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Petroleum Resources Development Minister Arjuna Ranatunga has said that his Ministry has no intention to raise fuel prices.Petroleum Resources Development Minister Arjuna Ranatunga has said that his Ministry has no intention to raise fuel prices.

Minister Arjuna Ranatunga had made this remark responding to a query by a several ministers regarding the increase of fuel prices at the cabinet meeting held yesterday (24).

The Minister is reported to have also said that although the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation incurs losses, the fuel prices will not be increased at this time burdening the people.

After the fuel price increase by the Lanka Indian Oil Company (LIOC), the CPC is said to be currently incurring a loss of Rs. 38 million per day.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has refuted recent media reports which claimed that the government has allocated Rs. 1000 million for the reconstruction of the Parliament building this year.
 
In a statement, the Speaker said that the 30 year old parliament building complex is owned by the general public of Sri Lanka and it is essential to repair and renovate the building from time to time, like any other building.
 
The timely renovation of this building cannot be ruled out he said. 
 
However, according to Jayasuriya this year the government has allocated only Rs. 200 million for the renovations and not Rs. 1000 million as some media reports have claimed, the Speaker clarified.

“Building a better and secure future for all is a shared call that we can shirk only at our own peril”, stated Ambassador A.L.A.Azeez, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, addressing the Second Preparatory Committee Meeting of State Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) yesterday (24). “Building a better and secure future for all is a shared call that we can shirk only at our own peril”, stated Ambassador A.L.A.Azeez, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, addressing the Second Preparatory Committee Meeting of State Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) yesterday (24).  

Ambassador Azeez highlighted the importance of the NPT as the global regime for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament that called for a balanced and non-discriminatory approach to building international peace and security. 

He stressed that the non-proliferation treaty regime should be taken forward, while promoting and safe guarding the economic development prospects for all, through equal access to the technology advancing peaceful uses of nuclear energy. 

Ambassaddor Azeez also called upon the State Parties to seriously address the prevalent dichotomy between the lack of progress in disarmament and increasing emphasis and efforts on non-proliferation, urging them to “manifest their support for, and investment in, disarmament training and education provided by the UN and other organizations”.

Colombo Fort Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne today issued an open warrant for the arrest of the former Sri Lankan Ambassador to the United States, Jaliya Wickramasuriya.

The arrest warrant was re-issued as Wickramasuriya failed to appear in court when the case against him was taken up for hearing. He has failed to appear in court since court approved him to travel to the United States on July 2017.
 
The Magistrate also issued warrants for the arrest of Jaliya Wickramasuriya’s wife and a relative who signed for his bail application. The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) informed court that they were no longer at their places of residence prompting the courts to re-issue the warrant out on him. 
 
The former Ambassador, who was in remand custody after his arrest by the FCID on November 18, 2016, was granted permission in July 2017 to travel to U.S. for eight weeks for medical treatment.
 
Wickramasuriya was arrested for allegedly misusing state resources.

The proposed 20th amendment to the constitution in order to abolish the executive Presidency will be brought as a private member’s bill, leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Anura Kumara Dissanayake said. 
 
Addressing a media briefing today at the party’s headquarters in Pelawatta, Dissanayake said the bill will be brought to parliament before the end of May. “Despite promises by various parties throughout the years to abolish the Presidency this has not happened” he said adding that therefore the JVP feels they have the right to bring about such a bill to ensure it is followed through. 
 
Speaking further Dissanayake also said that they will seek support from members of civil society, religious leaders, other parties as well as the public to bring about this much needed reform.

UN peacekeepers from Nepal are facing allegations of child rape in South Sudan, with a UN spokesman describing the case as “especially heinous”.UN peacekeepers from Nepal are facing allegations of child rape in South Sudan, with a UN spokesman describing the case as “especially heinous”.

At the request of the UN, Nepal agreed to send a team of investigators to work with the UN office of internal oversight on the case.

“Any act of sexual abuse is horrendous,” Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesman for the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said.

“One involving a child is especially heinous.”

The allegations were received on 13 April and involve Nepalese troops serving in the UN mission in South Sudan who allegedly raped two teenage girls, UN officials said. It remains unclear how many Nepalese soldiers are involved.

The UN has deployed 14,800 troops and police in South Sudan, with a mandate to protect civilians caught up in a brutal war between the forces of the president, Salva Kiir, and rebels.

In February, 46 UN peacekeepers from Ghana were recalled from their base in north-western South Sudan after the mission received allegations of sexual exploitation of women.

Guterres, has vowed to toughen the UN response to allegations of misconduct against the blue helmets, whose mission is to protect vulnerable civilians in conflict zones.

Sri Lanka has earned an income of over LKR 92 billion since the EU fish ban was lifted, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development said.Sri Lanka has earned an income of over LKR 92 billion since the EU fish ban was lifted, the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development said.

Over 58,000 metric tonnes of fish has been exported with Tuna, Crabs and Prawns being the most popular exports. The number of fish processing factories have also increased up to 68. During the time the ban was imposed, there were only 38 such facilities, the Ministry added.

Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, Lt Gen Mahesh Senanayake, called on Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday.Commander of the Sri Lankan Army, Lt Gen Mahesh Senanayake, called on Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Monday.

Matters relating to bilateral defence relations and mutual cooperation were discussed during the meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office, said an official statement.

Expressing satisfaction over the existing level of security cooperation between the two countries, PM Abbasi observed that regional peace is a shared objective of the two countries, and therefore calls for greater cooperation and sharing of expertise in the field of defence.

