The retail price of 01 kg of chicken has exceeded Rs. 1000, trade sources said.
In some areas, chicken is sold for Rs. 1050 per kilo.
The price of 01 kg of chicken was around Rs. 950 – 980 since the last Sinhala-Tamil New Year and the price has exceeded Rs. 1000 for the first time this week.
MIAP
Police have launched a tear gas and water cannon attack on the protest held by the Inter-Higher National Diploma Students Federation in Colombo today (21).
The protest and the march organised from Maradana to the GalleFace Ground through Colombo Fort was dissolved with water cannons and tear gas in front of the World Trade Centre.
MIAP
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) as of this moment is recording statements from the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Commanding Officer of the Police Special Task Force in connection with the Police’s failure on averting the events on May 09, correspondents revealed.
The CID had also been subjugated to strong criticism by Colombo Magistrate Thilina Gamage for not taking any action against the Police officers involved in the incident.
MIAP
The number of suspects arrested in connection with the violence spread across the country on May 09 alongside the GalleFace assault has increased up to 1,348, according to Police Spokesman Thalduwa.
Among them are 638 suspects who are under remand custody and 654 have been released on bail, he added.
MIAP
Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara speaking to a briefing held today (19) warned he will halt fuel supply should the people’s conduct of threatening and interfering with bowsers transporting fuel continue.
The Minister revealed that in some places people have forcibly halted fuel bowsers, pressured the carriers to unload fuel in stations that are not relevant to their orders and even threatened them that their bowsers will be set on fire should they fail to unload.
Should the situation continue, the supply of fuel will have to be halted for the safety of bowsers, he added.
MIAP
It is permissible for veterans and retirees to wear military awards on civilian clothes for gatherings of a military theme. On significant holidays, veterans and retirees are encouraged to wear their awards and medals. The choice of either full-size medal or miniature is an individual one.
Retirees and veterans can wear all categories of medals on appropriate civilian clothing. This includes clothes designed for veteran and patriotic organizations. The medals may be worn on:
Veterans Day
Memorial Day
Armed Forces Day
formal occasions of ceremony
social functions of a military nature
Personnel may wear either full-sized or miniature medals. Personnel who wear medals on civilian clothes should place the medals on the clothing in approximately the same location and in the same manner as for the uniform, so they look similar to medals worn on the uniform.
Army Decorations
Army Regulation 670-1, paragraph 30-6, says that former members of the Army reserves, or may wear medals on “appropriate” civilian clothing on Veteran’s Day, Memorial Day, and Armed Forces Day, as well as at “formal occasions of ceremony and social functions of a military nature.” Appropriate civilian clothes include clothes designed for veteran and patriotic organizations.You should place the medals and decorations in approximately the same location and in the same manner as for the Army uniform, so they look similar to medals worn on the Army uniform.
Unfortunately not many who know educated and intellectual enough with common sense to know why General Gunarathna wore his well earned medals with a full suit. Remember one thing my friends General Gunaratna earned his medals as a Patriot with Honour – Valour – Pride in the deadly battle fields of Sri Lanka. A bloody scary war which dragged for 30 years and finally won. We all are enjoying and have taken to granted the freedom that they have sacrificed there life with. You lot who made this ignorant and silly comments I don’t even think you lot would have even being born during that time to know how fearful and scary this war was. What have you lot and I have done for the country. Mmmm very questionable. Any how we all learn and are yet learning. Before making any remarks or posts please do some research. Respect you all brothers. I don’t take sides or belongs to any political party. But we should always convey respect to the ones who deserve and who have gained. Don’t take this comment as a insult its a constructive criticism for us to learn and move forward.
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C.D. Wickramaratne is due to be removed from his post as the Inspector General of Police (IGP) today (21), internal sources disclosed.
Wickramaratne is accused of paving the way for Rajapaksa devotees to barge into the protests held in Galleface on May 09 and assault the peaceful protesters by ordering the Police not to dissolve them using tear gas and water canons in a move to allow the terror to happen.
Following Wickramaratne’s dismissal, Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Nandana Munasinghe may be appointed as the acting IGP, sources further revealed.
MIAP
With the abolition of the Emergency, the post of Commissioner General of Essential Services has also been abolished.
According to the powers vested in the President, the state of emergency was declared on the 6th of this month and K.D.S. Ruwanchandra was appointed as the Commissioner General of Essential Services.
In order for the state of emergency to continue, it must be presented to Parliament and passed, but if it does not, it will automatically be revoked within 14 days.
Accordingly, the state of emergency was naturally abolished from yesterday and the post of Commissioner General of Essential Services has been abolished accordingly.
The business leaders were also questioned about the current and upcoming operating environment especially with higher interest rates and planned increase in taxation. However, all of them stressed on the importance of ensuring business continuity and impact of higher taxation as secondary.
Expolanka’s Mushtaq Ahamed said the current financial performance of Expolanka Holdings PLC (Expo) reflects the efforts and investments into a strategy initiated 10 years ago.
t involved great customer acquisition and procurement strategies. It was emphasised that 95% of the revenue comes from foreign operations/subsidiaries of EXPO established outside Sri Lanka.
