Jan 10 (AD) Six Sri Lankan passengers, who are members of the same family, have been detained by customs officers at the BIA in Katunayake for attempting to bring a stock of items into the country illegally. The passengers include a man, his wife, their son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren while they were detained upon arriving in the country from Chennai at 6 p.m. last evening. SL Customs media spokesman said that a stock of perfumes and cosmetic products worth around Rs 1 million, more..

Jan 10 (CT) Prez Sirisena has sabotaged his own recruitment process for the high-profile state assignments when he appointed former provincial governors Reginald Cooray and Niluka Ekanayake as heads of state institutions. Cooray has been appointed the Chairman of the National Gem and Jewelry Corporation while Ekanayake has been appointed the Chairperson of the State Timber Corporation. more..

Jan 10 (FT) Today four technology revolutions are on the cards and of the lot the most recent is neurotechnology. Neurotechnology is adding to biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technology. This technology really addresses the core essence of humanity � human brain and combines with advances taking place in information technology is opening up new vistas. As a result perhaps in not-too-distant future we may witness cognitive computing. It has to be stated that more..

Jan 10 (DC) Sixteen Tamil fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan Coast Guard last year were released and returned to Tamil Nadu on Wednesday morning. Charles Antony Raj, 34, Wilbert, 55, Isaikimuthu, 28, Shanthakumar, 18 and 12 others were released on December 24 but since they did not have any passport to return, had to wait for an emergency certificate from the Indian High Commission in SL. The incident occurred when eight men had gone fishing from Pamban near Ramanathapuram. more..

Jan 10 (CI) Once the No. 1 T20 side in the world, Sri Lanka should never have let things get so bad that they are now forced to play in a qualifying tournament in order to gain entry to the T20 World Cup proper. So went the lament of Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka's World T20-winning captain, and a great of the format. With Sri Lanka having slipped to ninth on the T20 rankings after losing 12 of their 16 most-recent matches, ICC announced more..

Jan 10 (DM) JO MP Wimal Weerawansa said today it was a violation of Standing Orders and the agreement reached by the House to convene the Constitutional Assembly tomorrow with just one day's prior notice. He told Parliament that it was decided by the House previously that three-day prior notice should be given before convening the Constitutional Assembly. MP Dinesh Gunawardane, who validated Mr. Weerawansa's argument, said the Constitutional Assembly should be convened more..

Jan 10 (DM) A dog in Balangoda was found to have been infected by a parasitic disease known as Trypanosoma. It was the first time that such a disease was detected in SL, Senior Lecturer in Veterinary Clinical Studies, Prof Ashoka Dangolla said. Some of the symptoms of this disease are fever, severe headaches, irritability, extreme fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, aching muscles and joints and feeling sleepy and lethargic. The dog was found to be suffering from this disease last month more..

Jan 10 (Island) SriLankan Airlines has paid USD 1.1 million to Lufthansa Technik AG, which takes care of all aspects relating to daily component supply for UL, for 15 invoices despite the fact that Engineering Division of SriLankan had rejected those documents. Upekha Abeysekera, Senior Manager, Revenue Accounting at SriLankan said that the SriLankan had entered into a component support contract with Lufthansa in 2012. more..

Jan 10 (CT) Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratna ordered the passports of President�s former Chief of Staff H.I.K. Mahanama and former Chairman of the State Timber Corporation P. Dissanayaka to be impounded. The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption told Court that they have reason to believe the two suspects who are currently out on bail are planning to leave the country and hence they requested Court to impound their passports. more..

Jan 10 (PSL) The MoU was signed for the project of transplanting the organs and kidneys of patients who are brain dead to patients who nedd new organs at the President�s office under the patronage of the Prez today (9). MoU was signed between the Ministry of health, nutrition and indigenous medicine and Sri Lankan Airlines while the secretary of Ministry of Defense, Hemasiri Fernando and secretary of Ministry of Health Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, Wasantha Perera more..

