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Home » NewsPresident holds vital talks with Macron and Hayashi
President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday held talks with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron at the Bandaranaike International Airport and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi in Colombo. The talks focused mainly on issues related to debt restructuring and Indian Ocean security.
Macron, Hayashi visits underscore Indian Ocean geopolitics
By our diplomatic correspondent Sri Lanka has been invited as an Observer to join the French initiated Indian Ocean Commission (Commission de l’ocean Indien), an intergovernmental organisation that links five African Indian Ocean member-states. The invitation came during talks between President Ranil Wickremesinghe and visiting French President Emmanuel Macron and later discussed with Japanese Foreign [...]
IGP’s powers given to National Police Commission
The newly-appointed independent National Police Commission (NPC) has retained powers of appointment, promotion, transfer, punishment, and similar matters of all officers above Chief Inspector rank, including Officers-in-Charge of police stations and functional divisions, according to a gazette notification. These powers were earlier held by the Inspector General of Police and other senior officers, as the [...]
IRD warns independent service providers against tax evasion
By S. Rubatheesan The Inland Revenue Department has cautioned professionals who derive sources of income as Independent Service Providers (ISPs) to adhere to revised tax regulations imposed on January 1. This follows revelations of tax evasions of unreported income under Advance Personal Income Tax (APIT) which came to effect in January. Issuing an explanatory note [...]
Lanka invites Japan to resume projects, bring new investments
Sri Lanka has invited Japan to resume Japanese projects which are currently in the pipeline as well as to bring new investments in sectors like power and infrastructure–including ports and highways–and in dedicated investment zones as well as in the green and digital economy. This was announced yesterday by Sri Lankan Foreign Affairs Minister Ali [...]
Remit money through formal channels or lose benefits
Public Sector employees who have obtained leave to travel overseas for employment will be disqualified from the benefits if they fail to remit money back to Sri Lanka through formal channels, the Ministry of Finance has decided. The Treasury Secretary has sent out a circular saying that in addition to the failure to remit money [...]
Macron reassures France’s support for debt restructuring
Discusses wide-ranging areas of cooperation during 75-minute talks with President at airport French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday expressed strong support to complete Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring process. He assured support from both the Paris Club Secretariat and the French Government to encourage all other partners to support and expedite the completion of Sri Lanka’s [...]
Japan highlights Lanka’s importance for Free and Open Indo-Pacific
By Ameen Izzadeen Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoshimasha Hayashi’s short visit to Sri Lanka identified his country’s concerns over challenges to the Free and Open Indo-Pacific, while Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring programme also featured in bilateral talks yesterday in Colombo, according to Japan’s Deputy Assistant Minister for Evidence-Based Policymaking, Yukiko Okano. Acknowledging Sri Lanka’s “important’ location [...]
Health sector corruption now on T-20 scale
Pharmaceutical industry officials say bypassing NMRA, waivers of registration, emergency purchases increasingly being normalised By Namini Wijedasa Corruption in medical procurements is a longstanding problem but the growing practice of buying drugs bypassing national regulatory oversight has thrown open the floodgates, senior pharmaceutical industry officials warned this week. One private sector official used a cricket [...]
New SLCP head vows not to leave any child behind
Will work towards supporting a ‘Drug Policy’ in hospitals and facilitate an Antibiotic Policy for Children with Health Ministry By Kumudini Hettiarachchi It is ambitious but “doable” is the conviction of the Senior Consultant who takes up the mantle today to lead the Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians (SLCP) as its President. Children and all [...]
Indian Naval Ship ‘Khanjar’ docks in Trincomalee
Indian Naval Ship ‘Khanjar’, an indigenously built Missile Corvette of Khukri-class, arrived in Trincomalee yesterday on a three day visit. In order to further people-to-people connect and familiarise people with the Indian Navy and its capabilities, the ship will be open for a visit by school children, the Indian High Commission said. The public will [...]
Illegal fishing by Tamil Nadu trawlers goes from one bi-lateral to another
By Steve Creech It has been hard not to feel sorry for Indian Prime Ministers and Sri Lankan Presidents ahead of bilateral meetings over the past 10 years or so. The last item on every agenda has almost certainly been ‘the fisheries issue and how to solve it?’ Illegal fishing by Tamil Nadu trawlers in [...]
Tamil Nadu raises heat on Sri Lanka arrests of Indian poachers
By S Rubatheesan Within 72 hours of the Indo-Lanka bilateral discussions held last Friday, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterating that the fishermen issue must be considered through a humanitarian approach, nine Indian fishermen were taken into custody for bottom-trawling off Jaffna’s Delft island. The arrest of nine fishermen with two of their trawlers [...]
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and some concerns
By Justice (Ret) Rohini Marasinghe Over the past few months, there has been much speculation and discussion, privately and publicly, by politicians, civil society representatives, and lay people over the proposed Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Sri Lanka has faced multiple conflicts and uprisings in its post-independence history. For more than 30 years, the country faced [...]
