Aug 14 (CT) Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who has been nominated as the Prez candidate from the SLPP yesterday, made a vow before the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in A'pura, saying that under his watch he will not allow any foreign power to tamper with the sovereignty and territorial integrity of SL. He also made a pledge that as Prez he will create a nation where all communities here could live in peace and harmony without any enmity or rancor towards people of other ethnicities more..

Aug 14 (AP) The daughter of a leading journalist killed during the rule of SL's former strongman accused the current prime minister on Tuesday of not doing enough to prosecute the strongman's brother for his alleged involvement in her father's killing. He is now the opposition's prez candidate. Ahimsa Wickrematunge, daughter of Lasantha Wickrematunge, wrote to PM Ranil Wickremesinghe accusing him of using her more..

Aug 14 (Island) The SLFP Central Committee (CC) would meet next week to decide whether to support SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa, UPFA General Secretary, MP Mahinda Amaraweera said yesterday after a function at the SLFP Headquarters at Darley Road. "We are having discussions and we hope they will be successful. Our decision will be based on whether Gotabhaya will agree to our economic policy. We will also have to consider the SLFP�s status in the alliance. more..

Aug 14 (FT) President Maithripala Sirisena has sought the opinion of the Supreme Court on the process that should be followed to hold the Provincial Council elections without a delimination report, which is to be taken up on 23 August. Prez Sirisena sought a determination from the Supreme Court on whether PC elections can be conducted in line with the proportional representation system, which existed before the Provincial Councils (Amend) Act which was passed in 2017. more..

Aug 14 (CT) An Adishtana Pooja was held at the premises of the Ruwanweli Seya in Anuradhapura on 12 August evening to convey the blessings of the Buddhist clergy to former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa who was nominated as the Presidential candidate on the SLPP ticket. It was held under the aegis of the Chief Incumbent and Chief Prelate of the North Central Province, Ven. Pallegama Siriniwasa Thera and more..

Aug 14 (Island) The UNP�s Prez candidate will be announced after following due procedure within the party, says the Chief of Staff at the PM office and Minister Sagala Ratnayaka. He made this remark at a ceremony to launch development projects in Deniyaya on Sunday. He said that once their Prez candidate was selected in the proper manner, the entire party would work for his victory. Responding to allegations by the SLPP that the government had secret dealings with the U.S., more..

Aug 14 (CT) Only PM Ranil Wickremesinghe and five Cabinet Ministers attended the Cabinet meeting chaired by the Prez Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday. Prez had then informed Cabinet that the weekly briefing will commence at 8.30 a.m. with effect from next week. Prez pointed out that from the day he decided to convene briefings at 7.30 a.m. attendance of MPs had been lethargic, which had prompted him to delay the briefing by an hour from next week. more..

Aug 14 (Island) Pressure is mounting on PM and UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to select Minister Sajith Premadasa as the UNP presidential candidate. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, a close ally of Wickremesinghe, too, has thrown his weight behind Premadasa. The next rally in support of Premadasa is scheduled to be held in Matara on Aug 23. Samaraweera has organised the event. more..

Aug 15 (CT) Today (15) is India�s Independence Day and will be celebrated by India�s Jaffna Consulate � an event that Jaffna looks forward to as one of its important festivals with good food and Indian artistes coming for our enjoyment and to celebrate all we share. Sri Lanka and SL culture are India�s children. We are inseparably connected. We, especially Tamils, go to India for vacations, saris, medical treatment, Hindus to temples for blessings like our PM and President, education, more..

Aug 15 (RN) For many of those who suffered the loss of family members, friends and colleagues during the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime the most spectacular flaw of the Wickremesinghe � Sirisena govt has been the failure to bring those accused of crimes to book. Failing to prosecute the Rajapaksas, particularly for the alleged murders and enforced disappearances have left a bitter taste in the mouths of the grieving and enraged people who risked their lives and voted in large numbers against more..

