Dr Sudath Gunasekara 27.1.2022.
(මඟ හොඳට තිබේනම් යන්ට දෑසත් පෙනේනම් කිම බැදිවල යන්නේ මන්මුලාවු එකකු සේ සින්හලයකුගේ කියමනක්) Sri Lanka is geographically located almost right at the center of the globe (bet 5-10 degrees N of equator and 80-82 degrees E) and at the middle of the tropics. It is also blessed with the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean, the third biggest body of water in the world covering 1/5th of the total ocean area of the world right round it extending 7000 miles from N-S and 4900 miles from W-E, East Africa to... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/01/22)
තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශය,සංවර්ධන සම්බන්ධීකරණ හා අධීක්ෂණ අමාත්‍යාංශය,ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ හා ව්‍යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය ආමාත්‍යාංශය.
‘2022 එඩින්බරෝ ආදිපාද ජාත්‍යන්තර තිළිණ ප්‍රදානෝත්සවයේ ප්‍රධාන ආරධිතයා ලෙස සහභාගීවෙමින් තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ඩන්කන්වයිට් ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේ දී පසුගිය (26) වනදා අමාත්‍යවරයා මේ බව පැවසීය. මෙම වැඩසටහන තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශයේ අධීක්ෂණය යටතේ ජාතික තරුණ සේවා සභාව විසින් සංවිධානය කෙරිණි. වර්තමානය වන විට මෙම එඩින්බරෝ ආදිපාද ජාත්‍යන්තර තිළිණ වැඩසටහන සඳහා ලෝකයේ රටවල් 130කට අධික සංඛ්‍යාවක් සම්බන්ධ වී සිටියි. අවුරුදු 13-24 වයස් කාණ්ඩයේ තරුණ තරුණියන් මිලියන 1.3 කට අධික සංඛ්‍යාවක් මෙහි සමාජිකත්වය ලබාගෙන ඇත. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ද මෙම වයස් කාණ්ඩයට අදාළව 40000... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/01/22)
තරුණ හා ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශය,සංවර්ධන සම්බන්ධීකරණ හා අධීක්ෂණ අමාත්‍යාංශය,ඩිජිටල් තාක්ෂණ හා ව්‍යවසාය සංවර්ධන රාජ්‍ය ආමාත්‍යාංශය.
ලෝක රේගු සංවිධානය විසින් ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කළ “දත්ත සංස්කෘතික පරිසරයක ඩිජිටල්ගත රේගු ක්‍රමවේදයක් තුළින් නව ප්‍රගමනයකට” යන මෙවර තේමාව රැගත් ජාත්‍යන්තර රේගු දිනය සැමරීමේ උත්සව අවස්ථාවට සහභාගීවෙමින් පසුගිය (26) වනදා ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගුවේ ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලයේ පිහිටි ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේ දී අමාත්‍යවරයා මේ බව පැවසීය. ජාත්‍යන්තර රේගු ප්‍රමිතීන්ට නිසි පිළිගැනීම ලබාදෙමින් නීත්‍යානුකූල වෙළඳාම උදෙසා පහසුකම් සපයන්නෙකු ලෙසත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආර්ථිකය වෙනුවෙන් ආදායම ජනනය කරන්නෙකු ලෙසත් නීතිය නිසි පරිදි ක්‍රියාවට නංවන්නෙකු ලෙසත් සමාජ සුබ සාධනය, සමාජ ආරක්ෂණය සලසන්නෙකු ලෙසත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව රාජ්‍ය ආයතන අතර වසර... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/01/22)
Courtesy Hiru News
පවතින ආර්ථික ගැටලුවලට විසඳුම් සෙවීම සඳහා ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල සමග වැඩපිළිවෙලකට යාමට රජය සාකච්ඡා කරමින් සිටින බව මුදල් අමාත්‍ය බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ පවසනවා. https://youtu.be/f7cPfR-jE20 ඔහු මේ බව සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ ලන්ඩන්හි ෆයිනෑන්ෂල් ටයිම්ස් සඟරාව සමග පැවති සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවකදීයි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වත්මන් ආර්ථික තත්ත්වය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ෆයිනෑන්ෂල් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පත මුදල් අමාත්‍ය බැසිල් රාපපක්ෂ සමග සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවක් පවත්වා තිබුණා. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට මේ වසරේ ඩොලර් බිලියන 6.9ක ණය ගෙවීම ඉතා දුෂ්කර බවත් ඖෂධ, අමුද්‍රව්‍ය, ඉන්ධන ඇතුළු සියල්ල සඳහා මුදල් සොයාගැනීමට සිදුවන බවයි මුදල් අමාත්‍යවරයා එහිදී ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබුණේ. ... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/01/22)
Courtesy Adaderana
https://youtu.be/xV0erSFFGHk Sri Lanka is negotiating debt relief with international bondholders and is weighing an approach to the IMF, as the country struggles with a foreign reserve crisis that has left it close to default, the Financial Times reported. Basil Rajapaksa, finance minister, told the Financial Times in an interview that the government was “negotiating with everybody” and “trying all our options” to avoid default and alleviate the economic crisis. “We have [international sovereign bonds] which we have to repay back, so we are negotiating with them. Then we... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/01/22)
Courtesy Adaderana
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 Sri Lanka 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. The contents of the containers were declared to Sri Lanka Customs as 53,000 kilograms of potatoes. However, during the examination... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/01/22)
