the Ministry he talked with the Attorney General’s Dept on several occasions and after eight months have now received approval for export. more..

Jun 23 (FT) A leader in SL’s Agritech field, Agrithmics Ltd, has rebranded its global corporate identity as Cultive8 Technologies, to facilitate its long term expansion strategy that will see it go beyond SL, into South Asia and Southeast Asia. This also follows Agrithmics recently raising Pre-Series A Funding, valued at $ 1.75 million, from BRAC Osiris Impact Ventures, leading to its post money valuation of $ 8.25 million. Launched in April 2020, and backed by the Digital Innovation Fund, more..

Jun 23 (DM) The declining trend in apparel exports from SL amid demand slowdown in key markets extended to the month of May, as earnings from such exports fell 14.17% year-on-year (YoY) to US$ 383.17 million. However, when compared with April 2023, export earnings in May expanded by 20.4%. Since Sept 2022, apparel export earnings have been on a downward trend on an year-on-year basis. According to the data, exports to all major markets fell during May amid slowdown in orders. more..

Jun 23 (DM) Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis has sent a complaint to the Court of Appeal urging to institute legal action against State Minister Diana Gamage for the offence of contempt of Court. Chief Magistrate held that a statement made by Diana Gamage is tantamount to contempt of court and thereby ordered to lodge a complaint forthwith before the President of the Court of Appeal. more..

Jun 23 (FT) Ravinatha Aryasinha has assumed duties as the Executive Director of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies on 19 June. He was appointed by Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry, in his capacity as the Chairman of the Board of Management of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies. Previously an Officer of the Sri Lanka Foreign Service, he was Foreign Secretary of SL, and more..

Jun 23 (DM) Prez Ranil Wickremsinghe said he was asked to step down on the day following his house being set on fire at the instigation of certain media outlets. He said there we also a request for the Speaker to take over as the Prez. However he said he stood firm and did not resign. “On July 9, a group of organizers managed to gather a significant number of people in Colombo, something unprecedented in scale. Shockingly, these protesters went on to invade official residence of Prez. more..

Jun 23 (EN) Pilots of state-run SriLankan Airlines are leaving the country as doctors are leaving the country for higher salaries Aviation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said. SriLankan Airline does not have extra pilots to put on standby in case pilots assigned for a flight is indisposed, he said. “They get the training from us, get our flying hours and they leave for higher salaries,” Minister de Silva told parliament. “They are just like doctors.” SL has seen a spate of specialist doctors leaving more..

Jun 23 (TM) The ruling SLPP stated that it is best to appoint an expert committee to look into the planned privatisation of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) and take further steps according to its recommendations. Sectoral Oversight Committee (SOC) on National Security Chairman Govt MP Sarath Weerasekera, presenting a committee report, recently informed the Parliament that the committee would not recommend the privatisation of the SLT as it poses a threat to national security. more..

Jun 23 (AD) Managing Director of IMF Kristalina Georgieva has assured the institution’s commitment towards supporting SL's economic reforms. Following her meeting with Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe, Georgieva assured that the IMF is committed to supporting the island nation’s economic reforms, in a bid to improve the living standards of Sri Lankans. “I warmly welcomed the strong ownership by SL govt more..

Jun 23 (DM) Supreme Court has granted leave to proceed against Western Province Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon and other police officers over the arrest made in respect of protesters at Lipton Circus and Colpetty in 2020, while they were staging a protest over the US police murder of George Floyd. Supreme Court 3-judge-bench comprising Justices Preethi Padman Surasena, Janak de Silva and Mahinda Samayawardena granted leave to proceed in respect of more..

Jun 23 (TM) Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said that discussions are to be held with the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Management to bring all the hydroelectric power stations under a single entity. Speaking at the Parliament, in response to a question as to whether any decision has been taken by the Govt to privatise hydroelectric power stations, Wijesekera said that no such decision can be taken according to the prevailing laws and that such false allegations are being more..

Jun 23 (EN) Five civil society groups are calling for govt action to investigate mass graves which they say contain the remains of so-called disappeared in various civil conflicts on the island. In a press release issued on June 22, the groups insisted that “if the SL govt is serious about dealing with the past it must commit to have international observers at all exhumations of mass graves.” The festering issue of the disappeared has not more..

