According to the Tourism Development Authority, more than 17,000 tourists have visited the country in the first two weeks of this month.
Its Director General Mr. Dhammika Wijesinghe mentioned that currently more than 1,600 tourists are coming to Sri Lanka daily.
According to her, the arrival of tourists is increasing again after a long time.
The director general added that the arrival of daily tourists was at a very low level of 650 last May.
The Austrian government donates essential medicines worth Rs. 4 million to Sri Lanka.
The Austrian Embassy in New Delhi has handed over these medicines to the High Commission of Sri Lanka in New Delhi.
The High Commission of Sri Lanka in New Delhi coordinates 94 foreign missions belonging to various countries that are not established in Sri Lanka, including Austria.
This stock containing 27 types of essential medicines was handed over to Mr. Milinda Moragoda, the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in India and will be delivered to Sri Lanka immediately.
The Acting Ambassador of Austria, Mr. Mathayes Radostic, participated in the official delivery of this stock of medicines.
This donation was made in response to the Sri Lankan government’s appeal to foreign countries to donate essential medicines for emergency treatment.
High Commissioner Moragoda expressed his gratitude for the offer of friendship and goodwill made by the Austrian government.
Deputy High Commissioner Niluka Kadurugamuwa, Minister Upul Pushpa Kumara and Councilor Pamoda Gunaratne participated in this event.
The Pragathi Bank Employees’ Association held a protest in front of the Bank of Ceylon head office in Colombo today with the theme of defeating the trade union mafia and protecting the state-owned banks including the Bank of Ceylon.
After that, a march was held to present some employee problems of Bank of Ceylon and People’s Bank to the President.
Today, the customs officers arrested the passenger who came from Dubai along with an employee of the airport duty-free mall who tried to smuggle 9 kg and 500 grams of gold biscuits worth around Rs. 200 million when trying to escape from the airport.
The 39-year-old passenger who came from the Emirates flight is a resident of Nittambuwa.
The gold stock brought by this passenger was hidden in the luggage. He gave a part of it to the employee of the airport duty-free mall at the airport complex. She hid the golden biscuits in her luggage and was checked by the customs while coming out with the passenger.
According to the Customs, 80 gold biscuits were found in their possession and the weight of each gold biscuit is more than 100 grams.
It is reported that 3 newly identified organizations and 55 individuals from Sri Lanka have been included in the recent blacklisting of terrorism for financially aiding terrorists.
From the year 2014 to the last 01st, such organizations and individuals have been blacklisted through 8 gazette announcements.
According to the recent amendment, although 6 such organizations and 316 people were removed, 15 organizations and 316 people are now on the blacklist including the 3 new organizations and 55 people.
However, the President’s Office has given a full explanation regarding the removal of a group of organizations and individuals banned in this country from the blacklist for funding terrorism, which led to a controversy.
It is about the background, process, and antecedents for inclusion as well as delisting from the list.
When the Ministry of Defense proceeded to remove a group of organizations and individuals who were accused of funding terrorism from the blacklist, it led to a controversy in society, asking whether the risk has been eliminated by now.
Below is a full explanation of the process released by the Office of the President.
Swimming champion Julian Bolling and businessman Jonathan Martenstein are being interrogated at length by the Criminal Investigation Department.
It is related to the investigations regarding the burning of President Ranil Wickramasinghe’s house at Kollupitiya Fifth Lane.
Police information revealed that the two of them had participated in a protest held in front of the President’s residence before the arson incident.
According to the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, 21 out of 46 projects that have been unable to be implemented for a long time will enter into a number of electricity purchase agreements in the coming week.
The implementation of these projects was stalled due to the non-amendment of the Electricity Act. But the Ministry says that the amendment of the Electricity Act will enable the projects to be implemented quickly.
As per the licenses granted for another 26 projects, the system facilities and transmission requirements of the Electricity Board are expected to be completed.
Arrangements were made to complete the evaluation of other ambitious calls within a month.
A meeting to review the progress of renewable energy projects was held yesterday between the Minister of Power and Energy Mr. Kanchana Wijesekera and the Electricity Board and Sustainable Energy Authority.
