Feb 21 (TM) Akin to a second rate student, cramming at the 11th hour for an examination, seeking only to turn in a third-rate performance sufficient enough to ensure the bare minimum that is required to pass, SL Govts too are renowned for their commitment to mediocrity and indifference to excellence. Hence, it should come as no surprise that this work ethic should permeate its approach to the discourse on human rights and the high stakes minefield of appeasing various int'l actors more..

Feb 21 (DM) There is a trend against the media, where Govts, who do not find a print or electronic telecast to be in agreement with their political thoughts and beliefs, have architect /author arrested or even, abducted and subject to intimidation and harassment. Ruling politicians expect the media to fall in line with the ideology of the powers that be or face the unpleasant consequences, earlier at the hands of hired thugs, lately, law enforcement authorities. more..

Feb 21 (ST) Investigative TV journalist Chamuditha Samarawickrama must certainly have tread on many corns and made many enemies with his ‘Truth with Chamuditha’ YouTube interviews. In his brave quest to ferret out the truth with his bold, persistent line of questioning and expose shocking scandals and cover-ups in high places and in public lives, making dangerous enemies with a bent for violence, may rank as an occupational hazard in SL. Repugnant terror attack occurred around 2.10am, more..

Feb 21 (FT) COVID-19 detections over the weekend rose to 2,504 with 1,231 persons testing positive for COVID-19 yesterday. All patients detected yesterday were from the New Year cluster. The previous day, 1,271 persons from the New Year cluster and two persons from the Prisons cluster tested positive for COVID-19. 5,816 PCR tests and 2,616 rapid antigen tests were conducted on Saturday. SL’s total COVID-19 detections has risen to 636,837. This includes 531,148 from the New Year cluster, more..

Feb 21 (FT) Ansell, the world leader in safety solutions, is stepping up investments and initiatives in SL as a centre of excellence in engineering, technology, research and development, for its fast growing global operations and sales. Employing 6,000, Ansell is also SL’s largest multinational corporation and with two units Sri Lanka is already home for Ansell’s second biggest plant for surgical products manufacturing more..

Feb 21 (Island) PM of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong’s recent remark on criminal charges against the Indian legislators has made the Modi govt see red, according to media reports. In a parliamentary speech, highlighting the steady decline in Indian political life since the demise of Jawaharlal Nehru, PM Loong has, quoting from a report, said every second member of the Indian Parliament faces criminal charges. Going by the context in which he made that remark, he was not trying to more..

Feb 21 (CT) Kandy Sports Club outclassed CR and FC by 45 points (7 tries, 5 conversions) to 26 points (3 tries, 2 conversions, 1 penalty try) in their Inter Club rugby encounter at Nittawela Rugby Stadium yesterday. At the short whistle Kandy led 33/12. The game was played at a very lively pace with Kandy three quarters dominating proceedings. Buddhima Piyarathna had a grand game, touching down 4 tries, and also his defense too was rock solid. He was well supported by Tharinda Ratwatte, more..

Feb 21 (CI) Kusal Mendis rediscovered his sublime touch as Sri Lanka's misfiring batting order belatedly emerged from Australia's stranglehold with a consolation five-wicket victory at the MCG to avoid a series whitewash. Chasing 155 in the fifth and final match, SL were wobbling at 71 for 4 after all-too familiar sloppy dismissals before Mendis combined with skipper Dasun Shanaka in a match-winning more..

Feb 21 (CT) Sri Lanka U-19 skipper Dunith Wellalage was the hero with the bat, guiding Jaffna to a 37 run win over Kandy in the final of the SLC National Super League 50-Over Tournament on Saturday. The teenage prodigy squared his shoulders in taking on a threatening Kandy attack in carrying his side from 190 for six to 258 off 48.3 overs. It was a remarkable ‘Player of the Match’ hurrah feat by the youngster, who struck 5 fours and a six in his 87-ball 74 run in stopping Kandy’s more..

Feb 21 (DM) Claiming that the govt had failed to implement law against the perpetrators of the Easter Sunday attacks, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said perpetrators of the attacks would be produced in court and punished as per under a future NPP govt as claimed by the Cardinal. Speaking at the NPP Puttalam District Convention, he said Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith had said that it was only under a new govt that the law would be implemented against the culprits of more..

Feb 21 (Island) Sri Lanka girls’ team comprising of Dinara de Silva, Arushi Thomas, Gehansa Methnadi and Oneli Samarawickrama beat their Nepali counterparts 3-0 to conclude the campaign of the fourteen and Under ITF World Junior Tennis Asia/Oceania pre-qualifying round unbeaten at the SL Tennis Association courts. In the two singles matches, Arushi Thomas (beat Adya Poudyal 6-3, 6-1) and Dinara de Silva (beat Sqnira Thapa 6-2, 6-3) beat their Nepali counterparts in straight sets. more..

