May 28 (ST) Honoured as Very Important Persons (VIPs), most users of the hallowed gateway to the world, the VIP Lounge at BIA, are the MPs. Officials dare ask questions when they arrive or depart. An added perk for these VIPs is the free refreshments they receive at State expense. This is whilst they relax in the well-cushioned sofas for their baggage to be rolled in or out. That is again for cursory approval by Customs. more..

May 29 (DM) It�s over 15 months since the war in Ukraine started. On Feb 24, 2022 Russia commenced what it referred to as a special operation in Ukraine. That surgical strike/special operation is still continuing and shows no sign of closure. To the Russian mind, the US and NATO are attempting to bring US missiles and nuclear arsenal to Russia�s doorstep via coaxing Ukraine to join the NATO alliance. Russia some time earlier emphasized that Ukraine joining the NATO more..

May 29 (TM) Certain statements made by a stand-up comedian on Buddhism have added fuel to a fire ignited by Pastor Jerome Fernando several weeks ago. Now, following a backlash from followers of Buddhism and Buddhist monks, who alleged that the content of the jokes delivered by the comedian offend them and is an insult to Buddhism. With complaints mounting, the exit attempt by the comedian via the airport resulted in her being arrested and remanded till 7 June. more..

May 29 (TM) Self-proclaimed Prophet Jerome Fernando�s Miracle Dome, a 5,000-seat convention centre built at a cost of Rs. 3 billion in Negombo, has left authorities clueless on how the relevant approvals had been provided for the construction of such a structure. The land which was owned by the UDA was initially earmarked for a BOI project. However, the facility had later been used by Pastor Jerome to conduct prayers, more..

May 29 (CT) SL is too strategic a country to let it slip away from the Western net. No doubt its post-independence political and economic journey had met with too many accidents and injuries, which left the country with no choice but to be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of IMF, which now wants to make SL�s economic recovery a show case to the rest of the developing world. Ranil Wickremesinghe is acting as the matron of this unit and IMF would love to keep him permanent. more..

May 29 (DM) King Devanampiya Tissa was on a hunting expedition on Mihintale, the mountainous area. Chasing wild animals on Poson full moon day; his famous form of delight, and seeing a deer cruising, he was approaching the grazing animal when he overheard someone calling him by his name, Tissa, Tissa. Testing the IQ of the King, following a series of questions, Arhat Mihindu finally asked, � and are there, besides other mango trees and those trees which are not mango trees, more..

May 29 (CT) Due to the present economic upheaval, there have been numerous stories that have been recorded in the local press related to children leaving schools islandwide. This situation has emerged due to the inability of parents to cater to the high cost of education for their children. This trend has reached damaging proportions in the upcountry areas. With the commencement of the Sri Pada season, Ramalingam Ramesh decided more..

May 29 (CT) If children are the world�s most valuable resource and the best hope for the future, then it is the duty and responsibility of the authorities to make necessary policy changes to ensure the protection of children, freeing them from all forms of abuse and creating an environment where they feel safe. This basically was the idea behind forming of the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) in 1998. As a Member State of the UN which was signatory to the UN Child Rights Convention (CRC) in 1990 more..

May 29 (Island) SL politics has become such a lucrative pursuit that whenever one happens to go past the iconic House on the picturesque Diyawanna eyot, one remembers a popular saying associated with the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800: There is gold in thar hills. An Opposition MP who hoodwinked the people and struck a Faustian bargain with the current regime has come under heavy fire for a botched attempt to smuggle in three and a half kilos of gold and more..

May 29 (TM) Canadian PM Justin Trudeau�s remarks on 18 May that �Canada will not stop advocating for the rights of the victims and survivors of this conflict, as well as for all in SL who continue to face hardship�, in the context of the recognition of 18 May as the Tamil genocide remembrance day has met with a strong rebuttal from the SL Govt. It is tragic that 14 years after the end of the war, and with a President as internationalist and liberal as Ranil Wickremesinghe at the helm, more..

May 29 (Island) The Capitol Building, which houses both legislative branches of the US � and the SL Embassy are not very far apart in Washington, DC. The Capitol Building has an office for Congresswoman, Deborah Ross, who along with another four Members submitted a resolution against Sri Lanka on 18 May (2023) to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on the day when the 14th anniversary of the conclusion of Eelam War IV fell. It seems that Congresswoman Ross and more..