Aug 15 (CT) MP of the UPFA, Rohitha Abeygunawardana, says the UNP Candidate will have to be selected by holding a musical chairs competition opposite Sirikotha. Q: A discussion was held recently between the present Prez, Sirisena and former Prez Rajapaksa. Was that discussion regarding the broad alliance that is to be set up by the two factions? A: Our Party Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa has not yet declared more..

Aug 15 (DM) There is a positive vibe generated in the political scene after the SLPP announced former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the party�s presidential candidate. There is a large percentage of people who love Gotabaya and want him to succeed in politics, but at the same time there are those who have their reservations about a person who is entangled in many legal battles and loves to rule with an iron first. Gotabaya might not be the perfect candidate, but he could be more..

Aug 15 (DM) Dear Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, what do you have to say about the murder of Lasantha Wickramatunga (Never mind that Ranil Wickremesinghe said Sarath Fonseka was involved)? What do you have to say about white vans? Ekneligoda? Thajudeen? And how about the mausoleum built for your late parents? If these are the questions you were waiting for me to ask, sorry. These are legit questions, I�ve asked them, noted contexts and the not-so squeaky clean more..

Aug 15 (TM) Many areas of the island experienced gusty winds that gathered a speed of up to 80 kmph, damaging over 1,300 houses around the island and affecting over 5,000 people. Yet the dry spell continues to affect over 650,000 persons in 18 districts. Among the areas that sustained most damages, the Matale District reported damages to 25 houses while in the Dambulla District, at least 30 houses were damaged with 2 children injured. more..

Aug 15 (CT) How very great is this year's Prez Election going to be from the one in 2015? On the eve of that election President Sirisena, not knowing he had been elected in a 51.28 % vote against Mahinda Rajapaksa's 47.58% poll was the still frightened man, firmly emerged, with his family, in the massive coconut estate owned by a friend of his in Dodangaslanda. He told media men as he emerged that "had he lost the election, he and his family would have been murdered." more..

Aug 15 (CT) Dear Shyamon, Sajith Premadasa�s (SP) announcement came after it became well apparent that RW is not contesting. The first challenge Ranil Wickremesinghe (RW) encountered, when UNP MP�s questioned the constitution of the proposed Democratic Alliance and in particular to the composition of the Leadership Council of the said Democratic Alliance, which was asymmetric; if not, it had an hidden agenda. (Only one UNP�er � RW � out of the 7 or 8 would be members). more..

Aug 15 (Island) Dept of Wildlife Conservation has awakened to the need to conserve elephants. It is planning to conduct an elephant survey, which is going to be a gargantuan task. The findings of the survey to be carried out next month are expected to help conserve the elephants better, we are told. A considerable number of elephants perish at the hands of humans annually as precious little has been done to prevent them from entering villages. Similarly, dozens of humans are also killed more..

Aug 15 (CT) Airtel Fastest, in their mission of covering the island for the finest budding fast bowling talent did not halt at gender differences. Competition provided equal opportunities to showcase talents of both genders and in the attempt, Shayani Senarathne, was unearthed. "I have two older brothers. They were my first coaches. Just like every other household, I played cricket with them on the road and inside our house. That`s when my love for the sport started." more..

Aug 15 (CI) Australia have long had a complicated relationship with on-field behaviour, and South Africa have tasted World Cup heartbreaks like no one else, but when it comes to spin bowlers and the appropriate amount of elbow flexion, no team has quite had the storied history of Sri Lanka. Forget a book - Muttiah Muralitharan's action-related travails deserve a TV series spanning several seasons. more..

Aug 15 (CI) On a day in which a 100-run fourth-wicket stand formed the centre piece of New Zealand's progress, one of the architects of that partnership suggested it was the mental capacity to deal with balls that beat the bat that helped the team recover from three quick wickets. Three wickets had fallen in the space of four overs just before lunch. When Henry Nicholls joined Ross Taylor after the break, the innings was at risk of spiraling into collapse - a frequent phenomenon at Galle. more..

