Dec 29 (CT) One mistake we normally do in analyzing the situation or crisis in SL is to do it in isolation. SL unfortunately only a part of a world system. Although this situation is valid to almost all other countries, smaller or weaker a country, larger are the effects of external factors. Strategic importance also playing a part of the equation. Even before colonialism, there had been waves of civilizational expansions from major or larger countries into surrounding areas & countries. more..

Dec 29 (CT) It is high time that paramedical services of the Health Ministry engaged in carrying out services on the field were given legal backing to perform their duties without risking misplaced public wrath. A video which recently went viral showed how important it was for Entomology Officers, a category among paramedics to have legal authority to enter premises to carry out mosquito research work on the Aedes aegypti, more..

Dec 29 (GV) On Dec 17, 2022, fishermen in northern SL alerted the navy about a boat in distress adrift in the sea. On December 18, the navy rescued a group of 104 people from the boat. The navy has referred to them as Myanmar nationals while a statement from the UNHCR refers to them as Rohingya refugees. Rohingya Muslims are stateless and many have fled and continue to flee from persecution in Myanmar. Many Rohingya refugees are also reported to be leaving refugee more..

Dec 29 (DM) With SL still struggling to overcome its worst socio-economic crisis since independence, the UN recently marked International Migrants’ Day and issued a statement saying in recent years, conflicts, insecurity, and the effects of climate change have heavily contributed to the forced movement of people, whether within countries or across borders. Giving some important and disturbing figures, the UN says that in 2020 more than 281 million people were international migrants. more..

Dec 29 (TM) The majority of SL adults and adolescents are not adequately aware of the recommended amount of daily salt consumption. This finding was made in an original research article on Salt and health: Public awareness, attitudes, and practices in SL to inform a behaviour change communication campaign to reduce dietary salt, which was authored by A.U. Jayatilleke, N. Gunawardena, S. Dhanapala, more..

Dec 29 (CT) Young Kanchana Wijesekera, Minister of Power and Energy, on Tuesday, while insisting tariff hikes are inevitable gave the public a chance to choose between paying increased electricity tariffs or staying in the dark for longer hours daily. Minister, who hails from a privileged background and is leading a privileged life where he probably would have never experienced what a two to three- hour long powercut actually feels like, may have thought he was being generous, more..

Dec 29 (Island) Minister Kanchana Wijesekera has, true to form, warned that unless electricity tariffs are increased again, there will be extended power cuts. He is trying to scare the public into paying more for power without protesting. But former Minister of Power Champika Ranawaka has rubbished the govt’s claim that the CEB is incurring losses, and questioned the validity of the load forecasting (LF) for 2023, upon which the CEB’s decision to jack up power tariff again is based. more..

Dec 29 (DM) President Ranil Wickremesinghe has called all parties to get together and solve what he calls the ‘ethnic-problem’ that has remained ‘unresolved’ for decades. Meanwhile, parties that claim to represent ‘Tamil interests’ have put forward a set of demands: a) stop ‘land grabs in the Northern and Eastern Provinces by armed forces the state institutions while releasing all lands so acquired earlier by them in those two provinces, b) hold provincial council elections forthwith after more..

Dec 29 (Island) A steady stream of press releases, issued during 2022, by Colombo-based diplomatic missions, UN and its agencies, and those representing INGOs, depicted a pathetic picture of SL. They dealt with financial and material assistance, provided on SL’s request, and also in line with int'l response to the developing crisis here. Ruling SLPP, and other political parties, represented in Parliament, seemed to be blind to the rapidly developing crisis, especially against more..

Dec 29 (FT) Despite the suspicions and doubts raised by various persons and parties, the Election Commission has assured the long-delayed Local Govt polls will be held before 10 March 2023. Elections Commission of SL (ECSL) Chairman Nimal Punchihewa said the ECSL will issue the Gazette notification calling nominations to elect 8,327 members for 24 MCs, 41 UCs and 276 PSs before 5 Jan, more..

Dec 29 (FT) Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday pledged to revive and rebuild SL if given power. He asked the people to hand over the country to the SJB and the party will in turn rebuild it. Premadasa said the Sakwala program initiated by the party is one that is unfamiliar in a country where rulers only serve the people when in power and by using the people’s tax monies. “Serving the people while not in power is uncommon. This is a program beyond the traditional framework and more..

Dec 29 (FT) Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday instructed the Nuwara Eliya District Secretary and Commissioner to immediately provide 30 acres of abandoned land adjacent to the Ambewela Farm to develop it as grazing land to meet the food requirement of the dairy cows. Prez issued these instructions during an observation tour of the United Dairies Lanka Ltd, which belongs to the Ambewela Farm Group. Prez commended the systematic growth achieved by the Ambewela Farm more..

