Feb 15 (FT) As work, school, healthcare, and even social activities shifted to a remote model, organisations raced to bring people together despite lockdowns by adopting digital tools such as cloud services, mobile technology, and video-conferencing apps. Those who had the technology in place and people empowered to harness its potential in response to the crisis clearly had the advantage. Nearly half (48%) of organisations in the region now say they find it easier to drive innovation, more..

Feb 15 (DM) Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine was not effective on the new COVID-19 variant virus, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said. He said this was revealed in tests conducted on the vaccine. He said at the Opposition Leader�s Mobile Service in Lunugamwehera recently that SL has obtained this Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine and added the situation is turning out to be serious. He said the govt has not taken any step to purchase vaccines except for 600,000 vials donated by India. more..

Feb 15 (FT) Hemas Holdings PLC (HHL) has delivered another strong quarter of results, driven by its commitment to serve its customers in the core segments, Home and Personal Care (HPC) and Healthcare, amidst the outbreak of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant localised lockdowns within the Western Province and suburbs. Continued focus on working capital efficiencies and cost rationalisation measures strengthened Group�s liquidity position, more..

Feb 15 (Island) Jaffna District TNA lawmaker M.A. Sumanthiran, PC, has argued that Sri Lanka is incapable and unwilling to deliver justice through domestic mechanisms, and there has to be international pressure. The MP said so at a webinar with former top UN and US officials and Sri Lankan participants called for a strong UNHRC resolution at the 46th sessions scheduled to commence on Feb 22. more..

Feb 15 (EN) The four SLMC MPs who voted for the 20th amendment in October last year had been assured that the govt would permit the burial of COVID-19 victims, SLMC Treasurer Faizal Cassim claimed. Cassim told reporters yesterday that PM Mahinda Rajapaksa had discussed the matter with the MPs. �But because some people in the govt are opposed to this, we have yet to receive any assistance in this regard,� he said. Cassim�s colleague H M M Harees, more..

Feb 15 (AD) Army Commander Shavendra Silva says that COVID-19 vaccinations will commence from today (15), as per instructions of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Accordingly, arrangements have been made to vaccinate the general public against the COVID-19 virus using the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine. The vaccination process will initially commence from the Western Province for the groups that interact closely with the public and those who face higher-risks of infection. more..

Feb 15 (Island) PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, on the invitation of Industries Minister and NFF leader Wimal Weerawansa, on Saturday visited the Made in Sri Lanka exhibition at the BMICH as the SLPP and the NFF tried to settle a simmering dispute caused by Minister Weerawansa calling for a decision-making role for President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa in the ruling party. Minister Weerawansa emphasized that more..

Feb 15 (DN) External Affairs Minister Dinesh Gunawardena denied allegations that China had coerced the govt with regard to the East Container Terminal adding that China will not meddle with Indo-Lanka relations. �China did not pressure us in anyway. They will not interfere in SL�s internal affairs. Not only that, China will not interfere in Indo-Lanka relations. These are basic facts,� he told an interview published earlier this week. Minister pointed out that the trade unions, bishops and more..

Feb 15 (FT) Representing the shipping lines and feeder owners/operators� perspective, SL Association of Vessel Operators (SLAVO) raised their concerns on the lack of importance given to the development of the East Container Terminal (ECT) due to theories adopted by various regimes during the past several years. It is noted from print media and television shows that non-direct stakeholders comments are aired without direct consultation with the relevant shipping lines leading to more..

Feb 15 (EN) PM Mahinda Rajapaksa�s office is saying that Health Authorities are yet to take a final decision as to whether the govt will permit the burial of Covid 19 dead, although five days ago the PM told Parliament burial would be allowed a senior official said. Rohan Welivita, Media Secretary to the PM said that the statement of the PM alone cannot make the change. �It is up to the Health Authorities, as they appointed more..

Feb 15 (Island) Basil Rajapaksa should enter Parliament soon and make a comprehensive contribution to the economic development process, State Minister Kanaka Herath said. He made this statement while addressing the Rambukkana electoral committee meeting of the SLPP held at the public market there with the participation of a large gathering to coincide with the fourth convention of the SLPP. Herath pointed out that Basil Rajapaksa was currently taking the lead in the country�s more..

Feb 15 (AD) Ministry of Education says that all schools in the country have been advised to postpone all special school functions until further notice. Secretary to the ministry Prof Kapila Perera stated that schools have been informed of this decision through their respective zonal education offices. Zonal education authorities, principals of schools & Piriven have been accordingly instructed to take steps to postpone until further notice any functions being organized in schools. more..

Feb 15 (EN) UNP has urged the govt to clarify what the party calls confusion surrounding the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses SL is expected to receive. UNP member Sudath Jayasundara said that there are contradictions in the figures quoted by the govt with respect to vaccines that are to be purchased. �A consignment of 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine is expected to arrive in the country this week. more..

