Dr. Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake South Asia’s Arab Spring has arrived amid energy wars and slow tectonic shifts in power and wealth eastward to Asia and the Indian Ocean Region. This has been hastened by the new Cold War proxy-war in Ukraine, US-led sanctions on energy-rich Russia and a refugee crisis in Europe.  Two regime change operations […]

ජයන්ත හේරත් අපේ අගමැති අතිවිශිෂ්ටය සුපර්කැලි-ෆ්රැගිලිස්ටික්-එක්ස්පියලි-ඩෝසියස් ය supercalifragilisticexpialidocious – වැ ඩ ට එන්න එපා supercalifragilisticexpialidocious අගමැති කියයි; වැ ඩ ට එන්න එපා එනවා නම් ඇවිද ගෙන එන්න, බයිසිකලේ එන්න. ව්යායාමයට හොඳය, ඊටත් වාහන වල එන්න ඉන්ධන දෙන්න විදියක් නැත. දීමනා දීම නතර කර ඇත. වැටුප් අඩු කරන්න වෙන්නේය. මගේ වැටුප අඩු කර ගත්ත විදියට ඔහෙල […]

Janaka Alahapperuma from London Her Majesty The Queen has made a surprise appearance with her youngest son, the Earl of Wessex at London’s Paddington Station to mark the completion of the new railway ‘The Elizabeth Line’, named in honour of the Queen in her Platinum Jubilee year, ahead of its opening to passengers on Tuesday […]

Senaka Weeraratna Trustee German Dharmaduta Society Vesak was celebrated at the Berlin Buddhist Vihara on Sunday May 15, 2022 in a fitting manner. The Vesak ceremony was conducted outdoors in bright weather conditions against the backdrop of a picturesque natural setting that is the hallmark of this Temple which is called ‘ Das Buddhistische Haus’ […]

Media Release 2022.05.19 Sri Lankan Commission in New Delhi Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India Milinda Moragoda met with the National Security Advisor of India Shri Ajit Kumar Doval, at the latter’s office in New Delhi on 19 May 2022. During their discussion a comprehensive review of the status of the bilateral relationship was carried […]

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM USLA Wellington Ranaviru Commemoration 19.5.22 USLA Spokesperson’s Message Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen Thank you for once again offering me the privilege of being able to contribute to this USLA  sponsored Ranaviru commemoration on this the 19th day of May 2022. Today we once again,  remember the Ranaviru, our war heroes […]

සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන නිළධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය ලේකම්,සමෘද්ධි සංවර්ධන අමාත්‍යාංශය,සෙත්සිරිපාය, ඉන්ධන හා විදුලිය නොමැති කමින් අඩු ආදායම්ලාභී පවුල් තොරතුරු CRM පද්ධතියට ඇතුලත් කිරීමේදී මතුව ඇති දුෂ්කරතා මත පොරාත්තු ලේඛණයේ සිටින අඩුආදායම්ලාභීන් වෙත එකවර ගෙවන ලද දීමනාව ගෙවීම සඳහා සේවකයින් හට මතුව ඇති ගැටළුකාරීත්වය පිළිබඳව. පවතින ආර්ථික අර්බුදය හේතුවෙන්, ජීවිත අඩාලවීම වෙනුවෙන් පවත්නා සුබ සාධක වැඩසටහන් වල හා පොරොත්තු […]

MALINDA SENEVIRATN​E ‘The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,’ one of the more literary essays written by Karl Marx famously, contains many quotable quotes which are of course frequently used in contexts that have little to do with the thrust of the man’s thinking. This, however, is apt for our times: ‘Men make their own history, […]

Courtesy Reuters May 19 (Reuters) – An International Monetary Fund virtual mission to Sri Lanka is expected to conclude technical talks on a potential IMF loan program to the crisis-wracked South Asian country on May 24, Fund spokesman Gerry Rice said on Thursday. Rice, speaking to a virtual IMF briefing, said the IMF monitoring political […]

Meera Srinivasan Courtesy The Hindu Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed agrees to ‘do everything to assist the people’ of the island nation Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed Maldivian Parliamentary Speaker and former President Mohamed Nasheed as the coordinator” for securing foreign aid to Sri Lanka that is facing an unprecedented economic crisis. […]

By Virginia Jeffries, a freelance journalist covering Sri Lankan affairs, and Laxmanan Sanjeev, a legal advisor and human rights activist from Sri Lanka. Courtesy Foreign Policy Despite two months of anti-government protests, Gotabaya Rajapaksa doesn’t seem like a leader preparing to relinquish power. Embattled Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s party soundly defeated an urgent no-confidence vote against […]

Courtesy Business Standard Regulatory nod only for State Bank of India’s term loan of $1 billion for island nation battling economic crisis. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has approved trade transactions between India and Sri Lanka to be settled in Indian rupee outside the Asian Clearing Mechanism. The approval is alongside a government-guaranteed $1 billion term loan from […]

