The Tamil Nadu Police of India has arranged to donate an amount of one crore and forty lakh Indian rupees to the people of Sri Lanka. The concerned amount has recently been handed over to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin by DIG Sailendra Babu, the Chief of Tamil Nadu Police.
M.K. Stalin has set up a special fund to help the Sri Lankan people and so far crores of rupees have been collected.
The Indian Defense Services Association had also recently donated an amount of six crore sixty three lakh Indian rupees.
Litro Gas Company has issued a press release regarding recent media reports on a gas import contract and the international purchase of Litro Gas Lanka Company, calling them to be false.
Clarification of Litro Gas Lanka Company regarding the false statements made by the media regarding the gas import contract and international purchase of Litro Gas Lanka Company.
Litro Gas Lanka Company strongly denies the media reports that the company has misled the Cabinet and the Litro Company engaged in financial misappropriation. It says that Litro Gas Company’s Board of Directors is bound to implement cabinet decisions as a government subsidiary.
Also, Litro Gas Lanka Company said that failure of the state treasury, local or international financial institutions to provide 37M$ standby debenture letter (SBLC) to Siam Gas, the low bidder in the 2022-2023 Litro Gas international tender and because Siam Gas Company refused to provide gas without SBLC, the gas supply tender was stopped on the decision of the cabinet.
The Oman trading company was selected for the supply of 100,000 metric tons of gas under the World Bank financial facility. In calling for prices for short-term purchase, Siam Gas Company, which quoted the lowest price, has informed Litro Gas that the company cannot supply the required amount of gas at the same time for the current high demand in the market.
In the short-term call for 15,000 metric tons of gas, Siam Gas company offered a price of $112 USD per one metric ton of gas, but the company denies media reports that the price offered by Siam gas company was $96 USD.
Litro Gas Lanka Company also denies the false statement that Litro Gas Lanka Company has not imported any gas for the month of June 2022. The company insists that it has imported 6976 metric tons of gas for the month of June and for that the company has paid US$ 105 per metric ton of gas.
Japanese former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot on Friday while campaigning in the city of Nara, a government spokesman said, with public broadcaster NHK saying he appeared to have been shot from behind by a man with a shotgun.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said he did not know Abe’s condition. Authorities have arrested a 42-year-old man who appeared to have shot Abe, media reported.
Kyodo news agency and NHK said Abe, 67, appeared to be in a state of cardiac arrest when taken to hospital, after having initially been conscious and responsive.
The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) Chairman, Janaka Rathnayake, today urged the government to investigate the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) for making huge profit margins on fuel imports and sales.
While addressing the media, he said the revenue after importing and selling fuel not gone to the government or to the treasury but to the CPC where they had huge financial burdens.
The chairman referred to the CPC as a ‘dark hole’ and said the revenue after importing and selling fuel is sucked into the CPC and nobody sees anything. Even though the CPC is charging higher prices, they don’t have the funds to buy fuel.
However, there were two fuel price revisions during the last 45 days in May and June.
Rathnayake said based on the fuel formula that came out through the Power and Energy Ministry, it had mentioned exorbitant prices on imports of all these fuel varieties into the country.
According to the latest revision, a barrel of octane 92 petrol was imported at US$157, octane 95 at US$158, diesel at US$174 per barrel, super diesel at US$176 per barrel and a barrel of kerosene at US$171, he said.
As per the information received from the Sri Lanka Customs Department (SLCD) a month ago, a barrel of kerosene was imported at US$105. A barrel of diesel was sold at US$ 111, a barrel of furnace oil was imported at US$ 75, and a barrel of petrol was imported at US$ 100.
However, according to the fuel formula which the CPC came up with, the price was almost US$50 per barrel, and they arrived at a huge cost figure. The CPC had determined the fuel price based on the latest fuel price revision.
Moreover, the government is charging lesser than Rs.50 as taxation for the above fuel imports per litre. Therefore, the CPC is having that opportunity to make a huge amount of profits ranging from Rs.171 to around Rs. 258 per litre on these imports and selling fuel.
This is the plight of these large organisations where the financial disciplines are not in proper order, he said.
Therefore, the PUCSL chairman urged the political hierarchy, Ministries, Ministers or any interested parliamentarians, treasury, central Bank, local banks to look into the matter to ensure that the pricing is done properly.
