Apr 28 (ST) It is usually customary for those in political parties to take a break during the national New Year holidays. A somewhat prolonged absence from Parliament sittings gave some the opportunity of a well-earned holiday overseas whilst others chose the comfort of hill country resorts. Though at best, it was a distraction, one is not wrong in saying that the antics in the once reputed and strong SLFP were providing some more..

Apr 28 (ST) The ban on motor vehicle imports is set to be lifted early next year, if recommendations from a committee comprising Treasury officials that the move was required to meet revenue targets set by the IMF are to be accepted by the Govt. The committee’s recommendations will be submitted to Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe for him to take a final decision as Finance Minister and make an announcement about the imports. A senior Treasury official said that if the vehicle import ban more..

Apr 28 (EN) SL has changed its fuel price formula used to determine the prices of fuel once a month with allowing flexibility in the profit margin, State Minister D V Chanaka said. The move comes ahead of a presidential poll later this year in which Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected to contest under an independent coalition. Unprecedented fuel price hike in 2022 amid long queues due to shortage compelled nationalist SLPP-led govt to switch to fuel price formula which it cancelled in 2019 more..

Apr 28 (ST) More than 300 contracts connected to 35 mega projects were suspended last year, and Rs. 2.3 billion was demanded as compensation by contractors for just nine of them, Finance Ministry’s Project Management and Monitoring Department (PMMD) says, adding there is a probability that claims will also be submitted over another 22. A total of 37 projects achieved no physical progress more..

Apr 28 (Island) On Friday in Colombo, Alexis Taylor, Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at the U.S. Dept of Agriculture (USDA), together with U.S. Ambassador Julie Chung, met with Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe and other senior government officials to discuss USDA support for SL’s agricultural sector. Under Secretary Taylor’s visit underscored the American peoples’ ongoing commitment to supporting the agricultural development and economic growth of SL, more..

Apr 28 (ST) Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana is to be given an extension of service in his post in the Finance Ministry by President Ranil Wickremesinghe following his retirement on Friday from the Central Bank. The Sunday Times learns that Mr. Siriwardana, whose substantive position was Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, will be given a one-year extension as Secretary to the Treasury, Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies. more..

Apr 28 (DM) Ahead of the presidential election, the govt has allocated Rs.100 million for each divisional secretariat area for development projects and instructed the ruling party MPs to accelerate implementation of them. President Ranil Wickremesinghe called for a meeting of the ruling party legislators on Thursday to discuss the matter since the execution of development projects takes place at a snail’s pace, according to an MP who was present at the meeting. more..

Apr 28 (EN) SL’s tax collections in 2023 have totalled 2,750 billion rupees, up 55 from 2022 and higher than a revised out-turn presented at a November, official data show. SL originally targeted 3,130 billion rupees of tax collections in 2023 or 10.3% of gross domestic product despite an economic contraction but with an inflated economy at hikes in rates, while the IMF projected only 3,005 billion rupees (10.1% of GDP). In a budget for 2024 presented to parliament in November, more..

Apr 28 (TM) CEB has received a draft MoU from Power Grid Corporation of India to connect the electricity grids of the two countries. It is learnt that the CEB is currently examining the MoU, expecting to sign it as soon as it is finalised. Last year, Govt announced its decision to proceed with the India-SL grid connectivity project, with Minister Kanchana Wijesekera assuring its implementation by 2030. more..

Apr 28 (AD) Committee of Public Finance (COPF), at its most recent meeting, has examined the effectiveness of recent tax increases on tobacco and liquor, aimed at discouraging consumption and boosting govt revenue. Drawing attention to the Laffer curve in taxation, the COPF observed a decline in govt revenue over the past two months compared to the same period last year, attributing it to higher taxes that have led to increased smuggling and the adoption of alternative measures. more..

Apr 28 (DM) Defence Secretary Kamal Gunaratne met Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation where they discussed a wide range of topics, including counter-terrorism efforts, cyber security and defence cooperation, Ministry of Defence said. The meeting took place recently in line with the 12th International Meeting on Security Matters held in Saint Petersburg, Russia attended by high-ranking officials from around the world. The meeting between the two secretaries more..