Adani Green Energy Group has been granted provisional licenses for investments of more than US$ 500 million for two wind power projects of 286 megawatts in Mannar and 234 megawatts in Punarin.
The Criminal Investigation Department is currently questioning the former Ambassador to Russia Mr. Udayanga Weeratunga.
The Criminal Investigations Department stated that is regarding the MiG Aircraft transaction.
According to a Criminal Investigation Department, he had come to the CID today.
Following is the schedule of power cuts to be carried out across the country today (17).
A 3-hour power cut is planned across the country for today.
A group of fishermen started a protest yesterday (16) in the afternoon in Chillaw town demanding kerosene at a reduced price.
The fishermen said that they will not end the protest that started until they get fuel at reduced prices.
About 1000 fishermen living in Chillaw and surrounding villages and a Catholic priest also joined the protest.
From time to time, the people who participated in the protest have blocked the main roads in the middle of the city.
For this reason, the police had to divert the vehicles through alternative routes.
The people who participated in the protest claim that they have not received kerosene to sail to the sea for work for more than 03 months and their children and families are in dire straits due to that situation.
They said that earlier they got a liter of kerosene for Rs. 87 and that the fuel should be provided for the same amount.
It was also seen how a large number of police officers are deployed for the security of the city.
An attic has also been built blocking the main road in the city and the fishermen are continuing their protest by staying there.
The Government Information Department has issued a statement saying that former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa will not spend government money on any of his expenses abroad and all such expenses will be borne by the former president’s personal money.
According to the announcement, the media minister Bandula Gunawardena, who answered a question raised by a journalist about the foreign expenses of the former president, at the press conference held yesterday (16) at the government news department auditorium to inform the decisions of the cabinet of the week, has been reported by some media in a wrong way.
In reply, the minister said that former and current presidents are legally entitled to certain privileges.
But the government information department says that some media have reported that the government is spending money on the foreign expenses of the former president.
Government Information Department also claims that former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who informed that the reports published by some media about his foreign expenses are wrong, emphasized that all expenses are paid using his personal money.
Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera says that although there is no shortage of rice in the country at the moment, there may be a shortage of rice in the country at the end of December.
The minister stated that the government has decided to maintain a rice reserve to deal with it.
He also mentioned that more than 500,000 metric tons of rice have been imported between January and July.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture stated that the Paddy Marketing Board has taken steps to buy raw rice from tomorrow (17).
Accordingly, the minister said that one kilogram of Nadu rice will be bought at a price of Rs.120, one kilogram of samba rice will be bought at Rs. 125, and one kilogram of Keeri samba rice will be bought at a price of Rs. 130.
The Minister of Agriculture further mentioned that they hope to convert the paddy into rice and present it in the market under the name of PMD rice.
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has removed the rule that Sri Lankan companies had to convert all the dollar income earned from the goods they export into rupees.
The Central Bank also mentioned that the law that the dollar income received on exports must be converted into rupees was enacted as a solution to the dollar shortage in the country.
But the export companies objected to it, alleging that due to that law, the export companies would be in great difficulty.
As Commercial-grade banks in Sri Lanka do not issue letters of credit, export companies pointed out that they should keep some amount of dollars they earn to import the raw materials needed for the production of goods.
The law imposed by the Central Bank on the 12th of last year has been removed with effect from today (16).
President Ranil Wickramasinghe expressed confidence that the current state of emergency will be lifted by the end of this week.
Pointing out that the country is currently at a stable level, he also points out that there is no need to extend the state of emergency.
The President stated this while addressing the “Association of Scholars Professionals Conference – 2022” awards ceremony held today (16) afternoon at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel, Colombo.
Speaking further, Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe pointed out that many measures are currently being taken for the building of the country, and support from all parties is needed for that.
He also mentioned that the government is focusing on establishing a diaspora office in Sri Lanka in order to get the support of the diaspora to Sri Lanka.
Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Minister of Justice Dr. Wijayadasa Rajapaksa, Member of Parliament Iran Wickramaratne, former Minister John Amaratunga, President of the Association of Scholars Dulitha Perera, General Secretary Upali Jayawardena, and others attended the event.
