May 27 (ST) Sri Lanka will become a regional base to recycle aircraft through a new investment by Aitken Spence Ltd that is set to commence operations at Hambantota as a joint venture with a Hong Kong-based partner within the next few months. Aitken Spence is to sign the joint venture with Zone 600, involved in the recycling of aircraft with initial plans underway to dismantle and re-export retired aircraft sent for recycling. more..

May 27 (FT) CoPF Chairman and MP Dr. Harsha de Silva, announced on Saturday that the scheduled meeting to address the VFS Global fiasco has been postponed once again due to the unavailability of key Govt officials. The meeting, originally set for 28 May has now been rescheduled to 4 June, he noted. Dr. de Silva conveying his disappointment and concern over the repeated delays, assured the public that the CoPF remains dedicated to uncovering the full extent of the issues more..

May 27 (FT) State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya announced that preliminary work to modernise the Customs Department auction process will commence via online this week. “The initiative aims to allow all interested parties to participate in customs auctions remotely, thereby reducing undue influence and ensuring transparency,” he added. Siyambalapitiya highlighted that this reform will enable individuals and businesses to bid on auctioned goods from comfort of their homes. more..

May 27 (FT) State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya has confirmed that the Govt has issued a new gazette on 21 May, mandating an increase in the wages of plantation workers. According to the gazette, the basic salary of plantation workers will rise to Rs. 1,350 per day, effective immediately. This increment includes a total increase of Rs. 1,700, incorporating a Rs. 350 special allowance. He confirmed the implementation of this wage increase speaking during a press briefing more..

May 27 (AD) Ambassador of France to SL, Jean-François Pactet, has reportedly passed away in his official residence in Rajagiriya today (26). The diplomat was 53-years-old at the time of his passing. Ambassador Pactet had passed away due to a sudden illness. Born in 1970, Jean-François Pactet had served as Ambassador of France to SL since Oct 2022. A career diplomat, he had previously served as Deputy Director of Culture and Education in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. more..

May 27 (TM) Govt is in discussions with India to obtain support, technology and expertise to develop the island’s graphite sector. In the wake of several speculations being circulated that India is looking to acquire SL’s graphite mines, Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) and Ministry of Environment denied the said allegations, claiming that the alleged discussions focused on obtaining India’s support to develop more..

May 27 (AD) SL Police says several roads in Colombo will be closed for traffic once again tonight (26) in order to avoid the repetition of the incidents during the last couple of days due to the current weather conditions. DIG Nihal Thalduwa said that Braybrooke Place, Malalasekara Road in Borella to Tummulla Junction, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, and the stretches of road from Dr. Lester James Peiris Mawatha to Rotunda Junction in Colombo 03 will remain closed for traffic tonight. more..

May 27 (FT) Former CB Governor Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy on Saturday opined that the private sector has been so disappointing to say the least. “They (private sector) have been singing hosanna even for third rate programs initiated by several govts over the years. They would not tolerate such programs even in a boardroom in their companies,” claimed Dr. Coomaraswamy speaking at a seminar on the topic The Required Trajectory for Sri Lanka’s Economy, post 2024. more..

May 27 (AD) IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon says that a special committee has been appointed to find out whether any individuals linked to the ISIS terrorist organization are staying in the country. IGP Tennakoon also said that an immediate investigation is currently being carried out in this regard. Tennakoon said: “A new committee has been appointed, including the Terrorism Investigation Division, Intelligence Unit officials, and the Special Task Force, under the supervision of more..

May 27 (EN) Strong winds and pouring rains which brought down trees, triggered floods and landslides have cut off power to 467,500 electricity users over the past week, CEB said. By May 26 afternoon, power has been restored to about 425,000 customers. From May 21 to 26, 26,700 breakdowns have been fixed. “CEB management and staff are working around the clock to restore power to all affected consumer,” a CEB said. CEB had received around 61,000 breakdown complaints and more..

May 27 (DN) Finance State Minister Dr. Ranjith Siyambalapitiya stated that the gazette to provide property information of citizens is not an imposition of a new law. He explained that the purpose is to identify tax evaders and collect tax properly from them. “Although the President issued a gazette that the details of the movable and immovable properties of the citizens must be provided to the Inland Revenue Dept (IRD) from July 1, it is not a new law. more..

May 27 (DM) SL Para athlete Dinesh Priyantha’s Silver Medal was stripped of the 11th World Para Athletic Championships 2024, in Kobe, Japan. The SL Paralympics Gold Medallist finished second in the Men’s F-46 javelin throw event with an effort of 64.59m but following a protest, he was stripped of the medal by the International Paralimpic Committee. Priyantha was disqualified and according to medical experts who conducted a re-classification, Priyantha no longer qualifies more..

