The Hatton, Nuwara Eliya Office of the Tamil Progressive Front was opened under the patronage of Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa yesterday (30).
The event was organised by Vice Chairman of the Tamil Progressive Alliance and Nuwara Eliya District Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Palani Digambaram and attended by Alliance Chairman Mano Ganeshan and many other political activists.
It was noteworthy that Secretary General of the Ceylon Labour Congress Jeewan Thondaman also attended the event.
A decision on slashing the price of bread will be made during the Executive Committee meeting of the All Ceylon Bakery Owners’ Association today (31), said the Union.
Based on the decision, the price of a loaf of bread may be slashed by about Rs. 10 – 20, they added.
The move will be made based on the availability of enough imported wheat flour in the market, and a final decision in this regard will be announced today, the Union noted.
Chairman of the state-run LITRO Gas Company Muditha Peiris said certain reports on a LP gas shortage being on the rise are false and that the Company is releasing gas stocks to the market as usual.
“We as the LITRO Gas Company are issuing stocks to the market as usual. There are enough stocks available at LITRO. Therefore, we haven’t even resorted to the assumption of the occurrence of a gas shortage. We say with responsibility that that there are enough gas stocks, quantitatively. There is no gas shortage, according to our knowledge,” Peiris said.
The LITRO Chief went on: “We are not sure if someone has deliberately created a shortage somewhere. That being said, we are not sure if the idea of a gas shortage is being planted at certain outlets if they posses no stocks. We uninterruptedly issue gas. Therefore, we are not sure if this was a staged shortage. Otherwise, we cannot accept that there is a gas shortage.”
The National Building Research Organisation has issued early landslide warnings to several areas of the country. These areas are of Ratnapura, Kegalle and Nuwara Eliya Districts.
Accordingly people of following areas are advised to be vigilant amidst the risk of landslide occurrence;
Kuruwita, Nivithigala, Kalawana and Elapatha – Ratnapura District;
Deraniyagala, Dehiowita, Ruwanwella and Yatiyanthota – Kegalle District; and
Ambagamuwa and Nuwara Eliya – Nuwara Eliya District
These warnings are in effect till 7 pm tonight (31).
Due to a low-level atmospheric disturbance in the vicinity of Sri Lanka, showery condition is expected to enhance over the island, said the Department of Meteorology in a statement today (31).
Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in Northern, Eastern and North-central provinces. Showers or thundershowers will occur elsewhere during the afternoon or night.
Heavy showers about 100mm are likely at some places in Northern, Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Galle and Matara districts.
General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimise damages caused by temporary localised strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.
Marine Weather:
Condition of Rain:
Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in the sea areas off the coast extending from Puttalam to Batticaloa via Mannar, Kankasanturai and Trincomalee. Showers or thundershowers will occur at several places in the other sea areas during the evening or night.
Winds:
Winds will be north-easterly or variable in direction. Wind speed will be (20-30) kmph. Wind speed may increase up to 50 kmph at times in the sea areas off the coast extending from Puttalam to Trincomalee via Kankasanturai and Mullaitivu.
State of Sea:
The sea areas off the coast extending from Puttalam to Trincomalee via Kankasanturai and Mullaitivu will be fairly rough at times. The other sea areas around the island will be slight. There is a higher chance of the occurrence of thundershowers in the sea areas off the coast extending from Batticaloa to Colombo via Trincomalee, Kankasanturai, and Puttalam due to the development of low-level atmospheric disturbance in the vicinity of Sri Lanka. Therefore, naval and fishing communities are requested to be vigilant during the activities in the aforementioned sea areas since there can be temporarily strong gusty winds and very rough seas during thundershowers.
The government will appoint a committee to seek how best to integrate the Tamils of Hill Country Origin further into the Sri Lankan Society, said President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
He said further that although some of the Tamils of Hill Country Origin had integrated successfully into the Sri Lankan society, some have failed and measures would be taken to assist them to do so.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe made these observations addressing at the occasion of accepting a consignment of medicines donated by the Pondicherry Union Territory and people of India on the request of Ceylon Worker’s Congress (CWC) at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday (30) morning.
The consignment of medicines was officially handed over to the President by Secretary General of the Ceylon Worker’s Congress (CWC) and MP Jeewan Thondaman in memory of the late Mr. Saumyamoorthi Thondaman who passed away 23 years ago on October 30th. The consignment of medicines was subsequently handed over to Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella.
The President said that he would attend to ensure the development of schools in the plantation sector while the Ministry of Health would take over the hospitals in the plantation sector. He assured development in both these areas very soon.
Now the government is also encouraging building of houses and issuing lands to the people of Tamil origin in the Hill Country because they must have their own lands and a place to live in just like other groups in the hill country, the President added.
He said further, steps would be taken to review the plantation economy that could be affected by people leaving the plantation areas after being educated. As people are being educated, more and more are leaving the plantation sector. The government has to find jobs for them as well as for other Sinhalese and Muslims who leave their areas to settle elsewhere. So, the government has to look at the future of the groups that would continue to live in the plantation sector and on how to improve the plantation economy as they cannot be allowed to live in a subsistence level.
