Sep 18 (CT) UPFA PC candidate Dayasiri Jayasekra today filed a case demanding compensation of Rs 4 billion from eight persons, including his former colleagues, for alleging that he crossed over to the govt after accepting Rs 250 million. Counsel for Jayasekara, Sudantha Bandara, today filed the case on behalf of the former MP. Earlier Dayasiri Jayasekra sent letters of demand on 23 August to the relevant parties, informing them that legal action will be instituted against more..

Sep 18 (Island) Environmentalists expressed regret over the country�s failure to address its concerns over the controversial Sethusamudram Project. They accused state officials of years of inaction on the issue. According to them, the National Aquatic Resources Agency (NARA), Coast Conservation Department (CCD), Fisheries Department and Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development Ministry were the responsible more..

Sep 18 (Island) The Cabinet has approved the mega US$ 4 billion Industrial Park in Sampur, Trincomalee proposed to be set up by the Singapore based Gateway International. Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena yesterday told the media that the 818 acres, in Sampur, was given to the Singaporean Developer, who was awaiting clearance by several authorities to pump in US$ 700 million during the first two years. The developer has so far invested US$ 10 million, according to the minister more..

Sep 18 (CT) The Supreme Court which examined the five petitions that were filed, seeking to Court to postpone the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) elections, issued notice on the respondents to appear in Court on 2 Oct. The petitions were heard by a three-judge panel comprising the Chief Justice, Mohan Peiris, and Justices K. Sripavan and Rohini Marasinghe, yesterday. Five petitioners including Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera of the Deshapremi National Alliance had filed the petitions. more..

Sep 18 (AFP) Foreign observers held talks with officials and candidates in Sri Lanka's former war zone Wednesday to ensure the region's first elections to choose a semi-autonomous council pass off peacefully, officials said. Kenya's former vice president Stephen Kalonzo Musyoka, who is heading a four-member Commonwealth mission, urged all sides to ensure the landmark elections take place without incident as more..

Sep 19 (NS) About four years ago, foreign media warned that Sri Lanka is not a safe place to visit due to the armed conflict. Now that the armed conflict is over they seem to have found a new reason to continue discouraging foreigners from visiting Sri Lanka. This they do by emphasizing that Sri Lanka is a place �too dangerous� to visit. On May 6, 2013, the US State Department�s travel advisory warned that foreign women should �exercise vigilance� when visiting Sri Lanka, due to an upswing in more..

Sep 19 (NS) On screen, a handsome man coolly leans against a tree. He takes out a pack of cigarettes. With his long fingers, he takes out one cigarette, the brand clearly visible. He taps on his knuckles with it and places it between his lips. Then he puts the box back in his pocket and takes a fancy lighter out of his other pocket to light the cigarette. While he does this he keeps an eye on one member in a group of girls that is approaching. As she passes him with her friends he more..

Sep 19 (SO) On Jan 19, 1985, the Yal Devi train was blasted using landmines and then by shooting at the people who survived the blast at Kokavil killing 34 passengers and destroying the tracks. Human rights groups who still try to dig out only the last few days of the war and discredit the Security Forces were silent as in the many other cases where civilians were massacred by Tiger terrorists This attack ended north-south rail more..

Sep 19 (GV) To everyone who has not read them I recommend reading Izeth Hussain�s, articles of 31 Aug and 7 Sept in The Island, and my article in groundviews and in the Sunday Leader of 4 Aug 2013. We cannot seek to forget tragedies such as the Burning of the Jaffna Public Library in 1981, Black July 1983, the massacre of Muslim worshippers in Kaththankudi, the murder of six hundred Sinhalese and Muslim policemen in the Eastern province and many other terrible more..

Sep 19 (CT) A recent publication by the IPS titled �Private Hospital Healthcare Delivery� and authored by D.G. Dayaratne has looked at the issues of equity, fairness and regulation of the sector. In all the three areas, the study has concluded that the performance of the private hospitals is far from desired. The study says that the �private sector is driven be the desire to maximise profits and hence concentrate their operations in densely-populated urban areas�. more..

