Six persons including Wasantha Handapangoda, Chairperson of the pro-Rajapaksa trade union Podujana Guru Sangamaya were arrested yesterday (31) in connection with the brutal assault launched on the peaceful protests held in front of Temple Trees and in GalleFace on May 09 and the suspects are due to be produced before the Fort Magistrate Court today (01).

The suspects were summoned to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for statements after which the arrests were made.

MIAP

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has taken steps to provide relief to those people who have been affected by the floods.

Accordingly, a preliminary discussion was held between the Prime Minister’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake and the District Secretaries of Kalutara, Gampaha and Galle.

During the discussions with the Ratnapura District Secretaries, the Prime Minister has stated that the Treasury Operations Department has allocated funds to provide relief to the people affected by the floods.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has also instructed the Treasury to take steps to provide relief funds through District Secretaries.

Sri Lanka Economic Crisis: Sri Lanka is experiencing its worst financial meltdown since independence, leaving authorities struggling to pay for adequate supplies of vital imports.

Colombo:

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka’s main seaport unveiled a free bicycle service on Tuesday, allowing workers to navigate the facility without petrol-powered vehicles, as the island nation struggles with unprecedented fuel shortages.

The island nation is experiencing its worst financial meltdown since independence, leaving authorities struggling to pay for adequate supplies of vital imports.

Motorists around the South Asian country are forced to spend hours or even days waiting for rationed fuel at gas stations.

The bicycle initiative was aimed at conserving petrol in the Colombo deep-sea container port, Sri Lanka Ports Authority chairman Prasantha Jayamanna said.

“We have built a cycle track along a disused railway line for those who come to the port to use cycles instead of other vehicles,” he told reporters.

The port in Sri Lanka’s capital sits on 469 hectares (1,160 acres) of land, with its longest road stretching four kilometres (2.5 miles) through the facility.

Shipping lines operating through the port — located in the Indian Ocean, along the world’s busiest east-west maritime trade route — donated 100 bikes to kick off the initiative, Jayamanna said.

Despite Tuesday’s announcement, Jayamanna said the port was “insulated from the economic troubles” plaguing Sri Lanka, and was offering petrol from its own reserves to dock workers who were struggling to source fuel elsewhere.

“We are carrying out our work as usual as we have our buffer stocks of fuel,” he added.

Sri Lanka’s economic crisis was sparked by a crunch on foreign currency reserves that also left importers unable to source food, fuel and other goods.

Rampant inflation, frequent blackouts and long queues for essentials have made life a misery for the island’s 22 million people.

The government is seeking urgent assistance from the International Monetary Fund and has also defaulted on Sri Lanka’s $51 billion foreign debt.

Weeks of public protests have called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign, with police firing tear gas to disperse a huge demonstration outside the leader’s home on Sunday.

Jayamanna said the crisis had not disrupted operations at the port, which generates much of its revenue in dollars and still plans to pay for a $500 million expansion.

NDTV

Investigations are underway into the May 9 attack on the Maina-Go-Gama protest in front of Temple Trees and the Gota-Go-Gama protest in front of the Galle Face Green. Several persons including Members of Parliament and Heads of Local Government Institutions have already been arrested in connection with these investigations.

Police have also been accused of failing to prevent the attack on the 9th and providing security to the attackers. Senior DIG in charge of the Western Province Deshabandu Tennakoon has been sent on compulsory leave.

Deshabandu Tennakoon and a group of senior police officers have told the CID that the IGP and the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Security had informed him not to carry out the President’s order despite the President’s order to stop the attackers.

Investigators have taken note of the statement and are conducting further investigations by seizing Deshabandu Tennakoon’s mobile phone. CID officers are working to ascertain whether the DIG’s phone calls and incoming calls were used to prevent the attack.

World crude oil prices have risen. As of yesterday, the price of a barrel of crude oil had exceeded $ 124.

Crude oil prices have risen in the world market over the past month, fuel prices have risen in the domestic market.

