Dec 21 (Island) About a year before violent protests erupted outside the then Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa�s Mirihana residence, over the crippling shortages of essential services and supplies, possibly exacerbated by some hidden hands, like the way Aragalaya was mainly bank rolled from abroad, or the mysterious forces who torched several dozen private homes of the then govt politicians across the country, in a very systemic manner, on the night of May 09, more..

Dec 21 (FT) Prof. Charitha Herath of the Freedom People�s Congress said the lack of professionalism among those involved in policy-making and formulating legislation in Sri Lanka has led to the country�s downfall. �Sri Lanka has suffered setbacks in the policy, legislation and decision-making fronts. Professionals for example such as engineers and doctors have managed to go forward internationally. more..

Dec 21 (ST) Despite the myriad of challenges in the current environment, Dialog aims to invest in the right technology, etc over the next few years. �We cannot plan to be negative. We have a positive outlook on Sri Lanka and its people, and we will get out of this crisis,� Navin Pieris Group Chief Officer � Dialog Enterprise, Dialog Axiata PLC said. As is with any other company, Dialog in the last two years has also been different. �Due to the challenges with COVID-19, and, more..

Dec 21 (TM) The Morning Sports recently published an interview from suspended Sri Lanka Rugby (SLR) President Rizly Illyas, in which he levelled various allegations against past presidents and ministers regarding their financial mismanagement and interference in the SLR�s current affairs. When contacted former SLR Prez Asanga Seneviratne, who was the main target with regard to these allegations, and who vehemently denied all allegations directed at him by Illyas. more..

Dec 21 (FT) Bank of Ceylon (BoC) Chennai Branch has opened a Vostro account with the State Bank of India to carry out bilateral trade in Indian Rupees. Several other commercial banks are currently negotiating with leading corresponding banks in India for similar arrangements. Indian HC announced the new development without naming the SL bank. �Happy to note that a SL bank has opened a vostro account in India with State Bank of India to conduct bilateral trade in INR. more..

Dec 21 (FT) Year-to-date net foreign inflow surpassed the Rs. 26 billion mark yesterday with continued purchase of Expolanka Holdings shares by its parent SG Holdings of Japan. The Colombo stock market saw Rs. 1.2 billion net inflow propelling the year to date figure to Rs. 26.6 billion, a 10-year high. So far in December net inflow is over Rs. 9 billion. Apart from this silver lining, Colombo Bourse remained negative owing to lacklustre interest from locals. The S&P SL20 index declined by 2% more..

Dec 21 (Island) President of the National Olympic Committee Suresh Subramaniam has warned of int'l sanctions following Sports Ministry directives to introduce term limits to individuals holding office at sports bodies. Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe in a gazzette notification last week said that a Prez of a Sports body will be ineligible to get re-elected if he had served two terms in office while any other individual more..

Dec 21 (DN) Kandy Falcons will meet Jaffna Kings in their qualifier game 1 of the LPL today commencing at 3pm followed by Eliminator game between Colombo Stars and Galle Gladiators which will commence at 7.30pm. Kandy Falcons led by all rounder Wanindu Hasarangaare on top of the points table having 14 points and their only loss was against Galle Gladiators at Pallekele but they fought back strongly to continue their winning form to come forward. more..

Dec 21 (CT) Rathnavali Balika Vidyalaya Gampaha emerged champions of the Under-19 Girl�s Division One Inter Schools Cricket Tournament for the second consecutive year when they beat Devapathiraja College Rathgama by 27 runs in the final played at Ananda Mawatha Colombo yesterday. The tournament was conducted by SL Schools Cricket Association and sponsored by Sri Lanka Cricket. Rathnavali won the toss and elected to bat. They were bowled out for 155 in 39 overs. more..

Dec 21 (Island) The European Union will not continue with the GSP+ facility unless the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa govt holds the Local Govt elections soon, Prof G.L. Peiris, MP, has warned. The Local Govt bodies have to be constituted on or before March 20, 2023. The former Foreign Minister has said that the continuation of the much-needed GSP-plus facility is dependent on SL�s compliance with EU�s conditions. more..

Dec 21 (FT) Event Management Association of Sri Lanka (EMA) celebrated a momentous occasion recently and signed a landmark bilateral MoU, the first of its kind, with Event and Entertainment Management Association India agreeing to immensely strengthen the position of the industry both regionally and locally. This MoU was signed in the presence of the Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs Minister Vidura Wickramanayake, who also graced the ceremony. more..

Dec 21 (FT) Minister Bandula Gunawardena assured that the proposal to further hike the electricity tariffs was not presented to the Cabinet meeting on Monday. Many groups have voiced their objection to the proposal, claiming that it would be unfair to electricity users who had already seen an average 75% hike in electricity tariff across the board in Aug 2022. Earlier, Cabinet had approved a rise in electricity rates to be implemented in two stages in January and June 2023, more..