Courtesy Adaderana
Laboratory tests prove that 95% of the Covid-19 positive cases reported in Sri Lanka are infected with the Omicron variant, the Director of the Health Promotion Bureau Dr. Ranjith Batuwanthudawa said. https://youtu.be/JbZcxrzdurk... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/01/22)
Courtesy Adaderana
The Ministry of Health says that another 961 persons have tested positive for Covid-19 in the country today (28). This figure includes 04 persons who had arrived in the country from overseas while the rest are community cases. This is the third consecutive day that the daily count of new cases has surpassed the 900 mark. This brings the total number of coronavirus cases registered in Sri Lanka thus far to 608,065. 15,365 patients infected with the virus are currently undergoing treatment across the island. The... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 29/01/22)
Hafizur Talukdar
A total of 12 human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have written to the UN calling for the removal of RAB from UN peacekeeping missions. In December, the United States imposed sanctions on the Bangladesh Police Special Forces Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and a total of six former and current officers for alleged involvement in "grave human rights abuses." Twelve international non-governmental organizations have recently written a letter to the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations peacekeeping mission. Different types of propaganda and speculation are going to be noticed here. They... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/22)
ප්‍රොටෙක්ට් සංගමය
"සෞභාග්‍යයේ දැක්ම" ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශය ඔස්සේ සමස්ත සමාජය ම සෞභාග්‍ය කරා කැන්දාගෙන යනවා යැයි එදා මැතිවරණ වේදිකාවල පාරම් බෑ ජනාධිපතිවරයාත් වතමන් ආණ්ඩුවත් මේ වන විට ජනතාවට උදා කර ඇති සෞභාග්‍යයේ තරම අමුතුවෙන් කීමට අවශ්‍යය නොවේ. මේ වන විට, ගෘහස්ථ ශ්‍රමිකයන් ඇතුළු එදිනෙදා දිවි ගැටගසා ගන්නා අවිධිමත් අංශයේ කම්කරුවන් ආර්ථිකමය අතින් බිත්තියට ම හේත්තු කරන්න තරම් ඒ වැඩ පිළිවෙල ෆේල් කියලා දැන් ඔප්පු වෙලා. කොහොම නමුත්, ආණ්ඩුවටවත් ජනාධිපතිවරයාටවත් සිය ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශය තුළවත් ගෘහස්ථ ශ්‍රමිකයන්ට ඉඩ වෙන් කරන්න බැරි වීම ම "ගෘහස්ථ ශ්‍රමිකයා" ආණ්ඩුව විසින් හිතාමතා ම නොසලකා හරිනවා කියන්න නිදසුනක්. ඒ නොසලකා හැරීමේ ප්‍රතිපලය; අද ගෘහස්ථ ශ්‍රමිකයා එදිනෙදා... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/22)
Ashish Pandey New Delhi Courtesy India Today
Three arrests in Tamil Nadu in October 2021 over fake passports have drawn the NIA into the investigation. TN Police revealed that LTTE cadres are behind the fake passport racket. Three arrests in Tamil Nadu over fake passports in October 2021 has put the NIA on alert. (Representative image) Three arrests in Tamil Nadu over fake passports in October 2021 have put central agencies, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on alert. An investigation by Tamil Nadu police revealed the involvement of active Liberation Tigers... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/22)
Debidatta Mahapatra Courtesy The Times of India
The prevailing political climate may militate against such an idea, but here I make a case for a united Indian subcontinent. It may appear naïve to make such a case when polarization, identity-based violence, threats of war are looming large the world over. This is a futuristic outlook, but it is not new. The case has been made multiple times since the partition of the subcontinent, and certainly, all the cases are not motivated by political or identity or majoritarian motives. Mahatma Gandhi certainly comes to mind in this... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/22)
By Huang Lanlan in Shanghai and Chen Runze in Colombo Courtesy The Global Times
Photo taken on Jan. 10, 2022 shows tourists viewing the scenery at the Marina in Colombo's Port City, Sri Lanka. (Photo: Xinhua) After Sri Lanka declared an economic emergency and asked China for help at the beginning of the year, some Western and Indian conspiracists once again went on a bashing spree against China and its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). By maliciously tying Sri Lanka's recent financial distress to the Chinese investment in the country, they got busy hyping... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/22)
Courtesy ANI
Ling Rinpoche, reincarnation of the teacher of Dalai Lama reaches Sri Lanka Read more At: https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/ling-rinpoche-reincarnation-of-the-teacher-of-dalai-lama-reaches-sri-lanka20220127210819/... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/22)
