Jun 16 (Island) Public Health Inspectors� Union of SL has demanded an inquiry against Deputy Director General (Public Health Services) Dr. S.M. Arnold with regard to intentional disruption of tobacco cessation and prevention activities conducted by the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA). Public Health Inspectors� Union President Upul Rohana, writing to the Secretary to the Ministry of Health on 06 June 2022, with the letter reference number PHIU/GEN/PRE/2022/34, asked for the inquiry allegedly more..

Jun 16 (CT) Rs 65 billion from the Indian Credit Line will be utilised to import paper and other required material to print school textbooks and exercise books, within the next 3 weeks, Minister Susil Premajayantha said. He said, assessing the required paper, ink and similar materials and stocks, relevant details have already been submitted to the Ministry of Trade, Treasury and to the Indian HC in Colombo. He said, though paper was earlier manufactured at the Embilipitiya and Valachchenai paper factories, more..

Jun 16 (USE) US announced today that it will provide $6 million in emergency assistance to address the needs of marginalized and vulnerable communities impacted by SL�s economic crisis. This new funding will also provide technical assistance to the Govt of SL as it implements economic and financial reform measures to stabilize the economy, in line with an anticipated IMF package. �The U.S. is committed to supporting the SL people as they face today�s economic and political challenges,� more..

Jun 16 (CT) The presidency of the Govt Medical Officers� Association (GMOA) changed hands after 12 years when Consultant Neurologist Dr. Dharshana Sirisena was elected as the new chief of the doctors� union at it�s at its 95th Annual General Meeting on Saturday. Former Secretary of the GMOA, Dr. Senal Fernando said that Dr. Haritha Aluthge had succeeded him as the new Secretary for 2022/2023. He noted that Dr. Aluthge had held the Secretary Post for 2018/2020 and had been re-elected to it for 2022/2023. more..

Jun 16 (Island) ood and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has agreed to implement a number of special projects during the coming Maha season to provide the necessary assistance to the farming community here. Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that FAO had agreed to provide 365,000 bags of urea fertiliser, free of charge, to low income farming families for paddy cultivation during the 2022/23 Maha season. It had been decided to provide one bag of urea each to 365,000 low income farming families countrywide. more..

Jun 16 (DM) CID has informed court that the person who attacked a disabled soldier, which was circulating on social media during the mob attack on Galle Face protesters on May 9 has been identified as ruggerite Sajith Saranga. Senior DSG Dilan Ratnayake appearing for the CID on Wednesday informed Colombo Fort Magistrate that the investigations have revealed the suspect Sajith Saranga has left the country following the incident and thereby sought an order imposing travel restrictions on the suspect. more..

Jun 16 (CT) Following a discussion with the leaders of certain political parties, General Secretary of UNP Palitha Range Bandara said several political parties which had been with the SLPP would join hands with the UNP in due course. IMTK General Secretary S. Vishnukanthan, TULF Colombo District Organiser Dushyanthan Manalangam, Progressive Janatha Sevaka Party (PJSP) Vice President Indika Sooriyaarachchi, Sri Telo General Secretary P. Udayarasa, Democratic People�s Congress more..

Jun 16 (TM) The Ministry of Justice plans to introduce a new Bill for the protection and benefit of the nearly 1.7 million persons with disabilities living in SL at present, Ministry announced. A meeting had been held towards this end yesterday with the representatives of the Disability Organisations Front and Minister Dr. Wijayadasa Rajapakshe PC to discuss the drafting of a new Bill for the protection of people with disabilities more..

Jun 16 (DM) SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva, who had met PM Wickremesinghe on Wednesday, expressed his willingness to work for the betterment of SL. "Following an invitation by PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, I along with MP Eran Wickramaratne attended a meeting at his office. Secretery Ministry of Finance presented the dire economic situation. PM wanted our support to get a number of fiscal amendments through Parliament. I have always been ready to work for Sri Lankans. more..

Jun 16 (CT) Colombo Chief Magistrate Nandana Amerasinghe, yesterday (15) informed Cinnamon Gardens Police that he will not be issuing orders towards the proscription of protests held in a peaceful manner henceforth. He then instructed Cinnamon Gardens Police, to utilise its powers and arrest demonstrators or protesters, if they behave in a manner impeding the civilian life and causing any hindrance to passers-by, during the conduct of such protests or demonstrations. more..

Jun 16 (AN) Catholic Bishops' Conference of SL (CBCSL) issued a statement at the end of its recent plenary assembly warning that violence is a real danger as the country�s economic crisis worsens. To cope with the situation, the bishops urge the govt to immediately change its policies and amend the constitution to limit the powers of the Prez. �We earnestly urge the govt to take drastic steps to address these issues and bring about justice, more..