Jan 10 (AD) State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne today revealed that SL�s youth, women and development will be very much in focus in the upcoming budget proposal of the govt. �In the budget, while we are going on the road of Responsible Financial Management we are also basically continuing to invest on our development programmes,� he said. He stated that the focuses for the development programme will be more..

Jan 10 (EN) Hambantota port has seen a sharp increase in vessel calls in 2018 with its business also diversifying away from handling vehicles and cruise ships. Traffic to the Hambantota International Port increased significantly during the last year, with 300 vessels calling with different service requirements, up 30% from 2017. Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) said in a statement it expects to see a �manifold increase in vessel traffic in the new year, more..

Jan 10 (HCI) The High Commission of India, Colombo announces the offer for the following ICCR scholarships for 2019-2020 academic sessions: Nehru Memorial Scholarship Scheme: under this scheme covers all Undergraduate courses (except Medical/Paramedical& Fashion Design course) including Engineering, Science, Business, Economics, Commerce, Humanities and Arts. Maulana Azad Scholarship Scheme: Masters Degrees courses (except Medical/ more..

Jan 10 (PMD) President Maithripala Sirisena instructed the relevant authorities to deploy a systematic program to eliminate various drug smuggling activities targeting school children. The President ordered the officials to take necessary steps to amend the laws to make them more effective. The President gave these instructions at a discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat today (10th) regarding drug control and prevention. more..

Jan 10 (DN) The petition filed by the Colombo High Court that the decision of the Colombo HC to acquit the defendants of the TNA MP Nadaraja Raviraj from the murder of the defendants of the Tamil Tiger rebels has been called up on the 30th. That is the order of the Court of Appeal. The petition filed by the MP's wife, Shashikala Raviraj, was heard before Appeal Court Judge, Achala Vangapulli. Lawyer appearing on behalf of the petitioner has informed the court that Prasad Hettiarachchi, more..

Jan 10 (EN) SL did not mortgage ports and airports to India to get a 400 million dollar currency swap from the Reserve Bank of India, PM Ranil Wickremesinghe told an ally of opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa. Wimal Weerawansa, a Rajapaksa ally questioned whether the China Bay in Trinco, Kankasanthurai Port in Jaffna, Mattala Airport and the East Terminal in Colombo Port has been mortgaged to India to for central bank to get a 400 million dollar currency swap from India. more..

Jan 10 (CI) Five matches, four losses, one draw thus far, and so we come to the final game of Sri Lanka's tour of New Zealand. Can they finally get a win? Not on their side, as usual, is form. Sri Lanka have lost four of their last five T20s - the most recent one quite badly, going down by 30 runs to England at home. What may give hope to the visitors though, is the fact that the opposition's recent record is even worse. more..

Jan 10 (AD) Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) says that they will name President Maithripala Sirisena as their candidate for the upcoming Presidential election. MP Nimal Siripala de Silva stated this attending an SLFP press conference, held today. He says that this year is a year of elections and the party�s nomination for the common candidate at the presidential vote is President Sirisena. This will only be decided on the night before the nominations are handed over, he added. more..

Jan 10 (DM) The retail prices of fuel have been revised with effect from midnight today based on the fuel pricing formula, the Finance Ministry said. Accordingly, the prices of fuel were decreased as follows: Petrol (Octane 92) per litre will be decreased by Rs.2 and the revised price is Rs.123, Petrol (Octane 95) will be sold at Rs.147, decreased by Rs.2 per litre. and One litre of Super Diesel will be lowered by Rs.3 and the new price will be Rs.188. more..

Jan 10 (DM) The e-motoring system for the registration of vehicles through an online system would be implemented by the end of July, the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) said. The e-motoring system would connect all stakeholders in the field including importers, sales centres and insurances around the country. �The new system will ease consumers to record all details in an electronic system relating to vehicles such as more..

