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New facts about the Easter attack have been revealed. An impartial inquiry is needed – Ranil

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New facts about the Easter attack have been revealed. An impartial inquiry is needed – Ranil

As the latest revelations about the Easter Sunday bombings continue
former Prime Minister, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has called for an impartial inquiry into the Easter Sunday bombings.

“New facts about the Easter Sunday incident have now been revealed. According to the report of the commission, cases were proposed against several persons but after the completion of those investigations, the government filed cases against the former IGP and the former Secretary of Defense.

According to the court decision, it was decided that no case would be filed against the two accused without calling their witnesses. Also, a Muslim MP and two others were arrested in this connection. All three have now been released. Finally, there is the affidavit of Shani Abeysekara. According to Shani Abeysekera, there was a special link between the military and the intelligence services. At this juncture, I think everyone should come together and take an impartial decision on this. ”

Ranil Wickremesinghe stated this in a statement to the media yesterday (25).

Keheliya Rambukwella clarifies the facts regarding the 1 crore electricity bill

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Keheliya Rambukwella clarifies the facts regarding the 1 crore electricity bill

Minister Keheliya Rambukwella has clarified the facts regarding the electricity bill of the house where he was staying at Sarana Road, Colombo 07.

He said in a Twitter message that the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had sent them informal and unusually high levels of electricity bills and that they had been asked on several occasions but had not received any response.

Keheliya Rambukwella states that he came to live in this house in 2015. At that time the average electricity bill of a house was Rs. He says that the level was between 25000 – 30000 and that he paid the bills as the limit was reasonable. However, he later saw an unusual increase in electricity bills and in some cases he received bills of Rs. 100,000, Rs. 1.5 million and Rs. 200,000 and at one time received a bill of Rs. 760,000.

He said he had written to the Ceylon Electricity Board on two occasions to clarify the situation, and had called them several times but had not received a positive response.

He further stated that the electricity bill of this house came in the name of various persons and not in his own name and it was a serious problem for him as he could not at least show such bills in his income statement or make any other recovery. He recalls that a similar situation arose with regard to his water bill but it was rectified as soon as they were informed.

Meanwhile, Keheliya Rambukwella says that the CEB had sent him an electricity bill of Rs. 7 million last January and he had paid it but with that amount they had issued the receipt in the name of the person who had lived in the house before him.

He says that he paid such a large sum of money even in such a chaotic situation because he is a responsible person in this country.

IOC raises fuel prices again. Price of a liter of petrol exceeds Rs. 200!

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IOC raises fuel prices again. Price of a liter of petrol exceeds Rs. 200!

Lanka IOC has increased its fuel prices with effect from midnight yesterday (25).

Accordingly the company has increased the price of a liter of diesel by 15 rupees and the price of petrol by 20 rupees.

With this, the new price of 92 octane petrol, which was Rs. 184 per liter, will be Rs. 204 per liter.

The new price of a liter of auto diesel will now be 139 rupees, up from 124 rupees.

Lanka IOC also increased its fuel prices on February 6 and has increased fuel prices twice this month alone.

Sri Lanka’s First Ever Locally Assembled Single Cab Pik-Up Launched

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Sri Lanka’s First Ever Locally Assembled Single Cab Pik-Up Launched

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M Ltd.) and Ideal Motors, a fully owned subsidiary of the Ideal Group, today (24) announced the start of deliveries of the new Bolero City Pik-Up in Sri Lanka.

With this, Bolero City Pik-Up becomes Mahindras first single cab pick up to be assembled in the country. The vehicle has been in production at Mahindra Ideal Lankas Automotive assembly plant at Welipenna.

The first batch of vehicles were delivered to the customers at an event held in the city, today.
Sri Lanka is one of M&Ms most important overseas markets. M&M has been present in the country for more than 25 years with a robust automotive & farm portfolio.

The brand has been holding a leadership position for over 10 years in the pick-up category.
The addition of Bolero City Pik-Up will further strengthen its position in the category.

With the gradual opening of the market amidst the pandemic, the commercial vehicle category is witnessing an increase in demand. Mahindra is boosting its production capacity at the Sri Lankan plant to meet the market demand for single cab pickups

Veejay Nakra, CEO, Automotive Division, M&M Ltd. said, “Sri Lanka has been a strategic market for Mahindra. The company has been scaling up our local presence by expanding the product range through the Make in Sri Lanka initiative.

With the addition of the Bolero City Pik-Up to our portfolio, we will further reinforce our leadership in this category. I am delighted to announce the introduction of the first locally assembled pick up in Sri Lanka.