Apr 28 (Island) SL’s junior relay quartet shattered the ten year old 4×100 metres national junior record as they qualified for the finals of the men’s 4×100 metres on day three of the Asian Junior Athletics Championship in Dubai on Friday. The team anchored by Ananda College sprinter Merone Wijesinghe clocked 40.32 seconds to finish second behind China in the relay heats held in the morning. SL will carry the third fastest time from the two heats to the final which will be held on Saturday. more..

Apr 28 (ST) SL is unlikely to lift the ban on oil palm cultivation in an election year that has much at stake if this should go ahead. This industry has already lost approximately US$35 million in revenue had the cultivation of proposed 20,000 hectares been carried out into 2024. Oil Palm Growers Association during meetings with the relevant authorities and politicians are left baffled as the latter have continuously agreed on the importance of cultivating the crop but have not yet taken steps more..

Apr 28 (TM) Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) is in urgent need of $ 400 million for crucial gap financing to complete the construction of its Terminal II. Terminal II comprises a substructure and a superstructure. It is learnt that the substructure of the project is currently being constructed by Access Engineering and is due to be completed by November. AASL Chairman Athula Galketiya said that Access had begun more..

Apr 28 (Island) A video clip from Benson & Hedges tri-nation series in the year 1990 involving two greats of the game Aravinda de Silva and Wasim Akram has gone viral. The short clip indeed is pure gold. It not only has two of the greatest entertainers of the game in action but you can also hear former Australian captains Richie Benaud and Ian Chappell in commentary. The action takes place at Gabba. Not the concrete jungle that they have at present, but one of the most beautiful grounds more..

Apr 28 (TM) A prominent motorsport union has hurled barbs at another motorsports body, while the latter has called for the outcome of an independent inquiry, as the saga to expose the perpetrator of the horrific crash at Fox Hill Supercross 2024 rumbles on. The tragic incident, which arose after a car veered off the track and rammed into spectators, resulted in the deaths of seven, while injuring 23 others. It was also ironic that it happened on the very day the country marked more..

Apr 28 (ST) Last Sunday, the 28th Fox Hill Super Cross event was supposed to create that much anticipated hype, since this year’s edition marked the comeback of the virtual national motorsport event of the country after a lapse of five years. Creating the hype…it indeed did, but unfortunately for the wrong reasons. The 28th Fox Hill Super Cross unfolded with high expectations last Sunday morning at the Diyatalawa Military more..

Apr 28 (TM) Following a lull in the spree of restrictive legislation aimed primarily at weighing the scales in favour of those in power, it appears that a rare piece of legislation that will actually help SL clean up its act has finally found its way to the legislative table. Previously-enacted legislation in the recent past that has proven to be controversial and looked at as largely in favour of the political authority include the Online Safety Act, the yet-stillborn Anti-Terror Act & Broadcasting Authority Bill. more..

Apr 28 (ST) AG’s Dept has filed indictments against Indian nationals Yogi Patel and P. Akash who were involved in the unsanctioned Legends Cricket League in Kandy last month on charges of attempting to fix matches at the Matale and Kandy High Courts. The Indians are accused of attempting to fix matches in the Legends Cricket League held between March 8 and 19 at Pallekele International Stadium. Patel owns the Kandy Swamp Army team in the league, while Akash manages Punjab more..

Apr 28 (SO) A brilliant bevy of girls from Holy Family Convent (HFC) Bambalapitiya made sparkling history in schools basketball by winning the Under-20 All Island Inter School Basketball Championship for the fourth time in a row. No other girls’ school team has ever achieved the monumental feat before in the tournament’s history. The final game was super thrilling at the HFC courts in Bambalapitiya last week as the home grown girls played against Good Shepherd Convent (GSC) Kotahena more..

Apr 28 (ST) International stars Barbar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, James Neesham, Tim Southee and Ish Sodhi are among those over 400 foreign cricketers registered for this year’s Lanka Premier League auction. The player registrations will conclude on Monday where the organisers will prune down the list to around 150 to come under the hammer at the auction. The auction is likely to be held on May 16 at a five-star hotel in Colombo. Though the player registration was to more..

Apr 28 (ST) The party office of SLPP MP Johnston Fernando at Wilgoda in Kurunegala had been burned down during the Aragalaya period. The building where the Wilgoda office was located was about 105 years old. It was only this week that the newly rebuilt office was declared open by former Prez Mahinda Rajapaksa. Most of those in attendance at the event, though, were completely unaware that Mr. Rajapaksa would be at more..

