Apr 22 (DM) Grief-stricken survivors of the Easter Sunday attacks do not want to recall the horrific event. A year later, life is at a standstill for some, while others are trying to give life a second chance. Claiming the lives of more than 270 people and injuring more than 470, the horror of the coordinated suicide blasts continues to haunt people. In Katuwapitiya, which was the worst hit, many of the survivors continue to place their more..

Apr 22 (CT) Govt should accept IMF's offer of US$190 million to tide over the balance of payment crisis led by the COVID-19 pandemic. Such offers extended by IMF are to developing economies such as SL that are affected by the pandemic. This relief offer comes with no interest charge, payable over 10 years with a 5-year grace period. This $190 million figure is derived from the balance outstanding of Sri Lanka's current $1.5billion soft loan from the IMF's Extended Fund Facility (EFF) that came more..

Apr 22 (Island) Whoever would have thought a microorganism would upend the world, in this bizarre manner? Covid-19 has not spared any country, and the worst affected nations are in the Global North, which boasts the most advanced healthcare systems. Time was when powerful oil companies could even hold the world to ransom, but their black gold is losing its value, albeit temporarily. The worst is yet to come as the global demand for oil is extremely low; it is not likely to increase more..

Apr 22 (CT) Covid-19 is a harbinger of doom that brought the world to a standstill. Countries are put on lockdown, people are immobilised and quarantined to prevent infections. Covid-19 is a 21st century viral infection spread through globalisation with free movement and trade across borders. The inherent nature of it is such that it can potentially reverse globalisation. This is challenging the status quo of our life and the way we interact and transact across borders. more..

Apr 22 (Island) The Nov 2019 inauguration of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa rekindled bright hopes of national resurgence. The visions of peace and prosperity that bloomed in the years following the end of nearly three decades of civil war in 2009 faded in the years 2015-19. While the people were eagerly looking forward to electing a new parliament, the entirely unexpected COVID-19 pandemic struck the world and its deleterious impact is being currently experienced in Sri Lanka as well. more..

Apr 22 (DM) On the eve of Avurudu last week, a relatively obscure Twitter account became the focal point in SL’s tweets sphere. @ChinaEmbSL had joined Twitter less than a month back and did not have that many followers, nor was it verified. But it had been tagged by the President and the PM in Tweets boosting its profile. It also had access to information from the highest level of govt. Like when it was one of the first to tweet on the plans to more..

Apr 22 (Island) For Aruna Dharshana, the country’s most promising athletic talent, a place in a probable mix relay team was the realistic target for Tokyo Olympics. But, with the quadrennial games being postponed to 2021, Dharshana’s coach Asanka Rajakaruna believes that the tough qualifying standard for the individual event of men’s 400 metres is a target that the South Asian Games gold medalist should now strive for. "The plan of the Athletics Association of SL was for us to more..

Apr 22 (Island) The sudden and untimely demise of AVM Channa Guneratna a versatile sportsman, who brought immense glory to his alma mater, Ananda College Colombo and the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) on Monday 20th April 2020 has created a huge void which will be hard to fill. He was an all-round sportsman at Ananda and represented the school in cricket, rugger, soccer, swimming and athletics. Young Channa excelled in cricket and represented Ananda First XI in 1969-1971. more..

Apr 22 (ST) The post COVID-19 food production and retailing space must respond to a set of new market realities; recession, changing consumer dynamics and supply chain disruptions. Anchored around food and personal safety, these new realities challenge our deeply held beliefs and concepts of how work needs to be done. Here are some pointers where industry is probably heading. Starting from the commute to work, more..

Apr 22 (Island) The leading provider of cement in the country, INSEE Cement Sri Lanka, has extended vital support to the authorities towards dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and helping to build a resilient nation. INSEE Sanstha cement, Sri Lanka’s most loved cement brand, stepped forward to provide valuable resources towards construction of the management center for Covid-19 in Iranawila, Puttalam. The objective of the building was to establish a dedicated facility and more..

Apr 22 (Island) CIPM – the Nation’s leader in human resource management made a donation of Rs. 1 Million to the President’s National Covid-19 Relief Fund in support and solidarity of the relief measures that need to be rolled out to successfully manage and overcome the current situation brought about by the global pandemic. The donation was handed over by Dhammika Fernando-President, CIPM Srilanka accompanied by Ken Vijayakumar-Hony. Treasurer, CIPM Sri Lanka to Special Advisor to more..

Apr 22 (Island) President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is planning to create a new mechanism by combining all districts, in the country, to purchase, store and distribute agro products. The Govt Agents should steer the mechanism, the Prez has emphasised. The President said so, addressing the District Secretaries, at the Presidential Secretariat, on Monday. Cooperation extended by the District Secretaries for controlling the spread of more..

Apr 22 (ST) The COVID-19 pandemic has offered the opportunity to do some reclusive soul searching in many spheres. TV talk shows and social media overkill have all covered the need to move beyond the critical but limited confines of health management and consider a broader perspective of economic imperatives, simply because one can take down another. A visiting Malaysian economic advisor made the oft heard comment, focus on your strengths, he said, go after that reality; more..

