Aug 2 (CT) Govt�s crusade against the expanding markets of narcotics both illegal and legal, are fought on, albeit at a lesser pace and efficiency anyone of us would like it to be. While the international debate on how to fight the war is still being debated - whether we advocate Rodrigo Duterte�s alt-right drive to kill any peddler, seller, supplier or junkie out on the street or we legalize a selected handful of narcotics - SL�s take on the drug is rather conventional and traditional, more..

Aug 2 (FT) Foreign Direct Investment or FDI is the new topic in SL but it is something that changed the trade dynamics decades ago and is the sole reason for countries like China, Singapore and Malaysia to be leading economic players in the world today. FDI is the oxygen for trade in an increasingly globalised world. Today China with its One Belt and One Road Initiative which is the much acclaimed project of President Xi Jingping aims to connect China to the world with a mammoth investment of more..

Aug 2 (GDI) Ministry of Agriculture has decided to provide a fertilizer subsidy of Rs. 18,000 per hectare for the farmers using organic fertilizer for their cultivations. Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has taken this decision in order to encourage the farmers using organic fertilizer and accordingly, has given necessary instructions to the officials to proceed with the measure. Instead of the fertilizer subsidy offered to farmers using chemical fertilizers, the organic farmers will receive the money. more..

Aug 2 (AD) UNP Central Provincial Councilor Tissa Bandara Herath and a private security officer of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) were admitted to Dambulla Hospital yesterday after sustaining injuries during a tense situation involving the police and the spectators at the Dambulla Int'l Cricket Stadium. Two youths in Dambulla area have been arrested in connection with the assault, said Dambulla police. As the spectators were leaving the stadium after a match, one individual had escaped after more..

Aug 2 (NH) Immigration NZ is being forced to review more than 800 student visas after uncovering a scam operating out of Sri Lanka. It found students applying to come here would use a finance company willing to claim they had enough money to support themselves. New Zealand's a magnet for sub-continent students wanting a better education, but from time to time, illegal means are used to get here. more..

Aug 2 (NR) Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne says the Joint Opposition is engaged in a futile attempt to overthrow the govt. Minister said the group is engaging in protests in a bid to cover up charges related to corruption and to bring disrepute to development projects currently underway. Minister charged they wished to take over power as soon as possible so that cases filed against their leaders can be done away with adding that was their real objective. more..

Aug 2 (AD) Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) owner Arjun Aloysius and CEO Kasun Palisena have been further remanded until August 9 by the Colombo Fort Magistrate. Meanwhile the former PTL Chief Dealer Nuwan Salgado and IT officer Sachitra Devathanthri, who were arrested by the CID this morning, have been granted bail after being produced before the Fort Magistrate. They were ordered released on a surety bail of Rs 300,000 each. However, the court barred them from more..

Aug 2 (DM) Referring to the Govt�s decision to increase the salaries of MPs, the JO said today it was unfair to increase the salaries at this juncture, when people were crushed with undue taxes imposed on them. It was reported that the salaries of all MPs were to be increased by approximately 215% to be on par with the recent salary increase given to Judges. The need to increase salaries had come up for discussion at more..

Aug 2 (CT) Attorney General should tell the country on what grounds charges are being filed with regard to cases that are being heard in the Special High Courts and on what basis cases are being selected, former Chief Justice Sarath Silva said. Serious charges are being mounted against the Govt that the Special High Courts have been set up to jail individuals hostile to the Govt and doubt has arisen in the minds of the public regarding the filing of indictments & selection of cases, Silva noted. more..

Aug 2 (DM) Seven men attached to the Ava Gang had been attested yesterday in Manipay, Jaffna for breaking into houses and damaging property, the Police said. They said the arrests were made during a special raids carried out in Manipay to arrest those engaged in inflicting damages to vehicles, looting motorcycles and damaging houses and properties. Three motorcycles used by the youths were also taken into custody. The arrested youth were aged between 19 and 22 and more..

Aug 2 (DM) Private and public medical officers will launch a 24 hour work stoppage from 8 am tomorrow urging the authorities to resolve ten issues which impact health professionals and the general public. The GMOA last week called for a work stoppage over ten trade union demands including the revision of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Singapore and reduction of high taxation upon medical officers and private hospitals. more..

Aug 2 (CT) Doctors commenced a leaflet campaign in public places since yesterday citing their 10 demands, including an Amendment to the Disturbance, Availability and Transport (DAT) allowance paid to them. Addressing the Media in Colombo on 31 July, Secretary of the GMOA, Dr. Haritha Aluthge said that his Union had held discussions with the Secretary to the Treasury on 7 June. It had been agreed at the time that according to the recommended amendments by more..

Aug 2 (Island) Ven. Prof. Medagoda Abhayatissa Thera, Principal of Pepiliyana Sunthradevi Maha Privena, highlighting what he called the danger of the govt bid to regulate the Sasana, appealed to the Most Venerable Mahanayake Theras of Mawlatte and Asgiriya to take urgent to get the govt to abandon its move. Thera called on the chief prelates of Mawlatte and Asgiriya and leading members of the Karaka Maha Sangha Sabhas, to brief them on dangers of proposed Sanghadhikarana Bill more..

