Apr 3 (FT) The Colombo Stockbrokers Association, the apex body that promotes and protects the interests of its members comprising regulated retail and institutional brokerage firms, last night etched two more chapters into its 18-year history. Under the aegis of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa and the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) Chairman Krishan Balendra, the CSBA took its mandate to promote standards, ethics, values, principles and more..

Apr 3 (Island) The so-called educated middle class in Sri Lanka is preoccupied with UNHRC in Geneva. When Navi Pillai and her reports should be thrown to the wastepaper basket with the video clips of Channel Four of BBC, and NDTV of India with the contempt they deserve, the educated people think that they would be isolated in the world if they do so. Even some of the "nationalists" talked of Govt not doing home work when it was heard that that the American resolution against Sri Lanka more..

Apr 3 (Island) The Anglican Bishop of Colombo has appealed to the Indian Central Govt and the Tamil Nadu State Govt to stop immediately the acts of violence perpetrated against Lankans visiting TN, and in particular the attacks targeting Buddhist monks, while stating that attacks in Sri Lanka against Christians and Muslims were too many to list out. Following is the text by Rt. Revd. Dhiloraj Canagasabey, more..

Apr 3 (DN) Sabaragamauwa Chief Minister Maheepala Herath felicitated Thilini Nimesha Jayathilaka, a student of Ambanpitiya Special School who qualified for university admission despite having no hands or legs. The Chief Minister was the chief guest at the ceremony held at the school premises attended by colleagues, teachers, parents and well wishers. She managed to enter university by providing verbal answers and passed the GCE A/Ls with high results. more..

Apr 3 (DN) All substitute workers attached to the Colombo National Hospital(CNH) who do not report to work today will be deemed to have vacated their posts. They will be replaced with a new batch of substitute workers, Health Ministry secretary Dr. Nihal Jayatilleke said. A worker attached to the Colombo National Hospital had been transferred to the Ragama Hospital by the Public Service Commission as a punishment for a offense done by him two years ago. more..

Apr 3 (Island) The country�s reserves, made up mostly of debt and short term inflows, fell by US$ 22 million to US$ 6,855 million as at end Jan 2013 from US$ 6,877 million as at end Dec 2012. As at end Dec 2012, debt and short term inflows amount to 95% of reserves. Total govt borrowing, at US$ 5,256.9 million, amounted to around 76.44% of reserves. The trade deficit amounted to US$ 780.4 million in Jan 2013, more..

Apr 3 (CT) The two Coordinating Secretaries of Minister Mervyn Silva, who had been remanded for the alleged murder of Kelaniya UPFA Pradeshiya Sabha member, Hasitha Madawala, were enlarged on bail by the Kadawatha Magistrate yesterday. The suspects were released on a cash bail of Rs 30,000 and a personal bail of Rs 200,000 each, after they were produced before Magistrate Sahan Bandara. The suspects who were identified as Sarath Weerasinghe and Saman Nishaman more..

Apr 3 (DN) On the directives of Minister Johnston Fernando, 50 Lanka Sathosa outlets in the Colombo district have begun selling vegetables at prices lower than in the regular market price, from yesterday. �The number of Lanka Sathosa outlets would be further expanded with immediate effect, allowing consumers to purchase vegetables at concessionary rates to fulfill the increasing local demand during the festive season,� Minister said. Lanka Sathosa outlets situated on the Colombo-Kandy road more..

Apr 3 (DN) Clergy representing different faiths yesterday stressed on the urgent need of working towards fostering ethnic harmony and peace while creating a better environment for mutual understanding and amity among all ethnic groups. They expressed this common view addressing a media conference on the prevailing situation in Colombo yesterday. The event was organised by the Inter-faith Study Circle. more..

Apr 3 (CT) The Maha Sanga in the Ampara District has strongly condemned the verbal abuse directed at the Chief incumbent of the Ampara Mandala Maha Viharaya, Ven. Suhadagama Seelaratana Thera, by the Chairman of the Ampara Urban Council (UC), Jayatilaka, in Ampara, recently. Ven. Seelaratna Thera told Ceylon Today the immediate cause of the unwarranted outburst by the UC Chairman was due to a query he had made on levying a fee to park vehicles at the more..

