Sep 19 (TM) Reports have made it apparent that the increase in the number of people trying to leave the country has been met with an increase in scammers trying to take advantage of them. Warning of this situation, the SLBFE recently said that those who are planning to migrate to a number of countries including Poland, Romania, Israel, South Korea, and Malaysia should be vigilant about parties who scam would-be migrant workers, claiming to provide jobs in such countries. more..

Sep 19 (ST) SL�s picks for the World T20 tournament in Australia next month have all it takes to clinch the title, insists Chief Selector Pramodya Wickremasinghe, whose committee backed a young, inexperienced team in the last 18 months despite heavy criticism. The squad was announced on Friday. It largely mirrored the team that clinched the Asia Cup last week. The only change is the return of injured seamers Dushmantha Chameera and Lahiru Kumara, who are both capable of more..

Sep 19 (Island) Sprinter Kalinga Kumarage, triple jumper Randi Cooray, thrower Dilhani Lekamge and pole vaulter Arunthavarasa Puvitharan reached their personal best feats at the two-day Selection Trial for Asian Games and Asian Championships held at Diyagama over the weekend. Kumarage, who is the fourth fastest SL sprinter in the history over 400 metres reached his personal best clocking 45.70 seconds on Saturday and more..

Sep 19 (DN) All Ceylon Poultry Product Manufacturers Association (ACPPMA) expressed concern over the day today price increase of chicken and eggs in the open market and said unless taking measures to reduce the already increased VAT on imported poultry food and vitamins the price of chicken and eggs will have to be further increased by 40 during the forthcoming X�mas and new year seasons. ACPPMA, President Ajith Gunasekara said association is unhappy over govt�s decision more..

Sep 19 (DM) The police today released sketches of two suspects wanted over the shooting inside the Mount Lavinia Court premises on August 4, seeking public assistance to arrest them. Police said the sketches suspected to be of the gunman and another who was wanted over aiding to the shooting were drawn based on CCTV footage and information received from eye-witnesses. They said the suspects had fled the scene in a car after the shooting & police also seek details of the car. more..

Sep 19 (ST) Colombo Port volumes have recorded a drop and the Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) in particular has found some of its business shifting out to other terminals as a result of the delays in entering agreements with shipping lines and the imposition of a new tariff. Port of Colombo recorded a drop of 2.2% in volume for the first eight months of this year amounting to a loss of 106,760 TEUs. The fall is driven primarily by domestic volumes which reduced by 10.39% year-on-year more..

Sep 19 (CT) SL Legends continued their winnings streak when they registered a 11-run win over South Africa Legends in the 10th match of the Road Safety World Series worked off at Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore yesterday. After being put into bat, SL Legends posted 165-6 in their allotted 20 overs from the back of a brilliant cameo by Jeewan Mendis, and in reply South Africa Legends were restricted to 154-6. The Islanders were off to a shaky start when they lost skipper Tilakarathne Dilshan (2) early more..

Sep 19 (FT) Lanka IOC PLC Chairman Ranjan Kumar Mohapatra reiterated that the company�s business priorities for the past two decades was and will always remain aligned with SL's national interests and assured further excellence going forward. He made this remark at the gala celebrations of LIOC�s 20th anniversary at Hilton Colombo attended by the Speaker of Parliament, Indian High Commissioner, Cabinet Ministers, more..

Sep 19 (FT) Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe accompanied by his wife Prof. Maithree Wickremesinghe and SL High Commissioner in the UK Saroja Sirisena paid their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, at the Westminster Hall, London yesterday. This was Wickremesinghe's first official visit overseas after taking office as the President on 21 July. Prez Wickremesinghe was received by Indo-Pacific Regional Director and Director in India of the UK Commonwealth and Development Office more..

Sep 19 (EN) Foreign Minister Ali Sabry will hold bilateral meetings with several UN member states and take part in ministerial level meetings in New York on the sidelines of the 77th United Nations General Assembly. Minister Sabry will deliver his speech on Sept 24 in the sessions which will be held from Sept 20 to 26. He will address Ministerial levels meetings, such as the Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Conference on Interaction & Confidence Building Measures in Asia and more..

Sep 19 (ST) Mathematics tutor Kavish* (35) was hoping to go abroad to study for a Master�s Degree. But the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 brought about border closures, scuttling those plans. Then early last year, the mother of one of his students persuaded him to invest Rs. 3.5 million he had set aside for higher studies on a new cryptocurrency scheme that was gaining rapid popularity. more..

