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Wearing his signature shawl, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaka is seen arriving at the Bologna Airport in Italy on Friday to give the keynote speech at the G20 Interfaith Forum to be held in the city today. He was welcomed at the airport by Italian government and Sri Lanka embassy officials. The theme of his talk [...]
Govt. to negotiate US$ 2.5 billion loan to pay for fuel import bill
US and European insurance and pension funds to be tapped Talks with UAE also for crude oil and refined petroleum Government is to proceed with talks for a massive US$ 2.5 billion loan from foreign insurance or pension funds to offset part of the accumulated fuel import bills, ministerial sources said. The Cabinet has approved [...]
US$ 500m sought from WB for road and agri projects
The Government has sought a US$ 500 million loan from the World Bank for the construction of rural roads and an agricultural project, a senior Treasury official said. Talks are underway for the loan to construct some 3000km of roads for which US$ 450 million has been sought while US$ 50 million is for the [...]
Pension with arrears for Cabraal; lifetime pension for Lakshman
Ajith Nivard Cabraal–who is due next week to take over as Central Bank (CB) Governor for a second time–will receive a pension with arrears for his former eight-year term while qualifying for another pension at the end of his second stint under a new scheme recently approved by the Monetary Board (MB). The second pension [...]
CID seeks info on demos: Teachers say Govt. wants to teach them a lesson
The ongoing dispute between teacher trade unions and the Government over salary anomalies has taken a fresh turn after police started collecting personal details of teachers who organised recent protests. Police stations had called Divisional Secretaries to provide information of the date of the protest, location, name and addresses of the organisers and the number [...]
Insurance regulator orders halt to insurance hawking through mobile service providers
After years of overlooking irregularities, the Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (IRCSL) has ordered insurance companies to stop using mobile service providers to hawk their policies and to accept liability themselves. The directions issued on Monday are aimed at ensuring that mobile phone subscribers are well-informed of the policies being sold to them and [...]
Harvest goal fails, smuggled turmeric crops up in Sathosa at Rs 1,800 a kilo
Turmeric stocks smuggled in from India are being sold at a lower price, the Agriculture Department said. Illegal hauls seized this year from dinghies in the northern and eastern coasts of Sri Lanka are being sold at Sathosa outlets for Rs. 1,800 a kilogram. The Department of Export Agriculture said that the decision to sell [...]
Trumpet call against rescued elephants’ return to captivity
The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has informed the Colombo Magistrate Courts that there was no basis to continue with the cases against those who were charged with the illegal possession of elephants because a recent gazette notification allows for the registration of the animals. The CID’s stance and the court’s order to release the elephants [...]
CEB union shocked over Finance Ministry’s move to procure LNG out of the bidding process
The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Engineers’ Union has raised objections regarding the Finance Ministry’s appointment of a technical committee to negotiate the unsolicited proposal from the US-based New Fortress Energy (NFE) to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to West Coast Power Plant (WCPP). The committee is also mandated with renegotiating the terms of an existing [...]
A photo that defined 9/11
As the United States marked the 20th anniversary of 9/11 yesterday, with solemn ceremonies at the 9/11 memorial in New York and elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal on Friday published this photograph of a Sri Lankan survivor of the attack as an illustration to an article headlined ‘Photos That Defined 9/11, and the People in [...]
Sri Lanka India Society donates equipment for children’s HDU at IDH
The Sri Lanka India Society handed over a donation of medical equipment to set up a children’s high dependency unit at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (IDH) on Friday. Dr Kosala Karunaratne and Dr Senali Kulawardena are seen receiving the equipment from the Sri Lanka India Society President Rohan Tudawe in the presence of [...]
1990 Emergency Suwaseriya says motorists deaf to their wailing silrens
The 1990 Suwaseriya ambulance service is facing challenges in meeting the stipulated crucial timing when attending to emergency situations as vehicles do not give way on roadways, the service said in a statement this week. “Everyone is aware of the challenges faced by ambulances and other emergency vehicles when trying to get through traffic [...]
Labour minister rescinds gazette that lacked parliamentary approval
Labour Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva has been forced to rescind a gazette notification issued on Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Regulations, as the gazette had been printed before the regulations were submitted for Parliamentary approval. The EPF Regulations, published in Gazette Extraordinary No. 2239/26 on August 3, had amended a number of EPF Regulations, mostly [...]
Early retirement due to “painful incidents” of past week, says CB Governor
Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Governor W.D. Lakshman said on Friday that he had never taken any decision during his tenure that went against his conscience, but he had been forced to bring forward his plans to retire due to certain “painful incidents” that had occurred in the recent past. Speaking at a media [...]
Ketagoda to fill Cabraal’s seat
Former Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP Jayantha Ketagoda is to fill the Parliament seat vacated by State Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s resignation. Mr Cabraal confirmed yesterday that he would hand over his resignation letter to the Secretary General of Parliament tomorrow (13), and would take up the role of Central Bank Governor by midweek. [...]
Life becomes unpalatable sans milk and sugar
The daily ritual of a tea with milk and sugar is no longer the pleasure it used to be. Milk powder, essential for Sri Lanka’s children and seniors, is nearly non-existent in grocery stores and sugar is as pricey as rice. Purchases have been limited to a kilo where available. Despite the gazette notice by [...]
For whom the bell tolls: Experts warn of high death rate in spite of vaccination ‘success’ stories
The extended lockdown, even though not as stringent as it should be, is showing a small positive impact on the overwhelmed hospital system but the death data are giving a bleak picture of the so-called “success” of the vaccination programme, warned many experts. The lockdown which was on till Monday (September 13), has now been [...]
Reach out to grieving families to let them know they’re not alone
There is no chance to hold them close or say a tearful or prayerful goodbye as they depart on their final journey. Many are not even able to be by the bedside of a loved one breathing his/her last laboured breath. There is also no time for mourning. A look at the beloved face from [...]
Taking hospital services to the doorstep of the villagers
The Gomarankadawala Divisional Hospital, in a very remote setting in a corner of the Trincomalee district, is currently treating 100 patients with COVID-19. “We have had only two deaths,” says Dr. Shoba Kumburegama of the Gomarankadawala Hospital. She draws a strong link between the low number of deaths and the Gomarankadawala Divisional Secretariat area being [...]
Rare sighting of ocean-glider
A red billed tropic bird seen in a Minuwangoda paddy field. Pic by Heshan Fernando A seafaring bird has been swept up into Sri Lanka amid the recent stormy weather accompanied by heavy showers. Naturalist and researcher Chandima Fernando who had observed photos he received on WhatsApp tentatively identified it as a white tern. Fernando [...]