Sri Lanka Ranks Near Bottom in Global Minimum-Wage Comparison, but Data Are From 2024

Sri Lanka Ranks Near Bottom in Global Minimum-Wage Comparison, but Data Are From 2024

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka has been placed 120th out of 130 countries in a global comparison of minimum wages, near the bottom of a ranking that has drawn attention in the country but is based on wage data from two years ago. The comparison, published on Aug. 26 by Visual Capitalist using 2024 data from the International Labour Organization, puts Sri Lanka’s monthly minimum wage at $200 after adjusting for purchasing power. That does not mean Sri Lankan workers were paid $200 a month. The


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Sri Lanka, Japan Begin Work on Export-Oriented Industrial Corridor

Sri Lanka, Japan Begin Work on Export-Oriented Industrial Corridor

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka and Japan have begun work on plans for an export-oriented industrial corridor, setting up a joint working group to identify priorities and a timetable for the project. The first meeting of the Sri Lanka-Japan Joint Working Group on Export-Oriented Industrial Corridor Development was held at the Japanese Embassy in Colombo on Aug. 25. The group was established following an agreement reached at an intergovernmental economic policy dialogue in February, where the tw


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Former Sri Lankan Parliamentary Leaders Reject Audit Findings on Fuel Use
Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena

Former Sri Lankan Parliamentary Leaders Reject Audit Findings on Fuel Use

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s former Speaker and deputy speaker have rejected the findings of a special government audit that raised questions about millions of rupees spent on fuel and the use of multiple vehicles during their time in office. Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, the former Speaker, and Ajith Rajapakse, the former deputy speaker, said they had committed no wrongdoing and called for a formal investigation, saying they were prepared to answer questions about the expenditure. Their denia


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Sri Lanka Braces for Food Supply Disruptions as El Niño May Curb Indian Exports

Sri Lanka Braces for Food Supply Disruptions as El Niño May Curb Indian Exports

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka is drawing up contingency plans to guard against disruptions to essential food imports from India, as the anticipated return of El Niño raises fears that adverse weather could damage Indian agricultural output and prompt New Delhi to restrict exports, a government minister said. R.M. Jayawardena, the deputy minister of trade, commerce and food security, said officials were examining how the country should respond if India- -one of its most important sources of foo


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UNAFRAID AND UNBOWED

Archbishop, Archbishop, why hast thou forsaken us in our hour of sorrow and slaughter?

Archbishop, Archbishop, why hast thou forsaken us in our hour of sorrow and slaughter?

"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." - Isaiah 58:1 His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo and chief shepherd of the Catholic flock in all of Sri Lanka, has recently marked fifty years in the sacred priesthood. As the highest-ranking prelate whose dominion spans the entire island, he now stands as a mighty voice crying for justice, calling upon the nations of the earth for interv


Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran

Jaffna Library Burning: The Day They Burned the buddha and his dhamma

Jaffna Library Burning: The Day They Burned the buddha and his dhamma

Why South Asia Reveres Books-and Fears Their Destruction Irrespective of religion, across the Indian subcontinent, books have long held an exalted status. In the indigenous spiritual traditions that emerged from this land-Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism-knowledge is not merely valued; it is venerated in the highest order. In homes, temples, and schools across the region, people treat books with profound reverence-never touching them with their feet, and if done accidentally, offering a


Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Chemmani: Where Justice Was Buried

Chemmani: Where Justice Was Buried

The dead do not speak - but the earth does A few years ago, I visited Cambodia. My original aim was to see the Angkor Wat temple complex. But, as always, my journalistic instincts led me deeper into rural Cambodia, where I found myself in quiet conversations with a few former soldiers of the Pol Pot regime, now living ordinary lives as toddy tappers, farmers, and small shop owners. One of them - a former henchman of the Khmer Rouge - opened up after a few glasses of toddy. In a hauntingly calm


Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran

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Jaffna’s Lavin’s Restaurant Fined Nearly Rs. 1 Million Over Rs. 200 Bottle of Water

Jaffna’s Lavin’s Restaurant Fined Nearly Rs. 1 Million Over Rs. 200 Bottle of Water

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A restaurant in Jaffna that had previously drawn attention for its pricing has been fined 950,000 rupees after selling a one-liter bottle of drinking water for 200 rupees, well above the government-set maximum retail price of 120 rupees, Sri Lanka’s Consumer Affairs Authority said. The Jaffna Magistrate’s Court imposed the fine on Lavin’s Vegetarian Family Restaurant on Aug. 25, following legal action brought by investigators from the Consumer Affairs Authority’s Jaffna dist


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Meta Is Making Its Apps Safer for American Teens. What About Sri Lanka?

Meta Is Making Its Apps Safer for American Teens. What About Sri Lanka?

By Aruliniyan Mahalingam JAFFNA — Opening a phone for a quick look at Instagram and surfacing forty minutes later is such a common failure of self-discipline that most people have stopped calling it one. American authorities spent years arguing it was never a failure of discipline at all. In a case brought by 47 states, the District of Columbia and several U.S. territories, they accused Meta of building features whose purpose was to keep young users watching, scrolling and coming back. On Wedn


Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Justice Minister Says the PTA Is Going. Critics Fear It Is Old Toddy in a New Glass

Justice Minister Says the PTA Is Going. Critics Fear It Is Old Toddy in a New Glass

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Harshana Nanayakkara, Sri Lanka’s justice minister, said the government would repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act by the end of this year, calling the 47-year-old law incompatible with fundamental human rights. But the government is not abandoning special counterterrorism legislation. It plans to replace the law with the Protection of the State from Terrorism Act, or PSTA, an effort that has already faced opposition from rights groups and civil society organizations that


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British Police Search for Sri Lankan Tamil Man in Swindon

British Police Search for Sri Lankan Tamil Man in Swindon

SWINDON, England — British police are searching for a 24-year-old Sri Lankan Tamil man who is wanted by authorities and is known to frequent the Swindon area. Swindon Police identified the man as Sinthujan Balendran and appealed to the public for information that could help officers locate him. “We would like to hear from anyone with information about Sinthujan Balendran, 24, who is currently wanted by police,” the police said in a public notice. “Sinthujan is known to frequent the Swindon are


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