May 26 (Island) Rugby in SL is at a standstill and there are many reasons for this. The main reason for this is Asian Rugby (AR) suspending the membership of Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR); the controlling body for rugby in SL. The other reason is the chaotic situation in the country which has been brought about largely by the economic crisis. This puts paid to SL taking part in any regional tournaments. That could mean SL�s chances of contesting the rugby sevens event of more..

May 26 (DM) In an effort to help the hard-hit tourism sector recover from the ongoing economic crisis and move to a path of revival, the Tourism Ministry has made an appeal to the source markets to consider reversing the currently placed travel advisories. The newly-appointed Tourism Minister Harin Fernando met with the diplomatic community this week to discuss and explore options as to how the forex-generating sector can be uplifted. One of the key areas of discussion in this regard was lifting more..

May 26 (FT) In a cascading effect of the sharp fuel hike announced on Tuesday, transport sector and food industries announced upward price adjustments across the board. Buses, three-wheels, container and canteen associations announced the inevitable price hikes. Following the Cabinet nod to revise transportation and other service charges, the National Transport Commission (NTC) also announced that bus fares more..

May 26 (FT) Central Bank said it has decided to implement the following regulatory measures to support the banking sector to facilitate effective financial intermediation and the flow of credit to the economy, whilst ensuring the soundness of the banking sector. It said the move was after considering the prevailing macroeconomic conditions and its impact on the banking sector. The specific measures are as follows. 1. The SL banking sector maintains capital conservation buffer more..

May 26 (FT) High net worth investor Nimal Perera, through his lawyers Attorneys-at-Law Sudath Perera Associates, has sought an apology from Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and its journalists over what he alleged as a defamatory program recently or face damages to the tune of Rs. 10 billion. The lawyers have sent a Letter of Demand to ABC and others over the program titled Profiting from the pandemic: How Aspen Medical cashed in on COVID Four Comers posted on its more..

May 26 (AD) Today the country is in bane with many crises, as a result of concentrating power around the Executive, says SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne. He said the proposed 21st Amendment by the govt, which appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe as PM, gives the Prez the power to keep under his purview subjects of his choice and even the power to dissolve Parliament. �We are against the transfer of parliamentary power to more..

May 26 (AD) Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) Prof. Charitha Herath recommended that a COPE be appointed to inquire into the causes of the current economic crisis as well as all those involved, including officials who have neglected their responsibilities in this regard. COPE Chairman pointed out that the whole country is in a huge crisis today due to the decisions of a few people who led the economy and this should be considered as a crime and investigated more..

May 26 (FT) WSO2, the leader in digital transformation technology, yesterday announced that the company has completed its Series E funding round with the addition of RedStart Labs (India), a subsidiary of Info Edge Ltd. The move brings the total growth capital raised to $ 93 million. Info Edge joins lead investor Goldman Sachs Asset Management Private Credit, which completed the first tranche of the Series E in November 2021. Info Edge, through its RedStart subsidiary, more..

May 26 (Island) The state owned petroleum supplier, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), has received 67 proposals by companies to supply petroleum products, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said. He said that the CPC had placed an advertisement, three weeks back, calling for proposals from companies for the supply of petroleum products to SL. Minister said that the CPC had received 67 proposals and 39 of them had been shortlisted by a technical committee. more..

May 26 (Island) Scientists have rediscovered Sri Lanka Clubtail (Anisogomphus ceylonicus), one of the rarest species of dragonflies in the country. The team that made the discovery comprised Amila Sumanapala of the Department of Zoology, University of Colombo, T. Ranasinghe of the Butterfly Conservation Society of SL, and D. Sumanapala of University of Sri J'pura. According to lead scientist Amila Sumanapala SL Clubtail is one of the rarest species of dragonflies. more..

May 26 (TM) There is a danger of international airlines reducing the number of flights to SL due to refuelling-related concerns brought about by the severe fuel crisis in the country. Well-placed aviation industry sources said that whilst there was enough fuel for refuelling purposes as of yesterday, there are concerns about the availability of supplies in the coming weeks. �Civil Aviation Authority of SL has to carefully manage more..

May 26 (FT) Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said the authorities have explored the idea of increasing the prices of premium petroleum products. He said the daily requirements of premium petroleum products such as Octane 95 petrol and super diesel are less than 10% of the total market share. Minister however said that increasing prices significantly of such premium petroleum products will not be a solution, as it will create an artificial demand for lower priced products. more..