He said further that these issues would be gradually resolved in the coming years as the government resolves the whole ethnic problem in Sri Lanka.
He assured that the government would take further measures to ensure that Tamil people of Hill Country Origin would have the same facilities as other people in the country as realised and worked on under late President J R Jayawardena’s tenure.
He also requested all leaders of the Hill Country Tamils to join in this endeavour to ensure that all benefits of Sri Lankan citizenship is enjoyed by the people in the Hill Country of Tamil Origin.
The President also appreciated the service rendered by late Thondaman and said he was one of the most outstanding leaders of the 20th century in Sri Lanka as through nonviolence he achieved citizenship for all the people of Indian Origin who stayed back after the Srima-Shasthri Pact. The President said that he got citizenship for some people who should have gone under Srima-Shastri Pact but decided to stay back in Sri Lanka.
Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake, a representative from the Indian High Commission, several members of CWC including Senthil Thondaman were present at the occasion.
Sri Lankan, 26 years, dies in human stampede in Seoul, South Korea, while at a Halloween celebration: total dead reported at 151 and injured at 80.
SJB MP and Chairman, COPF Dr. Harsha de Silva expresses concern that IMF proposals are not shared with his Committee under the “pretext of sensitive information”: Silva has been one of the strongest advocates for an IMF programme: it’s now 7 -1/2 months since Sri Lanka sought IMF assistance: but no funds received while tough burdens have been placed on people.
All Island Poultry Farmers’ Assn Chairman Ajith Gunasekera says the industry is facing a shortage of raw materials for animal feed and difficulties in importing: poultry products likely to be in shortage from early next year.
State Engineering Corporation estimates the building repairs at the President’s House damaged during the “Aragalaya” protests at Rs.364.8 million: damage to the furniture, historic paintings, fitness centre equipment, and vehicles, not included.
Team of entomologists affiliated to the Medical Research Institute detects two more new mosquito species: Culex cincetellus and Culex near infula.
Nephew of Wild Life Minister Mahinda Amaraweera arrested and produced before Tissamaharama Magistrate over incident of “driving off-track” in Yala Park in violation of Wildlife laws: suspect arrested for “being a party to violating the wildlife park laws”, although not driving a vehicle: released on two surety bails of Rs 500,000 each.
Bangladesh’s Central Bank, Bangladesh Bank, directs all banks in that country to only resort to “cash” deals and provide no credit to Sri Lankan banks: analysts say that move is another consequence of the hurried and unauthorized “debt default” announced on 12th April 2022.
President Ranil Wickremasinghe proposes Committee to look into ways of integrating Tamils of upcountry origin into society enabling them to enjoy the same status and privileges enjoyed by all others.
TNA MP M A Sumanthiran says their leadership were told the European Union would assess the country’s human rights & political situation, and take into account the Govt’s promise to abolish the PTA, when Sri Lanka requests a further extension of GSP+.
Parliament’s House Committee decides to increase MPs’ medical insurance by 500%, from Rs.200,000 to Rs.1 million: Speaker likely to forward proposal to Cabinet seeking approval.
Jair Bolsonaro’s opponents look to momentous election to bring an end to far-right president’s ‘Brazilian catastrophe’
Tom Phillips in São Paulo and Constance Malleret in Rio de Janeiro
In his blistering political journals, the celebrated novelist Ricardo Lísias has excoriated the “Brazilian catastrophe” that has unfolded under its far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro. At nine minutes past eight on Sunday morning, the 47-year-old writer got his chance to help remove that catastrophe from power.
“He is a filthy, abhorrent person … He disgusts me,” Lísias said as he prepared to cast his vote for Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, at a university near his home in São Paulo.
“Bolsonaro is an unsurpassable historic mistake and he must be stopped,” Lísias said as the sun beat down on the tree-lined streets of Brazil’s largest city.
Lísias was far from the only person harbouring such feelings as 156 million Brazilians took part in a momentous election that will have profound implications for the future of one of the world’s biggest democracies, the Amazon rainforest and the climate emergency.
The Brazilian author Ricardo Lísias: ‘Bolsonaro is an unsurpassable historic mistake and he must be stopped.’ Photograph: Tom Phillips/The Guardian
“I’ve never voted for Lula before. I never agreed with his ideas. But Bolsonaro is someone with whom I have absolutely nothing in common, not even as a human being,” said Marcelo Pessuto, a 37-year-old actuary who had also come to vote for Lula.
Pessuto called himself a centrist and said economically his ideas were closer to those of the pro-business Bolsonaro. However, the president’s homophobic, hate-filled rhetoric had convinced him that Bolsonaro had to go. “I don’t want to live in this kind of country … Sometimes we even think about leaving,” he said.
Gabriele Tissot Zappalá, a 23-year-old nursing technician, said Bolsonaro’s negligent and denialist handling of the Covid pandemic, which has killed nearly 700,000 Brazilians, had persuaded her to back Lula, the leftist Worker’s party (PT) candidate, who governed from 2003-11.
