Sep 29 (DM) Expert Committee has recommended in principle giving Pfizer vaccine as the third dose for selected Sinopharm recipients. Deputy Director-General of Health Services Dr Hemantha Herath said that accordingly, the Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases (ACCD) had recommended giving Pfizer vaccine as the third dose to all those above 60 years and people aged between 30 -60 with comorbidities as of now. “The final decision will be taken by Health Ministry more..

Sep 29 (PHC) Today marks the culmination of a challenging yet rewarding assignment as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to SL. Challenging, not due to the Pandemic and diplomatic responsibilities, but in correspondingly reciprocating to the respect and love extended to me and my team by the common Sri Lankans during the period. The difficulties posed by the Pandemic, though to some extent retarded, yet could not stop us from proactively engaging with our SL brethren in every nook and corner more..

Sep 29 (CT) Leader of the SLMC, MP Rauff Hakeem, who met the six-member European Union delegation who came to review the GSP+ facility, yesterday at Darusalaam, expressed displeasure over the human rights abuses in the country in recent times. He said the EU delegation visited him, wanting to hear his views on the current situation in the country. The delegation, comprising NikolaosZaimis, Senior Adviser on more..

Sep 29 (TM) Steps will be taken to obtain proposals from local and foreign investors for the implementation of several renewable energy projects such as 50MW or more renewable energy plants including large-scale solar, wind, floating solar power plants built on reservoirs, and shallow offshore wind power plants, State Ministry of Solar, Wind and Hydro Power Generation Project Development stated in a media release today. It further notes that nn Extraordinary Gazette more..

Sep 29 (TM) Awarding a contract to an American company to supply gas to SL power plants until 2028 will be an obstacle in bringing down investors to drill for natural gas in SL, Minister Udaya Gammanpilla said. Additionally, Gammanpilla went on to say that the issue at hand is not about awarding 40% of the Yugadanavi power plant to an American company, whereas the concern Gammanpilla had was of the American company getting a monopoly over the supply of natural gas in SL for 5 years more..

Sep 29 (EN) Both farmers and consumers in SL have had to pay the price for the govt’s inability to stand up to an oligopoly of rice millers, opposition lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake said, after the govt removed price controls on the island’s staple food. Dissanayake accused Prez Rajpakasa’s administration of representing the interests of a mafia of rice millers. The MP also claimed that the current leadership’s image more..

Sep 29 (FT) The visiting five-member high-ranked delegation from the European Union has responded positively to the current progress made by the Govt, stating that it was satisfied with the current situation in Sri Lanka, the Justice Ministry said yesterday. The EU delegation which is on an official visit to review the progress made by the Government to continue the EU GSP+ concession said this at a meeting held with Justice Minister Ali Sabry at Ministry premises yesterday. more..

Sep 29 (DM) The time ahead is going to be decisive in determining the situation of Covid in the country and people have been urged to follow Covid appropriate behaviour, Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Samitha Ginige said today. He said the country couldn't be fully satisfied with the present decline in COVID cases as negligent behaviour of people would always turn the situation for the worse. “Talking about the decrease in cases, the massive vaccination drive, the restriction measures more..

Sep 29 (Island) Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday said that a severe blow had been dealt to media freedom by summoning the editors of The Island, Divaina and Lankadeepa newspapers and several senior journalists attached to those newspapers to the CID. Premadasa said that the clause 14 (1) of the Constitution clearly spelt out the freedom of expression and no one could threaten the media in a democratic country. more..

Sep 29 (AD) As the daily count of deaths from COVID-19 infection continues to drop below 100 in Sri Lanka, only 61 fatalities were confirmed by the Director-General of Health Services on Tuesday (29). 25 males and 36 females have succumbed to the novel coronavirus in the recent past. The new victims include 14 people aged between 30 - 59 years and 47 others aged 60 years and above. Following the latest development, SL’s COVID-related death toll now stands at 12,847. more..

Sep 29 (FT) September 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the reopened Royal College Hostel (RCH). It is an important milestone of the College Boarding House. At present the RCH is the second home to over 300 students. All of them are Grade 5 scholarship winners joining the school year after year from the remotest parts of the island. The hostel enables the less-affluent rural children to enter the leading national school of the nation – Royal College – to pursue their studies. more..

Sep 29 (EN) SL’s ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, or quarantine curfew as it is officially known, will be lifted as previously announced on Friday (1), subject to conditions, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said. These conditions, to be announced by health authorities, will imposed to curtail movement and curb further spread of the virus, said Rambukwella, adding. Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Medical Association has proposed more..

Sep 29 (MFA) Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris received High Commissioner of the UK to SL Sarah Hulton, and conducted an open and wide-ranging discussion in Colombo on Tuesday. During the engagement, Minister Peiris and the UK Envoy discussed several key issues pertaining to the close bilateral relationship between the two countries. The SL Foreign Minister referred to the recent cordial engagement with British Minister of State for South Asia, UN and the Commonwealth Lord Tariq more..

