President to leave for Singapore tomorrow
President Ranil Wickremesinghe is scheduled to leave for Singapore and Japan tomorrow.
The Office of the President said, during the five-day visit, President Wickremesinghe is scheduled to meet Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong and Japanese Premier Fumio Kishida.
The President is scheduled to discuss the agreement with the International Monetary Fund, debt restructuring process, investment opportunities and several other matters with both Singaporean and Japanese leaders.The President is scheduled to return to the country on Saturday.
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An 18-year-old youth has been injured and a dog killed when police opened fire at a house during a raid carried out in the Panwilathenna area of Gampola.
Ada Derana reporter said the shooting has taken place during a raid conducted early this morning (21) at an illicit liquor brewery.
The National Election Commission reportedly has not settled more than Rs. 200 million in dues for the printing work carried out by the Department of Government Printing in recent months.
According to a spokesperson, the Department has notified the Election Commission on several occasions to settle the dues.
It is reported that the Department is facing several issues over the failure of the Commission to complete the payments.
The Department of Government Printing on the request of the Election Commission commenced printing documents and ballot papers for the Local Authorities Election.
The Department has already completed printing postal ballots of several districts.
The printed documents are securely stored in the Department’s premises and will be released on the request of the Election Commission.
The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) this week was scrambling to ascertain whether the ‘Glorious Church’ and its pastor Jerome Fernando, now in the centre of a controversy, were paying taxes to the Government as records, including personal NIC numbers or other details were not available, its officials said.
An official at the Glorious Church, when asked whether the church pays any taxes, promised to get back, but there was no response.
IRD officials pointed out that Mr. Fernando’s Glorious Church management had not been given any tax exemption and that as an individual he had to declare his assets and wealth if there were any, under the Inland Revenue Act.
By tradition, Buddhist temple property was exempt from taxation or any form of revenue collection by the IRD if they were registered by the Govt. as a religious site.
Most of the other places connected to religious work have to pay taxes even if they are registered because exemption from taxes came under a certain ordinance and these institutions were not included in it, IRD officials confirmed.
Catholic Church officials were not available for comment. Officials of other Christian denominations said that while donations were exempt from taxes, income derived by the church was subject to taxes.