Jan 11 (DN) The countdown is on. Even as Tuesday marked the fourth anniversary of the election of Maithripala Sirisena as President of the nation, it also meant that now there is less than a year before the next presidential election- and the person elected at those polls should be in the office by this time next year. Major political parties and their respective leaders are fine-tuning their strategies towards this end and last week saw some of these tactics come to the fore. more..

Jan 11 (CT) I decided to write on this subject despite the heavy criticism I may face from some people, because I remember a time when Buddhism was a philosophy that brought peace, calm and joy to me. It made me think about the world in a much broader sense, helped me understand and appreciate the differences in people at an age I did not have access to the world and its vast knowledge of many philosophies and sciences. The temple was a place that accepted all people no matter what more..

Jan 11 (SO) Remembering Lasantha Wickrematunge for his knack of ferreting out news and attention to detail, his first boss in journalism Vijitha Yapa sat across his working table from me to unravel his fondest memories of the slain editor of The Sunday Leader. �Lasantha had friends in many spheres and in all layers, but you could not call them friends in a sense as when it came to a piece of news, it wouldn�t matter if it was connected more..

Jan 11 (CT) Are so-called sovereign nations free from international influence? What is the role of external forces in their socio-economic development and public policy outcomes? Some writers claim that the recent political struggle in Sri Lanka reflects the geopolitical rivalry between China and India in South Asia. There has been a shift in foreign policy under both Sirisena and Wickremesinghe whereby inclination towards India and the US has been greater than toward China when comparison more..

Jan 11 (CT) Leading figure in the making of the 19th Amendment, Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, explained some time back that the National Govt which allows Parliament to decide the size of the Cabinet, continued to exist despite the UPFA withdrawing from the Govt. It is still an alliance because; the SLMC continues to be in it. Thus, there is a unity of two registered parties. Clearly, he justified why it is still a National Govt, but it has to show a majority in the Parliament to become more..

Jan 11 (CT) UNP MP Harshana Rajakaruna says it is not suitable to set up a National Govt with one member of the SLMC. �Responsibilities in the Govt have not been assigned to young MPs,� he said. Q: What is happening, many days have gone since the Cabinet was sworn in? It does not seem like the Govt has got down to work? A: Firstly, I have to explain that a stable govt has now been appointed. more..

Jan 11 (DM) The inspection train tour from Beliatta to Matara marked a new beginning for Sri Lanka Railways, but it also brought to light the fact that development work can�t be separated from politics. Train journeys offer a wonderful way of telling stories about a country. The Matara-Beliatta extension of the Southern railway was tested under the supervision of Minister Arjuna Ranatunga on January 6 (Sunday). The South has been the stronghold of former President Rajapaksa. more..

Jan 11 (DM) Sri Lanka is an island situated in the south of India spanning 65,610 k.m. The composition of the population is 74.9% Sinhala, 11.2.% Sri Lankan Tamils, 9.2% Sri Lankan Muslims, 4.2% Tamils of Indian origin and 0.5% other communities. India whose population consists of more than I billion, and is fifty times bigger than Sri Lanka, is the immediate neighbour of Sri Lanka. There are about 80 million Tamils who live in the southern Indian state: Tamil Nadu. more..

Jan 11 (Island) A current lack of trained human resource personnel, aligned with local medical services, prompted the establishment of the Amrak Institute of Medical Sciences, its chairman Aminda Tudawe said. 'A considerable vacuum in today�s health care industry for skilled professionals with specialized knowledge is the rationale to establish the Amrak Institute (AI), which would aim at producing suitable personnel to ensure local medical services meet the present demand for more..

Jan 11 (Island) Two days would be considered black in modern SL, one, the horrible events which took place on 25th July 1983 and the second, a declared election not taking place on 5th Jan, 2019, despite all proper conditions for the conduct of free and fair elections having been met by an independent National Elections Commission. The constitution laid down that sovereignty inheres in the people, specifying a hegemonised triplet, the powers of govt, fundamental rights and the franchise. more..

