Jun 9 (TM) The Health Ministry yesterday stated that the gap between the first and second doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield Covid-19 vaccine could be as long as six months, as the second dose needs to be given only when the immunity development achieved by the first dose wanes. “The scientific basis for the vaccines is that the immunity development achieved by the first dose goes down after some time. more..

Jun 9 (CT) SL has emerged as the dark horse to host the ICC T20 World Cup 2021, which is scheduled to be hosted by India. Given the situation around COVID-19 in India, there have been talks between BCCI and the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) in relation to hosting the T20 World Cup 2021. BCCI officials have been in talks with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) as well. “See, there is no denying the fact that BCCI and ECB officials have been having discussions on taking the showpiece event to more..

Jun 9 (FT) The tourism industry is still awaiting priority vaccination for its frontline personnel numbering over 17,000 despite requests made to the relevant authorities. Sri Lanka Tourism said yesterday keeping the health and wellbeing of industry stakeholders as its foremost priority, it had once again requested that a vaccination program be organised for tourism industry frontline personnel. “Minister of Tourism Prasanna Ranatunga has approved this request from SL Tourism, more..

Jun 9 (FT) Promising lucrative prospects, PM Rajapaksa invited global companies to select SL as their investment destination of choice as the Govt stepped up efforts to boost its int'l profile. “Our Govt has already started to put a number of measures in place that would make SL an attractive country for investors from all around the world. These measures are aimed at ensuring that both local and foreign investors will be more..

Jun 9 (TM) Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) confirmed that it will conduct the second edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) from 30 July as was announced earlier. Here is the full statement of SLC on the start of the annual franchise league: SLC wishes to reiterate that the 2nd edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) will be held during July and Aug 2021, as earlier announced. Accordingly, the tournament will be held from 30th July to 22nd Aug 2021. The inaugural edition of the LPL, more..

Jun 9 (Island) Bangladesh Grand Master, Ziaur Rahman(2434) beat Sri Lanka FIDE Master Susal de Silva of Nalanda College comfortably to remain in the lead with 6 ½ points after seven games. He was in the sole lead followed by grandmaster Enamul Hussain(2402) is also from Bangladesh. SL National Chess Champion Ranindu Liyanage of Ananda College fought hard in his game playing black against Bangladesh FIDE Master Islam Aminul(2182) but ended in a draw taking him more..

Jun 9 (FT) Sri Lanka Tourism Chairperson Kimarli Fernando yesterday made a compelling case for the country’s growth decade, inviting global investors to explore investment opportunities in Sri Lanka, which she said is the place to be for travellers post-COVID. “There are many opportunities in the tourism industry to be explored by potential investors,” she said, speaking on Day 2 of the virtually held Sri Lanka Investment Forum. Noting that tourism is considered an export industry, more..

Jun 9 (DN) The International Cricket Council (ICC) yesterday announced the nominees for May’s ICC Player of the Month Awards to recognise the best performances from both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket. In the month of May, Hasan Ali of Pakistan played two Tests against Zimbabwe where he took a total of 14 wickets. From Sri Lanka’s camp, debutant Praveen Jayawickrama played one Test against Bangladesh, where he took a total of 11 wickets at 16.11. more..

Jun 9 (CI) Left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama, and allrounders Dhananjaya Lakshan, Charith Asalanka, and Ishan Jayaratne are the surprise entrants to SL men's 24-member squad for the limited-overs tour of England. Although SL have again insisted on picking young players, omitting Angelo Mathews, they have recalled Nuwan Pradeep to beef up the seam-bowling stocks. Batter Avishka Fernando, who missed last 2 tours more..

Jun 9 (Island) Glorious uncertainties are not confined to cricket alone; nothing is so certain as the unexpected in politics as well. Whoever would have thought that the mighty Rajapaksa govt would collapse, in 2015, like a house of cards? Likewise, not many expected the Rajapaksas to make a comeback so soon, following such a disastrous defeat, much less recapture power after five years. Similarly, it was widely thought that the UNP’s ignominious defeat in 2020 would spell more..

Jun 9 (CT) Appearing for one last time in the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, Sri Lanka will be playing solely for pride, and will look to sign off with a respectable result against higher-ranked South Korea in a do-or-die World Cup qualifying round match at Goyang Stadium, South Korea on Wednesday. The Islanders will step on to the field with their morale high when they take on Son Heung-min’s side, after positive signs emerged in Saturday’s clash against Lebanon. A first half strike from Waseem Razeek gave more..

