Nov 8 (CT) The mass protest in Colombo by a large collective of trade unions, student movements, opposition political parties and social activists failed to make an impact. The govt had made its own preparations which were more cohesive than those of the protesting groups. They were met with a mobilization of police forces who blocked their way. Police declared early that the protests on public roads would not be permitted. Following the advent of Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe, more..

Nov 8 (DM) Govt should reveal Parliament as to who bore the cost of the Maldivian parliament speaker Mohamed Nasheed to attend the COP27 summit representing SL, NPP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said. He told Parliament that it was surprising that the Prez was going round the world attending summits and funerals when people including children are starving. SJB MP Nalin Bandara said Maldivian Parliament Speaker attending the summit representing SL more..

Nov 8 (DM) National Blood Transfusion Service has decided to limit the collection of blood for a week due to a current shortage of a chemical used for the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test, its Director Dr Lakshman Edirisinghe said. He told the media that the country needed only 1,000 blood pints per day, but the Blood Bank was currently facing a shortage of the chemical. �Those who conduct blood donation campaigns in the coming week should organize only small camps of more..

Nov 8 (AD) More than 300 Sri Lankans were rescued at sea off the Spratly Islands after their fishing vessel was damaged and found adrift, foreign media reported today. The rescue operation was initiated after the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre received news that Myanmar-flagged Lady R3 with 303 Sri Lankans, who were suspected to be headed to Canada, was in distress, more..

Nov 8 (AD) Dept of Immigration and Emigration says that the issuance of passports has temporarily been suspended due to a breakdown in the computer system. Accordingly, relevant dept announces that it has suspended issuing passports via all regional offices including the Head Office of the Dept of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla. The decision has been taken due to a breakdown which occurred in the computer system of the dept. Accordingly, Dept of Immigration more..

Nov 8 (Island) Giant Squirrels also known as Rock Squirrels, and monkeys destroy some 107 million coconuts annually, a recent survey by the research team of the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agricultural Research and Training Institute has revealed. Agriculture, Wildlife and Forest Ministry officials had a discussion, last Friday, on how to solve the problems such as human activities in the Sigiriya forest reserve, crop damage caused by wild animals, and the human-elephant conflict. more..

Nov 8 (TM) The presence of former Maldivian Prez and incumbent Maldivian Speaker Mohamed Nasheed, who was appointed by Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe as his International Climate Advisor, in SL�s delegation led by the Prez to the COP27 UN Climate Change Conference has become embroiled in controversy, with the Maldivian Parliament confirming that the trip was not funded by the Maldivian State. more..

Nov 8 (NR) Senior Advisor to the Prez Sagala Ratnayake recalled that World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal and SL Faris Hadad-Zervos was amazed with the action policy and the vision of Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe during their meeting recently. WB Country Director meanwhile expressed his willingness to support the Prez�s vision. Ratnayake said �The prez�s vision for the country includes some measures that go beyond what the IMF or WB has stipulated. more..

Nov 8 (Island) A bust of Sir D.B. Jayatilaka, the first representative of SL to India, commissioned by the High Commission of SL, in New Delhi, in a bid to commemorate the 80th anniversary of SL sending her first Representative to India, in 1942, was ceremonially unveiled yesterday. A few former High Commissioners of India to SL, family members of two former Indian HCs to Colombo and two Deputy High Commissioners of India, who had served in SL, joined SL�s High Commissioner to India, more..

Nov 8 (EN) Licensed alcohol makers are also evading excise taxes and state revenue is not only lost due to moonshine, State Minister for Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya has said. SL has high levels of taxes on legal alcohol encouraging the production of moonshine. According to a report produced by the WHO Sri Lanka�s alcohol production had grown by 95 percent between 2006 and 2014, but the legal sector had grown by only 50 percent. The tax unpaid sector had grown 300% the minister said. more..

Nov 8 (DM) Chinese Ambassador Qi-Zhenhong has assured their continuous support on the debt treatment and stabilizing the economy of SL, State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe said. "During a meeting, the Ambassador assured their support to overcome this critical situation with regard to the financial status of the country. Further, he emphasized that China, as a trustworthy friend, will always be on SL's side." State Minister said. State Minister said that Ambassador has assured more..

Nov 8 (TM) Lamenting that there is no one to stand for the problems and welfare of his community, Vedda Chieftain Uruwarige Wannila Aththo said that the authorities should give the opportunity to someone representing the Vedda community to enter Parliament through the National List or appoint a separate Ministry to look into the issues faced by them. He said that although there are many parties to speak for other communities in the country, more..