Feb 15 (TM) Justice Minister Ali Sabry stated that the Govt Analyst�s Department has been able to increase the capacity and number of employees and then show a performance growth of 104% in Jan 2021. �In January this year alone, 4,828 tests were conducted and 5,060 tests were completed, bringing the Department of Analysts to the level where reports can be issued in at least a month,� he said. Under the special arrangements prepared by the Analyst�s Dept on the instructions of more..

Feb 15 (DM) SL Customs busted a major vehicle smuggling racket, which had been carried out for years and seized four containers bearing nine vehicles worth over Rs.200 million that were imported declared as spare parts. Officials of the Customs Preventive Division on information commenced investigations on four suspicious containers, which had arrived at the China International Container Terminal (CICT) in the Colombo Port in Feb 2019. more..

~Feb 15 (CI) Former players Muttiah Muralitharan and Sidath Wettimuny are among a group of 12 who have submitted a petition in the courts seeking an overhaul of Sri Lanka Cricket's flawed constitution. There has long been a view that SLC's existing constitution, which was drafted in the pre-professional era, is unfit for purpose, and is the source of many of the nation's cricketing ills, including an ailing domestic structure. more..

Feb 15 (TM) Army Commander Shavendra Silva today stated that measures are being taken to bring down all expatriates into the country despite the false reports circulating on social media sites. �There are allegations levelled against the government on social media and some of them say expatriates are suffering in foreign countries without being able to return to Sri Lanka. We understand their discomfort and we have already taken measures to bring them down in groups,� he stated. more..

Feb 15 (DM) The travel bubble now includes some hotels in Colombo to mainly cater to business travellers, Daily Mirror learns. As of yesterday (Sunday) the Movenpick Hotel Colombo and ME Colombo have been included in the Safe and Secure certified Level 1 hotels list. This would mean the two hotels will be closed for locals as soon as foreign tourists begin to arrive. Sources said that at least one of the hotels had cancelled bookings made by locals for later this month. more..

~Feb 15 (CT) Since it has been found that a strain of COVID-19 which is spreading rapidly in Britain has entered this country, if the country is not locked down even for a few days, it will close down automatically, President of the Public Health Inspectors� Union of SL (PHIUSL), Upul Rohana, said. This new COVID-19 strain which has been identified from four areas of the country, is actually the type that spreads rapidly. more..

Feb 15 (AD) Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb has revealed that India�s Minister of Home Affairs and former President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Amit Shah has plans to establish BJP govts in Sri Lanka and Nepal, according to a report published by Indian media. Deb said that Shah had told a party meeting at Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhavan, during his visit to Tripura on Saturday, that BJP wanted to establish the party and form govts in neighboring countries after winning all states in India. more..

Feb 15 (AD) Attorney General has requested for another Trial-at-Bar for the trial of the Bond Scam involving third Treasury Bond Auction of Mar 31, 2016. Coordinating Officer of the AG, State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne stated that AG Dappula de Livera made this request to the Chief Justice today. The new set of judges has been requested to try former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, former Governor of CB Arjuna Mahendran, Arjun Aloysius, and 7 others with regard to the relevant trial. more..

Feb 15 (JS) Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says the SL govt has made clear it has no serious intention of pursuing accountability for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country�s civil war that ended in 2009, and that as a result, UNHRC must act. Successive high commissioners have made increasingly strong statements calling for a comprehensive more..

Feb 15 (FT) Kuwaiti budget carrier Jazeera Airways has announced the launch of a new service to the SL capital, offering direct flights between Kuwait and Colombo twice a week. Flights to Colombo will be on Jazeera�s expanding fleet of new Airbus A320neo aircrafts, all equipped with HEPA air filters. According to the flight schedule, Jazeera Airways flight J9 551 will operate on Tuesdays and Sundays, taking off from Kuwait Int'l Airport at 6.45 p.m. and arriving in Colombo at 2.35 a.m. more..

Feb 15 (AD) Vaccination of sanitation workers within the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) limits commenced today, says State Minister Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle. Fernandopulle said that it has been decided to vaccinate high-risk groups and the communities in high-risk areas as a priority. She pointed out that the majority of coronavirus cases have been identified from Colombo and Gampaha Districts. State Minister further said that vaccination process can be further regulated more..

Feb 15 (TM) Cabinet Ministers Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gammanpila, and Vasudeva Nanayakkara will continue to remain in the Govt whilst fighting to ensure it stays true to the mandate provided to it by the people. �We promised that to the public. We have not forgotten our responsibilities and leaving the Govt would be irresponsible. We do not foresee the creation of a new coalition by us,� said Minister Udaya Gammanpila more..

Feb 15 (CT) A total of 40,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine may have been wasted while vaccinating 180,000 persons, President of the College of Medical Laboratory Science SL (CMLSSL), Ravi Kumudesh said. he said that according to a circular issued by the Health Ministry, only 10 persons could be vaccinated with each vaccine vial, while the remaining dose should be discarded after the tenth person was vaccinated. Each vaccine dose was 0.5 ml. more..

