Jun 18 (CT) Secretary of the BBS, Galagoda Atte Gnanasara, currently serving a six months prison sentence with hard labor for verbally abusing Sandhya Ekneligoda, could lose his status as a Buddhist monk, according to Prof Medagoda Abhayatissa Thero. Speaking at a media conference Abhayatissa Thero said that according to the disciplinary texts, the Vinaya Pitakaya, a bikkhu who spends seven days out of the robe can lose his status as per the rule cheevara vippavaasi (residing out of the robe). more..

Jun 18 (AD) He has not been officially notified regarding a ministerial post which he will receive, says UNP MP Buddhika Pathirana. He made these comments responding to questions raised by the media, when he returned to Sri Lanka from overseas, yesterday. He continued to state that no notification has been made to him regarding the matter despite the various opinions of the media. He says that he has heard these comments for more than 3 years, and more..

Jun 18 (DM) Five suspects were arrested by the police in connection with a sword attack incident at Mallakam Junction in Tellippalai, Jaffna last night. SP Ruwan Gunasekara said a 33-year-old man was killed after police opened fire at a group who attempted to assault two policemen with swords. He said the two policemen of the Chunnakam Police Station who were on their way to attend a police duty at Telippalai area had noticed a clash between more..

Jun 18 (AD) One of the chief followers of Angoda Lokka, Asitha Premathilake alias Solta, who was allegedly involved in several shooting incidents, has been arrested along with a pistol, by the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD). The arrest was made today (18), at Borella. He is the main suspect for the murder of a person named Roshan Premalal alias Poli Roshan by shooting him at a pedestrian walk in Malabe and of a beautician named Manjula Abeyratna, according to the police. more..

Jun 18 (DM) Heavy traffic was reported along the D.R. Wijewardena Mawatha in Colombo 10 due to a protest march organised by a group of postal workers outside the Central Mail Exchange (CME. Postal Union workers launched a massive protest march from the CME) urging the Govt to resolve the issues with regard to the recruitment procedure. The protestors will hand over a petition to the Presidential Secretariat over the lethargic behaviour of the authorities to resolve the issues. more..

Jun 18 (EN) South Asian countries like Sri Lanka could make significant economic gains by improving international transport times, according to a new study by Asian Development Bank (ADB). The study on trade costs, time, and supply chain reliability said south Asian countries could reap major benefits by making the investments needed to improve connectivity and reducing transport times to key markets. It covered South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) countries more..

Jun 18 (Island) BBS General Secretary Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera who is serving six-month RI for intimidating Sandya Ekneligoda at a court in 2016, had participated in religious observances and preached dhamma to other inmates. Gnanasara Thera is currently in the R Ward of the Welikada prison along with 14 other inmates. He preached dhamma at a meditation programme for the inmates on Saturday night. He had refused to meet visitors yesterday, too, prison sources said. more..

Jun 18 (SM) Veteran singer and musician Ivor Dennis had passed away today (18) at his home in Seeduwa. He was 86. The funeral rites are to be held on June 20 at the Roman Catholic cemetary in Seeduwa. Ivor, who learnt music under maestro Sunil Santha, is complimented as a singer who represented three generations. In 1952, Ivor took part in a song competition at Radio Ceylon singing Sunil Santha�s Waren Heen Sare, Redhee Walave. Sunil Santha had listened to the song on the radio more..

Jun 18 (NR) Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam says the Education Ministry or the National Institute of Education has not taken any decision to remove History, Religion or Languages from the Ordinary Level curriculum. He vehemently rejected the rumours levelled by various parties who claimed that History, Religion or Languages will be removed from the O/Level curriculum. Minister alleged that there are attempts to mislead the people and the Maha Sangha through more..

Jun 18 (DN) Four suspects travelling in a car with a scanner to search for gold and gold jewellery allegedly hidden by the LTTE in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu during the last stages of the war were arrested by Vavuniya Police STF Officers at Nochchimotai. Vavuniya on June 15 morning. Officers seized the scanner and the vehicle. The detection was made during a search operation at a checkpoint. Investigations revealed that the scanner valued at nearly Rs. 5 million could detect any underground metal. more..

Jun 18 (LBO) SriLankan Airlines has requested all passengers, to arrive at the BIA four hours prior to their departure time effective from today. The airline said this is mainly due to a series of renovation work expected to commence shortly at the emigration counter areas at the departure terminal of the airport. �SriLankan Airlines would like to express our sincere apologies for inconveniencing our passengers,� the airline said. more..

Jun 18 (AFP) Sri Lanka has launched a joint effort with Australia's anti-doping agency to tackle drug cheats, including athletes using traditional medicines to hide banned substances. Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) will give technical expertise and eventually carry out joint research into doping, officials said. "It is critical that we develop our capacities together, we learn from each other and we join forces in the fight against doping," more..