May 29 (Island) Govt and Opposition MPs, on Thursday, attended a roundtable discussion, where they exchanged views on the Anti-Corruption Bill. Transparency International SL (TISL) organised the cross-party discussion with the leaders and secretaries of political parties and their representatives on the Anti-Corruption Bill, at the Parliament premises, with the intention of eliciting their support for its improvements and more..

May 29 (EN) Sri Lanka will offer land for private investors to build and operate industrial zones, Director General of the BoI, Renuka Weerakone said. �Going forward, policy makers have made the decision that we will offer lands to investors where they can set up PPP projects for zonal development, and the govt or the BOI will not have to spend on capital infrastructure,� Weerakone said. In Thulhiriya, SL�s MAS group was offered land at the site of a defunct textile factory. more..

May 29 (AD) Minister Kanchana Wijesekara emphasizes that he requested Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene to take necessary disciplinary and legal steps against the false statements made in Parliament regarding the operation of fuel station business by Sinopec Fuel Oil Lanka in SL. In a tweet, the minister states that Sinopec has issued a statement clarifying their position with regard to the allegations and assumptions made in Parliament and other statements published in the media more..

May29 (Island) Kotaro Katsuki, Acting Ambassador for Japan in SL said in Colombo on May 26 that the Japanese Embassy would follow through the bilateral economic cooperation and business discussions Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe had during his visit to Japan last week. �Prez addressed the 28th Nikkei Future of Asia Conference held in Tokyo. During this visit, President Wickremesinghe held bilateral discussions with Japan�s PM Fumio Kishida, Minister of Finance Suzuki Shunichi, more..

May29 (TM) Ministry of Social Empowerment is to submit a cabinet paper seeking the approval of Cabinet to establish a new contributory pension scheme for those who are not employed in either govt or private sectors. It is understood that the new scheme will be put to the Cabinet after having consulted the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Administration. SState Minister Anupa Pasqual said that the employees should contribute a certain amount of money in the first five years more..

May29 (TM) Pharmaceutical companies have urged the Govt to devise a pricing mechanism before revising the prices of all pharmaceutical items. Pharma companies claim that the prices are not determined only by exchange rate fluctuations but by several other factors, including transport costs, electricity costs, and bank interest rates. SLCPI President Sanjiva Wijesekera said the industry was awaiting a pricing mechanism more..

May 29 (AD) A high-level meeting chaired by the Minister of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development, Jeevan Thondaman was held recently between officials of the Ministry, Water Board, and ADB to finalise significant reforms in the water sector. The objective of the meeting was reportedly to achieve a consensus on the ambitious three-year reform programme. The reform programme aims to address several underlying issues in the water sector in Sri Lanka, ministry said. more..

May29 (DM) Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) expects the current slowdown in apparel export orders to continue for the rest of the year. �We have been experiencing a reduction of around 20% in orders due to a global slowdown for past seven months. We think this will continue for another 5-6 months,� JAAF Secretary General Yohan Lawrence said. He pointed out that other key apparel exporters such as Vietnam, China, and Bangladesh are also grappling with more..

May 29 (ST) Hostels, places of worship, and crowded public places are hotspots for the seasonal influenza now spreading rapidly even before the onset of the monsoon. More than 130 students from the Pasdunrata National College of Education in Kalutara were reported to have fallen sick this week. They showed flu symptoms ranging from high fever to nausea, vomiting, headache and body pain. more..

May 29 (AD) Six school students have been arrested over an incident of allegedly setting fire to a stock of pipes for the Asupini Ella Water Scheme in Kegalle on May 19, the police said. Earlier, police had said that 06 school students are being interrogated in relation to the incident where a stock of water pipes that had been brought for the Asupini Ella Water Scheme in Kegalle had caught fire. Asupini Ella Water Scheme was declared open by Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe last Sunday (May 21), more..

May 29 (DM) NPP will re-launch the battle from June 8 to force the govt to hold the LG elections, as 09 June completes three months since the LG polls have been delayed, NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said. He said all the NPP candidates who were contesting LG polls would come before the Elections Commission on June 8 and demand the election. Dissanayake said they will then organise protest campaigns in Gampaha, Hambantota and A'pura and finally more..

May 29 (FT) SL�s tea crop has begun to see a marginal improvement in volumes, as a result of favourable weather conditions and robust distribution of fertiliser. In April, tea production increased by 8% year-on-year to 24.72 million kilos, but the 2023 first four months crop dipped by 2.49% compared to 2022 reflecting the struggle for recovery after detrimental policy decisions. April all elevations have shown a steady growth in volume in comparison with the corresponding period of 2022. more..