Aug 2 (PMD) President Maithripala Sirisena vested the newly built playground in the Royal College, Polonnaruwa with the students, today. The playground built at a cost of Rs.80.6 million under the Pibidemu Polonnaruwa (Awakening of Polonnaruwa) District Development Programme. This playground built as the first step to take the game of cricket from towns to villages and it is the hope of the President to see the game more..

Aug 2 (CT) JO MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage is suing the Chief of the FCID, Senior DIG Ravi Waidyalankara to the tune of Rs 50 million for defamation. Aluthgamage has filed papers in the Colombo District Court against SDIG Waidyalankara claiming that by arresting and producing him in Court, under the Offences against Public Property Act, the latter had thereby defamed him. The respondents in this case are Waidyalankara and the Officer-In-Charge of the FCID Ranasinghe. more..

Aug 2 (DM) Two men were arrested by the STF with 132 kilos of Kerala ganja, valued at Rs. Rs. 13.2 million, in Mannar, while they were attempting to transport the stock to Colombo this morning. The arrests were made during a raid carried out by the STF following a tip-off that a person was trying to transport a stock of Kerala ganja which had arrived from India to Colombo. They said 59 parcels weighing more than two kilos each, had been concealed in a forest at the time of detection. more..

Aug 2 (AD) Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa says that his intention was to provide houses for the low income people living in Colombo city in order to increase their quality of life. Speaking during an event in Wellawatta, he said that the objective of the programme carried out by him during his time as the Defence Secretary was to remove the shanty homes and turn Colombo into an attractive city. more..

Aug 2 (CB) Niroshan Dickwella acknowledged Sri Lanka were far from where they want to be on the field as they slipped to a second consecutive loss against South Africa in the five-match ODI series in Dambulla. South Africa chased down 244 with four wickets in hand after half-centuries from Angelo Mathews and Dickwella lifted the hosts to a modest total. Sri Lanka have now lost their last ten ODIs against South Africa and are finding it hard to find a solution to the issue. more..

Aug 2 (SLC) Sri Lanka Under-19 pulled off an emphatic 5-wicket win over the India Under-19 in the second one-day match thanks to an unbeaten captain�s knock of 92 by Nipun Dananjaya Perera to level the 5-match series 1-all at the SSC grounds on Thursday. The Lankans thus registered their first win in the home tour versus their counterparts having lost the two test matches and the first one-dayer. The home team chased down a target of 194 with 26 deliveries to spare more..

Aug 2 (AFP) Sri Lanka's cricket authorities Thursday shelved long-delayed plans for a Twenty20 competition akin to the massively lucrative Indian Premier League, instead announcing a local tournament with no foreign players. With an eye on the billions of dollars and millions of viewers drawn to the IPL, the island nation launched its own premier league in 2012 but the competition was a flop, lasting just one edition. more..

Aug 2 (DM) Ambassador to Qatar A.S.P. Liyanage who was accused by Deputy Minister Buddhika Pathirana of running the Sri Lankan school in Qatar for money instead of executing the diplomatic duties entrusted to him, said that he would resign from his ambassador post if the deputy minister proved the allegations made against him. Deputy Minister Pathirana at a press briefing on Tuesday said that the President, PM and the Foreign Ministry should take action against the ambassador more..

Aug 2 (NYT) Pope Francis has declared the death penalty inadmissible in all cases because it is an attack on the dignity of the person, the Vatican announced, in a definitive shift in Roman Catholic teaching that could put enormous pressure on lawmakers and politicians around the world. Francis, who has spoken out against capital punishment before � including in 2015 in an address to Congress � added the change to the Catechism, the collection of beliefs for the world�s more..

Aug 2 (TG) Iron cannons installed by the Dutch to ward off colonial rivals still line Galle Face Green, a grassy, mile-long promenade along the Colombo seafront. Further out to sea, within range of the guns, a new world power is leaving its mark on SL�s capital. Currently, Port City is just a flat expanse of blank land jutting out into the ocean, growing a fraction larger each day, as dredging ships pour what will eventually amount to more..

Aug 3 (DN) After being out of the limelight of a few years, provincial councils are back in focus, with elections to three of them now overdue and polls to the other councils also due before the next presidential and general elections in 2020. Not surprisingly, the JO, now operating as the SLPP in its new political incarnation, is agitating for elections to the three provincial councils that are overdue to be held immediately. These are the councils in North Central Province, Eastern Province and more..

Aug 3 (CT) In 2014, a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that Sri Lanka ranked fourth highest in suicide rate among a total of 172 countries. On Oct 2017, according to Tamil Guardian, a young mother with three children in the North, unable to cope with heavy debts, had committed suicide. A month before that her husband also took his life because of the same problem. On 16 may 2018, the same source noted seventeen suicides in the East, because of pressure more..

