Feb 24 (CT) A nation�s journey through the ages has always been forward. Her physical and administrative structures, her people and the basic architecture of her societal change may have experienced temporary setbacks and even breakdowns every now and then, but her forward hike through many proverbial summits and valleys, though on a few occasions has been excessively painful, yet always, without exception, has striven to straighten herself & go ever so forward again. more..

Feb 24 (DM) Along with the economic crisis which shows no sign of early recovery, political confusion reigns in the govt making it impossible for it to get its act together. The country is going through probably the worst ever economic hardships triggered not only by the lack of foreign exchange but also rupee revenue to the state coffers. The situation is grim so much so that it can be likened to ad hoc running of a grocery shop with its meagre, unsteady income. People feel the brunt of the economic impact more..

Feb 24 (FT) Colombo stock market suffered its biggest plunge yesterday with nearly Rs. 700 billion wiped off after being inflicted with two trading halts as investors apparently looked chickened out to both macro and corporate issues. ASPI closed over 3% down or 374 points and the S&P SL20) lower by over 3.6% or 145 points. Turnover was Rs. 4.5 billion involving 188.5 million shares. Investor sentiment was battered by the virtue of more..

Feb 24 (Island) In terms of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) arranged by Norway in Feb 2002, Sri Lanka suspended the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). The then Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe went ahead with the controversial move, though some sections of the armed forces, and the police, opposed the move. Let me reproduce the relevant section from the CFA: 2:12: The parties agree that search operations and arrests under the Prevention of Terrorism Act shall not take place. more..

Feb 24 (FT) COVID-19 vaccines were administered to 56,107 persons on Tuesday and at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to 76.9% of the total population. 64.29% of the population has received the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and the third dose has been administered to 29.83% of the population. As of 21 Feb, 95.4% of the population over 20 years had received the first two vaccine doses and 44.75% had received the booster dose. more..

Feb 24 (ST) Govt is still undecided on a compensation package for farmers who suffered crop losses during the current Maha season due to the fertiliser crisis, while the affected farmers are demanding that they be paid at the rate of Rs. 100,000 an acre. However, Agriculture Insurance Board General Manager Panduka Weerasinghe said Rs. 1.28 billion had been set aside to pay compensation to paddy, maize, soybeans, more..

Feb 24 (DM) SriLankan Airlines has adorned one of its aircraft with customised livery to reaffirm its status as the official airline of the much-awaited Raid Amazones 2022. Raid Amazones 2022 is an annual sporting event that features a large number of French female athletes competing their way to victory through multiple sports events and activities against the backdrop of an iconic tourist destination. Every year, the event highlights an attractive tourist destination through inherent features more..

Feb 24 (DN) Sri Lankan opener Pathum Nissanka has moved up to 15th place in the latest ICC T20I batsman rankings. Nissanka the 23-year-old right-hander ended with a successful T-20 five-match series against Australia also finished with the highest runs 184 in this tournament already obtained 608 points to move up to 15th place of the latest ICC rankings. Meanwhile, SL champion leg spinner Wanindu Hasaranga has slipped to 4th place among T20i bowlers at the latest rankings. more..

Feb 24 (FT) Daraz CEO and Founder Bjarke Mikkelsen has reiterated the commitment of e-commerce giant to boost the digital economy in Sri Lanka following a two-day visit to the country last week. He paid a courtesy call on PM Mahinda Rajapaksa during which matters such as the growth of e-commerce in SL, the increasing digital transition of consumers and sellers and Daraz�s commitment to harness the industry�s potential and to support SL�s digital economy were discussed. more..

Feb 24 (CI) Look, let's be real. It's been a while since Sri Lanka were on India's level in limited-overs cricket. In the last T20I series between these teams, Sri Lanka did pull out two victories to claim the trophy in Colombo, but both those wins came after no fewer than seven players of an already weakened India (the Test squad was playing on a different continent) were made unavailable by a Covid-19 outbreak in the squad, and India had to resort to putting net bowlers in their XI. more..

Feb 24 (TM) Police informed that an investigation into the allegations made in the fundamental rights (FR) petition filed in Supreme Court (SC) by former CID Director SSP Shani Abeysekara can only be carried out if the court issues an order to that effect. SSP Nihal Thalduwa said: �Abeysekara has submitted this FR petition to the court. Therefore, Police are not able to investigate a matter submitted to the court. more..

Feb 24 (CT) Eight players from the starting line up of defending inter club league champions Kandy Sports Club have tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. Kandy continued their winning streak after registering their fourth win in a row against CR and FC last week (46-26) in Nittawela, and scheduled to host Havelock SC on Sunday (27). However, the match is in doubt after eight regular players of the team tested positive, and authorities haven�t taken any decision regarding more..

