Mar 11 (CT) Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) is to issue a gazette notification, extending the validity period of driving licences that would expire between April and Sept, DMT Director General Sumith Alahakoon said. Driving licences expire from 1 April to 30 June will be extended by six months while those expiring 1 July and 30 September will be extended by three months. Alahakoon said there was a huge backlog of unissued driving licences at the DMT at the moment, because more..

Mar 11 (EN) Sri Lanka�s rupee was quoted at 265/275 to the US dollar in mid-morning trade Friday slightly narrower after opening at 260/280 dealers said as banks cautiously sought to establish a market-clearing price after a floating exchange rate was permitted. The rupee closed at 255/265 to the US dollar on Thursday. On Friday there is a substantial supply of dollars at slightly higher rates, market participants said. The highest deal done was around 265 to the US dollar, more..

Mar 11 (CT) Supreme Court Justice Yasantha Kodagoda recused himself from considering the application filed by former Director of the CID, Shani Abeysekera, yesterday. Abeysekara had filed a Fundamental Rights petition requesting an Interim Injunction preventing his arrest or detention again by the CID. In his application Abeysekara sought an Interim Order preventing any attempt to arrest him based on the content of the �B� report produced to Kuliyapitiya Magistrate�s Court on charges more..

Mar 11 (DM) Lanka Private Bus Owners� Association (LPBOA) and the Inter Provincial Private Bus Owners� Association (IPPBOA) today claimed that they will go for a bus fare increase if the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) increases their diesel prices. The LPBOA and IPPBOA said the govt should seek immediate solutions to the price increase of these essential commodities. more..

Mar 11 (EN) The verdict on the case filed against former Minister Wimal Weerawansa�s wife on charges of submitting forged documents to obtain a diplomatic passport will be delivered on the 6th of May, the Colombo Magistrate�s Court announced today. When the case was taken up by Colombo Additional Magistrate Chandima Liyanage this morning, the accused, Shashi Weerawansa appeared before the court. The verdict of the lawsuit was slated to be delivered today. more..

Mar 11 (Island) The impact of shortages of essential items and people spending hours in queues was both economic and social, Karu Jayasuriya, Chairman of the NMSJ said. Jayasuriya said that many poor families do not have access to daycare or nurseries and when mothers waited in queues for kerosene, gas or other essential items, the children are left without supervision. �As a result of these queues, the family structure has completely collapsed. This is a tragic situation,� he said. more..

Mar 11 (EN) Sri Lanka�s staple food prices shot up by at least 10-30 rupees each on Friday (11) evening, following a rupee devaluation in the country to control a forex crisis as global commodity prices rose due to Russian-Ukraine war. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) allowed a flexible exchange rate on Tuesday (07) which has resulted in a 17-percent depreciation in the currency so far. Dealers said the rupee was quoted around 260/75 more..

Mar 11 (DM) Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) hinted that it would also increase the price of fuel after Monday (14), as soon as the queues at fuel stations and powercuts are over, Samagi United Trade Union Force (SUTUF) Convenor and media spokesman Ananda Palitha said. He said that the reason for not increasing the price of fuel is, that the govt fears that the fury of the general public could intensify further. But the govt is trying to bring the situation under control. more..

Mar 11 (DM) The special Pricing Committee chaired by Dr. Palitha Abeykoon, met this afternoon, granted approval to increase prices of medicines by 29% considering the increase of the US Dollar against the rupee," State Minister Channa Jayasumana said. He told Parliament that pharmaceutical importers had requested for price increase for pharmaceutical products due to the increase of the US Dollar against the rupee in the past two days. He said there was a shortage of drugs during last few days more..

Mar 11 (CI) Ravindra Jadeja's superlative all-round show in Mohali meant SL were no match for India in the first Test, and as the caravan moves to Bengaluru for the pink-ball contest, the hosts look even stronger. Axar Patel has recovered from a shin injury and a bout of Covid-19, and if he replaces Jayant Yadav in the XI, it would be an upgrade in both batting and bowling. In his fledgling Test career, Axar has picked up 36 wickets at an average of 11.86. When India last played a pink-ball more..

Mar 11 (FT) The luxury brand of British award-winning toiletries and gifts Winter in Venice has earned a place in FT 1000 Europe�s Fastest Growing Companies in 2022. SL born Ermila Jayasuriya-Curtis is the Founder and Managing Director of WIV Global Ltd. and WIV Property Holding Ltd. in the UK. The survey was carried out by Statista, the research partner of the Financial Times. The FT 1000 is the result of a joint initiative by The Financial Times and Statista, more..

