Oct 29 (TM) National Plant Quarantine Service (NPQS) has emphasised that it has sole authority to carry out quality testing on fertiliser to be imported into SL and that no fertiliser can be imported based on the tests carried out by any other institution. This statement comes against a backdrop where the Govt has agreed to send the organic fertiliser samples from the China-based Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group, which have been more..

Oct 29 (Island) The US is keen to further strengthen defence relations with Sri Lanka while calling for a probe into alleged accountability issues. Army Commander General Shavendra Silva, who is also the Chief of Defence Staff, has been blacklisted as an unwelcome visitor to the US. In line with the US strategy, SL Navy this week took delivery of Douglas Munro, the second Hamilton Class High Endurance Cutter formerly of the US Coast Guard at the U.S. Coast Guard Base in Seattle, Washington. more..

Oct 29 (TM) Human Rights Commission of SL (HRCSL), which is still carrying out its investigations over incidents at the Welikada and A'pura Prisons which involve former Prison Management and Prisoners’ Rehabilitation State Minister Lohan Ratwatte, will refrain from giving recommendations in its report owing to the matter pending before the Supreme Court (SC). HRCSL Investigation Officer Sulari Liyanagama said that the HRCSL is still recording statements from relevant parties more..

Oct 29 (TM) The Agriculture Ministry has requested permission from Prez Rajapaksa to import agrochemicals, such as pesticides and fungicides required for selected crops, in limited quantities. Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage said that permission was sought for the importation of a limited number of pesticides and fungicides to be applied to crops, such as potato and onion, as they are susceptible to more..

Oct 29 (CT) A range of anti-govt protests will be launched to coincide with the party’s plan to revive UNP affiliated bodies including trade unions, The UNP’s general Secretary Palitha Range Bandara said while pledging to follow UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s instructions to party officials to immediately start bolstering all organisations affiliated to the party. He also added that all mass organisations including professional organisations, university teachers’ forums, more..

Oct 29 (Island) Minister Johnston Fernando yesterday declined to reveal the names of Opposition MPs who were planning to support the govt, but confirmed that there would be a change in party compositions in Parliament. Responding to journalists’ queries, minister said: “I do not want to give away names. Some Opposition MPs have contacted us and expressed their willingness to join the govt.” Asked to give an exact number of Opposition MPs talking with govt to switch more..

Oct 29 (CT) A decisive meeting was held last evening between Prez Rajapaksa and party leaders in the Govt with the participation of PM on the Yugadanavi Power Plant deal and other issues. Prez requested Finance Minster Basil Rajapaksa to report on possible amendments to the Yugadanavi agreement based on concerns raised at the meeting and how those changes can be implemented if they are required. more..

Oct 29 (MFA) Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris called on the Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle on 26 Oct. Minister recalling that the SL Parliament came into being almost as an exact replica of the Westminster Parliament, stated that SL is keen on strengthening of the bonds between the two legislatures. He added that SL is considering reforms to its legislative institutions and there is a great deal of discussion on reviving the bicameral legislature that existed prior to 1972. more..

Oct 29 (Island) Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage yesterday said as a govt they had failed to market the concept of organic fertiliser. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Environment should have played a bigger role in promoting the going green campaign, he said. The minister said the two crucial ministers had done virtually nothing to promote organic agriculture. He added that 70% of the chemical fertiliser was wasted due to overuse. Answering questions at the WEBex more..

Oct 29 (TM) CEB United Trade Union (TU) Alliance will be engaging in an islandwide protest today, urging the Govt of SL to immediately suspend the sale of 40% of the shares held by the Govt in the Yugadanavi liquefied natural gas (LNG) Power Plant to US-based energy company New Fortress Energy Inc. “We will be launching an islandwide protest at 12 noon tomorrow (29) where we will also sign a petition and hand it over to the CEB. more..

Oct 29 (FT) SL’s plunge into a catastrophe is becoming an inevitable historic reality. The way the ruling party and the Opposition work contributes to confirm this reality. It can be said that all regulatory checks and balances have collapsed. The most frightening aspect evident in this crisis is that the Head of State is a novice who does not seem to know the governing traditions that he is required to uphold. No matter how powerful the presidency is, there are things that the incumbent more..

Oct 29 (FT) The country is facing the worst financial crisis, lacking finances to import basic foods and oil, with massive loan repayments pending. The situation has forced the Govt to request India for $ 500 million loan for oil imports. When tenders were closed for coal supply to Norochcholai power plant, of four tenders, bids were received only for two, while two were without bidders, with suppliers doubting the country’s ability to finance. Recently, Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest woman more..

Oct 29 (DN) PM Mahinda Rajapaksa has informed Chinese Ambassador to SL Qi Zhenhong that the Government has decided not to accept or re-test the stock of Chinese organic fertilizers awaiting clearance to reach the country, Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage revealed. PM MRajapaksa who met the Chinese Ambassador on Thursday at Temple Trees has informed the latter that the Govt cannot accept the said stock, but is willing to purchase fertilizer stocks which meet the expected standards, more..

