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Home » NewsSinopec all smiles over Lanka fuel deal
China’s Sinopec Energy Lanka Deputy General Manager Arthur Cheng Anxiang showing a Churchilian victory sign as their company signed an agreement with the Board of Investment on Friday to import, store, distribute and sell petroleum products in the local market. This project involves 150 privately-owned fuel outlets operated by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation while additionally, [...]
Govt. to increase debt ceiling by Rs. 9000bn
The Government is seeking parliamentary approval to increase the borrowing limit by as much as Rs 9,000 billion to finance public expenses through an amendment to the Appropriation Act. The latest debt ceiling increase will enable the Government to cover debt service payments, recurring expenses, and welfare expenses through domestic borrowings since it lost access [...]
Cabinet amends concession given to public servants
The recent concession given to public sector employees to obtain long-term leave without affecting their seniority has been amended by the Ministry of Public Administration. The move comes following complaints by serving officers who argue that the provision was unfair by those currently serving in the state sector as those who have obtained leave would [...]
Ministry seeks Rs. 20bn for urgent road repairs
The Transport and Highways Ministry is to urge the Government to release Rs 20 billion for urgent repairs and maintenance of roads in view of the adverse condition of existing road networks. Minister Bandula Gunawardena told the Sunday Times the Cabinet had been informed about the requirement, but the allocations had not been made so [...]
Controversy over proposals to tax foreign e-commerce companies
Proposals on enforcing a tax on foreign companies that benefit from doing e-commerce business in Sri Lanka stirred some controversy this week after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) denied it had any discussions on this issue with the government. Proposals to tax the services of e-commerce websites like booking.com were explored in two budgets in [...]
Election-related offences: Huge increase in fines
Fines for election-related offences are to be drastically increased in a bill to be presented to Parliament shortly. In terms of the proposed bill, already gazetted, fines for election-related offences are set to increase from anything between Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 400,000. The Elections (Special Provisions) Bill proposes to increase fines for election-related offences by [...]
Exporters told to be vigilant of TIN
Exporters are urged to be vigilant of their Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TIN) being misused by third parties to smuggle goods into the country after the Customs detected such incidents in the recent past. In a public notice, the Customs Director (Exports) urged exporters to be careful of such incidents when receiving Short Message Service (SMS) [...]
Conditional lifting of ban on five Islamic groups
The Government has decided to conditionally lift the ban imposed on five of 11 Islamic organisations in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks on April 21, 2019. The ban on the five organisations is being lifted in line with recommendations given by a committee comprised of experts from investigative and intelligence agencies after [...]
Yaden International says its principal supplier Indar has impeccable track record
In response to our news story of last week (July 9) headlined; “Dangerous trend in health sector”, Yaden International (Pvt) Ltd states that its supplier/principal, Indar– which is the Ukraine company from which it will procure insulin for Sri Lanka’s State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC)–is a registered entity with the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA). This [...]
CPC set to start settling debt of Rs. 80.4bn to National Iranian Oil Company
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) will this month start settling a legacy debt of US$ 251mn (Rs. 80.4bn) owed to the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) at the rate of US$ 5mn (Rs. 1.6bn) a month, Cabinet has approved. The CPC will finance these payments through its operating cash flows, i.e., monies generated by its [...]
Maj. Gen.Wanasinghe appointed new Army Chief of Staff
Major General W.A.S.S. Wanasinghe of the Sri Lanka Artillery Regiment was appointed the new Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army, effective from yesterday. He succeeds Major General C.D Weerasuriya who retired from service. Prior to this appointment, Maj Gen Wanasinghe served as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army. He also served [...]
Garner gets suspended jail term for faking abduction and assault
Swiss embassy employee Garner Banister Francis, who was arrested in 2019 for falsely claiming she was abducted, was handed down two years imprisonment suspended for 15 years by the Colombo High Court on Friday. The sentence was pursuant to Ms. Francis pleading guilty to the charge of violating Section 190 of the Penal Code. It [...]
Debts CEB owed to China Exim Bank transferred to Govt. ahead of restructuring
Selected foreign currency debts obtained from the China Exim Bank and on the Ceylon Electricity Board’s (CEB) balance sheet have been transferred to the Sri Lanka Government’s balance sheet. This includes an outstanding loan balance of US$ 591.4mn (Rs. 214.7bn), as of end-December 2022, obtained to build the Lakvijaya coal power plant. These facts are [...]
Colombo gets a new beach
The artificial beach of Colombo Port City was opened to the public yesterday. A large crowd gathered at the location by last evening. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Northern fisherfolk continue to suffer from Indian poaching
By S. Rubatheesan Past midnight, last Saturday, a cluster of Indian bottom trawlers entered Sri Lankan territorial waters off Delft island in the North as usual and engaged in fishing until two naval vessels — northern naval command’s fast attack craft of 4th fast attack flotilla and another craft of the Sri Lanka Coast Guard [...]