Feb 24 (FT) COVID-19 detections in the country exceeded 640,000 yesterday with the detection of 1,281 COVID-19 patients. All patients detected yesterday were from the New Year cluster. The previous day, 1,253 persons from the New Year cluster and one SL returnee from overseas tested positive for COVID-19. 6,089 PCR tests and 3,000 rapid antigen tests were conducted on Tuesday. The country�s total COVID-19 case count currently stands at 640,578. more..

Feb 24 (DN) "We are ready to take any challenge at the Int'l level and the team is confident to play against India, said SL skipper Dasun Shanaka. "We played five T-20 series against world number one team Australia and now after fours days we are getting ready to play against India in Lucknow today and have to adjust to playing at this conditions, said Shanka. "India is back to the series with their seniors and it�s a good challenge more..

Feb 24 (FT) Uni of Moratuwa, on Tuesday launched the online program Trainee - Full Stack Developer an innovative education initiative to create a new generation of IT professionals who are in high demand. Described as the first and only free online software engineering course the Trainee � Full Stack Developer is being championed as a Corporate Social Responsibility project in collaboration among the academic staff of Uni of Moratuwa, DP Education of Dhammika/Priscilla Foundation more..

Feb 24 (ST) Majority of finance companies� engaged in micro financing are still eagerly waiting for the reimbursement of massive amounts written off by them as non-consumption loans up to Rs. 100,000 to drought-affected women in selected districts, CEOs of finance companies complained. This action has been taken by the finance companies on the directions of the Finance Ministry in accordance with a cabinet decision in 2018, they pointed out. Though the previous Govt stated that it will pay more..

Feb 24 (DM) Over 9 lakh people in Sri Lanka have not got a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine raising concerns among the health authorities. Dr. Samitha Ginige said that 17.6 million people above 12 years of age were eligible to get the vaccine; however, the total number administered with the first dose, stood at 16.7 million as of yesterday. �95.5% has received the first dose while 79.8% has been offered with second dose,� more..

Feb 24 (FT) A delegation from the SL Gem and Jewellery Association called on PM Rajapaksa at Temple Trees on Tuesday, to brief him on the Sapphire Day scheduled to be held at SL pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai. Given the worldwide demand for SL Blue Sapphires, the main objective of the Sapphire Day is to promote Sapphires in parallel with tourism. Accordingly, SL Pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020 on Saturday (26) will be dedicated to Sapphire Day and 11 leading SL gem and more..

Feb 24 (CT) Central Bank of SL (CBSL) and the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) have decided to launch special investment promotion programmes in Singapore and England, a Govt spokesman said. Accordingly, the CBSL was scheduled to hold a meeting with Singaporean investors on Tuesday and Wednesday to attract foreign investment in the Govt securities market. It is said that arrangements have been made to hold these meetings virtually under the leadership of the Governor of CBSL, more..

Feb 24 (AD) A special operation conducted by the SL Navy in coordination with STF has led to the apprehension of a suspect with a stock of approximately 400kg of Kerala cannabis in the Kelani estuary area of Thotupalawatta, Hendala this evening (23). The joint operation conducted by the Navy and STF had made way to this apprehension in the Kelani estuary area of Thotupalawatta this evening (23). During the search operation, the raiding party managed to recover more..

Feb 24 (Island) If the CEB didn�t secure sufficient fuel stocks for the months of March and April, SL could expect three to five hours of power cuts daily, Chairman of the PUCSL Janaka Ratnayake said yesterday. Ratnanayke said what the country was experiencing was not a power crisis but a fuel crisis. Diesel power plants that produced over 400 megawatts of electricity were idling for want of fuel, Ratnayake said. �We have asked people to reduce their electricity consumption, but more..

Feb 24 (AD) Prez Rajapaksa says that the public service is immense and that the public officials� involvement can be seen in every requirement of the people. Therefore, Prez said that his hope is to see a vibrant public service rendered by all state institutions. �The majority of public officials are keen to work. What is needed is supervision, advice and encouragement so that the country can receive their services effectively,� more..

Feb 24 (CT) The parliamentary debate on the Opposition�s Adjournment Motion with regard to the current situation in Sri Lanka had to be abruptly stopped due to the lack of quorum yesterday (23). The House was adjourned until 10 a.m. today (24). The debate was moved by SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne. At about 5:10 p.m. SJB MP Rohana Bandara raised a Point of Order and said there was no quorum in the Chamber. Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage was addressing more..