Dec29 (FT) The draft of the first ever National Agricultural Policy has been finalised and will be presented in Parliament shortly by Minister Mahinda Amaraweera. The expert committee appointed to prepare the National Agricultural Policy informed the Agriculture Minister this week that the final draft has been completed. The development follows Minister Amaraweera appointing a committee consisting of scholars to represent all sectors to prepare national policy. more..

Dec 29 (Island) Kelaniya Police Division has recorded the highest number of crimes so far this year with 2,287 incidents, survey finds out. A'pura Police Division has come second with 2,058 crimes, while Nugegoda Police Division reported 2,018 crimes, Prof. Wasantha Athukorala of Dept of Economics of the Peradeniya Uni says. Over 1,000 crimes have been reported from the police divisions of Negombo, Kandy, Kurunegala, Mount Lavinia, Colombo, Ratnapura, Gampaha, Kuliyapitiya more..

Dec 29 (TM) An individual named Nishantha Priyadarshana, alias Dubai Sudda, who recently made several revelations about the alleged sex trafficking of SL females in Oman taking place with the support of the SL official at the SL Embassy in Oman, was taken into custody by the investigation unit of the SL Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) yesterday after he led a protest in front of SLBFE, before being more..

Dec29 (FT) Train service on the northern railway line will be terminated at Anuradhapura for five months from 5 January to enable much required upgrading of the track between A'pura and Omanthai. Passengers travelling beyond A'pura will be provided with onward bus services while an office train is to ply between Kankesanthurai and Vauvniya. Minister Bandula Gunawardena said that the upgrading of the 130 km of track between Maho in the Northwestern Province and Omanthai more..

Dec29 (DM) With an estimated 10% of SL’s information and communication technology (ICT) professionals leaving the country for overseas job opportunities, the competition among the country’s ICT firms to recruit and retain the limited talent has been intensified. According to Computer Society of SL (CSSL) President Damith Hettihewa, about 10,000, out of 100,000 professionals directly employed in the ICT sector, have already migrated overseas since the country plunged into more..

Dec29 (TM) Police stated that information received from unconfirmed sources regarding the murder of Janashakthi PLC Director Dinesh Schaffter could create a favourable situation for the suspects related to the incident and cause prejudice to the victims. SSP Nihal Thalduwa said that it is observed that various pieces of information regarding Schaffter’s death is currently being circulated through the media. more..

Dec29 (Island) Tharusha Mendis of Lyceum Int'l, Wattala commenced from where he left at the Sir John Tarbat Senior Championships to establish a new meet record in the Under 15 boys’ high jump as the much anticipated Sir John Tarbat Junior Athletics Championship commenced at Diyagama on Wednesday. Mendis created a new meet record when he competed in the Under 16 boys’ high jump event of the Sir John Tarbat Senior Championships at the same venue in September. more..

Dec29 (EN) State-run SriLankan Airlines is halting coupon payments on its 175 million US dollar bond, Chairman Ashok Pathirage said in the wake of the island defaulting on most external debt. The bond has a sovereign guarantee. SriLankan Airlines will begin discussions with investors through the same debt re-structuring team that is advising the govt, he said. SriLankan Airlines paid the coupon on the bond once after the government defaulted on its bond using its own resources. more..

Dec29 (Island) Making an interesting bet on the cost of borrowing money by entrepreneurs and businesses, Supul Wijesinghe, CEO of SMB Finance predicted a fall in interest rates in 2023 or in the foreseeable future. “Interest rates should come down next year or in the foreseeable future as a result of the measures being taken by the Central Bank of SL (CBSL) and other stakeholders,” he said. He made this remark responding to a query from the media as to how his non-banking financial more..

Dec29 (EN) Sri Lanka plans to connect up to 2,800 MegaWatts of renewable energy into the national grid over the next three years, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said. “We can connect about 2,800Mega Watts to the existing grid,” Minister said. “We cannot do it in a year. We have a three-year plan. “We think we can reduce the generating cost from 47 rupees a unit to about 40 35 rupees.” Sri Lanka has an archaic power grid which cannot absorb power from different locations. more..

Dec 29 (EN) Sri Lanka’s listed banks have seen a drastic fall in this year’s September quarterly earnings as bad loan provisions mainly for Int'l Sovereign Bonds (ISBs) hit their top line, reports showed, amid worries of a possible domestic debt restructuring. Sri Lanka declared sovereign debt default on April 12 and since then the island nation has stopped repaying foreign loans through bilateral partners and ISBs. more..

Dec 29 (HT) National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday arrested a member of terrorist organisation Islamic State (IS) who was in touch with the mastermind of 2019 Easter Day bombings in SL, for his alleged links with suspects in the October 23 blast in TN’s Coimbatore. The federal agency also arrested another man, identified as Sanofar Ali, for allegedly taking part in plans to carry out terror attacksin the country. NIA officers familiar with the developments said IS member Sheikh more..