The Ministry of Defense has issued an announcement today (16) regarding the removal of 6 organizations and 316 individuals blacklisted for supporting terrorism.
it was reported before that the Global Tamil Forum, World Tamil Coordination Committee, Tamil Eelam People’s Congress, Australian Tamil Congress, Canadian Tamil Congress and British Tamil Congress were thus removed from the blacklist.
In response to the controversy in this regard, the announcement issued by the Ministry of Defense today is as follows.
Defence Ministry clarifies on blacklisting and delisting of persons and organizations
According to the blacklisting and delisting of persons, 577 individuals and 18 organizations were blacklisted in the year 2021 for financing terrorism under the United Nations Regulation No. 01 of 2012.
After a series of discussions and careful study conducted at the Ministry of Defence by a committee consisting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Attorney General’s Department, key Intelligence Agencies, Law Enforcing Agencies and Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and based on reports and evidences with regard to the financing terrorism by individuals and organizations, recommendations were submitted for the listing and delisting.
Accordingly, among the aforesaid 577 individuals and 18 organizations, a decision was made to delist 316 individuals and 06 organizations since they are no longer continue to fund terrorist activities.
Furthermore, it has been decided to blacklist 55 individuals and 03 organizations those recently recognized as active in financing terrorism during the period.
Thus, forwarding the recommendation of the Ministry of Defence to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 29, 2022 for their consent, 316 individuals and 15 organizations were blacklisted on August 1, 2022 by Extraordinary Gazette No. 2291/02.
Such inclusions and exclusions for blacklisted individuals and organizations are routinely carried out by relevant authorities after observation and careful study over a continuous period of time.
Relevant authorities remain to be vigilant on the activities of the delisted individuals and organizations and will ban them again, if raising of funds for financing terrorism is resumed, the Ministry of Defence further said.
The Election Commission states that the local government elections will be held in the next six months.
The term of office of the local government bodies is going to end on the 20th of next March.
The Election Commission also stated that the Election Commission will be empowered to conduct local government elections six months before the end of the official term.
Accordingly, the Election Commission states that the local government elections will be held within 6 months from September 20th to March 20th next year.
Although the official period of the local government bodies was supposed to end on the 20th of last March, with the intervention of the minister in charge of the local government subject, he took steps to extend it for a period of one year.
But the Election Commission says that the local government election will definitely be held in six months as the minister in charge of the subject no longer has the power to extend the official tenure of those institutions.
A cabinet sub-committee headed by President Ranil Wickramasinghe has been appointed to organize and lead the activities of the Independence Day commemoration ceremony to be held on the day February 4, 2023, which completes 75 years after the country inherited independence.
As the Minister of State Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena has submitted the proposal in this regard to the Cabinet meeting.
Accordingly, the sub-committee approved by the Cabinet is as follows.
Today, the government has announced that the money for the private plane that former President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and his wife traveled from Singapore to Thailand was paid for by the government of this country.
That is according to an answer given by the Cabinet Spokesman, Minister Bandula Gunawardena to a question raised by a journalist at the press conference to announce the Cabinet decisions held today.
Journalist – Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is abroad, traveled from Singapore to Thailand in a private plane. It was paid for by the Sri Lankan government. Is this people’s tax money? Is he still living under these privileges, Minister?
Answer – “Yes. According to the Presidential Election Act of Sri Lanka, there are legal provisions on the privileges of the former and current presidents of the country. After the death of a President, a government has a responsibility to the diseased president’s wife in terms of security. According to my knowledge, Mrs. Hema Premadasa, the wife of the late Mr. Ranasinghe Premadasa has also been given the same rights and privileges. I can look into that in more detail in the future.”
Based on several demands, a protest organized jointly by the health workers’ unions was held today (16) in front of the Colombo National Hospital.
The protest was held in order to force the government on a number of demands such as reducing the cost of living, providing recommended meals to patients, and stopping the payment reduction of health staff.
It has been revealed that the number of airplanes arriving and departing from Sri Lanka has decreased significantly due to the difficulty in obtaining aviation fuel.
A special discussion on the measures to be taken to immediately change this situation and stabilize the aviation sector was held in the ministry auditorium under the chairmanship of the Minister of Ports, Navigation and Aviation Mr. Nimal Siripala de Silva.