Feb 21 (DN) Sri Lanka has named uncapped off-spinner Ashian Daniel in a 19-man squad for the upcoming Indian Test series which will commence on March 4 in Mohali, India. The first India match will be SL's 300th test match while the second test scheduled to be played in Bengaluru from March 12th which will be a day-night test game between two countries. Daniel, who celebrates his 21st birthday yesterday, was a former SL Under-19 cricketer from St. Joseph’s College and more..

Feb 21 (TM) Public Utilities Commission of SL (PUCSL) approved scheduled power cuts from today (21) on the request of the CEB due to inadequate electricity generation. PUCSL Chairman Janaka Ratnayake announced last night (20) that one-hour rotational power cuts will be imposed between 8.30 a.m. and 7.30 p.m. today in all areas except for the Southern Province and that three-hour power cuts will be imposed more..

Feb 21 (FT) COVID-19 vaccines were administered to 98,116 persons on Saturday and 78.32% of the country’s population has received at least one vaccine dose. As of 18 Feb, 65.42% of the total population had received the second dose. 28.75% of the population has received the booster dose as well. As of 17 Feb, 95.2% of the population over 20 years had received the first two vaccine doses and 43.12% had received the third dose. First dose coverage among the population over more..

Feb 21 (FT) DFCC Bank PLC has announced a profit before tax (PBT) of Rs. 4,326 million and a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs. 3,222 million for the year ended 31 December 2021. This compares with a PBT of Rs. 3,398 million and a PAT of Rs. 2,388 million in 2020. The Group recorded a PBT of Rs. 4,859 million and a PAT of Rs. 3,665 million for 2021 were also higher in comparison to 2020 performance of Rs. 3,944 million and Rs. 2,847 million respectively. more..

Feb 21 (EN) SL is currently facing its highest ever crude oil price in the local currency because of a steep depreciation in the rupee, Energy Minister Udaya Gammanpila said, though global prices are below the level when the Fed’s housing bubble collapsed in 2008. The global crude oil price was at 95 US dollars per barrel as of Feb 16 in the current bubble fired by Fed Chief Jerome Powell, much lower than the record price of US$ 147 more..

Feb 21 (FT) The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) said yesterday it has enabled local entities incorporated or established in Sri Lanka to issue and list foreign currency denominated shares in the main market segment (Diri Savi and Main Boards). This new financing option for local companies is a result of the new strategic plan the CSE launched in 2020. Having obtained necessary clearances from the Securities and Exchange Commission of SL (SEC) the Listing Rules and the Trading Rules of more..

Feb 21 (EN) State run Board of Investment (BOI) is to formulate an incentive package for Sri Lankans with foreign citizenship when they invest in the island nation, a BOI source said. “This is a new proposal. It comes after Prez Rajapaksa in his Independence Day speech called the SL diaspora to join hands to develop the country,” the sourse said. Prez Rajapaksa in his Feb 4 speech urged millions of Sri Lankans abroad to invest their savings in their home country as SL is facing its worst debt more..

Feb 21 (EN) MTI, a SL based management consultancy said it had prepared a 5-year strategic plan for the Regulatory Board of Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA), a multi-sector utility regulator. “Over the last 3 years we have been focusing on regional opportunities across East Africa – given the access to these markets from Asia and the Gulf,” Hilmy Cader, CEO of MTI Consulting said. MIT has over 25-years of experience in management consultancy in the fields of more..

Feb 21 (FT) CB Governor Nivard Cabraal is joining a select chorus for a hike in prices by State-controlled CPC. “Sri Lanka’s fuel price revision is now long overdue and petrol and diesel pump-prices are in some instance less than half of some countries in the region,” tweeted Cabraal with a table listing comparative fuel prices. Though convincing, the CB Chief however failed to compare consumer prices in those comparative countries whereas SL has begun to experience initial signs of hyper-inflation more..

Feb 21 (CT) Eighty (80) members of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), led by Mayor of Colombo Rosy Senanayake, have visited Jaffna in the last four days, a trip which had cost over Rs. 3.4 million. Internal records show the trip had been organised within a short period of two weeks, under the guise of a field visit on the invitation of the Valikamam (Southwest) PS, to conduct an awareness programme more..

Feb 21 (AD) The 49th Session of the UNHRC is scheduled to take place from 28 February to 1 April, 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland. During the Session the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet will present a written update on SL to the Council and there will be an Interactive Dialogue on SL on 3 March. Foreign Minister Prof G.L. Peiris will lead the SL Delegation to the 49th Session of the UNHRC, the Foreign Ministry said. During the visit the Foreign Minister will more..

Feb 21 (MoD) Defence Secretary Gen. Kamal Gunaratne said school teachers are shouldering a lion’s share in creating an intelligent and obedient future student generation for the nation-building process. “Teachers are the creators of the society”, he said adding “various facets of the society are being created based on your service and the guidance to the students”. General Gunaratne expressed these remarks while addressing a gathering of teachers and students at more..