Nov 8 (TM) State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya stated that due to the prevailing situation in the country and as per Ministry Circulars, State Depts are not ready to hire new employees. �We are in no position to hire new employees in view of the country�s situation,� he stated. He further stated that many depts under the Ministry of Finance already have large numbers of vacancies. �As of now, there are 773 vacancies in the SL Customs Dept, 434 vacancies in the IRD, more..

Nov 8 (AD) Set to turn a coppery shade of red in the sky this Tuesday (8), the full moon kicked off the day with an event of its own � a total lunar eclipse. The second total lunar eclipse of 2022, also colloquially referred to as the Blood Moon lunar eclipse will turn the moon a reddish-copper colour for 85 minutes on Tuesday. At totality, the stage at which the entire moon will be in Earth�s shadow, the moon will turn a dark reddish hue, which is why a total eclipse is also called a blood moon. more..

Nov 8 (FT) The dip in imports continued in September though yet to decline to lowest in recent years despite stepped up controls. Sept 2022 saw $ 1.28 billion in imports, down from $ 1.48 billion in the previous month and 16% year on year. However, the June 2022 figure at $ 1.22 billion remains the lowest so far this year suggesting there is room for further decline given the foreign exchange crisis. more..

Nov 8 (EN) SL�s central bank credit (printed money) was a negative 8.7 billion rupees in Sept 2022 and private sector was also de-leveraging for the fourth straight month. Net Central Bank credit contracted 8.7 billion rupees to 3,302 billion rupees in September, down from 47.2 billion a month earlier. Credit to govt from the banking system was 53.3 billion rupees down from 163.7 billion rupees a month earlier. SL�s central bank has purchased some govt securities from auctions outright more..

Nov 8 (TM) All-Ceylon Tourism Service Providers� Association (ACTSPA), addressing a media briefing yesterday (6), claimed that the tourism industry faced a major loss last month when the ship, Queen Elizabeth, carrying 2,000 passengers scheduled to arrive on 25 October, was unable to do so because the relevant transactions could not be made in dollars. ACTSPA Member Sanjay Mahawatta stated that no action had been taken regarding the ship in October by the Tourism Ministry. more..

Nov 8 (AD) The Ministry of Health states that there is a risk of monkeypox-infected individuals arriving in Sri Lanka from foreign countries since it is a disease that continues to spread in other countries of the world. Joining a virtual discussion regarding monkeypox, Dr. Chinthana Perera, a specialist doctor of the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health stressed that there is a possibility of even asymptomatic patients entering Sri Lanka from foreign countries. more..

Nov 8 (DM) Swiss Embassy employee Ganiya Bannister Francis who is facing criminal charges before Colombo High Court for allegedly making a false claim that she has been abducted and sexually harassed today filed written objections challenging the maintainability of the charges. Ganiya Bannister has been accused of giving false information to embarrass the SL Govt and fabricating evidence in her abduction claim. Attorney General had filed indictment against Ganiya Bannister Francis more..

Nov 8 (TM) Polls monitor PAFFREL called for credible and non-partisan members to be appointed to the quota of three civil society members in the Constitutional Council (CC) under the 21st Amendment. PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi noted that a proper procedure must be adopted to appoint these independent commissions. �The three civil society members who would be appointed to CC should be credible, more..

Nov 8 (EN) SL�s China-backed Hambantota Int'l Port Group is eyeing Japan Africa reconditioned car business after becoming a hub for transshipping brand new cars on roll-on-roll-off (RO-RO) car carriers, an official said. Hambantota Int'l Port Group is a joint venture between China�s CM Ports group and SLPA. HIPG is in talks with a partner to set up repair facility to re-condition and transship used cars exported from Japan to Africa, Nishantha Gamage, Senior Manager, Commercial & Marketing more..

Nov 8 (FT) Four professors from the Uni of Kelaniya�s Faculty of Medicine are ranked among World�s Top 2% Scientists in the updated Science-wide author databases of standardised citation indicators published recently. The four are Janaka de Silva (Dept of Medicine), Nilanthi de Silva (Vice-Chancellor and Dept of Parasitology), Anuradhani Kasturiratne (Dept of Public Health) and Asita de Silva (Dept of Pharmacology). The analysis was performed by a team from Stanford Uni, USA more..

Nov 8 (Island) Former Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris suggested that the govt seriously consider securing UN support for the recovery of stolen public assets. He said UN�s Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR), run by the World Bank Group and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, could help cash-strapped SL to locate stolen funds. He said SL experiencing the worst ever post-independence economic crisis could utilise more..

