Sri Lanka

The country has backtracked on ambitious plans to become the world's first fully organic farming nation, reversing a total ban on chemical fertiliser imports imposed in May with the aim of making the country's agriculture 100 % organic

The Court of Appeal has recently issued an interim order preventing the registration of wild elephants under private owners; the move has been celebrated by environmental activists who believe many of such private owners are actually racketeers

The government will introduce a new bill to ban all forms of obscene publications

A five-year plan to revive the Covid-affected tourism industry has been presented by the tourism minister, who welcomed Ukraine's support for the tourism pilot project launched during the Coronavirus outbreak

Conservationist Anjali Watson is fighting to save the critically endangered leopards and reports that with the war over in 2009 about 70% of the animals' habitat has been destroyed, and only 750-1,000 adult leopards remain

Sri Lankan shares closed at their highest level in nearly seven months, driven by strong gains in the financial sector

An online system has been made available to the public for obtaining copies of birth, marriage and death certificates, a system designed to reduce the difficulty of requests during the pandemic crisis

A US$1 billion bond was paid last week by the country but its finances are still alarming with evident crisis signs: bonds at half their face value, debt-to-GDP levels >100%, over 80% of government revenues spent on interest payments and tourism industry

The country's first 'National Sandalwood Garden', grown and designed at Sri Jayewardenepura, Battaramulla, was inaugurated under the patronage of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa

The government's move to ban chemical fertilizers has had a heavy impact on many agriculture-related sectors, including the tea industry, whose growers have demonstrated in Yatadola, Matugama, Urubokka and other areas

A two-day forum to foster awareness and adoption of digital technology in the northern region has been promoted by the Information and Communication Technology Agency

A UN team of oil and chemical spill experts, provided by the EU, is working with the Government to assess the impact on the environment caused by the recent MV X-press Pearl disaster