Jun 28 (CT) NFF Leader Wimal Weerawansa said, he believes the Govt is trying to implement agendas under the cover of the current crisis. Weerawansa also commented on Sri Lanka not buying oil from countries such as Russia where oil is available at concessionary rates. �Russia has turned to the Asian market as they have lost the European market. Many countries like India, Singapore and Malaysia now buy oil from Russia. India gets a 35% advantage from it. more..

Jun 28 (BN) SL�s economy fell back into contraction last quarter as the country battled its worst economic problems since independence, with emergency aid to stabilise the island nation proving elusive. GDP declined 1.6% in the quarter ended March from a year earlier. That�s shallower than a 3.6% contraction seen by economists in a Bloomberg survey and compares with a revised 2% expansion in the previous quarter. more..

Jun 28 (CT) In response to the controversy that erupted after the COPE revealed that the CEB has utilised nearly Rs 5 billion in public funds to pay Pay As You Earn Tax (PAYE) and Advanced Personal Income Tax (APIT)of its employees, from 2010 to 2020, CEB said approximately 20 State institutions have followed the same practice, including Central Bank of SL (CBSL). CEB said the PAYE Tax is currently being paid by all employees at personal level to the Inland Revenue Dept. more..

Jun 28 (CT) JJB staged a protest in front of the Fort Railway Station, demanding the release of peaceful protesters arrested by Police on 26 June. The protest was held under the slogan Immediately Release All Protestors Held in Custody. JVP Politburo member Sunil Handunetti said the Ranil-Gota regime has already indebted the country and is trying to raise the cost of living. �Because the Govt has demonstrated its inability to find solutions to the current crises, country has become helpless. more..

Jun 28 (AD) SL�s Minister of Power & Energy Kanchana Wijesekara today called on Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar�s Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of Qatar Energy. The two ministers have discussed the supply of petroleum products, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Sri Lanka to overcome the energy crisis with the assistance of Qatar Energy � the country�s state-owned petroleum company � and The Qatar Development Fund. more..

Jun 28 (AD) The Registrar General�s Department says the issuance of birth, marriage and death certificates through the divisional secretariats and land registration services will be limited to two days per week. In a media notice, the department said the aforementioned services are provided only on Mondays and Wednesdays between 8.30 a.m. and 4 p.m. over the next 10 days. However, Registrar General�s Dept head office at Suhurupaya in Battaramulla and its branches more..

Jun 28 (AP) US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced an additional USD 20 million in assistance to feed over 800,000 children and 27,000 pregnant and lactating women over the next 15 months in SL, which is currently facing its worst economic crisis. Biden announced the fresh assistance at the G7 Summit in Germany. The funding will support a school nutrition programme for students and provide food vouchers for more..

Jun 28 (CT) The urea fertiliser shipment scheduled to arrive in the country on 6 July will be delayed by another two days, Chairman of Colombo Commercial Fertilisers, Methsiri Wijegunawardana, said. Chairman, earlier said, stocks of fertiliser would be imported through a new joint venture between India and Oman and samples would be tested by Singapore-based Technical Controls & Inspection Services (TCIS). He added the company has been selected to test samples of all fertiliser more..

Jun 28 (CT) Eastern Terminal of Colombo Port, which is presently under construction, will be operated entirely by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and will not be handed over to the private sector, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva confirmed after an inspection tour of the ECT Terminal. The Minister said despite the irresponsible claims of some Trade Unions and individuals that the terminal will be privatised, SLPA will complete the construction by 2024 using the resources more..

Jun 28 (EN) I have allocated a sum of Rs 50 million monthly which I had already set aside to put into SL and this is a personal commitment from my side for my nation and I do not intend to take Govt funds for whatsoever reason, said Investment Promotion Minister Dhammika Perera said. �Dhammika Perera is the kind of person who can get things done overnight. If I want something I will not be wasting months by calling for tenders, more..

Jun 28 (EN) Sri Lanka plans to re-start international flights at Jaffna Airport in the North of the country which were halted during the Coronavirus crisis, with the cabinet of ministers giving approval. Jaffna Airport is SL�s third international airport, which was opened officially on October 17,2019 and flights to and from India were planned to operate from this airport. India�s Alliance Air, a subsidiary of Air India operated weekly flights to the airport in 2019 year from Chennai. more..

Jun 28 (TM) Residents of Thennamaravadi, Kuchchaveli, which is a rural village some 65 km north of Trincomalee, on the Pulmoddai Road, are struggling due to issues pertaining to the lack of land and housing. The residents claimed that most of their lands had been grabbed by the Sinhala people. �Around 225 families stayed in this village and all were Tamils. Only two Sinhalese fishing families were residing in this village before the war. When the war intruded, driving the villagers more..