Lanka’s Animal Welfare Act is pro-butcher, anti-animal and retrograde
By Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, Member of Parliament, India I am appealing to the President and the Government of Sri Lanka NOT to pass a supposed Animal Welfare Act which is in reality a pro-butcher, anti-animal Act. I can understand this happening in any other country but Sri Lanka which is gentle and so close to [...]
Centuries-old Portuguese era cannon used in perahera
The cannon used at the Sabaragamuwa Saman Devalaya in Ratnapura is still in good condition and is used during the perahera of the historical temple at its commencement and termination. This is displayed in the museum of the Saman Devalaya during the festival. Basnayake Nilame of the Saman Devalaya, Migara Jayasundara said that the cannon [...]
Safety fears about Indian eggs eased; Sathosa assures more supplies
By Ryan Casiechetty Imported eggs would be made available in supermarkets shortly, as eggs made available via Sathosa outlets have turned out to be a fast-moving item, but concerns remain over storage facilities. Sri Lanka State Trading Corporation Chairman Asiri Walisundara told the Sunday Times that eggs could be stored in a refrigerator for 90 [...]
Puttalam withers in searing heat
By Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe Puttalam is experiencing an unprecedented drought, the worst in the district since 2012. The area last received a shower in early May and since then the heat and dry weather conditions have prevailed. Hundreds of paddy fields have been affected in the area, making farmers economically unstable. Even irrigation tanks are [...]
Parental oversight
These photos bear witness to the fact that most motorists are ignorant of the safety of their loved ones. While most of the drivers are seen wearing helmets, their children from toddlers to school-goers are spotted travelling in motorcycles without any helmets. Road safety experts have been reiterating the importance of wearing helmets as injuries [...]
Railways promises the very best from revamp, rejecting union negativity
By Nathara Abeywickrema The Railway Trade Union Alliance (RTUA) is objecting to the Government’s decision to convert Sri Lanka Railways from a department into an authority, but authorities believe that a restructuring process would be one solution to improve services. A string of strikes, train delays, derailments, and poor service have been among the issues [...]
Unregistered Homes for the Aged cause for concern: Social Services Director
102nd Annual General Meeting of the Mallika Niwasa Samithiya (Society) Ltd The number of unregistered Homes for the Aged in the Western Province alone is almost thrice the number of the 96 registered Homes, Director of the Social Services Department of the Western Province, Sewwandi Hettiarachchi said this week. Speaking at the 102nd Annual General Meeting [...]
Not enough cash and equipment to contain multiple forest fires
By Nadia Fazlulhaq Cash-strapped Forest Department and Disaster Management Centre (DMC) authorities are struggling to douse forest fires ravaging the Badulla, Puttalam, Vavuniya, Hambantota districts and many areas. Air force assistance was sought to douse a fire spreading rapidly in the Badulla District’s Ella area. A Bell 212 helicopter was deployed with seven Bambi bucket [...]
Chariot festival
Chariots decorated with colourful garlands and flags lined up along the Galle Road in Wellwatte yesterday as part of the annual festival of Mayurapathi Sri Bathrakali Amman Kovil. With Kavadi dancers leading the way, Hindu devotees pulled the sacred robes of the chariots amidst the chorus of “Arohara”.
Self styled prophet had Rs. 12.25bn in bank accounts
By Damith Wickramasekara and Ranjith Padmasiri Criminal Investigation Department (CID) detectives investigating the finances of self-styled Pastor Jerome Fernando are looking into the sources of funding behind Rs. 12.25 billion that were found circulating in his bank accounts. They will also be looking into how he acquired various assets too as part of a wide-ranging [...]
Focus on elephants
By L B Senaratne Sri Dalada Maligawa Diyawadana Nilame Pradeep Nilanga Dela said elephant owners must be guided by the recently issued Gazette notification and should take responsibility of taking care of the animals without allowing people to criticise the health conditions of the elephants. He was speaking at a top-level discussion at the Sri [...]
Government to impose restrictions on state employee vehicles
By Damith Wickremasekara The Government will impose fresh restrictions on the use of leased vehicles for State employees – including the limiting of one vehicle per officer – in an effort to cut down expenses. A Cabinet paper is to be submitted on the restrictions following revelations that officers were making use of 2-3 vehicles, [...]
Substandard medicines: President offers solution within two weeks
Action will be taken within the next two weeks to defuse the crisis around substandard medicines and drug failures, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has assured. While assuring that he would hold extensive discussions with the Health Ministry shortly to bring about a solution to the controversies around medicines, the President had also suggested that the process [...]
Defective needles given approval with warning to ‘end user’
By S. Rubatheesan The Health Ministry’s Medical Supplies Division (MSD) has cleared for use a faulty batch of “arterial venous fistula needles”, as there are no alternatives available in the country. But it has also stated that the risk of using the defective product lies with “the end user”. The arterial venous fistula needle with [...]