Feb 21 (DM) While refuting the claims on fresh borrowings during this year, the govt stressed that the borrowings so far during the year have been limited to the roll-over of maturing Treasury bills. Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya clarified that the govt has only rolled over the maturing Treasury bills so far during this year, in order to manage the outstanding Treasury bill stock. Apart from Treasury bill roll-overs, he affirmed that govt has not taken any other forms of credits more..

Feb 21 (PMD) President Ranil Wickremesinghe stated that an Economic Commission will be formed as early as possible to approve investment opportunity in order to provide more opportunities to local and foreign investors. Prez also stated that it has the potential to significantly boost the country�s economy. Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe made these remarks today at the opening of SL�s first migratory bird park more..

Feb 21 (FT) With Australian companies increasingly eager to explore investment opportunities in SL, trade and investment promotion and facilitation activities can play a vital role in fast-tracking foreign direct investment, High Commissioner for Australia in SL Paul Stephens stated at a recent meeting at the CCC. Stating that Australian companies are keen to invest in industries such as mining, renewable energy and agriculture among others, with many companies currently at various more..

Feb 21 (FT) The apparel industry denounced the 66% electricity tariff hike warning that it was a severe blow to its competitiveness. PUCSL granted approval to a 66% electricity tariff hike effective 15 Feb 2023. Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) said the hike results in exponential increases in costs in the apparel industry, which in turn threatens the continuity of operations, competitiveness and sustainability of a $ 5.5 billion industry, which remains the backbone of SL�s economy. more..

Feb 21 (DM) A 27-year-old woman was arrested by the Mathurata Police after a video showing a vehicle running over two puppies went viral on social media over the weekend. Police said investigations have been initiated on a complaint received at the Mathurata Police Station on Febr 18 regarding a video circulated on social media about two puppies being killed on purpose. Accordingly, during the investigation, it was revealed that the incident was reported on Feb 17 in Kadurakade area more..

Feb 21 (Island) The SLFP had lost most of its members including the crooks, former Prez Chandrika Kumaratunga said addressing a meeting at Matugama. She claimed that former Presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa and Maithripala Sirisena had destroyed the SLFP by undermining party values. Kumaratunga alleged that the Rajapaksas had siphoned off 15 billion rupees from six development projects that began during her tenure. �Sirisena was no better. Now, the SLFP has no one. more..

Feb 21 (TM) Electricity tariff hike, which came into effect last Thursday, is to bring the growth of the retail sector of the country to a halt, and most industries anticipate severe pressure followed by the tax increase as a result of the prevailing economic crisis in SL. SL Retailers� Association (SLRA) Founder Hussain Sadique stated: �The growth (of the retail sector) will be curtailed; there will not be any growth. It is a crisis, basically.� more..

Feb 21 (Island) Police have rescued 33 youth lost in the Knuckles Mountain range. The youth were on a hike and had got lost due to heavy rain and fo. After the police were informed of their disappearance, a team of police, forest conservation and army officers initiated a rescue operation on Sunday evening. The youth are residents of several parts of the country and are members of a hiking team. Knuckles mountain range has 34 peaks ranging in height between 1,900 metres and 900 metres and more..

Feb 21 (Island) Election monitors are ready to raise funds for conducting LG polls, Executive Director of PAFFREL Rohana Hettiarachchi says. �If the real problem is a lack of funding, we are ready to start work this week to secure funding for the election,� he said. The govt should be allowed to the pretext of financial issues to undermine the rights of the people, he said. �We will file several court cases in the coming days,� he said. Govt was trying to postpone all elections more..

Feb 21 (TM) President of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) Prof. Harendra De Silva has accused former Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniaracchi of acting in a in mala-fide, arbitrarily and capriciously manner by revoking the appointments of the Petitioners of the SLMC, and by removing him from his position as the President of the SLMC despite a court order. This was made known via a media release by Prof. Harendra De Silva today (20). more..

Feb 21 (EN) SL�s tea production is likely to pick up from around the second quarter of 2023 as trees respond to fertilizer applied after an agro-chemical ban ended, a top official said. The effects of a chemical fertilizer ban under former Prez Rajapaksa�s govt are still lingering in tea farms and bushes are still recovering from the lack of nutrition. The fertilizer ban was lifted in 2022 but supplies were limited amid forex shortages. �We are talking about a tea bush that had little to no fertilizer more..

Feb 21 (TM) Responding to a recent report regarding a proposal to issue fishing permits for small TN vessels, Northern fishermen�s associations condemned the move and alleged that it is a manipulative strategy of Minister Douglas Devananda to expand his sea cucumber project and provide the revenue to China. All Ceylon Federation of Trade Unions General Secretary N.V. Subramaniam claimed: more..