Jun 9 (FT) Govt has decided to implement a State-funded pilot project to produce organic fertiliser in the North Central Province, the success of which will see a rollout in the entirety of Rajarata. A proposal to this effect by was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers this week. Minister Ramesh Pathirana said the initiative was a follow up to the Govt decision championed by Prez Rajapaksa to promote the use of organic material by more..

Jun 9 (CT) The US govt has decided to include Sri Lanka as one of the countries to which it will donate the excess stock of Covid vaccines it has purchased. The US announced its framework for sharing at least 80 million vaccine doses globally by the end of June and the plan for the first 25 million doses which will include 7 million to specified Asian countries, including SL. This is a welcome action that will have a tangible impact on the lives of millions of people in the beneficiary countries. more..

Jun 9 (DM) Arousing nostalgic memories of For a Few Dollars More, the mid 1960s film craze born with the screening of blockbuster Dollar series’ second film [the Italian trilogy of Clint Eastwood fame], ‘Daily Mirror had whined and whimpered that the entire operation including inviting the Singapore-registered ship MV X-Press Pearl to Colombo Harbour and the attempt to douse the fire was done merely to obtain a few dollars as compensation. It may sound silly or even ridiculous more..

Jun 9 (TM) Respect is a two-way process. Those who give it are most likely to get it, and those who receive it usually tend to give it. However, in most cases, people think of respect as something that needs to be demanded, or in some cases, something that needs to be forcibly obtained, and they are signs of a decadent society. However, what determines whether a person is respectable, or the degree or the extent of respect that a person deserves, are subjective matters, and more..

Jun 9 (TM) A myriad of experts have been making themselves heard, voicing their opinions on the X-Press Pearl disaster and its aftermath. The state spokespersons have looked rather sheepish and on the back foot, against this barrage of criticism from the vociferous critics of state policy regarding the fire on the vessel and its aftermath. On Covid, there are experts of all stripes, taking apart govt policy from all angles. Obviously, all of these opinionated people cannot be correct at the same time. more..

Jun 9 (TM) When it comes to the direction of a country, the media has a certain unmatchable role and power in determining that direction. The media can create, debunk, or shape what the people think, and the basic ethics pertaining to the use of media dictate that the media uses that role and power to do what is right. However, who determines what that right use of media is has always been a question that keeps popping more..

Jun 9 (GV) “There will be huge amounts of compensation for the damage caused by the X-Press Pearl vessel in the Sri Lankan waters, this is indeed essential to Sri Lanka during this economic crisis.” This is a politician’s perception of the vessel-source pollution caused by the X-Press Pearl that caught fire and sank off in the SL waters. Not only the politicians but the majority of the public is also unaware of how the compensation for catastrophic vessel-source pollution works. more..

Jun 9 (GV) The container ship, X-Press Pearl, was registered in Singapore and operated by one of the largest feeder ship operators in the world, X-Press Feeders. X-Press Feeders operates a route that includes Port Klang (Malaysia) via Singapore and Jebel Ali (UAE) to Hamad Port (Qatar), with the return journey to Malaysia via Hazira (India) and Colombo (SL). The ship was commissioned in February 2021 and was 186 m in length. The ship departed the port of Hazira (India) on more..

Jun 9 (DM) Sri Lankans living in UK have made an urgent appeal to PM Boris Johnson to release the supply of 600,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines due to arrive in SL and are lobbying their constituent MP’s heavily to prioritise SL’s vaccine crisis. The appeal is spearheaded by Dr. Tush Wickramanayaka, a National Health Service General Practitioner, family physician licensed in both UK and SL, Human Rights activist more..

Jun 9 (DM) SARS CoV-2 is a well-adopted human respiratory virus to bully the human community globally. It is useful to compare this virus with a few other viruses of similar public health importance. The previous virus, SARS CoV-1 was highly infectious only several days after the beginning of the symptoms in a patient, therefore transmission was mainly linked to symptomatic cases. Because of that, it was not difficult to break the chain of transmission as the patients were mainly in more..

Jun 9 (DM) SL has two distinct monsoon seasons. Seasonal flooding due to extreme rainfall has become normal. Generally, the western and southern provinces are more susceptible to flooding during the Southwest Monsoon, which occurs between May and September, while the northern and north-central provinces are susceptible to flooding during the Northeast Monsoon. DMC points out that in recent years we have experienced several unprecedented levels of flooding more..