Of the Hayleys turnover 50% or $ 600 million comes from exports and Executive Director Sarath Ganegoda highlighted the Group’s diversification strategy and how the company has aligned its portfolio of investments and the Hayleys short, medium and long term directions.
He also pointed out that on-going economic and political crises indeed have posed challenges to this strategy hence Hayleys is taking a relook at the entire diversification strategy and adjusting the way forward accordingly. In terms of restrictions on lifestyle white goods and electronics imports,
LOLC’s Group MD Kapila Jayawardena acknowledged that it is turbulent times both locally and globally. Whilst noting the research presented was good overall, some of the forecasts made may look different going forward especially with the steep devaluation of the currency and hike in interest rates.
He said that as per LOLC Balance Sheet, local and foreign assets are equal at 50% each whilst 40% of profits come from overseas.
“If you do a trend analysis, during the past 10 years the Group has been consistently investing overseas,” he said, adding that in 2020, the sale of stake in PRESAC, Cambodia valued at $ 1 billion, and repatriation of sales proceeds saw Rupee appreciate.
He said that LOLC Group is investing considerably in the Maldives, which offers the highest Return of Investment in the leisure sector within the Asia Pacific region.
JKH’s Deputy Chairman Gihan Cooray revealed of a couple of re-rating investments of the Group.
One was Cinnamon Life, which is nearing completion and will soon begin to generate cash. In the medium to long-term of the transportation sector is the investment in the Colombo West Terminal project which will enhance JKH’s exposure to a high growth strategic sector..
Teejay Lanka CEO Pubudu De Silva said the global apparel market is heading towards $ 2 trillion mark whilst the local industry has grown to increase its share despite the challenges. Pre-COVID apparel exports were $ 5.6 billion, and they dropped to $ 4 billion due to the pandemic and recovered to $ 5 billion mark thanks to the sheer resilience.
Agrowing number of countries are reporting cases of monkeypox, a rare viral illness typically found in parts of Africa. On May 7th Britain reported a case in a traveller from Nigeria. By May 20th America, Australia, Canada and at least eight European countries had reported dozens of confirmed or suspected cases. Britain reported 11 new cases on May 20th, more than the total in the previous two weeks. Many have no links to African travel, which means they were transmitted locally. In the past sporadic cases were almost always imported. All of this is alarming. But the world is far from helpless.
Monkeypox is caused by a virus similar to smallpox, which was declared eradicated in 1980. Infections are usually mild, with flu-like symptoms. A rash that spreads all over the body can develop, turning into blisters and scabs. Infected people usually recover in a few weeks. As with other poxviruses, the disease is more severe in young children and people with weaker immune systems. How dangerous it is depends on which of the two strains of the virus is involved. One, mostly found in past outbreaks in the Congo basin, is fatal about 10% of the time. The other, west African strain is less severe, with mortality estimated to be around 1%. These estimates are from outbreaks in remote places in Africa with poor health care. In rich countries monkeypox would probably be a lot less deadly.
A vaccine for monkeypox developed by Bavarian Nordic, a Danish biotechnology firm, was approved by American regulators in 2019. The vaccine is also approved for smallpox and data from Africa suggest that past smallpox vaccination is at least 85% effective in preventing monkeypox. America’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says the jab is most useful if given before or within four days of exposure to the virus. Even if it is given up to 14 days after exposure it may still help, by reducing symptoms. Evidence from animal studies suggests that some antiviral medicines used for other poxviruses may be useful too.
Also encouraging is that the monkeypox virus is not particularly good at spreading between people, and nowhere near as contagious as (for example) measles. It was first discovered in Denmark, in a laboratory monkey (hence the name), but is thought to be mostly harboured by small rodents in Africa. In that continent many cases are acquired from wild animals, when people hunt them, handle the raw meat or eat it. For the virus to spread from one person to another requires close contact. It spreads through droplets from coughs and sneezes that enter the nose, throat or eyes. It can also be picked up through contact with the skin, clothes or bedding of an infected person who is shedding the virus from pustules or scabs. Symptoms usually appear five to 21 days after infection.
The tricky part is diagnosis. A monkeypox rash looks a lot like chickenpox. Confirming it requires sending samples to a specialist laboratory equipped to handle highly dangerous pathogens. At the moment, Britain has only one rare-pathogens laboratory designated to run tests for monkeypox.
That said, containing outbreaks of monkeypox should be relatively easy. Isolating confirmed or suspected cases and tracing their potentially infected contacts can stop chains of transmission. The smallpox jab will probably be used for “ring” vaccination of the close contacts of infected people and health workers at high risk. Britain and Spain are looking to stock up on the vaccine already. Ring vaccination of close contacts was successful in curbing some of the recent Ebola outbreaks in Africa.
In the next few days and weeks more cases of monkeypox are sure to be found. But it is unlikely that the outbreaks will spread out of control. Covid-19 caught the world unprepared, with no drugs or vaccines at the ready. Monkeypox, however, is in an entirely different—and lesser—league.■