Dec 21 (Island) Lanka Hospitals, the internationally-accredited multiple award-winning healthcare provider has reached a milestone with the delivery of the 1,500th IVF baby. Lanka Hospitals� Fertility Centre made the announcement at an event to mark the occasion recently. �Lanka Hospitals has remained in the forefront of fertility treatment in Sri Lanka over the last twenty years and enabled couples and families to fulfill their dreams and hopes of conceiving a healthy baby. more..

Dec 21 (DM) Twin baby nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) and four blue-and-yellow macaw chics (Ara ararauna) were born at the Dehiwala National Zoo, National Zoological Gardens Deputy Director Dinushika Manawadu said. She said the baby Nilgais were born last Saturday (17), and the Macaws chics two months earlier in the zoo. Both animal/bird species are in good health, and they were set for public viewing today, the Deputy Director said. more..

Dec 21 (TM) Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation, and National Policies stated that $ 1.2 billion had been saved within a period of three months after imposing import restrictions on 1,465 commodities with effect from 23 Aug 2022. State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said: �In 2020, the cost of imports in SL was $ 16 billion, and by 2021, it had increased to $ 20 billion. Considering this situation, the Govt took steps to restrict more..

Dec 21 (DM) Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe nor the govt, have any intention whatsoever to differ the Local Govt (LG) polls and as such it is up to the Election Commission (EC) to hold a free and fair election, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Dr. Bandula Gunawardana said. Responding to Daily Mirror, Minister Gunawardana said the UNP-SLPP led alliance has already begun its electoral process and applications have already been called from suitable persons for consideration for nominations. more..

Dec 21 (EN) Sri Lanka�s sovereign bond holders are not likely to agree to any deal without domestic debt re-structuring, a media report said, though the island�s authorities are trying to avoid a second domestic re-structing with rupee debt already hit by depreciation and inflation. �Sri Lanka�s international bondholders are likely to reject any debt restructuring proposal that doesn�t include the govt�s local obligations,� Bloomberg Newswires said citing un-named sources. more..

Dec 21 (EN) Amid heavy Indian push, SL�s cabinet has approved a proposal by Prez Wickremesinghe to implement programs to improve living conditions of up-country plantation worker, mainly Indian origin Tamils. British Colonial rulers brought Indian Tamils as cheap labours to work in the island nation�s plantation sector. �Upcountry Tamil people who migrated from India and live in central, Sabaragamuwa and Southern provinces have been contributing to national economy in various more..

Dec 21 (Island) No country in the world had become rich by exporting cannabis, Chairman of the National Authority on Tobacco & Alcohol (NATA), Dr. Samadhi Rajapaksa, said. He said that cannabis was widely used in SL and warned that if the cannabis cultivation was legalised, the consumption of the narcotic would increase. �There are people who say we can make hundreds of millions of dollars by exporting cannabis, but no country has been able to enrich itself by exporting cannabis,� more..

Dec 21 (TM) Cabinet has decided to bring back the Central Bank Bill drafted under former CB Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy with new amendments to replace the existing Monetary Law Act under the conditions laid out by the IMF. Accordingly, Central Bank Bill, which was pushed aside by Prez Rajapaksa's Govt despite being submitted to Parliament after being gazetted in Nov 2019, will now be enacted with amendments more..

Dec 21 (Island) CID sleuths recorded a statement from the wife of murdered businessman, Dinesh Schaffter at her residence, on Flower Road, Colombo, on Sunday night, a few hours after the funeral of the victim. CID asked Schaffter�s wife about the threats he had faced as well as problematic business dealings. CID has also started an investigation into calls and SMS messages he received. The investigations conducted so far have revealed that someone used Schaffter�s more..

Dec 21 (DN) The CID investigating into the murder of Janashakthi Group Director Dinesh Schaffter is preparing for extensive questioning from the security guards of the company that provides security to the house and his offices in Flower road in Colombo. A high-ranking police officer said that several guards were questioned in general and they will be questioned in depth, based on the important facts emerging from the investigations. In addition to this, sources revealed that more..

Dec 21 (TM) Operations at the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai will be completely halted in January 2023, as coal stocks will completely run out by 31 Dec 2022, claimed the CEB Engineers� Union (CEBEU). CEBEU President Nihal Weeraratne claimed: �By 31 Dec, all operations will be halted at the Norochcholai Coal Power Plant. The whole country will be at a standstill.� Responding to a question posed more..

