Dec 16 (Island) All Ceylon Union of Muslim League Youth Fronts (ACUMLYF) has requested K. Navas Kani, MP, of the Indian Union of Muslim League (IUML) to inquire into the high profile case of four Sri Lankans taken into custody in Gujarat on terrorism charges during the Indian general elections in May-June this year. Identifying the four persons taken into custody on May 19 at the Ahmedabad airport as Mohammad Nusrat, more..

Dec 16 (ANI) Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, during his meeting with Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Sunday, highlighted the island nation's prominent role in India's Neighborhood First policy and SAGAR Outlook. He further affirmed confidence that Prez Dissanayake's talks with PM Modi today will lead to greater cooperation between New Delhi and Colombo. "Pleased to call on Prez Anura Kumara Disanayake at the start of his first State Visit to India. more..

Dec 16 (TM) SJB MP Nalin Bandara Jayamaha yesterday announced that the Opposition plans to propose a new Speaker for Parliament, representing the Opposition, on Tuesday (17). MP Bandara expressed concerns over recent developments in Parliament and the country’s governance. “The Parliament will convene on Tuesday, and a new Speaker must be appointed. We intend to present a Speaker who truly represents the Opposition, not someone with questionable credentials,” more..

Dec 16 (FT) Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday began his three-day official visit to India, focusing on leveraging the giant neighbour’s vast market for the country’s economic revival. On his arrival at New Delhi, he was warmly welcomed by India’s Information and Broadcasting Minister of State Dr. S. Murugan, Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha, Indian Ocean Region Additional Secretary Puneet Agrawal, more..

Dec 16 (DM) Due to formation of a low-pressure area over the southeast Bay of Bengal, the Met Dept has issued a weather warning for the land and also the sea areas surrounding the island, valid for the next 24 hours. The low-pressure area is expected to intensify further and move west-northwestwards towards the Tamil Nadu coast, passing close to the northern part of SL in the subsequent two days. As a result, heavy rainfall exceeding 100 mm is likely in the Northern, Eastern, North-Central, more..

Dec 16 (CT) Ratnapura District Secretary, Wasantha Gunarathna, has issued a gazette notification outlining the regulations that the public must strictly follow during the Sri Pada pilgrimage season, which officially began yesterday. The guidelines aim to ensure safety, environmental protection, and the smooth management of the pilgrimage, which will continue until 13 May 2025. Wasantha Gunarathna said these regulations are part of an effort to manage the large number of pilgrims more..

Dec 16 (AD) Dept of Inland Revenue (IRD) has issued a notice to taxpayers, urging them to meet key deadlines for tax payments this December to avoid penalties and legal action. Taxpayers are reminded that VAT and Social Security Contribution Levy for the month of Nov 2024 must be paid on or before 20 Dec 2024. For those who have missed paying taxes due on their income tax returns for the assessment year 2023/2024, the deadline to settle these payments is 26 Dec 2024. more..

Dec 16 (DN) A team from Tokyo will visit Sri Lanka this week to negotiate the terms and conditions of the debt restructuring bilateral agreement between Sri Lanka and Japan based on the MoU signed in July and hoped that the bilateral agreement between SL and Japan will be signed soon probably early next year Chief Representative of the Sri Lanka Japan international Cooperation Agency (JICA) Tetsuya Yamada, told the CA Sri Lanka 59th TAGs Awards ceremony in Colombo on Thursday. more..

Dec 16 (TM) The controversial budget airline launched during the previous Mahinda Rajapaksa administration, Mihin Lanka’s financial liabilities are set for discussion this week, according to Deputy Minister Janitha Kodithuwakku. He confirmed that the Govt was prioritising preparations for the upcoming tourism season over addressing the unresolved status of Mihin Lanka. Kodithuwakku said that while more..

Dec 16 (DN) SL’s lifesaving team won nine medals at the 1st Indo-SL Lifesaving Championship, clinching four gold medals, three silver medals, and two bronze medals at the week-long event took place from December 8 to 14 at Puri Beach, Odisha, India. Vihanga Silva from All Saints’ College, Galle, excelled in the Beach Flags category, winning two gold medals. Sandupama Dewjith of Ananda College secured another gold in the Under-19 Run-Swim-Run event, while Sapumal Perera of DS more..

Dec 16 (NW) With President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s departure from the country for an official visit to India, five acting ministers have been appointed to oversee key ministries during his absence. The appointments cover the Ministry of Digital Economy, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization, and National Policies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment, and Tourism, and the Ministry of Labour. As per the appointments: more..