Addressing the gathering, Nalin Welgama, Founder & Chairman, Ideal Motors said, Ideal Motors and Mahindra have been working together for a decade to deliver value to our customers.

The company’s small commercial vehicle range has played a pivotal role in the economic development of the country over the last many years.

This new Bolero City Pik-up will open many opportunities for small and medium entrepreneurs in the country. We believe in giving the best customer experience through our island wide net work., he added. ”

With easy maneuverability, big cargo box and reliable high-power engine, the new Bolero City Pik-Up has been designed for urban and rural applications.

This pick-up will offer class leading cargo capacity and payload in the category, thus enhancing the earning potential for its owners.

his will be supported by a class-leading extended warranty of 36 months/ 100,000 km. Customers are assured to earn more profit and have complete peace of mind. The Bolero City Pik-Up comes with an attractive launch price of Rs 3.75 million onwards.

The New Bolero City Pik-Up is powered by Mahindras proven 2,523cm3, m2Di, four-cylinder, diesel engine providing power of 46.3 kW (63 HP) & torque of 195 Nm for better performance. The Bolero City Pik-Up has a payload capacity of 1400 kg and 2640 cm x 1700 cm (8.7 ft x 5.6 ft) cargo box to carry heavy loads effortlessly.

Its sporty eye-catching wrap around headlamps, a stylized front chrome grille, a trendy dual tone instrument panel and comfortable fabric seats with matching door trims, gives it a more stylish and elegant look. For more information, visit www.mahindra.com.lk.

Sri Lankan hand loom Industry to be popularised in London  

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Sri Lankan hand loom Industry to be popularised in London  

Sri Lanka’s 2,500-year-old hand loom industry is to popularised in the capital of fashion and heart of London to meet future designers wanting to create impact with design.

London College of Fashion, a constituent college of the globally recognised University of the Arts London (UAL), with Selyn, Sri Lanka’s leading and only fair trade handloom manufacturer, has launched a unique collaboration to achive this objective. . 

Selyn has been working with all three schools at London College of Fashion; Fashion Business School, School of Design and Technology and School of Media and Communication.

Exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sri Lankan handloom industry faces major obstacles to growth with rising costs of production, limited access to world markets and an ageing artisan workforce. This has sadly resulted in many having to put down the loom and shuttle, to retire or look elsewhere for opportunities. 

Selyn Head of Business Development and Director Selyna Peiris said: “An easy choice for us would have been to say, “Handloom is affected, there is no market for it anymore,” call it quits and focus on other income streams for the business.

But this would have left our handloom artisans at a serious disadvantage and would have been contrary to our commitment we have towards uplifting our community and the handloom sector at large, she said.  

Instead, we saw this as the perfect opportunity to pivot, re-position and pitch Sri Lankan handloom in a very different way to a luxury premium market while using blockchain technology to bring greater transparency to the industry. 

Thanks to an initial funding from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of a Small and Medium-sized Enterprises COVID recovery fund, we were able to launch a new business vertical, Selyn Textiles, to reposition and gain market entry to the UK, Europe and the world.” 

University of the Arts London is ranked 2nd in the world for Art and Design in 2021; much of this is attributed to its leading faculty, research, curriculum and forward-thinking approach to design whilst engaging students with global partnerships and opportunities. “

We see this collaboration with Selyn as a fantastic opportunity to give our students a first-hand experience of how the industry works and explore alternative models of designing, business development and teamwork by co-creating across the supply chain and breaking silo mindsets,” says Hannah Middleton Knowledge Exchange Lead at Fashion Business School at London College of Fashion.

Selyn Founder Chairman Sandra Wanduragala said: “This year is Selyn’s 30th anniversary and we are honoured to be collaborating with the schools at London College of Fashion, one of the world’s best creative schools to inspire the next generation of designers and to bring awareness to an ancient craft that is core to the Sri Lankan DNA. 

Our rich heritage and opportunity to connect creativity, artisanal craft and tech with the integration of block chain means we open the door for a new, inclusive and truly collaborative way forward.”

Selyn Textiles Consultant Prof. Robert Meeder said: “This partnership came about through a combined collective passion for providing opportunities to those that need it the most – Sri Lanka’s artisans – bringing them to the forefront of the design process. Between us all we shared many discussions on the right opportunity, it was in the making for a long time but key to the initiative was Sri Lankan born UAL academic Dr. Emmanuel Sirimal Silva.” 

