May 9 (EN) SL�s banks which have borrowed abroad could face greater pressure from foreign lenders amid credit downgrades, a senior banker said as the first sovereign rating cut following a fiscal and monetary stimulus. Rating agencies warned the country above its weakening debt repayment ability as taxes were slashed in January in a fiscal stimulus in a growth short-cut to try and boost growth after an output shock from a currency in 2018 which came from rate cuts and liquidity injections. more..

May 9 (AD) Five more persons who had tested positive for COVID-19 have recovered completely and been discharged from hospital today (09), says the Ministry of Health. On that account, the total count of coronavirus recoveries in the country has reached 260 now. Health Ministry confirmed more recoveries earlier today as 15 patients were discharged from hospitals. Health Ministry stated that 575 active cases are currently under medical care at selected hospitals across the island. more..

May 9 (Island) Cabinet ministers were prepared to go to jail, Minister Bandula Gunawardane, said, challenging anyone who thought they were illegally spending public funds, after April 30, to go to courts. He insisted that Article 150 (3) of the Constitution permitted the Prez to spend from the Consolidated Fund. Asked if Article 150 (3) gave the Prez the power he referred to, regardless of when the next general election was held, more..

May 8 (FT) The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the crisis embedded in SL�s economic and social structures. The need for physical distancing, to mitigate health risks, has brought socio-economic activities to an abrupt halt. A majority of working people, apart from those engaged in essential services, has been forced to stay away from work. Millions of workers in the informal sector of our economy, which is about 68% of the SL workforce, lost wages and incomes crucial to sustaining more..

May 9 (EN) Weligama Mayor Rehaan Jayawickreme has banned the unauthorised entry of media personnel into the private property of suspected COVID-19 patients in the area. In a letter addressed to the heads of Hiru TV, a private television station belonging to the Asia Broadcasting Corporation, and Adaderana, and Derana TV, Jayawickreme warned yesterday that failure to comply will result in legal action. �By the powers vested to me under the Urban Council act of 1987(255) section (4), more..

May 9 (EN) The SJB is challenging the govt�s statement that the country can save Rs 100 billion if the state sector employees forego a month�s wages to help balance the govt�s budget. Former MP Dr Harsha de Silva told reporters that the annual allocation for central govt salaries is around Rs 450 billion and because there are approximately 1.2 million state workers including the Armed Forces and Police personnel, one month�s wages more..

May 9 (AD) Liquor stores will not be reopened on Monday, despite the resumption of civilian life and functions at private and public sector entities in the Western Province and Puttalam District, the Excise Department has announced. Commissioner General of Excise stated that the govt has not taken into account reopening of liquor shops when restoring normalcy in the lives of the general public. As people failed to adhere to the health guidelines when liquor shops were reopened more..

May 9 (DM) Govt aims at total relaxation of the curfew restrictions imposed in view of the COVID-19 outbreak by next month, a Minister said. The govt will partially relax such curbs on public life on May 11. Basic guidelines are now being worked out for people to follow when carrying out their routine activities, despite the corona situation, once such restrictions are lifted partially on May 11. A minister said the govt was targeting the total lifting of all restrictions by early June depending on more..

May 9 (TM) Former Minister and Leader of ACMC Rishad Bathiudeen has urged Prez Rajapaksa to permit the burial of Muslim Covid-19 victims. In a letter addressed to Prez Rajapaksa, Bathiudeen said the govt continues to cremate Muslims who die without any regard to the objections of the family and Muslim religious leaders. �It is incumbent upon the living Muslims to dispose the body of a dead Muslim as per our religious rites. more..

May 9 (EN) Sri Lanka�s private healthcare sector is coming to terms with the fallout of the COID-19 pandemic with lockdowns preventing people from visiting private hospitals and government price controls impacting the pharmaceutical industry, says ACCA Member Prasenna Balachandran. �Private healthcare is facing many challenges despite being an essential service. However, there�s plenty of opportunities if healthcare service providers can only break out of traditional business models,� more..

May 9 (NR) Police has uncovered Rs.40 million worth of narcotics from a house in Kadumayankulam in Puttalam. Police said the raid was carried-out on a tip-off received by intelligence officers. Four kilograms and 368 grams of narcotics known as brown sugar have been seized during the raid. The village was cordoned-off recently due to the spread of COVID-19. Initially, a suspect was arrested with two kilograms of brown sugar. After integrating the suspect, two more kgs of drugs were seized. more..

May 9 (DM) The validity period of all types of Visas of foreigners in Sri Lanka had been extended up to June 11. Immigration Department had requested the foreigners to proceed as advised below. �All the applicants are hereby advised to pay the relevant visa fee and get the visa endorsed in the Passport by securing an appointment via the link before June 11. �All visas which expire between March 7 to June 11, would be exempted from more..