Jun 23 (FT) As one writes today (22), one is aware of being located in time between three significant days of summer. A first, the Summer Solstice (21), is a physical event wherein the sun reaches its apex point in the Northern Hemisphere. Signifying the astronomical start of northern summer, it has the earliest sunrise and longest day, and heralds the commencement of the summertime in climes north of the equator. An intimately related date (24), Midsummer’s Day symbolises midway point more..

Jun 23 (FT) We are in the phase of rapidly fading memories of the 2022 ARAGALAYA and Economic meltdown, faded memories of the 2021 COVID-19 pandemic and the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage and lost memories of a 30-year-old ethnic based civil war which ended (only in military terms in 2017), 1987/89 JVP armed uprising, 1983 pogrom against the Tamils of Sri Lanka, 1971 JVP insurrection, 1956 and 1958 pogrom against the Tamils and 1915 Sinhalese Muslim riots. more..

Jun 23 (EN) SriLankan Airlines is getting four replacement engines on July 15 to fix four Airbus aircraft that are now grounded, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said. “With great difficulty we have talked to the engine repairing companies, given the engines, and got four engines that can be used,” he said. “For that it took six to seven months.” “Those who repair engines also give priority to airlines that have 100 to 200 aircraft, not to small airlines like ours in a small country. more..

Jun 23 (AD) Prof. Manjula Fernando has been appointed the new chairman of Public Utilities Commission of SL (PUCSL). He assumed duties today after the appointment was approved by the Constitutional Council. New PUCSL chairman was appointed after Janaka Ratnayake was ousted from the position in May following a lengthy spat with the government over several issues including the electricity tariff hike and the duration of power interruptions. MPs, on May 24, passed more..

Jun 23 (CI) A second consecutive five-wicket haul from Wanindu Hasaranga skittled Oman for 98 - the second-lowest ODI total in their history - as Sri Lanka cruised to a ten-wicket win. The result means Sri Lanka have one foot in the Super Sixes with two wins from two. The win set up by Hasaranga with figures of 5 for 13 was finished off by the Sri Lankan openers, who completed the chase in 15 overs. more..

Jun 23 (AD) Court of Appeal today announced that delivering the verdict of the writ petition filed by SDIG Deshabandu Tennakoon has been postponed until 26 June. Accordingly, the verdict on the petition filed by the SDIG seeking an order against a private plaint is due to be delivered on Monday, albeit being initially scheduled for today. The decision to postpone the verdict was announced by the Appellate Court bench comprising of Justices Nissanka Karunaratne and A. Marikkar. more..

Jun 23 (EN) Sri Lanka is in discussion with firms from India and Pakistan to import cement cheaper than the current market prices after a meeting with key construction industry stakeholders, Urban Development and Housing Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said. Price of a 50 kg cement dropped by 150 rupees or 5.4% last month despite a 20 percent appreciation in the rupee currency in the last two months. However, Minister says the local prices could be further reduced. more..

Jun 23 (AD) In a determined push to address SL’s debt crisis and foster reconciliation, Prez Wickremesinghe outlined his plans to finalize the debt restructuring process by September. Participating in the 40th anniversary event of International Democrat Union (IDU) in London, Prez expressed his aims to develop a comprehensive strategy for resolving the nation’s financial burdens in close collaboration with the Parliament. more..

Jun 23 (DM) Govt has not evolved a proper procedure to receive and evaluate appeals made by aggrieved parties for the Aswesuma welfare scheme despite claims by the govt, MP Chandima Weerakkody said. He said that when he inquired from the CoPF, the relevant officials informed him that there was no proper appeal process for the Aswesuma welfare scheme. "I feel as if we all in Parliament are Opposition MPs. I feel sorry that the govt is unable to give solutions to more..

Jun 23 (SLN) In an exhilarating display of athleticism, the Inter-command Triathlon Championship unfolded at the Naval Dockyard and Sandy Bay beach on 18th June 2023. The event was graced by Commodore Mahesh De Silva. Showcasing the remarkable physical prowess and competitive spirit, the Training Command won both men’s and women’s overall team championships in the Inter-command Triathlon C'ship. The tournament was participated by 68 athletes from more..