Sep 29 (CT) Specialist doctors urged youth to take COVID vaccine in the first opportunity they get and not be duped by myths circulated by parties with vested commercial interests against the jab. Professor of Community Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine, Uni of Colombo, Manju Weerasinghe said, “There is no scientific basis for the claims that the COVID vaccines causes impotence and infertility.” He urged youth to act intelligently and not be fooled by non-scientific claims and myths. more..

Sep 29 (CT) SL’s Ambassador to China, Dr. Palitha Kohona said that commitments have been reached to attract over US $ 2.5 billion worth of new Chinese FDI to Sri Lanka. He hopes to attract these investments to the country through the energy, construction, manufacturing and education sectors. He also said a large-scale SL Investment summit will be held in Beijing, China in November to educate Chinese investors about more..

Sep 29 (TM) Leader of the SJB Sajith Premadasa has asked the delegation of the European Union (EU) who are currently in Sri Lanka not to take away GSP+ concessions. The delegation comprised of five high-ranking officials arrived in Sri Lanka earlier this week to have discussions with authorities on the GSP+ concessions. Accordingly, Premadasa made such remarks during a meeting held between him and the delegation yesterday. Meanwhile, Justice Minister Ali Sabry has briefed the delegation more..

Sep 29 (TM) In an unprecedented effort to achieve justice in the killing of journalists, three leading press freedom groups have established a People’s Tribunal to investigate their murders and hold govts accountable. The Tribunal, a form of grassroots justice, relies on investigations and high-quality legal analysis involving specific cases in three countries, including the case of Lasantha Wickrematunge. Additionally, the Tribunal seeks to indict the govts of Mexico and Syria as well, more..

Sep 29 (DM) Denouncing the move to allow fully vaccinated foreign passengers to travel in the country without PCR test, National Trade Union Front (NTUF) said today it was similar to inviting another wave as fully vaccinated people could still transmit COVID-19. NTUF President Saman Rathnapriya said that it was surprising for the Director General of Health Services to give an approval to such a move when more..

Sep 29 (EN) SL Medical Association has proposed a restrained, phased, and well-monitored exit strategy for the country’s ongoing COVID-19 restrictions starting Friday (1) in order to avoid another wave of the epidemic. “The unrestricted re-opening of the country at the end of the current lockdown will lead to a resumption of transmission. Because the prevailing case numbers are high, it is likely to lead to a more rapid rise of cases than previously, despite the high vaccine coverage,” more..

Sep 29 (AD) The Director-General of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena has issued new quarantine measures for travellers arriving from overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic. As per the new guidelines, Sri Lankan citizens and seafarers, as well as dual citizens (using the Sri Lankan passport) arriving in Sri Lanka through airports, are not required to obtain the prior approval of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to land on the island. more..

Sep 30 (DM) While on the one hand, Sri Lankans are battling the Covid-19 pandemic, on the other hand, they are compelled to grapple with the sky rocketing cost of living and the shortage of essential commodities such as milk powder, domestic gas, wheat flour and rice among several others. There were several reports of unscrupulous retailers forcing consumers to buy other dairy products or to buy goods to the value of about Rs.4,000 to be eligible to buy a 1kg pack of milk powder, more..

Sep 30 (DM) The Political Economy of Covid-19 and Responses to it. That would be an excellent topic for doctoral dissertation. Of course, Combatting Covid-19 would also be an interesting and important study. We are still in the middle of the pandemic and therefore such exercises would be works in progress. The latter, admittedly, would be best taken on if and when we are out of the Covid-19 woods. The former can be studied at any time. In any event, keeping notes would be useful. more..

Sep 30 (DM) The much controversial fertilizer tender, that was offered to China without analyzing samples to check its compliance with the standards published by SL Standard Institution, has been suspended due to the continuous failures in proving the samples are free of microorganism. Director General Agriculture in a statement has said that any contaminated fertilizer cannot be imported to Sri Lanka; more..

Sep 30 (Island) Improving higher education in Sri Lanka is not only important, but essential and long overdue. However, seeking to achieve higher quality by form-ising the performance of teachers (or the practice of forcing the entire teaching-learning exercise into forms designed to communicate exactly what and what transpires in a classroom) may not be able to bring about the desired change. A new set of four forms introduced recently to this end requires, among other things, more..

Sep 30 (TM) Today (29) marks International Translation Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the act of bridging different communities that communicate in different languages, through translation. The translation of ideas and knowledge, not mere words, is a huge responsibility, and the changes it can make are massive. At present, Sri Lanka is struggling to deal with intensifying pressure on the country caused by the exacerbating economic crisis and the long drawn-out more..