Apr 22 (CT) Vulnerable families needing support as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak and frontline workers battling the pandemic have received a total of Rs 50 million in aid from Nestle. In its second phase of relief efforts, Nestle will be joined by its employees, who are voluntarily contributing part of their salaries to help those in need. The company will match all employee contributions on a oneto-one basis. "We have been with Sri Lanka over the last 114 years, through good times and bad. more..

Apr 22 (AD) Another batch of Sri Lankan students has been repatriated from Pakistan earlier this evening (21). Reportedly, 113 students who had been stranded in Lahore and Karachi have been brought back to SL in this manner. The students arrived at BIA on a special SriLankan Airlines flight at around 6.05 pm today. Upon arrival, they have been sent to quarantine centers as per the directives of health authorities. more..

Apr 22 (Island) Police Media Spokesman SP Jaliya Senaratne said that the police had strengthened the number of teams, probing the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, in which 253 persons lost their lives and several hundred were injured. He that earlier there had been eight teams of policemen probing the Easter Sunday carnage and three more squads had been deployed to expedite the investigations. Based on the investigations so far conducted, 197 suspects had been arrested in connection more..

Apr 22 (Island) The GMOA urged shop owners to stop the sale of cigarettes at least until the threat posed by COVID-19 was over. Secretary of the GMOA, Dr. Haritha Aluthge commended the President for reversing the decision to open liquor stores. "The decision taken by the Commissioner General of Excise to open bars was a mistake and we opposed that on Monday itself. This was also a decision that was against our recommendations, to control the spread of COVID-19." more..

Apr 22 (SNA) The Seychelles Fisheries Authority (SFA) is discussing new approaches to deter illegal fishing in its waters after a third Sri Lankan vessel was intercepted last week, said a top official. "The new approach will see the government of both countries discussing common ground to deter these illegal activities from taking place in the Seychelles' waters," SFA's interim chief executive, Cyril Bonnelame, said. more..

Apr 22 (EN) Sri Lanka’s rupee traded as weak as 198.00 to the US dollar in one week forward but the spot traded from around 194.00 to 191.50 levels later in the day with state name sales, dealers said. Banks were on average buying dollars from 190.18 rupees from telegraphic transfers and were selling at 197.21 to the US dollar, according to central bank data. SL’s stock market continues to be closed till April 27 amid curfews. It is not clear why Sri Lanka’s stock markets are closed. more..

Apr 22 (EN) Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is bracing for a year long downturn with the Coronavirus crisis coming on top of a hit from Easter Sunday attacks in April 2019, but there were tentative bookings for next year already, officials said. Sri Lanka Hotel Association, Chairman, Sanath Ukwatte said two crises coming on top of each other had hit the industry but it had gone trough bad times earlier and somehow recovered. The government and banks had also given debt moratorium. more..

Apr 22 (Reuters) Civil war in northern Sri Lanka ended more than a decade ago, but Shan Raj’s ancestral home is still surrounded by a fence of barbed wire. Every year, Raj comes all the way from Australia to his home village of Kurumbasiddy, near the once war-torn city of Jaffna, with the hope of being able to visit the 11-room house his father built alongside the family-owned rice mill. more..

Apr 22 (MFA) In a post earlier today to Missions in Sri Lanka and abroad on the one-year anniversary of the suicide attacks on Easter Sunday, 21st April 2019, Ministry of Foreign Relations observed: “On this day, Sri Lanka remembers all those lives lost and changed forever in barbaric acts of violence one year ago. We share the grief of families who lost their loved ones and stand in solidarity with those countries which lost their nationals”. These attacks on churches and hotels killed around 270 more..

Apr 22 (Island) The Acting High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka, Vinod K. Jacob, called on Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, in Colombo, yesterday. During the meeting, the Acting High Commissioner briefed the Foreign Minister on India’s efforts to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Minister also briefed the Acting High Commissioner on steps taken by Sri Lanka to fight the global pandemic, a spokesperson for the High Commission said. more..

Apr 22 (MoD) Govt would bring all culprits who planned, financed and supported the Easter bombing carnage that killed over 270 and wounded over 500 innocent people on last year’s Easter Sunday, soon, Defence Secretary Maj.Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne said. Issuing a statement today that marked one-year of the coordinated bomb blasts carried out by a local Islamic extremist group that blew three Christian churches and more..

Apr 22 (UN) Today we remember the 259 lives lost and the many injured during the senseless terrorist attacks on Easter Sunday, one year ago. The country and the world were shocked by those tragic events and saddened by the incidents of intercommunal tensions that followed. We must relentlessly fight terrorism. Terrorism should not be associated with any religion, ethnicity or race. The purpose of terrorism is to inoculate societies with the virus of fear. more..

Apr 22 (FT) The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) yesterday called upon the SL authorities to respect human rights in the conduct of their investigation of the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, including ensuring that investigations into the alleged involvement of SL lawyer Hejaaz Hizbullah are conducted in accordance with due process and fair trial guarantees under int'l law. Specifically, the authorities must specify the charges against him, grant him full and immediate access to more..