However, fuel prices are likely to increase again this month as the Ministry in charge of the subject has announced that fuel prices in the domestic market will also increase in line with the increase in world market prices.

The Attorney General has instructed to file a case against the Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena Galagoda Atte Gnanasara Thera under Section 291A of the Penal Code. This was stated by the officers of the Crime Prevention Division of the Sri Lanka Police before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court yesterday (31).

Gnanasara Thera has been accused of making statements that are damaging to religious sentiments and will be charged in court in the future.

Quotations were made to the Attorney General regarding the investigation into the blasphemous statements done by the Thera about the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam. The Attorney General has instructed to file charges against Gnanasara Thera only after examining the relevant excerpts.

The world relies on agrichemicals to feed itself. Rising costs will play havoc with harvests

May 31st 2022

AS WELL AS bringing devastation to Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s war risks tipping millions of people around the world into hunger. Russia and Ukraine supply 28% of globally traded wheat, 29% of the barley, 15% of the maize and 75% of the sunflower oil. Sanctions on Russia, and the blockade of Ukraine’s ports, have stopped much of this from getting out. And farmers elsewhere are struggling to make up the shortfall, in part because profit margins are being squeezed by the surging cost of fertiliser. Why is fertiliser so expensive?

Fertiliser has played an important role in the green revolution—the increase in agricultural yields seen in much of the poor world over the past six decades. In 1960 harvests without fertiliser supported 87% of the world’s population, according to Oxford Analytica, a research firm. By 2015 that had fallen to just 52% of the population. There are three main types: nitrogen-based fertiliser (of which the only expensive ingredient is natural gas), potash (which provides potassium) and phosphates. Fertiliser prices rose sharply in 2021 (see chart) because of a number of factors, prime among them the rising cost of energy and transport as the economic effects of the covid-19 pandemic wore off. Sanctions imposed in December 2021 on Belarus, which produces 18% of the world’s potash, over its government’s attempts to foment a migrant crisis in Europe, made things worse.

Russia’s invasion and the sanctions that followed have caused prices to climb further. In 2021, 25 countries got more than 30% of their fertiliser from Russia. In many eastern European and Central Asian countries that was over 50%. In Europe, energy-security concerns are restricting the use of natural gas to make nitrogen-based fertiliser. And while Nigeria and Qatar, flush with natural gas, are opening new nitrogen plants, and Canada has room to increase potash production, this will take time. Meanwhile prices are expected to stay high.

That will play havoc with harvests. Farmers may be forced to use less fertiliser, reducing yields and the quality of crops. Alternatively they may switch to those that require less fertiliser, such as soybeans, further reducing the supply of crops such as wheat and corn. Producers in America are expected to plant almost 37m hectares of soybeans in 2022, a record high and a 4% increase over 2021, according to government forecasts. Corn plantations, meanwhile, will fall by 4% to 36m hectares. Wheat will remain largely unchanged.

Can their use be reduced? Modern farming techniques such as soil spectroscopy can accurately measure the nutrient levels in soil, allowing for more targeted use of fertilisers. But the technology required is expensive, so is unlikely to help farmers in poor countries. A lower-tech approach would be to use less-intensive farming methods which maintain soil quality, such as crop rotation, tillage that leaves old crop residue behind or “agroforestry” (combining trees with crops in fields). But these methods take time, effort and foresight, and are neither as quick nor effective as modern fertilisers. Sri Lanka shows the difficulty of farming without agrichemicals. In 2021 the government rushed through a complete ban on fertiliser imports as part of a push to become the world’s first fully organic producer of food. Farmers warned of crop losses, food prices spiked and the president declared a state of emergency. The ban was eventually reversed in part (though Sri Lanka’s economic problems have since gone from bad to worse). For now, there is no easy alternative to fertiliser if the world is to maintain food production at anything like its current levels. That means higher food prices and rumbling stomachs.

The Economist