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Waiting day and night for a passport to a new dawn

Waiting day and night for a passport to a new dawn

In view of the economic catastrophe, thousands of people are trying to leave the country to seek employment overseas. As a result, there is pandemonium at the Passport Office in Battaramulla and our pre-dawn picture shows some passport seekers staying up or sleeping till the gates are open. Some of them had waited for three [...]

China turns down request for US$ 1.5bn swap deal

By Damith Wickremasekara  The Chinese Government has ruled out the possibility of entering into a US$ 1.5 billion swap arrangement with Sri Lanka on the basis that Sri Lanka may not be able to fulfil its conditions. The Chinese government’s position was conveyed when Sri Lanka’s Ambassador Palitha Kohona met China’s Asian Affairs Department Director [...]

Lanka seeks oil from Russia; but only two companies acknowledge request

Just two out of six Russian companies have responded to a call from Sri Lanka for oil and that, too, was only to acknowledge the request letters sent to them by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera revealed. Two out of six companies suggested by Russia’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka [...]

Nearly 5 million in hunger, 56,000 children severely malnourished: UN

Nearly five million Sri Lankans, including 200,000 in Colombo, are living hand to mouth, eating less, selling their gold jewellery, and borrowing money, the United Nations said this week coinciding with its world-wide appeal on Thursday to help Sri Lanka’s unprecedented economic crisis. Among those at risk are 56,000 children under five years with severe [...]

Five years leave for public servants to work overseas

A proposal to allow public servants to go abroad for work for a maximum of five years on no-pay leave is to be submitted to the Cabinet tomorrow. Those who go abroad for work under this scheme will not have their seniority or pensions affected by their absence. The proposal is to be presented by [...]

Ban on OA system lifted for two months

The ban on open account system has been conditionally lifted for two months with traders being allowed to import selected essential food items. An open account is an arrangement between a business and a customer, where the customer can buy goods and services on a deferred payment basis. The decision was taken after traders met [...]

Fish market a microcosm of national calamity

Fish market a microcosm of national calamity

By Yoshitha Perera Sri Lanka’s fishing community is increasingly frustrated with the chronic fuel shortage that is also paralysing the whole economy. Aruna Roshan Fernando, president of the All-Island Fishermens’ Trade Union, said no one is in charge of the industry. “There is no programme in existence, nor has there ever been one to improve, [...]

Plans to turn Viharamaha Devi Park and other CMC lands into vegetable gardens

By Namini Wijedasa   Plots inside Viharamaha Devi Park as well as premises surrounding the Municipal Slaughterhouse will be among the 9.5 acres of land identified by the Colombo Municipal Council for its urban agriculture programme, officials said. But agriculture experts also warn that the experiment, the first to be tried in the capital, could face [...]

Hundreds of tourists exempted from visa overstay fines

More than 2800 tourists allowed to leave the country without paying fines for overstaying visas since last January, RTI application reveals More than 2,800 foreigners who overstayed their visas have been given exemption to leave the country without paying the fines imposed on them since January last year, a Right to Information (RTI) application filed [...]

Central Expressway third section: RDA tells court it won’t sign agreements till July 26

The Road Development Authority (RDA) this week gave an undertaking in the Court of Appeal (CA) that it would not enter into any agreements, thereby preserving the status quo till the next hearing on July 26, 2022, with regard to the third section of the Central Expressway Project (CEP3). The undertaking was given on Friday [...]

Aeroflot to file objections on June 28

By Tharushi Weerasinghe   Russia’s national carrier Aeroflot will submit its objections to the Commercial High Court on June 28, challenging the petition filed against it by Ireland-based Celestial Aviation, an aircraft leasing company. On Monday, the court considered a motion filed by the Attorney General and suspended the enjoining order it issued on Thursday June [...]

China views Lanka debt implosion with an anti-west dig

China, one of Sri Lanka’s largest creditors, is putting a different spin on the country’s debt implosion by pinning the blame on monetary and fiscal policies of developed economies, and sanctions. The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s director of Asian affairs, Liu Jinsong, is cited by the South China Morning Post, as saying in a meeting with [...]

Back to the past

Back to the past

People have now resorted to sending goods and vegetables to the suburbs and outskirts via state run buses as merchants cannot afford to hire lorries. The Colombo Fort depot mirrored days of yesteryear when goods were transported via state run SLTB buses. Pix by Nilan Maligaspe  

Info on fuel distribution launched by ICTA

The Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) has launched a fuel Information Management System to provide information on fuel distribution islandwide. During the first phase, the system will be updated daily in the morning, with information about the fuel dispatch, fuel filling station details, the quantity of fuel dispatched and availability of stocks. The public [...]

Padeniya out; Sirisena new head of GMOA

Dr Darshana Sirisena was elected uncontested as the new President of the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) yesterday, with longstanding President Dr Anuruddha Padeniya choosing not to contest this year. Dr Padeniya headed the GMOA for 11 years. The faction led by him, however, was yesterday elected uncontested to the GMOA’s Executive Committee and the [...]