Aug 3 (SO) The controversy of the National Archives which was pulled into the Central Bank bond whirlpool recently, with claims of certain pages of the Bond Commission report going missing, is getting murkier with Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe allegedly hinting that he might institute an internal inquiry. The inquiry will be to probe a decision to shift the procedure of monitoring the Dept�s confidential documents division. more..

Aug 3 (CT) The million dollar question is why have Rotarians and Lions (i) not taken on Mangala Samaraweera, Finance and Media Minister head-on and challenged him to name the Presidents he alleged with personal knowledge are Sri Lanka�s top dealers in illicit drugs? (ii) not filed a defamation case against him for his failure to withdraw his allegations in full? Is the reluctance due to fear it may open a Pandora�s box? It is unbecoming for leaders of Rotary and Lions to behave like more..

Aug 3 (Island) Everybody and every local newspaper spoke much about Imran Khan. Cassandra went one step further: she read a couple of pieces in foreign newspapers; listened to video interviews with the man and got to know more about him who has rightly hogged Asian news this last week. His Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (translates to Movement for Justice) Party won the elections and he has been granted the fulfillment of his ambition nurtured patiently all these years, more..

Aug 3 (CT) State Minister of Power and Renewable Energy, Ajith P. Perera says the death penalty is the choice of naive inefficient rulers. Q: Is Ajith P Perera among the UNP MPs who are disappointed with the Party? A: No. I am not disappointed, but, I am in the battle. When people are disappointed they abandon everything and leave. I have understood the shortcomings and will battle towards correcting those and more..

Aug 3 (DN) The notion of the state has been examined and clarified from the time of Plato and Aristotle. Caesar acknowledged his indebtedness to Plato in stating what a state should be. Cicero�s idea that the State is the affair or property of the people, and its mission is to be a community, a community of subordinate autonomous communities, a commonwealth for ethical purposes; if it fails in its mission, it is nothing. From then onwards while ideas regarding the state have developed, more..

Aug 3 (CT) Many citizens would like to do more for the country and its less fortunate citizens but we lack the drive, the funds, the time, or all three. Standing apart from the self-serving, it�s heart-warming to know there are genuine silent heroes whose only objective is to help the disadvantaged. These good Samaritans shy away from the limelight or at the most share updates on social media for the benefit of their supporters and sponsors. Here are three examples of everyday heroism: more..

Aug 3 (CT) The Cabinet otogether with the Ministries of Finance and Health must be commended for its accomplishments in the sphere of tobacco control, with SL maintaining an unassailable lead in the global campaign against smoking. With an effective ban on public place smoking, purchase restrictions for those below 21 years and health warnings dominating cigarette packaging, Sri Lankans have gotten unaccustomed to the once familiar sight of people smoking on streets, at offices and more..

Aug 3 (Island) Documents relating to a draft Constitution intended for discussion only are now out in the public domain. These documents are the work of a panel of 10 experts. The Resolution setting up a Constitutional Assembly intended them to synthesize the opinions contained in the reports of the 6 sub-committees appointed by the Steering Committee, into a form that would embody the makings of the draft constitution. Although it was expected that there would be a single report more..

Aug 3 (Roar) With towering new hotels and luxury apartments taking over the skyline, a bird sanctuary is the last thing you would expect in Slave Island. Yet, this part of town is precisely that. Whenever an injured bird is spotted in the vicinity, the residents rescue it and pass it on to Firi Rahman, a well-known resident of the area. An artist by profession, Firi Rahman, 28, divides his time between creating minutely detailed, more..

Aug 3 (DN) Sri Lanka Open ITF Senior Tennis Championship commenced yesterday at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts and will continue until August 6. Yesterday�s most senior event, the Over 55 singles saw Lankan ace Suresh Subramaniam beating the second seed Indian counterpart P. R. Raju 6/4, 6/1 in the first round while India�s Tahir Ali was conceded victory by his team mate N. M. Raju Penmetsa who had to retire during the first set (4/2Ret.). more..

Aug 3 (ST) Koggala in the deep South seems to be the new hotspot for country style horizontal living complexes, property analysts say. Koggala is a laid-back resort town set between a lush tropical lagoon and one of the finest beaches in all Sri Lanka, where modern amenities and leisure facilities meet a rich cultural and historical tradition, they say. The trend to start country style housing in this area was initiated by Catalina, the first-ever luxury independent living. more..

Aug 3 (ST) Amateur Rowing Association of SL (ARASL) is planning on a widespread programme to introduce Rowing to outstations, to increase its populairty islandwide. ARASL President Rohan Fernando said that the programme has already been initiated in the South, adding that, it will reach the North and East soon. �The ARASL started off the programme Dakunata Rowing (Rowing to the South) and already more..

Aug 3 (Island) Wildlife and Regional Development Minister Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka has drawn heavy flak from animal rights activists for trying to remove two elephants from the Sinharaja forest. Transport Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, of all people, is the other govt worthy who may come under fire from the animal rights groups. Why? He has insulted wild animals by likening private bus drivers to them. He, however, is not the first to have done so. more..