The death occurred today of Arumugam Thondaman, Leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and Minister of Community Empowerment and Estate Infrastructure Development. He was the grandson of prominent trade unionist the late Saumyamoorthi Thondaman. Born on May 29, 1964, Arumugam Thondaman died just three days short of his 56th birthday after being admitted to the Talangama Hospital.

The local multi-day fishing vessels that were washed-away to Indonesian seas as a result of the recent cyclonic storm ‘Amphan’, are now reaching the island’s shores with the help of the Sri Lanka Navy Ship ‘Samudura’. Meanwhile, SLNS ‘Samudura’ continues to provide food, water, medical aid and fuel to these distressed vessels.

A consortium of high-level shipping magnates, inclusive of state sector policy-makers in the Presidential Task Force (PTF) Friday (22) afternoon during a meeting at the Army HQ, chaired by Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army discussed and explored ways and means of devising practical arrangements in regard to change of ship crew members on rotation basis through Sri Lankan ports since many world-wide ports are reluctant to allow disembarkation or embarkation of crew members due to risks involved in COVID-19 pandemic.

The seventy-sixth session (CS 76) of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) was successfully conducted on a virtual platform for the first time in its history, due to the COVID 19 situation, on 21 May 2020, in Bangkok.