News
Ranil wants all party leaders summoned to discuss emergency situation
Former Prime Minister and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe on Sunday cautioned that if the spread of the Covid virus was not controlled immediately, the country would be plunged into a catastrophe. He appealed to all parties to come together to save lives.
The former Prime Minister requested President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to summon all party leaders in Parliament to inform them of the government’s plan to contain the pandemic.
Issuing a video statement to the media, Wickremesinghe called on the President to summon all party leaders in Parliament and the Prime Minister, Speaker and Health Ministers to discuss a way out of the disaster, in the wake of the World Health Organization’s Sri Lanka office’s warning of a possible 30,000 corona deaths in Sri Lanka by January.
The former Prime Minister said that the death toll could be reduced to 12,000 if proper restrictions were imposed, adding that the government should take immediate action to save 18,000 lives.
Wickremesinghe said that those figures were revealed at the fifth meeting of the team of independent experts of the Sri Lanka Office of the World Health Organization last week.
The former Prime Minister recalled that his party submitted a 21-point proposal to control the spread of the COVID-19 in the country and minimize the deaths and he has asked to set aside a date to discuss the series of proposals in parliament.
He said that although it is not an appropriate time to hold parliamentary sessions as several MPs have also been infected with Covid-19, a serious situation has arisen in the country.
Therefore, he especially requested the President to call all party leaders of the parliament including the Prime Minister, the Speaker, and health ministers to apprise the stakeholders of the government’s measures to control the covid-19 and discuss the proposals forwarded to him by others.
Wickremesinghe said that other party leaders will also submit their views and proposals regarding his proposal.
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has died at the age 100.
He served as America’s top diplomat and national security adviser during the Nixon and Ford administrations.
In a statement, Kissinger Associates, a political consulting firm he founded, said the German-born former diplomat died at his home in Connecticut but did not give a cause of death.
During his decades long career, Mr Kissinger played a key, and sometimes controversial, role in US foreign and security policy.
Born in Germany in 1973, Kissinger first came to the US in 1938 when his family fled Nazi Germany. He became a US citizen in 1943 and went on to serve three years in the US Army and later in the Counter Intelligence Corps. After earning bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degrees, he taught international relations at Harvard.
In 1969, then-President Richard Nixon appointed him National Security Adviser, a position which gave him enormous influence over US foreign policy in two administrations.
(BBC)
News
Rupees 1,500 million allocated for ‘Greater Kandy Urban Development Program’ – State Minister for Provincial Councils and Local Government
State Minister for Provincial Council and Local Government Janaka Wakkambura participating in a Press Briefing held at the Presidential Media Centre (PMC) on Wednesday (29) under the theme ‘Collective Path to a Stable Country’, announced that President Ranil Wickremesinghe has allocated Rs. 1,500 million for the “Greater Kandy Urban Development Program” in this year’s budget and that part of the allocation would to be utilized to develop the approach roads to Kandy City.
He also announced that the President had allocated Rs. 1,000 million to develop tourism by enhancing facilities through the involvement of local government bodies.
Racketeers thrive on illegal printing of DLs
By Shiran Ranasinghe
The Department of Motor Traffic was unable to print about 900,000 driving licences due for want of blank plastic cards, Commissioner General of the Department of Motor Traffic Nishantha Weerasinghe told The Island.
He said his Department was doing its best to solve the problem, which could be sorted out in six months or so.
A senior official on condition of anonymity said the Department now printed about 200 driving licences for those who were going abroad or engaged in essential services.
However, some racketeers were printing about 700 licences illegally, he said.
Rs 5,000 each was charged for issuing illegally printed licences, the official said.
Commenting on the allegations, the Commissioner General of the Department of Motor Traffic said he will investigate the matter if he receives a complaint officially.
Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger dies aged 100
COP28 president denies UAE using UN climate talks to seek oil deals
Rupees 1,500 million allocated for ‘Greater Kandy Urban Development Program’ – State Minister for Provincial Councils and Local Government
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