Jun 8 (DM) While increasing the country's reliance on oxygen by 441%, SL has risen to third place among South Asian countries in terms of COVID-19 patients, Executive Committee Member of GMOA Dr. Prasad Kolabage said. He said that the complications and allergies associated with COVID-19 infection are steadily increasing. "The daily dealth toll has also risen to nearly 50, demonstrating the danger of this new COVID-19 variant," he said. The rate of dependency on oxygen in April & May more..

Jun 8 (DM) Govt today dismissed claims that there are moves to appoint Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa as PM. Cabinet co-spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said that such claims are mere political jargon. “If you go by the stories that are being spread, tomorrow you might see that someone else is going to be appointed,” he said in response to a question raised by Daily Mirror at the press conference. Rambukwella said that such claims should not be taken seriously by the media. more..

Jun 8 (TM) The vaccination process is being carried out successfully throughout the country, minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana stated today. “Vaccinations are being provided to the residents at the Grama Niladhari Division level in a very transparent manner and the work required for the successful implementation of the vaccination program throughout SL is being done with the intervention of the health sector and all parties at present, resolving some of the shortcomings that existed more..

Jun 8 (DM) A 30-year-old Buddhist monk who jumped into a lake in Diyamailagaswewa, Kahatagasdigiliya has rescued a 70-year-old man when a crocodile attacked and dragged him away while bathing. Police said the monk, Ven. Pellandeniya Piyananda Thero and the victim were bathing in the lake on Monday morning when the incident was reported. However, the monk was preparing to return to the temple after bathing when the 70-year old man was attacked and more..

Jun 8 (FT) The public and private sectors were severely inconvenienced yesterday following the sudden closure of all bank branches countrywide following a directive from the Police. The complaint was people, companies, traders and SMEs weren’t able to do urgent transactions which required physical presence in branches. All leading banks issued notices over the weekend of the closure of branches for a week more..

Jun 8 (AD) The administration of the second dose of the China-manufactured COVID-19 vaccine Sinopharm commenced this morning as per scheduled. The first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine was administered to 19,567 persons yesterday while the total number of individuals who had received the first dose so far is 989,574. Chief Medical Officer of the CMC Dr. Ruwan Wijayamuni said that nearly 90,000 residents of Colombo more..

Jun 8 (CT) People living in areas affected by the floods should beware of leptospirosis, better known as rat fever, the Epidemiology Unit cautioned. Sources said there was a danger of the present flood conditions contributing towards an increase in the number of leptospirosis cases. Not only those affected by the floods, but also rescue workers too are prone to the infection once they expose themselves to the flood waters, which would increase the risk of them contracting more..

Jun 8 (AD) A major economic crisis is faced by both small-medium scale and large scale farmers over the inability to transport and trade as normal due to the travel restrictions. Meanwhile, it has been noted that consumers, too, are also facing a scarcity of vegetables and fruits at a fair price. Accordingly, Cabinet granted their consent to implement a program to purchase the stocks of vegetables and fruits which could not be sold during the travel restrictions by the District Secretaries more..

Jun 8 (EN) SL has freshwater moss, seaweed and a large number of chickens to make organic fertilizer and the govt will not have to import any, Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said. Cabinet gave the nod to import enough organic fertilizer for 1.1 million hectares of farmland. Alugamage said domestic manufacture will be ramped up using material from the sea, freshwater reservoirs and chicken farms. more..

Jun 8 (AD) Ministry of Health has launched an investigation into the irregularities at COVID vaccination program at Unawatuwa in Galle, following the exposé by Ada Derana Ukussa on Monday. State Minister Prof. Channa Jayasumana brought the matter to attention during the parliamentary session convened earlier today. As per ‘Ukussa’ revelation, a group of individuals from the Western Province had attended the vaccination program attention during parliamentary more..

Jun 8 (DM) The due date of accepting the applications from children to Grade One for the Year 2022 has been extended until July 31, the Education Ministry Secretary Prof. Kapila Perera said. As a result, the deadline for submitting applications for Grade One for the academic year 2022 has been set for June 30, 2021. Considering the current pandemic situation, disaster situation, travel restrictions and difficulties faced by the parents, the decision was taken to extend the due date. more..