Commenting on this to The Morning, National Catholic Social Communication Centre Director and Kurana St. Anne’s Church Parish Priest Rev. Cyril Gamini Fernando said that a group had removed several black flags that had been hoisted in the Mattumagala area in Wattala. He charged that the incident indicated an attempt to suppress the truth about the Easter attacks. We asked the Government to expedite the investigations into the terror attacks and to prosecute the perpetrators,” he added. Fernando also said the protest was supported by the Catholic community as well as all other communities.

BY Buddhika SamaraweeraThe teachers’ and principals’ trade unions have emphasised that Minister of Education Dinesh Gunawardena should consult them before making his scheduled observations at the forthcoming cabinet meeting regarding the salary anomaly issue of teachers and principals. He added that the trade unions should be made aware as to how the Government is going to solve their issues. Accordingly, he said that during a discussion held between trade unions yesterday, it was decided that Gunawardena should discuss the matter with the trade unions. Attempts to contact Gunawardena to inquire into his response to the trade unions were not successful. Cabinet Spokesman Alahapperuma recently stated that the Government’s stance on the salary anomaly issue would be announced at the forthcoming cabinet media briefing.

BY Pamodi WaravitaThe Policy Division of the Ministry of Environment has taken steps to formulate the country’s first National Environmental Policy with the aim of ensuring the country’s environmental policies remain consistent despite regime changes, Environment Ministry Secretary Dr. Anil Jasinghe stated. In a statement to the press, Dr. Jasinghe assured that the National Environmental Policy will be drafted based on multi-party consultations, including with all MPs, environmental and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), experts, environmentalists, and journalists. “If we formulate a national environmental policy based on the views of all, then no one can oppose that policy. Many allege that environmental damage is caused when obtaining the necessary resources for national development projects as well as in the implementation of development projects. Various incidents in recent years have caused environmentalists to be concerned about the nature of development-related projects, including alleged incidents within the Sinharaja Rainforest.

By Sanjaya NallaperumaDue to the rapidly increasing number of deaths due to Covid-19 complications, doctors have banded together to form the Collective to Prevent Covid-19 Deaths. Collective Member Dr. Udara Sampath Gunawardena, addressing a press conference held in Galle recently, stated the Collective was established after Covid-19 deaths in Sri Lanka crossed the 6,000 mark and it is ready to fully support the President to address this crisis. He added that the Collective has come up with a food supplement called “Mega Parami”, of which a large number of packs have already been distributed among the people for free. Collective Member Chandana Jayalath said that the Army and its Commander must be commended for the rapid vaccination of people. He further said that the “Mega Parami” food supplement has shown great promise, and that he had distributed many packs of the supplement among people.

As the famous saying goes, “we see what we want to see, and we hear what we want to hear”, the same goes for the current state of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Government might point out facts to substantiate their stance that Sri Lanka has succeeded in managing the pandemic, while the Opposition might present reasons to say that Sri Lanka has failed. New Zealand also has the lowest vaccination rate among the 38 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The criteria we employ to gauge the success of the country’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic are sometimes incomplete. Only then would the world as a whole, ultimately, be able to win this long and grueling war.

More importantly, the film helped to remind studios that there does indeed exist an audience for horror movies with Black leads. The history of major horror movies with Black folx in front of and behind the camera has its peaks and valleys, but they’ve always been there. Roughly half of them showcase Black artists in front of and behind the camera, while the others have Black actors at the forefront. Where to stream: Digital rentalCandyman (1992)Actors: Tony Todd, Kasi Lemmons The arrival of Candyman was a key moment in Black horror. This Spiral, rather, sits at the intersection of queer and black horror, two sub-genres with similarly fraught histories.

COLOMBO (News 1st): The number of persons who are fully vaccinated has exceeded 5 million in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, 5,124,185 persons have obtained both doses of the vaccine so far. Moreover, the second dose of AstraZeneca was administered to 665 persons yesterday (18), while the Sinopharm second dose was administered to 95,533 persons. The second dose of Moderna was administered to 27,320 persons as well. The total number of vaccines that have been administered, including the first and second doses adds up to 17,143,378.