Representatives representing all Sri Lankan Aviation societies including Civil Aviation authorities and Ceylon Petroleum Corporation also participated in this special discussion.
The Minister pointed out the need for a program to provide jet fuel to the planes arriving and departing Sri Lanka without any hindrance.
Accordingly, the minister emphasized that if the Ceylon Petroleum corporation is unable to meet this requirement, a private sector party should be allowed to bring jet fuel to Sri Lanka.
On this occasion, several companies representing the aviation industry stated that they are ready to bring and distribute jet fuel to Sri Lanka at their own expense if the Petroleum Corporation and the Ministry of Petroleum provide permission and facilities.
At this time, the representatives of the Petroleum Corporation said that two crude oil ships have already reached Sri Lanka and that the Sapugaskanda Refinery can handle six hundred metric tons of jet fuel per day and continue to supply jet fuel from the 20th of this month.
The Civil Aviation Authority was instructed to study the daily fuel quantities required for each airline service and the measures taken by the Petroleum Statutory Corporation to provide it.
It was pointed out that SriLankan Airlines has arranged its destinations through airports in India to meet its fuel requirements, and due to bringing in fuel, they have difficulties in transporting the full amount of passengers and cargo.
Airline representatives who pointed out that more flights will arrive at Katunayake Airport especially in the coming months when the tourist season begins also showed that it is essential to continuously provide the necessary amounts of aviation fuel.
The Minister pointed out that removing the monopoly power given to the Petroleum Corporation to bring aviation fuel is a need of the hour and also pointed out that a bill to amend the Petroleum Act has already been submitted to the Parliament for that purpose and that it should be passed soon.
Also, he stated that the Petroleum Corporation is working to provide facilities for storing more aviation fuel and advised to check this and take steps to store the necessary fuel at the airport as well as outside the airport, taking into account the future requirements.
The writ petition filed by Kayleigh Fraser, a British national challenging the decision to deport from Sri Lanka for issuing false information through her Facebook page in support of the struggle was dismissed by the Court of Appeal today.
Immigration officials canceled her visa and told her to leave the country before the 15th. She challenged it and went to court asking for an order to cancel the arbitrary decision to deport her.
Cabinet Spokesman Minister Bandula Gunawardena says that the complex issues involved in large transactions such as fuel, as well as the lack of support from officials in this country, may be obstacles to getting fuel for a cheap price from Russia, but discussions are still being held at the ambassadorial level.
He said this in response to a question raised by a journalist at the press conference to announce the cabinet’s decision today.
Question – There was a lot of talk in recent days about buying fuel at a cheap price from Russia. The reports also indicated that they are ready to sign a contract. But why is that conversation now silent? What is the obstacle to buying cheap fuel from Russia? There were reports that several heads of the fuel corporation did not like this. What is the status of this now?
Answer- “The Russian government is very clearly not involved in the fuel trade. The government does not sell fuel. We have to negotiate with private companies. fuel, fertilizers, etc. can be obtained from them. These discussions are held at the ambassadorial level. Although it is said that fuel can be bought from somewhere for a lesser amount, in such a complex transaction, collateral must be provided. If there are problems with the guarantee, the deal will not happen. But when it comes to the business level, these are complex big deals. Perhaps, as you said, the lack of support from certain officials may also be a reason.”
The Cabinet has decided to allocate a land owned by the Sri Lanka Railway Department for Nawalapitiya Al Safa Primary School.
The announcement issued by the Cabinet Office is as follows.
Nawalapitiya Al Safa Primary School was newly established in the year 2013 as part of the 1,000 secondary school reconstruction program and the necessary building space was obtained from a warehouse belonging to the Nawalapitiya railway station owned by the Sri Lanka Railway Department.
At present, due to the increase in the number of students in the school, the building is not sufficient, so the need to construct permanent buildings has been recognized.
Accordingly, the approval of the Cabinet was given to the proposal jointly submitted by the Minister of Education and the Minister of Transport and Highways to legally set aside a 02 acre piece of land at Karahandungala, Nawalapitiya Godamuduna, belonging to the Sri Lanka Railway Department, for the said school.
