nother person has tested positive for COVID-19 this evening (24), taking the confirmed positive cases tally to 2,764, the Ministry of Health said. According to the Department of Government Information, this latest coronavirus case is an arrival from the United Kingdom. As per the Epidemiology Unit’s statistics, a total of 659 patients infected with the virus are currently under medical care at hospitals. In the meantime, the number of recoveries reported from the disease in the country moved up to 2,094 earlier today. Sri Lanka has thus far witnessed 11…
Read MoreDay: 24 July 2020
Tensions among three ethnicities increased rapidly by late 2016 due to extremist groups’
By Rathindra Kuruwita Tensions among the Muslim, Sinhala and Tamil communities in the East were growing rapidly by late 2016 due to activities of extremist groups, the State Intelligence Service had warned, an SIS officer stationed in the East, on Wednesday, told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) investigating the Easter Sunday attacks. The witness, whose name will not be divulged due to a request made by the PCoI, said that the most dangerous of those groups was the National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ.) “I said this at a combined intelligence…
Read MoreWomen’s activists demand Mahinda apologise to Jalani over remark over childless women
ECONOMYNEXT – A group of activists staged a demonstration against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa today protesting remarks made by him allegedly insulting childless women, particularly Jalani Premadasa. The protest was held outside the PM’s office in Colombo. In a campaign speech Rajapaksa said “he (the Samagi Jana Balavegaya leader Sajith Premadasa) talks about pressing a button to summon the Midwife, of course he won’t need it…” in the audience someone says “he does not have children,” and the PM responds saying “hush, don’t say that.” Women’s groups were outraged that…
Read MoreFOREIGN MINISTER GUNAWARDENA AND UK’S INTERNATIONAL TRADE MINISTER DISCUSS STEPPING UP BILATERAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT TIES WITH THE UK
Foreign Relations Minister Hon. Dinesh Gunawardena and the Minister for International Trade of the UK Hon. Ranil Jayawardena discussed stepping up bilateral trade and investment and expanding the areas of cooperation during a teleconference yesterday, 23 July 2020. It was the first official interaction between the two Ministers.Both Ministers welcomed further consolidating the longstanding bilateral engagement through increased trade, security, research and training, in science and technology, including people-to -people contacts. In particular, Ministers Gunawardena and Jayawardena agreed on the need for close cooperation to address the challenges facing bilateral trade…
Read MoreTamils and their representatives in Parliament
The heavy weights of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna have given Jeevan, Thondaman’s son, the greenlight to contest from the Pohottuwa Party at the upcoming parliamentary elections. The national question is being looked upon from two angles. One if the solving of woes related to the estate workers; chief among which is granting them a daily wage of Rs 1000. But from a larger mainstream politics perspective the national question revolves around demands made by the TNA which is the main constituent party of the ITAK. The TNA in its election manifesto, released…
Read MoreAfter the military defeat of the LTTE the Tamil polity no longer has the bargaining strength it had during the war.
By Jehan Perera – Jehan Perera The TNA’s political manifesto for the forthcoming general elections, which was released last week, calls for a fresh mandate from Tamil people for a federal-based solution in the form of a merged Northern and Eastern province where Tamil speaking people live in majority numbers. It stated this could ensure a lasting peace in an undivided country in the future. This is consistent with the issues of community equality that have been uppermost in the Tamil polity from the early days of Independence and later from the…
Read MoreDinesh and Ranil discuss SL-UK investment ties
Ministers Gunawardena and Jayawardena have agreed on the need for close cooperation to address the challenges facing bilateral trade and investment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and Britain’s International Trade Minister Ranil Jayawardena have discussed stepping up bilateral trade and investment and expanding the areas of cooperation, during a teleconference on Thursday. The Foreign Relations Ministry in a statement said yesterday it was the first official meeting between the two ministers. The statement said both Ministers have welcomed further consolidating the longstanding…
Read MoreWorkers still live under colonial standards.
Jeevan Thondaman (25) was nominated to be the Nuwara Eliya District candidate at the upcoming General Election after his father, Arumugan Thondaman, leader of the Ceylon Workers’ Congress (CWC), suddenly passed away at the age of 56. Q Your educational and professional qualifications? Bachelor of Laws – University of Northumbria, UK Q Why should people vote for you other than for being the son of Arumugam Thondaman? I may be the son of whoever. But, at the end of the day, people need to accept me for who I am. I am…
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