May 26 (CT) Dept of Census and Statistics (DCS) is planning to release the new series of National Accounts preliminary estimates revising the base year from 2010 to 2015 along with the estimates for the first quarter 2022, DCS Director General said. �We are in the final stages of work in this regard. We hope to submit this to the Cabinet for approval as soon as it is completed,� he said. The proposed figures rely on re-basing the country�s national accounts compilation undertaken by DCS. more..

May 26 (TM) Colombo Fort Chief Magistrate Thilina Gamage ordered IGP Chandana D. Wickramaratne to explain to the court as to why SDIG in charge of the Western Province Deshabandu Tennakoon has not yet been transferred, despite being directed by Attorney General (AG) Sanjay Rajaratnam PC to do so. Chief Magistrate further stated that if the CID does not take action against Tennakoon with regard to incidents more..

May 26 (CT) NFF Leader, MP Wimal Weerawansa, said, a new alliance will be formed in the near future, under a new leader appointed to gather all independent parties in Parliament. He said, 10 coalition parties of the Govt that became independent in Parliament will lend their support to form the alliance in the future, giving the country a better understanding of the economic crisis. Weerawansa said, they will focus on how to overcome political & humanitarian challenges more..

May 26 (DM) The day-night matches in Sri Lanka�s limited over series against Australia next month will go ahead as scheduled, a Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) official said, refuting reports in foreign media that all matches had been shifted to day games. The AAP reported on Wednesday (25) that their cricketers had stated their unease about the morals around touring Sri Lanka in the current circumstances, while the Sydney Morning Herald citing a source close to Australian cricket reported, more..

May 26 (AD) Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa says there are many job vacancies in countries including Japan, Poland and Romania for skilled workers in various fields and pointed out the need to implement languages and vocational training programmes targeting those available opportunities. Prez made these remarks at a discussion held at the President�s House, Colombo, today (25) to review the progress of the programme to direct the skilled workers to foreign employment markets. more..

May 26 (DM) The 100% cash margin requirement against letters of credit (LC), which the Central Bank announced recently, is applicable to 779 goods this time, broadening the scope from an earlier version of the requirement last year, which covered 623 imported goods deemed as non-essential and non-urgent. In a Banking Act Direction, the Central Bank also made clear that this was the same 100% cash margin requirement, which was brought in last year, though with a wider scope and barred more..

May 26 (Island) It was disclosed before the COPE yesterday, then PM Rajapaksa, who served as the Finance Minister, had been briefed, in March-April 2020, on the impending financial crisis of unprecedented magnitude, but he had chosen to ignore the dire warning. The COPE was told how the IMF had warned the then Governor of the CB, Prof. W. D. Lakshman, and Treasury Secretary S.R. Attygalle, of SL�s inability to more..

May 26 (FT) Poor Alice with so much debt � and of course not of her own making � is now stranded in the isle of ingenuity. Even though the isle is known this way, Alice feels it is more of a Debtland than a Wonderland. Overall the citizenry of Debtland knows that they need to pay around $ 51 billion but only have less than a few million USD in the kitty. Certainly an ICU scenario with the number varying with heart-breaking speed! There was a time when the poor Alice was not exactly aware of more..

May 26 (FT) If there is an acute food shortage, the people will come for Gota because it was his signature fertiliser ban that caused the shortage. Even now, the foreign exchange shortage would not have been so acute if tea export earnings hadn�t collapsed due to the ban. But he, like Prabhakaran in 2009, rejects a negotiated exit. Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe confirms that the SL economy will undergo its worst contraction in history. It will be a very short list of Prezs and PMs globally more..

May 26 (DM) PM�s office has launched a special website through which the protesters at GotaGoGama will be able to submit their proposals and any issues they are faced with, UNP Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijewardene said. Mr. Wijewardene who was assigned by the PM to look into the issues faced by the GotaGoGama protesters said the protesters will now be able to communicate via pmoffice.gov.lk. �Those who come up with practical and constructive proposals will be allowed to more..

May 26 (TM) Further to allegations made by TNA MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam in Parliament on the 5th of May of a non-performing loan of USD 30 billion given to UNP member Daya Gamage, People�s Bank has responded to Rasamanickam via a letter stating that the bank is in litigation process to recover the due amounts from the respective parties. The letter was dated yesterday. �While we do not comment on individual customer transactions due to customer confidentiality, we wish to more..

