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In anticipation of new U.S. sanctions against Tehran, Sri Lankan energy officials said Tuesday the South Asian nation has stopped importing Iranian crude oil.

“We stopped as soon as the sanctions were announced,” Sri Lankan petroleum resources development minister Arjuna Ranatunga was quoted as saying in Abu Dhabi’s leading English language newspaper, The National. “We didn’t buy [directly] from Iran. We buy from Singapore, Dubai, Fujairah.”

The move is the latest global reaction to the Trump administration’s effort to kill Tehran’s oil exports in the wake of Washington withdrawing from multilateral 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran last May.

While the U.S. has already reimposed some finical penalties against Tehran, in early November major sanctions kick in aimed at punishing countries who buy Iranian oil by blocking their access to U.S. markets and financial institutions.

The aggressive Trump administration measures have proven extremely effective, energy analysts said, with data showing that Iranian oil exports have plunged about 35 percent since April.

One of South Asia’s smaller oil consumers, Sri Lanka, had been importing nearly all of its 50,000 barrels per day from Iran.

Following earlier threats about the oil sanctions on Tehran, Sri Lanka’s state oil company had considered sidestepping the penalties by paying for its crude imports with tea, according to local reports.

Sri Lanka is the world’s second-largest tea producer after Kenya.

Iran, a massive tea consumer, imports 90 percent of the commodity from India and Sri Lanka.

Colombo, however, wanted to ensure it didn’t fall afoul of Washington, Mr. Ranatunga said, The National reported.

He also declined to comment on where the new Sri Lanka oil imports will come from.

South Asia’s largest importer of Iranian crude, India, has also recently announced its refiners will cut their monthly imports from Tehran for September and October by nearly half from earlier this year.

India is Iran’s second-largest oil client behind top buyer China.

Although officials in New Delhi have said they do not recognize Washington’s reimposed sanctions, they have also been working to secure waivers from the Trump administration to avoid penalties, in addition to curbing their reliance on Iranian crude.


(Washington Times)

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera has reduced the VAT imposed on fabric to just 5% after considering the requests made by importers and traders engaged in using raw materials to make ready-made garments.

The Ministry of Finance and Media said that minister Samaraweera had signed the gazette notification today.

Earlier, the fabric was subject to LKR 100/kg CESS at the time of imports. The 2018 budget had proposed to impose a VAT of 15% on goods with the new VAT scheme coming into effect from the 16th August 2018. Importers, traders and industrialists engaged in using raw materials for the manufacture of ready-made garments had appealed to Samaraweera seeking relief.

After consulting with the relevant stakeholders, Samaraweera had reduced the VAT to 5% as a measure to help small and medium scale enterprises.  

The Finance Ministry also said that the Enterprise Sri Lanka credit schemes will enable small and medium scale manufacturing industrialists to obtain raw materials at a low cost.

With a vision of inspiring our future generation on the need for imagination, the value of invention and the power of innovation, Royal College, being in the fore-front of Sri Lanka’s education system, presents Spark’18, an innovation exhibition taking place from 25 to 28 September 2018 at the Royal College premises for the first time.
 
With over 600 innovations and inventions taking centre stage, Spark’18 will be the first innovation exhibition of such scale and magnitude to be held in the country.  Other than exhibits from students of Royal College, Spark’18 will also feature inventions and innovations from over 100 students representing various schools from across the country. To further inspire the youth to think innovatively, Spark’18 will also showcase Sri Lanka’s Top 10 inventions, which were selected at an island-wide competition organized by Sri Lanka Inventors Commission, the apex body to promote inventiveness among the citizens of Sri Lanka.
 
Also joining hands onboard Spark’18 to add glamour and value as a centerpiece attraction are the Tri Forces – Sri Lanka Army, Sri Lanka Air Force and Sri Lanka Navy, who will bring to stage their innovations as well as their research and development projects.

