Jan 28 (Island) China will provide financial assistance and technical support for establishing three new seismic stations in the country, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said. With the new Chinese additions SL will have seven seismic stations. Amaraweera told journalists yesterday that there were currently four seismic stations at Pallekele, Buddhangala, Mahakanadarawa and Hakmana. “China has pledged to provide us with three more fully equipped seismic centres. more..

Jan 28 (TM) Power Minister Gamini Lokuge said that the relevant authorities have not accepted the resignation letter handed over by CEB Chairman M.M.C. Ferdinando on 26 Jan. Lokuge said that they have not accepted Ferdinando’s resignation. CEB Engineers’ Union (CEBEU) earlier called upon the authorities to immediately remove Ferdinando, claiming that his actions are rooted in protecting more..

Jan 28 (DM) Brother of PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, Minister Chamal Rajapaksa admitted that the PM had undergone a surgery which is why he was unable to attend a public event in Gampola today. The Daily Mirror reported on Wednesday that PM Rajapaksa had undergone a spinal surgery at the Nawaloka Hospital earlier this week and was under rest. However this was denied by Minister Namal Rajapaksa who said yesterday that media reports of his father undergoing a surgery were untrue more..

Jan 28 (Island) Four men riding two motorcycles tried to shoot an ambulance driver opposite the Panadura Hospital yesterday. However, he had escaped unharmed. Police claim that the driver of the ambulance had tipped off the Walana based Anti-Vice Strike Force about 45 kilos of heroin being transported in a van that belonged to the army. The attempt on his life was an act of revenge, investigators believe. The ambulance driver had come to the Panadura Hospital more..

Jan 28 (Island) It would be difficult to increase the number of people who receive booster shots if the govt did not address the growing anti- vaccine sentiments among the people, head of Public Health Inspectors’ Union (PHIU) Upul Rohana said. He said that at the beginning of the pandemic anti-vaccine sentiments had been rare among the people and that the overwhelming majority of the people wanted to get vaccinated. more..

Jan 28 (FT) If SL is compared to a ship, Gotabaya, the captain who navigates it can be considered to be a novice who has no experience at all about seafaring. He took the helm of the ship not when the sea was calm, but at a time when the ship had drifted away into a zone of extremely violent tempest, a situation generally avoided by seafarers. Then he abstained from seeking advice of experienced people in propelling the ship out of the violent zone to a calm area; instead, more..

Jan 28 (AD) The Puttalam High Court has rejected the bail application filed by Attorney-at-Law Hejaaz Hizbullah, who was arrested under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). The bail appeal was taken up before Puttalam High Court Judge Kumari Abeyratne today (28). Meanwhile the Attorney General recently informed the Appeals Court that the department would not object to the revision application put forward by the incarcerated lawyer seeking to be released on bail. more..

Jan 28 (FT) The plan made public on the first anniversary of the 43 Brigade devotes 32 pages to the immediate response to the crisis (entitled Rescue) and 26 pages to long-term solutions (entitled Thrive), signifying the greater weight assigned to the immediate crisis response. The document is presented as an “initial set of ideas which will lead to a social discourse that brings about a progressive shift in both politics as well as policy formulation.” more..

Jan 28 (EN) CEB will pay 36 rupees a unit to bulk customers who generate their own power in peak hours in a bid to avoid power cuts. The CEB will buy electricity from bulk customers with generators between 0530h to 1830h in the day time and the night peak from 1830h-2230h. The amount will be set off against the next months bill. The scheme will not apply from 2230h to 0530h block. Energy metres are already at the premises of generator owners who have joined the self-generation scheme more..

Jan 28 (EN) Sri Lanka has no plans to go for a lockdown or movement restrictions, but health authorities would have to rethink this if COVID-19 continues to spread, an official said after the country recorded over 900 COVID-19 cases for a second day running on Thursday. With Thursday’s 942 infections, total cases in SL have reached 607,104, with 14,705 patients receiving treatment in hospitals or at home. more..

Jan 28 (AD) One individual has died while at least 09 others sustained injuries after a bus fell down a precipice in the area of Batalgala on Salankanda-Hatton main road this morning. Critically injured passengers have been rushed to the Dickoya Base Hospital for treatment. The incident took place while transporting a group of employees attached to a private company in Hatton Town. Police suspect that the vehicle veered off the road after the speeding bus driver had lost control over the steering. more..

Jan 28 (DN) A security guard at a residential compound in the Al Waab area of Doha, was shot late on Wednesday evening, after allegedly requesting a young man’s ID upon entry, residents of the compound informed Doha News. Witnesses said that the shooter was a young Qatari man who attempted to enter the compound, together with a female passenger in the same vehicle, but was denied entry by the security guard for not presenting his ID. The alleged murderer then reportedly more..