May 26 (Island) The Colombo High Court Lawyers� Association has questioned newly appointed DIG, CID, Prasad Ranasinghe as regards, what the outfit called, the glaring double standards in dealing with SLPP lawmakers under investigation over their alleged involvement in the unprovoked attacks on people demanding the resignation of the govt on May 09. Association�s President Lakshman Perera said that more..

May 26 (AD) The IMF will strongly support Sri Lanka on debt restructuring, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva says. Speaking to NDTV at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the IMF chief said, �I feel for the people in Sri Lanka. It is breaking my heart to watch pictures of what is happening in the country that once was quite prosperous.� It is a result of mismanagement, Georgieva said further, noting that the most important thing to be done is to put the island nation more..

May 26 (EN) SL�s police have developed an app to monitor vehicles pump fuel more than once a day as the country still sees long queues for fuel amid reports of unscrupulous hoarding and a booming black market. Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera said the application developed by the police is being tested in several locations in the country on Thursday. The number plate of the vehicle is entered into the app and is shared between the app users in real-time, more..

May 26 (AD) General Shavendra Silva is set to assume office on the 1st of June as new Chief of Defence Staff after relinquishing the office of the Commander of the Army on 31 May. General Shavendra Silva was serving as acting Chief of Defence Staff at the time he was appointed to this new office. SL Army said the incumbent Chief of Staff Major General Vikum Liyanage is slated to be appointed as new Commander of Army. more..

May 26 (AD) Laugfs Gas PLC, one of the main liquefied petroleum gas suppliers in SL, says the company will be able to supply domestic LP gas cylinders to the market within the next six days. Laugfs Chairman W.K.H. Wegapitiya said the company was able to open letters of credit for the purchase of LP gas. Meanwhile, Litro Gas Lanka said domestic LP gas cylinders are not distributed in the country today as well. Consumers were therefore requested not to wait in gas queues more..

May 26 (TM) The entire country is aware of the fraud this Govt is doing by throwing the thieves into the washing machine and then again re-appointing them instead of making a change in policies, says Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa. He made this statement during a media brief today. �The entire 22 million in this country can see now who the main culprit is for the crisis in SL. This is a scam. We never said that we cannot take over the Govt. Even now, I am ready to take over as the PM,� more..

May 26 (EN) SL recycler BPPL said it had received 15 million US dollars from the US Int'l Development Corporation to expand its polyester and monofilament yarn plant which uses waste plastic as the main raw material. The loan provided by DFC has a 10-year tenure with a three-year grace period and is subject to regulatory approvals. BPPL will use the funds to double the PET plastic bottle collection centres and increase the company�s bottle washing capacity. It has 480 waste plastic collection more..

May 26 (DM) The CID has recorded a statement from former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday over the incidents at Kollupitiya and Galle Face Green on May 9. Police said the CID recorded a nearly three hour long statement from the former Prime Minister last evening at his residence in Colombo. Earlier, the CID recorded several statements from former ministers including Mahinda Rajapaksa's son Namal Rajapaksa over the incident. more..

May 26 (CI) Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal, SL's two most senior batters, forged a 199-run stand to put the heat on Bangladesh. Sri Lanka lost their last five wickets cheaply, but then their quicks gutted the hosts' top order for the second time in the Test to ratchet up the temperature further. At the end of a fourth day in which SL advanced more or less relentlessly, they stand in sight of a Test (and thus, series) victory. more..

May 26 (AD) Prez Rajapaksa said that SL has appointed a new PM and a Cabinet of Ministers with representation from multiple political parties, and that they are fostering ongoing discussions in Parliament towards forming a national consensus on the way forward. Prez made these remarks addressing the 27th International Conference on the Future of Asia held in Tokyo, via video call on Thursday. Japan�s Nikkei newspaper has been organizing conference annually since 1995. more..

May 26 (Island) The People�s Bank is known for its commitment towards the betterment of the country. As one of the largest financial services providers in Sri Lanka, the Bank has been continuously featured in the 1000 Best Banks in the world by the world renowned The Banker Magazine in the years of 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. CEO/GM of the People�s Bank Ranjith Kodituwakku recently spoke to the media about the bank�s journey so far, and its present and future vision. more..