Aug 15 (Island) Response received from friends, doctors and ordinary people after my first article on my illness was tremendous and heartwarming. They all told me that in Sri Lanka we did not discuss such matters very openly and it was good that I had decided to talk about it. I will continue to. I expect no sympathy. My room at Lanka Hospital was a very special one. It was in the paediatric section, of all places. Nurses led by Sister Nadee took great care of me. more..

Aug 15 (CI) Ross Taylor's counter-punching innings kept New Zealand alive at the end of a strange day for the visitors, who seemed in control for the most part, except the periods immediately preceding the breaks. Offspinner Akila Dananjaya was responsible for that, taking all five of New Zealand's wickets to fall on the day over two mini-collapses before lunch and tea. A third such passage before stumps was not available more..

Aug 15 (CT) The 97th National Athletics Championship which will be held from 16 - 18 August at the Sugathadasa Stadium Colombo will also be the final selection trials for the forthcoming South Asian Games 2016 to be held from December 1st to 10th in Nepal. Since, the new SAG ruling has limited one athlete per event from participating countries (except for host) the competition is set to be much stiffer, as only the winner will get the chance to represent the country at the SAG. more..

Aug 15 (EN) Sri Lanka will provide mobile and fixed dryers for paddy farmers, who are now forced to sell their harvest at ad hoc discounts due to moisture content, the state information office said. The cabinet of ministers had approved the proposal by President Maithripala Sirisena, made on a request of Minister Harsha de Silva. Sri Lanka's Department of Agrarian Services will provide 05 farmer organizations dryers in co-operration with an association representing rice millers. more..

Aug 15 (AD) European Commission, through its Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace, has allocated �8.5 million to support Sri Lankan efforts to prevent violent extremism, build community resilience, and promote peace and tolerance. It will also contribute to the ongoing peacebuilding process through internally displaced persons and refugees being able to return to their land, a statement said. This allocation comes after more..

Aug 15 (Island) Hatton National Bank (HNB) continued to demonstrate resilience, reporting a profit before tax of Rs 8.3 Bn and a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 4.8 Bn for the first half of 2019. The group PAT for the period was Rs 5.1 Bn. The Bank�s robust business model coupled with prudent asset and liability management, enabled HNB to post stable results from its core banking operations despite a slowdown in balance sheet growth. Net interest income (NII) for the first six months more..

Aug 15 (AD) The govt, yesterday (13) decided to revise the price of fuel according to the fuel price formula, to be in effect from midnight yesterday. Meanwhile, Lanka IOC has also increased its fuel prices in view of the fuel price hike by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). Accordingly, the Lanka IOC has increased the price of Petrol 95 Octane by Rs 4 per liter. The price of Super Diesel has been hiked by Rs 3 per liter. However, the Lanka IOC said that the prices of more..

Aug 15 (DM) Former Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council C.V. Wigneswaran who now spearheads the party called Tamil Makkal Koottani (TMK) said today his support to any main presidential candidate would be conditional to written consent by either of them to address demands put forward by him on behalf of Tamil people. He said that his party would participate in the elections, but not field any candidate. more..

Aug 15 (EN) Sri Lanka will allow 80,000 metric tonnes of maize to be imported for animal feed before January 31, 2020 with the bulk of the license issued to a state-run agency, following a shortfall in domestic production. The cabinet of ministers had given the go ahead of the National Food Promotion Board a state-run agency to import 50,000 metric tonnes of maize to be distributed on request to animal husbandry companies. Licenses for another 30,000 MT will be used to issued to feed more..

Aug 15 (FT) National Development Bank said this week it demonstrated resilient performance amidst challenging macro-economic and market conditions, and booked in a pre-tax profit exceeding Rs. 5 billion for the first six month of 2019 [period under review], an increase of 8% over the same period, prior year. Post-tax profitability of Rs. 2.22 billion was a drop of 15% over the comparative period, primarily owing to the high taxes, including the newly introduced Debt Repayment Levy. more..