Jun 29 (DM) According to the biblical story, the Pharaoh of Egypt had a dream that no one could interpret for him. Joseph, then a prisoner with a history of interpreting dreams was brought before Pharaoh who told him of his dream. As the story goes, Joseph prophesized seven years of abundance and bountiful crop would be followed by seven years of famine which would ravage the land. He advised Pharaoh to take a fifth of the harvest during the seven years of plenty and store more..

Jun 29 (DM) The last column I wrote on why the media is increasingly in the firing line of public anger elicited some interesting responses. A few wrote me to reinforce the sentiments that this was a long time coming. That the media should have been expecting this given years and years of partisan coverage. It is hard to argue with this. Others told me that not all media is treated this way and that at least there is a minority that still enjoys public respect. Though that number appears to be dwindling. more..

Jun 29 (DM) Many of the projects aimed at developing the country have only become a burden to the regime. Mattala Airport, Lotus Tower, Conference Hall in H'tota, Sooriyawewa Stadium and the expressways are fine examples for such questionable projects. Debts were obtained from foreign countries amounting to billions of dollars for these development activities. And what�s of concern is that people will have to bear more..

Jun 29 (TM) The offence of contempt of court is one of those laws that do not really resonate with the people. They often wonder whether their criticism of a court or judge can be construed as contempt of court if it is based on credible or justifiable reasons. In recent history, there have been several occasions � such as the case of former MP Ranjan Ramanayake � on which the people were extremely critical of the enforcement of this law, and overall, they did not agree with what seems to more..

Jun 29 (CT) No General should send his troops where he himself cannot go. That�s a universal quality of leadership. Historical examples are aplenty; Gandhi and Nehru spent years in jail so that their soldiers couldn�t one day point the finger at them accusing them of betrayal or of self-preservation. Fear of and hesitancy and reluctance to undergo and endure physical hardships and mental collapse is not within the armor of great leadership. The question then is whether more..

Jun 29 (TM) With SL entering the most difficult period of the economic crisis, with worsening shortages and price hikes, Govt of Prez Rajapaksa and PM Wickremesinghe has its work cut out to steer the country out of this economic Armageddon. SL continues to reach out to the international community while a group of political parties is pressuring the Govt to initiate a dialogue with Russia with the intention of getting cheap fuel and more..

Jun 29 (GV) Our country has collapsed. Govt spokesperson Bandula Gunawardena announced that fuel supply has come to a standstill and fuel will be available only for essential services. These is no one to blame, no one to look up to. When Ranil took over the govt, as there was no one else to do so, people had hopes that he would be able to bring in much needed dollars to the economy. Some people gave up protesting and withdrew support for the aragalaya, anticipating that things would more..

Jun 29 (CT) Dept of Census and Statistics yesterday said, the economy contracted by 1.6% in the first quarter (1Q) of the year after growing by 3.3% last year, before contracting by 3.5% in 2020. The economy grew by 2% in 4Q 2021. Prior to 1Q 2022, the last time the economy contracted on a quarterly basis was in 3Q 2021, where it shrank by 5.8%. In the midst of this dire performance, the Govt, being broke to import fuel and in a move to stretch whatever is remaining of its spartan fuel more..

Jun 29 (ST) There is a saying behind every successful man, there is a woman. In the case of Vittalis Niklas, it�s his sister. His bonding with boxing began when he used to escort his sister to boxing lessons. Now, having mastered the art himself, he is already a history maker becoming the first Northern boxer in the island�s history to get selected. He will now head to Commonwealth Games (CWG), starting 28 July, in a debut of dream of desire. �It is Mr. Dian Gomes, who selected me from more..

Jun 29 (DN) Sports Ministry's Special Police Investigation Unit (SPIU) chief SSP Jagath Fonseka said they have launched an investigation into match fixing allegations before the first Test between Sri Lanka and Australia which will commence today at the Galle Int'l cricket stadium. "We got information about one local tourist guide who was very keen to get the Galle pitch report before the match starts today". The SPIU chief further said We have inquired about this tourist guide and more..

Jun 29 (FT) The tourism sector urged for the extension of the Rs. 500 billion debt moratorium by a further six months till December this year, saying it was critical for the 3 million-dependent industry and to tap prospects for more forex-boosting visitors in the upcoming winter season. The compelling case for the extension was made jointly by Hotels Association of SL (THASL), SL Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) more..

Jun 29 (Island) What was feared has come to pass; the country has run out of oil to all intents and purposes. But the govt�s lame excuses are not in short supply. It says it will restore the oil supply on 10 July, and until such time fuel will be issued only for essential services. What guarantee is there that enough dollars will be raised within the next two weeks for fuel imports? Are we being made to wait for Godot? It is very likely that on 09 July the govt will ask for 2 more wks to make fuel available more..