Jan 28 (EN) Delays in power sector reforms by successive Sri Lankan govts and strong resistance for new plants have resulted in the island nation’s ongoing power crisis, industry analysts said. Sri Lanka has been facing announced and unannounced power cuts in recent weeks. Public Utilities Commission of SL (PUCSL), the electricity sector regulator, on Thursday, provided some temporary relief to the public by rejecting more..

Jan 28 (DM) Following the information-gathering operation carried out within the Colombo Municipal Council area recently to identify temporary residents and other establishments, the police have decided to extend its operation to other areas of the Western Province as well. Western Province Senior DIG Deshabandu Thennakoon told Daily Mirror that police currently are in the process of registering temporary residents and those who failed to provide accurate information during recent operation. more..

Jan 28 (AF) Organic Fertilizer Project at SL Air Force Regiment Training School Vanni, handed over its first produced organic fertilizer stock of 10 Metric Tons to the Ceylon Fertilizer Company Limited (Lak Pohora) today in view of strengthening the Govt’s organic fertilizer production drive on the directives of the Commander of the SL Air Force, Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana. The entire production process of Organic Fertilizer Project at SL Air Force Regiment Training School Vanni is more..

Jan 28 (AD) The Foreign Minister of Turkey, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu arrived in Sri Lanka today for a one-day official visit. Accompanied by a delegation of 13 officials, the Turkish foreign minister arrived reached the BIA early this morning. State Minister Tharaka Balasuriya and Ambassador of Turkey to Sri Lanka accorded a warm welcome to Mr. Çavuşoğlu and the Turkish officials upon arrival. The delegation is scheduled to leave the island later today after concluding the visit. more..

Jan 28 (DM) Two persons have been arrested by the wildlife officials after two wild elephants were found dead in paddy fields in Tirappane and Bakamuna. The Tirappane Police have commenced investigations following a tip-off that a wild elephant between the age of 18 and 20 was found dead in a paddy field at Orukmankulam in Tirappane on Thursday. Gunshot wounds were found on the head of the dead wild elephant. The owner of the paddy field where the dead elephant was found more..

Jan 28 (DM) Colombo Chief Magistrate Buddhika Ragala today ordered to release Minister Johnston Fernando and two others from three corruption cases following the Bribery Commission's decision to withdraw the charges. Bribery Commission had filed corruption cases against Minister Johnston Fernando, former Lak Sathosa Chairman Eraj Fernando and Minister’s former Private Secretary Raj Mohideen Sakeer for more..

Jan 28 (TM) According to data compiled by the Public Finance website, powered by Verité Research, SL has been downgraded five times since December 2015 from BB- to CC by Fitch Ratings. SL was downgraded to B+ from BB- in Feb 2016 and in Dec 2018, and was once again downgraded to B. However, the latter downgrade had taken place at a faster pace. Accordingly, the third downgrade took place during the month of April 2020 to B- while the fourth downgrade took place more..

Jan 28 (DN) The distribution of cricket equipment commenced this morning in Colombo, under the patronage of Minister of Youth and Sports Namal Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Shammi Silva, Vice President Ravin Wickramaratne, President of Schools Cricket Association Thilak Waththuhewa, Executive Committee Members of SLC Sujeewa Godaliyedda, and Samantha Dodanwela. Deputy President of the Schools Cricket Association Oshara Panditharathna more..

Jan 28 (CI) In a low-scoring thriller between two Asian sides, it was Afghanistan who pipped SL to set up an Under-19 World Cup semi-final date with England. Defending 134, Afghanistan were on top in the second innings when SL were reduced to 43 for 7, but a 69-run eighth-wicket stand between Dunith Wellalage and Raveen de Silva gave SL a sniff off a back-door win. However, Afghanistan's legspinner Izharulhaq Naveed more..

Jan 28 (DN) SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne said the govt has been misled by the wrong policies of removing chemical fertilizers from commercial agriculture. He said the SJB has already planned to uplift the value added agriculture at commercial level using chemical fertilizer under a future SJB govt. He said that the wrong policies pursued by this govt manipulated the economy, and as a result the entire country is now facing an unprecedented crisis and the people are unable to live without more..

Jan 28 (DM) SJB MP Champika Ranawaka today alleged that there were plans to punish him and strip his civic rights by summoning him before the Special PCoI. "We gave evidence before the Presidential Commission on Political Victimisation. This new commission has been appointed to implement the recommendations and decisions made by the previous commission. This was done to punish us and strip our civic rights," he said. He said this to the media after making a statement before more..

Jan 28 (DN) SL women’s cricket team skipper Chamari Atapattu always believes leadership never build up any pressure to play the game and always like to more focus on her batting to build up good innings. The left hand opener Atapattu gave her good leadership to win the championship of the Commonwealth qualifier tournament which concluded last Monday in Malaysia. As a team we played really well to more..

