Dec 22 (Island) Serious questions have been raised over SL’s drug regulatory system following revelations that the National Medicines Regulatory Authority’s (NMRA) quality control laboratory is not accredited by the SL Accreditation Board (SLAB), casting doubt on both the reliability of local test results and the adequacy of oversight of imported medicines. Medical and civil rights groups warn that the issue points to more..

Dec 22 (DM) With the approach of the festive season, nearly 2,300 Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) and Administrative Public Health Inspectors have launched islandwide raids and inspections to ensure the availability of safe and quality food for consumers. Health authorities said the special inspections are being carried out in view of recent heavy rainfall, which increases the risk of food contamination and spoilage. Legal action will be taken against traders who sell food items more..

Dec 22 (NW) Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has fully endorsed the appeal by international economists urging substantial debt relief for Sri Lanka in the wake of Cyclone Ditwah. “I hope Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake and his administration have the courage, wisdom, and capability to achieve these objectives,” Premadasa said. His remarks come after a group of 120 leading global economists, including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, inequality expert Thomas Piketty, and more..

Dec 22 (Island) Archbishop of Colombo His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith accused the govt of pursuing education reforms undermining parental rights and SL’s cultural and religious values. Speaking at a ceremony, Cardinal said several programmes, currently being implemented, were weakening key socio-cultural institutions such as marriage and family. He took exception to the government’s decision to introduce sex education to the school curriculum. more..

Dec 22 (NW) Sri Lanka High Commissioner to Australia Yasoja Gunasekera handed over the Commission of Appointment to Chirantha Weerawardena, the new Honorary Consul for Sri Lanka in Perth with consular jurisdiction covering Western Australia, on 19 Dec at the SL High Commission in Canberra. Weerawardena is a mining engineer with thirty-three years of operational and technical experience in the mining industry and a strong network in that industry. more..

Dec 22 (AD) The police constable involved in the assault incident with Ratnapura District NPP MP Shantha Pathma Kumara has been arrested, police stated. He was apprehended by officers attached to the Embilipitiya Investigation Bureau on several charges, including criminal intimidation. The arrested police constable is scheduled to be produced before court this afternoon. Police earlier stated that a blood sample obtained from more..

Dec 22 (EN) Foreign agencies have committed US$ 350 million to Sri Lanka for cyclone recovery work and more is expected, Deputy Treasury Secretary A K Seneviratne said as efforts are made to get the country back to normal. “There is a foreign exchange issue. There are commitment of US$ 350 million now, above the original 2025 budget, by donor agencies,” Seneviratne told the parliament’s CoPF shortly before a 500 billion rupee supplementary estimate was approved. more..

Dec 22 (Island) A meeting between PM Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and a delegation of UNICEF representatives was held on Saturday, at the PM’s Office. During the meeting, PM explained the measures taken by the Govt to ensure the protection of the affected student community and to restore the damaged school system, as well as the challenges encountered in this process. PM stated that reopening schools located in landslide-prone areas would be extremely dangerous. Accordingly, more..

Dec 22 (DM) Trump administration has begun recalling nearly 30 career diplomats serving as ambassadors and senior embassy officials worldwide, including US Ambassador to SL, as part of a broader reshaping of US diplomatic representation to align with Prez Donald Trump’s America First agenda. State Dept officials said chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January. more..

Dec 22 (NW) SL team that participated in the 7th Roll Ball World Cup held in Dubai has alleged that due to the misconduct of their association’s officials, they had to face numerous difficulties during the World Cup tournament. Upon their arrival in SL recently, women’s and men’s teams said that several of the team members were unable to attend the tournament due to the Association’s failure to apply for visas. “We came to Colombo on Dec 13 to leave for the tournament on the 14th, but more..

Dec 22 (TM) Western Province continued to dominate the national economy in 2024, contributing 42.4% of the country’s nominal GDP, according to Central Bank data. The province’s lead is driven by strong performance in both the Services and Industry sectors. North Western Province (11.5%) and Central Province (10.7%) were the second and third largest contributors. Several other provinces, including Central, Eastern, Sabaragamuwa & Uva, also recorded increases compared with 2023, more..

