Jan 10 (FT) Dulitha Perera took the oath of office and became the 41st President of the Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka (OPA) at its Annual General Meeting held last week. In his acceptance speech as the OPA President, Dulitha solicited support to achieve the objectives of the OPA from the newly elected office bearers, past presidents, constituent member associations, life members and members of OPA, to rally around OPA in providing insights and input on matters of more..

Jan 10 (TM) Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) will be investing an estimated $ 25 million for the renovation and development of the 24 oil tanks in the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm in China Bay, which will be under the direct control of the CPC. CPC Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe stated: �Our engineers are currently formulating the initial plans for the implementation of this development process. more..

Jan 10 (Island) A quick glance at the make-up of Group D of ICC Under 19 Men�s Cricket World Cup shows just how challenging it will be to make it out of the first round. Hosts West Indies won the tournament back in 2016, Australia are three-time champions and Sri Lanka also have a final appearance to their name. Scotland round out the group in their ninth appearance in the competition, qualifying after New Zealand were forced to withdraw due to Covid-19 restrictions. more..

Jan 10 (Island) William Angliss Institute @ SLIIT celebrated its 07th Annual Graduation in the Shangri-La Ball Room, Shangri- La Hotel Colombo, for the graduating batches of Hospitality Management, Event Management & Commercial Cookery, joined by family, friends and industry partners who have dedicated and invested into the future of the coming pioneers and innovators who will go on into the Tourism and Hospitality Industry. Witness the culmination of hard work and more..

Jan 10 (EN) China has signaled the desire to re-start a stalled Free Trade Agreement talks with Sri Lanka to boost exports and come out of an economic crisis, during a visit of Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Beijing�s ambassador to Colombo said. Free trade talks with between China and Sri Lanka hit a hurdle in 2018 under the last administration because Beijing disagreed with Colombo�s demand for a review of the deal after 10 years more..

Jan 10 (PMD) Vedda Community Leader Uru Warige Wannila Aththo expressed his views to the Presidential Task Force for One Country, One Law. The Presidential Task Force for One Country, One Law is currently conducting public consultation in the Uva Province. The members of the indigenous Vedda community were consulted at the Mahiyanganaya Indigenous Village on the 6th and Uru Warige Wannila Aththo presented proposals and views on behalf of his community. more..

Jan 10 (AD) Veteran SL singer and entertainer Desmond De Silva has passed away at the age of 77 in Melbourne, Australia. He had reportedly passed away due to a sudden heart attack. Regarded as the King of Baila, the legendary singer was born in Matara in 1944 while he launched his career in popular music in 1963 as the lead vocalist of the Fire-Flies. He also performed with leading Sri Lankan pop groups � Spitfires, Gabo and the Breakaways, and the Jetliners. more..

Jan 10 (DM) A luxury train service was launched today for the passengers traveling from Colombo Fort to Kankesanthurai (KKS). The new train service was launched while taking the first step to improve the train travelling. The inauguration ceremony was held at the Mount Lavinia Railway Station under the patronage Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi. Train will leave Mt. Lavinia at 5.10 am daily & reach KKS at 12.17 pm same day. more..

Jan 10 (FT) COVID-19 vaccines were administered to 49,179 persons on Saturday and 74.45% of the country�s population has received at least one vaccine dose. 64.46% of the population has received the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. 29.3% of the population over 20 years of age has received the booster dose. The first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to 16,007,724 persons and 13,859,887 persons have received the second dose. more..

Jan 10 (FT) Business leader and one of the biggest investors in the real economy Dhammika Perera yesterday shared seven key initiatives which in his belief would boost Sri Lanka�s foreign reserves on a sustainable basis to $ 11 billion per annum. Separately, Dhammika also opined that the Government could approach the IMF for support on two conditions � not to do away with tax concessions for new investments and allow SL to continue with a managed float of the rupee. more..

Jan 10 (TM) Sri Lanka has completed the procurement of Covid vaccines which began in January last year, as it has received the total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses and the total number of booster Covid-19 vaccine doses required by yesterday (9), according to the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC). SPC Chairman Dr. Prasanna Gunasena said that on 18 January 2021, Prez Rajapaksa entrusted the SPC more..

Jan 10 (EN) Sri Lanka will not default on sovereign bonds, CB Governor Nivard Cabraal said amid calls to default on a 500 million dollar bond maturing on Jan 18 as foreign reserves ran low. �There will be no default, disorderly or otherwise,� Governor Cabraal said. �We do not want to promote a default culture.� He said the negative fallout from default will be greater than the benefits. SL is running out of reserves amid low interest rates and is also facing difficulties in paying for day to day imports. more..

Jan 10 (EN) Prez Rajapaksa has sought debt relief and import credit from China, following a meeting with visiting Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, his office said. �Prez pointed out that it would be a great relief to the country if the attention could be paid on restructuring the debt repayments as a solution to the economic crisis that has arisen in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic,� a statement from Prez�s media office said. �Prez also said that if a concessional trade credit scheme could be initiated for more..

