Apr 3 (SL) Former army commander, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka says the body of LTTE leader V Prabhakaran was buried and not burnt. Fonseka said that Prabhakaran�s body was found in the Nandikadal lagoon following the final battle between the army and the LTTE. However, the newly appointed diplomat and former army commander, General Daya Ratnayake was quoted as saying that Prabhakaran�s body was burnt after it was discovered & ashes were thrown into the sea. more..

Apr 3 (SL) An urgent cabinet reshuffle is likely to take place with at least five cabinet ministers set to lose their posts. Cabinet reshuffle is expected to take place after PM Ranil Wickremesinghe returns from his official visit to China. He is scheduled to visit China from April 6-9 following which the cabinet reshuffle will take place. Cohabitation govt consists of members of UNP, SLFP and others who backed President more..

Apr 3 (SO) Project Management and Monitoring Department of the Finance Ministry will submit a report to PM Ranil Wickremesinghe next week on the status of State-owned Enterprises on preparing the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the first quarter of the year. The concept of KPIs has been introduced to all State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) to streamline organisational activities and enhance productivity levels. Department has set April 15 as the deadline for all SOEs to report their KPIs. more..

Apr 3 (CT) A group of foreigners were worshipping before the Thevani Amman Temple situated on the right hand side of the famous Kataragama Devale. Normally foreigners visit Kataragama which is worshipped by people of all faiths. But this group was remarkable due to their white clothes and calm behaviour. They were from Belgium, predominantly a Roman Catholic country. But there are many free thinkers in Belgium. The special feature of this group of devotees is that they are visiting more..

Apr 3 (CT) Navy and the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) in a joint offshore operation Friday night arrested 14 foreign nationals and returned to shore with a massive haul of 101 kilograms of heroin with a street value of Rs.1 billion. Eleven of the 14 suspects arrested were on the boat bringing the heroin from Pakistan to Sri Lanka. 3 others were arrested on land. 14 suspects were apprehended after a series of investigations more..

Apr 3 (SL) The CID has commenced investigations regarding the elephants gifted by the former President Rajapaksa through a deed of grant, said ASP Ruwan Gunasekera. The Attorney General had informed the magistrate�s court that an investigation should be carried out regarding these gifted elephants, and as a result the investigation was initiated. The state council stated before the Colombo magistrates court that attention had been focused on six such gifted elephants. more..

Apr 3 (ST) Many SL banks are beefing up monitoring and surveillance mechanisms following February�s near US$ 100 million hack-in heist involving banks in SL and Bangladesh and US Federal Reserve. �As soon as we heard about this (heist) we reviewed our Know Your Customer (KYC) mechanisms and other surveillance according to SWIFT�s security recommendations. We found that we�re in line with it,� Jegan Durairatnam, CEO Commercial Bank (Commercial) said. more..

Apr 3 (ST) Sri Lankans are to be named envoys to countries where there is no diplomatic representation now, but they will be required to operate from an office in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo. This is one of the measures the Govt will adopt under a re-structuring programme, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said. Those to be named, he said, would be persons with some financial ability. more..

Apr 3 (SO) A full inquiry needs to be conducted on the recent discovery of explosives and the suicide vest found in Chavakachcheri, without simply dismissing the threat to national security, Prof. G.L. Peiris said shortly after making a statement to the CID yesterday. �I merely quoted Northern Province Governor Reginald Cooray�s statement that the life of President Maithripala Sirisena might be at risk, which shows that these suicide vests could have been meant for him,� Peiris said more..

Apr 3 (SO) Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) is severely constrained due to lack of staff, delaying both investigations and the issuing of reports, COPE Chairman Sunil Handunnetti said. COPE at present has only five staff members and is crippled by the lack of resources to facilitate the vital parliamentary committee. At present, COPE is scrutinising the 25 State-owned enterprises but fear serious delays in conducting investigations and the release of reports, he said. more..

Apr 3 (CT) We have nothing to do with this heist. And for starters, we are not an NGO, we are a Foundation, said a visibly annoyed Shalika Perera whose Foundation, Shalika Foundation rose to notoriety over one of the largest cyber heists in history. On 4 February, unknown hackers managed to orchestrate 35 fraudulent transfer instructions to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in an attempt to steal US$ 1 billion more..

Apr 3 (SL) Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has been approached and asked to consider entering Parliament through the SLFP. A group of SLFP seniors have had talks with Rajapaksa and President Maithripala Sirisena in this regard, sources said. Senior SLFP member and Minister John Seneviratne confirmed that some SLFP seniors are in talks with Gotabhaya. He said that SLFP seniors are of the opinion that Gotabhaya should be given a key post in the party. more..

Apr 3 (ST) Indian builder, IVRCL Infrastructure Company, which is at the centre of death and destruction in Kolkata where a flyover being built by it crumbled killing 24 people and injuring scores, has been involved in low-cost housing in Sri Lanka through a subsidiary. This is believed to be a Maligawatte project for which another contractor, MTD Walkers, completed piling work in January 2013. During the tenure of Rajapaksas, Indian company announced that it was awarded more..