Further to showcase the futuristic outlook of information communication technology, Dialog Axiata will give host to a dedicated Future Pavilion at the exhibition, while Microsoft Sri Lanka have also come on board to showcase their innovative technology solutions.

Due to the national significance of this venture, Spark 2018 is endorsed by The Presidential Secretariat, The Prime Ministers Office, The Ministry of Education, The Ministry of Science, Technology & Research and The Ministry of Finance & Mass Media. The exhibition is to be inaugurated under the distinguished patronage of the Prime Minister Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The exhibition will be open to the public from 9 am to 3.30 pm free of charge, and expects many school children from across the country visiting to be inspired by the innovations in display.

Spark 2018 is powered by Dialog Axiata PLC as the Principal Sponsor along-side Food & Beverage Partner Elephant House, Technological Partner Microsoft Sri Lanka, Co- Sponsors National Lotteries Board and Development Lotteries Board and Printing Partner Softwave.

A Kuwaiti man and woman convicted of assaulting customs officers at Sri Lanka's main international airport were handed a six month jail sentence suspended for five years, an official said on Saturday.

The 32-year-old woman and her 29-year-old male partner, who were also fined LKR 138,000 ($860), were sentenced on Friday.

They were arrested after they turned violent when they were informed that quarantine requirements meant they could not bring their Burmese Mastiff into the country.

They assaulted five customs officers who tried to stop them fleeing the airport with the animal, police said, in an attack that was caught on CCTV.

The Court of Appeal today rejected the request by Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran and two others to postpone the Contempt of Court case filed against them until a verdict is issued by the Supreme Court.
 
The request was made by Wigneswaran, Northern Province Ministers Ananthy Sasitharan and P. Sivanesan.
 
The Court of Appeal recently issued an interim order, halting the decision of Wigneswaran to remove Balasubramaniam Deniswaran, former Northern Province Minister of Fisheries, Transport, Trade and Rural Development, from his ministerial portfolio.
 
Subsequently, B. Deniswaran filed a complaint a complaint at the Court of Appeal against CM Wigneswaran accusing him of Contempt of Court by failing to carry out the court order to re-appoint him in his ministerial portfolio until now.
 
Accordingly, they requested the court to postpone the hearing of the case until the Supreme Court issues a verdict.
 
Attorney representing former NP Minister B. Deniswaran informed the court that the Supreme Court has not issued an order to suspend the hearing of the case.Hence, the Court of Appeal has no obstruction to hear the Contempt of Court charges against Chief Minister Wigneswaran and the two other provincial ministers, the attorneys representing B. Deniswaran have further mentioned.

When the case was taken up before a two-member judge bench comprising Justices Kumudini Wickramasinghe and Janak De Silva, the attorneys representing C.V. Wigneswaran and the other two NP ministers informed the court that a hearing regarding the case is scheduled to be taken up before the Supreme Court on September 28.
 
Considering the submissions, the Court of Appeal decided to reject the request sought by the attorneys representing Wigneswaran.
 
Subsequently, they presented preliminary objections against the decision of the Court of Appeal, claiming that it has no authority to hear the Contempt of Court case.

Accordingly, the hearing of the preliminary objections was taken up before the court and further hearing of the objections was postponed to October 16.
 
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal extended the interim order, halting the decision of Chief Minister Wigneswaran to remove former NP Minister B. Deniswaran from his ministerial portfolio until October 17.(Derana)

Sri Lankan-born Suranganie Kumaranayake was appointed Superior Court of Justice for the Province of Ontario in Brampton, Canadian media reported.

Prior to her appointment, Justice Kumaranayake practised exclusively in child protection for close to 16 years, initially as legal counsel with the Catholic Children's Aid Society of Toronto. In December 2003, she joined the Children's Aid Society of Hamilton as legal counsel. Prior to entering the field of child protection, she worked as Staff Criminal Duty Counsel. In this role, she appeared in several courthouses throughout Toronto, as well as in the specialized court programs at Old City Hall: the Toronto Drug Treatment Court, Mental Health Court, Integrated Domestic Violence Court, and Gladue Court. 