May 27 (DM) Seven deaths have been reported due to inclement weather as of yesterday with seven of them related to tree falls, authorities said. 42,616 people in 11,310 families in 19 districts were affected by the bad weather. The deaths have been reported from Imaduwa, Balangoda, Madampe, Nattandiya, Arachchikattuwa, Walapane, Haputale DS Divisions. The number of injured persons are 13 and 11 houses have been totally damaged with 3,140 houses getting partially damaged. more..

May 27 (Island) Opposition MP Prof. Charitha Herath took exception to the inclusion of the controversial Economic Transformation Bill (ETB) and the Public Financial Management (PFM) Bill in the first week’s agenda of Parliament in June, in spite of the Bills not being subjected to due process yet. Parliament meets on June 4, 5 and 6. Declaring that the ETB and PFM had been included in the June 5 and 6 agenda, respectively, more..

May 27 (FT) Professionals in retirement are used to sharing their experiences in the form of manuals or handbooks with readers. Bankers have been very generous in doing so. The latest to add his name to this group of bankers has been Gamini Karunathilake who had been a senior officer of the Bank of Ceylon and later, Managing Director of its subsidiary, Merchant Bank of SL. He has released the second of such books under the title Principles of Bank Credit Evaluation & Credit Structuring. more..

May 27 (FT) The recent gazette on Economic Transformation, Part II of 10 May 2024 issued on 14 May by the current Govt is being hotly debated both inside and outside of Parliament since it is sought to be included in our corpus of laws and therefore assumes a greater interest and significance not usually accorded to policy. It is observed that the changes to the structure and the architecture of economic management proposed in the Bill that are to be incorporated into law, are those more..

May 27 (FT) Some of the minority shareholders of Expolanka Holdings on 22 May filed a Writ application before the Court of Appeal seeking an order to quash approval given by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to delist the Company’s ordinary shares from the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). The Petitioners also sought relief against the SEC and 13 other respondents including the CSE, Expolanka Holdings PLC and SG Holdings Global Ltd. Further petitioners alleged that more..

May 27 (DM) Hundreds of birds and fish in the bird sanctuary in Anawilundawa Ramsar wetland and its watercourses have been dying for the last several days, much to the anxiety of the residents of the area and the environmentalists. Residents of the area said flocks of migratory birds live and breed freely during this season in Anawilundawa Ramsar bird sanctuary, which is a tourist attraction. They were of the opinion that chemical waste dumped haphazardly from a factory in the area more..

May 27 (BN) Nishan de Mel is a bit obsessed with debt crises. Primarily because de Mel, an Oxford-trained economist, has long suspected that the underlying cause is often bad governance. So when his native SL fell into an economic disaster of its own a couple years ago, he decided to pore through decades of data to put his theory to the test. “It was clear, there was a correlation between poor governance and more..

May 27 (AD) More information has been revealed about the suspect who had been arrested by the Kalutara Crimes Division with a large consignment of heroin. The arrested suspect is reportedly known by the alias Walapala Hamu, a 37-year-old, while he had been arrested on the roadside of a main road Walapala area in Panadura. It is revealed that the suspect is a main accomplice of Dubai Tharanga, a notorious drug trafficker who is in hiding in Dubai. The raid was carried out by police more..

May 27 (EN) Sri Lanka may run out of hotel rooms for high-spending tourists, by the end of 2025, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, Priyantha Fernando, said. “If the trend continues by the end of next year, we will be short of rooms,” Fernando told EconomyNext on the sidelines of Sancharaka Udawa, a tourism fair. “The high-end hotels which are charging over 250-300 dollars per night has been having very high occupancy at very high rates. more..

May 27 (DM) In another example of the global spotlight on Sri Lanka’s strategic assets and resources, China, India, the United States and France are in a competition to secure investments in the country’s graphite sector, the Daily Mirror learns. This is in addition to Canadian and Australian companies involved in the industry at the moment. According to experts, Sri Lanka has high-quality vein graphite in rich deposits. more..

May 27 (AD) Several political parties including the Mawbima Janatha Party (MJP) and intellectual groups have signed an agreement in Colombo to launch a new political movement named Sarvajana Balaya this morning. JNP led by MP Wimal Weerawansa, PHU led by MP Udaya Gammanpila, MJP led by entrepreneur Dilith Jayaweera, Democratic Left Front, Communist Party, Independent MP’s Forum and several intellectual groups took part in signing the agreement more..