Jan 10 (TM) Public Utilities Commission of SL (PUCSL) had granted permission to the CEB to schedule power outages from today (10), whilst CEB has been asked to pay Rs. 18 billion to Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) as soon as possible in order to ensure a steady supply of fuel to its power stations. �We have taken this permission from the PUCSL but this does not mean we will be cutting power from tomorrow. more..

Jan 10 (Island) SJB National Organiser MP Tissa Attanayake said that his party had decided to go solo at the next prez election. Attanayake said that the SJB would field its own candidate at the next prez election. The SJB would not support any candidate of any other political party. �We know well the fate suffered by the UNP after supporting the common candidate at the 2015 prez election�, he said. Attanayake said that the govt might go for a general election in the middle of next year. more..

Jan 10 (AD) A Woman Chief Inspector of the Police Special Task Force (STF) has been promoted to the rank of Woman Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), making her the first Woman ASP of the STF. N.T.N. Kumari is among nine officers of the STF who have been promoted from the rank of Chief Inspector to ASP. The promotions have been made considering the special skills displayed by them to maintain national security and law & order as well as on exigencies of service. more..

Jan 10 (FT) SL and China yesterday saw a fresh fillip to its strong and long-standing bilateral ties with the former requesting for rescheduling of debt and tourists via bio-bubble, and the latter expressing continuous support. The latest impetus came alongside a 24-hour brief visit of People�s Republic of China Foreign Affairs Minister and State Council Member Wang Yi, which also heralds the celebration of the 65th year of diplomatic ties more..

Jan 10 (FT) The National Science Foundation, abbreviated as NSF, in a voluminous publication issued in late 2021, has documented the impact of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic on Sri Lanka and the lessons learned from action taken to counter it. The publication titled �COVID-19: Impact, Mitigation, Opportunities, and Building Resilience� has been edited by four eminent academics, namely, Ranjith Senaratne, Dilanthi Amartunga, Shanthi Mendis, and Prema-chandra Athukorala. more..

Jan 10 (FT) In 2016, Sri Lanka ratified its Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) with the WTO and in 2017 a Secretariat was established for the National Trade Facilitation Committee to drive much-needed trade reforms in the country. Currently, the rate of Sri Lanka�s implementation commitments under TFA stands at 34.9% with a timeframe ranging from 2017-2030. Reforms include the Trade Information Portal, streamlining customs processes and revamping systems for post-clearance audit. more..

Jan 10 (DM) Minister Namal Rajapaksa says that President Rajapaksa�s decision to ban the use of chemical fertiliser was a strong decision, but it was not successfully implemented by the officials in charge. Namal said that Prez Rajapaksa had announced his decision to switch to non-chemical fertiliser as soon as he took office in 2019, but the officials had failed him as they had not proceeded with the matter. The Subject minister and the officials did not work on this and finally, more..

Jan 10 (AD) At least 26 persons have been hospitalised with injuries following a head-on collision involving a bus and a tipper truck at Mutur on the Batticaloa-Trincomalee. The accident had occurred at around 08.00 a.m. this morning (10) while the wounded persons, including the drivers of both vehicles and passengers of the bus, have been admitted to the Mutur Hospital. Meanwhile it is reported that five persons including a female have been killed in road accidents across SL. more..

Jan 10 (EN) Both SL and China should do more in defence cooperation that would serve the stability and prosperity of the Indian Ocean region, Chinese Ambassador to SL Qi Zhenhong said on Sunday following an official visit by China�s foreign minister. Zhenhong�s statement came soon after Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi left the island nation after a 2-day visit that saw the signing of 4 MoUs more..

Jan 10 (DM) Litro Gas Lanka today announced that they have released domestic gas cylinders in excess which are more than the daily requirement by the consumers and thereby stabilized the gas need in the local market. Litro Gas Lanka Senior Manager Chamani Pathirage said they have sufficient stocks in hand to meet the demand. The gas shortage was due to an attempt by the company to retrieve the gas cylinders which the consumers had. As a result, Litro Gas requested that consumers should more..

Jan 10 (EN) SriLankan airlines said it will offer tickets to several American cities through a code share on American Airways via Europe, adding Dallas-Fort Worth as a new destination in its route network. SriLankan Airlines code will be on American Airlines� flights to US cities Miami and New York via London and Paris; Dallas-Fort Worth via the Airline�s hubs in Paris and Frankfurt; and Los Angeles and Chicago via London. Except for Dallas-Fort Worth, Etihad, Qatar Airways offers more..

Jan 10 (AD) The Ministry of Education says that academic activities of schools in the country will be normalized from today with the return of all students back to school. The decision was taken based on the advice of the Director General of Health Services, said the Secretary to the Education Ministry Prof. Kapila Perera. Steps had been taken previously to bring students back to school under several stages more..