CB denies reports on debt restructuring talks with a foreign firm 

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CB denies reports on debt restructuring talks with a foreign firm 

Sri Lanka’s central bank on Thursday said the country had not sought any “restructuring” assistance for its debt, amid a worsening economic crisis which has seen essential imports stalled due to a lack of foreign exchange.

Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal wrote on Twitter that talks with financiers and bankers had only covered offers of new financing, after a media report had said that officials met with “restructuring” bankers.

Sri Lanka’s reserves dipped to $2.36 billion at the end of January, down from $7.5 billion in early 2020. But the island has about $4 billion of debt to repay or roll over this year, including a $1 billion international sovereign bond maturing in July.

Its severe shortage of foreign exchange has resulted in delays of essential imports including fuel, medicines and some food items.

In recent days, Sri Lankans have had to deal with long lines at fuel stations and widespread power cuts, which are scheduled to last for more than five hours on Friday.

Already struggling to pay for fuel imports, Sri Lanka will be further hit by rising oil prices, which have broken above $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014 after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) yesterday (24) provided clarification on the reports circulated by foreign media agencies that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) had commenced talks with debt restructuring advisors from Rothschild & Co. and Lazard Ltd. and stated that the GoSL did not seek assistance from any bankers or financial advisers in the restructuring of its debt and that any discussions carried out were only limited to offers of new financing.

This clarification was provided by CBSL Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal on his official Twitter handle, where he stated: “A recent media story seems to claim Sri Lankan officials met some ‘restructuring’ bankers to resolve its ‘crisis’. Sri Lanka has not sought any ‘restructuring’ assistance of its debt and talks with financiers and/or bankers have been only to discuss offers of new financing.”

The media report in question was published in The Wall Street Journal and claimed that the GoSL had carried out discussions with bankers from Rothschild & Co. and Lazard Ltd. regarding plans to address the debt and foreign exchange crisis of the country.

According to The Wall Street Journal, such discussions included potential proposals to help the country raise cash, which includes sale of assets and securitisation of debt facilities.  Sri Lanka’s foreign currency-denominated debt has been identified by economists, government critics, and foreign rating agencies as unsustainable

India‘s US $ 1 billion swap to Sri Lanka gets further delayed raising concerns

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India‘s US $ 1 billion swap to Sri Lanka gets further delayed raising concerns

India seems to have been tightening it’s strangle hold on Sri Lanka by delaying the release of US $1 billion currency swap to meet its debt repayment obligations this year and tide over the current economic crisis,reliable official sources claimed.

The island nation is banking on this loan facility to keep its head above water in the present dollar crisis period.

But the signing of this agreement will be further delayed as result of the postponement of Finance Minister Basil Rajapakasa’s official tour of New Delhi not because of the inaction of Indian diplomatic authorities to facilitate the visit, a reliable official source said.

The Sri Lankan Finance Minister was scheduled to leave the country for India on Friday 25 but it has been postponed at the last minute due to delay of the Indian diplomatic authorities to make arrangements on that date.

It has been revealed that Indian side is still to fix an exact date for Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s viist to New Delhi.

Sri Lanka’s delaying tactic of Trincomalee oil tank farm and Mannar basin oil ex exploration deals in exchange of India for its recent $1.4 billion million financial facilities granted to the country to import fuel has fuelled some concerns of the Indian side, an expert on foreign affairs claimed.

The relief extended by India from the beginning of this year totals over $1.4 billion —a $400 currency swap, a $500 loan deferment and a $500 Line of Credit for fuel imports. Sri Lanka is further negotiating$1 billion assistance from India to help the near 22 million-strong country as it faces an unprecedented economic crisis.

The island nation has already serviced part of its debt this year, and is preparing to repay the remaining more than $3 billion over the next six months, officials said.

With an international sovereign bond maturing soon, a $1 billion repayment is due in July.

“We are expecting this facility to meet urgent needs an its is crucial for us ,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the ongoing bilateral negotiations.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had in May 2020 asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a “special” $1.1-billion currency swap to help the country boost its foreign reserves.

Three ex-cops found guilty of violating George Floyd’s rights

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Three ex-cops found guilty of violating George Floyd’s rights

A jury in the United States has found three former Minneapolis police officers guilty of violating George Floyd’s civil rights.

Tou Thao, J. Alexander Kueng, and Thomas Lane were charged with depriving Floyd of his right to medical care when Officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee into the 46-year-old Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes as he was handcuffed and face down on the street on May 25, 2020.

Thao and Lane also were charged with failing to intervene to stop Chauvin.

The videotaped killing sparked protests around the globe as part of reckoning over racial injustice and police violence. Chauvin was convicted of murder last year in state court and pleaded guilty in December in the federal case.