She immigrated to Canada as a child with her parents and siblings, having first lived in Sri Lanka and England. She grew up in Ottawa and Burlington. She learned the value of a strong work ethic and compassion from the example set by her parents. 

Kumaranayake holds a B.A. (Honours) in psychology and sociology from Queen's University, an LL.B. from the University of Windsor, and a Certificate in Mental Health from Osgoode Hall Law School Professional Development. Kumaranayake completed her articles in civil litigation with Fellowes, McNeil.

Following her call to the Ontario Bar in 1997, she interned as a legal researcher in Namibia. After completing this internship, she joined Fellowes, McNeil as an associate.

Four elephants were killed when they were hit by a fuel tanker train coming from Kolonnawa to Batticaloa on Tuesday morning in north central Sri Lanka. 

Railways department officials said that the train had collided with a herd of elephants crossing the Colombo-Gal Oya railway line near the 127 mile post in Puwakpitiya, Habarana at around 4 am today (18).

The collision has derailed the train engine and the damage to the railway tracks has forced the railways department to cease the Batticaloa-Trincomalee train service.

Sri Lanka cricket’s anti-corruption unit detained five Indian spectators on suspicion of match-fixing during Sunday’s third and final women’s ODI between the hosts and India, an official said.

The five were initially asked to leave the ground at Katunayake, just north of the capital Colombo, and later detained by police for investigations, the official said.“We felt their behaviour was suspicious at the grounds and all of them were seen excessively communicating on their phones,” the Sri Lanka cricket official, who declined to be named, told AFP. “We exercised our right to remove them from the ground and the police took over the investigation.”

Authorities believe that the suspects may have had links with foreign gambling operations. Betting on sports is illegal in Sri Lanka. Police said they were questioning the suspects.Sri Lanka won Sunday’s match by three wickets, but India won the three-match tournament 2-1.

Last month, two Indians were apprehended in Sri Lanka after officials spotted them behaving suspiciously and making repeated calls on their mobile phones during a domestic T20 tournament match.

Since last month Sri Lanka Cricket has deployed more anti-corruption officials at match venues.Sri Lanka has also announced plans for tougher laws against sports corruption and a special police unit to deal with match-fixing following an Al-Jazeera documentary in May exposing corruption in global cricket in which three Sri Lankan officials were filmed agreeing to sway matches.

India and Sri Lanka signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday for the construction of a 5000-metric ton temperature controlled warehouse in Dambulla with Indian grant assistance of LKR 300 million.  

The project envisages construction of a 5000-metric ton temperature controlled warehouse for fruits and vegetables to minimise its post-harvest losses, which presently are around 40 per cent. 
          
The MoU was signed by Taranjit Singh Sandhu, High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka and K.D.S. Ruwanchandra, Secretary, Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs of Sri Lanka in the presence of Dr. Harsha de Silva, State Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, the Indian High Commission announced today.    
 
India’s overall commitment of development assistance to Sri Lanka stands at a total of around US$ 3 billion, out of which US$ 550 million is pure grant assistance.

In an interesting move of the bilateral relation between India and Sri Lanka, the policymakers in New Delhi are now advocating to form the new alliance between the incumbent President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena and his predecessor former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who was in New Delhi to address an event organised by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, last week, reliable sources based in New Delhi said the Sri Lanka Guardian reported.

In an earlier attempt the New Delhi wing on Sri Lanka was mapping to support the booming young leaders in the United National Party to further shrink Rajapaksa’s political power but the recent comment by its leadership gave a negative signal.

Prime Minister Wickramasinghe, the leader of the UNP reaffirmed that he will hand over the leadership of the party to young leaders in 2030. Therefore, the Indian strategies on Sri Lanka are redesigning the next move where they have decided to take Rajapaksa into the larger picture.