Lt Gen Senanayake thanked the premier for his warm welcome and appreciated the huge sacrifices of the Pakistani nation and its valiant armed forces in the fight against the menace of terrorism, the communique added.

He said that Sri Lanka is keen to further strengthen its ties with Pakistan and promote multi-faceted cooperation in the areas of security and defence.

A Sri Lankan woman, a mother of one, is among the 10 victims killed in the deadly attack in Toronto where a white van plowed into pedestrians on Yonge Street on Monday. 
 
Renuka Amarasinghe, 48, from Horana had been living in Toronto for the past couple of years, has been identified as one of the victims. The deceased was a single mother of a 7-year-old boy.
 
The bodies of the deceased including that of Renuka have not been released as they haven’t been identified yet.
 
A total of 10 people were killed and 14 were injured when a man plowed a van into a crowd of pedestrians on a Toronto sidewalk Monday afternoon. A man named Alek Minassian appeared in court Tuesday morning on 10 counts of first-degree murder and 13 counts of attempted murder.
 
In addition, a Jordanian man visiting relatives, a college student, an 80-year-old grandmother and two South Korean nationals were among those who died in a horrific van attack that shocked residents.

India has made a strong pitch for increased lending by the World Bank and its affiliates for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, in a meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund held in Washington on Saturday. India has made a strong pitch for increased lending by the World Bank and its affiliates for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, in a meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund held in Washington on Saturday. 

Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary of the Economic Affairs Department of the Indian Finance Ministry said that these four countries not only constitute the highest growing economic block in South Asia and the world at large but also face widespread poverty.

The World Bank Group—Inter-national Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Finance Corporation (IFC), International Development Association (IDA), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)—has supported the growth and development of the four countries but they (WB) will need to continue to do so in the foreseeable future, Garg added.

Sri Lanka's State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne, who also attended the meeting in Washington, said that the government recognise the importance of putting in place policies to reduce debt vulnerabilities and also look forward to hearing the perspectives of the WB and the IMF on supportive multilateral responses.

"We are calling on the IMF and the World Bank to increase their assistance on liability management as an area of priority and to develop a more comprehensive and transparent debt reporting system,"  Minister Wickramaratne said.

The 16 Ministers who left the government have been given permission by the President to sit in the opposition reports say. 

The decision was taken during the SLFP central committee meeting held last night at the President’s official residence. 

Sources say it was also decided that those willing to stay and work in the government would continue to do so while the decision if the SLFP will remain as a party to the current consensus government will be made at the next central committee meeting. 

The committee has also decided to a complete restructuring of the party reports said adding that this will be discussed after May 8 during the next party central committee meeting.

Angry mobs of Buddhists in Sri Lanka last month attacked minority Muslims, burning mosques and killing at least one. Those riots appear to have been triggered in part by false stories spread on Facebook and WhatsApp. And despite efforts by governments and nonprofits to alert them to the mounting risk, Facebook is accused of doing next to nothing to remove clear incitements to violence in the weeks leading up to the attacks.Angry mobs of Buddhists in Sri Lanka last month attacked minority Muslims, burning mosques and killing at least one. Those riots appear to have been triggered in part by false stories spread on Facebook and WhatsApp. And despite efforts by governments and nonprofits to alert them to the mounting risk, Facebook is accused of doing next to nothing to remove clear incitements to violence in the weeks leading up to the attacks.

The sequence of events in Sri Lanka is detailed in a bruising new report by the New York Times, which threatens to undermine Facebook’s longstanding claim to be a force for good in the world. At their heart were allegations of a plot by Muslim Sri Lankans to sterilize the country’s Sinhalese-speaking Buddhist majority, supported by a false story on Facebook saying that police had seized 23,000 sterilization pills from a Muslim pharmacist in the town of Ampara.

In an episode eerily reminiscent of reactions to the Hillary Clinton Pizzagate conspiracy theory, those stories led a mob of Buddhists to storm a Muslim-owned restaurant in the town of Ampara, falsely claiming its food was laced with drugs. The exchange exploded into beatings, rioting, and mosque-burning. Video of those events was also uploaded to Facebook, feeding further violence and the death of a 27-year-old aspiring journalist.

Aside from the brutal violence itself, the most disturbing part of the Times report is the allegation that Facebook, which has no offices in Sri Lanka, ignored or deflected repeated attempts by government officials and nonprofit monitors to intervene in a growing storm of hatred. As early as October of 2017, Sri Lankan officials pleaded with Facebook to better police hate speech, hire more Sinhalese-speaking content screeners, and establish a direct point of contact with local authorities.

Instead, Facebook insisted its content-flagging tool would be enough to alert the company to dangerous content. Members of a Sri Lankan group called the Center for Policy Alternatives did as recommended, repeatedly flagging posts including messages such as “Kill all Muslims, don’t even save an infant.” But “nearly every report,” according to the Times, was deemed to not violate Facebook’s standards. According to the Times, Facebook still has not filled around 25 positions for Sinhalese screeners that have been open since June.

The violence in Sri Lanka mirrors similar events in Myanmar, India, Mexico, and even the United States. They strike at the heart of Facebook’s utopian promise to connect people, showing that such connections can spread violent hatred as quickly as cute baby pictures.

Ethnic and religious resentments are not created by Facebook. But as the Times points out, Facebook’s core structure – including an algorithm that prioritizes content that gets the most engagement – may help foment outrage and tribalism. In nations with weak legal systems, citizens may be more likely to take justice into their own hands.

“The germs are ours,” as one Sri Lankan official told the Times, referring to the sectarian divisions in Sri Lanka, “but Facebook is the wind, you know?”

David Z. Morris