Mar 11 (USE) Seventeen Ambassadors and High Commissioners to SL gathered in Colombo on Friday to stand together as an expression of their solidarity with and concern for Ukraine. Nations around the world are denouncing Russia�s unprovoked aggression against a sovereign country and demanding immediate end to the military operations in Ukraine. On March 2, 141 U.N. General Assembly more..

Mar 11 (CT) TNA will meet Prez Rajapaksa on 15 March to discuss the preparations for the new Constitution. TNA spokesman MP M.A. Sumanthiran said they had sent two letters to the President previously requesting a meeting and now the Alliance had been given the opportunity to meet the Executive to raise concerns on the matter. Decisions are expected to be taken regarding unresolved political issues within the country as well, he said. Prez invited TNA for a meeting in July 2021. more..

Mar 11 (AD) Public Utilities Commission of SL (PUCSL) has approved the CEB�s request for power interruptions for this weekend (Mar 12 and 13). Thereby, the areas listed under groups P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, and W will experience one-hour power cuts between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday. The aforementioned areas will again experience power outages of one hour and 15 minutes between 4.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. Meanwhile, the electricity supply for the areas mentioned under groups more..

Mar 11 (TM) In a letter to ITAK MP, TNA Spokesman, and President�s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran yesterday, SJB and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa said that the SJB�s position is that the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act No. 48 of 1979 as amended (PTA) should be repealed, and that it rejects the proposed amendments contained in the PTA Bill in total. more..

Mar 11 (TM) Following the suspension of Visa and Mastercard services in Russia, as part of the ongoing sanctions against the country, SL students studying in Russia have been left heavily inconvenienced, with no access to their banking services. A student currently studying at a medical university in Russia, where about 300 Sri Lankan students are currently studying, said that since yesterday, their Visa and Mastercards have been blocked. �They announced it on 6 March. more..

Mar 11 (TM) Being a founding member of the SLPP and being denied his right to speak in Parliament is wrong, says Former Minister Udaya Gammanpila. Gammanpila revealed that he believes that the ethics of the Party have now been compromised and is leading to the downfall of the Govt. �I was denied my right to speak as a MP in the House today. When I brought this up with the Chief Government Whip Johnston Fernando, he told me that he will look into the matter. A little while later, more..

Mar 12 (CT) Since Prez Rajapaksa was elected to power on 16 November 2019 and prior to last week�s rupee devaluation and its subsequent depreciation, the prices of a number of imported essential items, discounting locally grown/produced/manufactured produce and products, have sharply increased. For instance, the price of a 400 gram pack of milk powder being increased by Rs 145 (36.71%) to Rs 540 and that of a kilo pack by Rs 360 (36.55%) to Rs 1,345. This is prior to rupee devaluation. more..

Mar 12 (DM) The sacking of NFF leader Wimal Weerawansa and PHU leader Udaya Gammanpila from the Cabinet on March 3 was not surprising, given the political culture in the country. On the other hand, whatever the political culture may be, no govt or party leader would tolerate his ministers going public with allegations against his govt or the party. Weerawansa�s argument that they went public due to them not being given the opportunity to air their views on nationally important issues during more..

Mar 12 (CT) Prez Rajapaksa last Monday (7) summoned 14 SLFP MPs for a special meeting at the Presidential Secretariat at 4 p.m., the following day. The SLFP�s proposal regarding the country�s crisis was to be discussed at the meeting. The SLFP recently introduced a 15-point resolution on the country�s economic and political crisis. Meanwhile, on 5 March, a special meeting was held, at an office in Borella, more..

Mar 12 (DM) During the past decades, world superpowers have waged wars claiming that they were doing it to curb or defeat terrorism. Especially by the brutal killers of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). But the superpowers had a bigger profit-making ambition. That was to gain control of the oil resources of those countries. Now the US has control over the big oil and gas companies in the region. Independent social analysts have warned that within the next 20 years superpowers more..

Mar 12 (CT) Like the famous Dutch boy who placed his finger in the dike, the Govt is desperately trying to stop the country from sinking. The problem is that the crises we are seeing today are unfolding not just consecutively, but also concurrently: hence while dollars are paid for diesel, Govt delays payments to three gas ships, leading to another shortage. The situation is so bad that we are rationing not so much dollars as the crises we are seeing through: fuel one day and power on yet another. more..

Mar 12 (CT) In a landmark judgment, the Mahiyangana Magistrate�s Court last month sentenced a person, who was found guilty of non-consensual doctoring and sharing intimate photographs of a woman on the internet, to 18 months in jail with hard labour. In the modern world, where there are smart phones in everyone�s hands, the people keep sending photos and videos to their loved ones through such devices. more..

