Feb 26 (CT) The NPP movement consists of an alliance of 29 left and social democratic parties, trade unions, minority organisations and grass-roots groups. It is about five years old. The JVP on the other hand is well known and its origins go back over 50 years. The structure and capability of the two are significantly different and they can complement each other to achieve shared objectives. For example, together they can aspire to form a social-democratic govt, commit to the welfare of the masses, more..

Feb 26 (DM) Former Deputy Minister Mohamed Musthapha, well known as Myown Musthapha was deprived of his Civic Rights for seven years by the Colombo High Court on Feb 17 for offering Rs. 4,200,000 to NFF MP Mohamed Muzammil during the 2010 Prez election. Political horse-trading has been a common scenario during national-level elections in countries like SL. Before the 2010 Prez Election in which Mahinda Rajapaksa and Sarath Fonseka were the two main contenders more..

Feb 26 (TM) The former Chairman of the Election Commission and current Chairman of the Delimitation Committee Mahinda Deshapriya in an interview asserted that he was against the postponement of elections and that he believed the Election Commission was in the right in the current controversy. �My personal opinion is that I�m not for the postponement of elections according to the schedule. more..

Feb 26 (ST) Two major hurdles need to be cleared for SL�s future, the destiny of which will be determined abroad. One is the drag-on debt restructuring issue and the other is the Human Rights sessions in Geneva. China still kept the rest of SL�s creditors guessing over its commitment to reschedule debts at the G-20 meeting of Finance Ministers in Bangalore on Friday. On the other front, one will have to wait and see how the Geneva sessions pan out. Govt is moving ever so slowly to react to the repeated resolutions more..

Feb 26 (ST) My dear JR, I thought I must write to you, though it has been over a quarter of a century since you left us, because your name is being mentioned frequently these days. That is after your nephew began doing the job you did 45 years ago. What we have now realised is that his actions are very similar to yours. You toiled long and hard to get to the top of the Green Party. That was a time when the Greens were called the Unge Nedeyange Pakshaya and the Uncle Nephew Party after more..

Feb 26 (Island) The country at large had few doubts that all the machinations clearly visible in recent weeks to ensure that no local elections countrywide will be held on March 9 was the work of Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe. Although various public service cat�s paws ranging from Neil Hapuhinna, Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Govt, Mahinda Siriwardene, Secretary to the Treasury and the Govt Printer were the public face of the effort to scuttle these elections, more..

Feb 26 (Island) The Supreme Court (SC) on Feb. 10 dismissed a contempt of court application filed by the Human Rights Commission of SL (HRCSL), delivering a shock therapy to the latter. HRCSL filed the contempt case against the Chairman of the CEB N.S. Illangakoon, the Secretary to the Ministry of Power and Energy, Mapa Pathirana, and Chairman of the CPC), Uvais Mohamed, for failing to comply with an agreement to provide uninterrupted electricity to students sitting for the A/L exams. more..

Feb 26 (ST) Playing at Lord�s in the World Test Championship final is at the back of their minds but SL skipper Dimuth Karunaratne says he won�t let this add pressure to his charges as they head to New Zealand tonight for an all-important two-match Test series against the Kiwis. Anything below a 2-0 scoreline will put SL out of the race to enter the final to be held on June 7 to 11 regardless of the outcome of Border-Gavaskar Trophy, more..

Feb 26 (ST) The completion of the third day�s play of the 4-day National Super League semi-final encounters, played at Premadasa Stadium and Sara Oval, points to a clash in the final between Galle and Dambulla. Both teams have already taken comfortable first innings lead to gain entry to the final. Galle, having made a mammoth score of 658 for 9, was sitting pretty on day two with Kandy struggling on 62 for 4. Kandy, resuming from their overnight score was bowled out for 227 runs. more..

Feb 26 (Island) Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe has won many admirers in cricket circles for giving an undertaking to the court that he will initiate constitutional reforms to Sri Lanka Cricket and keeping to his word, he has appointed a ten member committee headed by SC judge K. T. Chitrasiri. The committee will work with the ICC and come up with a new constitution for SLC that has come under fire for having too many voting clubs at the AGM. Former cricketer Sidath Wettimuny, more..

Feb 26 (TM) The 93rd Battle of the Maroons between Sri Lanka�s two premier Buddhist schools, Ananda College and Nalanda College, will take place on 4 and 5 March at the Singhalese Sports Club (SSC), Colombo. As crowds had been restricted due to Covid and other factors, this year�s Battle of the Maroons will be played with the crowds returning to the stands for the first time since 2020. Already the old boys are planning their batch tents to have a ball at the SSC. more..