May 29 (SO) Minister Bandula Gunawardena has unveiled plans to resume the highway development projects funded by the ADB which have been put on hold. He was speaking at the Consultative Committee Meeting of the Transport and Highways Ministry in Parliament. Minister said he would restart work on the suspended road construction projects in all parts of the island. The MPs told the meeting that if road repairs are not done, they will become inaccessible to the public. more..

May 29 (FT) The SJB called for urgent support for exports and the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) warning a bigger crisis is looming in the absence of a Govt plan for the same. SJB MP Dr. Harsha De Silva said his party will unconditionally support any regulations to restructure debt of Small and Medium Enterprises. �This must be done urgently, and failing to do so could result in the closure of more businesses more..

May 29 (Island) Colombo Mayoral candidate and former SJB MP Mujibur Rahuman has called for an investigation to find out on whose instruction an original fine of Rs 22.2 million, imposed on MP Ali Sabry Raheem, found guilty of smuggling gold and mobile phones, was reduced to a fine of Rs 7.4 million. �Ali Sabry Raheem had been voting with the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa combine from the time. He voted for the 20th Amendment to bring dual citizen Basil Rajapaksa to Parliament. more..

May29 (SO) The Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious, and Cultural Affairs is taking steps to establish a legal framework that fosters respect for all religions and discourages orations that are hurtful and offensive to other religions, Minister Vidura Wickramanayaka said. The Ministry is drafting a Bill similar to that of the Viharagam and Dewalagam Ordinance to formalise the ownership of the Christian, Hindu, and Muslim religious places of worship across the country. more..

May 29 (DN) The 2022 GCE O/L Exam will begin today and continue till June 8. This year�s O/L exam will be held in 3,568 exam centers countrywide and 472,553 candidates are expected to appear for it. 10 inmates will sit for the O/L Exam this year. It includes five inmates each from Wataraka and Welikada prisons. Their exam center is set up in New Magazine Jail. National Transport Commission has decided to operate the Sisu Sariya bus service during the exam period. more..

May 29 (FT) FPC member and former Chairman of the SLPP Prof. G.L. Peiris filed legal action before the Colombo District Court against the SLPP AGM held on 22 April this year. Peiris has requested the court to declare the meeting of the SLPP AGM as unlawful and the decisions made at the meeting are without any legal effect. MP has named SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam, SLLP National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa and several others as respondents. more..

May 29 (FT) Stand-up comedian Nathasha Edirisuriya who was arrested by the CID yesterday over making alleged derogatory comments about the Lord Buddha has been remanded until 7 June. Edirisuriya was remanded on the orders of Colombo Fort Magistrate, Thilina Gamage after she was produced before the court by investigating officers last evening. Her family is expected to file a complaint with Human Rights Commission more..

May 29 (TM) The Ministry of Power and Energy yesterday (28) stated that fuel quota issued to private vehicles will be increased with effect from midnight tomorrow (31). Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera took to twitter to announce the increase. Sri Lanka introduced fuel rationing in June last year, amidst worsening financial crisis and a dollar shortage which caused significant constraints to be put on imports, including energy products. more..

May 29 (CT) India has done more for SL than the IMF, Union Minister for External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar stressed. Modi Govt, he underlined, is working on developing an extended neighbourhood that involves islands in the Indian Ocean, Gulf countries and nations in South-East Asia. �What we are also trying to do today is for a bigger, influential and ambitious India. We are trying to expand what should be our neighbourhood. We look at what this extended neighbourhood should be. more..

May 29 (TM) Since there is no action that the Parliament can take against the illegal activities of Puttalam District MP Ali Sabri Raheem, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena suggested that concerned parties should take the matter before courts. MP Raheem was arrested by the Customs officials for smuggling a consignment of gold and mobile phones worth nearly Rs. 70 mil to SL from Dubai last week and was fined under customs legislation more..

May 29 (FT) SL has a long history, a diversified culture, and enormous natural resources. However, SL, like many other developing countries, is confronted with a slew of environmental issues that require rapid response. To solve these difficulties, the circular economy concept has gained traction, and the construction of a circular economy precinct in SL may provide several benefits to the country. The circular economy is an economic structure that is designed to be restorative and regenerative. more..

May 29 (FT) A landmark order was issued by the University Services Appeals Board (USAB) in Sri Lanka, on 8 February, on an Appeal against a promotion to the position of �Professor in Economics� at the University of Jaffna more than three years after lodging the Appeal No. 1000 on 5 December, 2019. However, to date, no action has been taken either by the University Grants Commission (UGC) or the University of Jaffna (UoJ) to implement the order by the USAB! more..