However, “nothing has been finalized,” sources added. “We are passing the hour of need to re-engineer the political structure in Sri Lanka to enhance our friendship,” sources further added.

Meanwhile, “how you are going to win the heart and mine of the Tamil people if you are planning to come back to govern your respective nation, a top man who met with Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in New Delhi asked,” a reliable source said.

Rajapaksa as a politician who never kept zipped mouth in any situation, responses quickly with detailed answers about the help he has done to the Tamil Community. But, unfortunately, the answer was not well received.

Meanwhile, there was a detailed discussion with Rajapaksa about the Chinese influence in the Island.

Imagine the next presidential poll in 2020, President Sirisena as a candidate promoting Rajapaksa as his Prime Minister, a key level political source in New Delhi nodded.

Source : Sri Lanka Guardian

Sri Lanka is now making collaborative efforts with Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) streamline administration in conflict affected areas in accordance with National Reconciliation and Peace building.
 
JICA has stepped into implement Training of Trainers (TOT) programs in collaboration with SLIDA Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration under the Project for Training of Frontline Officers in Conflict Affected areas in Sri Lanka (FORWARD Project).
 
This project was the outcome of joint declaration made by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe Abe and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during his official tour of Japan in 2015.
 
Training of Trainers (TOT) programs were conducted in new Auditorium of SLIDA 31st August & 1st September 2018 for batch 1 and September 14 and 15, 2018 for batch 2 in collaboration with JICA for Senior Government Officials.
 
These officials were from six Provincial Councils namely Western Province, North Western Province, Central Province, Uva Province, Southern Province and Sabaragamuwa Provinces.
Altogether 48 senior government officers were trained in both batches to work as facilitators / trainers to practice and deliver 10 days frontline officers training programmes using comprehensive training modules developed under the Project for Training of Frontline Officers in Conflict Affected areas in Sri Lanka.

In a special ceremony held on September 14, 2018, at Batticaloa District, High Commissioner of India Taranjit Singh Sandhu dedicated houses built under the Indian Housing Project in Batticaloa for possession by beneficiaries.
 
Government of India has committed a total of 4000 houses in the Eastern Province. This is in addition to 42000 houses built under grants by Government of India in the North and 14000 currently constructing also under grants in the Upcountry.
 
Earlier during his visit to Trincomalee, High commissioner met the Governor of Eastern Province, addressed the gathering of Eastern Province officers and took blessings at Thiru Koneswaran Temple.
 
The High Commissioner was the Chief Guest at the convocation ceremony of Eastern University, Batticaloa and addressed the gathering. He paid respects to the Gandhi statue at Batticaloa. He met the representatives of TNA from Eastern Province and had a brief discussion with a delegation from various Mosque Federations.
 
High Commissioner also visited the Trade Facilitation Center by first ever cooperative society of war affected women in the eastern province in Kallady. Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) –an Indian based community based organization, with the grant assistance of LKR 197 million from the Government of India has executed the project. The objective is to empower war affected women by building their capacities in vocations, leadership, entrepreneurial and management skills by setting up Trade Facilitation Center and Community Learning Centre in Batticaloa and Ampara, which helps them to provide skills and value chain support to provide livelihood opportunities. 
 
Under the project, SEWA has trained 40 war affected/destitute women trainees from Batticaloa District. These women were trained in various vocational subjects such as Textiles and Garments; Surface Ornamentation; Agro food processing; Computers; Enterprise Development; Solar lantern and Roof rain water harvesting. 
 
Other projects undertaken by India in the social sector include construction of surgical unit in teaching Hospital Batticaloa, Upgradation of Swami Vipulananda Aesthetic School in Batticaloa, construction of 3400 toilets in Batticaloa District, and Model village in all three districts.
 
India’s overall commitment of assistance to Sri Lanka for people-oriented development partnership projects stands at a total of around US$ 3 billion, out of which US$ 550 million is pure grant assistance.