Nov 8 (Island) Plastic-coated wires, tyres and electronic waste continue to be burnt countrywide, but no action is taken against the polluters, environmentalists complain. Researchers of the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) have pointed out that plastic is burnt haphazardly, and people are exposed to toxic fumes. Garbage piles, collected by municipalities or local councils, also catch fire causing air pollution, they have said. �It is clear that students of Panadura Royal Junior College more..

Nov 8 (DM) The CID has recorded statements from former Deputy Minister and vetaran actor Jeewan Kumaranatunga, his wife Shereen Kumaranatunga and popular artist Sangeetha Weeraratne in connection with their alleged involvement with the owner of Thico Group (Pvt) Ltd Thilini Priyamali. Jeewan Kumaranatunga and his wife Shereen were summoned by CID on Saturday and statements were recorded while a statement was also recorded from Sangeetha Weeraratne on Monday. more..

Nov 9 (DM) Even as this column is being written, our country is making world headlines for all the wrong reasons once again. This time in the field of cricket. It was only 31 short years ago; on July 21, 1981 to be exact, we were admitted by the ICC as a full member, and awarded Test cricket status. We became the eighth Test playing nation in the world and played our first Test match against England in Colombo from Feb 17-21 in 1982. If it was the skills and hard work of the world cup winning team more..

Nov 9 (DM) If you are a cricket fan, you remember that video. Even if you are not, you should. The 29-second grainy video of two men at a city square, searching for or waiting for someone. Nothing wrong with that. Except the two men were two SL national cricket players, on tour in England and in the middle of Durham in Northeast England in the middle of the night. We would find out later that a third player was also involved and all three were in breach of bio-bubble restrictions. more..

Nov 9 (TM) The need to make the public sector profitable, or at least to curtail its current losses, has intensified with the prevailing economic hardships. While the Govt is dealing with a severe lack of funds to maintain many public institutions, the many institutions continuing to make massive losses remain a challenge. In this context, privatising, or restructuring public institutions has become a common topic within the country, more..

Nov 9 (CT) SL is now under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons with the recent arrest of former SL cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka on four counts of alleged sexual intercourse without consent while in Australia for the T20 WC. While the matter is still before a Court of law, the primary concern is the fact that this is not the first time that National players have been involved in misconduct and the alleged commission of offences while on a tour in another country in their professional capacity. more..

Nov 9 (DM) Art nourishes your soul and can also fix your mood. You can also buy art and get closer to the colours and the meaning they portray. But it would be one challenging task to get close to an artist and get him or her to talk about life and times as a creative person because very few outsiders are afforded that privilege. Why? Because artists are very private people and move within a closely-knit community. They rarely let anyone in and this piece of writing is about one such attempt which more..

Nov 9 (TM) The dress code for SL female teachers should be changed to include casual attire, which is the most preferred clothing of the majority of SL teachers, as it favours the dynamic role of the teacher to enhance their efficiency and productivity, whilst ensuring their self-satisfaction and safety and bringing about economic benefits in terms of saving money and time, a local study on the effect of the dress code more..

Nov 9 (TM) Tomorrow (10) has been declared World Science Day for Peace and Development, which, according to the UN, highlights the significant role of science in society, and the need to engage the wider public in debates on emerging scientific issues. It also underlines the importance and relevance of science in daily lives. The UN underscores that by linking science more closely with society, this day aims to ensure that citizens are kept informed of the developments in science. more..

Nov 9 (CT) The footage on the TV News of the 6th anniversary of the SLPP, commonly known as Pohottuwa, was truly pathetic. The SLFP has never been in this bad a shape. Even in its stark decline in 1975-1977, the SLFP managed to win the occasional by-election and muster a large crowd on May Day. The sheer verticality of the drop in the popularity of the SLPP is unprecedented in Sri Lankan politics and perhaps even in democratic politics anywhere. more..

Nov 9 (CT) Yasmin Bunter of SL heritage, born and bred in England and playing for a leading club in Switzerland FC Basel, is still waiting for her dual citizenship to join the women�s SL football team, but unfortunately there hasn�t been much progress on her paperwork to obtain the dual citizenship. After trying unsuccessfully for years to forge a world-class national men�s/women�s soccer team, SL signaled it was considering a surprising new tack: looking for foreign based SL players to join national more..

Nov 9 (Island) Pelwatte Dairy, one of the leading local dairy brands in SL that produces a range of dairy goods, is launching its latest Pelwatte Chilli Butter Range for dairy lovers. It is the first time a Chilli Butter being introduced to the SL market as a value-added dairy product. Pelwatte Chilli Butter is a high-fat dairy product that increases the appetite to consume food and helps boost health. It uses fresh farm-produced cow milk with Dairy Fat, Edible Salt, Fried Natural Chilli Powder, more..