Sep 19 (GV) The sweeping rate of post war changes in Sri Lanka in its sociopolitical and economic domains are so severe that the normalcy that prevailed during the war is being disturbed. Before and during the war the majority community defined the Sri Lankan conflict not as an ethnic conflict but as a conflict born of structural misalignment in the politics and society that marginalized the minority, especially the Tamil community. more..

Sep 19 (DBS) The men of the Sri Lankan armed forces did not die, lose their limbs, their eyesight, their futures, so that the fascist separatist Prabhakaran could be openly hailed as a great hero, his photographs distributed, his songs sung and his organisation sanitised in the same battlefields. The revivalism that we have seen in the past weeks could, among other things, trigger a backlash that may initially be subterranean but has far reaching political and systemic consequences. more..

Sep 19 (Island) It is not the elections on Saturday that I have in my mind. Neither would I expect the UNP to join the others in this struggle. I am thinking only of a future struggle based on what has happened in history relative to the Sinhala people who have a sense of history that is not found among many other nations. The fact that there are so many "vansakathas" in the literature provides ample testimony to the sense of history among the Sinhalas and in the Sinhala Buddhist culture. more..

Sep 19 (Island) Today is the full moon Poya day of Binara in the 2557th year, since the passing away of Sakyamuni Siddhartha Gauthama Buddha. This particular full moon Poya Day falls within the traditional Vassana (retreat for the rainy season) period for the High Ordained Bhikkhus. It is significant that the Buddha, on a full moon Poya Day of Binara, in the Kutagara sala of Vesalipura, acceded to the request for ordination, more..

Sep 19 (CT) I feel we are living in a vertical democracy. As the President of the country stated, we do have elections on a regular basis. We are governed by a Constitution, which establishes democratic institutions of governance. One can check the boxes: Sri Lanka has an Executive, Parliament, a Judiciary, and universal franchise is an age-old tradition in the country. This is the garb of democracy that the President boasts about. How much of this vertical democracy, more..

Sep 19 (ST) Sri Lanka�s financial sector has been awash with news and regulator intervention as a crisis builds up in the finance company sector. Adding fuel to the fire are reports that a senior regulatory official is in hot water over aiding and abetting some finance companies to inflate their valuation by re-valuing the assets! At least five registered finance companies are in the doghouse for mismanagement and inability to pay interest to depositors on time or allowing more..

Sep 19 (Island) The govt�s economic policy is quite a mystery. It combines elements of what economists regard as completely contradictory ideas, unencumbered as it is by any clear ideology or even vaguely worked out plan of action. Consider its approach to international trade. Last week, the media reported that India�s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki is to decide whether to set up an assembly unit in Sri Lanka by the end of this year. more..

Sep 19 (Island) Elections are said to be the lifeblood of democracy. That may be so, but in countries like ours, they also cause quite a lot of blood to be spilled. Politicians here apparently don�t consider an election complete unless it is marred by bloodletting. If they are without any competition and provocation from their rivals they resort to internecine clashes among themselves. Dracula looks a babe in comparison to the desperadoes in the garb of politicians thirsting for blood. more..

Sep 19 (CI) Heavy skies interfered again in Pallekele, but there was enough time for Kaushal Silva to complete another first-class hundred in a fine year for the right-hand batsman where he also scored 1073 runs in 10 innings for SSC, and for New Zealand A to dismiss the remainder of Sri Lanka's mediocre batting order. Just under 55 overs were bowled on the second day of the four-day match, and at its end, the visitors had hit 31 for no loss in response to Sri Lanka A's 252. more..

Sep 19 (CI) Ryan ten Doeschate's bruising 64 from 32 broke the back of a mediocre Kandurata Maroons total, and all but secured Otago Volts' place in the Champions League proper, while very nearly damning their opponents to the opposite fate. The match had been set up again by the discipline of the Otago's fast men, who kept Kandurata down to 154 for 9, despite the best efforts of Upul Tharanga, who hit 76 from 56. more..

