Aug 25 (FT) Cabinet of Ministers on Monday reviewed the progress of over 300 large-scale development projects valued at Rs. 1.7 trillion and decided to fast-track the progress of those which are lagging. According to the progress review report submitted by Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa to the Cabinet, 319 large-scale development projects exceeding a cost of Rs. 1 billion are being implemented by 43 ministries. �These projects implemented until 2030 have an approximate more..

Aug 25 (FT) Govt yesterday ruled out a salary cut in State or private sector as part of austerity measures to cope with COVID-induced fiscal and economic challenges though there has been suggestions for the move. �The decision by the Cabinet to donate their August salary to the COVID-19 fund is not an attempt to push for a pay cut in State or even private sector employees,� Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said more..

Aug 25 (FT) Health officials on Monday confirmed 190 COVID-19 deaths, raising the country�s COVID-19 death toll to 7,750. Deaths confirmed on Monday consist of 150 persons over the age of 60, 38 persons between ages 30 and 59, and two persons below the age of 30. Of the total fatalities, 75.71% are over the age of 60, 23.27% are between ages 30 and 59, and 1.02% are below the age of 30. 113 fatalities confirmed on Monday are male and 77 are female. Of the total fatalities, 4,447 are male more..

Aug 25 (CT) Cabinet Spokesman Dullas Alahapperuma assured the Govt has no internal disputes with its affiliated parties. He, however, said the parties affiliated with the Govt are making different requests and holding different viewpoints. This is a symbol of democracy within the Govt, he noted. When asked why 10 Govt-affiliated parties wrote to the President requesting a lockdown, at a time when the President was having a different opinion regarding it, Alahapperuma explained more..

Aug 25 (TM) Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) stated that since 21 August, it had received approximately 5,000 calls to their round-the-clock hotline from Covid-19 patients, seeking medical advice from their homes. SLMA Immediate Past President and Doc Call 24/7 SLMA Working Group Member Prof. Indika Karunathilake noted that about 5,000 patients had sought medical advice concerning Covid-19 from round-the-clock more..

Aug 25 (FT) This article is about the manner in which the economy of SL should be rebuilt, mainly to alleviate poverty worsened by the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. But it goes beyond the short term to the long term as the economy was already very sick when the pandemic hit the country, due to problems which have not been solved for several decades. Apart from the visible effects of a lockdown, it may be right for us to believe that poverty & inequality of incomes in the country more..

Aug 25 (FT) Teachers are on strike. Even when teachers were not on strike, they were able to connect to only half of the student population. Now that they are on strike, all children are in total education lockdown. Of course children attending private school are continuing their distance education and the tuition masters are as active as ever, but the trickle of the public education tap dependent on teacher-student interactions is turned off. What�s a parent to do? more..

Aug 25 (AD) Commander of the SL Air Force Air Marshal Sudharshana Pathirana has entered into a self-quarantine process. This is due to several individuals who came in contact with the Commander have recently been identified to have been infected with COVID-19. Subsequently, the Commander of the Air Force has subjected himself to self-quarantine. An Air Marshal Sudharshana Pathirana is currently into his second week of quarantine and has been attending more..

Aug 25 (DM) STF has arrested a woman who is involved in large scale drug trafficking and peddling in many areas with over Rs. 2.6 million in cash, at Kiribathgoda. The woman, aged 52 is known as Chandrika and a resident of Kelaniya. The STF said during the interrogation, it was revealed that she had been distributing heroin in Kiribathgoda, Ragama and Kelaniya areas for a long time. The STF recovered 11 grams of heroin and Rs.2,665,100 in cash from the suspect's possession. more..

Aug 25 (Island) SLFP General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekera says the govt lacked the wherewithal to provide those struggling to make ends meet sufficient financial assistance. The decision to provide Rs 2,000 for a family during the current Covid-19 lockdown highlighted the deteriorating economic crisis, State Minister Jayasekera points out. �In fact, the national economy is in such a bad shape the govt found it difficult to pay that amount� more..

Aug 25 (DM) Travel restrictions should be further tightened up to 80 to 90% and the imposed restrictions should be implemented perfectly, the GMOA said. GMOA Assistant Secretary Dr. Samantha Ananda said the technical committee of the Health Ministry should decide at what time and how the travel restrictions should be imposed. "The technical committee is under the Heath Director General and the decision should be a technical decision. more..

Aug 25 (DM) Dept of Prisons has decided to transfer two Superintendent of Prisons and nine Assistant Superintendents of Prisons with effect from September 1 due to service requirements. Accordingly, Superintendent of Prisons S.K Palletenna of Angunakolapelessa Prison has been transferred to the Prison Training School in Welikada. Mahara Prison Superintendent R. Prasad Hemantha Kumara has been transferred to the prison headquarters. more..

Aug 25 (UCAN) SL media organizations have called on police authorities to guarantee that all investigations against journalists are conducted within legal provisions at all times. They expressed particular concern for the safety of Keerthi Ratnayake, a defense and political analyst at Lanka e-News, who has been arrested and detained for 90 days. The journalist consistently reported on the presence of Chinese troops in island nation more..