Apr 3 (ST) Govt this week stepped up efforts to resuscitate the country�s economy in the wake of a looming financial crisis. Towards this end, top level talks got under way on Friday with an IMF mission which arrived in Colombo the previous day. It is headed by Todd Schneider who has led previous IMF missions to SL. Representing the govt were PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ministers Ravi Karunanayake, Malik Samarawickrema, more..

Apr 3 (Island) The PM was on his case again � mocking GL Peiris if he had ever lit a firecracker in life to warrant his newfound enthusiasm about explosives. The former minister, who found a cabinet chair in every govt of every hue from 1994 to 2014, is now the Joint Opposition�s one-stop spokesperson in spite of his not finding a national-list seat in parliament. He has written and spoken on half a dozen topics in as many days, but hardly leaving any mark on anyone�s mind. more..

Apr 3 (Island) Minister Kabir Hashim�s revelations on SriLankan Airlines (UL), published last Sunday did not reveal anything new. The public have been hearing of excesses of the Rajapaksa administration both at SriLankan Airlines (UL) and other state owned enterprises since January 9, 2015. What the general public would like to know is what has been done by this govt since then and the present Board of Directors (BoD) appointed on Feb 12, 2015 to turn around the airline. more..

Apr 3 (ST) Here is food for thought for promoters of the Economic and Technology Co-operation Agreement (ETCA) between India and Sri Lanka. A Sri Lankan businessman was invited by an Indian outfit to talk about the settlement of a claim he has made. A committee of four was appointed to go into the matter. After hours of small talk, with no settlement in sight, and in sheer disgust, local chappie told his counterparts more..

Apr 3 (SO) A new Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out on the Chinese-funded Colombo Port City Project is inadequate and requires technical defects to be addressed before sea reclamation resumes, a local team of experts has recommended. Following a fresh study, the experts argue that there is conflict of interest among agencies involved in the EIA, such as Uni Consultancy Services, affiliated to more..

Apr 3 (Island) At a time there is a concerted effort to dismantle barriers and legislate the right to information, a politically appointed panjandrum at the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) has gagged officials down the line with a firm warning to shun the media, insiders said. "We are helpless as there are strict instructions in place that only this bureaucrat is now authorized to give information to journalists", says a director, more..

Apr 3 (ST) A govt probe into a massive vehicle registration fraud running into billions of rupees at the Motor Traffic Department (MTD) has come to a standstill as some 500 files with motor registrations have gone missing. Case of missing 500 files at the MTD came to light following a recent directive issued by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to submit those files to Auditor General immediately for an audit more..

Apr 3 (SO) The growth of Sri Lanka�s commercial floriculture industry is constrained by the absence of proper Research and Development (R&D) and easy access to technologies on breeding and post harvest management, industry, experts said. The potential of the industry as a foreign exchange earner is yet to be tapped. �We need to set up a national policy and strategy for the industry, setting up a body dedicated to develop more..

Apr 3 (ST) Amid a major controversy and protest over the delay in LG elections, the mandate of the committee dealing with demarcation of boundaries of local council wards has been extended till August 31, committee sources said. Local Govt Minister Faiszer Musthapha this week signed the extension letter as the committee�s previous mandate expired on March 31. He said this was done in view of the piles of complaints more..

Apr 3 (CT) Jaffna GA N. Vethanayahan says over 28,000 applications have already been received for the 65,000 houses to be constructed by well-known French steel corporate construction giant Arcelor Mittal, with more applications flowing in daily. Arcelor Mittal will construct 11,000 houses within one year under its agreement with the Ministry of Resettlement. 365 applications have been received from more..

Apr 3 (SO) CEB is moving quickly to double the national buffer stock of electricity to 4,600 Mw from 2,300 Mw to provide uninterrupted supply even if there is a failure in the major power generation stations. The present buffer stock is 2,300 Mw, but the recent demand surpassed it to 3,900 Mw. Meanwhile, PM Ranil Wickremesinghe has directed the CEB to call for proposals for the supply of electricity on a short term basis more..

Apr 3 (SL) Following last week�s expose titled Weerawansa Family and Friends Joyride at State Expense� shocking revelations have now come to light as to how the Presidential Secretariat under former President Mahinda Rajapaksa spent several millions of rupees to lease luxury vehicles for those who were near and dear to him. Similar to how the State Engineering Corporation under Wimal Weerawansa hired vehicles more..

Apr 3 (DM) The Police would now constantly monitor CCTV footage for traffic violations in the Colombo city, ASP Ruwan Gunasekara said. The pilot project is to be implemented tomorrow. He said motorists would be informed of the fines or court dates through post. �The motorists would then have to come to the relevant Police Station to collect the necessary charge sheet and pay their fines or appear in a court,� he said. more..