by Arundathie Abeysinghe Courtesy Asia News
For Sri Lanka, imports are increasingly expensive. China and India have granted lines of credit, but analysts note that they are short-term solutions. Due to the inability to buy fuel, the government announced daily power cuts. Colombo (AsiaNews) – In addition to a growing debt crisis and a shortage of foreign currency due to steadily dwindling reserves, Sri Lanka is also facing a serious shortage in basic necessities including food, medicines, gas and fuel. Soaring food prices are making life harder for a majority of Sri Lankans. As... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/22)
Courtesy Adaderana
The Director-General of Health Services today (January 27) issued new guidelines for travellers arriving in Sri Lanka from overseas during the pandemic of Covid-19. As per the guidelines, foreign national passport holders who do not possess a valid visa must obtain a landing permit/visa from the Department of Immigration & Emigration prior to their departure from overseas. In addition, they are required to have travel insurance of at least USD 50,000 including cover for hospitalized treatment for Covid-19 infection. The guidelines specified that the period of stay in Sri Lanka... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/22)
Courtesy Adaderana
The Ministry of Health says that another 942 persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus today (January 27). This figure includes 03 persons who had arrived in the country from overseas. Sri Lanka’s tally of Covid-19 cases confirmed in the country thereby climbed to 607,104. With this, the number of virus-infected people who are undergoing treatment moved to 14,705. Meanwhile, the death toll stands at 15,369. This is the second consecutive day Sri Lanka recorded more than 900 daily cases of Covid-19 in about four months. Over... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 28/01/22)
By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando CEYLON TODAY | FOCUS
Early last Christmas morning following the teachings of Jesus Christ’s, of kindness, forbearance, and tolerance, the writer accompanied by two friends headed towards Naththandiya. The coconut plantations on either side of the road made the drive down delightful watching. However, we found it strange the prices of coconut were so high because the coconut estates were in abundance. We went searching for a mercilessly assaulted man. He was the forty-two-year-old Suranga Lakmal. Suranga lives in the Asoka Pura housing scheme close to a prominent carbon factory... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/22)
Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM
SL has laid out a plan that is in the public domain , for paying it’s loan commitments for 2022, 500 million paid 18/1 and about 5 Billion mid 2022 and beyond . Instead of securing bridging loans from the IMF , they have secured short term bridging loans and currency swaps and loans , from friendly countries China, India , Bangladesh and a Gulf country without IMF type adverse conditions, to satisfy its short term bridging needs. SL has also requested loan restructuring form one of their main lenders China, who is... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/22)
Media Unit -
ඌව පළාත් මුල් ළමාවිය සංවර්ධනය පිළිබද NVQ-4 පාඨමාලාවේ සමාරම්භක උත්සවය ඊයේ දින ඌව පළාත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවර ඒ.ජේ.එම්. මුසම්මිල් මැතිතුමාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් ඌව පළාත් සභා ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේදී පැවැත්විය. ඌව පළාත් අධ්‍යාපන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ අධීක්ෂණයෙන්, ඌව පළාත් මුල් ළමාවිය සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ මෙහෙයවීමෙන් හා යුරෝපානු සංගමය (EU) මුදල් අනුග්‍රහය ඇතිව, එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවර්ධන වැඩසටහන (UNDP) ආයතනයේ පළාත් පාලන ආයතන වල ධාරිතා වර්ධනය කිරීමේ (CDLG) ව්‍යාපෘතිය මගින්, NAITA ආයතනයේ තාක්ෂණික සහයෝගයත් සමග පවත්වනු ලබන මෙම පාඨමාලා සඳහා පළාත් පාලන ආයතන වලින් පවත්වාගෙන යන මුල් ළමාවිය සංවර්ධන මධ්‍යස්ථාන වල ඉගැන්වීම් කරන ගුරුවරුන් 38 දෙනෙකු සම්මුඛ පරීක්ෂණ ක්‍රියාවලියන් හරහා තේරී පත්ව ඇත. පළාත්... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/22)
HELPLANKA PRESS RELEASE
Helplanka, a UK Registered charity, has teamed up with Dimuthu Foundation of Pambala Kakkapalliya, Sri Lanka, kick starting their collaboration with a very special event to commemorate the 90th birthday of Dhanasena Siriwardene Goonetillake, who was born and lived in Kakkapalliya and who is the father of Sampath Goonetillake ( Sam) the Chief Executive and Founder of Helplanka. On Saturday 15th January 2022, 90 Children from a remote village in Kawatiyawatta Wattakalliya, near Chilaw, were treated to a tea party and dry rations were distributed at the event,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/22)
