President Ranil Wickremesinghe in his New Year Message to the nation says that it is the responsibility of every Sri Lankan to contribute towards the resurgence of the nation from its current state of crisis President Wickremesinghe’s New Year Message: As we step into the year 2024

North Korea plans to launch three more spy satellites next year as part of efforts to ramp up its military, the country’s state media has said. Last month Pyongyang put a spy satellite into space – and claims it has since photographed major US and South Korean military sites. Setting out his aims for 2024, […]

by Amal Jayasinghe The controversial arrest of Sri Lanka’s senior most Kapuwa, or the intermediary between devotee and deity, has renewed a debate over who should benefit from the valuable offerings to the gods. Somipala Ratnayake, the chief “Kapuwa” at the Kataragama Maha Devale was taken into custody on Wednesday over a missing gold tray […]

Sri Lanka’s inflation rose to 4.0 percent in December, the third consecutive monthly rise as the cash-strapped nation was set to increase taxes from the New Year.The benchmark Colombo Consumer Price Index jumped by 1.7 points to reach 195.1, or a 4.0 percent increase compared to a year ago when inflation was 57.2 percent. The […]

The strained balance sheets of the household and the corporate sectors in the backdrop of the severe economic crisis which resulted in an erosion of real income levels amid elevated price levels, hindered the debt repayment capacities of households and corporates, the Central Bank

One of the key factors that contributed to the exodus of medical specialists from the state sector is the disparity of the total remuneration received by the state medical specialists when compared to parallel grades in the government sector, the Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) says. There was always a shortage of medical specialists in […]

Education of about 54.9 percent of Sri Lankan students has been affected by the economic crisis since March 2022, the latest Household Survey on Impact of Economic Crisis – 2023 by the Department of Census and Statistics reveals. Out of the respondents surveyed 93.5 percent have adopted

The economic crisis has left a profound impact on household finances, influencing both income and expenditure significantly, a survey conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) has found.

The Middle East conflagration has been brought very close to South Asia by a suspected drone attack a couple of days back on an Israel-linked chemical tanker headed for India, off the latter’s coast. The attack comes close on the heels of similar reported strikes on international tankers in the Red Sea, which have compelled […]

‘Ministry cooperating with CID on Immunoglobulin probe’ By Shamindra Ferdinando Health Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana yesterday (26) said that in case the government had to make emergency purchases, his Ministry would adhere to procedures laid down by the World Health Organization (WHO). Dr. Pathirana said so when The Island asked him whether he intended to […]

by Jehan Perera The change that the country is looking for lies in the future. The change that the government has brought may have been sufficient unto the day, especially for the upper classes and the international community they fraternise with, but insufficient for the future progress and wellbeing of the masses of people.  This […]

Tuesday 26th December, 2023 It never rains but it pours. As if the multiple crises, armed conflicts and the ill-effects of climate change troubling the world were not enough, there are disturbing reports of Covid-19 raising its head again in some countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of an increase in the cases […]

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza is reaping an “appalling harvest” of innocent civilians, Pope Francis said in his Christmas message. In his Christmas Day “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and world) address on Monday, the head of the Catholic Church also called the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas “abominable” and again appealed for […]

Wijeyadasa pushes for suspension of Parate executions: ‘Country paying heavy price for not having proper tax regime, favourable treatment to some’ By Shamindra Ferdinando Justice, Prisons Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC, has assured the local business community, troubled by parate executions, that laws will be brought in to regulate the practice. The [̷...

Banks exercise their legally-enshrined right to Parate Execution as a last resort and the overarching objective is the protection of depositors’ funds that have been lent to borrowers, the Sri Lanka Banks Association (SLBA) has said in a statement to the media. Responding to what it termed as lobbying by a group of defaulting borrowers […]

The government should do more to protect low-income earners, the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said on Thursday (21) during a televised interview. He said that during the economic crisis and due to high inflation, a lot of people in the SME sector lost their jobs. “

President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced today that the district decentralized budget for this year amounts to Rs. 11,250 million, marking a significant allocation after a hiatus of three years. The funds are slated to be disbursed to all district secretaries during the initial week of January. This declaration came during a discussion held at the Presidential […]

Usman Khawaja has been charged with breaching ICC regulations for wearing a black armband during the first Test against Pakistan in Perth without prior approval. Khawaja wore the armband in place of taking the field with writing on his shoes which he had worn in training stating “all lives are equal” and “freedom is a […]