Jun 16 (DM) Amid multiple crises in the country, the progress of the Hambantota Int'l Port�s (HIP) industrial park is facing several challenges in the construction front as well as delays in investment flows, according to the company officials. During a recent inspection tour made by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva to the Hambantota Port, the HIP officials revealed that the construction of the port�s adjoining industrial park has significantly slowed down amid fuel crisis and import restrictions. more..

Jun 16 (EN) Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) plans to issue 10,000 metric tons of rice to the market every month with the PMB directly involved in the distribution process in a bid to combat a powerful rice oligopoly, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said. He said that the ministry has ordered the PMB to convert the paddy stocks in storage to rice with immediate effect and increase amount of rice issued to the market. �We have issued a directive to convert the paddy to rice and send it to the market more..

Jun 16 (NDTV) Citizens held a protest in Colombo against the alleged favouring of Indian industrialist Gautam Adani's group in the award of an energy project in Mannar district. They alleged that the Adani group got the project as part of a dubious deal between Indian PM Narendra Modi and SL Prez Rajapaksa. "Modi and Gotabaya worked out a deal that is non-transparent and illegal, so that Adani did not have to go through more..

Jun 16 (NR) Non-Academic Employees Union says amidst the current fuel crisis, the entire country is at risk of going into lockdown. General Secretary of the Union Ajith Tillekeratne said public servants face numerous difficulties in reporting for duty amidst the prevalent issues. He noted that SL only possesses 6,000MT of petrol with no expected date for a fuel shipment. He said a diesel shipment was received today adding that the public is unable to carry out day-to-day activities due to the fuel shortage. more..

Jun 16 (UN) WFP is working to provide life-saving food, cash and voucher assistance to three million of the most vulnerable people who can no longer meet their food needs due to the unprecedented economic meltdown. Last week, the UN and partners launched a joint Humanitarian Needs and Priorities Plan (HNP) requesting more than $47 million, to aid some 1.7 million worst hit by the spiraling economic crisis, which has seen the country struggling to pay for essential imports, more..

Jun 16 (Island) The COPA has recently discussed how the Finance Ministry directive, issued in Oct 2020, resulted in a massive loss of revenue and the failure on the part of those in authority to take remedial measures in the wake of the media exposure of the scam. The Parliament, in a media statement, said that the COPA examined a special audit of the reduction in the excise duty on a kilo of sugar from Rs. 50 to Rs. 25 cents. more..

Jun 16 (EN) Two people died in separate fuel queues in Sri Lanka on Thursday, June 16, reports said, bringing the cash-strapped country�s fuel or cooking gas queue death toll to 10. In the early hours of Thursday, a 53-year-old man took his last breath waiting for hours at a filling station in Wekada petrol shed in Panadura, south of the capital Colombo. Upali, a father of three who drove a three-wheeler taxi, a popular profession among lower-income families in the island�s more..

Jun 16 (AD) Special programmes to brief representatives of political parties on the 21st Amendment to the Constitution are scheduled to be held today (16). Minister of Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe stated that the relevant programme will be held at 4.00 pm at the President�s House in Fort. Representatives of political parties will be briefed on the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, which has been submitted to the Cabinet. more..

Jun 17 (DM) Sri Lanka is seeing the first signs of some sections of the community thinking of whether the neighbour had his or her meal. Just the other day Sarvodaya together with Singularity Sri Lanka organised a community kitchen to ensure that people in the Grandpass area had a solid meal for dinner. The food kitchen was held on June 14 at the St. Joseph�s Church in Grandpass and as many as 1700 people were fed. For the record dry rations were also distributed. more..

Jun 17 (DM) The 16th-century British philosopher Thomas Hobbes had a negative view of human nature. Human beings are, by nature bad, the pessimistic thinker believed. Hobbes said people were basically selfish. Their selfishness is driven by the fear of death and the hope of personal gain. Those who subscribe to his views say human beings� biggest enemies are human beings. That is why when we sleep or leave home we lock all the doors. But there are many people, more..

Jun 17 (CT) These days Sri Lankans are struggling to make ends meet more than ever as the economic situation has become uneasy and unkind to all. Mahinda is a senior citizen who cannot even speak out loud to be heard. When Ceylon Today entered a bakery in Athurugiriya we could see this elderly man with just Rs 50 in his hand, debating whether to get a bus to go home or to snap up a bun to satiate his hunger. more..

Jun 17 (CT) Soren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, poet, social critic, and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. Once he wrote thus: �There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn�t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.� All Sri Lankans, leaders, followers, the rich and the poor, the so-called high caste and the low, Sinhalese, Buddhists, Muslims, Christians and Hindus, all belong to the two categories of those who are more..

Jun 17 (CT) Yesterday SL recorded its first fuel queue death since April, a little over a month after UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe (MP) was sworn in as Prez Rajapaksa�s second Premier, to revive the flagging economy. But, if Wickremesinghe expects the West to bail him out, like what it did when his uncle and then UNP leader J.R. Jayewardene swept to power 45 years ago, in July 1977, UK�s Roving Ambassador for Human Rights (HR) Rita French, speaking at UNHRC Sessions on Tuesday, more..

