Nov 9 (CI) Ranjan Madugalle looks back on his playing days in SL, and his years as an ICC official. Your early days were spent in Kandy? A: I was born in Kandy. My father was a career public servant. Most of them end up in Colombo when they move on in their job. So did he. I moved to Colombo when I was about 12. I had my formative education at Trinity College, Kandy, and completed my education in Colombo at Royal College. more..

Nov 9 (CT) Sri Lanka women's cricket team that was completely outclassed by Australia women's outfit in the recent past will look for an immediate improvement when they take on England in the first of the four-match ODI series which gets underway at the SSC today. The hosts will be led by newly appointed captain Inoka Ranaweera after the National Selectors had lost patience with former skipper Chamari Atapattu who had a disappointing few months as a leader and a player. more..

Nov 9 (CT) Professor Arjuna de Silva believes that Ministry of Sports must remove bodybuilding from National Sports Festival (NSF) as it is not considered as an Olympic Sport. "Bodybuilding is not an Olympic Sport, but as we all know it does feature in the NSF. In my opinion bodybuilding should not be a part of the National Sports Festival anymore," de Silva told journalists during a press conference held after the 2-day Board Meeting of South Asian Regional Anti-Doping Org more..

Nov 9 (CI) In isolation, the final session on day three was among Zimbabwe's best in the series. They attacked, and bowled with purpose and intensity to take four Sri Lankan wickets. But having conceded a 232-run first-innings lead due to a series of injudicious shots against spin, they were left to play catch-up yet again. Sri Lanka, who went into stumps on 102 for 4, had opened up a 334-run lead with two days remaining. more..

Nov 9 (FT) The banking community yesterday pledged that it would do whatever it took to stop the Finance Minister�s forthcoming budget proposal on raising the threshold on the leasing of motor vehicles, terming it an idiotic proposal. Daily FT learns that Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake at a meeting yesterday informed all bank CEOs that he was going to raise the leasing threshold for the banks to Rs. 15 million, insisting that they avoid obstructing the proposal. more..

Nov 9 (DN) Hayleys recorded a sharp increase of 18% Year-on-Year (YOY) increase in revenue, with growth in Construction, Agriculture, and Hand Protection sectors supporting the Group to post revenue in excess of Rs. 52 billion by the end of the first half of 2016 (1H16). Hayleys Chairman, Mohan Pandithage said it has been a challenging but rewarding first half for Hayleys. �While the systemic issues in the Sri Lankan Plantation sector did have a negative effect on the bottom line, more..

Nov 9 (ENS) Muslim Personal Law Reforms Action Group (MPLRAG) has said that Sri Lanka is duty bound to carry out reforms in the archaic Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) 1951 in accord with the international human rights covenants it has signed. In 2010 the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Committee reminded Sri Lanka that its statutory and personal laws discriminate more..

Nov 9 (NS) National Shoora Council views with alarm news reports that the Govt is planning to amend the Muslim Personal Law in Sri Lanka in order to qualify for GSP Plus status. The GSP+ status for Sri Lanka was withdrawn by the European Union during the tenure of the previous Govt on account of the deteriorating human rights situation in Sri Lanka. This related mainly to the violation of civil and political rights in the country. The present Govt since it assumed office, more..

Nov 9 (ST) Sri Lanka�s stock market regulator which is probing Claridge Stockbrokers, part of Mackwoods Group, over non-compliance issues has decided to further extend the renewal date of Claridge�s licence. Claridge transferred sales funds to Browns Group (Browns) despite the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issuing a directive suspending the sale of a 60.8 per cent stake in Agalawatte Plantations Plc owned by Mackwoods Plantations Pvt Ltd to Browns. more..

Nov 9 (ST) SL agriculture production of certain crops has dropped sharply this year owing to the ban on pesticides and weedicides with experts warning of a situation where the country�s food security is at stake. Top level agricultural research scientist professionals say banning chemical fertiliser and widespread campaigns carried out against the use of these material has reduced agriculture production in Sri Lanka. more..

Nov 9 (DN) The French Agency for Development (AFD) will provide 90 million Euros for a township development in Anuradhapura bringing the total funding by the French agency to 340 million Euros by the end of 2017. AFD Sri Lanka Country Director Martin Parent said they are over 57 years old and the organisation first entered Sri Lanka in 2005. This was on a request of the French Govt, for post-tsunami projects for 89 million Euros. �Since then Sri Lanka has borrowed around more..

Nov 9 (DM) Members of the joint opposition are pressuring and threatening Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya to hold local govt elections, JHU National Organizer Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe said. He said such pressure on the EC could lead to an election without implementing the proposed electoral reforms but instead under the much criticized previous preferential voting system. Mr. Warnasinghe said the LG polls were going to be held under the preferential voting system more..

Nov 9 (Island) The proposed new Constitution would lead to the division of the country according to the report of the Sub Committee on Centre-Periphery Relations, MP Wimal Weerawansa said. He said JO had predicted that new constitution project would endanger the territorial integrity of the country. "According to the report, it is being proposed to relieve the centre of the power of policy making and vest it in provincial councils" more..