Jun 18 (EN) SL�s rupee closed at 159.95/95 against the spot US dollar Monday, near the psychological 160 to the US dollar mark, after opening around 159.55/85 levels, dealers said. Last week exporter selling was seen when the rupee weakened below 160 to the US dollar, dealers said. Interbank markets were short by 18.5 billion rupees with the central bank injecting 18 billion rupees through an overnight reverse repo auction at 8.5%. Keeping the market short reduces pressure on the rupee. more..

Jun 18 (DM) A separate court, in consultation with the Mahanayake Theras of the relevant chapters, should be set up to hear court cases involving Buddhist monks, JHU General Secretary Champika Ranawaka said. He said the opinion of the Mahanayaka Theras should be sought with regard to cases involving Bhikkhus and that the Constitution had provisions to establish a separate court and as such it would be best to set up separate courts to hear court cases involving Buddhist monks. more..

Jun 18 (DM) Prez Sirisena says that the Govt is paying close attention to save children from various menaces in society, and all the parties should support in this regard to the Govt unconditionally. Daruwan Surakimu (Let�s Protect Children) National Programme is a prominent step towards that vision, President said that adding the main objective of this programme is to build a prosperous future for the children while ensuring their safety, education and health. more..

Jun 18 (DM) Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe said today the govt had spent Rs.8.3 billion to maintain embassies last year but that there was no mechanism to assess the benefits gained for the country. He said with the assistance of all SL embassies the Auditor General's Department was preparing a report on the diplomatic service. �We spend billions of rupees to maintain embassies. But there is no mechanism to assess the benefits or the services rendered to the country by more..

Jun 18 (DM) The closing date of applications for Grade One admissions for 2019 had been extended till July 10 due to ongoing postal strike, the Education Ministry said. Ministry Media Secretary Kalpa Gunaratne said today the circular relating to the admission of students to Grade One in State schools had been released on May 31. �Due to the ongoing strike the Ministry had decided to extend the due date to facilitate the applicants,� he said. The specimen application form was published in the website www.moe.gov.lk. more..

Jun 18 (NR) UK State Minister of Trade Policies Greg Hands says the UK is expected to look into trade and investment opportunities in order to construct rural bridges and hospitals in Sri Lanka. The statement was made during a discussion held with PM Ranil Wickremesinghe who is on a tour of London, England. UK State Minister had directed PM's attention over providing British expertise on building public and private partnerships in the development of the Colombo Port City. more..

Jun 19 (CT) If one takes a close look at the general trend of discourse and debate that has been going on in Sri Lanka, one cannot but be disconcertingly astonished at the poor quality of the island�s printed and digital media. The days of quality and erudite journalists are over, it seems. The starkingly striking poverty of media discourse is such that all focus is diverted to petty and parochial internal issues of power struggle. On the other hand, something far more fundamental and overridingly serious more..

Jun 19 (ST) It was historic, yes. It was unprecedented, yes. But it was more spectacle and little substance. At times it looked like a theatre of the absurd. That is why all Trump�s bluster and bluff could not hide the emptiness of the Joint Declaration signed in Singapore. Only weeks earlier the US and North Korea were threatening to nuke each other. North Korea�s Kim Jong-un threatened to blow parts of the US all over Antarctica. Ah said US Prez Donald Trump who is never short of words more..

Jun 19 (SO) K. Arunthawapalan, a resident of Chavakachcheri in the Jaffna peninsula took part in the first protest on May 19 against what he called the illegal slaughter and trafficking of cattle and beef. Retired school principal and social activist says he was driven to the protest by news he had heard about a slaughter house in the North where �20 cows had been killed and the meat illegally transported� to other areas of the country. more..

Jun 19 (CT) There are several Sinhala teledramas telecasted these days with passing political or social messages both constructive and humorous. If I may refer to two of them, still ongoing, Ape Ardare (Our Love) and Sanda Eliya (Moon Light) may standout prominently, exposing the dubious nature of politicians, their business connections and thuggery. Another positive aspect of some of these teledramas is to challenge the ethnic and class/caste prejudices in our society. more..

Jun 19 (Island) Departing US Ambassador Atul Keshap was in the news last week, associated with comments around Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his bid for Presidency. The substance of whatever this senior diplomat said is not what I am interested in, and in any case, has been unsurprisingly denied by those he met with. It is Gotabaya Rajapaksa as an idea, and Viyathmaga � his political project � as a platform. In recent weeks I have written about my own fears of the man, and the surveillance more..

Jun 19 (CT) Excerpts from an interview with Minister of Education: Q: You hinted about UNP�s 2020 Presidential candidate. Didn�t you say that it will be the UNP leader who will come forward? A: Yes. It will be our Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who will come forward as the Presidential candidate. Q: But aren�t there other stories circulating within the Party? A: No. There are no other stories. Q: Why not? Backbenchers of the Party are talking more..

Jun 19 (DN) It was President J R Jayewardene, who having introduced the neo-liberal economy and changed the Constitution used to take pride in saying that during his tenure there was five star democracy in Sri Lanka. Though the economy picked up momentum and increased the GDP, as far as the masses were concerned what they experienced was far from five star democracy. Actually they began to see stars (daval tharu) in broad daylight with the abolition of subsidies more..