Sep 19 (DN) Plans are underway to export salt from the Hambantota Mahinda Rajapaksa Port, Lanka Salt Company chairman Pradeep Wijesiriwardana said. He said when salt is produced at Elephant Pass, there would be an excess of salt and an opportunity to export salt. Wijesiriwardana said 10,000 metric tonnes of salt were imported in 2011. �The year end salt harvesting is being carried out in Bundala and Palatupana salt fields. A harvest of about 20,000 metric tonnes of salt more..

Sep 19 (GDI) The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka received today (18) its first online application barely 24 hours after the new system was inaugurated by minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena. On 17th, Minister formally introduced and launched the new online application system at a briefing attended by the press corps of Sri Lanka. The application was submitted by an investor in the United Kingdom and is to set up a regional headquarters/ consulting company in the oil and gas sector. more..

Sep 19 (Island) The Ministry of Economic Development said that priority would be given to local fishermen selling tuna fish to recognised export companies. Minister Basil Rajapaksa said this at a meeting held to discuss problems multi-day trawler owners were facing. He said the govt would provide multi-day trawler owners with the opportunity of getting a good price when trading high quality fresh tuna fish, more..

Sep 19 (ST) The recent state of affairs at the forestry management company, Touchwood is so unique that it�s the first time in the history of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that extensive complaints of such a nature had come to them, sources close to SEC sad. Touchwood founded in Sri Lanka in 1999 by Chairman Roscoe A. Maloney has his wife Swarna Maloney as the CEO since last October, when Channa Abeygunawardene resigned as its CEO. more..

Sep 19 (CT) UNP Leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, had been snubbed by the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Navanetham Pillay, who had delegated a representative to respond to a query which Wickremesinghe had posed to her, directly. A group of UNP members said Pillay's move could not be accepted as Wickremesinghe had asked the question as the Opposition Leader of the country, in which capacity, he is considered the fourth most important person in the country. more..

Sep 19 (Island) An impressive sprint finish by Chandrika Subashini, a close battle between veteran Umanga Surendra and teenager Himasha Eshan in the men�s 100 metres and two new meet records by Anoma Karunawansa and Gayanthika Abeyratne provided sparkle on the final day of the 91st National Athletics Championship, which ended at the Sugathadasa Stadium, on Wednesday. more..

Sep 19 (CT) The Special Investigation Unit at Mirihana has taken two suspects into custody on charges of abducting a married woman, embezzling her jewellery and money and holding her child as hostage. Western Province, Southern Division DIG, Sumith Edirisinghe, has referred the complaint he received to the OIC of the Special Investigation Unit, Mirihana, Nimal Karunatilake. According to police investigations, the two suspects had gone to a location in Athurugiriya, more..

Sep 19 (CT) Sri Lankan Muslim community today goes through an epoch of political bankruptcy in Muslim history in Sri Lanka. Muslim community became a voiceless community today in our time. This situation is unprecedented in Sri Lankan Muslim history. It is shame that those shameless Muslim politicians still go behind this ruling family in anticipation that they could secure some basic privileges and concessions in their political struggle. Yet, those hopes and aspirations more..

Sep 19 (IL) Sri Lanka's Head of Mission to the European Union, Ambassador P.M. Amza, addressing the Meeting of the European Parliament's Delegation for the Relations with the Countries in South Asia, (DSAS), on 17 Sept, said, �the NPC elections scheduled on 21 Sept, for the first time since the establishment of the Provincial Council system in Sri Lanka in 1987, has infused political momentum into the once war-stricken region more..

Sep 19 (PTI) Two Sri Lankan passengers were arrested with 12 gold bars valued at Rs 3.60 crore from the Goa International Airport Wednesday. The smuggling was detected by Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officials of the Commissionerate of Customs and Central Excise at the airport, officials said. The gold bars, each weighing one kg, was detected while rummaging Air India aircraft number AI 984 which came to Goa from Dubai via Mumbai in the morning, Commissioner V P C Rao told reporters more..

