Mar 2 (TM) Several Muslim organisations in a joint statement issued today condemned the recent demolition of some of the structures within the precincts of the Mosque and Shrine of Dafthar Jailani in Balangoda. “We strongly condemn the wanton destruction of parts of a centuries’ old mosque and shrine, and we are deeply dismayed by the inactivity of the govt in this regard,” statement noted. It further detailed that the significance more..

Mar 2 (EN) SL’s main All Share Price Index (ASPI) fell on Wednesday as concerns over an extended power cut and fuel shortage across the country crippling the whole economy amid weekly bills auction signaled possible tightening monetary policy ahead, brokers said. The (ASPI) closed 1.48% or 171.60 points at 11,406.34, falling from its highest close since February 22. “There is speculation on uncertainty and economic crisis. It is affecting the investor sentiments,” market analyst said. more..

Mar 2 (FF) SL’s apparel exports in January 2022 achieved the highest level for that month in the last five years as export earnings rose to $487.6 million, overtaking the $452 million recorded in January 2019, prior to the pandemic, by 8%. Growth over January 2021 export earnings was 23%. This performance demonstrates the industry’s underlying strength as it bounced back from the sustained shocks from the impact of the pandemic over the last 2 years, Joint Apparel Association Forum more..

Mar 2 (FT) INSEE Ecocycle, SL’s pioneer in industrial waste management, has inaugurated a state-of-the-art Pyrolysis Plant at its Puttalam Cement Plant, to convert industrial waste into valuable resources, thus supporting a circular economy. The newly opened, fully-capable Pyrolysis plant, which is equipped with cutting-edge technologies, marks an important milestone in INSEE Ecocycle’s sustainable waste management journey, as it provides a total waste more..

Mar 2 (TM) The first-ever inauguration ceremony of the Faculty of Medicine, Uni of Moratuwa, was held on Feb 24th, at the Civil Engineering Auditorium of the Uni. Vidyajyothi Prof. Janaka de Silva, the Chief Guest, delivered the inaugural lecture of the ceremony. The historic event was witnessed by Prof. N.D Gunawardena, the Vice-Chancellor of the Uni of Moratuwa, Prof Ranil Fernando, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Deans of the other Faculties as well as the academic and non-academic staff. more..

Mar 2 (DM) Prof. Arjuna de Silva, Chairman of the medical panel of the SLC will personally supervise, guide and monitor the fitness and skin fold level of Bhanuka Rajapaksa. The 30-year-old top order batter has missed being selected for the India tour after being found to have an excessive skin fold level. Prof. de Silva said, “I am a big fan of Bhanuka and will take all possible measures to ensure that he retains his fitness as per normal standard more..

Mar 2 (CT) Dr. Asela Gunawardena, speaking on relaxation of public and work activities, said funerals could be held adhering to Covid-19 prevention measures, without limiting crowds. Issuing guidelines on relaxation of public and work activities from yesterday (1) till 31 March 2022, the DGHS said in his circular that despite having achieved a significant control of the pandemic, the country was still at risk from escalation of the viral infection owing to cluster formations. more..

Mar 2 (TM) Claiming that the train services should be restricted in view of the current fuel crisis, the Locomotive Engine Operators’ Union (LEOU) has stated that the failure to do so would cause a disruption of the entire train service in the coming days. LEOU Secretary Indika Dodangoda said that due to the current fuel crisis, the Railways Department is not receiving fuel stocks properly. “Currently, the department has fuel stocks which would be sufficient only for two or three days. more..

Mar 2 (EN) Ceylon Chamber of Commerce called for an urgent end to the foreign exchange crisis which was leading to hurting industry and tourism. “The Chamber is of the view that these issues are all ramifications of the shortage of foreign exchange experienced by the country and believes urgently addressing the currency issue is the fastest way in which the power and energy issues can be tackled in the short term,” the CCC said. more..

Mar 2 (TM) Journalist Chamuditha Samarawickrama, whose residence recently came under attack from a hitherto unidentified gang, has been provided with police security, with officers being deployed for this purpose by the Victims Protection Division of the Police. Speaking to The Morning, Samarawickrama confirmed that he had been provided the security immediately following his conversation with Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) Deshabandu Tennakoon. more..

Mar 2 (Island) There was a high probability of anti COVID vaccines being affected due to power cuts, unless the places where they are stored have an uninterrupted power supply, Public Health Inspectors Union (PHIU), Upul Rohana said. Rohana said that refrigerator units at the MOH offices around the country did not operate during the power cuts. “Most of these institutions do not have generators. Even institutions that have generators are finding it hard to purchase fuel,” he said. more..