Apr 3 (DN) Attorney-at-law V. K. Choksy yesterday said the hallowed tradition of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka of according respect to the Judiciary had been breached at the induction ceremony of the newly elected BASL President Upul Jayasuriya, by not inviting the incumbent Chief Justice as the Chief Guest for the occasion. The tradition is that the incumbent Chief Justice is invited as the chief guest for the induction ceremony of the BASL President. In the last 39 years this was the first time that more..

Apr 3 (KW) After 26 years pouring beers and wiping tables at the Knox Tavern, owners David and Cathy Cruse have sold up and moved to Sri Lanka. The owners of the popular pub decided they were fed up with working nights, weekends, public holidays and Christmas Day. "We had just about had it, it was time to move on," Mrs Cruse said. "You can't afford to pay people to work public holidays any more, the rates are so high." more..

Apr 3 (AN) The Sri Lankan govt must find and prosecute those responsible for the massacre of 17 aid workers during the country's 25-year civil war, French charity Action Contre La Faim (ACF) has said. The killing of the aid workers, who were shot at point-blank range outside their office in northeast Sri Lanka in 2006, was the worst attack on humanitarians since the 2003 bombing of the United Nations compound in Baghdad. "It's important that those responsible be held accountable. more..

Apr 3 (Island) The Kuliyapitiya Magistrate remanded, till April 10, four suspects charged with treasure hunting. The suspects, including a woman, were arrested by the Narammala police on Monday morning while allegedly digging a private land for a hidden treasure. Police spokesman Superintendent Buddhika Siriwardana told �The Island� yesterday that the suspects were arrested on a land at Hodiwewa, Alahitiyawa in the Narammala police area after police received a tip off. more..

Apr 3 (CT) Minister Wimal Weerawansa, cautioned the people of Jaffna that the expatriates in Geneva are trying to instigate the children of Jaffna to wear the cyanide capsules around their necks again. He was in Jaffna to launch a housing scheme at the coastal urban area in Gurunagar yesterday. Following the launch, Weerawansa said the people in the North and East are now gradually trying to get over more..

Apr 3 (Hindu) Way back in 1994, four Colombo-based Indian journalists and the Sinhalese correspondent of an international news agency got a rare permission to visit Jaffna. Rare because, at that time, the northern peninsula was almost totally controlled by the Tamil Tigers, who had driven out the govt forces in conventional battles. Journalists required permission from both sides to the island�s festering conflict � the govt and the LTTE � as well as from the ICRC, the only agency which more..

Apr 3 (CT) The peace march that started on 6 March from Kataragama reached Jaffna, nearly after three weeks, on 31 March. The march was headed by Tibetan monk, Ven. Jigme Prema Wangchen, with the participation of 270 members from 27 different countries. The peace march, known as Peace Odyssey, was given a rousing welcome when it reached Jaffna, by a group headed by Governor of the Northern Province, G.A. Chandrasiri, Jaffna Mayor Y. Patkunaraja and the people more..

Apr 3 (CT) The Cabinet sub-committee appointed by President Rajapaksa to look into the halal issue is apparently split into three groups as a result of failing to reach an agreement over some of its recommendations. The committee was appointed to give four recommendations to the Cabinet to end the crisis regarding the issuance of halal certification for locally-produced goods. The Muslim members in the committee, more..

Apr 3 (TOI) Smugglers are finding ingenious ways to sneak in gold. Two Sri Lankan nationals were arrested at the Chennai airport on Monday for smuggling in gold weighing 456.83g and worth 13.60 lakh under their tongue. The two, who arrived from Colombo on a Sri Lankan airlines flight, were carrying two gold pieces shaped to fit between the tongue and lower palate. The gold was found after customs officials discovered that Shahul Hameed Mohamed Issadeen, 48, and more..