Feb 26 (SO) With just 3 days left before their departure for a decisive tour of NZ, SL�s cricketers were subjected to a mentally deranged scenario as their keepers in the Board and the supervisors in Sports Ministry faced off in a shadowy shoot-out to see who is smarter on the draw. The predicament of the players hung around for nearly a month after SLC hit a road block set up by the Sport�s Ministry�s policy-making National Sports Council (NSC) that wanted to shoot down an old set of player Selectors more..

Feb 26 (ST) SL is confident of gaining assurances from bilateral creditors for their debt restructuring to obtain IMF board approval towards unlocking the US$ 2.9 billion bailout package ahead of the IMF/WB spring meetings in Washington in mid-April, Finance Ministry sources said. The debt restructuring covers only bilateral loans and not long term multilateral loans. Bilateral creditors including China, India, Japan and Paris club member countries have expressed their willingness to more..

Feb 26 (TM) There is adequate space available for the construction of new large-capacity oil tanks at Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm, LIOC said. LIOC Managing Director Manoj Gupta, responding to a question on the Govt�s ambition to make Trincomalee a regional energy hub, said the company had identified space which could be used to set up new large-capacity tanks to further storage capacity at the facility, depending on more..

Feb 26 (TM) Outgoing President of Bar Association of SL (BASL) Saliya Pieris, rubbished an allegation directed at him by Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe in Parliament earlier in the week. Prez had questioned why the Election Commission (EC) had picked Pieris to represent it for a case filed against a number of persons in relation to the postponed LG Elections. Wickremesinghe had opined that the EC should have picked a lawyer who was not attracted to politics or a member of the AG�s Department. more..

Feb 26 (ST) The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) settlements are now happening on time for foreign funds which faced long delays last year in being settled and getting foreign exchange for sell trades on CSE. Bankers confirmed this, saying that now the system has enough dollars to meet these demands. Stockbrokers said that now trading under plus three days or T +3 the settlements are fast and frequent, which means that there is an improving dollar liquidity in the market. more..

Feb 26 (ST) An independent power producer (IPP) selling electricity to the national grid since the early 2000s had by March 2021 made a net profit of Rs 14.8bn amounting to 855% of its initial investment. From 2005 to 2015, Aitken Spence-owned ACE Power Embilipitiya Ltd earned a net profit of Rs 8.57bn or 511 percent of its initial capital of Rs 1.67bn. The company�s profit during 2005-2007 alone totaled Rs 1.8bn. more..

Feb 26 (ST) More than forty Jaffna district fishermen�s associations with a membership totalling about 8000 will drag their fishing boats to the road in protest against Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda�s proposal to allow Indian fishermen to engage in fishing in SL waters. Fishermen�s association representatives said there would be a discussion today on the minister�s move to allow �small Indian boats� to engage in fishing in Sri Lankan waters under a licensing system. more..

Feb 26 (ST) Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday turned down a tax-relief request by some 40 trade unions representing professionals. During a meeting with representatives of these trade unions, the President said that since the IMF negotiations were currently underway no decision could be taken to provide tax relief. During the discussions, Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardena made a presentation of the current economic situation while CB Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe also briefed them. more..

Feb 26 (ST) The Election Commission will postpone the local govt elections by three weeks, to sometime possibly even beyond April while commencing fresh negotiations with the Treasury on securing funds, Chairman of the Commission Nimal Punchihewa said. Commission will meet on next Friday to announce the new date for the election. He said that keeping with legal requirements though it would be a postponement of at least three weeks, but the date may be even beyond April. more..

Feb 26 (ST) The conduct of Acting Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and then Army Commander Shavendra Silva during the events of March 31 and May 9 last year should be further investigated by a specialised investigating unit such as the CID, a Board of Inquiry (BOI) appointed to look into lapses by the armed forces and state intelligence services during this period has recommended. The 3-member BOI comprising Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda, Marshal of the Air Force more..

Feb 26 (TM) Road Development Authority (RDA) is struggling to secure investors for the Central Expressway Project (CEP) despite a reported directive from the Presidential Secretariat to expedite the project. Sources said that the challenge was in finding investors due to drastically-weakened investor confidence in bankrupt Sri Lanka and its history of policy reversals on major infrastructure projects. more..

Feb 26 (EN) Property in Colombo district had risen 14.8% in the second half of 2022 from a year earlier according to a Land Valuation Indicator tracked by the central bank. Residential values had grown 15.2%, commercial 15.7% and industrial 13.6%. In the second half of 2021 land values had grown 17.9%. Compared to the second half of 2021, land values in the Colombo district had fallen 4.8%. The residential LV I had fell 0.7%, Commercial 0.9% and industrial 7.5%. more..

Feb 26 (DM) TIMF on Saturday called for timely and orderly processes under common framework with regards to SL�s debt resolution. The island nation faced severe economic crisis which resulted in high debt. In a statement issued after conclusion of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under India�s presidency, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva strongly endorsed efforts to strengthen the debt architecture and improve the speed and effectiveness more..