Kueng knelt on Floyd’s back, Lane held his legs and Thao kept bystanders back.

Kueng and Lane both said they deferred to Chauvin as the senior officer at the scene. Thao testified that he relied on the other officers to care for Floyd’s medical needs as his attention was elsewhere.

Conviction of a federal civil rights violation that results in death is punishable by life in prison or even death, but such sentences are extremely rare. The former officers will remain free on bond pending sentencing.

During the monthlong trial, prosecutors sought to show that the officers violated their training, including when they failed to move Floyd or give him CPR. Prosecutors argued that Floyd’s condition was so serious that even bystanders without basic medical training could see he needed help.

The defence said the officers’ training was inadequate and that they had deferred to Chauvin as the senior officer at the scene.

Prosecutors told jurors during closing arguments that the three officers “chose to do nothing” as Chauvin squeezed the life out of Floyd. Defence attorneys countered that the officers were too inexperienced, were not trained properly and did not willfully violate Floyd’s rights.

A handful of protesters stood outside the court on Thursday morning holding large signs, including one mocking the officers that said, “If I only had a brain, a heart, the nerve.” It was decorated with pictures of the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion from The Wizard of Oz.

Chauvin and Thao went to the scene to help rookies Kueng and Lane after they responded to a call that Floyd used a counterfeit $20 bill at a corner store. Floyd struggled with officers as they tried to put him in a police SUV.

Asian currencies, stocks rebound amid Ukraine crisis

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Asian currencies, stocks rebound amid Ukraine crisis

Emerging market currencies and stocks in Asia rose on Friday, tracking a broader recovery after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent global assets tumbling in the previous session, although sentiment was still cautious.

The Thai baht and the Indian rupee made a swift recovery against the dollar, with both jumping 0.4 percent each, even as oil prices surged nearly 3 percent.

However, the baht, which has outperformed all of its emerging Asian peers so far this year, was set for its worst weekly drop in a month.

“I think the baht has now become a barometer of emerging market currencies and its rebound suggests that investors are probably buying the dips,” said Margaret Yang, a Singapore-based strategist with DailyFX.

Analysts expect the volatility seen in Asian stocks during this week to guide the moves in the foreseeable future.

“The main drivers of this volatility – geopolitical tensions and inflation – particularly in energy and commodities and uncertainty about the pace and extent of monetary policy tightening – continue unabated,” said Manishi Raychaudhuri, head of Asia-Pacific equity research at BNP Paribas.

“Therefore, today’s recovery in Asian equities appears to be a technical rebound, in our view.”

Investors will closely watch any moves by the US Federal Reserve as its officials begin taking stock of how the Russia-Ukraine conflict might influence the economy and their planned shift to tighter monetary policy.

“Ukraine or no Ukraine, the US faces inflation that is running at a 40-year high. If inflation continues to print above expectations and run hot, then the Fed may still have to stick with its aggressive path this year. This is what could make trading difficult for Asian emerging markets, both currencies and stock markets,” IG Asia analyst Daniel Dubrovsky said.

Singapore’s dollar firmed 0.2 percent and the South Korean won reversed losses to gain 0.1 percent, while Indonesia’s rupiah and the Malaysian ringgit were up 0.1 percent each.

Asian equities tracked overnight Wall Street gains to jump higher, with Indian shares leading gains.

Shares in South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand gained in the range of 0.5 percent to 1 percent, while Malaysian stocks jumped 1.7 percent.

The Singapore index is, however, on track for a 4 percent weekly loss, its biggest drop in more than nine months. Kuala Lumpur shares were headed for their biggest weekly fall since January 28.

European bank shares also rebounded early on Friday from steep falls a day earlier, even as bankers wrestle with the impact of a slew of sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Shares of leading banks rose with the European banking sector trading up 1.3 percent. That is only a partial recovery from an 8 percent fall on Thursday.

Russia closes its airspace to British airlines

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Russia closes its airspace to British airlines

Russia has banned British airlines from landing at its airports or crossing its airspace, its state civil aviation regulator said on Friday.

The move follows London’s ban on the flights of Russian flag carrier Aeroflot imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“A restriction was introduced on the use of Russian airspace for flights of aircrafts owned, leased or operated by an organisation linked to or registered in the UK,” the Rosaviatsia aviation authority said in a statement. 

The ban took effect from 11:00 am Moscow time (0800 GMT), it said, and included flights transiting through Russian airspace. 

Comments It said the decision was taken “as a response to unfriendly decisions of the UK aviation authorities”. 

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