Dec 22 (DM) The govt has requested European Union to dispatch a pack of sniffer dogs to assist in the discovery of remains of those buried alive in landslides triggered by cyclone Ditwah, an official said. The government authorities are still carrying out search operations to trace people who went missing after the disasters. Cyclone Ditwah made landfall on Nov 28, unleashing unprecedented volumes of rainfall- at times as high as 500 mm. More than 600 people died and more..

Dec 22 (AD) Air Quality Index (AQI) in the Northern, North Central, North Western and Western provinces currently ranges between 150 and 200, Dr. Ajith Gunawardena, the Media Spokesperson of the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) stated. Spokesperson noted that a decline in air quality was observed in recent days and that this trend has been evident over the past 24 hours as well. He further said such low air quality may be harmful to sensitive individuals and advised that more..

Dec 22 (NW) A large number of Pick Me and Uber taxi drivers from various parts of the country have gathered in Ella, after reports of fellow drivers being assaulted in the area. Police said complaints have been lodged with the Ella Police, stating that PickMe and Uber drivers arriving in the Ella tourist area have been threatened and assaulted by local taxi drivers. Speaking on behalf of the group, one driver said that they arrived in more..

Dec 22 (EN) Sri Lanka as a nation, through its Treasury, is going with a begging bowl for budget support and other dollar loans to the IMF, ADB and foreign govts to find dollars to repay debt. If not, the Treasury supposedly has to get reserves from the central bank. Or so the macro-economists tell you. When reserves go down, and foreign and local investors get jittery. “Additionally, the receipt of approximately USD 350 million from the IMF’s fourth tranche significantly contributed to more..

Dec 22 (NW) Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has called for an impartial investigation into the deaths of two women linked to contaminated vaccines, stressing that accountability and transparency are essential. He revealed that preliminary tests at the Kandy Hospital had detected bacteria in the vaccines, leading the National Medicines Regulatory Authority to withdraw 270,000 imported doses from the hospital system. Premadasa questioned whether the vaccines more..

Dec 22 (TM) SL Bodybuilding Federation (SLBF) Head Randeer Rodrigo alleged that officials from his federation had toiled in vain to secure an audience with incumbent Sports Minister Sunil Kumara, since August this year. He charged that officials from certain sports associations who arrive at the Sports Ministry premises at Torrington Square for official work, have been reduced to carrying out the duties of peons and allegedly given more..

Dec 22 (CT) NBRO has carried out landslide risk assessments at 120 schools in the Central Province, amid a sharp increase in inspection requests following recent heavy rainfall. NBRO Scientist Suminda Rathnayake said inspection requests had been received for 128 schools, of which assessments at 120 schools have now been completed. Rainfall over the past few days has resulted in a surge in requests, with the total number reaching 5,450, covering 10,884 locations more..

Dec 22 (EN) SL’s exporters in Ditwah devastation-hit area are facing shortage in raw materials on agricultural products and spices, EDB Chairman Mangala Wijesinghe said. He said 573 at least exporters have been identified of being hit by the recent devastation. “Majority of them are from Colombo, Gampaha, Puttalum, Kurunagala, and Kandy districts,” he told reporters at a media briefing in Colombo. “They faced challenges in transport and lack of raw materials more..

Dec 22 (FT) The Prez wants to stop new construction above 5,000 feet elevation and move out people who currently live there. The Minister representing the Kandy District, K.D. Lalkantha, muses about shifting the entire city of Kandy (which is well below 5,000 feet) to Ampara or Polonnaruwa. Thankfully, these are musings and not official Govt decisions. Not as bad as the blanket bans on construction 100 meters from the high-water mark (increased to 200 meters on East Coast) more..

Dec 22 (FT) On the side of the annual general meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Prague, Czech Republic in 2000, I had a private conversation with the then World Bank’s Chief Economist Nicholas Stern, now Lord Stern. When he learned that I was from the Central Bank of SL, he told me that his best doctoral student at Uni of Warwick happened to be an officer of that CB. He said that Warwick Uni had offered him a Postdoctoral Fellowship to continue his research, more..

