Category: Breaking News

Sri Lanka on Tuesday (June 08) registered 54 more victims of COVID-19, marking the highest number of deaths recorded in a single day.

The latest fatalities have moved the country’s death toll to 1,843, the, the Department of Government Information said.

The Department of Government Information stated that 15 of the victims had succumbed to the virus infection between the period of May 10 – May 31. The rest of them have died between June 02 – June 07.

The deceased were identified as residents of Katana, Uduwela, Mawanella, Aranayake, Maligawatta, Eravur 02, Kadawatha, Moratuwa, Alubomulla, Wadduwa, Walasmulla, Kolawenigama, Colombo 15, Ja-Ela, Wattala, Bathgammulla, Thalathuoya, Badulla, Kilinochchi, Nikaweratiya, Maradankadawala, Medawachchiya, Athurugiriya, Elpitiya, Karandeniya, Periyaneelavanai, Kantale, Matale, Rattota, Horampella, Batugoda, Veyangoda, Kandy, Akurana, Udispattuwa, Lunuwatta, Thorapitiya, Mahiyanganaya, Ragama, Colombo 13, Kandana, Avissawella, Wathupitiwala, Pannipitiya and Marawila areas.

As per official data, 26 victims in total were aged over 70 years. Eleven victims were in the age group 61-69 years and ten were aged between 50-59 years. Remaining seven victims were in the age group of 30-49.

COVID pneumonia and complications from chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease have been recorded as the cause of death of the victims.

The Tamils for Biden has urged the Tamils and Tamil politicians in Sri Lanka not to support Chinese aggression.

In its statement, it has said,

We, the Tamils for Biden, are urging the Tamil politicians and the Tamil journalists not to support Chinese aggression.

If anyone from the Tamil community should support or somehow facilitate the Chinese incursion, history will paint them with indelible dark black marks.

China is a very greedy nation, with a selfish and rude attitude. The People’s Republic of China is known for notorious human rights violations.

The Chinese currently hold Chavachcheri and three Islands north of the Tamil Homeland: Nainativu, Delft or Neduntheevu, and Analaitivu.

The Chinese have done much damage to the Tamils, including playing a major role in the genocide of 2009. In addition,

China sent millions of shells and cluster bombs to attack the “No Fire Zone” in 2009 to kill 146,000 Tamils.

In 2008 and 2009, China threatened to veto the UN Security Council for any pro-Tamil or anti-Sri Lankan resolutions. Now once again, especially after the completion of Colombo Port City, the Chinese have told the world that they will still veto any resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Security Council.

Worst of all, the Chinese helped the Sri Lankan army to destroy evidence of the use of chemical weapons to massacre Tamils in the northeast. This was reported by the local Tamils.

The Chinese always will support Sri Lanka’s efforts to continue the Tamil genocide. China has no moral values. Its own agenda is to destroy the other powerful nations.

The U.S. says China is committing genocide against the Uyghur people. The Uyghurs, similar to the Tamils, are a predominantly non-Chinese ethnic minority that the Chinese government views as a threat in part because some have sought autonomy.

The world suspected China was trying to destroy the world’s economy because Chinese authorities refused to provide World Health Organization investigators with raw, personalized data on early Covid-19 cases that could help them determine how and when the coronavirus first began to spread in China. Now, the Tamils are suffering from Coronavirus as China undertakes an economic invasion of the Tamil homeland.

Tamils made many mistakes in the past during colonial times. They paid too much attention to individual prosperity and became good slaves to the colonizers. In the process, they changed their religion and sacrificed important values. Tamil leaders since have failed to defend Tamils’ political sovereignty and failed to protect their people from the Sinhalese genocide.

Tamils must not repeat the same colonial mindset with Chinese aggressors. If they do so, history will call these collaborators and passive observers the cause of the destruction of the Tamils and the reason for the end of their existence in Sri Lanka.

The United States today handed over critically needed emergency supplies to Sri Lanka.