Jun 19 (DN) The press has been full of reports that outgoing US Ambassador Atul Keshap has cautioned and advised former President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the nomination of his brother and US citizen Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as candidate for president in 2020, faces a variety of legal and other obstacles, based on the sum total of which, the US would not consider the same favourably. The fact that this information was first put out and confirmed by the former president�s office, more..

Jun 19 (ST) The inability to achieve a high trajectory of sustained economic growth has been a serious concern. The country appears to be destined to achieve only its autonomous rate of growth of 4 to 5% in the foreseeable future. The inability of the economy to take off into sustained high growth has been a feature of the 70 post-independent years. The average annual economic growth rate has been only about 4% in these seven decades. The economy grew by over 7% only in a few yrs. more..

Jun 19 (Island) There couldn�t have been a worse start for Argentina in the ongoing FIFA World Cup tournament. It looks as though glorious uncertainties were not limited to cricket. Whoever would have thought Brazil would be beaten by Germany 7-1, in 2014. On Saturday, the world witnessed another instance of something least expected happening in Russia. An underdog left a mighty overdog licking its wounds in what could be considered a very inspiring event. more..

Jun 19 (CI) Sri Lanka had dismissed the stubborn Shai Hope soon after tea, giving themselves one final chance to surge to victory, but then the rains arrived, followed by bad light. In the end, West Indies drew the match with five wickets in hand, with 32.3 overs lost to the conditions. Perhaps Sri Lanka will rue the two hours they had spent off the field, protesting the ball-tampering charge on Saturday. more..

Jun 19 (CB) South Africa's exploration of its depth in limited overs cricket will continue in Sri Lanka after the selectors named two uncapped players in the ODI squad and also recalled 20-year-old allrounder Wiaan Mulder. Cricket South Africa also confirmed that Chris Morris will miss the tour due to the back injury he picked up during the IPL. The Proteas intend to use the five-match series in Sri Lanka next month and the three-match series at home to Zimbabwe in October to identify more..

Jun 19 (DN) SL players refused to take the field on time on Day 3 of the 2nd Test against West Indies in St. Lucia owing to a disagreement over change of ball, which the on-field umpires called for before the start of play. They play eventually began nearly two hours after the scheduled start but not before five penalty runs were added to West Windies� total off 118/2. Here�s a look at 5 previous such instances when a team responded to dubious umpiring decisions with a form of protest. more..

Jun 19 (DN) World Cup winning cricket captain and presently Minister Arjuna Ranatunga expressed his gratitude to Roshan Mahanama, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and Muthiah Muralitharan for taking a wise decision, not to walk into a trap and fall to gamblers. The past legends declined the invitation extended by Minister Faiszer Mustapha to join SLC in the capacity as consultants more..

Jun 19 (Island) Many think that he is a future Sri Lanka captain. Some think he is another Aravinda or Mahela in the making. His 26th Test brought his sixth fifty, 87 timely runs for the Lankans, yet it was actually missing of his sixth century, the second in this tour. Kusal Mendia from Moratuwa saved Sri Lanka from danger and brought them real chances of winning the second Test here in St Lucia. Excerpts from Sunday�s post-match talk with Mendis follow: more..

Jun 19 (CB) The touring SL party would be left ruing a missed opportunity at the second Test in Gros Islet having come very close to winning the contest, but for bad weather. However, there's something else they might as well rue and that is the lost time - two hours - on the third day when they protested the ball tampering charges. There's more, they might as well have rued facing Shannon Gabriel at the peak of his powers as he finished with match figures of 13 for 121 - the third best by a West Indian, more..

Jun 19 (CT) Demand for caregivers will grow as Singapore�s population ages, and SL High Commission wants Sri Lankan women to fill the shortfall in supply. To get them ready, its First Secretary for Employment, Welfare and Promotion Geeth Jayasinghe hopes to start them off as maids. He is asking employers in Singapore to consider Sri Lankan women when looking for domestic helpers. �Working for locals is a way for (domestic workers) to more..

Jun 19 (Island) Li Jiming, Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Yunnan Provincial Government of China told the foreign media recently that there is no reason for Sri Lankans to fear their country falling into a debt trap because of the Chinese infrastructure loans. He made this remark in response to a question asked by Indian journalist Venket Narayan who also contributes to The Island newspaper, at the first China-South Asia Cooperation Forum held in Yunnan, China. more..

Jun 19 (Island) China's provincial government in Yunnan has accelerated the opening of its economy internationally through its capital Kunming, providing easy access to Sri Lankan businesses to enter the second largest economic powerhouse of the world, under its ambitious Belt and Road initiative. Li Jiming, Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Yunnan Province told foreign media on Friday that China-ASEAN Free Trade Area, Lancang -Mekong Cooperation more..

Jun 19 (Island) The cost of aircraft lease agreements, signed by SriLankan Airlines in recent times, was 30-40% higher than the current market price, President of the Airline Pilots� Guild of SL Ranjith Vithanage told the PCoI on irregularities at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka. Vithanage said he had ascertained the information at issue during discussions with senior officers and representatives of more..