May 27 (DM) If rainfall in the catchment areas increases during the day, it is possible that more sluice gates will need to be opened at various dams and reservoirs. 80% of water capacity is currently avaliable in all irrigation reservoirs and said this a considerably higher capacity. "Deduru Oya in the Kurunegala district and the Tabbowa Wewa in the Puttalam district are currently spilling. Four sluice gates of the Deduru Oya have been opened, releasing water at a rate of 2,800 cubic more..

Mar 27 (EN) Dept of Meteorology has warned naval and fishermen communities against venturing into the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, after cyclone Remal, which was located over the North Bay of Bengal and adjoining West Bengal (India) made landfall this morning. “Very strong winds (60-70) kmph, accompanied with heavy rainfalls and very rough seas are likely to continue further over the sea areas around the island, Arabian Sea areas and Bay of Bengal Sea areas due to more..

Mar 27 (DM) A decision has been taken not to allow vehicles without drivers to be parked in the arrivals lounge premises at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), Airport and Aviation Services (SL) (Private) Limited (AASL) announced today. In the notice, AASL Chairman Athula Galketiya said the decision to prohibit vehicles without drivers from being parked in the arrivals lounge premises at BIA was made to alleviate traffic congestion and streamline vehicular movements. more..

Mar 27 (TM) Election Commission (EC) stated yesterday that if a Parliamentary Election is to be held this year (2024), the would-be President will need to allocate funds from the Consolidated Fund, as current funds have only been allocated for the Prez Election. This, in the wake of speculation among a number of politicians that the Parliamentary Election, which is due to be held next year (2025), might be scheduled soon after Prez election this year. more..

Mar 27 (Island) Environmentalists and residents of Palaviya in Puttalam have raised concerns about two companies releasing burnt furnace oil into the environment. Port Junk Dealers’ Association has written to Prez Wickremesinghe about the illegal practice, calling for an immediate investigation and action against those responsible for environmental degradation. The letter, signed by the Association’s President Senaka de Silva, states that these two companies in the Palaviya Industrial Zone more..

Mar 27 (AD) State Minister Premitha Bandara Tennakoon says that a special programme will be implemented to cut down and remove the trees at risk of collapsing within the jurisdiction of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC). State Minister also mentioned that SL Army and Civil Defence Force personnel are expected to be deployed for the process of removing such high-risk trees. He further revealed that the relevant proceedings will be conducted under full supervision of CMC more..

Mar 27 (TM) Despite the Govt’s plans aimed at resolving the issues faced by Grama Niladhari officers, they remain determined to continue the ongoing trade union action until such plans materialise. Grama Niladhari have expressed doubts about the implementation of the Govt’s proposed plans for them. Commenting of the Govt’s recent claim that the Cabinet approval has been granted to increase the officers’ salaries & allowances, more..

Mar 27 (TM) Parliament yesterday refuted recent allegations made by Opposition MP Prof. Charitha Herath regarding the scheduling of the second reading of the Economic Transformation Bill and the Public Financial Management Bill on 5 June. According to the Parliamentary Order Book, the second reading of the said two bills is scheduled for 5 June. Prof. Herath said that the second reading of the bills has been scheduled for 5 June without the receipt of the SC determination on the same. more..

Mar 27 (DM) Three members of the Opposition left BIA for Thailand for a diplomatic mission to rescue the 49 Sri Lankan youths and women who are forcibly held in the cyber camp of computer criminals in Myanmar and the SL war heroes who are in the middle of the Russian-Ukraine war and bring them back to Sri Lanka. These Opposition members went to Myanmar this morning for a 10-day visit to prepare a programme to get into negotiations with diplomatic officials and third parties. more..

May 27 (CT) Customs Media Spokesperson Seevali Arukgoda, has released a statement disclosing the discovery of a fraudulent scheme targeting individuals seeking employment as Assistant Customs Superintendents and Customs Inspectors within the SL Customs Dept. The recruitment process for these positions is currently underway, managed by Dept of Examinations. This involves a competitive examination followed by interviews, wherein successful candidates with more..

May 27 (DM) Alarmed by the govt’s move to increase the minimum daily wage without additional revenue streams and with no industry consultation, SL’s tea smallholders, which account for over 75% of the tea production, expressed the grave concerns on the sustainability of the Ceylon tea industry. Medium Scale Tea Estate Owners Association Founding General Secretary Ushan Samarasinghe warned that small and medium estate owners in particular are hit by the wage increase. more..

May 27 (EN) All estate owners in SL should implement the decision to increase the plantation workers’ wages to 1,700 rupees from June and those that fail to do so will be taken over by the govt and handed over to others who will manage them properly, Labour Minister Manusha Nanayakkara said. Small tea estate owners are already paying more than the prescribed minimum wage and there is a problem related to more..