Feb 21 (FT) The economy began 2022 with mixed results, as the manufacturing sector reported an uptick, whilst the service sector lagged, as per the Purchasing Managers’ index (PMI) compiled by the CB. The manufacturing sector entered the growth territory with marginal increase of 0.6 points reporting an index value of 58.7 compared to Dec 2021. However, the Services PMI fell to a declining zone as it decreased by 4.9 points more..

Feb 21 (DM) The national economy is increasingly feeling the brunt from the shortage of foreign currency to fuel economic activities. However, the Central Bank expressed confidence in securing enough funds to bolster reserves in the coming months. CB Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said that as a steady inflow of forex is expected in the near future, pressures on the economy will witness some level of easing, and Sri Lanka will avoid a debt default by all means. more..

Feb 21 (NIA) Officials from the High Commission of India accompanied by representatives from the Indian railway organization RITES and the Sri Lanka Railways travelled aboard an air-conditioned train [AC Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU)] on its successful trial run in Sri Lanka on 18 Feb 2022. This AC DMU had been supplied under a US$ 318 million Line of Credit (LoC) from India. The first AC DMU supplied under this LoC was put into operation on 9 Jan 2022. more..

Feb 21 (Island) Archbishop of Colombo Rt. Rev. Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has questioned the accountability on the part of the Attorney General’s Dept in the overall legal process that had so far failed to ensure justice for those killed and maimed in near simultaneous 2019 Easter Sunday suicide attacks. The terror attacks carried out by the National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ) killed 269 people and wounded over 500. more..

Feb 21 (FT) SL’s economics think-tank, Advocata Institute, in a video clip in Sinhala has suggested a seven-fold policy prescription to reset the economy now in a perilous state on all counts if authorities want to avoid IMF and go for their much-publicised homegrown solution. The story is narrated to the viewers by the communicator par excellence, Dhananath Fernando, who is versed in both Sinhala and English equally. Advocata Institute was built from scratch a few years back by more..

Feb 21 (FT) Lean management is less about providing the right answers than asking the right questions and exploring them by engaging everyone in experiments to learn through doing. And also, it is all about people and the way they use technology to eliminate waste. In the long run the only sustainable source of competitive advantage is your organisation’s ability to learn faster than your competition. So, throughout your lean journey continuous development of employees and more..

Feb 21 (DM) Sri Lanka Customs will repatriate the last batch of the controversial 263 container loads of garbage to the United Kingdom from the Colombo Port today. Accordingly, 45 containers of waste lying at the Colombo Port will be repatriated under the supervision of the Customs Social Protection Unit. The Customs in early 2019 detected the waste containers, which had been imported by falsely declaring them as extract metal from used mattresses for re-export purposes. more..

Feb 21 (AD) Two SL nationals have been killed when they were hit by a car while walking on the side of the road in Arad, Romania. Two SL men, employees of a paving company, were reportedly hit by a car while on their way home from shopping. One of victims was the father of two children, and the other leaves behind a wife who is about to give birth. It had been dark when the two workers were returning from the shop in the village of Horia to the boarding house where they were staying. more..

Feb 21 (DM) Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) said the United States govt will grant two maritime surveillance aircraft (Beechcraft 360ER) to the SL govt, free of charge, through the Foreign Military Sales Contract to be operated by SLAF. Responding to the Daily Mirror story titled “U.S Company to deliver Beechcraft King Air 360ER aircraft to SL”, Air Force Spokesman said the first aircraft will be delivered in late 2022 or early 2023 to SLAF. more..

Feb 21 (EN) Colombo Stock Exchange halted trading at around 1.45 pm as an index of liquid stocks plunged below 5% in intra-day trading. S&P SL 20 index fell 5.01%, after earlier recovering from a 4.8% fall. The broader All Share Index was down 4.45%. “Please note that the Market has been halted for 30 minutes due to the S&P SL20 index dropping over 5% from the previous close, as set out in SEC Directive dated 30th April 2020,” CSE said. “The halt will be lifted at 2.14pm.” more..

Feb 21 (DM) Former President Maithripala Sirisena said people were living happily during his tenure and there were no issues at that time. "We know that you have so many issues today. People in all parts of the country are facing these issues. The country is facing a huge economic crisis. Agricultural sector is in crisis. Farmers have no fertilizer for farming. We regret this situation," he said. The former Prez said he had developed close international relations with world leaders as they supported him. more..

Feb 21 (Island) TNA MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam said that he intended to make a statement in Parliament as regards an alleged abduction attempt in the Kalmunai police area recently. He said so when The Island sought his response to police headquarters denial of his claim regarding a group of intelligence personnel making an attempt on the evening of 17 Feb., to abduct Arul Gnanamurthi Nidarshan, more..

Feb 21 (Island) SL has sought Singaporean expertise in preparing laws relating to national security amidst both local and international calls to do away with existing anti-terrorism law, the Prevention of Terrorism Act passed in the 80s to fight the LTTE terrorists. Following a recent five-day visit undertaken by Justice Minister Ali Sabry, PC, to Singapore, on the invitation of the Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Law K. Shanmugam, the Justice Ministry stated in a media release: more..