by Sanath Nanayakkare Courtesy The Island
From Left: Manjula Perera, Wind Power Developers Association Secretary, Thusitha Peiris, Small Hydro Power Developers Association President, Lasith Wimalasena, Ground Mounted Solar Developers Association President, Chamil Silva, Bio Energy Developers Association President, Kushan Jayasuriya, Solar Industries Association President. In the backdrop of dwindling foreign currency reserves and capacity shortages, the only logical solution for Sri Lanka to take is to adopt renewable energy as the primary source of energy production, Manjula Perera, Secretary of the Wind Power Developers Association said in Colombo yesterday. He said... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/22)
Courtesy The Daily Mirror
A Chinese company embroiled in a dispute with Sri Lanka over organic fertilizer, has made a formal complaint with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Qingdao Seawin Biological Group Co., Ltd, in an email to Daily Mirror sent through a local agent, said that the complaint was made just before the company and Sri Lanka reached an agreement over the payment for the disputed fertilizer. “Before reaching a Terms of Settlement on the L/C enjoining order cases between Seawin and the buyers on Jan 5, 2022, Seawin... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/22)
Courtesy Adaderana
Sri Lanka’s central bank governor told CNBC that the South Asian nation doesn’t need an economic lifeline from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “Well, we don’t need relief if we have an alternative strategy,” Ajith Nivard Cabraal said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday. He claimed Sri Lanka is able to finance its outstanding debt, especially international sovereign bonds, “without causing any pain to our creditors.” Credit agencies have recently warned Sri Lanka may need support to cushion the blow from inflation and foreign exchange headwinds, but Cabraal disagreed... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/22)
Courtesy Adaderana
The Railway Trade Union Alliance has highlighted a 2018 purchase of 160 Indian railway carriages at a cost of over USD 80 million that now lie in various states of corrosion and disuse. They also claimed that the carriages cannot be run on the upcountry line due to their 65-foot length, prompting a response from Bus Transport Services and Train Compartments Dilum Amunugama to the contrary. Calling a media briefing, the alliance exposed what they said were “acts of serious fraud” in the purchase of railway carriages from India.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/22)
Courtesy Adaderana
https://youtu.be/wGWESNt3ivo... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/22)
Courtesy Adaderana
The Ministry of Health says that another 927 persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus today (January 26). This figure includes 05 persons who had arrived in the country from overseas. Sri Lanka’s tally of Covid-19 cases confirmed in the country thereby climbed to 604,581. With this, the number of virus-infected people who are undergoing treatment moved to 12,454. Meanwhile, the death toll stands at 15,346. This is the first time Sri Lanka recorded more than 900 daily cases of Covid-19 in about four months. For the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/22)
Courtesy Hiru News
A lawyer by the name of B.A.W. Abeywardena has sent a letter to all Members of Parliament, including the President and the Speaker, requesting permission from Parliament to end his life. He has stated that he arrived at such a decision following his dismissal from the Land Reforms Commission where he worked and his inability to repay the education loan from the people's tax money. This letter was recently addressed to the Speaker of Parliament and all Members of Parliament under the headline "Seeking Parliament's Approval for... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/22)
වෛද්‍ය නීතිඥ පාලිත බණ්ඩාර සුබසිංහM.B.B.S (PERADENIYA), LL.B (O.U.S.L),වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරි, ජාතික රෝහල මහනුවර