Apr 28 (ST) Dept of Census and Statistics (DCS) is collaborating with donor agencies to improve the accuracy of its GDP estimates to avoid a situation similar to Argentina’s recent loss in a court case, highly placed sources said. DCS, the authorised agency to compile National Accounts Estimates for SL, disseminated by National Accounts Division of the Dept, now follows the guidelines of the system of National Accounts 2008 (SNA – 2008), which includes the latest set of boundaries, more..

Apr 28 (SO) SL’s new teenage swimming sensation MF Muhammad of Zahira College made waves yet again at the 48th National Age Group Swimming Championship clinching his third new meet record and securing his fifth gold medal in the competition at the Sugathadasa Swimming Pool yesterday. The young athlete achieved this feat by setting a new meet record in the boys U-17 100m Breaststroke event on the tournament’s fourth day. Clocking in at an impressive 1:08.28 in the boys U-17 more..

Apr 28 (ST) My dear Justice Wijey, I wanted to write to you after hearing that you too had been appointed as Acting Chairman of the Blue Party, this time by those led by Aiyo Sirisena. We really don’t know whether to laugh or to cry. It is honestly difficult to decide whether this is a comedy or a tragedy for what was once a great Party. So, let us get this straight. You have been appointed as Acting Chairman by Aiyo Sirisena’s group. Before that, Satellite got Nimal Sleepy de Silva as more..

Apr 28 (ST) Workers of the World Unite’, a battle cry coined by Karl Marx urging the working class to rally together to upend the capitalist system has long been relegated to the dustbin of history, not least by the countries that espoused such catchy slogans. Those words were even entrenched in the former Soviet Union (USSR) Constitution and its state emblem only to be discarded with its collapse in the 1990s by its successor, the Russian Federation. May Day next Wednesday is dedicated more..

Apr 28 (TM) Sri Lanka last week was a hive of geopolitical activity with visits from several key foreign dignitaries to the country. It was quite a test for the Ranil Wickremesinghe Govt to balance these dignitaries, some representing opposing factions in the international arena. All these geopolitical activities took place amidst preparations of all political parties to engage in pre-polls political posturing at the upcoming May Day rallies more..

Apr 28 (Island) There are many who believe that Mr. Karu Jayasuriya, though not in active politics now, is the best president this country never had. His accomplishments in the political field are too numerous to list and his integrity is widely acknowledged. Given the proximity of the event, people even in this country notorious for their short memories, remember his sterling performance as speaker in Oct 2018. That was when then Prez Maithripala Sirisena, elected to office in 2015 more..

Apr 28 (CT) What larks! Ranil can’t make up his mind whether he is UNP or SLPP (the party of govt bearing fealty to Mahinda) candidate. Mahinda’s colour is a beastly cherry; the workers’ dye is purple now, it got mixed up with blue somehow goes the ditty. Sajith is torn between a deal with the UNP (Ranil), or going it solo, or come what may, stitching together some other combine. The perkiest comedy in town is the SLFP where they are quarrelling about, (i) whether Mrs B had masculine more..

Apr 28 (CT) Stringent security measures were in place in view of the arrival of Iranian Prez Ebrahim Raisi in SL. Iranian Prez, who arrived at the Mattala Airport, was received by PM Dinesh Gunawardane and from there he visited the Uma Oya project by road. Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe and other key Cabinet Ministers were waiting at the project site to welcome Iranian Prez. Security convoy for the Iranian Prez comprised tri-forces personnel more..

Apr 28 (SO) Nationalisation was in vogue in the 1950s and 1960s, not only in Sri Lanka but also in developed Western countries. The premise behind nationalisation is that the State should be in control of main utilities and services to provide a better service to the public. This was socialism or communism in action, even though many Western countries such as UK and Germany also followed this doctrine at that time. Today, the tables have turned and even some of the most more..

Apr 28 (CT) A week ago, tragedy struck in the hills of Diyatalawa as an accident that occurred during one of the races resulted in the loss of seven lives. When the much-awaited Foxhill Supercross was organised after a long hiatus, the expectations and the excitement were much higher and perhaps that too must have played a significant role in the heightened magnitude of the tragedy. Following the accident, a lot of opinions have surfaced, mainly in the line of who is to be blamed. more..