Pandemonium at passport office

Pandemonium at passport office

People sleeping on the porticoes and camping out for days to get their documents stamped   As one-day-service seekers wait for three days, department’s photo uploading software crashes By Tharushi Weerasinghe   Thousands of people are flocking to the Immigration and Emigration Department to get their passports and go abroad to seek better prospects as Sri [...]

Don’t you know, wearing face masks in public is no longer a requirement

Don’t you know, wearing face masks in public is no longer a requirement

Patients hit in the stomach as cash-strapped state hospitals struggle to give free meals

 Priorities are purchasing medicines  and equipment, say hospital sources Lack of nutritious meals could affect recovery process By Nadia Fazlulhaq   Providing daily healthy meals to patients is becoming a challenge for state hospitals due to cost-cutting measures and supplier issues, leaving patients with no option but to eat whatever is given. Many patients have less [...]

Pregnant women at risk without iron and vitamin supplements

Pregnant women at risk without iron and vitamin supplements

Pregnant women are among those badly affected by an acute shortage of vitamins and supplements. Wattala resident I. S. Perera, who is six months pregnant, told the Sunday Times, that she had not been given iron tablets. A midwife in her area has only been able to issue a few vitamin and calcium pills in [...]

CEB enginneers: Price of electricity bought from renewable energy power plants will go up

Ceylon Electricity Board’s engineers have warned that the passage of the amendment to Sri Lanka Electricity Act No 20 of 2009 will have serious repercussions on the country’s energy sector. They said the amendment passed by Parliament on Thursday abolishing the purchase of electricity at the lowest price  through competitive tenders would increase the unit [...]

Classrooms sans teachers and students as attendance hit by transport difficulties

Schools started last week for the second academic term, but most classrooms were empty of students and teachers. Students in rural areas were particularly hit with many parents being unable to afford the increased bus fares. In upcountry areas only schoolchildren living close to schools had attended. In some instances many teachers had applied for [...]

Local onion farmers to the rescue

Local onion farmers to the rescue

Local onion cultivators who discontinued farming have resumed farming as a measure to reduce the need for importing big onions. They pointed out that if the government extended support to them they could meet local demand and reduce foreign currency expenditure. The farmers pointed out they are ready to play their part to support the [...]

Farmers hit by fertiliser ban, then fuel shortage

Story and Pix by Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe   Traders arriving at the Norochcholai Economic Centre have decreased due to the current fuel crisis, while farmers suffer due to the lack of fertiliser and fuel. The traders at Norochcholai Economic Centre reported that the 400 lorries that arrived before the fuel crisis have decreased to less than 50. [...]

Role of oceans in human lives discussed

The sandy beaches look like barren wastelands, but as you enter the water in the ocean and start to go deeper, a world rich in biodiversity opens up. This space is home to a wide array of creatures ranging from tiny algae to the blue whale, but how many of us got the chance to [...]

The promise of rupatadine against severe dengue

The promise of rupatadine against severe dengue

A ‘promising’ breakthrough in the treatment of feared dengue comes from Prof. Neelika Malavige and her team at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, as Sri Lanka experiences a surge of cases. The breakthrough revolves around rupatadine, an anti-histamine (a drug used against allergies), which also blocks the receptor of the Platelet-activating Factor (PAF). It was [...]

Dengue menace infects 3,000 in ten days this month

Dengue menace infects 3,000 in ten days this month

The monsoonal rains over the past several weeks is raising fears of dengue, prompting advice to homeowners to eliminate mosquito breeding sites. In the first 10 days of this month the number of dengue patients seeking treatment in hospitals countrywide was a record 3,088 triggering alarm bells among health authorities. Of this, Colombo District reported [...]

Low key state Poson festival in Mihintale

The state Poson festival in Mihintale will be held on a low key while religious programmes have been organised countrywide to mark Poson day on Tuesday. Buddhist Affairs Commissioner General Sunanda Kariyapperuma told the Sunday Times that although a decision was made to go ahead with the state festival, it will be done with minimal [...]

Prasanna Ranatunga misused CM powers and privileges to extort Rs. 64mn: Judge

Minister Prasanna Ranatunga had misused the powers and privileges of his chief ministerial office in the case filed against him over threatening a businessman, Colombo High Court Judge Manjula Thilakaratne has noted in his judgement on the case. The Attorney General had filed indictments on 15 counts against Prasanna Ranatunga, his wife Maureen Ranatunga and [...]

Pick of the Pix

Pick of the Pix

High-cost medical supplies network under Auditor General’s microscope

High-cost medical supplies network under Auditor General’s microscope

Three institutions submit conflicting figures to COPE as to its cost   Handicapped system falls short of expectations, allege officials   EWIS defends its product; questions Health Ministry’s claim on the cost   By Sandun Jayawardana   With three different institutions submitting conflicting sets of figures with regard to an allegedly faulty medical supplies system costing hundreds of millions [...]

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