Dec 29 (Island) Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Asela Gunawardena said that the suspension of organ transplants at Western Hospital (Western Infirmary) was continuing pending investigations into the alleged kidney racket. He said so in response to The Island query regarding the current status of the investigation. Dr. Gunawardena announced the suspension of organ transplants, at Western Hospital, on Dec 5. The DGHS said that the hospital could continue other operations. more..

Dec29 (FT) Central Bank yesterday announced that Monetary Board decided to cancel the Finance Business Licence issued to Swarnamahal Financial Services PLC (SFSP), in terms of Section 37(3) of the Finance Business Act No. 42 of 2011 (FBA) with effect from 28 Dec 2022. Accordingly, SFSP is not permitted to engage in Finance Business under the FBA with effect from 28 December 2022. Further, Central Bank Dept of Supervision of Non-Bank Financial Institutions Director has decided to more..

Dec 29 (DM) SL-born Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, alleged of being the mastermind of the largest hedge-fund insider-trading rings in US history, is presently in Sri Lanka and will meet some SL politicians in the coming days, the Daily Mirror learns. The founder of Galleon Group Hedge Fund, SL-born Raj Rajaratnam was arrested by the FBI and charged with criminal offenses of insider trading securities frauds in 2009. Rajaratnam had also been accused of giving more than US$3.5 million more..

Dec 29 (TM) The employees of the CEB who are represented by trade unions have decided not to implement instructions from the CEB to disconnect the electricity supply of consumers who are unable to pay their electricity bills from January 2023 onwards. CEB Joint Trade Union Alliance (CEBJTUA) Convenor Ranjan Jayalal said that CEBJTUA will continue to issue electricity bills to households every month but that more..

Dec 29 (TM) Over 400,000 eggs were sold at Rs. 55 in 10 locations in Colombo yesterday by the All-Ceylon Egg Producers’ Association with assistance from the Ministry of Agriculture. The Association also informed The Morning of its plans on expanding this system to other provinces, with the sale of eggs taking place at least once a week, and stated that eggs will be sold in the urban areas of Galle and Kandy tomorrow. The project is aimed at selling eggs at a reasonable price more..

Dec 29 (AD) Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva has instructed to expedite the currently halted expansion work at Jaya Container Terminal at the Colombo Port. Minister has given these directives, while joining an inspectional visit to the SLPA-owned Jaya container Terminal at the Colombo Port yesterday. He has also instructed the Ministry’s Secretary to immediately inform the Chinese company entrusted with the work of filling the sea and building the terminal to complete project on agreed dates. more..

Dec29 (TM) In response to allegations that his recent visit to India was funded by an Indian pharmaceutical company, thus leading to a conflict of interest, Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella claimed that his visit was funded by a friend due to the Minister’s credit cards having reached their credit limits, and that he has since reimbursed his friend. Rambukwella claimed he had reimbursed his friend upon landing in India. more..

Dec 30 (DM) How can we make Sri Lankans think differently with the beginning of a new year being just around the corner? One way of thinking in these lines which hasn’t been pursues much is to go to another country and look at ways of developing this island. One book which can help us achieve that is the present Booker Prize winning novel The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida. Its author Shehan Karunatilaka won this prize through his writing probably because he saw different details more..

Dec 30 (Island) Cassandra pronounces there is never a dull moment in fair SL with no exposure riveting people’s attention and busying the grapevine and loading social media. Almost a week old is the shocking outing of the psychological deviation of a so far respected advisor to the highest in the land: the supposedly deviated person being politician, academic, former National List MP and senior counsel-giver, aged just over 50 years. (Grey of hair must be a side issue of extra brain power) more..

Dec 30 (DM) Sandya Ekneligoda, wife of missing journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda, has been fighting a lone battle for 12 long years to seek justice for her husband. In Jan 2022, Sandya made a vow to Goddess Kali, following which several major changes took place in SL’s political landscape. Her efforts to seek justice for her husband have been acknowledged both locally and internationally. Apart from being the recipient of the Int'l Woman more..

Dec 30 (DM) The momentous year of 2022 for Sri Lanka can be divided into two major phases. In the first phase, people grew frustrated with the failure of their government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to solve the country’s economic crisis. The Rajapaksa Govt’s unwillingness to prioritize imports meant that people began suffering severe shortages of essential goods, including fuel. Rajapaksa was eventually ejected in a stunning popular uprising on July 9th. more..

Dec 30 (CT) In a recent episode of Aluth Parlimenthuwa, the former minister of higher education S.B. Dissanayake, several high ranking former higher education officials as well as the current VC, Ruhuna uni participated. Former minister stated that the students belonging to JVP and in some cases FSP did not allow other students to stand for elections to Student Associations. They also use ragging as a way to draw new students to their own political agenda. more..