If anyone wants to give any credit to anyone for developing the National Fuel Pass QR based system, it should be to Jayantha De Silva & his team at ICTA, Supun Weerasinghe & his team at Dialog Axiata, Shevan Goonathilake & his team at Millenium IT.
Their teams developed the platform within 2 weeks of our first meeting and rolled it out within a month at no cost to the government. It was implemented with the assistance & dedication of many more stakeholders.
Sri Lanka, you were amazing ๐ฑ๐ฐโค๏ธ
From the first ball to the last chant, this is what following England around the world looks like with @BarmyArmyTravel ๐
World No.1 ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐
Sri Lankaโs Taavi Samaraweera has climbed to world No.1 in the Under-11 boysโ table tennis rankings. The young talent is a student of S. Thomasโ College, Mt. Lavinia โ a proud moment for Sri Lankan sport ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐
The National Blood Bank issued an urgent call yesterday.
Today, Sri Lankans have turned up in massive queues to donate.
In the middle of a national disaster, humanity is shining brighter than ever. ๐ฑ๐ฐโค๏ธ
๐ธ Nuwan Gammampila
Green Flags in Men (in general):
1. Has a close relationship with his parents (his mom especially)
2. Has hobbies (hiking, reading, playing guitar, etc.)
3. Goes to the gym or plays a sport (shows consistency and discipline)
4. Likes to cook (or at least tries)
5. Wears clean, neat-looking clothes (aka takes care of himself)
6. Owns a pet
7. Is religious
8. Has kind, funny, polite friends
9. Is motivated and driven
Bonus points if he grew up with sisters or female cousins (:
One of the first things Ranil Wickremesinghe did in July 2022 was thank the police and tri forces for protecting Parliament.
Now three years later, seeing Nepalโs Parliament and Supreme Court set on fire, a woman burned alive, and so much death and destruction, it is hard not to think about what might have happened to Sri Lanka if RW had not stepped in back then.
How many more would have dropped dead while standing in queues? How many would have been burned alive, beaten to death and dragged through the streets? What would have become of our economy?
Sometimes you only see the value of a person and their decisions when you look at what happened elsewhere and realise it could have happened to you as well, if not for the timely and necessary decisions made while fearlessly risking their own life and home.
Video credit: Newswire
Ranil Wickremesinghe took over a country no one wanted and that everyone had washed their hands of. People were dying in queues, Sri Lanka lost the ability to honour letters of credit, and was facing crippling shortages of food, fuel, and medicines.
Fiscal mismanagement, weak monetary policy, hasty tax cuts, and the disastrous fertiliser ban pushed the country into default. The obstructions created for decades by the current government while in opposition only worsened the collapse, especially contributing to the hours-long power cuts we suffered daily.
In just two years, RW rebuilt reserves from near zero to over $6 billion, brought inflation down from nearly 70% to below zero, and lifted GDP growth from negative to over 5%. He managed to defer all bilateral loan instalment payments until 2028 and secure repayment of loans on concessional terms, with an extended period until 2043.
Could he have done all this by staying home? He restored international credibility by negotiating with countries and institutions worldwide. How did he do that? He met people, he talked, he negotiated. He had the knowledge, and he knew the language.
He turned Sri Lanka from a symbol of failure into proof that even in struggle, we are capable, we are determined, and we are far from being a laughing stock. Some even called it the best comeback. The results were massive. We regained our lost credibility, and the crisis we were facing back home was being solved step by step.
Can the current government point to concrete, realised achievements from their foreign visits to match this record? Yes? No? And what do they do? Arrest the man who accomplished all this, making him the first Sri Lankan president ever to be arrested. For what? Corruption?
A YouTuber is running the show.
Did you see the ICC video??
Meant to be celebrating the WTC final - but instead has 11 shots of Jay Shah in it.
Itโs so weird! Itโs hilarious!
#WTC2025