May 9 (EN) SL�s stock markets will resume trading on May 11, the Colombo Stock Exchange said with curfews due to be relaxed and businesses asked to open. The market will open at 1100hours and close at 1300hours. �In view of the decision made by the Govt that both public and private sector entities in the districts of Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttalam should re-commence work from 11th May 2020, Trading on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) will resume on Monday, 11th May,� more..

May 9 (wsws) TNA has come out in open support of Prez Gotabhaya Rajapakse as he strengthens the presidency�s autocratic powers and relies ever more directly on the military amid the COVID-19 pandemic. TNA spokesman M.A. Sumanthiran made this unmistakably clear in his public statements, coming amid mounting working-class anger at the govt�s handling of the lockdown. The TNA held a closed-door meeting on Monday with Mahinda Rajapakse, former prez, current PM and more..

May 9 (AD) Another petition has been filed with the Supreme Court, challenging the Gazette notification issued by the Election Commission declaring the General Election on June 20 as well as the Gazette notification on the dissolution of Parliament. The petition was lodged by the leader of JHU Champika Ranawaka and former MP Kumara Welgama. The Attorney General in lieu of the President, EC�s Chairman more..

May 9 (AD) Three more persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in SL, taking the cases tally to 847. Nine infections were reported earlier today and it was confirmed that these patients were also from SL Navy. The 11 positive cases detected on Friday also turned out to be naval personnel. Ministry of Health stated that a total of 260 coronavirus patients have recovered from the disease and were discharged from hospitals. 578 active cases are currently under medical care at hospitals more..

May 9 (AD A group of Sri Lankans stranded in Australia due to the global outbreak of COVID-19 virus will be repatriated today (09). A special flight (UL 604), chartered by SriLankan Airlines, has departed for Melbourne, Australia at around 7.30 am this morning, Ada Derana correspondent said. The flight is scheduled to return to the BIA at around 5.20 am on Sunday (10). The repatriated Sri Lankans will be decontaminated and sent for mandatory quarantine upon their arrival. more..

May 9 (DM) The decision to re-open schools could be taken within the next week, Minister Dallas Alahapperuma said. He said the decision would be taken according to the guidelines issued by Health Ministry to prevent the spreading of COVID-19 virus among school children. �The schools in the country were scheduled to be opened on Monday (11) for the second term, but as everyone can see that there is no possibility more..

May 10 (SO) The post-Covid-19 world will be very different from the one we used to know at the beginning of this year, when the coronavirus was just emerging in China. Today, the virus has spread to every corner of the world, infecting 3.7 million people and killing 270,000. Here in SL, more than 800 infections have been reported, while nine have died. These are indeed very favourable figures compared to the rest of the world, but we cannot afford to rest on our laurels as we battle virus. more..

May 10 (Island) The Biblical exhortation Let him without sin cast the first stone (John:8.7) comes to mind at this time when many stones are being thrown at Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya. The hullabaloo is all about Deshpriya�s alleged contact with governmental bigwigs about his irrigation engineer son and three batch mates being found seats in a SriLankan Airlines flight bringing home SL students from London. The 3 young men, all on scholarships in Netherlands, more..

May 10 (SO) Former State Minister Shehan Semasinghe said at present, the Opposition even in the midst of a national crisis, is capitalising on the opportunity for their narrow political gains by vociferously demanding the reconvening of the dissolved Parliament. The Opposition is afraid to go for an election as they have been categorically rejected by the people. He said the decision taken by the SJB, UNP and the JVP to boycott more..

May 10 (CT) As the Muslims pass the half way mark of the blessed month of Ramazan through the rough patches of a pandemic, the Covid cremation possibility has been creating heartaches among them. The anguish of being cremated, in the likely event of a death due to that deadly virus, in contravention of the funeral rites prescribed by their faith! To the Muslims, it is not an unpatriotic or an irresponsible act to request a burial of a Covid body. It is not even insisting on a right at a time of more..

May 10 (CT) Dear Mr. President, I thank you for your leadership in handling this global pandemic and for ensuring the safety of all of us. In the midst of this challenging environment of lockdowns and quarantining, the question has arisen if the Muslim burial rights have also been Quarantined. The normal expectation when making administrative decisions especially on sensitive matters, is for the persons responsible to be rational, scientific, humane and reasonable. more..

May 10 (CT) The ongoing pandemic and recent hike in infected patients reported around the country has greatly affected people's behaviour and daily routines. On the demand side, people are stockpiling and panic-buying shelf-stable food, like processed fruit and vegetables; while on the supply side, companies are struggling to meet this demand due to labour and logistics capacity issues. To meet the demand, fruits are currently being more..

May 10 (Island) Last week (3) I broached the issue of a unified multi-party response to the disaster created by the virus. It could be a multi-party Cabinet-team like Churchill�s inner War Cabinet, or some other tie-up that President Gotabaya chooses, but the bottom line is: Political parties, ethnic communities and other groups must be functionally engaged. The key is NOT getting a consultative body to slurp around; that�s a waste of time. The key is to create a leadership team more..