Oct 29 (AD) The minimum Z-scores required for the university admission for the academic year 2020/2021 based on the 2020 G.C.E. A/L Exam were released today. Chairman of the UGC Senior Prof. Sampath Amarathunga stated this addressing a media briefing. The cut-off marks to select the courses of study in universities in respect of each district and detailed information of course selection based on the A/L Examination in 2020 can also be accessed through the official website more..

Oct 29 (DM) The Coordinator of Save the Pearls organization Mohamed Sulthan has informed the Fort Magistrate's Court that he was tortured in order to implicate Attorney-at-law Hejaaz Hizbullah. Making a statement in person and through his lawyer, Sulthan informed the Court of the torture and named three officers of the Terrorist Investigations Department as his torturers. He was arrested for allegedly teaching extremism more..

Oct 29 (TM) Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has issued a statement saying that it is deeply shocked and disturbed by the appointment of the latest Presidential Task Force (PTF) mandated to implement the One Country, One Law concept, including the drafting of a law to give effect to it, headed by Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thero, and called on the Govt to immediately rescind the relevant Gazette notification. The statement read that the appointment of the Task Force more..

Oct 29 (EN) Central Bank has further tightened surrender requirements for foreign exchange earned by exporters, specifying allowed deductions after the credibility of the soft-peg its paper money with the US dollar was lost due to money printing. Money printing has also pushed down rupee interest rates below domestic credit demand, which is coming from a large budget deficit leading to a steady erosion of reserves when defending the peg against printed money. CB has specified, imported inputs, loan repayments, travel costs. more..

Oct 29 (AD) Ongoing interprovincial travel restrictions will be lifted at 4 a.m. on Oct 31, says the PMD. Prez Rajapaksa, who chaired the virtual meeting of Special Committee on COVID-19 Control today, noted that the decision was taken with the aim of maintaining the people’s daily lives under the new normalization. During this meeting, it was revealed that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the education of school children has been severely disrupted and considering this situation more..

Oct 29 (DM) British govt is yet to issue a clearance for SL nationals to enter the UK without a mandatory quarantine or the necessary PCR tests, stating Sri Lankans still had to follow the category of 'people who do not qualify as fully vaccinated for travel to the UK. While the list will be updated on Nov. 1, those who wish to travel to UK before that have to take a COVID-19 test, three days prior travel to the UK, book and pay for day 2 and day 8 of COVID-19 PCR tests, which is to be taken after more..

Oct 29 (AD) Colombo District Court has issued an order preventing the removal of Raja Collure as the chairman of the Communist Party of SL. On October 24, the Communist Party announced that Raja Collure was removed from his position as the Chairman of the party with immediate effect. Raja Collure is also the current Governor of the North Western Province. He was recently in the spotlight after claiming that he is considering slashing the November salary of teachers in the province more..

Oct 29 (AD) The payment for the organic fertilizer consignment shipped by Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co. Ltd. was halted due to an interim injunction issued by the court, the People’s Bank in SL said today, in response to the move by the Embassy of China in Colombo to blacklist the state-owned financial institution. Action pertaining to the payments will accordingly be taken based on the future court decisions, People’s Bank stated more..

Oct 29 (AD) All parties that are not representing the present Parliament will join the UPFA by next month to make it a powerful political force, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said. He also said all efforts will be made to build the UPFA into a powerful political force by bringing together members and non-members of all parties and political groups in Parliament.Minister made these comments while speaking to the SLFP seat organisers and district organisers. more..

Oct 29 (EN) Stocks touched a fresh record closing high on Friday, but foreign investors sold around US$ 2 million worth shares, a day after Moody’s rating downgrade near to default grade, brokers said. Foreign investors, on Friday, sold a net of 403.1 million rupees’ worth of shares. The market has suffered a net the foreign outflow of over 45.5 billion rupees so far this year. Moody’s Investors Service downgraded SL’s sovereign rating to Caa2 from Caa1, taking the country’s credit more..

Oct 29 (CT) Nano Scientist Prof. Nilwala Kottegoda believes that it is the appropriate time for SL to make nano nitrogen fertiliser using the same technology because the Govt owns the patent for nano nitrogen fertiliser production. She was responding to a query from a journalist at a Media briefing conducted yesterday, and she said when the study on this product was successful for the first time, it could not be manufactured more..

Oct 30 (DM) We are a battered people battered by a variety of Covid-19 strains, by the RAT racketeer, PCR hucksters and quarantine hotel sharks, by Ali Baba and the 225 colour-washed thieves hand in glove with some rotten civil administrators assisted by their scoundrels in the local govts, by the daylight robbers of essential goods like rice, sugar, coconut oil, garlic, gas and what not. Battered by suicide terrorist attacks. Battered by people who steal the wealth of the nation & hide it in off-shore more..

Oct 30 (DM) When the leaders of the govt say farmers’ protests against the shortage of fertilizer were not spontaneous but engineered by the Opposition parties, especially the SJB and JVP, do they really mean it? President Gotabaya Rajapaksa during a visit to an Organic Fertilizer Processing Centre at Udubaddawa in Kuliyapitiya on Oct 23 said that some sections of the society provoked the farmers and now they are demanding chemical fertilizers. more..