Sep 30 (CT) Rabies is considered as one of the most dangerous diseases in the world because the major carrier of rabies is the man’s best friend, through which it could be transmitted to us. Also, the infected suffer immensely as the virus causes inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. Once the virus reaches the spinal cord and brain, rabies is almost always fatal. Death is extremely agonising. Therefore, it is important to more..

Sep 30 (ST) In a recent webinar discussion, I was listening to an argument between an economist and a businessman. Economist said, Exports’ expansion will be discouraged by import protection. Obviously, it was a confusing statement to many and, exactly that was the point raised by the businessman: We are talking about import protection, not export expansion; import protection is needed to protect our domestic industries. I must say at the outset that both statements are correct, more..

Sep 30 (CT) There was a controversy over the recent reopening of Wine Shops, as part of the relaxation of COVID-19 control regulations, attracting criticism and opposition by many activists as is very common these days. The habit of taking liquor, especially spirits, being foreign to the culture of Sri Lanka: allowance being made to drinking palm wine, on festive occasions such as winning a war. This situation prevailed until the westerners introduced it just about 500 years ago: more..

Sep 30 (GV) Mr. Nadesu Kuganathan surrendered to the army in the last phase of the war in 2009 and released after rehabilitation in 2013 after four years. But after three months, he was re-arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Last week he was released again after eight years in detention without any charges. Mr. Malcom Tiron[i] was arrested under the PTA in 2008 and he was released few months ago due to lack of evidence after 13 years in detention. He was charged in 2012 along with more..

Sep 30 (ST) Board of Investment (BOI) said that inspite of the current economic issues and the current emergency laws existing investors have confidence in SL and continue to reinvest as was evident last year and so far this year. Last year most investments came in the form of reinvestments as investors are more familiar with positive happenings in the country, BOI Chairman Sanjaya Mohottala said in response to a question on the reaction of investors to the current emergency laws more..

Sep 30 (TM) Increasing global shipping charges and delays in shipping are expected to have an adverse impact on Sri Lankan importers and exporters. Shippers’ Academy International CEO Rohan Masakorala, speaking to us, stated that shipping costs will continue to increase over the next 12-18 months until the market stabilises or new capacity additions are made to the container ship fleet. more..

Sep 30 (DM) Following the demise of Hatton National Bank (HNB) Chairman Nilantha De Silva, the bank yesterday announced the appointment of banking veteran Aruni Goonetilleke as the new Chairperson, who was appointed to HNB’s board as a Non-Executive, Non-Independent Director on April 1, 2021. HNB informed the demise of De Silva, who was appointed as the bank’s Chairman, with effect from July 5, 2021. Goonetilleke is a financial services expert, with over 25 years of more..

Sep 30 (DN) SL women’s teams started with a winning note on the first day at the team events of the Asian Table Tennis championship which is now in progress in Doha Qatar. The women’s team led by experienced Ishara Madurangi defeated Bangladesh and Jordan teams respectively 3-0 each while they lost to Kazakhstan team 0-3 on the first day. Ishara Madurangi, Bimandee Bandara and Muthumali Priyadharshani played singles games at the team event and they are in number two in their more..

Sep 30 (CT) The absence of fans in the cricket stadium doesn’t contribute much to the degree of enthusiasm. It is very hard to imagine a match with empty stands, especially in a spectator sport like cricket. While several high-profile leagues are slowly allowing fans back into the thick of action, SLC are also mulling to allow fully vaccinated spectators for the upcoming LPL scheduled to commence from 4-23 Dec more..

Sep 30 (Island) National Chess Champion Ranindu Liyanage and FIDE Master Sasith Nipun Piyumantha scored five points and 4 1/2 points respectively at the Joytu Sheikh Hasina Int'l Chess Tournament organized by the Bangladesh Chess Federation from Sept 19 to 27 in Dhaka to mark their Prime Minister’s 75th Birthday. Ranindu who is from Ananda College started strongly forcing a draw in the game against Iranian Grandmaster Eshan Ghaem Magami and scored points against more..

Sep 30 (FT) Aviation State Minister D.V. Chanaka said four international airlines have agreed to start scheduled flights to MRIA, with discussions ongoing with several other airlines. “Four international airlines have officially agreed to start scheduled operations to MRIA, including an Abu Dhabi – Mattala flight,” he said during an inspection visit to the airport yesterday. The Cabinet of Ministers on Monday approved a special incentive package to woo international airlines to MRIA. more..

Sep 30 (SLN) The 31st International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) meeting between the navies of SL and India was held on a virtual setting at the Light House Galley, Colombo today (29). Held for the 31st time, the IMBL meeting focuses on exchange of views to overcome common challenges faced by both partners, while enhancing mutual understanding among navies as well as Coast Guards of two countries. SL Navy delegation for this year’s meeting was led by more..