Jun 17 (CT) The spat between Russia and SL over detaining an Aeroflot flight at the BIA on 2 June is a warning to SL to avoid jeopardising not only the Russians, but also to be wary of Russia�s actions, since it waged war on Ukraine, when several countries, including China, have taken precautionary measures by closing their airspace to Russia. Reuters quotes that the Russian state-owned airline has been crippled by sanctions more..

Jun 17 (ST) Mundy vs. Central Environmental Authority and others (2004) is an interesting court case in SL, which has received international attention in the study of law and and which has also been referred to in the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP). During the time of its construction, the Southern Expressway had cut across private lands along the way from Colombo to Matara. Appellant, Heather Therese Mundy, complained against infringement of FRs more..

Jun 17 (TM) With each passing day, the bitter impact of the economic crisis is becoming more apparent and intense, and the people are wondering when they will see an end to the prevailing era of queues. During the past two days, fuel queues grew even longer, leaving people waiting indefinitely to obtain fuel. The country�s transport sector, already limited to the bare minimum due to the fuel shortage, was among the first in line to be affected by the lengthened queues. more..

Jun 17 (DM) The genesis of the slogan demanding 225 clean and virtuous MPs has a long political history. In the 4th century B.C. Aristotle in The Politics, argued that if it is inevitable that not all the citizens in a sound state are good, it is impossible for all to have to the virtues of the good man, to be fit enough to rule others. In fact, Aristotle went to the extent of distinguishing between the good man and the good citizen and said that the virtue of a person being ruled is the correct opinion. more..

Jun 17 (ST) The Colombo Division Women�s Cricket Association (CDWCA) successfully completed a coaching programme for schoolgirls of Gampaha District last Saturday at the Basilika College ground in Ragama. The programme was conducted under the sponsorship of Lanka Tiles, who came forward with the intention of fostering the upcoming girls in cricket, in association with CDWCA. Many schools from Gampaha District participated at the coaching programme which was assisted by more..

Jun 17 (CI) The bowlers ruled all day on a slow Pallekele pitch, but in the end SL's bowlers ruled harder. Australia were chasing 216 in 43 overs after rain curtailed the first innings. They only got to 189. SL's spinners were big threats on a big-spinning surface - Dhananjaya de Silva claiming the first two dismissals with his offspin, before Dunith Wellalage took vital middle order wickets later on. But their quicks were major contributors more..

Jun 17 (Island) Fuel crisis has taken a turn for the worse, and govt leaders have run out of excuses, promises and rhetoric. Instead of finding ways and means of making fuel available in sufficient amounts, they have got the CPC to release a list of filling stations, to which fuel stocks are dispatched, on a daily basis. They seem to think their responsibility ends there! Queues for cooking gas are also getting longer. Newly-appointed Litro Gas Chairman Muditha Peiris has dropped a bombshell. more..

Jun 17 (EAF) When Prez Rajapaksa banned chemical fertiliser, insecticides and herbicides in May 2021, protesters blamed the govt rather than the Prez or his brother, former PM Rajapaksa. But this time, spurred by the island�s worst ever economic crisis, protests have turned against Rajapaksa rule. The original fertiliser ban was dictated by a balance of payments crisis. This crisis was caused by a bloated govt service, inefficient state enterprises, a massive security force more..

Jun 17 (AD) Uni of Moratuwa (UoM) and Dhammika & Priscilla Perera Foundation (DP Foundation) signed a MoU to facilitate open online course development and delivery at Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) level of the Project Management Institute, USA. The objective of this initiative is to provide opportunities to learn free of charge the required knowledge at the level of CAPM to all project participants in SL. It comprises 12 foundational modules that cover knowledge more..

Jun 17 (NW) Sky-rocketing food and fuel prices in SL have precipitated the worst political unrest in the South Asian country in years, as tens of thousands of demonstrators march for change on empty stomachs. With the govt teetering alongside its economy, the int'l community must take urgent action to help stabilize SL, where domestic challenges have a history of going global quickly. SL is on the brink. Last month, the country became the first in South Asia to default on its debt more..

Jun 17 (FT) The All Island Poultry Association yesterday called on the Govt to create business conducive policies and protect local industries without killing the geese that lays the golden eggs. �The poultry industry�s lucrative potential is blocked by a shortage of animal feed and import tariffs attached to it. SL being a bird flu-free country has an excellent opportunity to export to Singapore after Malaysia banned its chicken and egg exports. more..

Jun 17 (USE) US Govt, through its development agency, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is partnering with Institute of Chartered Accountants of SL (CA Sri Lanka) and Association of Public Finance Accountants of SL (APFASL) to strengthen SL�s accounting and auditing sectors. This partnership will train approximately 600 public sector accountants and audit professionals, and 1,200 officers on IT applications and other platforms that support strategic decision making. more..