Aug 15 (Island) Election Commission (EC) sources said that the long-delayed Provincial Council (PC) polls could be conducted ahead of the presidential election even if a Supreme Court determination was not available by August 15. While acknowledging that the August 15 deadline was no longer feasible, sources emphasised that whatever the difficulties the Supreme Court (SC) ruling might cause, more..

Aug 15 (FT) In a major breakthrough, the Korean Chaebol Lotte Group has transferred www.ceylontea.com domain name to the Sri Lanka Tea Board with immediate effect. The move follows the signing of the agreement between the two parties at the Lotte World Tower last week. Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Lucille Wijewardena and Korean Chaebol Lotte Group e-Commerce Business Headquarters Chief Executive Director Lim Sung-muk signed the agreement on more..

Aug 15 (EN) Sri Lanka will delay a budget for 2020 by four months until after a presidential election is held an a new cabinet is in place. Cabinet of ministers had approved a proposal by Minister Mangala Samaraweera to present a vote-on-account covering the expenditure for the first four months of the year instead of a full year budget. The mini-budget will allow a new cabinet that comes after the presidential elections to present a budget according to its own policies. more..

Aug 15 (DN) The country�s two established election monitors, the CMEV and PAFFREL yesterday stressed the need of a separate court for election petitions and for regulation of campaign funding. CMEV national coordinator Manjula Gajanayake told news media yesterday that the Elections Commission has drafted a Bill concerning regulation of campaign funding and that it has been approved by the Legal Draftsman and more..

Aug 15 (PHC) The High Commission of Pakistan in Sri Lanka held a colourful flag-hoisting ceremony to mark the 73rd Independence Day, at the High Commission�s premises, on 14th August 2019. Joined by the Pakistani community and dignitaries from different walks of life, the High Commissioner Maj. Gen. (R) Dr. Shahid Ahmad Hashmat hoisted the national flag to celebrate the day. Messages from the President and the Prime Minister of Pakistan were read out to the audience. more..

Aug 15 (SLN) SL Navy seized 7 Indian fishermen who poached in Sri Lankan waters with their trawler, on 12th Aug. These fishermen were apprehended during a patrol carried out by Northern Naval Command in the seas North west of Delft lighthouse while engaged in illegal fishing. The seized fishermen along with the trawler were handed over to Dept of SL Coast Guard and they were brought to SLNS Elara. The suspects are in the ages of 18, 20, 26, 42 and 47, and they are due to be more..

Aug 15 (AFP) A skeletal 70-year-old elephant has been withdrawn from a high-profile annual Buddhist pageant in Sri Lanka following a social media firestorm against parading the feeble animal. The chief custodian of the Temple of the Tooth - which organises the event - Pradeep Nilanga Dela said Tikiri would not be part of Wednesday's grand finale, involving dozens of jumbos. Dela said the elephant's medical condition meant more..

Aug 15 (AD) SLPP presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa along with Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa and MP Basil Rajapaksa visited the Temple of the Sacred Tooth in Kandy today (14). A large crowd of Kandy public and several Joint Opposition members had organized a warm welcome for the Presidential hopeful Gotabaya Rajapaksa. After paying homage to the Temple of the Tooth, he received the blessings of Chief Prelates of Asgiri & Malwatu chapters as well. more..

Aug 15 (CT) A group of UNP MPs are attempting to select the Prez candidate, by holding a secret election at the Working Committee, and in the Parliamentary Group Meetings. Minister Gamini Jayawickrama Perera said that a document has been prepared by the MPs to request a secret election from PM. He further added that Dy Minister Nalin Bandara is making that document, and that he has refused to sign it. There is a possibility of holding a secret election on 19 Aug more..