Jan 28 (DM) The International Trade Administration Agency under the United States (U.S.) Department of Commerce (DoC) has launched an investigation into certain steel nails imports from Sri Lanka and a few other countries violating anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) laws, according to a notice published on Federal Register this week. The petitions were filed on December 30, 2021 by the largest steel nail producer of U.S.Mid Continent Steel & Wire, Inc. more..

Jan 28 (FT) For the 11th consecutive year, MTI Consulting (via their Corporate Finance practice), in partnership with Daily FT, Daily Mirror and Sunday Times, has concluded the MTI CEO Business Outlook Study, collectively outlining the SL business community’s perception for the state of business in 2022. Supplemented by MTI’s experience as a thought leadership-oriented organisation, the annual survey collated and analysed the perceptions of over 100 SL business leaders about more..

Jan 28 (TM) Health Ministry’s Legal Division is currently studying the possibility of formulating a programme to levy fines from and on those who do not obtain the booster third dose of the US-German-manufactured Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine. This was confirmed by Health Ministry Communications Director, Dr. Hemantha Herath, who said that it was being considered due to the rising number of Covid-19 infections. more..

Jan 28 (AD) Sri Lanka Customs has detected 16,000 kilograms of illegally imported beetroot concealed inside a shipment of potatoes that had arrived from Pakistan. Customs officers at the Gray Line 2 container inspection yard under the Central Cargo Examination Division of SL Customs today inspected two suspicious refrigerated containers imported into Sri Lanka from Pakistan. The two containers were ordered by a company based in Wattala from a company in India. more..

Jan 28 (TM) The board of directors of the Trinco Petroleum Terminal Pvt. Ltd., the subsidiary company established for the joint development of 61 oil tanks at the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm by SL and India, has been announced. Chaired by Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) chairman Sumith Wijesinghe, the board of directs consist of Prof. Prabhath Samarasinghe, Attorney-at-Law Bhupathi Kahathuduwa and Eng. Dhammika Mallikarachchi. Meanwhile, Lanka Indian Oil Corporation more..

Jan 28 (DM) Court of Appeal today ordered the Attorney General to submit a report regarding the death of 7 elephants near the Hiriwadunna reserve in Habarana in 2019. The CA made this order when a writ petition filed by Centre for Environmental Justice was taken up for support. CA two-judge-bench comprising Justice Mohammed Laffar and Justice S.U.B. Karaliyadde fixed the petition for support on March 29. more..

Jan 28 (TC) Paul Farbrace has turned down the SL men's head coach role to remain with Warwickshire. Farbrace, the director of cricket at Edgbaston, was offered a deal which would have seen him return to the position he left in 2014. The 54-year-old was only appointed by Warwickshire in 2019, following the departure of Ashley Giles to the ECB, but has already enjoyed success in the West Midlands. Last year, the county won the County Championship title for the first time in nine years, more..

Jan 28 (CT) Contempt of Court charges filed against the Jayalath twins, Rohitha and Rohana, were read out to them before High Court Judge Priyantha Fernando, yesterday. They have been charged with violating an injunction issued against them by the Colombo Commercial High Court. They have been accused of rendering the songs Sundariye and Piyamanne during a programme aired on a private television station on 31 Dec last year, despite the injunction imposed on them. more..

Jan 29 (CT) The 2022 Independence Day would be celebrated in an environment of a unique economic crisis never experienced by any previous govt since 1948. To millions of people in this country even one meal a day has become a luxury. Economic misery rules and the rulers are scapegoating the pandemic for causing it. That the pandemic exacerbated the misery is never questioned, but the damage done to the economy by two years of faulty economic policies coupled with a gross underestimation more..

Jan 29 (CT) There are many organisations involved in environmental protection. These organisations in varying ways intervene against the state and private encroachment to land or resources affecting the community that has become a usual practice associated with market-based development strategies. The conventional ideologies and habitus were invariably against the human intervention destroying or polluting nature and misusing the state mechanism. more..

Jan 29 (DM) The 1962 Coup d’etat conspiracy had three noteworthy aspects. Firstly the architects of the conspiracy wanted a bloodless coup. The planning of the coup was done with the objective of avoiding bloodshed. Important people were to be either detained or have their movement restricted for specific periods of time but would not have suffered summary execution. It was this desire to avert bloodshed that more..

Jan 29 (GV) A common theme running through this year’s Colomboscope, entitled Language is Migrant, is the enduring consequences of SL’s civil war as seen through the eyes of several young artists based in the north and east. As part of several exhibitions spread across many venues across the city, they explore what is was like to live under bombardment, siege and multiple displacements through drawings, paintings, sculpture, embroidery, videos, documentaries, photographs and more..

Jan 29 (DM) In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear that the capitalist global market economic system is failing. This system has failed because it did not bring about social justice but instead promoted I, ME and MY egocentric policy which gave priority to selfishness, self-centredness and self-interest. Even in communist countries before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, there was little or no socialism. Instead, the ruling class used their power to make themselves wealthy more..