Jun 29 (SO) The National champion Susal de Silva of Nalanda college won the gold medal in the highest age group, (under-18 Open event) at the Western Asian Youth Chess Championships which concluded last Thursday (23) in the Maldives. Susal the 16-year-old promising player gathered a total of 6� points from nine games to clinch the gold. He recorded victories over Mohamed Rayyan (Maldives), Zhandir Bizigitov (Kazakhstan), Bin Yashid Mujahid (Maldives), Reja Manon more..

Jun 29 (ST) Heated arguments, brawls & violence are now regularly erupting at many fuel stations where motorists in lengthy lines for days and nights now do not expect law enforcement by police. In some queues, people complain that the police are spectators, while thugs and three-wheel operators take control. Motorists have been seen shouting at each other when some others jump in with the help of thugs or 3-wheel drivers. more..

Jun 29 (DN) Suspended Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) President Rizly Illyas yesterday urged the authorities to conduct an impartial inquiry to clear his image and reputation as a veteran sports administrator. Asia Rugby (AR) Executive Committee suspended Illyas from participating in any rugby duties, activities, and responsibilities within the jurisdiction of AR until the pending investigation is concluded. The suspension was imposed on Illyas in line with AR principles of Equality, Transparency and Accountability, more..

Jun 29 (Island) Our free National Health Service is something that brings succor to the poorest of the poor, as well as even the well-to-do, and everybody in-between. As a country and a nation, we are so proud of our health services. In fact, as a developing country, we have shown the entire world how much can be accomplished, even with our meager resources, and with so few facilities made available to us in our health facilities. Our healthcare personnel are second to none anywhere else more..

Jun 29 (ST) Baur & Co (Pvt) Ltd has expanded its partnership with Microsoft to further its digital transformation objectives. Baurs, which migrated to Office 365 in 2018 and embraced Microsoft Azure�s trusted cloud platform in 2020, will migrate its IT infrastructure and SAP mission-critical systems to Azure for maximum cost savings, and gain agility and uptime. As part of its modernisation and cloud-first strategy, Baurs wanted to move its SAP workloads from existing data centres to more..

Jun 29 (FT) The 22nd Amendment will be published in the Gazette today, following which it will be presented to Parliament after seven days, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said. He said that on Monday, the Cabinet had given approval to publish the Bill in the Gazette after the draft Bill prepared by the Legal Draftsman was cleared by the Attorney General, who informed that the Bill is in accordance with the Constitution. He said while the Bill will be gazetted as the 22nd Amendment more..

Jun 29 (Island) COPE has told the SL Ports Authority and SL Customs to regularize two land transactions worth over Rs. 1.5bn. COPE Chairman Prof. Charitha Herath has advised SLPA Chairman Dr. Prasantha Jayamanna and Director General Customs Maj. Gen. G.V. Ravipriya (rtd) to take immediate steps to validate the agreements in respect of the Nelum Tower and SL Customs headquarters. more..

Jun 29 (ST) About three million self-employed Sri Lankans are facing the full force of the national bankruptcy and the widespread crises it has created. The Secretary of the All Island Three Wheeler Driver Union, T R R Pallie, says fares have risen beyond Rs 100 for a kilometre because of rising fuel costs, and he fears this will mean fewer passengers in the long-term. He has suggested a register through which authorities can distinguish between passenger and goods transport vehicles from those more..

Jun 29 (AD) The 19-year-old girl who was receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital for severe burn injuries following a recent fire at a house in Kahatuduwa has succumbed to her injuries, increasing the death toll from the blaze to three. The fire which had broken out at a residence located at Magammana in the Kahatuduwa police area on the night of June 25, had claimed the lives of the girl�s parents while her younger sister is still hospitalised. more..

Jun 29 (TM) The retailers in SL are in dire need of a tax moratorium for a period of 12 months to sustain their businesses amidst the economic crisis prevailing in the country. SL Retailers� Association (SLRA) President Hussain Sadique stated: �Govt has to provide either moratoriums, or tax relief, because we (the retailers) have been overtaxed now.� He explained that the retailers are now burdened with the Value-Added Tax (VAT) more..

Jun 29 (AD) 44 containers of 1,000 metric tonnes of rice donated by the Chinese people to SL students have arrived and was handed over to SL�s Ministry of Education on Tuesday. China is gifting a total of 10,000 MT of rice to 7,900 schools across SL and supports its School Meal Program for 6 months, Chinese Embassy in Colombo said. Ambassador Qi Zhenhong stated that the vulnerable population, especially children from low-income families suffer the most in the current economic crisis in SL. more..

Jun 29 (Island) Chairman of the Election Commission Nimal G Punchihewa said that the people�s basic needs should be taken care of before an election was held. Punchihewa said that as the people were under immense pressure, they were tensed and easily provoked by having to spend long hours in queues to purchase fuel while the skyrocketing prices of essential food items was aggravating the situation as well. �Any election held under the present circumstances may not more..