Apr 22 (FT) Govt of Japan has provided a total sum of $ 1,212,500 (approx. Rs. 230 million) through the UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) for tackling the novel coronavirus COVID-19 in Sri Lanka. The UNICEF was provided $ 500,000 of this total grant to formulate key risk communication messages, more..

Apr 22 (FT) International rating agency Moody’s yesterday warned that while Asia had strong fiscal buffers to better withstand the impact of COVID-19, countries such as Sri Lanka with twin deficits and constrained policy space could see their creditworthiness decrease. Asia had significantly stronger external and fiscal buffers compared with other emerging markets, which provided the region more space as a whole to deliver on policy easing, the rating agency said in its latest report. more..

Apr 22 (TM) Issuing a statement on the first anniversary of Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday bombings, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has reaffirmed the US’s shared commitment to countering terrorism. “Today we mark the anniversary of the terrorist bombings that shattered the peace of Sri Lanka and the world on Easter morning one year ago. These malicious attacks targeted churches and hotels, places where people had gone to worship and to enjoy time together on a holiday.” more..

Apr 22 (EN) SL’s contact tracers are hunting contacts of a fish-vendor flushed out during a month long curfews centered isolated nearly a 1000 linked to a pilgrim who returned from India, while a private hospital had been closed in another case, officials said. By 0600h on April 21, Sri Lanka had confirmed 310 cases, 102 had recovered and 7 had died. Hospitals were treating 201 cases. The fish vendor from Piliyandala was found during more..

Apr 22 (DM) Of course it’s difficult to smile often during a pandemic. However, even otherwise our children had not been smiling. They looked very serious, thoughtful and ill-tempered even before the epidemic. This had been the case with both Generation Alpha (those born after 2010) and also Generation Z or Gen Z (born after mid 1990s but before 2010). Low spirited and often with crumpled foreheads and that lost look they appear more like abandoned elders rather than children whom more..

Apr 22 (DN) The preferential vote numbers of candidates contesting General Election 2020 would be issued on May 4, National Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya told the political party representatives today. He had also agreed to re-evaluate the situation of the country as at May 4 and either confirm the date of the Election set for June 20 or re-schedule it to a new date. The Chairman had pointed out that the gazetted date of the General Election could be once again more..

Apr 22 (EN) All 144 people who were placed in quarantine from the town of Akurana in the Kandy district have returned home and none of them have tested positive for COVID 19, local health officials said. However, the normally busy town remains under lockdown although the rest of the Kandy district has had the curfew lifted. Akurana was declared a no-go area by the Medical Officer of Health on April 5 after seven people more..

Apr 22 (Island) Following the Govt declaration of the Plantations sector as an essential service, the Planters’ Association of Ceylon (PA) stated that RPC operations immediately gathered momentum amidst stringent new measures to protect workers and the wider estate community against the COVID-19 pandemic. Expressing gratitude to all industry stakeholders and Government authorities for successfully enabling plantation sector to resume critical operations, PA Chairman, more..

Apr 22 (AD) Eleven more persons have tested positive for COVID-19 today, the Ministry of Health confirmed. The island’s COVID-19 infections tally has now soared to 321. In the meantime, another two coronavirus-infected patients regained health earlier today as the total number of recoveries reached 104. According to the Epidemiology Unit’s tally, 210 active cases are currently under medical care at IDH, Welikanda Base Hospital, Colombo East Base Hospital and Iranawila Hospital, more..

Apr 22 (DM) Indian Army is readying separate teams to be deployed in SL, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Afghanistan to help those countries boost capabilities to deal with rising cases of coronavirus, official sources said on Tuesday. A 14-member Indian Army team was sent to Maldives last month to help the island nation set up coronavirus testing laboratories and train local medical professionals to fight the pandemic. more..

Apr 22 (EN) Constitutional Council is to meet tomorrow at the residence of former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to primarily discuss the performance and progress of the Independent Commissions. An announcement by the Director Parliamentary Communications Division Shan Wijetunge said that PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa and other ex-officio members would attend. The current administration under Prez Rajapaksa has not made more..

Apr 22 (AD) The Sri Lankan chef from the Italian cruise ship MSC Magnifica, Anura Bandara Herath, who was facilitated by the Navy to come ashore to Sri Lanka on 6th April and two other persons left for their homes yesterday (21) after completion of their quarantine period at the Boossa Naval Quarantine Centre. Responding to requests made through social media by a Sri Lankan crew member of the international cruise ship MSC Magnifica, SL Navy with the assistance of SLPA, more..

Apr 22 (EN) Sri Lanka's tourism industry is bracing for a year long downturn with the Coronavirus crisis coming on top of a hit from Easter Sunday attacks in April 2019, but there were tentative bookings for next year already, officials said. Sri Lanka Hotel Association, Chairman, Sanath Ukwatte said two crises coming on top of each other had hit the industry but it had gone trough bad times earlier and somehow recovered. more..