Apr 3 (Island) Minister Jagath Balasuriya yesterday said that his ministry was seeking advice, from the Attorney General, on paying compensation to two of the 38 students who were injured in last week�s staircase collapse at the National Museum. The Minister said that two students had sustained serious injuries in the eye and the spine. The Minister said requests had been made to Banks and Insurance companies to assist them financially. The incident had been recorded on a CCTV more..

Apr 3 (Island) In the wake of the Northern Provincial Council elections, now due before September, generating lively interest among the political parties, particularly in the North, EPDP leader Douglas Devananda reiterated that he would forego his cabinet portfolio to contest as the Chief Ministerial candidate. He said that the EPDP would contest under the UPFA banner at the election. He said the decision would not be more..

Apr 3 (Island) The JHU has been campaigning aggressively against what it called the erosion of Buddhist values in Sri Lanka, but it was strangely silent on the govt moves to invite one of the biggest casino owners in the world to establish his business in Colombo, the UNP charged. UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake questioned what he called the inconsistent and duplicitous policy of the JHU. He queried whether the JHU was acting selectively depending on the personalities more..

Apr 3 (Island) The govt had decided to postpone elections to nine local bodies in the Batticaloa District including the Batticaloa Municipal Council until the National Delimitation Commission (NDC) completed demarcating the new ward boundaries of the local councils, Secretary to the Ministry of Local Govt and Provincial Councils Keerthi Ranawaka said. He said that the govt on March 17, 2012 had issued a gazette notification postponing the holding of elections to nine local bodies more..

Apr 3 (Island) Democratic Party (DP) leader General (retd) Sarath Fonseka yesterday declared that his outfit was the only alternative to a corrupt govt as well as a bankrupt Opposition. Former army commander and defeated presidential candidate, Gen. Fonseka emphasized that the country couldn�t be saved by just replacing the SLFP with the UNP. He said the Opposition was as bad as the govt and it would be a mistake to more..

Apr 3 (DM) The Attorney General is reported to be collecting statistics on incidents of rape and child abuse. Though this has come a little too late it is commendable. We are sad to note that Sri Lanka does not maintain proper records of such ruthless crimes. According to media reports the inquiry and collection of data are to be carried out by the state-run watchdogs of crimes against children and women -- the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Child Development and and Women�s Affairs, more..

Apr 3 (DM) What greater act of enmity and/or treachery can one country commit towards another other than by arming, equipping and training a gang of disgruntled citizens of that country to commit mass murders of residents of the latter country, regardless of their ages, genders, ethnicity and/or religious persuasions and to destroy the property of that country? While doing so is sufficiently vile and despicable, how much worse would it be when that country engages in such conduct while more..

Apr 3 (SL) Following two containers of illegal ethanol spirits being taken into custody, it is alleged that 15 more containers carrying ethanol spirits have come to the country and questions have been raised whether they would be detained and investigated or whether it would be released illegally. We have come to know that 15 more containers carrying ethanol sprits have come to the port and there are attempts to release them without more..

Apr 3 (DM) The LTTE is known to have taken over more than 2,000 acres of residential properties belonging to Muslims in the North and given them to its supporters during the war, officials said yesterday. They said this had resulted in the govt having to find alternative land to resettle the displaced Muslims. S.B. Divaratne, who heads the Presidential Task Force overseeing resettlement, said the lands grabbed by more..

Apr 3 (ST) A tarantula almost as big as a dinner plate has been discovered in northern Sri Lanka by a team of researchers who named it after a keen police officer who helped track down live specimens of the giant spider. The researchers fortuitously happened to be in Mankulam, conducting an island-wide tarantula survey, when a local villager gave them the tarantula he had just killed, a species then unknown to more..

Apr 3 (Xinhua) The Colombo Fashion Week, the premier style extravaganza, will be launched here Wednesday and will see the participation of 30 designers, organizers said. Dedicated to Sri Lanka's young and up-and-coming designers, this year's Fashion Week will feature 20 local designers carefully chosen from a large pool of contenders within the past three months alongside celebrated international designers. more..