Jan 10 (Island) Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said on Wednesday courses of study would be designed to enable every university student to learn Information Technology (IT). Accordingly, students at the uni, whether they choose IT as a subject or not, would pass out as students equipped with IT skills, the Minister said. The Minister further said the scheme should be implemented at the school level as well. Minister Gunawardena said so, speaking at the inauguration ceremony of 3-storeyed more..

Jan 10 (AD) Leader of the SLFP and former Prez Maithripala Sirisena said that they are against the postponing of elections and that they want elections to be held without delay. Responding to questions regarding reports that a gazette is to be issued postponing PC elections by a year, he said: �We are against the postponing of the election. What we want are elections.� He said that within the next couple of months, the SLFP will be shaped into the most prominent and strongest political party. more..

Jan 10 (Island) Federation of National Organisations has asked Prez Rajapaksa to put an immediate halt to the ongoing process of entering into an agreement with India, purportedly to develop the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm. It has called for a thorough investigation into the questionable deal. A letter signed by FNO Convener Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera addressed to the Prez says the then govt of Ceylon took possession of 99 tanks at the farm paying Sterling Pounds 250,000 to more..

Jan 10 (DM) All Catholic Bishops in Sri Lanka, priests and the lay people will come together on January 14 for a prayer service to mark the 1000th day since the Easter Sunday attack, the Archdiocese of Colombo said in its latest Facebook message. Bishop of Galle Raymond Wickramasinghe who made a statement via the Archdiocese of Colombo Facebook page all Catholic Bishops in SL, priests and nuns and lay people will gather at Tewatte Basilica on Friday (14) for a prayer service. more..

Jan 10 (EN) China Foreign Minister Wang Yi has promised to facilitate SL medical students return to China and continue their degree, DGI said. Approximately 1,200 medical students, including 400 final-year students, who were studying at Chinese medical institutes are waiting to return to China to complete their studies after coming back to SL after last year�s COVID-19 outbreak. They have been unable to return to China due to more..

Jan 10 (DM) A 37-year-old man was arrested for swindling more than Rs. 2.8 million from 18 people claiming that they would be secured jobs in Dubai, the Weligama police said. They said the suspect was arrested from the Kaduruwela area in Polonnaruwa. The suspect was a father of two, and he was born in Weligama. Later, he married a woman in Panadura and now resides in Kaduruwela, Polonnaruwa. He worked as a private English tutor in Weligama, Akuressa, Panadura, more..

Jan 10 (PMD) Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa stressed that steps should be taken to find a solution to the power crisis without disrupting the lives of the people. The President made these remarks during a discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat this morning with the Heads of the Power and Energy sectors regarding the issue of power cuts. The officials pointed out that this situation has arisen due to several issues in relation to the generation of electricity using coal and fossil fuels. more..

Jan 10 (FT) SL�s debt and forex situation is affecting day to day livelihoods. Many restrictions have been imposed to preserve forex in order to service debt. However, it is best for GOSL to find a mechanism to restructure the debt and allow the use of inflows of forex to ease the general public's difficulties in obtaining essentials. Since the majority of GOSL comes from Tourism we cannot afford to send the world messages of more..

Jan 10 (NDTV) Zimbabwe head coach Lalchand Rajput will miss the first two ODIs in SL after testing positive for COVID-19 at the start of the tour, an official said Monday. SL's top sports doctor Arjuna de Silva said Rajput was asymptomatic, but was placed under observation at a hospital before being isolated at a hotel. "We are doing some routine tests and he will be able to go back to a hotel," de Silva said. "There will be a 10-day quarantine period which means he will miss first 2 matches." more..

Jan 10 (DM) Fuel amounting to Rs.1.5 billion has lost due to the traffic congestion in Colombo and suburbs after the country returned to normalcy today, the Lanka Private Bus Owners' Association (LPBOA) Chairman Gemunu Wijerathne said. He said that this was the highest loss ever recorded after two years. "No proper public transport methods were implemented to meet the demand. Most of the private and SLTB buses were unable to be assigned for transport due to repairs," he said. more..

Jan 10 (TM) Emphasising that the Govt should take steps to formulate a programme to eliminate salary anomalies in the entire public service instead of addressing salary anomalies in each sector, SL Govt Officers� Trade Union Association (SLGOTUA) has warned that they would initiate trade union actions from February if the Govt fails to respond positively to their demand by the end of this month. SLGOTUA National Organiser more..

Jan 10 (CT) SJB alleged there is a Govt sponsored sinister plan to destroy the agriculture sector of the country to earn millions of rupees as commissions by importing rice. MP Harshana Rajakaruna expressed these views, yesterday while visiting a set of local farmers and their devastated agricultural lands. �Govt promised that they would compensate if the Organic Fertiliser that they provide affects the harvest or the profit of the farmer, but now they are denying compensation by more..

Jan 10 (TM) The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) will be conducting a public hearing on the islandwide power outage that occured on 3 December 2021, amidst allegations of sabotage levelled at trade unions. Speaking to The Morning, PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake said that public notices will be carried on newspapers this week to carry out the public hearing on this issue within the next 28 days. �We have to find the real reason for the outages,� he added. more..