News

A troop of naval personnel attached to SLNS Gotabhya in the Eastern Naval Command rescued a Whale Shark (Rhincodon Typus) that was stranded to Alampil beach area in Mulaithivu and supported it to swim deep waters, on Monday. 

On the information given by Mullaitivu Fisheries Inspector Mohan Kumara to the Naval Detachment in Alampil, the distressed Shark was guided about 03 nautical miles into the sea by Naval personnel attached to SLNS Gotabhya with a strenuous attempt under the directives of its Commanding Officer.

This creature is a one of the largest species belongs to the Shark family and weighs about 9000 Kg and about 9m in length. Their lifetime is around 70-100 years and included in the Red List as well.

Maharagama Urban Council workers are continuing their strike against the alleged attack on four fellow workers by Maharagama Urban Council Chairman Tiraj Lakruwan.

Out of the four, two workers of the Maharagama Urban Council were admitted to the Homagama Hospital after being allegedly attacked by the Chairman.

Opposition member of the Maharagama Urban Council Ruwan Jayasinghe said the Chairman had allegedly assaulted these two workers after taking them to a room, accusing them of being drunk at the time. Condemning the alleged attack on public servants, the UC member said that the Chairman has no right to attack UC workers and he should have taken disciplinary action against them, if they were found to have consumed alcohol while on duty.

While the strike will continue, the Health section of the UC will report to work tomorrow due to Garbage piling up in the UC area. Others will however continue till the issue is resolved UC sources said.

Sri Lanka’s Central Bank on Monday refuted a report that the island nation was at risk of an impending currency crisis. 

In a report compiled by Nomura Holdings Inc. Sri Lanka, South Africa, Argentina, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey and Ukraine were identified as countries most at risk with Sri Lanka being described as having the worst outlook “due to still-weak fiscal finances and a very fragile external position”. Senior Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Dr. P. Nandalal Weerasinghe pointed out a serious anomaly in the Nomura report. He stated that Sri Lanka’s debt is nowhere near the US $ 160 billion figure quoted by Nomura.

Dr. Weerasinghe also pointed out that the actual figure is estimated at US $ 14.3 billion.

"Given the fact that Sri Lanka’s short term external debt is nowhere near the US$ 160 billion figure that Nomura analysts have quoted, it appears that Nomura Holdings have made a serious computational error with regard to Sri Lanka’s external vulnerability,” Dr. Weerasinghe said.
“As such an erroneous report could to trigger an unwarranted panic amongst investors, particularly in the context of current volatile global market conditions, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has already written to Nomura Holdings, and requested them to correct this error without any delay.”

The People's Liberation Front (JVP) in Sri Lanka moved a motion in Parliament to abolish the Executive Presidency and replace it with a new one in which the Prime Minister is the head. 

The JVP yesterday presented to Parliament a bill titled 20th Amendment to the Constitution to abolish the executive presidency. The bill was presented to the House by JVP MP Vijtiha Herath. The bill will seek to amend Article 4 of the constitution, which has vested the executive power in the President, elected by the people

Security around the Parliament was beefed up, after intelligence reported that the joint opposition was likely to converge. 

"This was an unkept promise over a long period of time. There were many pledges to abolish the executive presidency but it was never implemented," Vijitha Herath said in Parliament. 

According to Herath, the new motion aims at preventing too much power being conferred on a single individual. 

"This (the existing system) has made an individual too powerful," he said. 

The current president headed system was introduced in 1978 after Sri Lanka was under a Westminster model parliamentary system since 1948. The system has been blamed for most of the political ills in the island country, including the long standing dispute with the Tamil minority for their demand for power sharing. 

Since it was introduced, all parties have pledged to abolish it. Every president, since 1994, have elected to honour the pledge to abolish the presidency. However, the pledge was never kept. 

In the event the motion gets approved, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa may stand to gain as he would then be free from the term bar in the current Constitution. The 73 year old Rajapaksa was twice elected to the post, but is constitutionally barred from running for Presidency again.