Mar 3 (DM) The main news items in yesterday’s Daily Mirror warned readers of 10-hour power cuts this month. It was in the backdrop of such power cuts of varying durations that prompted people to ask why certain areas in Colombo and the suburbs have been exempted from these power cuts while residents in other areas have been compelled to suffer in darkness. Where has the much-touted One country, one law concept gone? It reminds us of the dictum that some are more equal than others, more..

Mar 3 (DM) As per outcome preferences, there’s selectivity. In the here and now the poorer entity is the Ukrainian. No argument there. That’s a big story. It’s still not the entire story though. War is about or can be about a lot of things. A common enough reason for war that cuts across territory and time is profit. Those who stand to gain or lose, consequently, almost always locate themselves on this or that side in terms of interests to be achieved or squandered. more..

Mar 3 (DM) The following is an article compiled by a group of professionals headed by Prof. Rohan Samarajiva aimed at finding solutions to the island’s economic issues, how to improve on the existing debt management and deal with the dollar crisis. We are in the throes of an unprecedented crisis. No useful comparisons may be drawn from the 2001-02 period of negative economic growth. more..

Mar 3 (CT) Today, it is no secret that SL is bankrupt and people have been forced into dire straits. Queues for fuel are kilometers long and businesses across the country have come to a halt due to the shortage of fuel, as they are unable to get their goods to the market. People have lost access to chronic medications due to shortages or simply because they have lost their spending power as a result of inflation. Islandwide power cuts that last as long as 7 hours have essentially brought more..

Mar 3 (TM) As it has been extensively reported by the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) and many other sources, child abuse in Sri Lanka is quite widespread. While in recent years the making of complaints on child abuse has increased, the actual way of getting an effective remedy for these complaints with the view to helping the victims on the one hand and also to create deterrence against this obnoxious practice has not been adequately achieved. more..

Mar 3 (TM) The major challenges in the rattan manufacturing industry pertain to resources, markets, space and culture. The resources-related challenges are with regard to the shortage of raw materials, and the shortage of trained and adequate human resources (HR). The markets (local and foreign)-related challenges involve the increased cost of production, the increase in the prices of manufactured goods, & arrival of substitutes. more..

Mar 3 (CT) SL has two economic choices, foreign debt servicing or growth, not both, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) in a statement released yesterday said. Foreign debt servicing commitments are the mother of all evils currently crippling the economy. CCC’s statement comes in the backdrop that from yesterday SL has begun imposing daily, record, seven-and-a-half hour power cuts to preserve its spartan foreign exchange (FX) reserves, rather than use it to import more..

Mar 3 (Island) Many people around the world may have expected Russia to make short work of Ukraine, but the war is dragging on. It however is doubtful whether Moscow expected the invasion to be a walk in the park if months of preparation and the deployment of so many troops and sophisticated weapons systems are any indications. It is obviously not for propaganda purposes that a 64-km-long Russian military convoy is heading for Kyiv, which is very likely to be besieged soon. more..

Mar 3 (CT) The question for this month posed in English to me, is as follows; Question: At your age and with your background what made you take part in the demonstration by Tamil MPs recently opposite the President’s Office at Galle Face? Response: The urgency of our request! I organized an International Virtual Conference on Land Grabbing some time ago with International Experts taking part, apart from our own Senior Parliamentarian Hon’ Mr. Sambanthan and others. more..

Mar 3 (Island) Politicians are well known to be economical with the truth but our former prez Sirisena seems to have taken this exercise to dizzy heights never seen before! It is a shame that he does not seem to understand that by his actions he is disgracing the coveted position he once held. Though I may be repeating what many have stated before, I cannot help but writing this piece after watching a speech made by Sirisena at a recent function held in a church in Polonnaruwa. more..

Mar 3 (CT) The Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA) has received applications from developers for the construction of 144 power plants including mini hydropower plants since 2017, and although these applications have also been submitted to the CEB, there has been no progress to date, a report released by the Auditor General revealed. The application fee made for such purpose amounts to Rs 42,233,000, more..

Mar 3 (FT) COVID-19 vaccines were administered to only 16,752 persons on Tuesday and the first dose coverage in the country is 77.12%. The second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to 64.68% of the population and the third dose has been administered to 32.82% of the population. Vaccination coverage among the population over the age of 12 is 95.8% for the first dose and 80.3% for the second dose. Among the population over 20 years, 95.5% have received the second dose more..

