- President Ranil Wickrmasinghe expected to highlight SL’s commitment to sustainable development and green energy solutions at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Klosters, Switzerland.
- SLTPB Chairman Chalaka Gajabahu says SL has earned low tourism revenue despite having 1.5mn arrivals in 2023 due to the arrival of low to medium-end travellers from the top two tourist markets to SL, namely, Russia & India.
- State Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe says the new Micro-finance bill will be introduced soon: also says lenders are providing Micro-finance credit at over 360% interest: laments 95% of struggling borrowers are women whose financial literacy is very low: asserts that according to the new bill, no one will be able to grant Micro-finance loans without a licence.
- Ministry of Public Security says 1,468 “wanted suspects” out of the list of 42,248 such suspects as shared with all police stations in connection with various crimes, have been arrested so far under the ‘Yukthiya’ operation.
- Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch & International Commission of Jurists, together with several other “international human rights organisations” attempt to pressure the Govt to halt the ongoing “Yukthiya” operation which is targeting narcotics & underworld organized crime: express concern over alleged “drastic intensification of anti-drug operations, leading to significant human rights violations”.
- Telecom arm of India’s Reliance Industries, “Jio Platforms” expresses interest in buying a stake in SL Telecom: Govt names Jio Platforms, Gortune International Investment Holding Ltd, and Pettigo Comercio International LDA as the 3 potential bidders for SLT: SL’s IMF programme is currently pushing hard for the privatisation of several State Owned Enterprises.
- Telecom Engineers’ Union questions the presence of only 3 bidders for the proposed divestiture of the Govt’s stake of over 50% in SL Telecom: write to the President expressing their concerns.
- Police arrest self-proclaimed “Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva” Mahinda Kodituwakku: accuse Kodituwakku of “committing irreligious activities that are contrary to Buddhist teachings”: Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court imposes an overseas travel ban on the suspect: complaint filed by the President of the Buddhist Information Centre, Ven. Agulugalle Sri Jinananda Thera.
- Sectetary of the Govt Medical Officers’ Assn Dr Haritha Aluthge says the island-wide strike action organized by health sector employees is unjustified: also says only 50% of the “Disturbance, Availability and Transport” allowance and 15% of the requested increments have been received by the Doctors.
- Senior Chartered Accountant and Tax Expert N R Gajendran says the current tax system is neither fair nor reasonable: also says any tax system had to be based on the “principle of capacity to pay”: lamebts that taxes have now become “unbearable”; previously, several Chartered Accountants and Chambers of Commerce had been at the forefront of advocating the increase in taxes.