Sri Lanka has introduced a procedure for re-payment of the 15% VAT to foreign tourists on their departure for the goods purchased by them during their stay in Sri Lanka. The system will be implemented with effect from Tuesday (11), the Ministry of Finance and Media said today.

Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera will open the special counter at the departure terminal of the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport by tomorrow evening.

This procedure is another budget proposal of the 2018 budget that has come to fruition and will be implemented by the Department of Inland Revenue (IRD).  Businesses are required to register with the IRD under this programme for repayment of VAT to become eligible under this scheme.

18 shops that sold goods and garments have already been registered under the Department of Inland Revenue in order to be qualified under this procedure.  Any enterprise that is willing to be stakeholders of  this system can register under the Department of Inland Revenue based on their permanent VAT number.

Under the VAT refund process, foreign tourists must present the tax refund forms obtained at customs offices, along with the VAT receipts issued by participating shops and the items purchased, to customs offices, along with the VAT receipts issued by participating shops and the items purchased, to customs officers to be checked and stamped upon departure from Sri Lanka.

The objective of this programme is to attract more foreign tourists to Sri Lanka to bolster the island nation's effort of positioning itself as a vibrant trading hub of Asia, in line with the Budget Proposals of 2018.

The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) in Sri Lanka established to address the many cases of missing and disappeared has recommended the government to provide urgent and immediate relief to the families of involuntarily disappeared as their current socio-economic situation is dire.
 
The OMP, which prepared an interim report on their work during the past six months, handed over the report to the President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe Wednesday and released it to the public online today.
 
The interim report, which also recommends interim measures to provide relief and reparation to the affected families by the disappearances of their loved ones, said the current socio-economic situation of many families of the missing and the disappeared is dire and cannot wait until a final reparations scheme is devised and a key set of measures is required In the interim to provide urgent and immediate relief to the families.
 
The report also noted that In addition, there is an overwhelming demand and need for investigation and prosecution of enforced disappearances.
 
"These are not merely crimes of the past but are of a continuing nature until the fate of the missing or their whereabouts are clarified," it said.
 
Therefore, it is urgent for the State to ensure an adequate legal framework and empower relevant state actors to discharge their functions to ensure prompt and effective investigations and prosecutions. ,
 
The OMP has recommended the government to implement a financial aid program to provide a monthly living allowance of Rs. 6,000 to the immediate family of the missing or disappeared person, who has no permanent income.
 
The OMP has also recommended implementing separate programs for families of the missing or Disappeared on debt relief, housing development, educational support, and vocational training and livelihood development.
 
It has also recommended Introduction of an employment quota of 1% within the state sector in order to facilitate family members of the missing and disappeared who have requisite skills, when vacancies in the public and semi-governmental sectors are being filled.
 
In recognition of the urgent need for justice and accountability, the OMP recommended enforcing and amending the Disappearances Act to recognize the continuing nature of enforced disappearances and allowing the OMP to along with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka and law enforcement authorities to have access to places where persons are being detained among several other measures.
 
The OMP recommended the government to expedite and give highest priority to prosecutions and other ongoing cases involving enforced disappearances and investigate all incidents of arbitrary arrest, torture and deaths in custody.
In recognition of the long-term pain and suffering of families of the missing and the disappeared, as well as the need for the people of Sri Lanka to recognize that many thousands of people belonging to all communities were disappeared over several decades, the OMP recommends the government to designate a National Day for the Disappeared. (Colombopage) 
 
FULL REPORT :

Indian Railways will supply modern locomotives and train sets worth USD 82.64 million for the supply of 160 passenger coaches from India under concessional financing. 

Sri Lankan Railway Department signed an agreement to purchase these compartments under the Indian credit line project and they would be purchased from the RITES Company of India. 

The company had earlier exported 20 DMU train sets, three locomotives to Sri Lanka, besides providing expertise for setting up railway maintenance facilities and training of the island nation's railway officials during the period 2008-12.

The ‘Jana Balaya Kolambata’ protest, which was an attempt made by the joint opposition to certifying its next political leader, was a total failure State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene said yesterday.