Feb 26 (DM) It is the height of absurdity of the President to claim that the Local Govt election has not been officially declared after all legal steps have been taken and nominations filed for the March 9 elections, TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran PC said today. He said that the Treasury has released upto Rs. 100 million for the initial expenses with the view to conduct the election. He also said that the UNP has filed nominations for various Local authorities and engaged in widespread campaign. more..

Feb 26 (DM) Claiming that Prez had no right to express his opinion on the legality of declaring the LG election JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said if there was any issue with regard to the declaration of the election, it should be resolved in the Courts. He said that if the elections commission had not acted lawfully, Prez could go to court and said the opinion of the President was not the law of the country. "The elections commission declared the election on Jan 5. more..

Feb 26 (SO) Govt is working on making more foreign exchange available to the medical sector on an urgent basis, Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe said. He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the sixth annual academic sessions of SL College of Military Medicine (SLCOMM) on Friday. Prez said Govt will use the Indian Credit Line (ICL) to address the shortage of medicine during this economic crisis and added that more..

Feb 26 (DM) The govt has settled the majority of the arrears to the tune of Rs.191 billion to contractors and suppliers, after assuming power on August 31, last year, despite an 8% contraction in the economy during the year, Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said. As of August 31, last year, govt owed Rs.360 billion to various contractors and suppliers. As of January 31, 2023, the govt has been able to settle 53% of these bills, amounting to Rs.191 billion. more..

Feb 26 (EN) Opposition parties slammed a move by the ruling party of oust Harsha de Silva from the Committee on Public Finance and replace him with a person of their choice. Opposition legislators also called on Mayantha Dissanayake, who had been named by the ruling party to chair the public finance committee to resign. MP Lakshman Kirirella protested that the Speaker had already accepted the collective nomination of de Silva as the Chair for COPF but instead the govt had put more..

Feb 26 (ST) A tumultuous week saw uncertainties becoming realities one after another. A raise in power tariffs, now effective, will add to the woes of Sri Lankans. It became clear this week that the increase was the last of the 15 conditions to be met for the IMF Extended Fund Facility of US$ 2.9 billion. Prof Shantha Devarajan, one of the advisors to the govt on matters related to the IMF said, �If they IMF) receive financing assurance from more..

Feb 27 (DM) On Saturday the media announced that the Elections Commission announced LG elections scheduled for March 9, could not be held on the due date, and a new date would be set to hold the elections. Earlier Prez Wickremesinghe in Parliament claimed no date had been set for the holding of LG elections. Opposition MPs accused the prez of manipulating facts. They pointed out the UNP - of which Wickremesinghe is the leader - had in fact handed over names of members more..

Feb 27 (DM) Church of SL has protested the Govt�s recent action to undermine the democratic rights of the people. �The decision by the Govt to withhold funding for the LG Election is an unreasonable and arbitrary course of action which will have far-reaching consequences. Govt which sponsored a tamasha at state expense on account of Independence Day nearly a fortnight ago has no moral right to withhold funding of an election,� it said in a statement signed by Rt Rev Dushantha more..

Feb 27 (TM) Although restructuring the CEB and increasing electricity prices have been identified as the main solutions to the prevailing power crisis, such steps alone are not sufficient to deal with this issue. While such measures are crucial and beneficial, country should go beyond that and consider reforming the entire electricity sector. This involves unbundling the electricity sector, allowing more private actors to be a part of more..

Feb 27 (ST) What is the message that Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe conveys to Sri Lankans when he asserts (as he did in Kandy a few days ago) that the date of the LG elections can be decided by court but you cannot save the economy by going to court even if all the judges � including the Chief Justice � are involved? Several highly unfortunate implications arise thereto. First, the deliberate timing of the statement is stark, just days before the country�s apex court was due to hear petitions more..

Feb 27 (ST) Pontius Pilate would have been proud of the way the SLPP�s Sagala Kariyawasam has mastered the art of washing his hands of sin after his party had flayed the hopes of millions for a LG election on March 9. After the Prez vowed his priorities will be first the economy, second the economy, thirdly the economy, at a Kandy Rotarian meeting on the eve of his National Emblem Perehera, and stated thereafter that next year, after the economic recovery, the people will be more..

Feb 27 (TM) Controversy surrounds a Rs. 770 million claim dispute between the CPC and a crude oil supplier regarding nearly 25,700 barrels of the black gold, which were expected to be delivered ashore from tanker vessels, but are yet unaccounted for. The CPC and the supplier have traded accusations about how the crude oil went missing, with the CPC seeking the advice of the AG�s office to resolve the matter. more..