Sep 19 (TM) Govt employees will engage in protests islandwide this week, requesting a special monthly allowance, according to CTSU General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe. He said the protests would take place in various parts of the island. �The daily expenditures have increased drastically, and most Govt employees cannot afford to live on their income. The normal expenditure of a person has increased from Rs.63,000 to Rs. 110,000 this year. How are we supposed to survive?� more..

Sep 19 (EN) Sri Lanka higher rates have brought results but full restoration of monetary stability is still eluding the credit system with forex shortages still persisting and interest rates are higher than they need be due to lack of a credible peg or clean float. In this currency crisis SL is also burdened with lack of clarity on whether there will be a Domestic Debt Restructuring (DDR) on top of a High Inflation and Financial Repression (IFR) event which is the usual way debt sustainability more..

Sep 19 (TM) Prices of books at the 2022 edition of Colombo International Book Fair, which opened on Friday at the BMICH after a lapse of two years, have been much higher than in previous years. Author Mohan Raj Madawala claimed that book prices have increased threefold. �Since the book fair was not held last year, we see a lot of people coming. This is a different culture and a trend, and people love to enjoy reading and stay leisurely at the book fair. But the main issue is the prices of books. more..

Sep 19 (DN) Deliberating on the impact of interim budget proposals for the business sector, Vice Chairman of CCC and Senior Partner of Ernst and Young, Duminda Hulangamuwa says the emphasis of this budget is largely on stabilizing an economy that is in crisis. Moreover, Hulangamuwa said the budget will largely concentrate on the fiscal side of the crisis. He also noted that to finance the budget deficit, the country cannot bring structural changes overnight to reduce govt expenditure. more..

Sep 19 (TM) As the number of schoolgirls who do not attend school on the days they are menstruating has increased due to the lack of access to costly sanitary napkins, it is learnt that a programme launched by the Govt in 2021 to provide free sanitary napkins to schoolgirls in collaboration with a local sanitary napkin manufacturing company had been stopped shortly after its launch due to the relevant company being unable to bear high more..

Sep 19 (ANI) With a total of USD 968 million in loans in four months of 2022, India has emerged as Sri Lanka's largest bilateral lender, overtaking China in the process, a media report said. In the past five years from 2017-2021, China has been the largest bilateral lender to Sri Lanka as China disbursed USD 947 million, out of which USD 809 million was obtained as market borrowings from the China Development Bank, Daily Financial Times (FT) reported citing public finance.lk. more..

Sep 19 (ANI) As PM Narendra Modi celebrated his 72nd birthday on Saturday, Mahasangh from Sri Lanka wished him a long life, health, serenity, and success in all his global and regional humanistic endeavours. PM Narendra Modi has done so much and continues to do for Sri Lankans virtually in all aspects of socio-economic, religious, cultural, and linguistic spheres for the wellbeing of the people of the island country, Damenda Porage said in Satipatthana, a Buddhist magazine. more..

Sep 19 (Island) Auditor General Chulantha Wickramaratne has called for a full investigation into the process of obtaining compensation for environmental damage caused by the sinking of the X-Press Pearl ship last year. Meanwhile, Environmental Scientist Hemantha Withanage said SL could claim as much as USD 10 billion as compensation. Laboratory tests conducted on samples of plastic pellets collected from the beach had revealed a high concentration of more..

Sep 19 (TM) A total income of Rs 7.5 million has been earned within three days of the opening of the Lotus Tower in Colombo, but the daily operational cost of the iconic and controversial tower is as yet unknown. During the three days of operations until last Saturday (17), about 14,000 people had visited the tower, and that the total operational cost would be finalised after one month, while vendors would be selected accordingly for the available areas by the end of this month. more..

Sep 19 (AD) A discussion to inform district secretaries and divisional secretaries was held recently at the Prez�s Media Division in parallel to the implementation of the Multi-sector Combined Mechanism for empowering of Rural Economic Revitalization Centers to ensure food security and nutrition, introduced recently under the patronage of Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe. During this discussion held online headed by more..

Sep 19 (IANS) Sri Lanka has sought more information from the Ukrainian govt and Ukrainian embassy in New Delhi on the news of the rescue of seven Sri Lankan students from Kupyansk Medical College in the Kharkiv region in Ukraine. SL's Foreign Ministry said that it has requested the Ukrainian Govt to ascertain the veracity of the news item and to provide more information on it as a matter of priority, given the need to ensure the welfare of Sri Lankan nationals in Ukraine. more..

Sep 19 (FT) Further expanding its footprint in the fast-growing food and beverage business, Softlogic Holdings Group has taken over the global brand Subway�s franchise in Sri Lanka. The move is via diversified blue chip�s fully owned subsidiary Softlogic Restaurants Ltd. It has entered into a joint venture and management agreement last week for the development and operation of outlets operated previously by Subway Development Ltd, (Subway franchise in SL) and has taken over more..

