Author: TELO Admin

Thirteen Sri Lankan recruits to the Russian Army have died in the war against Ukraine.

This the first official confirmation at government level of Sri Lankan fatalities in that warfront, says ‘Sandeshaya with Saroj’ in an exclusive video.

Sri Lanka will launch a campaign to promote Trincomalee and Arugam Bay as part of efforts to promote marine tourism and attract higher spending tourists, Tourism Minister Harin Fernando said.

“We will do a marine tourism launch in August,” Minister Fernando told reporters at the Presidential Media Centre Monday.

“We will take Trincomalee to the world as a brand. Arugam Bay is a brand.”

“We will focus on deep-sea diving in Arugam Bay and Trincomalee as a form of bringing Marine Tourism in the country.”

Trincomalee and Arugam Bay in the island’s Eastern Coast has sunny weather around August, as the beach tourism hotspots in the South and Western coasts are struck by Moonsoon rain.

Sri Lanka expects 2.3 million tourists for the year 2024 while striving to attract high-end tourists.

“Currently our average spender is 180 dollars but we are looking to attracting 30 percent or 20 percent of our arrivals to spend up to 300 to 400 dollars next year,” Fernando said.

Fernando said that Sri Lanka has regional competitors in the tourism industry such as Maldives, Thailand and Singapore.

In order to secure more foreign tourists, Fernando said that Sri Lanka needs to develop its water sports industry.

“We have an ocean all around us but we don’t have a single yacht. We have catamarans, people should invest in these,” Fernando said. “That’s why we want to do deep sea diving. Deep sea diving is an expensive sport.”

In May, the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau said that Sri Lanka will host a water festival in Trincomalee, ArugamBay and Kalpitiya in order to draw attention to Sri Lanka’s capacity for water sports.

The Catholic Church has opposed the proposed India-Lanka land bridge connectivity project, warning that it will endanger Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and independence.Colombo Archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, speaking to the media at Ruwanwella on Friday, said that if implemented, the project would make Sri Lanka part of Tamil Nadu.

“Our history is full of instances where invaders came from South India from time to time to capture parts of this country to rule them. On each occasion, the Sinhala kings had to mobilise armies to get rid of them and liberate those areas. Now, the government in power is proposing to build a land bridge connecting Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. This certainly would end up with this country becoming a part of Tamil Nadu,” the Cardinal said.

The Cardinal’s criticism of the bridge project came days after President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s announcement that a pre-feasibility study for a land connection between Sri Lanka and India had been completed, and a full feasibility study would be conducted in the near future. The President said so when he met Rev. Dr. Fidelis Lionel Emmanuel Fernando, the Bishop of Mannar, Diocese of Mannar, at the Mannar Bishops House on 16 June, according to a statement issued to the media by the President’s Media Division subsequent to the visit.

The Cardinal said: “Who needs this bridge? It is clear that the idea has been mooted following a request from foreigners not because of a request from the people here. This government is resolute in carrying out all directives coming from outside without thinking whether they are good or bad for us. We must be careful not to carry out what is not beneficial to us. Otherwise we will end up in a worse crisis than what we already have. We must not do anything that harms our sovereignty and independence.”

Meanwhile, the Indian media have reported that in July 2023, during a visit to India, Wickremesinghe discussed the development of a land bridge between the two countries in a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The proposal for land connectivity had come from Sri Lanka, New Delhi at that time.

Creating land connectivity across the Palk Strait, which is as narrow as 25km (15 miles) at certain points, would provide India access to ports like Trincomalee and Colombo. This initiative aims to fortify the millennia old relationship between the two neighbouring countries. The Palk Strait, a narrow strip of water separating Tamil Nadu from Sri Lanka, serves as a rich fishing ground for both countries. Incidents of fishermen from both nations being arrested for inadvertently trespassing into the waters are common.

Founder of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Basil Rajapaksa is reported to have told his party’s breakaway group at a meeting even attended by President Ranil Wickremesinghe that the Rajapaksas were not ready to cow down to any pressure.

He delivered tough remarks when Minister of Housing and Urban Development Prasanna Ranatunga, a breakaway member of the party backing the President, informed the meeting that there is a request from other parties and groups for the accommodation of the SLPP for a broad alliance sans the members of the Rajapaksa family.

Expressed his displeasure over the presence of the SLPP breakaway group representatives and the SLFP Incensed by such a remark, Mr. Rajapaksa lashed out saying “if you don’t want us once, we don’t want you a hundred times.”

He also said he attended the meeting as requested by the President out of courtesy for him and otherwise the Rajapaksas could not be beaten into submission in this manner.

Mr. Rajapaksa expressed his displeasure over the presence of the SLPP breakaway group representatives and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). He said that it is open for the President to decide whether to deal with the SLPP or its breakaway factions.