The Colombo High Court yesterday (07) ordered the temporary lifting of the foreign travel ban imposed against former Member of Parliament Sajin Vas Gunawardena, who was a controversial figure during the last Mahinda Rajapaksa regime.
A case filed against him under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act was called yesterday through a motion, where his lawyer informed the court that between July 08-25, his client wants to go to India for a business purpose, so that permission should be granted.
Accordingly, Colombo High Court Judge Damith Totawatta granted the relevant permission and ordered the case to be called again on July 26.
Every good disaster movie has a scene in which the characters realise that they are in mortal peril, that the threat they all fear is much closer than anyone had thought. The shark is in the water, the caller is in the house, the virus is airborne. Footage of a cabinet meeting on July 5th—taken before the watershed resignations of Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the exchequer, and Sajid Javid, the health secretary—provided an equivalent moment in Westminster’s current horror show. The faces of Britain’s most senior politicians are ashen, the mood is palpably grim. A deadly toxin menaces them and their party, and it is chairing the meeting.
The fact that Boris Johnson is a serial liar and lacks the self-discipline to apply himself to hard problems was well-known. One of those grey-faced cabinet ministers, Michael Gove, said that Mr Johnson was not up to the task of leadership in 2016. (Mr Gove himself was sacked on July 6th, a day before the prime minister said he would resign.) But the extent to which Mr Johnson has poisoned the reputations of those he works with seems to have been less appreciated. This toxicity is not just a personal characteristic. It also says something about the political system he sat atop.
Take a moment to consider some of the people tarnished by exposure to Mr Johnson. Many were politicians, sent out to defend the prime minister’s integrity only to find their own impugned as a result. The end of the Johnson era was sparked by the demise of Chris Pincher, who resigned as deputy chief whip on June 30th after being accused of drunkenly groping two men. Ministers dutifully told interviewers that Mr Johnson had not been aware of prior allegations about Mr Pincher’s behaviour, and quickly found out this was untrue. At best such politicians looked like idiots, at worst as slippery as their boss.
Reputations for competence as well as honesty were also irradiated by Mr Johnson. Steve Barclay was brought in as his chief of staff in February to help shake up Number 10 in the wake of Partygate, a series of gatherings in Downing Street which broke covid-era lockdown rules. Mr Barclay was feted as a fearsomely efficient manager. A matter of weeks in proximity to Mr Johnson, and he seemed to have as much grip as a tea tray on a ski jump. His elevation this week to replace Mr Javid placed him in the category of Johnsonian flunkey rather than besuited machine.
But the real victims of Mr Johnson’s toxicity have been non-politicians. A parade of people with distinguished reputations and an alphabet’s worth of honours after their names were infected. Taking the position of independent ethics adviser to the prime minister sounds like a nice way to top off a distinguished career of public service. Under Mr Johnson it was anything but.
Sir Alex Allan held the role for nearly eight quietish years under David Cameron and Theresa May, but lasted for just over a year under Mr Johnson; he quit after the prime minister ignored his finding that Priti Patel, the home secretary, had been bullying civil servants. His successor was Sir Christopher Geidt (gcb, gcvo, obe, qso), who resigned in June after cutting an increasingly sad figure. He found that the prime minister had acted “unwisely” over a donor-funded refurbishment of his flat. His discomfort over Partygate was painful to watch. The post remains vacant: at some point it isn’t ethical to advise someone without ethics on ethics.
Sue Gray, a civil servant who wrote a report on Partygate, was lauded by all and sundry for her steely independence, only to be accused of pulling her punches when she failed to look into every drunken bash. Simon Case, the head of the civil service, is meant to be the brightest and the best of his generation. Now he’s just that guy with the beard who partied with Boris when everyone else was isolating at home.
Mr Johnson’s character flaws have not always corroded those around him. He was a lazy, selfish dilettante when he was mayor of London, and the people who worked with him then did not all suffer. But the position of prime minister is not simply different from mayor in its importance and in its nature: less cheer and more leader. The prime minister is also central to the entire system of government. In several respects, the position is peculiarly designed to spread poison if the person in charge is toxic.