Apr 3 (CG) A gang of foreigners, four Malaysians and two Sri Lankans, have been arrested and charged with the fraudulent use of over 100 ATM cards to withdraw around 10 million baht cash in Thailand. Police division chief Pol Maj Gen Phisit Pao-in said the police were informed by Siam Commercial Bank that the bank has been requested to investigate theft of users� information and fraudulent use of electronic cards to withdraw more..

Apr 3 (Island) The CEB is in a quandary following the CPC�s recent announcement that it would cut its supplies to the former till the outstanding debt of some Rs. 19 billion is settled. However, CEB General Manager Nihal Wickramasuriya said that though Petroleum Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa was reported to have stated that the CEB would be not provided with fuel on credit, the CEB had not been officially more..

Apr 3 (AD) The Fort Magistrate acquitted all the accused including the son of Minister Mervyn Silva, Malaka Silva and Rehan Wijeyratne from the assault case of an Army Major on the advice of the Attorney General. Four others were also acquitted of all accusations regarding this case. The son of Minister Mervyn Silva, Malaka and others surrendered to the Slave Island police on Sept 17 over the alleged assault on the Major. more..

Apr 3 ((Xinhua) Following the deportation of a UK national for having a Buddha tattoo on his arm, British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka John Rankin has called for religious tolerance and understanding of cultural divisions. Writing about the incident in his blog Rankin calls on authorities to understand the cultural difference between different countries and ensure safety of visitors. Last month a British man was more..

Apr 3 (DM) Sri Lanka, for the first time, was ranked in the �high human development� category of the UNDP �Human Development Report (HDR) 2013�. The HDR which reports on a country�s Human Development Index based on three main indicators, viz., �a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living�. Sri Lanka�s HDI value is 0.715 for the year 2012, up by 28% from 0.557 the previous year, more..

Apr 3 (Xinhua) An office of a Tamil newspaper was attacked in the north of Sri Lanka on Wednesday. The police said that the Uthayan newspaper distribution office in Kilinochchi, an area which was once under rebel control, was attacked by an unidentified group. At least three people were injured during the attack while the building and a vehicle parked outside was also damaged. Staff at the newspaper said that when the more..

Apr 3 (PTI) MDMK Leader Vaiko on Wednesday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his intervention to save the lives of 19 Eelam Tamils currently living in Dubai and to ensure that they are not deported to Sri Lanka. MDMK Leader Vaiko on Wednesday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his intervention to save the lives of 19 Eelam Tamils currently living in Dubai and to ensure that they are not deported to Sri Lanka. "I humbly request you to take urgent more..

Apr 3 (Island) The Ruhunu Magampura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port will be ready for container operations at the end of this year after the installation of the required cranes, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority said. "The installation of the cranes will further add value to the sea port, which now regularly handles six car carriers on a monthly basis," Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chief Engineer Agil Hewageegayana, who is also the Project Manager at the southern sea port, told The Island more..

Apr 3 (CT) �At this point, there are three major SLMC factions: SLMC (Hakeem); SLMC (Athaullah); and the National Unity Alliance (NUA). (Note: The leader of the NUA is Ferial Ashraff, another close Mission contact, who is the widow of the founder of the SLMC, M.H.M. Ashraff, who died in 2000.) While they disagree on peace track issues, none of the factions is Islamist-leaning at this time. Other than the SLMC, many Muslims � more..

Apr 3 (CT) With the mob-attack on a Muslim-owned shop,Sri Lankatook a giant leap towards a new conflagration. The attack on the Pepiliyana outlet of the �Fashion Bug� happened less than a month after Gotabhaya Rajapaksa publicly associated himself with the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and less than a fortnight after the outfits� Rabble-Rouser-in-Chief, Rev. Galagoda-Atte Gnanasara Thero, launched an uncouth diatribe against the Muslim owners of the �Fashion Bug�, accusing them of conspiring to more..