Aug 25 (FT) Sustainable tourism has replaced conventional globetrotting, tourism experts said recently, highlighting that the need for SL to steer and develop paradigms under the umbrella of sustainability would be imperative post-pandemic. In this context, top industry stakeholders recently partnered with German organisations that work towards improving eco-friendly, sustainable tourism, which is highly valued by international travellers. A commitment to SDGs more..

Aug 25 (DM) The exemplary gesture displayed by the elephant Nedungamuwe Raja when it carried the casket of the Holy Tooth Relics at the Randoli Perahera on the Esala Poya night (22) is a model to follow by all those including politicians who have been affected by the Covid 19 pandemic, Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said. �Without collective and self- motivated discipline and determination among all Sri Lankans, the fight against the deadly pandemic would be a difficult task,� he added. more..

Aug 25 (DM) Prez Rajapaksa has appointed an Advisory Board to make recommendations and advise the President on the investigation, release, granting of bail and future action related to the persons imprisoned over terrorist activities and detained under detention orders. The Director-General of Legal Affairs of the Presidential Secretariat Attorney-at-Law Harigupta Rohanadeera said the Advisory Board was appointed more..

Aug 25 (CT) Govt should implement a proper plan for garbage disposal in order to protect the wild animals, said Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) Publicity Officer Hasini Sarathchandra. When asked about a recent incident, where elephants were eating garbage at Minneriya, she noted that, the major reason for this is the improper disposal pattern and that the responsible authorities should act more vigilantly to protect the wild animals. Not only elephants, all animals in the area more..

Aug 25 (EN) Sri Lanka failed to sell 33% of Treasury bills at an auction Wednesday with despite a 55 basis point hike in a ceiling 12-month rate to 5.93%, official data showed with the overnight rate also being hiked ahead of the auction. Most of the bids came for 3-monts and only 200 million rupees of 12-month bills were sold. It was not clear why the overnight rate was raised 50 basis points before the 12-month rate was raised by 55 basis points to 5.93%, but outcome was widely expected. more..

Aug 25 (DM) Claiming that no medication has yet been discovered against Covid-19, a medical expert today warned people not to be deceived by medications guided on social media claiming to cure Covid-19. Prof. Priyadarshani Galappatthy of the Colombo Uni said there were certain medications prescribed by the doctors for complications in Covid patients and that such medications should not be taken by Covid more..

Aug 25 (EN) Sri Lanka�s has been given 300,000 Coronavirus vaccines by China�s People�s Liberation Army, army chief Shavendra Silva has said. �The People�s Liberation Army has gifted 300,000 Sinopharm Covid vaccines for the use of the army,� he said. China�s Sinopharm has to been the main vaccine to be used in SL. Out of the 26.7% of the population vaccinated with two doses up to August 24, 20.6% had used Sinopharm. Of the 56% that had got one dose 43.91% was Sinopharm. more..

Aug 25 (TM) Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, on behalf of the Muslim community expressed its heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family on the passing of former Minister Mangala Samaraweera. �He has always stood by his principles and did not waver on issues of co-existence, reconciliation, ethnic harmony and human rights,� Council said. The Council also pointed out that Samaraweera�s career will go down in history as a model for young politicians. more..

Aug 25 (EN) Central Bank has ordered a 5% ceiling on foreign currency deposits in a bid to reduce a gap between rupee yields and dollar yields, an order under the country�s banking law shows. Sri Lanka last week raised the policy rate at which overnight money is printed to 6% from 5.5% and also a 12-month de facto rate through which large volumes of money is printed to keep gilt yields down by 55 basis points to 5.93%, more..

Aug 25 (DM) SL�s COVID 19 vaccination program could run into trouble when it comes to providing third jabs or booster injections as the program had started late, SJB Chairman Sarath Fonseka said. He said that SL�s vaccine program began late though it is being carried out efficiently. �SL govt began providing vaccines late compared to other countries. Some countries such as the US and Italy had managed to contain the pandemic after being in a more helpless position. more..

Aug 25 (CT) Seafood export earnings have reached a record high in July this year, State Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said. He said the seafood export earnings in April 2019 was at US$ 28 million, while the export earnings by July 2021 has increased to US$ 40 million, adding that the export earnings for July 2021 has increased by 119% compared to 2020. Meanwhile, exports of ornamental fish and seafood products have become 2 fastest-growing sectors in export earnings more..

Aug 25 (EN) A big tree has fallen. What are the consequences? Mangala went out on a high. A month ago, on July 25th, he had that news conference at Freedom Hub, surrounded by young people. On that day and in the subsequent media interviews, he said what he believed and felt, without compromise. Back in 2020, when he was contemplating withdrawing from the contesting the General Election, I recall telling him more..

Aug 25 (AD) The decision on whether or not to extend the existing quarantine curfew will be announced next Friday (27), Director-General of Health Services Dr. Asela Gunawardena said. SL, on Aug 20, imposed a 10-day island-wide quarantine curfew in an attempt to control the raging coronavirus pandemic situation in the country fuelled by the Delta variant. The current curfew is set to be lifted at 4 am on August 30. However, various parties have been urging the govt to further extend more..