Dec 16 (EN) Sri Lanka has relaxed import licensing on rice, a staple food, till Dec 20, in bid to reduce rising local prices, but still kept a 220 dollar at tonne import tax in place, which is almost 50% duty on basic South Asian rice grades. Under the Rajapaksa regime and even earlier, SL has imposed severe controls on the import of basic cereals, giving profits to politically powerful lobbies keeping both prices and malnutrition high. Going beyond taxes, import licensing was imposed, more..

Dec 16 (Island) Sri Lanka is grappling with a surge in leptospirosis cases at present. It is a bacterial disease often transmitted through contaminated water and soil. Following the recent devastating floods, the number of infections has skyrocketed, with over 10,000 cases reported so far, with a significant number of fatalities. In 2023, there were around 9,000 cases with over 200 deaths. In medical terminology, Leptospirosis is classified as a zoonotic disease, meaning that it can more..

Dec 16 (FT) After the Prez Election, there have been several claims regarding Govt borrowing. Some argue that borrowing is excessive, while others contend it is reasonable. There are also conflicting claims about whether most of the borrowing is allocated to cover the budget deficit, or to repay debt. This FactCheck.lk explainer clarifies three key questions surrounding Govt borrowing in Sri Lanka. Question 1: Why do Govts borrow? more..

Dec 16 (DN) Manudi Nanayakkara made a captain’s knock of unbeaten 74 in 40 balls as SL women’ s under 19 team recorded an easy 94 runs win over Malaysia womens under 19 in their Asia Cup women’s under 19 opening cricket fixture played at Bayuemas Cricket Oval grounds, Kuala Lumpur yesterday. It was a fine batting display by SL skipper Manudi Nanayakkara who stroked 10 fours and 2 sixes for her sparkling knock of 74 while Limansa Thilakaratne gave fine support scoring 41 more..

Dec 16 (DN) Hambantota Bangla Tigers made the highest team total of 163 for 6 wickets to beat Kandy Bolts by 47 runs in their Lanka T10 Super League cricket fixture played at Pallekele, yesterday. This was Hambantota Bangla Tigers’ back-to-back second win, and skipper Dasun Shanaka was outstanding, giving fine leadership to record their wins, which moved them to the top of the points table with 6 points after playing five matches so far in this tournament. more..

Dec 16 (TM) Election Commission (EC) is preparing to initiate legal action against a total of 1,042 Parliamentary General Election candidates and National List nominees for their failure to submit campaign expenditure reports by the deadline which ended at 12 midnight on 6 Dec. Under the Regulation of Election Expenditure Act, No. 3 of 2023, all Parliamentary Election candidates and National List nominees were supposed to more..

Dec 16 (FT) Hayleys PLC reached a pinnacle of achievement in corporate reporting, winning the coveted Cyril Gardiner Memorial Trophy Gold Award for Overall Excellence in Corporate Reporting at the recently concluded CA SL TAGS Awards 2024. Since the inception of the TAGS Awards in 2022, Hayleys has consistently claimed this top honour, firmly establishing itself as the benchmark for financial and sustainability reporting in SL. Winning a remarkable total of 20 awards across the Group this year, more..

Dec 16 (FT) Lanka Hospitals Corporation, has announced the appointment of Dr. Nilupul Perera, a distinguished Consultant Neuro Physician, as its new Chairman. Dr. Perera brings over 18 years of extensive clinical experience to this leadership role. Throughout his illustrious career, he has served in prominent hospitals across SL, including Base Hospital Gampola, Teaching Hospital Peradeniya, Sri J'pura Hospital, Institute of Neurology at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, more..

Dec 16 (FT) SLTDA Chairman Buddhika Hewawasam said the sector is on track to end 2024 on a high, with year-to-date (YTD) arrivals crossing 1.9 million and over 70,000 tourists registered in the first half of December. Speaking on the industry’s resurgence, he expressed optimism that the country could welcome over 250,000 visitors this month, pushing the annual total to an estimated 2.2 million. Hewawasam said if achieved, this would mark the highest annual arrivals since the 2018 more..

Dec 16 (DM) The Chamber of Lankan Entrepreneurs (COYLE) aims to expand its presence into thirty countries over the next ten years in a bid to take SL brands global. “Most of the entrepreneurs are scared to enter the global market because they don’t know how the legal system works; they don’t know how to secure a warehouse etc. So, the aim of this initiative is to create more global brands by supporting SL entrepreneurs,” COYLE Chairman Thushira Raddella told reporters. more..