Oct 30 (DM) Turkey has urged SL to remain vigilant on the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), which was accused of being involved in the 2016 failed coup attempt in Turkey. As Turkey celebrates its Republic Day this month, the Daily Mirror spoke to Turkish Ambassador in Colombo R. Demet Sekercioglu on a wide range of matters including on the threat posed by FETO. Q: As Turkey celebrates its Republic Day this month how do you more..

Oct 30 (DM) One of the darkest moments of the long war in SL was the eviction of the Northern Muslims. In Oct 1990, the LTTE in an act of ethnic cleansing forced the entire Muslim population of the North to leave behind their homes, assets, livelihoods, and their way of life itself, in a matter of hours if not days. This horrendous disruption of a community haunts the North to this day even as their return after the war has been fraught with problems. Some research on predicament of this vulnerable community more..

Oct 30 (DM) World religious leaders are often proclaiming that as part of our spirituality we need to get actively and effectively involved in the climate change battle which could have catastrophic consequences for the human race, nature and its extraordinary biodiversity. In Glasgow tomorrow, a summit meeting of world leaders will be held to discuss urgent ways of tracking this issue. The Daily Mirror’s international affairs expert Ameen Izzadeen in his column yesterday said, more..

Oct 30 (DM) As soon as SL rejected the consignment of organic fertiliser from China, India took immediate steps to come to SL’s rescue. In response, Govt of India sent the first consignment of 3.1 million litres of nano nitrogen fertilizer from Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO) to be sent to the Eastern Province for the cultivation of maize and paddy. However, shocking revelations by several opposition Ministers more..

Oct 30 (Island) Malcolm Cardinal Ranjit at St Anthony’s Church, Kochchikade, which suffered the worst of the violent massacre of persons at prayer on Easter Sunday 2019, again raised the issue of the left-to-slumber PCOI recommendations which, after delay, were passed on to the AG. No action as yet. The Editor of The Island of October 22 took up the Cardinal’s cry and even went to the extent of naming a name. Nothing done because of political saving of the govt. The consequence for more..

Oct 30 (CT) It might not be the case in America. However in Australia, if the image of a politician is tarnished with corruption allegations, business deals or any other abuses, that person should not be appointed as a Minister, or he/she should resign when those are pointed out or investigated. Australia is undoubtedly a more mature and a reliable democracy than America. Especially in the case of public funds or money earned through dubious means, even in the private sector, more..

Oct 30 (Island) The rationale for banning agro-chemicals in May 2021 and going all organic was mostly the claimed (but false) poisoning of the food chain by chemicals. It was well known that organic farming even at its best can only supply a tiny fraction of any nation’s food requirements, unless drastic steps are taken (like halving the population and forcing all to be vegetarians. Today, having realized the impossibility of providing the vast amount of organic fertilizer more..

Oct 30 (CT) When the then Govt, without following due tender procedures, accepted an unsolicited commercial proposal made by the agents of the Chinese Govt in 2006 to build the now commissioned US$ 1,346 million ($ 1.346 billion) 900 Mega Watt coal fired power plant at Norochcholai, based on papers presented in Parliament in 2016, neither the CEB Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) nor other CEB unions protested. In 2006, Govt was headed by the current PM more..

Oct 30 (CT) On the day it completed three years of President Maithripala Sirisena arbitrarily swearing in his arch rival Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister of the country in a bid to unconstitutionally sack incumbent PM Ranil Wickremesinghe on 26 October, a gazette notification was issued appointing a Presidential Task Force titled One Country –One Law under the chairmanship of Ven. Gnanasara Thera. more..

Oct 30 (CT) Pakistan ‘A’ had scored 70 runs for one wicket against SL ‘A’ at close on day two in the first 4 Day Cricket encounter at the Pallekele Stadium in Kandy yesterday. Continuing from their overnight 61/6 in 22 overs, SL ‘A’ were bowled out for 141 runs in 46 overs. The tail enders added a face saving 80 runs on day two. Vishwa Fernando (30), Lasith Embuldeniya (22) and Suminda Lakshan (17) helped build the innings. Right arm paceman Naseem Shah claimed 5 wickets for 53 runs. more..

Oct 30 (Island) A meeting between Prez Rajapaksa and the leaders of the SLPP constituents ended inconclusively on Thursday. Among the participants were PM Rajapaska and Minister Basil Rajapaksa. Nobody expected any positive outcome of the meeting because the govt has crossed the point of no return where its questionable energy deal with New Fortress is concerned. Claiming that some more agreements remained to be signed as regards the Yugadanavi power plant as well as more..

Oct 30 (ST) There were 400 wild elephants relishing the tender grass while the babies gambolled and the young bulls flexed their muscles in the not too distant past. Now there are 2! This year, the Great Elephant Gathering at Minneriya dubbed by Lonely Planet as one of the 10 greatest wildlife wonders of the world, is no more. Killed by irrational decisions and shortsighted policies. “People vote but wild elephants don’t. more..