Sep 19 (Island) The Sri Lanka chamber of Small and Medium Industries in its 50th year of existence is reaching out to Industrialists in the more distant and remote villages in its endeavours to develop the micro, small and medium industries countrywide. The Chamber has tied up with Union Bank of Colombo PLC which is expanding its network of branches in the nine provinces. The Chamber will enroll into its cadre, members of the SME Clubs formed in the branches of the Union Bank. more..

Sep 19 (ST) Former Tamil Tiger (LTTE) female rebel fighters and brides Nadarasa Sukirtha (L) and Premarathnam Sugandhini (C) look on as Jayarasa Merry Babila, an ethnic Tamil, gets ready before the start of a mass wedding in Kilinochchi. Three ex-rebel couples who have been rehabilitated by the Sri Lankan Civil Defence Force were married in a mass wedding ceremony as part of the govt's rehabilitation program. more..

Sep 19 (Island) The Court of Appeal yesterday varied the suspension order issued earlier on Fonterra Products, with regard to advertisements and extended the aforesaid varied stay order till Oct. 15, 2013. The varied stay order said that the Consumer Affairs Authority was compelled to prevent the Fonterra Products Private Limited from including the phrase, "100% free of DCD," in advertisements regarding milk powder imported and distributed by Fonterra. more..

Sep 19 (Island) A Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), serving in the Colombo North division has sought permission, from the DIG of Police for Colombo, to question nine past OICs of the Kotahena police station during the last 17 years, over a lorry laden with 120 kilos of explosives parked in Kotahena. The officer said that the explosives in the lorry had not been detected due to the negligence of those officers and it was puzzling why the three army personnel more..

Sep 19 (CT) Gampaha District Court, today lifted the ban on milk powder advertisements subject to the condition that no product claims to be '100% perfect', a distributer told Ceylon Today. Meanwhile, the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) has been ordered to ensure that no milk powder importer advertises the claim to be 100% perfect. The Consumer Affairs Authority has been cited as First Respondent whilst Fonterra Brands more..

Sep 19 (Island) HP announced the seizure of 190 counterfeit supplies in Colombo in Sri Lanka. This seizure was conducted by local police teams in Colombo recently. The authorities seized 116 counterfeit ink cartridges and 74 counterfeit toner cartridges. 4 individuals were arrested and will be subject to criminal prosecution. HP cooperated with local law enforcement to make this action possible. HP vigorously defends its brand and intellectual property for Original HP supplies by more..

Sep 19 (Island) The Opposition would obtain more votes than the govet at Saturday�s PC elections, the UNP said yesterday. The Rajapaksa regime was using its power to intimidate and attack its opponents, but the people were not rallying behind it, as evident by the ongoing polls campaigns in the three provinces, UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said. "The joint opposition will perform better than the ruling UPFA in the Northern, Central and North-Western Provinces," more..

Sep 19 (FT) Former LTTE Chief Weapons Procurer Kumaran Pathmanathan slammed the TNA for cheating the Tamil people and hailed President Rajapaksa as a �great leader� who could solve the ethnic problem. Addressing a specially convened news conference in Iranamadu on the last day of campaigning ahead of Saturday�s poll, a reformed Pathmanathan alias KP said the TNA election manifesto was separatist in content. more..

Sep 19 (Island) The Chilaw police are looking for a Samurdhi officer for attacking a school principal in the area. The suspect is said to have assaulted the principal for punishing his son. According to the Police, eye witness have said that when the Samurdhi officer visited the school, he had seen his son picking dried leaves from under a tree in the compound and confronted the principal. When he was told that the boy had hidden behind a wall, when the principal was approaching more..

Sep 19 (DM) The Kottawa Ananda Vidaylaya Principal, who was remanded on charges of having solicited a sexual bribe from a child�s mother, was today released on bail by a Colombo Court. Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya also warned the suspect Mahanama Geeganage Dharmadasa to refrain from intimidating or interfering with the complainant or the prosecution witnesses. The Magistrate said bail would be cancelled if he received any complaints of more..