Feb 24 (DM) The long-delayed global tourism campaign will receive funding assistance from the Treasury with Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa having agreed to extend US $ 56 million for the effort. Tourism Ministry said the funds will be directed towards the campaign in the second quarter of the year. The decision was taken earlier this week at a meeting held between the heads of the two ministries. The objective of the assistance is to step up efforts & implement promotional campaign more..

Feb 24 (EN) Shocking details of how state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, which has no foreign exchange revenues to speak of ended up with billions of US dollars of debt every time the central bank printed money to create forex shortages has now been revealed. SL has been engaging in a long time practice of barring the CPC from buying dollars, even if the firm collected rupees from market-pricing oil, every time CB printed more..

Feb 24 (EN) Colombo Stock Exchange halted trading at 2.42 pm on Thursday (24) to allow the market to cool off after an index of liquid stocks plunged over 5 percent in intra-day trading. This is the fourth time the market was halted in four days. The S&P SL 20 index fell over 5 percent at 2.12 pm, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) said in its official website. �Please note that the Market has been halted for 30 minutes due to the S&P SL20 index dropping over 5% from previous close, more..

Feb 24 (FT) Environment is a globally interconnected natural network. All activities and events on the environment have consequences or impacts on environment and lead to Global Warming (GW) and Climate Change; I would say they are products of such activities carried out by humans as well as natural calamities. The effects of Green House Gases (GHG) have been assessed successfully linked to climate change with computer aided modelling and data collected over more..

Feb 24 (SLN) SL Navy seized two Indian trawlers with 22 Indian fishermen while poaching in SL waters. The apprehension was made in northern waters of SL, during a patrol carried out on the night of 23rd Feb. Considering the impact of foreign fishermen poaching in SL waters on the local fishing community and threats to the biodiversity of the country's marine environment, the Navy has been conducting regular patrols and operations to curb such illegal activities of foreign fishermen more..

Feb 24 (FT) Across a dining table in Moscow, I asked US Ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman, epitome of civility and discernment, former ambassador to China, personal friend of Lee Kuan Yew, and someone who had discussions with Xi and Putin (and Trump, of course), why Washington had upended Kissinger�s grand-strategic logic of playing off Russia and China against each other while drawing them both in as US partners and stakeholders in stabilising an unstable more..

Feb 24 (DM) The CEB has urged Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella to pay up his overdue electricity bill for his residence which is amounting to a massive Rs. 12,056,803.38. The CEB said this was for power consumed since February 2015 and the Minister had to date failed to settle the payment. CEB officials had made a field visit to the Minister�s house in Dec 22, 2021, and had held discussions with his wife. more..

Feb 24 (AD) Prez Rajapaksa has engaged in an impromptu inspection tour at the Sri Lanka Railways Workshop in Ratmalana today. During the visit, the Head of State directed Transport Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi to appoint a commission to resolve issues of railway workers. Prez instructed that all existing issues, including recruitment and resource management, must be addressed within two months. Prez also stated that there is considerable waste that needs disposing of at this premise. more..

Feb 24 (AD) Veteran journalist and television presenter Bandula Padmakumara has passed away at the age of 71. He had reportedly passed away at a private hospital in Colombo while receiving treatment for a kidney ailment. He had been hospitalized for nearly three months, according to close relatives. An iconic figure in the SL media and journalism industry, Mr. Padmakumara was also a former Editor in Chief of Lakbima newspaper and former Chairman of Lake House. more..

Feb 24 (EN) MPs representing the opposition TNA engaged in a protest outside the president�s office in Colombo Thursday morning demanding a meeting with Prez Rajapaksa to discuss what they claimed was a land grab taking place in the island�s north and east. TNA MP Shanakiya Rasamanickam said that an official from the secretariat had told the protesting MPs to hand over a letter they had brought with them more..

Feb 24 (AD) Parliamentary proceedings were suspended for 10 minutes this morning following a protest by the members of the opposition. A heated debate ensued after Minister Dinesh Gunawardena alleged that a MP of the opposition has brought an unauthorized item into the chamber. MP Harin Fernando then clarified that the Leader of the House was referring to him being inspected by the security officials at the parliamentary entrance and three torches being found inside his bag. more..

Feb 24 (Island) Justice Minister Ali Sabry, says a decision on the PTA will be taken by the Cabinet of ministers and Parliament. Minister Sabry said so when The Island sought his response to the declaration by the HRCSL (Human Rights Commission of SL) that the PTA should be abolished. He said, �Any individual or an organisation is free to express opinions. Ultimately, the Cabinet of ministers and the parliament shall decide taking all concerns into account.� more..