COLOMBO (News1st): The expenditure head for the defence ministry under the 2021 budget was passed in Parliament with 132 votes in favour and 5 votes against on Thursday. Opening the debate, opposition parliamentarian Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, urged the government to uplift the tri-forces and to provide them with advanced equipment. Our Army is equipped with [12/3/2020] …
COLOMBO (News1st): The Central Bank failed to sell 14 percent of Treasury bills offered at its weekly auction on Wednesday, official data showed. Treasury bills worth Rs 34.3 billion were sold out of Rs 40 billion offered at the auction, while the total value of bids received stood at Rs 62.3 billion – 1.56 times of [12/3/2020] …
COLOMBO (News1st): Sri Lankan health authorities, on Thursday, confirmed five deaths due to COVID-19, raising the death toll due to the virus in the country to 129. The details of the deceased, whose tests returned positive results for COVID-19, as released by the department of government information are as follows; A 56-year old female from [12/3/2020] …
COLOMBO (News1st): An opposition lawmaker has questioned the exclusion of scenes showing prison officers firing gunshots in the Mahara prison unrest, in video footage released by the government on Wednesday. Everyone admits that officers fired gunshots in the prison. But the visuals do not show the shooting, Vijitha Herath, a Jathika Jana Balawegaya parliamentarian queried. [12/3/2020] …
: Today (Dec. 03) marks the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), which aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilise support for the dignity, rights, and well-being of persons with disabilities. This years IDPD is marked under the theme, ‘Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 [12/3/2020] …
COLOMBO (News1st): Sri Lanka’s Archbishop of Colombo has said alternative solutions should be sought if investigations are not taking place effectively into last year’s terrorist attacks. His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, on Thursday, raised concerns on the progress of investigations to identify those who abetted the bombings and providing financial support. It is regrettable to [12/3/2020] …
: Another 350 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed so far on Thursday (Dec. 03), the Department of Government Information said. All the new cases are associates of the Peliyagoda COVID-19 cluster. Thereby, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country has risen to 25,760. According to the Epidemiology Unit, Sri Lanka recorded [12/3/2020] …
COLOMBO (News1st): A national psychiatrists body has rejected claims that drugs for mental ailments can provoke violent behaviour – after it had been cited as a cause for the unrest at the Mahara prison on Monday. We would like to state that this publicity is most unfortunate and without any rational basis, the Sri Lanka [12/3/2020] …
COLOMBO (News1st): Sri Lanka’s poverty line for October crossed Rs 5000 in October – the eighth time in 10 months this year – official data show. The poverty line indicates the minimum expense of a person to fulfill basic needs, in a month, according to the department of census and statistics. Statistics show that the [12/3/2020] …
: Families of prisoners held at the Mahara Prison were seen outside the Mahara Prison premises on Thursday (03) again, demanding authorities to release details of the prisoners. According to our reporters, individuals were escorted into the prison premises from time to time in order to identify the dead from Sunday’s riots. Commissioner-General [12/3/2020] …