Nov 9 (DN) Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said that 2017 Budget will be a pro-growth budget which will focus on the deficiencies for the last several years. The budget would have proposals to rectify all the anomalies that are there to deal with export sector to create jobs, he said in a statement. Minister will present the third budget of the National Unity Govt of President Maithripala Sirisena and the PM Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday at 2 pm in Parliament. more..

Nov 9 (CT) The Mannar Police arrested five suspects at dawn yesterday (8) with a stock of heroin worth Rs 20.2 million, which was being transported to Vankaalai in Mannar through the sea route from India. Police investigations have revealed that, drugs which are taken from Mannar to the middle of seas by drug racketeers, under the GPRS exchange of messages, and drug smugglers from India to Mannar exchange the drugs at sea with the racketeers in this country. more..

Nov 9 (CG) British Govt noted the need for Sri Lanka to ensure accountability for allegations of sexual violence. British Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office�Baroness Joyce Anelay,�speaking at an event at British HC in Colombo at the conclusion of a visit to Sri Lanka, said that there is much more to do in Sri Lanka, both to end sexual violence and to secure long term peace and stability. more..

Nov 9 (PTI) A group of Tamil Nadu fishermen were forced to return without any catch after SL naval personnel allegedly snapped their fishing nets while they were fishing off Katchatheevu. Over 3,000 fishermen from this coastal town had put out to sea in 641 mechanised boats last evening, and were fishing near Katchatheevu when the naval men rounded up nearly 30 boats and cut off the fishing nets before asking them to return, TN Fishermen Association General Secretary NJ Bose said. more..

Nov 9 (DN) Minister Sagala Ratnayaka yesterday directed his Ministry Secretary Jagath Wijeweera to conduct a full scale investigation into an incident where a group of persons who forcibly attempted to enter the Presidential Secretariat on Monday was dispersed by police using tear gas. The Ministry Secretary has been ordered to be submit the relevant report on or before November 10, a release issued by the Law and Order and Southern Development Ministry said. more..

Nov 9 (Island) Alleging that those who had committed mega bond scams in Feb. 2015 and March 2016 had gone scot free, Joint Opposition revealed its intention to seek immediate intervention by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Former Minister G.L. Peiris said that having examined the situation, JO felt the urgent need to bring alleged scams on the watch of Singaporean national Arjuna Mahendran as the Governor of the CB. more..

Nov 9 (DN) Public Health Inspectors (PHIs), Public Health Laboratory Technicians (PHLTs), and Health Entomology Officers (HEOs) will launch a token strike tomorrow. Token strike would take place from 8 am tomorrow�to 8 am on Thursday,�countrywide. Over 3,500 personnel belong to above categories are expected to participate in the token strike. PHIs, PHLT and HEO want certain parts of their training removed � they said some parts of the training given to them is akin to giving the same education more..

Nov 9 (Xinhua) Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose by 13.7% in October year-on-year with Indian and Chinese markets recording a commendable growth. More than 20,000 Chinese tourists arrived in Sri Lanka last month, up 19.8% from the same period last year. Indian tourist arrivals were 36,471 in October, a 19.3% increase year-on-year. Overall, Sri Lanka received 150,419 visitors last month and tourist arrivals in the first 10 months of this year have risen 14.6% to over 1.65 million. more..

Nov 9 (CT) PM said that first death anniversary of Ven. Sobhitha Thera was not the usual sort of commemoration of a worthy person but was also an �indictment of the govt and especially of its leaders by social conscious civil society activist groups who put in great effort to bring this govt into power. "What is happening at this commemoration is that we are being accused of unfulfilled pledges while we are in their very presence. more..

Nov 9 (DM) newly-formed journalists� movement has welcomed the National Govt�s draft policy for reconciliation and lasting peace, while stressing it is vital for this document to be taken beyond words or paper and implemented sincerely in consensus with all those committed to the principles of inter-religious unity and unity in diversity. In a media statement after a meeting on Monday, the Journalists� Movement for Media Ethics and Social Justice (JMMESJ) has described more..

Nov 9 (DM) Perhaps the Foreign Ministry is barking up the wrong tree. This time, it is China. All that began with certain remarks made by the Chinese Ambassador in Sri Lanka Yi Xianliang at a press conference last week. The Chinese envoy, responding to a question contradicted Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake over the latter�s claim that the Chinese loans were expensive. ��I talked with Ravi (Karunanayake) Minister of Finance. Ravi criticised this many times publicly. more..

Nov 9 (DM) Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, on behalf of the govt, will present the 2017 budget to Parliament tomorrow. This is his third budget. He says the govt has formulated this budget with the target of stimulating economic growth that would result in job creation and income generation. According to the Appropriation Bill presented ahead of the budget, the govt has planned to reduce the budget deficit this time. more..

Nov 9 (Island) Many an eyebrow was raised when the Joint Opposition claimed that the National Audit Bill couldn�t be approved during the SLFP-led UPFA administration due to the war against the LTTE. Top JO spokesman Bandula Gunawardena, MP, insisted that the then govt had been so busy fighting terrorists as the country was only interested in bringing the war against LTTE to a successful end, therefore National Audit Bill more..