Dec 22 (FT) The IMF on Friday underscored both support and caution as the country seeks emergency assistance under its Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah, warning that the country’s hard-won economic recovery remains vulnerable to fresh shocks. IMF Mission Chief for SL Evan Papageorgiou said the supplementary allocation of around $ 206 million is intended to more..

Dec 22 (NF) Sri Lanka is set to host two exceptionally high-level diplomatic visits from India and China this week, in a development that carries significance well beyond immediate disaster response following Cyclone Ditwah. India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is due to arrive in Colombo tomorrow (22), with his visit continuing until the evening of the 23rd. The visit comes as SL continues recovery efforts in the wake of Cyclone Ditwah, & amid ongoing engagement more..

Dec 22 (DM) Ministry of Education has requested a detailed report from the principal of Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya following an incident at a recent colours award ceremony that has sparked widespread public debate. Ministry Secretary Nalaka Kaluwewa said the Ministry is closely monitoring the situation and will determine appropriate instructions and further action after reviewing the report. The controversy arose when a student publicly claimed she was denied an award during ceremony more..

Dec 22 (EN) Big names in the academic world and some macro-economists have called for SL to default again after hurricane Ditwah hit the island, saying there is a climate shock. “The existing restructuring – modest, conditional and tied to uncertain macroeconomic outcomes – is inadequate to protect the vulnerable majority from recurrent climate and external shocks,” the academics said. “Therefore, we call for immediate suspension more..

Dec 22 (ST) The Constitutional Council (CC) has rejected yet another nominee submitted by Prez Anura Kumara Dissanayake to take over as the country’s next Auditor General. The CC’s rejection of O.R. Rajasinghe’s name means that four nominees the President has submitted to the CC over the past eight months to serve in a permanent or acting capacity as Auditor General have been rejected by the Council. There has been no acting Auditor General at the dept for the past 2 weeks, more..

Dec 22 (AD) Govt officers attached to the Kalpitiya DS have temporarily withdrawn from disaster relief distribution activities. They have reportedly withdrawn from activities after a group of individuals allegedly attacked officers while they were discharging their duties, causing disruption to the relief operations. According to Nandana Ranasinghe, President of SL United Grama Niladhari Association (SLUGNA), officers have decided not to participate in relief distribution until adequate security more..

Dec 22 (TM) The Police stated that two teams have been deployed by SSP Embilipitiya to investigate an alleged incident in which a police officer attached to the Sooriyakanda Police Station was reportedly assaulted by NPP Ratnapura District MP Shantha Pathma Kumara. Police Spokesperson ASP F.U. Wootler said the two teams were tasked with investigating whether any assault or intimidation occurred. “We will review the findings of the inquiry and decide on further action,” more..

Dec 22 (FT) World Bank Board of Executive Directors has approved a $ 50 million project to support SL’s digital transformation. The project will promote innovation and investment in SL’s digital sector, modernise Government services, and make them easier to access and more responsive to the needs of people and businesses. The SL Digital Transformation Project will support practical, people-centric digital solutions, including an integrated online citizen service portal for Govt services, more..

Dec 22 (FT) Deputy Minister Anil Jayantha said IMF approval of $ 206 million under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) on Friday provides the country with critical and low-cost emergency funding at a time when the country is focused on recovery and stabilisation. He expressed appreciation to the IMF and its Mission Chief for SL for the swift assistance, stressing that the facility is designed to minimise the impact of shocks on more..

Dec 22 (TM) Fundamental Rights (FR) petition filed in June by the SLC Former Vice President K. Mathivanan, challenging the legitimacy of the current office bearers of the game’s domestic governing body, was dismissed without being taken up for hearing by the Supreme Court last week. Judge Bench of the Apex Court consisting of Justices Shiran Gooneratne, Priyantha Fernando & Menaka Wijesundara, resorted to this action, while accepting initial objections raised by the defence (SLC). more..

Dec 22 (TM) Ministry of Agriculture stated that adequate compensation would be provided to farmers whose crops were affected by the recent cyclone and floods, and therefore there would be no risk of a food shortage in the country. Deputy Minister Namal Karunaratne said that although the Maha cultivating season experienced losses due to the natural cyclonic disaster, this year’s Yala harvest recorded its highest output. "Farmlands were damaged due to floods and landslides. more..