News

The Sri Lankan rupee hit a record low for a sixth straight session on Wednesday (28) as the selling price reached 182.27 against the US Dollar. 

The Central Bank raised its main interest rates on November 14 to defend the rupee, which has faltered as foreign capital outflows continued due to the current political crisis.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Sri Lanka embarked on a new joint project today to improve women’s nutrition and promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in Sri Lanka by providing critical information and services on sexual and reproductive health, nutrition and food security over the next year.

The project, which will assist communities in six districts - Monaragala, Matale, Mullaithivu, Mannar, Batticaloa, and Nuwara Eliya - focuses on the development of women entrepreneurs through initiatives aimed at enhancing their skills and boosting their income. In addition, the project will aim to improve access to sexual and reproductive health services which would enable the prevention of human rights violations such as gender-based violence.

Today this project is being launched as the two agencies commence celebrations linked to the annual global 16 days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence Campaign (November 25th to December 10th). Gender-based violence affects primarily women and girls in their reproductive years (15-49); thereby negatively affecting their sexual and reproductive health and rights, and reinforcing the cycle of poverty.

“Fostering social and economic empowerment among Sri Lanka’s women will help break the vicious intergenerational cycle of malnutrition,” said Brenda Barton, WFP Representative. “Poor nutrition early in life reduces learning potential, increases reproductive and maternal health risks, and lowers productivity”.

“UNFPA is delighted to start this new collaborative project with WFP, which looks at health and well-being of women and girls in a holistic way. Through this project, we aim to expand choices for women and girls in Sri Lanka, part of the efforts to leave no one behind,” said Ritsu Nacken, UNFPA Representative.

Despite Sri Lanka’s significant achievements in terms of overall health indicators, nutrition indicators continue to lag far behind. The country is facing a double burden of malnutrition with stagnant rates of undernutrition combined with growing numbers of overweight people and a rise in obesity rates. One in six children under the age of five are too thin for their height (wasting) indicating a critical public health situation, while almost one in six newborns have low birth weight. This indicates a vicious cycle of malnutrition and the need for improved maternal nutrition, including in urban settings where almost one in two women in reproductive age are either overweight or obese.

Substantial evidence demonstrates that better nourished girls are more likely to stay in school. If young people are also provided with comprehensive knowledge and access to services on sexual and reproductive health, they will be informed and empowered to protect themselves from human rights violations such as gender-based violence. Then it would unleash the potential of young people to make important contributions to the social and economic development of their communities and the country overall.

The joint project is thanks to a contribution to WFP by the Government of Denmark (USD 458,000; LKR 81.9 million). The initiative will be executed in close cooperation with the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine.

United National Party (UNP) MP Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka today requested Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to summon IGP Pujitha Jayasundara to Parliament within 48 hours, over the recent remarks made by the President with regard to the alleged assassination plot.  

At a meeting with the Foreign correspondents Association, the President had alleged that Fonseka had been linked to a plot to kill the President. 

This is a serious allegation which raises privilege issues since I’m an MP. Therefore, I request you to summon the IGP to parliament within 48 hours to give answers to this. Either put me in jail or summon the IGP to parliament,” Fonseka said.

A Facebook executive has admitted that the company “made a mistake” in not removing a post that incited racial hatred in Sri Lanka, an international hearing on fake news and disinformation in London heard on Tuesday (Nov 27). 

Mr Richard Allan, Facebook's vice-president of policy solutions, agreed it was a "serious and egregious" mistake, he maintained Facebook is still "best placed" to remove content which causes harm.

The exchange took place in the British Parliament yesterday, in a hearing that involved 24 parliamentarians from nine countries, including Singapore.

In his question, Mr Tong referenced a Facebook post in the Sinhala language which read, "Kill all Muslims, don't even let an infant of the dogs escape". A report said a user had pointed out to Facebook it violated its hate speech policy.

But Facebook replied then that it did not go against its "community standards" and told the user to directly block the person posting it, among other options.

In a still taken from UK Parliament video footage, Facebook's vice-president of policy solutions Richard Allan gives evidence at an international hearing on fake news in London on Nov 27, 2018. PHOTO: AFP 

Mr Tong asked if Facebook's initial refusal to take down the inflammatory posts - which led to the Sri Lankan government banning access to the platform - showed that the social media site "cannot be trusted to make the right assessment" on what can appear on its platform.

Mr Allan admitted it was a "simple error" on the part of a Facebook staff member, saying: "We make mistakes. Our responsibility is to reduce the number of mistakes."

He added: "We are investing very heavily now in artificial intelligence, where we would precisely create a dictionary of hate-speech terms in every language."

Ms Sun asked if Facebook would work with the authorities to take down false information and close accounts that put out fake news.

Mr Allan said that while it would work with the authorities, "the best person to make a decision about whether that claim is true or false is not Facebook... it's the relevant judicial authority in any country".

Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has constituted a seven judge bench to decide upon President’s proclamation to dissolve the parliament. 

The bench will comprise Chief Justice Nalin Perera, Buwaneka Aluwihare, Sisira J de Abrew, Priyantha Jayawardena, Prasanna S. Jayawardena, Murdu Fernando and Vijith Kumara Malalgoda.

A three-judge bench of Supreme Court had earlier issued a stay order after several parties including the UNF, TNA, and the JVP filed petitions against the dissolution of parliament. 