Addressing a news briefing held at the Government Information Department last evening, the State Minister said the protest only resulted in inconveniencing the people who were in Colombo.

“Because of the protest parents could not send their children to school, people could not get to work. As you know Wednesday is the public day in many ministries and people could not get to meet their ministers because of the protest. It was not the government but the people in the City of Colombo that was affected by this,” he said.

He said due to internal issues taking place within the JO, the party was forced to bring people to Colombo.

“The protest had no impact on the government. Many people are spending the whole night on the roads in Colombo with the hope of forming a new government tomorrow,” he said.

Source: Daily Mirror

Inspector General Pujith Jayasundara and the National Police Commission (NPC) has been asked to resolve their issues in two weeks time. The duo was summoned before the constitutional council after widespread reports of disagreements between them with the IGP failing to implement certain recommendations made by the NPC. 

National Police Commission (NPC) and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundara appeared before the council on Thursday. 

Among the issues between them were problems pertaining to the promotion of Kilinochchi SSP Palitha Siriwardena, promotions of 129 officers subjected to political revenge, removal of OIC Narammala from his post, investigations into educational qualifications of DIG Nalaka De Silva and the Suspension of OIC Statistics Division.

According to Police sources IGP Jayasundara has been blocking several of the recommendations on various grounds. Sources say for example the list containing 129 names of officers who claim to have been subjected to political revenge by the previous government, however, includes names of certain police officers known to have had close connections to the earlier regime, creating serious doubts regarding the vetting process utilized by the NPC to recommend promotion on the basis.

While the vast majority of the protestors left Colombo Fort by 8PM yesterday, a small group remained behind for a Satyagraha on Lotus Road outside the Colombo Hilton.

The rally organisers got Angampora dancers to keep the small crowd entertained during their vigil. There were also skits by men in demon-masks and other activities for the vigil-keepers.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa also arrived briefly on the scene, while former Ministers Mahindananda Aluthgamage and Bandula Gunawardane were seen leading the crowd at 9.30 PM.

JO MP Bandula Gunawardane said that the crowd would remain on the road till about midnight or 1AM. “Today was just the pilot project,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Government alleged that SLPP leaders had booked rooms at several five star hotels in the vicinity including the Hilton Colombo, Taj Colombo and Shangri-La. Deputy Minister Nalin Bandara told a press briefing at the Government Information Department last night that a Suite of the Taj Colombo had been booked, while other sources confirmed that presidential suite had been booked for JO/SLPP MPs.

Namal Rajapaksa was spotted at the Hilton Colombo on Tuesday (4), the night before the janabalaya demonstration, while his brother Yoshitha Rajapaksa was spotted in the Hilton lobby last afternoon, enjoying a beer with businessman Nimal Perera and Gamini Abeyratne, aka, ‘Taxi Abey’ before joining the demonstration.

Source : Daily News

The recent criticisms against the Sri Lanka Army by Former Army Commander Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka has gone down well with the current Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake. Releasing a statement today the Sri Lanka Army Headquarters noting that recently retired Army officers keep commenting on the Army’s war preparedness said they cannot comment on the strength of the force while being outside the Army. “They have no moral right to do so” the release issued by SLA HQ said.

“We condemn such comments being made against the government, Ministry of Defence and the Army to gain personal and political mileage” it further added. The Army, therefore, has also requested the public to not believe in such false propaganda. 

However, the release also claimed the Army is prepared to discuss with former Commanders and Officers in a bid to exchange ideas so that the Army can be strengthened further.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Sri Lanka as a Rubella-free-country.

WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh awarded the certificate declaring Sri Lanka as a Rubella-free-country to Health Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne at the WHO South-East Asia Regional Conference in New Delhi, India recently.

WHO had declared Sri Lanka as Malaria-free country in 2015, Filaria-free country in 2016 and Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) -free country in 2017.

The WHO Regional Director pointed out that every year Sri Lanka eliminates a disease and Sri Lanka's leadership in health services is a big support for the achievements.