පසුගිය සතියේ දිනයකි. වේලාව රාත්‍රී 9.30 ට පමණ වන්නට ඇත. පොද වැස්සකි. මම මහනුවර දළදා මාළිගාව ඉදිරිපිට ඇති තෝසෙ කඩයක් ඉදිරිපිට මගේ ඇනවුම පිළියෙළ කරන තුරු වාහනය තුළට රැඳී සිටියෙමි.ඉදිරිපස වීදුරුවෙන් තෝසේ කඩය ඉදිරිපිට රැජණ හෝටලය අසලින් දිවෙන පදිකවේදිකාව පැහැදිලිව පෙනේ. පැවති සිහින් වැසි බිඳු අතරින් ඉදිරිය බලන විට පදිකවේදිකාවේ මට පිටුපා කාන්තාවක් සිටින ආකාරය දක්නට ලැබුණි. කාල වර්ණ කෙසඟ සිරුරකින් යුත් ඇය සුදු පැහැති බ්ලවුසයක් සහ කළු පැහැති දිගු සායකින් සැරසී සිටියාය. කොන්ඩය හිස් මුදුනට කොට ගැටගසා තිබිණි. ඇය පසෙකට... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 27/01/22)
by Senaka Weeraratna
January 25 is India’s Republic Day. It will be celebrated on a grand scale this year as usual but with a marked twist. The Govt. of India will formally salute Netaji Subash Chandra Bose as the father of India’s freedom struggle displacing Mahatma Gandhi from a pedestal that many thought was unassailable. Its plans to elevate Subhas Chandra Bose above all other Indian freedom fighters include: 1) Commencement of the Republic Day celebrations from January 23 so as to include Bose's birthday anniversary, which has been declared as 'Parakram... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/01/22)
by Nava Thakuria
Guwahati: Should the journalist-editor-proprietors continue to have government sponsored personal security officers (PSO) even though they do not have visible threats to their lives ? Are PSOs slowly becoming status symbols for many celebrated media persons in India ? Should not they withdraw the policemen at the earliest and hire private security personnel (meaning paid by themselves) if they need them desperately? After all, why should the authorities pay for someone’s personal luxury? These are among few questions, lately floated in public domain, as Assam government in northeast India had lately... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/01/22)
අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය
ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විදේශ තානාපති කාර්යාලවල නියෝජිතයින් හා අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අතර හමුවක් අද (25) දින පස්වරුවේ අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ දී පැවැත්විණි. තනාපති සබඳතාවලට අදාළව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා හා තානාපති නියෝජිතයන් අතර මෙහි දී සුහඳ සාකච්ඡාවක් සිදුවිය. මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක, විදේශ අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් අද්මිරාල් (විශ්‍රාමික) ජයනාත් කොළඹගේ, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය කාර්ය මණ්ඩල ප්‍රධානී යෝෂිත රාජපක්ෂ මහත්වරු සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විදේශ තානාපති කාර්යාලවල නියෝජිතයෝ රැසක් එක්ව සිටියහ.... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/01/22)
Courtesy Adaderana
The Ministry of Health says that another 891 persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus today (January 25). This figure includes 03 persons who had arrived in the country from overseas. Sri Lanka’s tally of Covid-19 cases confirmed in the country climbs to 603,654 with this while 11,784 patients infected with the virus are currently undergoing treatment. Meanwhile, this is the seventh straight day that the daily count of Covid-19 cases has surpassed the 800-mark in the island, showing a resurgence of Covid positive cases reported. The... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/01/22)
Courtesy Adaderana
Earnings from exports in November 2021 have recorded the highest monthly export value in history, notching up a total of USD 1.211 billion, says the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL). According to the press release issued by CBSL’s Economic Research Department, this brings the cumulative export figures for the January to November period, to USD 11.345 billion, which is a 24.9% improvement. It also marks the sixth consecutive month of above USD 1.0 billion of exports. Meanwhile, import expenditure also increased at a higher rate in November 2021. Reflecting... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 26/01/22)
By Rathindra Kuruwita Courtesy The Diplomat
Sri Lanka has a lot to learn about entering agreements with international companies – and the repercussions of violating them. In September of last year, the Sri Lankan government banned a shipment of 20,000 tons of fertilizer, worth $6.9 million, from China’s Qingdao Seawin Biotech Group Co., alleging that there were harmful bacteria in the fertilizer. The ensuing controversy has created a lively debate among analysts. After months of “lawfare” in Sri Lankan courts and never-ending missives between the Sri Lankan government and Qingdao Seawin Biotech, the... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/01/22)
By Harsh V. Pant, the director of research at the Observer Research Foundation, and Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, a research assistant at the Observer Research Foundation.