Mar 3 (CT) India's recent clean sweep of SL has had major ramifications on the MRF Tyres ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings with attacking top-order batter Shreyas Iyer jumping a massive 27 spots in the latest rankings. His efforts helped him jump 27 places to 18th on the latest batter rankings, while team-mate Bhuvneshwar Kumar jumped three spots to 17th on the bowler rankings. Pathum Nissanka scored an impressive 75 in the second game of the India series and was rewarded with more..

Mar 3 (ST) At the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in India, Manju Wanniarachchi beat Wales’ Sean McGoldrick in the bantamweight division to secure the gold medal in boxing, a record after 72 years. But the euphoria lasted less than two weeks when the boxer was found guilty of a doping offence. Wanniarachchi admitted to taking medication from a practitioner in Kurunegala but wouldn’t admit to consuming more..

Mar 3 (FT) Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 case count rose to 647,699 following the detection of 751 COVID-19 patients yesterday. All patients detected yesterday were from the New Year cluster. This is the lowest daily COVID-19 detections have been since 18 January, when 672 persons tested positive for COVID-19 The previous day, 913 persons from the New Year cluster and one SL overseas arrival tested positive for COVID-19. 4,650 PCR tests and 2,669 RATs were conducted on Tuesday. more..

Mar 3 (DN) The 2nd Selection Trials for the Asian Games has been moved from its original venue, the Sugathadasa Stadium to the newly renovated Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium in Diyagama which is scheduled to be held on March 10 and 11. The 1st Selection Trials took place last February at the Sugathadasa Stadium and two more to follow before the final National Team selections of SL for the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou. The Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium sees its first event more..

Mar 3 (Island) Time was when Indian cricket feared their SL counterparts like the plague. Sanath Jayasuriya throwing caution to wind going helter-skelter from ball one, Arjuna Ranatunga humbling Mohammad Azharudin with his tactical brilliance, Ajantha Mendis’ magic running through India’s formidable batting line-up, Roshan Mahanama setting the benchmark in fielding, those were the good old days. But right now, India has turned out to be a different beast having won back to back more..

Mar 3 (ST) WindForce PLC which went public last year is in a dilemma to raise cash for their Senegal wind power project owing to Sri Lanka’s debilitating forex crisis and high tariffs in Senegal, industry officials said. The project will be executed in partnership with Vidullanka PLC, which has experience operating in the African region. Electricity generated from the plant is to be sold to Senegal National Electricity Company (SENELEC) for 25 years. The company detailed in a CSE more..

Mar 3 (FT) Free Trade Zone Manufacturers› Association (FTZMA) warned country losing $ 4 billion in much needed foreign exchange inflows if the Govt fails to ensure uninterrupted power supply in an operating environment already impacted by currency and fuel shortage. It claimed that the economy is on the verge of losing $ 4 billion or 30% from the country›s total merchandise exports for the year, hampering the only sector more..

Mar 3 (Island) 24 Seafarers including 03 women Seafarers trained at the Mahapola Ports & Maritime Academy (MPMA) of the SLPA passed out on 25th Feb. The event was held with the initiative of Ministers Rohitha Abeygunawardena and Namal Rajapaksa. This is the first batch of 100 Seafarers being trained under full patronage of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Opportunities are now available for these Seafarers to join service on board commercial vessels more..

Mar 3 (TM) Current SL Under-19 Cricket Head Coach and former SL opening batsman Avishka Gunawardene has been overseeing the SL national Test team as its ad-hoc batting coach only for a couple of weeks – two weeks in SL before the tour and a few more sessions in India. Now SLC has taken steps to extend Gunawardene’s services until the end of the 2-match Test series in India mainly due to the remarkable impact his coaching has created on the team as a whole, more..

Mar 3 (FT) SL Chamber of the Pharmaceutical Industry (SLCPI) lamented the lack of a pricing mechanism under the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), which is affecting prices amidst a shortage of essential medicines due to the ongoing foreign exchange crisis. The chamber stated it incurs a cost of around $ 30 million monthly to import medicines to SL. The industry body noted that unrealistic prices more..

Mar 3 (FT) Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris and SL delegation had high level bilateral meetings on 28 Feb with the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth Secretariat, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) on the side lines of the High-Level Segment of the 49th session of the Human Rights Council which commenced 28 Feb. During his meeting with Minister of State of the UK for South and Central Asia, UN and more..

Mar 3 (Island) State Ministry of Production, Supply & Regulation of Pharmaceuticals has commenced an investigation into incidents of financial irregularities and corruption alleged to have taken place during granting permission to pharmaceutical companies to import medicines. The investigation has been commenced as per the instructions of State Minister Channa Jayasumana, to probe the allegation that a legal officer of the NMRA is involved in granting the registration for pharmaceutical companies more..