The executive board of the International Monetary Fund confirmed a deal with Egypt to increase its bailout loan from $3 billion to $8 billion, in a move that is meant to shore up the Arab country s economy which is hit by a staggering shortage of foreign currency and soaring inflation.

Eighteen-year-old Vishmi Gunaratne scored her first T20I half-century as Sri Lanka levelled the three-match series against South Africa with a seven-wicket win in Potchefstroom. Gunaratne and Ksvisha Dilhari shared an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 76 off 46 balls to successfully chase 138 after South Africa opted to bat first under stand-in captain Nadine de Klerk.  […]

Headline inflation for March 2024, measured by the year-on-year (Y-o-Y) change in the Colombo Consumer Price Index, has dropped sharply to 0.9 percent in March 2024 from 5.9 percent in February 2024, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) says. This deceleration in the headline inflation was broadly in line with the projections of the […]

Empower Her, Empower a Nation Empowering her is to empower a nation. Bringing its deep-rooted values to the spotlight this International Women’s Day, Siyapatha Finance PLC united together to celebrate the collective strength, power and achievement of woman and womanhood across the Island Nation. In hopes of enhancing women’s role in taking leadership, Siyapatha embarked […]

Saturday 30th March, 2024 A police sergeant has been sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs. 20,000 for taking a bribe of Rs. 500 from a trishaw driver for not instituting legal action against the latter over a traffic violation. The case, filed by the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and […]

Sri Lanka was optimistic about resolving its debt restructuring issues in the second quarter to secure financing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as external creditors are reportedly engaging positively, Bloomberg said quoting the country’s state finance minister. “We anticipate a favourable outcome,” stated state minister Shehan Semasinghe during discussions held in L...

The bodies of two people have been recovered from a red pickup truck, which was under water where the Baltimore bridge collapsed. Eight construction workers were on the bridge when a ship struck it, plunging them into the waters below. Two of the workers were rescued on the day, but the search continues for the […]

Santosh Jha stresses importance of Unique Digital Identity project Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha has said that India is working with Sri Lanka to roll out the Unique Digital Identity (UDI) Project based on modular micro service based architecture aka MOSIP architecture. He has said they strongly believe that as in the case of India […]

By Dr Laksiri Fernando It is not the country per se, but the politicians and the people who are wrong. While politicians should take 70 percent responsibility, the people also should take 30 percent. It is true that these wrongs on the part of the politicians or the people are not limited to Sri Lanka. […]

By the time the crew of the Dali, a massive 948ft (289m) container ship, realised what was happening, it was already far too late. The vessel – at the very start of a 27-day journey from the port of Baltimore to Sri Lanka – completely lost power after leaving the port and was hurtling towards […]

By Hiran H.Senewiratne The Central Bank has taken steps to remove price controls on rupee lending rates from April 1, amid continuing falls in market rates. The price control order on rupee denominated lending products issued in August 2023 ‘contributed to reducing the overall market lending interest rates and therefore yielded the expected results, Central […]

Women in Sri Lankan State Universities – II An adapted version of the keynote delivered by Dinesha Samararatne at the International Women’s Day celebration organised by the Centre for Gender Equity and Equality for the University Grants Commission, 15 March, 2024. (First part of this article appeared on 22 March, 2024) Today, I would like […]

The Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal presented by the Minister of Ports, Shipping and Aviation to invite expressions of interest and proposals from qualified domestic and foreign institutions to promote the registration of ships under the Sri Lankan flag and to select the most suitable institutions on the recommendation of the Procurement Committee, consequent […]

India considers Arunachal Pradesh to be an essential part of the country and insists that using different names for the area does not change the fact that it belongs to India, writes Dr. Maheep In a clear statement on Wednesday, the U.S. State Department confirmed that the U.S. government considers Arunachal Pradesh to be an […]

In its quest to challenge Western hegemony in global governance and make itself more representative of the Global South, BRICS has begun to expand itself, including more new member nations. The expansion has led to a formal request by Pakistan to join BRICS in late 2023. This has led to discourse and speculations by scholars, […]