Aug 25 (EN) Sri Lanka is beginning to rebuild reserves from August as promised which were depleted in July following a bond payment, State Minister Nivard Cabraal said. IMF has allocated 554 million Special Drawing Rights which converts to about US$ 799 million at current rates, he said. �The inflows that we predicted are coming one by one,� Minister Cabraal said. �China Development Bank 300 million dollars has come. The IMF 780 million has come.� more..

Aug 25 (AD) The series of bomb attacks on Easter Sunday in 2019 was not an isolated criminal activity orchestrated by Zahran Hashim and his group within a short period of time, IGP C.D. Wickramaratne said. Delivering a special statement on the progress of the investigations into the incident, the IGP stated that several events that led up to the carnage � including the time bomb attack on a house in Kattankudy, more..

Aug 25 (DM) Colombo District Secretary Pradeep Yasarathna said that only those who had been given both the vaccines would be allowed for mobile trading in the Colombo District during the quarantine curfew period. He said that the decision was taken to ensure safety of both the vendors and the customers, as Covid-19 including Delta variant is rampant in Colombo. He said 12, 294 mobile traders and 1,489 wholesale business outlets have been registered in the Colombo District covering more..

Aug 25 (DM) Russian scientist Nikolai Kilafyan, on trial in Sri Lanka for collecting insects illegally is in dire need of surgery after a serious leg fracture, the Vice-President of Russian division of the Int'l Committee for the Protection of Human Rights, Ivan Melnikov told Russian news agency TASS. Nikolai was diagnosed with a severe leg fracture. He needs surgery that given the difficult situation with the coronavirus in the country, cannot be done in SL. He has to get home as soon as possible," more..

Aug 26 (CT) Did we apply that all important stitch in time. Definitely not and why? The next two lines of the poem summarizes it all. Our pearls of wisdom divine, Cast before all walks of swine. I am really devastated that despite all the advice and warnings of a disastrous outcome given by senior doctors like us, the Govt of SL sleep walked the nation to the cliff edge. People in and around the driving seat of the GOSL either were too pigheaded to heed expert advice or were in denial that the wicked folk more..

Aug 26 (CT) At last, the Governor of Central Bank and his team of experts have come to realize the truth that excess money supply, either through printing currency or reducing interest rates, in the name of providing adequate liquidity to maintain aggregate demand in times of economic depression, has only a limited use. In general terms, the traditional tools of monetary policy have lost their bite long ago, when money itself has undergone a revolution in identity. more..

Aug 26 (Roar) Naaangiii!?! the motorcyclist called, swerving dangerously towards the pavement. His companion turned his head, grinned like a Cheshire cat, and watched for my response with glee. This was just the first of three hit and runs that occurred within a span of ten minutes. Stunned out of an otherwise peaceful Sunday walk, I was angry but too startled to do much. Shock aside, confronting harassment each time would more..

Aug 26 (DM) First Anglo-Afghan War, William Dalrymple observed just a week ago (Britain�s fourth Afghan war is a replay of the first infamous retreat 170 years ago), was arguably the greatest military humiliation ever suffered by the West in the East. �On the infamous retreat from Kabul, which began on the 6 Jan 1842, of the 18,500 who left the British cantonment, only one British citizen, the surgeon Dr. Brydon, made it through to Jalalabad six days later. An entire army of what was then the most more..

Aug 26 (DM) In moves reminiscent of April 29, 1975, which marked the end of the Vietnam War and that of US troops hurriedly vacating the country becoming an enduring symbol of defeat with thousands of Americans and their Vietnamese allies airlifted out of the city, were visuals of thousands of frightened people attempting to flee Afghanistan. It signaled the dreadful situation prevailing in the country in the aftermath of the takeover by the Taliban against whom the Americans waged more..

Aug 26 (CT) The word Quarantine became familiar in SL after the COVID19 pandemic. It has however, a long history around the globe during various time periods with the emergence of various different diseases reported. As an Island Nation, SL prepared well for the COVID-19 pandemic from the time it was reported in Wuhan during 2019. Under the direction of Prez Rajapaksa, the NOCPCO was set up in Rajagiriya more..

Aug 26 (ST) The news that bread and pastry prices will increase from next Monday hit the Kussi Amma Sera-household like a thunderbolt on Thursday morning. Venting her fury, Kussi Amma Sera confronted Aldoris, the choon-paankaraya who unfortunately happened to be coming down the lane at that time with his breakfast offerings. Ah�..ah, den oyath ganan wedi karai. Kohomada janathawa jeevath wenne, jeevana viyadama wedi wenakota (Ah now you will also increase your prices. more..

Aug 26 (ST) Last week I wanted to contact one of my friends � a professional with a doctorate degree in Environmental Science from a US university. I was interested in collecting some information from the work that she had been carrying out after returning to the country. There was no answer from her phone. As I had her email address, I dropped a few lines, thinking that she would see it and reply. She did and, I got a reply the next day. Among other things, she wrote that �I moved to the US more..