Minister Kanchana Wijesekera has said that there will be no change in the price of fuel.
The ministry had earlier announced that fuel prices will be revised on the 1st and 15th of every month.
Commenting on the fuel price revision that was scheduled to be done yesterday (15), the minister has said that there will be no change in the price this time.
The next price revision will be considered on 01st of next month.
This price formula works against the world market price.
Minister Bandula Gunawardena says that a decision will be taken next week regarding the parking of 80 buses brought to Sri Lanka before 7 years without being allowed to be taken by the relevant committees.
He points out that it has been a problem for him as well why the relevant procurement committees not allowing the use of these buses citing various reasons, which have been brought on the approval of the Cabinet.
The minister said in a press conference today to announce the cabinet decisions that these buses will be inspected next week, the reasons for parking those buses for a long period will be found and the remaining measures will be taken to put them into operation.
“For school services, we have arranged to implement a new bus program as a pilot project. There was a problem to get batteries for 800 buses that were reconditioned and put into operation, under the foreign currency crisis. He was able to solve them last week. Even after 7 years have passed, 80 buses brought by state company Ashok Leyland have been brought here and parked. Even though the cabinet has issued the permission to buy these, for some reason, it is not allowed to use them. The procurement committees still do not allow these to be used, telling various stories. I hope to go there and have a look and inform the Cabinet about this. With this I prepared to do a pilot project. The technical committees do not give approval to buy those buses. I don’t understand why. We have great advantages from this. This is not for the new exchange rate, but for the old exchange rate. This is very beneficial for us. We expect this to be implemented next week.”
So far 1007 kilos of heroin have been seized in this year alone.
17,597 people were arrested in 17,650 raids.
During this period, the largest number of thieves were arrested in the operations carried out by the Police Narcotics Bureau and the Navy in the high seas. 917 kilos and 40 grams of heroin have been seized along with 29 people in 03 raids on the high sea.
In 17,914 raids by police stations across the island, the amount of heroin arrested is 68 kg and 685 grams along with 16,820 people.
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China’s high-tech research and observation ship ‘Yuan Wang 5’, which has received the most attention in the world, has now docked at Hambantota port.
Sources at Hambantota Port revealed that this ship has been anchored at Hambantota Port for a week and a special program is in place for its security.
The information also stated that the ship had arrived at Hambantota to receive services.
India had expressed its concern regarding the arrival of this ship in Sri Lanka and America had also expressed its disapproval in various ways.
Equipped with satellite and intercontinental ballistic missile tracking and support technology, the Yuan Wang-class ship represents the third generation of that technology.
Following is the schedule of power cuts to be carried out across the country today (16).
A 3-hour power cut is planned across the country for today.
07 officers of the Sri Lanka Police have taken oath as lawyers in the Supreme Court.
Accordingly, the number of police officers who are lawyers working in the Sri Lanka Police has increased to 41.
Among those 41 there are two senior DIGs and four DIGs.
Senior Deputy Inspector Generals of Police are Ajith Rohana and Priyantha Weerasuriya.
Police Legal Division Chief Asanka Karavita and Special Task Force Commander Varuna Jayasundara are among the DIGs who are lawyers.
The 07 newly joined lawyers in this group are as follows.
Anamaduwa and Puttalam police officers have arrested 7 people who were involved in illegal fuel smuggling along with 13,200 liters of petrol.
The raid was carried out today (15).
Puttalam police officials arrested two people who were transporting 4000 liters of fuel in a lorry used to transport fish.
The arrest was made in Puttalam – Kalladia area. The arrested suspects told the police that they were taking the petrol stock to Norachcholai.
Meanwhile, another 9200 liters of petrol have been arrested by Anamaduwa Police along with 05 suspects. The arrest has been made in the area of Anamaduwa – Thonigala.
13,200 liters of petrol have been brought to the Anamaduwa area by a fuel delivery van of Ceypetco company the other day.
The arrest was made while the fuel stock was being packed in plastic barrels at a deserted land in Anamaduwa – Thonigala area.
The police say that investigations have been started to arrest the smuggler who has carried out this fuel smuggling.
Puttalam and Anamaduwa Police are conducting further investigations.
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