Nov 9 (ST) A top environmental expert has urged the authorities to keep the new countrywide segregated waste plan simple to give it a chance to work. All 23 municipal councils will only collect segregated waste from now on, the Minister Faiszer Musthapha, said. People who do not dispose of garbage in the prescribed manner from Nov 1 will face stern legal action and even army help is being sought to enforce the rules. more..

Nov 9 (Hindu) The Central govt is willing to act as a guarantor to help resolve the problems of fishermen, says Pon. Radhakrishnan, Union Minister of State for Shipping. Asked why the Union govt should not give an assurance to fishermen of the Northern Province that it would ensure that Indian fishermen honour any agreement on the time frame for withdrawal of bottom trawling, Radhakrishnan, who participated in the talks more..

Nov 9 (DN) Colombo HC Judge has ordered that notice be given to Australian businessman Brian Shaddick and his wife to appear before the Court on March 9. They are to testify in connection to an indictment filed against MP Udaya Gammanpila and one another, for allegedly misappropriating Rs. 21 million in a fraudulent share transaction in 2000. Two accused Udaya Gammanpila and Sydney Jayasinghe are more..

Nov 9 (SL) Sequence of events that took place last week is to be in favour of the Founding Editor of The Sunday Leader Lasantha Wickrematunge and Senior Journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda murder and abduction investigations respectively. The removal of the Director, Military Intelligence Unit, Suresh Sallay, who was accused of concealing evidence into Wickrematunge murder suspects and Eknaligoda abduction suspects was more..

Nov 9 (DM) The Govt is all set to sign an agreement with the China Merchants Port Holding Company Limited on Jan 8 next year to transfer the Hambantota Port on a debt to equity swap. The date has been selected to coincide with the second anniversary of President Maithripala Sirisena assuming office. Cabinet discussed the matter at length yesterday. The debt to equity swap will be carried out as part of - more..

Nov 9 (DM) In accordance with the basic laws of the land, the management of state finances or public finances, come directly under the authority of the Parliament and its coordinator the Auditor General. However it appears to be doubtful whether this close alliance was guaranteed in the recent Central Bank Bond Issue. When queried, the Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe opined as follows. ��Q: �As envisaged in the 100 day more..

Nov 9 (DM) Injured pacer Lasith Malinga had refused the Annual Cricket Contract offered to him by his employer - Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) for the 2016/2017 period. Malinga, the world�s most feared limited over player with a sling arm action is recovering from a stress reaction in the knee. Malinga suffered the injury during SL's home series against the West Indies last November and has played only one competitive game since, more..

Nov 9 (IL) Donald Trump, the newly elected President of the United States, in his victory speech assured that the US would get along with all other nations which are willing to get along with the US. �We will have great relationships. We expect to have great, great relationships. No dream is too big, no challenge is too great. Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach,� he told supporters at Trump Hq in New York. more..

Nov 9 (CT) Unprincipled politics once again reared its ugly head in a shameless spectacle of disabled former soldiers and policemen being dispersed with water cannon and tear gas when they took the most ill-advised move of trying to break into the Presidential Secretariat premises. The nation remembers with some perplexity that the issue of these men being given their just demands such as pension rights, especially justified we might say because they have been deprived of their more..

Nov 9 (CT) Champika Ranawaka, at a convention held last week, spoke on private education and the Kannangara reforms. He spoke on international schools and argued that they should either be closed down or be integrated with the country. That is pertinent but certainly does raise some hairs. He then went on to imply that while we shouldn�t go on a rampage and shut down such schools in a hurry, nevertheless their proliferation must not be at the cost of (culturally and socially) more..

Nov 9 (Island) Third housing scheme of the Sheltering All by 2025, the concept of middle income housing project to build 500,000 houses as envisioned by PM Ranil Wickremesinghe will commence today with Minister Sajith Premadasa laying the foundation stone for Lavanya Heights scheme at Dambuatta in Ragama at 10 am. The scheme is a joint venture of National Housing Development Authority and Walkers, Chairman of NHDA Lakvijaya Sagara Palansuriya said. more..

Nov 9 (EN) Only one consortia of bidders submitted proposals for each of four civil work contract packages to build part of Sri Lanka�s Central Expressway, according to the ministry of highways. Contracts for the construction of a 39.29 kilometre section 2 of the Central Expressway project, from Meerigama to Kurunegala, were approved by the Cabinet this week. The ministry had invited proposals from pre-qualified consortia of bidders for all four contract packages in the project. more..

Nov 9 (CT) SC judge Eva Wanasundera has been reported to the CIABOC for judicial corruption. The complaint has been lodged by the Public Interest Rights Activist and a Lawyer Nagananda Kodituwakku yesterday. In the complaint lodged to the CIABOC, Kodituwakku said that he conducted an in-depth independent investigation into the National List provision in the Constitution, which permits, rejected candidates to enter more..