Feb 21 (AD) Former Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris says that the authority to dissolve the current parliament will be vested with the Prez from midnight today (20). He expressed that they strongly believe the Prez needs to use that power and dissolve the parliament. �Today, Prez receives the legal power to dissolve the current Parliament. We strongly believe that Prez should use that power�, he said. Prof. Peiris further charged that presently the decisions with regard to whether elections will be held more..

Feb 21 (TM) Security personnel from the Army as well as the Police were deployed in front of the Govt Printing Department yesterday, not to provide security for ballot paper printing but due to the protest that was held in Colombo by the SJB. SS PNihal Thalduwa said that a special security plan was implemented in the Colombo City area, for yesterday�s protest but not confined only to the Govt Printing Department. �The special protection plan was implemented in the Colombo City area. more..

Feb 21 (TM) SJB held a protest yesterday in Colombo amidst Police water and tear gas attacks and heavy rain, urging Prez and the Govt to ensure the democratic right of the people and to therefore hold the LG election as scheduled, warning also that yesterday's protest was only the beginning of a struggle to defeat the Govt's attempts to postpone the said election. Supporters of the SJB who came from different parts of the country more..

Feb 21 (FT) Amidst the LG election and heating up the discussion around 13A implementation, the discussion on economic recovery has been somewhat muted. The most popular vehicles that have been spoken widely in the discussions were, Tourism, Foreign Direct Investments, Foreign Skilled Employment, IMF bailout, creating Market Economy thus reaching out to trade without barriers and developing SME which is considered as the engine driving the economy. more..

Feb 21 (FT) The 2023 Appropriations Bill approved by Parliament had allocated Rs. 10.9 billion as recurrent expenditure and Rs. 86 million as capital expenditure for the operational activities of the Elections Commission. This should have provided a simple answer to the question whether the Govt has the funds to conduct elections in 2023. It is enough for the conduct of local govt elections. Is it adequate for the holding of the unacceptably delayed Provincial Council elections as well? more..

Feb 21 (EN) Lonali Rodrigo, fashion designer and founder of House of Lonali, upcycles out of Sri-Lankan Airlines� waste materials and makes wallets, books, pouches, travel bags, key tags, jewellery, and photo frames. Her raw materials consist of waste items such as unusable aircraft seats covers, blankets, uniforms and other items originating from the aircraft. The airline spends around 500,000 rupees for waste disposal, Anushad Liyanagoda, Captain of Sri Lankan Airlines said. more..

Feb 21 (DM) The request made by the main opposition SJB for a debate on the local govt election (LG) was dismissed at today�s party leader�s meeting, Parliament sources said. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana referred the request to the party leader when it was made by Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella last morning. �Sri Lanka might lose GSP plus status if the LG election is postponed � at, Therefore we want a debate on the subject, Kiriella said. more..

Feb 21 (Reuters) SL's cabinet has approved loan repayments worth US$ 2.6 billion in the first half of this year, in line with its debt suspension plans. The island of 22 million people is tangled in the worst financial crisis in over seven decades, triggered by a severe shortage of foreign exchange that forced the country to announce a suspension of foreign debt repayments in April 2022. However, SL will continue to repay multilateral loans from more..

Feb 21 (AD) A petition has been filed against the decision taken not to release the funds allocated through the 2023 Budget to the Election Commission for holding the LG election. The fundamental rights petition has been filed with the Supreme Court requesting a verdict that the basic human rights of the public have been violated through the related decision. The petition has been submitted by the General Secretary of SJB, MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara, naming a group more..

Feb 21 (DM) Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said that the QR code system introduced under the National Fuel Pass portal would be canceled in three to four months and the country would be able to provide fuel continuously under normal conditions. Kanchana emphasized that the QR code was introduced as a temporary solution for fuel management. He mentioned that the fuel price would not increase. "According to the international fuel price, the local fuel price may rise by more..

Feb 21 (Island) JJB lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake has called for an end to the practice of spending taxpayers� money to maintain former Presidents and their spouses. Bankrupt SL couldn�t afford to look after political families, MP Dissanayake told a gathering in Colombo. Referring to the former first lady Hema Premadasa receiving full state patronage since the assassination of her husband Ranasinghe Premadasa on May Day 1993, more..