Sep 19 (TM) Minister Ali Sabry said that the draft resolution on SL, co-sponsored by the Core Group of countries on SL at the ongoing 51st UNHRC session, is unnecessary and divisive, and that it will be resisted by the Govt of SL whether or not it has the votes to defeat it. When queried regarding the Govt�s stand on the draft resolution by the Core Group, Minister Sabry said: �We have clearly told them that at this point in time more..

Sep 18 (FT) Aseni, whiz kid of economics, and her grandfather, Sarath Mahatthaya, are in conversation about economics of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, tagged Ranilnomics. In this episode, they talk about how the principles laid down by the Buddha as Lichchavi good governance principles can be incorporated in his economic policy. Aseni: Grandpa, President Ranil Wickremesinghe is famous for quoting the Buddha whenever he makes a public address. more..

Sep 18 (FT) As we look at the state of our economy and the news headlines it makes these days, there is one thing that becomes clear i.e. we have failed badly on the State Owned Enterprise (SOE) model. This formula, which was considered to be the panacea for our economic ills post-independence, was built on an incestuous formula which carried the banner whatever is state owned can bolster economic growth. Today, due to the failure of this very system, vital parts of the country�s more..

Sep 19 (EN) Dialog Axiata, a unit of Malaysia�s Axiata said it will invest US$ 152.4 million to expand its mobile and fibre networks. The group had inked a deal with BOI where Dialog Axiata will invest US$ 112.8 million and its subsidiary Dialog Broadband Networks (Pvt) Ltd will invest another US$ 39.6 million. The money will go to expand rural 4G-LTE in networks in rural areas, deep-indoor coverage, IP and fibre networks and further development of its Wi-Fi and fibre networks. more..

Sep 19 (EN) Stocks fell on Monday (19) for the second consecutive session dragged down by index heavy weights on profit-taking, brokers said. The main All Share Price Index (ASPI) fell 0.35% or 35.69 points to close at 10,025.40, sliding further away from its 5-1/2 month highest hit on Thursday (15). �The Market dip came from LOLC and Expolanka mainly because these shares had a good run in the previous week. Therefore now a lot of selling pressure has built-up,� more..

Sep 19 (TM) The ITAK has welcomed Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe�s recent assurance to provide a political solution to the Tamil people in the North and East, by addressing the national question. ITAK Leader Mavai Senathirajah said that his party welcomes Prez�s recent stand to bring in a suitable political solution to the Tamil people in the N&E. Senathirajah noted that since most Tamil political parties representing the N&E more..

Sep 19 (EN) Scheduled power cuts of 1 hour and 20 minutes for Monday Sept 20 and Tue 21 have been approved for SL, PUCSL Chairman said. All groups A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V and W will experience a 1 hour and 20-minute power cut between 6 pm to 10 pm, he said. SL has been able to curtail power cut durations due to the availability of hydroelectricity after months of daily outages that would go on for hours, but power outages have returned to some areas. more..

Sep 19 (FT) Govt revenue in the first half of this year has crossed the Rs. 900 billion mark to Rs. 918.5 billion, up from Rs. 714.5 billion in the corresponding period of last year according to the Central Bank. As at end May 2022 revenue was Rs. 812 billion and Rs. 631 billion in April. Total expenditure and net lending in the first half rose to Rs. 1.82 trillion compared to Rs. 1.5 trillion from a year ago. In May 2022 it stood at Rs. 1.5 trillion and Rs. 1.15 trillion by April. more..

Sep 19 (TM) SL�s national power supply is at risk of losing 900 MW of electricity generated from coal at the Norochcholai Power Plant by the end of next month. Disruption to the supply of coal � caused by the extreme shortage of foreign exchange, litigation regarding the procurement process, lack of enthusiasm to incorporate renewable energy sources, and failure to secure long-term contracts for supply � more..

Sep 19 (TM) Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella stated that the issues pertaining to child malnutrition and the adequacy of the portion size of the meals provided to schoolchildren are under discussion and will be addressed soon. He further acknowledged the shortage of Thriposha earlier in the country. �There are discussions underway regarding the school meals for children, and if it�s confirmed that the portion size is not adequate, appropriate changes will be made. more..

Sep 19 (FT) Rising optimism driven by views about long-term prospects for country, with public remaining pessimistic about their own situation and near-term future. Institute for Health Policy (IHP) released the August 2022 update of its Consumer Confidence Indices, which are generated from its SL Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS). All three of IHP�s consumer confidence indices significantly improved through August, although all remain pessimistic. The recovery dates from the resignation of more..