Dec 21 (FT) Today, we are all in search of answers to the question what went wrong? How did Sri Lanka come to this state? And all too easily our fingers point at the Govt and politicians. According to most, they are the bane of our existence, but then, are we putting too much in their slot? Have we given them the steering wheel to drive the thinking of our country, when it�s not really their business to do that? If not, whose business is it, and then the all-important question, more..

Dec 21 (FT) SL Economic Association (SLEA) organised its November monthly online forum, Export role miracle in Vietnam: Lessons for SL. Brahm Nicholas, in the keynote presentation, dwelt on Vietnam�s effort to sustain its economy amidst the global economic crisis. The causes for the SL financial debacle, in contrast to the laudable position of the Vietnam economy, were analysed. Experts from the Uni of Colombo, Dr. M. Ganeshamoorthy, Senior lecturer in Economics, was a key more..

Dec 21(EN) SL�s state-run BOI targets $2 billion in Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in 2023, despite the country is still facing an unprecedented economic crisis. The island nation has already defaulted sovereign debts and depreciated the currency by over 60 percent since March this year which have raised uncertainty if foreigners could take out their profits when they want. SL saw the highest FDI of $1.95 billion in 2018 mainly due to inflows from China into Hambantota Port. more..

Dec 21 (Island) The demand for fireworks during Christmas and the New Year was expected to drop by 80 percent, the All Island Fireworks Association (AIFA) Chairman, Dinesh Fernando, said. Fernando said that to compound their problems there was also a shortage of aluminium powder and gunpowder in the country. Fernando said a large number of businessmen from rural areas used to come to Colombo to buy fireworks. However, there was a significant drop in orders this season, more..

Dec 21 (PMD) Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe said that an environment will be created for small and medium-scale industrialists to become successful using modern technology and the govt is ready to empower the industrialists as the main stakeholders in earning foreign exchange for SL. Prez Wickremesinghe made these remarks at the 21st Achiever Awards 2022 which was organized by Ceylon National Chamber of Industries more..

Dec 21 (DM) Education Ministry has decided not to have term tests for primary sections, which are scheduled to start their school year in March, Education Minister Susil Premajayantha said. He said the primary sections of schools will start at the end of March next year. "Those students will be given module exercises from lesson to lesson, and the score records will be collected until the end of the academic year. Later, the evaluation and assessment process will be implemented more..

Dec 21 (PMD) At the request of Prez Wickremesinghe, measures are underway to provide non-refundable financial assistance of up to Rs.20,000 to the farmers who are cultivating paddy for the Maha Season through a financial grant from the ADB. Accordingly, an allowance of Rs.10,000 will be given to small scale paddy farmers who have engaged in farming activities on lands to the extent of one hectare or less and an allowance of Rs. 20,000 will be given to farmers engaged more..

Dec 21 (DM) The investigation into the murder of businessman Dinesh Schaffter is making progress and the CID and the Borella Police have questioned nearly 50 people so far over the murder. Meanwhile, it is reported that the CID had begun recording statements for the second time from certain persons based on the evidence received. In addition to the statements from Dinesh Schaffter's wife, the CID had recorded statements more..

Dec 21 (FT) Colombo Rovers led by the 75th Colombo District Rover Crew launched the First-ever NFT Scout Badge in SL on 18 Dec in the presence of a distinguished audience of officials from the SL Scout Association. Scouting in SL which began in 1912 celebrates its 110th anniversary this year, and a series of activities are planned to be held on 23 Dec all around the island in celebration of the anniversary. A special scout badge was designed for the anniversary and the Colombo Rovers more..

Dec 21 (EN) Shares fell for the fifth session on Wednesday following reports that sovereign bondholders will require a local debt re-structuring meanwhile state-minister for finance claiming that IMF deals will take longer than January, brokers said. The main All Share Price Index (ASPI) closed 1.04% or 88.27 points lower at 8,420.26. �Bourse continued to recorded losses for the fifth straight session as selling pressure extended on heavyweights during today�s session,� more..

Dec 21 (CT) Machinations have been put in place by the Minister of Trade Commerce and Food Security and the CAA to import eggs by creating a shortage and introducing an unnatural price increase, the All Ceylon Egg Producers Association (ACEPA) alleged. Secretary ACEPA, Ratnasiri Alahakoon said following the Court of Appeal�s interim order, on 15 December 2022, to suspend the Extraordinary Gazette, issued setting a maximum retail price (MRP) for eggs until the final determination of more..

Dec 21 (DM) Necessary arrangements have been made to hand over the vehicles confiscated by SL Customs to be used for raids by the SL Police Department, including drug prevention, State Minister Ranjith Siambalapitiya said. He said this while participating in an inspection visit on Monday at the Hambantota port premises to monitor the relevant vehicles currently parked at the port. He mentioned that some vehicles confiscated due to illegal importation have been at the port for more..