Mar 12 (Island) The 19th Amendment (19A), though now abolished, is an important milestone in our constitutional history. With the experiences under the 20th Amendment, there is growing support for going back to 19A. The main changes made by 19A relevant to this article may be noted. The term of office of the Prez and the duration of Parliament were reduced to five from six years. Prez could dissolve Parliament during the first four and a half years only if a 2/3rds majority in Parliament more..

Mar 12 (TM) Even though the world has moved forward considerably in terms of ensuring gender equality in the workforce through laws and policies, SL is yet to improve and update its labour laws, most of which are archaic. Due to the unavailability or the lack of laws that match today�s society, females are greatly inconvenienced, and it is hindering them from achieving their full potential and contributing to the country�s economy and strengthening their own and their households� economies. more..

Mar 12 (TM) Govt that came into power pledging to abolish all microfinance debt has failed to keep its promises. Moreover, the Govt has also been unsuccessful in making a sufficient intervention to facilitate women who are suffering from an escalated microfinance crisis in the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. In a context where the standards of living of all the people affected by microfinance have been deteriorating, the Collective of Women Affected by Microfinance called for a satyagraha more..

Mar 12 (Island) SJB MP Chaminda Wijesiri has proved that the current Parliament is not without members who feel for the public and have the courage to speak the truth however unpalatable it may be. He struck a discordant note in the House, on Thursday, while several others were inveighing against the newspapers that had reported an incident where some MPs allegedly found fault with the parliament canteen staff for the non-availability of dairy products. more..

Mar 12 (CT) As a result of the govt�s surprising move to let the Rupee free float, after artificially controlling the exchange rate for two years, the commodity prices and selling prices in the country will skyrocket in a way the majority of people cannot afford them, Economics Professor attached to the Uni of Peradeniya, Ananda Wijayawickrama warned. Hours after the Central Bank�s (decision to let the LKR free float, more..

Mar 12 (Island) Short and sweet, not so to some � rather a bitter pill, headline in The Island of Friday, March 4 read, Wimal and Udaya out. It continued, � were removed from their ministerial portfolios yesterday. SLPP MP Udaya Gamanpila told The Island that having a clear conscience was more important than a ministerial portfolio and that he did not regret having been stripped of his portfolio. ��As I have told earlier, I am ready to sacrifice anything for the sake of the country,� he said. more..

Mar 12 (FT) SL�s COVID-19 immunisation project has administered the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to 77.28% of the population, with 24,468 persons vaccinated on Thursday. 64.92% of the total population has received the second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 34.27% has received the third dose as well. Second dose coverage is 95.6% among the population over 20 years and third dose coverage is 51.41%. T95.9% of the population over 12 years has received the first dose more..

Mar 12 (FT) Ceylon Steel Corporation Ltd. (Lanwa), says cumulative investments in recent projects amounts to over $ 250 million as it laid the foundation for two state-of-the-art production facilities for steel and roofing sheets at the Lanwa Sanstha Industrial Precinct in the Mirijjawila Export Processing Zone. The aim of this project is to revitalise the local construction sector in the post-pandemic context by more..

Mar 12 (FT) The BOI recently approved Exactpro Systems Ltd. to set up the first-ever independent software testing services for global capital markets. An agreement to this effect was signed by BOI Chairman Raja Edirisuriya and Exactpro Systems Ltd. Director and CEO Jagath De Silva. Followed by its expansion plan in July 2021 and the appointment of De Silva as CEO for SL in Sept 2021, Exactpro continues to increase its footprint in SL providing independent software testing services for more..

Mar 12 (EN) SL�s bond yields soared at Friday�s auction with 73 billion rupees being raised, with 2031 bonds rising to 15.42% from 12.70 in an action on Feb 11, data showed. The debt office raised 30.4 billion rupees from 01.12.2022 bonds after offering 60 billion rupees. The debt office raised 25 billion rupees from 01.08.2024 bonds at 14.41% after offering 25 billion rupees at 1.41%. Another 17.6 billion rupees was raised from 15.06.2027 bonds after offering 35 billion rupees at 14.7%. more..

Mar 12 (FT) Daily COVID-19 detections dropped below 500 yesterday, with 467 persons testing positive for COVID-19. Daily COVID-19 detections have remained above 500 since the first week of January. The situation report published by the Epidemiology Unit shows 629 detections on 4 January and 365 detections the previous day. The 467 COVID-19 patients detected yesterday were from the New Year cluster. The previous day, 580 persons from the New Year cluster more..

Mar 12 (Island) Captain Dimuth Karunaratne must be an angry man after being told to rest his pace ace Dushmantha Chameera from today�s 2nd Test match against India here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Karunaratne at the press briefing spoke diplomatically, but his disappointment is understandable as he had made the decision ahead of the first Test to reserve Chameera as he was going to let him loose for the pink ball Test. Chameera is not injured but it is learnt that more..