Blond Chernobyl
Most obviously, standards in British public life depend on the person at the top. The ministerial code says that the prime minister is the ultimate judge of what constitutes acceptable behaviour. When the wrongdoer is the prime minister, he judges himself. Mr Johnson’s own misconduct, and his tolerance of it in others, leached straight into the body politic.
Second, the cabinet is bound by a system of collective responsibility. Defending the prime minister’s behaviour on the broadcast rounds is an act of loyalty. Private differences over policy are papered over in the name of unity. That works when a government is led by someone who is competent and trustworthy. But in Mr Johnson’s case, it served to make colleagues complicit in his failures. Mr Sunak says he fell into line repeatedly, until his disagreements with his boss became too great to sustain. Mr Javid told Parliament on July 6th that “treading the tightrope between loyalty and integrity has become impossible”.
Finally, the civil service is particularly exposed to a virulent pm. Although civil servants are impartial and independent, the prime minister is still their ultimate boss. They are meant to work hand in glove with ministers; Mr Case sits in cabinet, a literal right-hand man to Mr Johnson. When they appear before mps they represent the views of their elected masters. And when the prime minister is toxic, they have no immune system to protect them.
Mr Johnson is not the cause of all that ails Britain. He has brio and charm. But the dangers of sitting around that cabinet table with him were real. His flaws tarnished good people. They poisoned the government—and by extension, the country.
It is reported that one person died and three others were injured in a fight in a queue near a petrol station in Magalla, Galle last night (07).
A person from Bataduwa area who came to the respective filling station last night to get fuel tried to enter his car in the queue from a place in front of his friend’s shop and the people behind the queue protested.
It is said that there is some conflict there and he has informed a group of his friends about it.
After that, a group of people who came there started attacking those who had clashed with the mentioned person from Bataduwa area, and three people who were in the queue and one of the group who came to attack were also seriously injured.
One of the injured died after being admitted to the Karapitiya Hospital, and the deceased was a 25-year-old resident of Yatagala, Habaraduwa.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has issued an extraordinary gazette announcement further expanding the scope of the Investment Promotion Ministry under Dhammika Perera.
Accordingly,
Rakna Protection Lanka Company SELENDIVA INVESTMENTS LIMITED Hotel Developers Lanka Private Company
These institutions have also been assigned to the Ministry of Investment Promotion.
Before her career in the IMF, Ms Gopinath was the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies, and Economics at Harvard University’s economics department.
Gita Gopinath created history after becoming the first woman to serve as the chief of International Monetary Fund. She has broken another glass ceiling, she shared a post on social media where Ms Gopinath can be seen posing alongside her framed picture on the wall of former Chief Economists of the IMF.
As mentioned above, she is the only woman to make it to the coveted position and hence, the wall. Posing alongside the wall, Ms Gopinath said, “Breaking the trend…I joined the wall of former Chief Economists of the IMF.”
Breaking the trend 👊💥…I joined the wall of former Chief Economists of the IMF 😀 pic.twitter.com/kPay44tIfK
Gita Gopinath served as chief economist of the IMF between 2019 and 2022. Earlier this year, Ms Gopinath took on the role of the IMF’s first deputy managing director (FDMD). According to the IMF’s official website, Ms Gopinath “oversees the work of staff, represents the Fund at multilateral forums, maintains high-level contacts with member governments and Board members, the media, and other institutions, leads the Fund’s work on surveillance and related policies, and oversees research and flagship publications.”
Before her career in the IMF, Ms Gopinath was the John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies, and Economics at Harvard University’s economics department (2005-22).
Comments After Ms Gopinath, the IMF appointed Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas as its new chief economist.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) C.D. Wickramaratne urged the people to exercise their right to protest within the legal framework, following a failed attempt to obtain a court order barring the holding of anti-government protests.
The IGP noted that the Police respect the right of the people to hold peaceful protests and assemblies, however, the Police do not tolerate those who behave violently by damaging public property. As well as protecting the right to assembly and the freedom of expression, the Police also have the responsibility to protect the normal life of the people, he added.
Wickramaratne made this observation in response to the upcoming anti-government protests organised by Sri Lankan protesters.
Earlier, the Court denied the Police’s request to obtain an order against the protests due on July 08 and 09 in the vicinity of the President’s House.