“I’ve never been a PT member, but I have chosen my side because I’m against Bolsonaro,” said Zappalá, who came to vote in a red T-shirt bearing the slogan “Anti-fascist Social Club”.
“Anyone is better than Bolsonaro,” agreed her father, Attilio, who had also voted for the 77-year-old former union leader.
Election eve polls suggested Lula has an advantage of between four and eight percentage points over his rival and is likely, but not certain, to prevail when the results are announced on Sunday evening.
Gabriele Tissot Zappalá, a 23-year-old nursing technician, after voting for Lula in Sunday’s election. Photograph: Tom Phillips/The Guardian
Paulo Celso Pereira, an executive editor at the newspaper O Globo, predicted that Lula would clinch a narrow victory as a result of Bolsonaro’s high rejection rates, with about half of all voters spurning the far-right incumbent.
“The country is completely divided – almost straight down the middle. Half is against Bolsonaro and almost half is against Lula,” he said. “And I think it’s this ‘almost’ that will make the difference and that Lula will win.”
As he waited to vote, however, Lísias voiced unease over what might happen if “the worst president in Brazilian history” won a second four-year term. “I hope things work out and there’s change, but I feel a little apprehensive too. I’m not 100% certain what will happen,” he said.
Re-electing the pro-gun radical “would formalise this terror – this wild west-style life”. “Brazil would be sending a message: this is what we are and this is what we want,” said the author, whose Bolsonaro-era political journals refer to the president simply as “Death”.
Lísias had felt firsthand the impact of Bolsonaro’s internationally condemned coronavirus response, which saw him sabotage containment measures and promote quack cures such as hydroxychloroquine, with devastating consequences.
“I spent 20 days in hospital – 15 of them in ICU,” said the writer, whose latest book, A Perfect Pain, is a chronicle of his fight for survival.
He expressed perplexity that more than 51 million fellow citizens had backed Bolsonaro in the election’s recent first round, which Lula won by 6 million votes. “It’s terrifying. It’s astonishing … It’s a kind of blindness,” he said.
Many Brazilians disagree. As conservative voters turned out to back the incumbent in Barra da Tijuca, a pro-Bolsonaro stronghold in west Rio de Janeiro, they voiced enduring support and affection for the man supporters hail as the “mito” (legend).
“Bolsonaro is honest. He’s hard-working; he’s a man with values; he’s a man that I trust,” said Iolanda Dias, a 63-year-old psychologist.
Brazil’s former president and presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva greets supporters after casting his vote. Photograph: Reuters
Santiago Santos, a 37-year-old driver, had voted for Lula 20 years ago when he made history after being elected Brazil’s first working-class leader. But the rampant corruption that tarnished the PT’s 14 years in power – and saw Lula jailed for nearly two years, before his conviction was quashed – meant he would never again support the leftist.Brazilians go to polls with Lula slight favourite to oust far-right Bolsonaro
“Lula’s been convicted. He’s an ex-con. Full stop,” Santos said as he prepared to vote for Bolsonaro on the east side of São Paulo. “These are facts.”
Santos denied Bolsonaro bore responsibility for hundreds of thousands of unnecessary Covid deaths, as Lula has claimed. “I lost my mum during the pandemic … and I don’t blame him,” he said.
As voters streamed into the polling station, Lísias said South America’s most populous democracy faced a stark choice: embracing fascism or kickstarting a long and arduous process of reconstruction.
“We have seen so much suffering,” he said solemnly. “So much death.”
“India and Sri Lanka are two sides of a coin. Both countries have their differences in culture and religion. However, there are commonalities. ‘Diwali’ is one of the commonalities that we all enjoy,” said President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The President made these remarks while addressing the gathering at the Diwali celebrations organised by Colombo Expats Cultural Association (CECA) at the Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo, yesterday (29).
Diwali is an occasion that naturally brings everyone together to meet with family and friends.
The President commended CECA for organising such an event and he also appreciated their commitment and assistance towards Sri Lanka in a moment of darkness to light up the lives of underprivileged children during the pandemic and crisis situation.
H.E. the High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay, First Lady Prof: Mithree Wickramasinghe, Mrs. Baglay, Senior Adviser to the President on National Security and President’s Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayake, Secretary to the President Saman Ekanayake, President of CECA Capt. A. Banerjee and several other officials attended the event.
It was decided at the National Council Sub-Committee on Identifying Priorities in Formulating Short, Medium and Long Term Policies held last Wednesday (26) chaired by Ruling Party MP Namal Rajapaksa to introduce Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure the performance of government institutions.
In order to streamline the government mechanism efficiently, the committee emphasised the need to prepare metrics to review the progress of government agencies and government officials.
Thus, it was decided to discuss this matter with all the other services including the administrative service in the next week and start formulating policies.
Officials representing the Ministry of Public Administration Home Affairs Provincial Councils and Local Government and Sri Lanka Administrative Service Association were present at this meeting.
State Minister Ashoka Priyantha, MPs Pavitra Vanniarachchi, Vajira Abeywardena and Sagara Kariyawasam also joined the event.