Courtesy Gulf Today Sri Lankans protest demanding president Gotabaya Rajakasa resign and decrying the appointment of Prime Minister Ranil Wickeremesinghe in Colombo. AP Jorgelina do Rosario and Swati Bhat, Reuters Running out of petrol, medicines and foreign reserves, once-booming Sri Lanka is in a mess. And the measures needed to pull its economy out of the […]

Courtesy CNA Ratings agency Fitch on Thursday downgraded Sri Lanka’s rating to ‘RD’ from ‘C’ after the grace period expired on coupon payments that were due on Apr 18 on two international sovereign bonds. “We have affirmed Sri Lanka’s Long-Term Local-Currency IDR at ‘CCC’, as the government has continued to service local-currency debt and we assume […]

Courtesy The TelegraphOnline Most of the country’s petrol stations running dry. Sri Lanka’s central bank has secured foreign exchange to pay for fuel and cooking gas shipments that will ease crippling shortages, its governor said on Thursday, but police fired tear gas and water canon to push back student protesters.  Most of Sri Lanka’’’’s petrol […]

Courtesy The Straits Times KOENIGSWINTER, GERMANY (REUTERS) – The Group of Seven economic powers support efforts to provide debt relief for Sri Lanka, G-7 finance chiefs said on Thursday (May 19) in a draft communique from a meeting in Germany after the country defaulted on its sovereign debt. The once-booming island country has suspended debt payments […]

By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI Courtesy AP COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka will lower the maximum amount of foreign currency that individuals can possess to $10,000 from $15,000 and penalize anyone who holds it for more than three months, the central bank announced Thursday, as police fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands of […]

Courtesy Borneo Bulletin COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka will take at least six more months to start repaying its debts, the central bank said yesterday as the government shut schools because of fuel shortages. Central Bank of Sri Lanka Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said there will be no debt servicing until the country was able to […]

Courtesy Stuff Sri Lanka’s new Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe wants to sell the national airline, saying the country’s poorest people who’ve never flown shouldn’t be saddled with its losses. Finding a buyer might not be easy. SriLankan Airlines, which prior to the pandemic flew to 126 destinations in more than 60 countries, lost 45 billion […]

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island Colombo HC lawyers concerned over shocking developments National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa, MP, says a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) should be appointed to investigate the role played by IGP C.D. Wickremaratne and Public Security Ministry Secretary Maj. Gen. (retd.) Jagath Alwis in the recent SLPP hothead attack […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Trade Unions today denied reports which claimed that fuel was sold at a subsidized rate of Rs.121 per liter to MPs and VIPs and said if any MP needed to fill their vehicle tanks, they would have to stay in the queue. Trade Union officials told Daily […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on May 19 said that the government of India-backed $1 billion term loan granted to Sri Lank through the State Bank of India (SBI) for financing purchase of essential goods can be settled in rupee terms, outside the purview of the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Three admins of social media platform including a 39-year-old TV presenter have been arrested by the CID for instigating and aiding and abetting recent violent activities through the social media. Police said the CID, police stations across the country and special police units are conducting investigations to identify social media groups […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s office, today rejected social media reports claiming that Rajapaksa was flown in for the parliamentary sessions on Wednesday, saying Rajapaksa traveled by road and not by chopper. Former Coordinating Secretary to Rajapaksa, Geethanath Cassilingam said Rajapaksa is in Colombo and arrived in Parliament by road and not […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Sri Lanka is yet to respond to a Chinese offer of a shipment of diesel to tide over the present crisis of fuel shortage, Daily Mirror learns. According to an informed source, China has made the offer in terms of emergency assistance. However, Sri Lanka has not yet responded to it. […]

Courtesy Hiru News The Prime Minister says that the new cabinet ministers will not be paid their ministerial salaries.<br /><br />This was during the parliamentary session held today (19). Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has stated that some of the privileges of the Members of Parliament will also be curtailed. Earlier it was reported that the […]

Courtesy Adaderana A 42-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of torching an army bus during the protest staged in front of the President’s residence in Pengiriwatte, Mirihana on the 31st of March. The arrest was made by the Criminal Investigation Department, in the area of Deraniyagala today (May 19). A protest was staged near […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka’s central bank governor said on Thursday he will stay on as head of the bank given an improvement in political stability in the midst of an economic crisis, and he would not step down as he had earlier said he would. Governor P. Nandalal Weerasinghe also said the Central Bank of […]

Courtesy Adaderana Public sector employees, except those in essential services, are not required to report to work tomorrow due to the prevailing fuel crisis, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said in parliament this morning (May 19). Delivering a speech in the House, the Premier also urged the general public to limit non-essential travels tomorrow. Meanwhile, Energy […]