May 10 (Island) In the two decades before independence, SL experienced three socio-seismic forces: The Great Depression, the Second World War, and the malaria epidemic. The first two were worldwide, and the third came to be known to the world as the Ceylon epidemic. Donald Snodgrass called them the decades of transition for the island�s economy, from a classical export economy towards an uncertain future. The dynamics of the colonial export economy were simple: more..

May 10 (FT) Christians celebrate Easter Sunday around the world to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is a very special day for the followers of the Christian faith. Eastern Sunday for Christians this year was the anniversary of the carnage of 21 April 2019. The Easter Sunday of 21 April 2019 turned out to be the most tragic day in the history of Sri Lanka for the Christians and Muslims. A group of barbaric terrorists claiming to be Muslims and members of Islamic State (ISIS), more..

May 10 (SO) A fortnight ago, the Sunday Observer, initiated this column aimed at resurrecting our indigenous knowledge in spheres such as education, farming, medicine and irrigation; all of which constitute a rich philosophy of being through a deep and non violent connection with mother-earth. This philosophy which governed us for thousands of years was integrated with spiritual alignment, self-reliance, duty to country, happiness and purpose. In the past two weeks we pointed out that more..

May 10 (CT) PM, who had convened a meeting of former MPs at Temple Trees on Monday, had claimed that the Govt had not received any finances from abroad to aid its fight against the spread of COVID-19. During this meeting, the measures that had jointly and separately been taken by the health officials and the security forces to control the spread of COVID-19 in this country had been explained in detail to the former MPs more..

May 10 (Island) If not for the Covid-19 pandemic, the global headline grabbing event in the month of March 2020 would have been the International Criminal Court�s decision to investigate and prosecute the USA for alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan. Now that things have slowly begun limping back to normal all over the world, it will not be long before this issue takes center stage. This war crimes probe against the USA had been in the pipeline for more than 2 years. more..

May 10 (FT) The two-month-long lockdown in SL may be relaxed hopefully by next week. The authorities and media have been circulating various communications with regard to the same even though the possibility of the lockdown extending cannot be totally ruled out either. Whilst it may take some time for the country, economy and usual work environment to be in full force, one can argue that organisations, entrepreneurs, business owners, Govt and the citizens in general would like to more..

May 10 (SO) After two months of an unexpected break due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the much-looked forward to Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy and Schoolgirl Cricketers of the Year 2020 contests resume today with fresh hopes. With the continuous curfew in the Western Province and Puttalam district being relaxed along with other parts of the country from tomorrow, the voting for the most popular schoolboy and schoolgirl more..

May 10 (AD) Universities will only be for the non-academic staff on the 11th of May 2020, said Minister Bandula Gunawardena. Despite the universities are to be reopened on May 11, no academic activity or opening of hostels will take place he said. Some members of the non-academic staff have been requested to report for duty over the sterilization process carried out in the university premises on the aforementioned date, the Minister pointed out. more..

May 10 (ST) With information that face-masks worn properly may be one measure to help keep the virus away, people are seen sporting all kinds including masks matching their clothes. As a video of face-masks being stitched not in the most hygienic of conditions went viral, the Sunday Times asked the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) about the standards of these items which have become a necessity. In the light of the emergency situation the country is facing, more..

May 10 (SO) Minister of Sports Dullas Alahapperuma announced that everything is ready for the construction of SL�s first sports university at the premises of the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium, Diyagama, Homagama that will be a huge boost for budding athletes to develop their skills. Minister Alahapperuma further emphasized that sport is an indicator of development and good health of the country. �It must be noted as part of more..

May 10 (DM) Long-distance buses would operate on Monday (11) after the Govt granted authorisation to cross the districts, SL Transport Board Chairman Kingsley Ranawaka said. He said about 1,500 buses had been added to the service from Monday. He said the employees who arrive at workplaces would get the service during office hours. Furthermore, the Chairman said buses would be assigned for institutions to transport employees following requests by them under a certain fee. more..

May 10 (ST) Here Consultant Physician Dr. Achala Balasuriya discusses how COVID-19 may present differently in the elderly. The main symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, cough, pain in the throat, shortness of breath, myalgia and fatigue. It can also cause a headache, a productive cough, and loose stools, loss of smell and taste and red eyes. The disease has a wide variation in its presentation and generally has an incubation period of 14 days on average, but it can sometimes be as long as more..

May 10 (ST) SL�s unique strategy in combating COVID-19 came under the spotlight at the first international virtual conference on the disease Breaking the transmission chain through community empowerment. Held by the SL Medical Association (SLMA) and the Asia Pacific Academic Consortium of Public Health (APACPH) with an eminent panel and participants from 40 countries, the co-moderators were SLMA President and more..

May 10 (AD) Department of Immigration and Emigration will be recommencing its operations from the 11th of May, in line with the govt�s decision to resume day-to-day activities in Govt Institutions from the said date. Accordingly, the Department will be opened for selected services on all working days except public holidays. The general public who receive the services must follow the health and other regulations taken from time to time in view of the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic, more..