COLOMBO (News 1st): The Government of Kuwait said that the country will resume commercial flights with India and Sri Lanka, among other countries, while adhering to the COVID-19 measures set by a ministerial committee. The decision was announced via a cabinet statement. According to the statement, the nation will resume flights with Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, Egypt, and Nepal.

COLOMBO (News 1st): Dr. Chandima Jeewandara, the head of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Biology at Sri Jayewardenepura University, University of Sri Jayewardenepura says that one dose of the Russian-made Sputnik vaccine has recorded very good efficacy levels. This conclusion was reached during a study of persons who received only one dose of the Russian-manufactured Sputnik vaccine. According to a study of 327 people who received only one dose of the Sputnik vaccine, 88.7 percent were found to have developed immunity against COVID-19. According to a report released by the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, the first dose of Sputnik was found to have developed an immunity of 82.6% in people over 60 years of age. The research team included Dr. Nilika Malavige, Professor, Department of Allergy, Immunology and Cell Biology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Dr. Chandima Jeewandara, Professors Graham Ogg and Alan Townsend of the Oxford University.

COLOMBO (News 1st): General Manager of Railways Dhammika Jayasundara says that 360 persons in the Railway Department have been infected with COVID-19. He further said that three railway workers who were infected with COVID-19 passed away. Moreover, the Department of Railways has decided to operate 82 train services in between the Provinces today (19). The General Manager of Railways also mentioned that 10 railway stations have been temporarily closed due to the staff, including the station masters being infected with COVID-19.

August 19, 2021 09:27 amA new procedure has been introduced on triaging the virus-infected patients in the Western Province for hospitalization or home-based care. The National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) stated that the procedure will be implemented from today (August 19). Accordingly, those who tested positive for novel coronavirus in Western Province and are undergoing treatment at home are urged to send a text message informing their current health status to the hotline 1904.

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Monetary Board of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, at its meeting held on 18 August 2021, decided to increase the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and the Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of the Central Bank by 50 basis points each, to 5.00 per cent and 6.00 per cent, respectively. In addition, the Monetary Board decided to increase the Statutory Reserve Ratio (SRR) applicable on all rupee deposit liabilities of licensed commercial banks (LCBs) by 2.0 percentage points to 4.00 per cent, with effect from the reserve maintenance period commencing on 01 September 2021. These decisions were made with a view to addressing the imbalances on the external sector of the economy and to preempt the buildup of any excessive inflationary pressures over the medium term, amidst improved growth prospects. FULL STATEMENT BELOW:

Last November, WhatsApp introduced messages that disappear after 7 days. A couple of months ago it also started work on "view once" messages, that are gone forever after you viewed them once, as the name handily implies. Now it turns out that WhatsApp is also going to add another option for message expiry, and that's 90 days. So whenever all of these features make it out of beta, you'll be presented with a menu similar to the one you can see in the screenshot below, where you'll be able to pick between "Off" (so messages never disappear), or choose to have your chats disappear after 24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days. That's a lot of flexibility, but the "90 days" option has only now made it to the WhatsApp Android beta (spotted in the latest version, 2.21.9.6).

Just one in 20 yoghurts aimed at children have healthy levels of sugar, campaigners have warned. Healthy eating experts say claims about calcium and vitamin D levels on sugar-laden yoghurts 'distract parents from scrutinising nutrition labels'. And they want a 'complete ban' on using child-friendly packaging on yoghurts which have medium or high sugar levels. Meanwhile, just five options had healthy sugar levels — defined as fewer than 5g per every 100g. 'Ideally we want children to get used to the taste of lower sugar yogurts in their early years.

But her dream has been shattered amid her country’s ongoing volatile situation, the international media said Tuesday (17). The Afghanistan Paralympic Committee’s London-based Chef de Mission Arian Sadiqi had told Reuters on Monday (16) that the country’s two athletes, including Khudadadi, would not be able to attend the Games. Two taekwondo playersAfghanistan was due to be represented by two taekwondo players at the Tokyo Paralympics, where the sport is making its Games’ debut. Airports closed“Regrettably NPC (National Paralympics Committee) of Afghanistan will no longer participate in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games,” an International Paralympic Committee (IPC) spokesperson had said. Afghanistan sent one athlete to the Rio 2016 Paralympics and had appeared at each of the last four Summer Paralympic Games.