Feb 15 (Island) Making use of personal laws prevailing in a country at present to attack a single community would not be approved by any civilized nation, Justice Minister Ali Sabry told Parliament yesterday. �It is so unfortunate that practices of those laws have become a tagline or a slogan for campaigns intended to raise hatred and disharmony among communities,� the Minister said. Responding to a series of questions raised by MP Ven Aturaliye Ratana Thera, Minister Sabry said that more..

Feb 15 (AD) SL is to receive 500,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine as the first batch of the vaccine stock ordered for the country within 7 days, says Army Commander Shavendra Silva. �It is likely that in the next few weeks, in addition to the frontline health staff, the general public will be vaccinated. Govt has currently ordered vaccines for 9 million. First batch of these ordered vaccines, 500,000 doses, will arrive in SL in another week. more..

Feb 16 (DM) The recent newspaper reports show what a messy situation prevails in hospitals in handling the victims of COVID-19 and the lack of empathy towards the relatives of the victims. An article in the latest issue of our sister paper, The Sunday Times explains the cruel treatment by some employees of some hospitals who solicit bribe from relatives for handling the bodies of their loved ones. Story also explains how the relatives are sent from pillar to post before getting the body released more..

Feb 16 (CT) The flame of freedom flickered as tanks rolled down Yangon streets and Myanmar�s civilian leaders arrested in morning raids on 1 February, plunging the South Asian nation into the grasp of Junta rule after 10 years of democratic rule. �Our country was a bird that was just learning to fly. Now the Army broke our wings,� one student activist Si Thu Tun lamented. The statement has since become a Press clich� that has come to define the military coup d��tat that deposed the country�s more..

Feb 16 (Roar) Prostitution is technically not legal in Sri Lanka, and so every once in a while, local newspapers will carry a news item that resembles the following: �Police raid brothel in Battaramulla: The police raided a brothel that operated on Robert Gunawardena Mawatha in Battaramulla based on a court order. During the raid, the police arrested three women and a man who is believed to be the manager of the brothel. more..

Feb 16 (DM) Last week Sri Jayawardenapura University researchers reported that they had detected several cases of the new UK B117 SARS-CoV-2 variant in different parts of Sri Lanka. This sparked alarm and confusion, so I will explain what has happened, why this is such bad news and what it all means with regard to moving forward with the COVID-19 strategy and vaccination. Back in April 2020 most experts expected the pandemic to end when we had vaccines to protect everyone. more..

Feb 16 (DM) Last week, PM Mahinda Rajapaksa assured in Parliament that the govt would soon permit the burial of Muslims who died of Covid-19. �The dead will be allowed to be buried,� he quipped in response to a question by the SJB MP, S.M Marikkar. Some of his acolytes have since tried to twist his words, that the PM had only referred to the dead (the burial of which does not require govt permission) and not necessarily the COVID-related fatalities. more..

Feb 16 (TM) The daily wage increment of the plantation workers is yet again delayed due to the trade unions (TUs) and the owners of the regional plantation companies (RPCs) failing to come to an agreement on the wage model that was proposed by the RPCs in January, just before the Collective Agreement ended on 28 January. The Labour Minister, as promised in January, had to intervene, with the time period given for both more..

Feb 16 (Island) If something deserves to be called Event of the Week it would be the Pothuvil to Poligandy (P2P) March which ended on Sunday, February 7. At the end of the march there were around 2,000 people. Most significantly, it was an event that saw the participation of both Tamils and Muslims. The basic differences in grievances were obviously negated by a felt need to be united against, let�s say, a perceived common enemy, Govt to some, Sinhala Chauvinism to others. more..

Feb 16 (ST) One of the criticisms of the Yahapalana Govt particularly during the latter part of its tenure was its inability to act decisively when the situation demanded. Hamstrung by policy differences between the two segments of Govt led by Prez Maithripala Sirisena (SLFP) and PM Ranil Wickremesinghe (UNP), the Yahapalana Govt struggled to keep the country on track causing concern among the people, including those who worked to bring the Govt to power in 2015, more..

Feb 16 (Island) If one looks at the history of advice regarding the wearing of masks as an effective COVID-19 control measure, it has gone through a full 180-degree swing. In the initial phases of the pandemic, even the WHO was not convinced that wearing masks was of any benefit. Our health authorities followed suit, as they always do in any situation where the WHO pontificates. Then the research scientists showed very clearly the benefits of wearing masks and after virtually more..

Feb 16 (Island) Sand is an essential aggregate material used for construction work. After 2004, Sri Lanka experienced a boom in the construction industry due to rehabilitation the tsunami-hit infrastructure in the country, creating a huge demand for sand. Even later, demand increased exponentially in tune with the expansion of construction activities such as roads, condominiums, and other mega projects during the post-war period. While there appears to be no dearth of sand, more..