A Court of Appeal decided to take up on Friday (30) a Writ of Quo Warranto signed by 122 MPs challenging 'purported' Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's unlawful continuation in office. Rajapksa has already lost two no confidence motions that were passed by a majority of the Members of the House.

The 1990 Emergency Ambulance Service, which was expanded island-wide recently under Indian grant assistance, has been making good progress. The service has been available in Northern Province since July; in Uva since August; in North Central Province since September; in North Western Province since October; and Central Province since November 2018. The service is now available in 7 Provinces. The service will also be available in the other 2 Provinces (Sabaragamuwa and Eastern Province) soon. 

At the request of Government of Sri Lanka, the service was initially launched in 2016 in Western and Southern Provinces of Sri Lanka under an Indian grant of USD 7.56 million. This grant included purchase of 88 ambulances, operational expenditure of the service for one year and setting up of an emergency response centre. 

Noting the success of the service, a request was made by Government of Sri Lanka to Government of India to expand the service island-wide in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, Prime Minister of India announced during his visit to Sri Lanka in May 2017, that Emergency Ambulance Service would be expanded island-wide in Sri Lanka under an Indian grant. This promise has been fulfilled and the service is currently being expanded all across Sri Lanka with an additional grant of USD 15.02 million, covering the cost of 209 ambulances, training costs and operational expenditure for one year in all seven Provinces. 

The service, can be obtained by simply dialing toll free number ‘1990’ on any network in Sri Lanka. It is the largest Indian grant project in Sri Lanka after the Indian Housing Project. 

India remains committed to further strengthening the bilateral partnership with Sri Lanka based on Sri Lanka’s own choices and priorities.

The United National Party (UNP) has requested mass media to respect parliament decisions and to report on the current political situation with factual accuracy.

Citing Hansards on the 15th and 16th of November, UNP Chairman Kabir Hashim in statement today (26) said that "it is inaccurate to refer to any Member of Parliament as a Minister or Prime Minister" as those positions no longer exist.

The statement by the UNP is as follows;

A press release issued by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs admitted today that the Sri Lanka Customs had apprehended an outbound foreign national at the BIA while he was attempting to take out USD 53,455 out of Sri Lanka in contravention of the Customs Ordinance some time back.

It further said that the "Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Mahinda Rajapaksa by virtue of the powers vested in him under  section 164 of the S.L Customs Ordinance  directed the Director General of Sri Lanka Customs to release this money to its legitimate owner."

Spokesman of the Customs Department, Sunil Jayaratna confirmed the order given by Rajapaksa. He said that a sum of USD 53,455 confiscated by the Customs Department was released on the order of the Minister of Finance Mahinda Rajapaksa, as he has the authority to do so according to provisions in the Customs Ordinance.

The Finance Ministry in its press release also noted that on a previous occasion, when a foreign national working in Sri Lanka was apprehended while attempting to smuggle out foreign currency, the then Minister of Finance had directed the release of the money after considering a similar appeal, in June 2018. However, in the letter sent to the Director General of Customs by the then Minister of Finance, it clearly stated that the order to release the funds are subject to all applicable duties and levies.

"The order is issued with the understanding that all import duties and other levies are duly recovered", the former Finance Minister's letter said.

However, in the letter sent by Mahinda Rajapaksa to the Director General of Customs, there is no mention of recovering the applicable duties and levies from the foreign national concerned. 

As the press release sent by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs stated that both these incidents are quite similar in nature, it begs the question as to why the current Minister of Finance Mahinda Rajapaksa, ordered to release the foreign currency without it being subjected to government penalties and other duties, as enforced by his predecessor.

Dr. Palitha Abeykoon has been appointed as the President of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) with effect from 26th November 2018 by 'purported' Minister of Health Chamal Rajapaksa.

The Ministry of Health said that Dr. Abeykoon has been appointed to serve in the post for the next 5 years. 

Dr. Abeykoon was the 120th President of the Sri Lanka Medical Association.

Oshala Herath, the former Coordinating Secretary to president Maithripala Sirisena has filed a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court stating that the removal of ousted prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the subsequent appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa to the premiership is against the Constitution.

The petitioner has named the Speaker of Parliament, the Attorney General and all parliamentarians as respondents of the petition.

The petitioner further states that Wickremesinghe's removal and Rajapaksa's appointment is contrary to the provisions of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

Hearth said that president Sirisena's actions are a violation of the Constitution and as such, would expect the Supreme Court to issue an interim order suspending the current cabinet of ministers including prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, until the petition is concluded.

President Maithripala Sirisena said that he had opposed Kapila Chandrasena and Nalaka Godahewa being appointed as Chairmen to SriLankan Airlines and Sri Lanka Insurance respectively.

Sirisena made these remarks during a meeting he had with the Foreign Correspondents Association (FCA) on Friday.

Kapila Chandrasena was at the centre of several high-profile cases of corruption that took place during his tenure as Chairman of SriLankan airlines in the Rajapaksa regime. Some allegations of corruption were substantiated under Sirisena’s own Presidential Commission of Inquiry.

Nalaka Godahewa was also accused for his alleged involvement in conspiring to misappropriate LKR 5 million of funds belonging to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of which he was the then chairman. He was notoriously associated with the Krishh transaction where allegations were levelled that large amounts of monies were purportedly requested by members of the ruling Rajapaksa regime. Godahewa is also out on bail related to another matter.

President Sirisena further said that the judicial inquiries against the alleged financial frauds that took place during Rakapaksa regime will continue.