Dec 16 (TM) In recent years, SL has undertaken a major re-assessment of its revenue strategies, setting an ambitious target of Rs. 232 billion for the Dept of Excise – the highest target in its history. In a bid to meet this goal, the then Govt had explored all possible avenues to increase revenue, including revising excise fees for liquor licences. In January, then Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe, who also served as Finance Minister, issued an amd more..

Dec 16 (DM) The passenger ferry services between Nagapattinam in India and Kankesanthurai (KKS), Jaffna in SL's Northern Province is scheduled to resume next January. The service was suspended on Nov 7 due to bad weather conditions. Ponnusamy Sundarraj, the investor of the Subam boat service, said that the ferry will operate six days a week, offering various facilities to passengers. "It was initially planned to resume operations on Nov 19, but due to a forecast depression more..

Dec 16 (Island) JVP-led NPP, which embarked on a much-advertised, ambitious campaign to clean up Parliament by filling it with honest, educated, intelligent members, has had to cleanse itself. Speaker Asoka Ranwala had to resign on Friday, unable to prove his claim that he had a doctorate. The NPP leaders, who contested under the Compass symbol, and secured an unprecedented mandate to put the country right, were left with no alternative but to throw Ranwala to wolves more..

Dec 16 (CT) Every year, as the Sri Pada pilgrimage season begins, we are reminded of a grim reality: tonnes of garbage — mostly plastic and polythene — will be strewn across this sacred and ecologically- significant site. Once a symbol of Sri Lanka’s deep reverence for nature, Sri Pada now stands as a glaring testament to our collective environmental insensitivity. Sri Pada, nestled within the UNESCO-listed Samanala Nature Reserve, is not just a site of immense natural beauty. more..

Dec 16 (FT) Many of our previous Govts of recent times fell into major problems since the leadership lost control of its party members. The problem was further compounded since quite a few of them were coalition govts. NPP is a single party govt with enormous power. Yet NPP can’t afford to remain complacent. The most important concern is to maintain cohesive relationships among the team members of NPP. It is not an easy task. The team size is so large with five-sixth of them being more..

Dec 16 (CT) Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Chairman, Admiral (Retd) S.S. Ranasinghe, speaks to Ceylon Today on the issues related to the Port of Colombo (PoC), which the new govt is working on, and the exact policy framework that the previous govts have drafted, as it was skilfully studied and researched. He also warned that it is time for the Port to become a Green Port, as agreed by the previous govt, and if they don’t meet more..

Dec 16 (ST) There is much that Sri Lanka’s newest party in govt, the NPP party needs to learn in terms of political realities, not the least of which is to be self-deprecating in victory. That is crucial if it is to avoid treading the path of predecessors who were ingloriously thrown out by the Sri Lankan people when the glittering gold that they promised turned to drab dross after being catapulted into power on extraordinary mandates (ie; G Rajapaksa, 2019-2022). more..

Dec 16 (TM) Last week, SL concluded the much-awaited International Sovereign Bond (ISB) restructuring process sparking hopes about a more methodical, stable economic revival. The announcement of the important agreement was made by the Finance Ministry Secretary Mahinda Siriwardena who was retained from the former Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe administration, allowing the continued handling of the sensitive matter under Dissanayake Govt by experienced hands. more..

Dec 16 (SO) A rice mafia operates in the country creating hardships for consumers every year during the festive season. However, no former Govt in power has been able to provide a lasting solution to this burning issue. Many trade analysts said that one of the main reasons for the rice shortage in the market is the jacking up of prices by large-scale rice mill owners. As the price of rice increased and paved the way to create more..

Dec 16 (CT) System Change was the magical slogan coined by the aragalaya youth, and that slogan turned out to be the magnetic vote puller for Anura Kumara Dissanayake (AKD) and his NPP at the Prez and General Elections respectively. Although in their public campaigns AKD and NPP identified the post-independence political culture of ethnonationalism and its corrupt system of governance as the two crucial areas to be ended or radically reformed through a social revolution more..

Dec 16 (DM) Through the distant mists of history of cricket, we hear echoes of phrases such as cricket being the gentleman’s game. The breeding of team spirit and equality between men, who played the game, were by-words in the sport. Even today many of these beliefs persist. We hear and speak of the spirit of cricket, that it matters not who wins or loses, but how we play the game. Educationists wax eloquent over the discipline, spirit and values the game of cricket breeds in young minds. more..