Apr 3 (Island) If it ain�t broke, fix it. This clearly goes against conventional wisdom. Yet hacking the system is something anyone can and should do. It is vital to democracy. You don�t need to be Snowden, Assange or Manning. You don�t need to take the mad risks Wael Ghonim or Sombat Boonngamonanong undertook willingly. We can all do it. And we must, because if we don�t, history will likely repeat itself. And in SL this means reliving a bloody past best memorialised, not relived. more..

Apr 3 (Island) There is a buzz around this topic for obvious reasons and this brief primer is an attempt to provide a few theoretical insights in laymen�s language. I will deal mostly with general principles or with events of some time ago and not touch on the blackouts of Sept 2015, Feb 2016 and March 2016 because of my involvement in some aspects of an ongoing investigation. There are different ways in which to approach the topic and I have chosen to do so under the subheadings more..

Apr 3 (AD) The authorities must not hide the truth about facts surrounding the reports on ammunition and explosives that found from a house in Chawakatchcheri, former President Rajapaksa stressed. The observation was made during an event held in Bulnewa area in Anuradhapura. He went on to say the silence of govt would mislead the public and, therefore urged the authorities to disclose the true situation. �Some say these explosives had been there for several years. more..

Apr 3 (SL) The CID has taken over investigations into the discovery of a suicide jacket and explosives in the North last week, police spokesman ASP Ruwan Gunasekera said. The suicide jacket and explosives were found at a house in Chavakachcheri in Jaffna last week on information received by the police. The police said that three parcels found in the house contained 12kg of TNT explosives. The police also found 100 bullets and batteries used to trigger explosives. more..

Apr 3 (CT) Veteran actor Ravindra Randeniya quips character assassination without any basis is SL's national pastime. Some say "Ravindra Randeniya has done nothing for the film industry, he only destroyed it. I won't have to listen to such talks if I migrated to another country." Q: How did Boniface Perera become Ravindra Randeniya? A: At the time I first entered world of cinema, there was a senior actor named Boniface Fernando. more..

Apr 3 (Island) Condemning the recent brutal terrorist attacks in Brussels, the leader of the Jana Setha Peramuna, Ven. Battaramulle Seelaratana thera expressed his sympathies to the families of those killed in the explosions and wished the injured a fast recovery. The prelate met with David Daly, Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and the Maldives at the EU office in Colombo and handed over a memorandum outlining some key issues. more..

Apr 3 (TOO) Eyeing travelers planning to spend summer vacation in Sri Lanka and Far East destinations, Mihin Lanka, has increased its flight frequency from Muscat to Colombo, a top official from the airline�s Muscat office said. �We have increased the frequency from five flights a week to daily. We want to give our passengers increased connectivity. This is a great time to increase the number of flights as summer is a peak season for travelling,� Deepal Pallegangoda, more..

Apr 3 (DM) The countries, of the 14 suspects who were arrested while attempting to smuggle 101 kg of heroin into SL, have been informed of their capture. Police Tourist Division had informed the relevant embassies in Colombo. The Sri Lanka Navy and the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB) in a joint operation carried out in the sea off southern SL on Wednesday seized largest ever heroin haul being smuggled via boats. more..

Apr 3 (SO) The murder investigation of Lasantha Wickrematunge, the founder editor of the Sunday Leader is to be completed in the coming weeks, after several snags that delayed the process. The investigation was handed over to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) last week by the Police Department. According to the information currently available with the authorities, one murder suspect had mysteriously died in jail while the other has been released on bail. more..

Apr 3 (ST) The suspect arrested over the detection of a suicide jacket, explosives and ammunition in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna was brought to Colombo yesterday for further investigation by Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) officials. The TID came to the scene after Acting IGP S. M. Wickramasinghe handed over the investigation to the anti terrorism unit of the police under supervision of a senior DIG. Based on a tip-off, the police recovered from a house located at more..

Apr 3 (CT) In a shocking revelation, the Committee of Inquiry into the Prison Incident (CIPI), appointed to investigate the gruesome Welikada Prison incident, finds that what occurred on 9 Nov 2012 was in gross violation of widely accepted basic Human Rights of the prisoners. Thus, it recommends, based on the material that surfaced during its sittings, the necessity to conduct a fresh independent criminal investigation, forthwith, more..

Apr 3 (SL) As part of govt moves to restructure state owned enterprises, 185 employees of Lanka Salusala are to be sent home on voluntary basis. Govt is introducing voluntary retirement schemes to restructure loss making state institutions. Lanka Salusala has 215 employees and of this 185 are to be paid compensation and sent home on voluntary basis. Sources said that the voluntary retirement scheme for Lanka Salusala is expected to be completed by the end of this month. more..

Apr 3 (DM) A military show which is going to be a tourist attraction will be held in Galle in August this year. PM Ranil Wickremesinge said over the weekend. The premier said this to the youth whom he met when visiting them at the Yovun Pura youth camp in Sigiriya. He gave a variety of pledges to the youth when visiting each stalls erected by them representing all districts. Accordingly, he told the Hambantota youth that the govt will make the airport in Mattala commercially viable. more..