Jan 11 (CT) Rifts in Tamil political parties that occurred over the years in SL politics have contributed to changes in Tamil leaderships or new Tamil representation in the country. The lack of democracy within political parties, restrictions to take independent decisions, dominance and arbitrary behaviour of the leadership and instability in policy making is some of the main reasons that have contributed to changes in political leadership more..

Jan 11 (DN) SL rugby fraternity and the Police Rugby are deeply saddened by the loss of rugby legend Hettiarachchige Premasiri last night in Rome, Italy. He is a product of Dharmaduta College, Badulla who excelled in athletics and soccer. Premasiri�s rugby talent was spotted at the Police Inter Division Sevens tournament in 1976 whilst he was under training representing the SL Police College, Kalutara. He later moulded himself to be a deceptive centre & later as a cracking winger. more..

Jan 11 (Island) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe has lamented the deterioration of parliamentary standards. Speaking at a school function, in Karandeniya, the other day, he said Parliament did not set an example to children who were the country�s future. He must have struck a responsive chord with the people who are appalled by their MPs� misconduct. What is this world coming to when Speaker fears for his safety in Parliament and has to come into Chamber with police escorts? more..

Jan 11 (Reuters) Sri Lanka will ask the IMF to ease its 2019 budget deficit target of 3.9% under a $1.5 billion loan programme, to give the economy more time to recover from a political crisis, a senior finance ministry official said. Investor confidence took a hit when President Maithripala Sirisena abruptly sacked PM Ranil Wickremesinghe in October and replaced him with pro-China strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa. more..

Jan 11 (Island) Tissa Central, Kalutara spinner Rohan Sanjaya came up with a five wicket haul to control Australia Under-19s on day one of the three-day Youth match which commenced at SSC Grounds on Thursday. The visitors posted 269 for nine wickets declared after the left arm spinner did most of the damage on day one. Deciding to bat first Australia lost just one wicket during the first session and looked set to go for a big score as they took lunch on 75. more..

Jan 11 (SPA) Saudi Ambassador to SL, Abdul Hussain Al-Harthi, has participated in the opening ceremony of the development of Kalu Ganga River Development Project in central SL, which was funded by Saudi Arabia, represented by the Saudi Fund for Development. President Maithripala Sirisena patronized the opening ceremony. The project aims to create a strategic reserve for drinking water and irrigation and meet the growing demand for it through the construction of three dams more..

Jan 11 (FT) In an attempt to break the deadlock in wage negotiations between Regional Plantation Companies and the Estate Trade Unions, Plantation Minister Navin Dissanayake yesterday asked the employers to pay the demanded basic wage of Rs. 1000. Minister, along with Labour Minister Daya Gamage, held separate meetings with representatives from both RPCs and trade unions in the Parliamentary complex, to negotiate more..

Jan 11 (CT) A former Member cum Secretary of SLSRFR, Mahesh Senanayake, has sent an email to the Secretary of Sri Lanka Rugby regarding the AGM of the SL Society for Rugby Football Referees (SLSRFR) to be held on 12 Jan in Colombo. Mahesh who last served as the Secretary of the SLSRFR before his retirement, has emphasised that as per the SLSRFR Constitution Article Number 4, the SLSRFR should comply with the regulations of the Sports Law Act 25 of 1973 and more..

Jan 11 (DN) 131st Sri Lanka Amateur Golf Championship and Sri Lanka Ladies Amateur Open Golf Championship will tee off at the Royal Colombo Golf Club from Jan 20 to 24 sponsored by Douglas and Sons � DSL (Continental Tyres). Over 100 golfers will take part in the championship including foreign players. Indian players have confirmed their participation while Pakistan, Bangladesh and Thailand golfers who are also billed to take part are yet to confirm their participation. more..