US Embassy Charge d’Affaires Martin Kelly and Secretary to the Ministry of Health Dr. S.H. Munasinghe commemorated the donation of critically needed emergency supplies, including pulse oximeters, protective goggles, examination gloves, and KN95 masks – all of it donated by the American people at the request of the Government of Sri Lanka.

The donation arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport on Saturday.

“The United States and Sri Lanka have worked closely together to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic since its outset,” US Embassy Charge d’Affaires Martin Kelly said. “We recognize the serious personal toll of the pandemic. At the Government’s request, we’re providing these urgently needed supplies to the Ministry of Health to ensure they reach those in need as fast as possible.”

The shipment of the emergency relief supplies follows the White House announcement last Thursday that the United States will make available nearly 7 million vaccine doses for countries in South and Southeast Asia, including Sri Lanka.

Since March 2020, the United States has provided $6 million, plus an in-kind donation of 200 ventilators, to control the spread of COVID-19, address the urgent health needs of the Sri Lankan people, and ultimately save lives. This assistance has reached millions of people in all 25 districts and nine provinces of Sri Lanka to mobilize critical supplies and expertise to support the Sri Lankan Government’s response to the pandemic. The funding is also helping to mitigate the pandemic’s negative economic impacts and help the country recover.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has invested over $26 million in the past 20 years to improve the health and well-being of Sri Lankan families and to combat diseases like malaria, avian influenza, and now, COVID-19.

This is one component of the longstanding partnership between the American and Sri Lankan people to support self-reliance and promote economic growth.

USAID’s program in Sri Lanka, totaling more than 350 billion LKR ($2 billion) since 1961, promotes a healthy, educated, and employed population.

A Sri Lankan court hearing into the fire and sinking of a container ship off Colombo was told Monday that its local agent had deleted e-mails vital to the investigation.

The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl reported an onboard acid leak to its representative Sea Consortium Lanka who in turn failed to alert local authorities, the state prosecutor said.

He said investigators found that Sea Consortium had wiped its e-mails with the Russian skipper Tyutkalo Vitaly.

“The magistrate ordered the local agent (of the ship) to provide the originals of the e-mails from mail servers located abroad,” a court official said.

Magistrate Chalani Perera also ordered the Sri Lankan navy to protect the wreckage lying submerged just outside the Colombo port.

Sri Lankan port authorities had said they were unaware that the vessel had been leaking nitric acid since May 11, nine days before the fire started in Sri Lankan waters.

Ports in Qatar and India had refused to offload a leaking acid container which had been loaded onboard in Jebel Ali, Dubai.

Sri Lanka’s navy recovered the ship’s black box over the weekend.

The Voyage Data Recorder, also known as a maritime “black box”, was found intact and is expected to help investigators review procedures and instructions ahead of the disaster.

Sri Lankan authorities hope the black box will provide details of the ship’s movements and its communications with the Colombo harbour, where it had been due to dock.

Sri Lankan police launched a criminal investigation, interviewing Vitaly and his Chief Engineer Sadilenko Oleg and Chief Officer Peter Anish, an Indian, and seizing their passports.

Authorities are bracing for a possible oil spill from the submerged wreck. However, there has been no sign of any leaks so far, they added.

Tonnes of microplastic granules from the ship swamped an 80-kilometre (50-mile) stretch of beach declared off-limits for residents. Fishing in the area has been banned.

Sri Lankan environmentalists on Friday sued the government and the ship’s operators for allegedly failing to prevent what they called the “worst marine disaster” in the country’s history.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has issued a gazette notice naming the Counter Terrorism Investigation Unit as a place of detention.

The gazette had been issued on Friday 4th June as a notification under Section 9 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

“I , Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President do hereby notify that the premises specified in the Schedule hereto, shall be a place of detention for the purposes under Section 9 of the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act , No. 48 of 1979,” the gazette notice said.

The schedule lists the Counter Terrorism Investigation Unit in Colombo as a place of detention.

Section 9 refers to the detention of suspects arrested under the PTA.

Accordingly, the facility will be used to detain suspects arrested under the PTA.