The Maldives and Sri Lanka show how they can bargain with bigger powers to their advantage. JANUARY 24, 2022, 2:31 PM This month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Sri Lanka and the Maldives. On the surface, the trip was part of an effort by China to make further inroads into South Asia and cement its presence in the Indian Ocean. But it also reflects a new regional trend in which smaller South... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/01/22)
ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති
වර්තමානයෙහි අප රටෙහි නීති ගැටලු විශාල ප්‍රමාණයක් ඉස්මතු වී ඇත්තේ දේපළ හිමිකම, භුක්තිය, පවරාදීම සහ බදුදීම වැනි කරුණු ආශ්‍රිතව ය. සුරක්‍ෂිත සහ සැපපහසු ජීවිතයක් ගතකිරීම වෙනුවෙන් ද අනාගත පැවැත්ම තහවුරු කරගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් ද දේපළ හිමිකරගැනීමට සහ ඒවා නිරවුල් ලෙසින් පවත්වාගෙන යෑමට මිනිස්සු යොමුවෙති. මෙ ලෙසින් හිමි කරගන්නා දේපළ ත්‍රිපිටකය තුළ “නිධාන” ලෙසින් ද දක්වා තිබෙයි. ඛුද්දක නිකාය අටුවාවේ ඛුද්දකපාඨ තුළ විග්‍රහ කෙරෙන ප්‍රථම ගාථා වර්ණනාව තුළ එවැනි නිධාන සතරක් ගැන කියැවෙයි. එනම් ථාවර (ස්ථාවර), ජංගම, අංගසම සහ අනුගාමික වශයෙනි. රන්, රිදී, කුඹුරු, ඉඩම්, නිවාස යනාදිය ස්ථාවර නිධාන ලෙසින් එහි විස්තර කෙරෙයි. ඇත්, ගව, අස්,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/01/22)
P.K. Balachandran/Daily Mirror Courtesy NewsIn.Asia
Colombo, January 25: The name of Anagarika Dharmapala (1864-1933) is deeply etched in the history of Buddhism as the man who passionately and single-mindedly (if not single-handedly), strove to liberate the Buddhist shrine at Buddhagaya in North India from the clutches of a Hindu priest. Sadly, Dharmapala could not achieve his cherished objective during his lifetime. This was partly due to rising Hindu consciousness in India in the closing decades of the 19 th.Century, and partly due to the British authorities’ reluctance to challenge the Hindu majority (see: Light of Asia by Jairam Ramesh,... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/01/22)
By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island
Lak Sathosa garlic scam: One-time Executive Director of Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA), Thushan Gunawardena says the Immigration and Emigration Department has barred him from leaving the country. An irate Gunawardena alleges he is being harassed over the disclosure of a massive garlic scam at Lak Sathosa last September. “Instead of prosecuting those responsible, expeditiously, I’m being targeted for ordering the raid that exposed the corrupt lot,” Gunawardena told The Island soon after returning home. The ex-CAA official declared he would be soon filing a fundamental rights case against... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/01/22)
Courtesy The Daily Mirror
Having overcome the first debt hurdle for the year— yet with another US$ 6.0 billion dollars worth of debt waiting to be retired in the next eleven months— Sri Lanka is still showing aversion to seek International Monetary Fund (IMF) support to restore investor confidence and regain capital market access. Sri Lanka’s access to international capital markets was impaired after multiple rating agencies downgraded its sovereign credit rating. However, the authorities claim that they were not anyway going to rollover the sovereign bonds after the previous government piled up... -Full Story- (LankaWeb - 25/01/22)
