Oct 31 (FT) The 6th Edition Race The Pearl 2023 held on 28 October saw all Race Category Records being broken, led by the pace set in front by two riders Piotr Havik and Jan Bakelants. Bakelants is a cycling legend with a Tour De France stage victory under his belt and Havik is a multiple UCI Race winner. This epic race required the cyclists and crew to navigate 600 kilometres from the northern tip to the southern coast of Sri Lanka on a non-stop ride. Piotr Havik and Jan Bakelants more..

Oct 31 (PCB) SL U19 emerged on top after defeating Pakistan U19 by 165 runs in the last one-day, played at National Bank Stadium, Karachi. Ahead of this match, the series was hanging in balance with each side coming into the fifth game with two wins each. The visitors bagged their third win of the series on the back of half-centuries by their captain Sineth Jayawardene and Rusanda Gamage and 3-wicket-hauls by Vihas Thewmika and Malsha Tharupathi, securing the five-match more..

Oct 31 (CT) Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis instructed the Cinnamon Gardens Police, to seek advice from Attorney General Sanjay Rajaratnam, regarding further action to be taken against 15 suspects, including former UNP MP Hirunika Premachandra and to produce submissions to him accordingly. Premachandra and former Provincial Councillor Nirosha Athukorala have been charged in Court, for having flouted Provisions contained in Sections of the more..

Oct 31 (PTI) Sinopec, China's state-owned oil and gas giant, will be awarded the contract to build an oil refinery in the southern port of Hambantota, energy minister Kanchana Wijesekara said. “There were only two bidders shortlisted and Vitol (of Singapore) pulled out. That leaves only Sinopec and we will finalise an agreement with them in a couple of weeks,” Wijesekera told reporters here. The investment agreement would more..

Oct 31 (Island) Executive Director of the CaFFE Manas Makeen said that as the Presidential election WA due in 2024, it was imperative that the public be made aware of the Campaign Finance Regulation Act, which has been in force from 24 Jan 2023. Makeen said that as a first step, CaFFE intended to update its electoral coordinators on the Campaign Finance Regulation Act and empower them to educate their election monitors and general public through civil society organisations. more..

Oct 31 (DM) A long-term lease agreement was signed between the Airport and Aviation Services (SL) Ltd (AASL) and Cannel (Private) Limited to establish a jet fuel supply and storage facility at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA). The storage facility will be established at the airport premises for the purpose of importing, storing, distributing, transporting, selling and supplying jet fuel to service providers and aircraft. This is a significant achievement of AASL more..

Oct 31 (EN) Return of rhetorical politics after the last year’s mass protests and unprecedented economic crisis along with bureaucratic resistance may delay some reforms expected to boost the tax revenue, analysts and legislators say. SL authorities have increased the govt tax revenue to a significant level, but less than the target agreed with the IMF for its $3 billion loan. State tax revenue has increased by 51% in the first 9 months this year compared to more..

Oct 31 (BNN) SL’s inflation accelerated in October for the first time in a year amid higher energy costs as officials try to meet the IMF’s $3 billion bailout conditions. The consumer price index in Colombo rose 1.5% from a year ago, the statistics department said on Tuesday. That’s slower than the 2.3% gain seen in a Bloomberg survey, and compared with 1.3% in September. The numbers are in line with expectations of the Central Bank of SL, which cut policy rates for a third time this year more..

Oct 31 (Reuters) SL has invited bids for state-run carrier SriLankan Airlines as the island nation looks to reduce losses incurred by govt-owned enterprises under a $2.9 billion IMF programme. The South Asian country secured a staff level IMF agreement on the first review of its bailout recently but it still needs approval from the IMF's Executive Board. The economy is gradually recovering from a crisis last year caused by record low reserves, leading to sky-rocketing inflation and currency depreciation. more..