Aeroflot flight incident: SC to hold inquiry against lawyer
The Supreme Court has decided to hold an inquiry against a lawyer accused of misrepresenting an enjoining order issued by the Colombo Commercial High Court to detain a Russian Aeroflot flight last year. The SC bench comprising Justice Preethi Padman Surasena, Kumudini Wickremasinghe and Janak De Silva fixed the hearing into the complaint made against [...]
Bail bid of Easter Sunday suspects: Supreme Court holds with AG to stay CA proceedings
By Ranjith Padmasiri The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted leave to proceed in relation to the Attorney General’s petition against a Court of Appeal interim order regarding bail applications filed by two accused in the Easter Sunday Trial-at-Bar. The two accused, Rasheed Mohommad Ibrahim and Mohamed Akram Ahakkam had filed the bail applications through their [...]
Adventurist Danish woman tourist’s death fall: Family given shocking news
By Chaminda Wewatenna Family members of a Danish tourist who fell off a rock in Alagalla were informed on Friday about the tragic death, while arrangements are underway for a postmortem examination. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said that in addition to the family members, the Netherlands embassy in New Delhi was informed about the death. [...]
‘Sachin death pass’ was habitual offender
No permit for inter-provincial travel; driver arrested; owner gets off; corruption galore By Sandun Jayawardana While reckless driving is seen as the main cause of the deadly Manampitiya bus accident, its aftermath has drawn attention to a variety of other issues that, if not addressed, could lead to further tragedies. Eleven passengers lost their lives [...]
Urgent need for patient safety body and good watchdog, say experts
Stress importance of meticulous data-keeping of hazardous events by the Health Ministry By Kumudini Hettiarachchi There was an urgent call for the holding of ‘quick and thorough’ probes into several unexpected deaths reportedly due to sub-standard medicines or severe adverse events (SAE) at state hospitals. “It is also vital to create an independent ‘Patient Safety Body’ [...]
Eight-year-old Kalindu recalls ‘other life’ as Billy Kers an American soldier
By Kumudini Hettiarachchi He is at play with his younger brother in their garden in Udugampola in Gampaha. Kalindu Thrimaal Wijewardana with his quirky smile is eight years old. He has a tale that is not commonly heard from others of his age and he is more than willing to share it with us. “I [...]
The first Aswesuma payment likely in August; evaluation of objections, appeals still ongoing
By Dilushi Wijesinghe The first Aswesuma payment will most likely be made in August to those whose inclusion has not been challenged, State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe said. A fixed date has not been announced yet, as an evaluation of appeals and objections is still in progress. An analysis of the appeals and objections so [...]
Rs 2.8bn census goes digital for first time
By Nadia Fazlulhaq Over 16,000 tablets (tablet computers) will be put to use for the 2023/24 census which will be the country’s first digital census at a cost of Rs. 2.8 billion, the Department of Census and Statistics said. A gazette notification was issued this week by President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Minister of Finance [...]
Tackle the many-pronged crisis in state health sector before it collapses
By Kumudini Hettiarachchi The state health sector is in crisis, with many predicting an “imminent” collapse if remedial measures are not taken immediately. Many experts reiterated that the crisis in the state health was many pronged – a dearth of medical specialists; a shortage of medicines, consumables and devices; serious questions on safety and quality [...]
Activists denounce protected tree’s secret burial
By Tharushi Weerasinghe Contrary to previous claims, the “Pandu Karanda” (Crudia Zeylanica) tree, which was razed overnight to make way for the Central Expressway in Gampaha, was not the last of its kind in the country. While on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of critically endangered species, many mature trees and [...]
Puttalam farmers charge Govt. doing little while they are forced to sell paddy at low prices
Paddy farmers in the Puttalam district complain that private traders were manipulating paddy prices and that they were being deprived of the actual value for their crop of the current Yala harvest. The harvest generated after hard labour is being bought at low prices by middlemen employed by large-scale rice mill owners, they complain. So [...]
Food items tainted with a cocktail of chemicals
By Kasun Warakapitiya The food consumed by the general public contains a cocktail of chemicals including colouring, additives, mixtures of substances to enhance taste and textures to ensure sales, Public Health Inspectors investigations have revealed. The most recent incident occurred on Thursday this week as the Weerawila police detected 28,750 kilos of rice which was [...]
Yala crop and power generation at risk from reservoirs drying up
By Nathara Abeywickrema Although torrential downpours over the past few weeks brought much needed relief to several arid regions, observations have been made that the water level in tanks is slowly dropping to their minimum operating levels. The Irrigation Department has 73 major tanks coming under its purview. Many tanks in Anuradhapura, strikingly Nachchaduwa tank [...]
A special train for Nallur festival from Mount Lavinia to KKS
Northern-bound trains back on track following renovations By Dilushi Wijesinghe A special train service will be launched on August 1 from Mount Lavinia to Kankesanturai (KKS) in view of the the Nallur Festival, in Jaffna. The special train will run for the duration of the festival, about three weeks and may continue depending on public demand, [...]