Feb 21 (Island) The Board of Directors of Nestl� Lanka, 20 Feb 2023, approved results for the fourth quarter and full year ended 31 Dec 2022. Sharing his thoughts on the results, Jason Avance�a, Managing Director of Nestl� Lanka said �It gives me immense pride to witness the performance of the company during 2022, which was perhaps one of the most challenging years in Nestl� Lanka�s 115-year long journey in SL. I am pleased to say that our team, as well as our stakeholders more..

Feb 21 (AD) Despite having informed the Supreme Court of the difficulties pertaining to the holding of the 2023 LG election, the Election Commission of SL has stated that they are unable to refund the election deposits which have already been placed. Chairman of the Commission, Nimal. Punchihewa stated that the deposits could be refunded only in the event the nominations submitted for the upcoming election are cancelled. He further stated that in order for nominations to be cancelled, more..

Feb 21 (DM) The writ petition filed by former President of the Football Federation of SL (FFSL) Jaswar Umar Lebbe seeking an Order in the nature of a Writ of mandamus directing the Sports Minister and Ministry Secretary and sports authorities to conduct a fresh election of the FFSL was today fixed for argument on March 8 and March 24 by the Court of Appeal. Deputy Solicitor General who appeared on behalf of Attorney General and Sports Minister moved for further time to file objections. more..

Feb 21 (MFA) Foreign Minister Ali Sabry met Dr. Peter Ramsauer, Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Parliament in charge of bilateral relations with SL at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during his visit to SL from 15 to 18 Feb. Discussions with the German delegation centred around further expanding the cordial relations that exist between the two countries, particularly in the context of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between SL and Germany more..

Feb 21 (EN) With growing uncertainty over the timely conduct of LG elections, main opposition SJB has upped the ante in its turf war with rival opposition party NPP by attacking the latter�s Marxist-Leninist roots. SJB and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa fired the first salvo on Friday by digging up a webpage of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the primary constituent of the NPP, which expounds on its ideology. more..

Feb 21 (DM) SJB MP Harsha de Silva said plans are afoot to remove the street food stalls at Kimbulawala in Madiwela and urged the govt not proceed with the proposal. He told Parliament that there were rumours that Kimbulawala street food stalls will be removed and said it would put in trouble the people who are engaged in self- employment to earn a living amidst the economic crisis. MP de Silva said street food stalls could be seen everywhere in the world & asked why is it going to be removed. more..

Feb 21 (AD) JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti has revealed that his party is not in agreement with the 13th Amendment. Handunnetti revealed that the NPP does not accept the Amendment to any extent, adding that the JVP too is vehemently against the legislature. �The difference between the current state of Provincial Councils and that following the implementation of the 13th Amendment is the devolving of police and land powers. Where are these police and land powers now? more..

Feb 21 (CT) Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) urged the Prez�s Secretary, Saman Ekanayake to be extremely cautious when considering any form of legalising cannabis, by relaxing laws on cultivation, for doubtful economic benefits. In a letter to the President�s Secretary, President of the SLMA, Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne and the Chairperson of the Expert Committee on Tobacco, Alcohol and illicit Drugs, more..

Feb 21 (TM) Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe has accepted the invitation of the Maha Nayaka Theras of the Malwatu and Asgiri Chapters to hold the 2023 Vesak festival under the Govt's sponsorship in a way that would bring about Buddhist revival in the country. This was during a discussion held between the Sanga Committee members and the Prez at the Prez�s House in Kandy. Prez also stated that he will urgently work to appoint a competent authority to the Pali and Buddhist Uni and to turn it into more..

Feb 21 (AD) YouTuber Sepal Amarasinghe, who was arrested and remanded over his defamatory statements on the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, has tendered an apology in open court today at the Colombo Magistrate�s Court. Following Amarasinghe�s apology from the Mahanayake Theros and the Buddhist community over the defamatory remarks he had made regarding the Temple of the Tooth Relic, Magistrates Court decided to conclude the case against him, more..

Feb 21 (TM) Marking the sixth anniversary of the struggle of the relatives of missing persons, on the 2,190th day, a massive protest involving more than a hundred relatives was held yesterday in Kilinochchi, during which Association for Relatives of Enforced Disappearances President Yogarasa Kanagaranjani urged the international community to identify those responsible for the enforced disappearances of their loved ones by producing them before the Int'l Criminal Court (ICC). more..

Feb 21 (TM) Emphasising that there is no need to make reminders to the effect that health service is an essential service by issuing gazette notifications, the College of Medical Laboratory Science (CMLS) stated that the Govt should instead provide the necessary facilities including pharmaceutical drugs and medical equipment to maintain the health service. CMLS President Ravi Kumudesh said: �The Govt has suddenly remembered that the health service is an essential service. more..