Jun 16 (EN) Sri Lanka's service sector continued its fall seen in April following the Easter Sunday attack, while the manufacturing sector showed some recovery. The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the services sector for May fell 0.6 points to 44.7 points. An index value below 50 records a decline from a month earlier, and over 50 denotes a growth. The services sector PMI in Sri Lanka had not fallen in Sri Lanka since it began in 2015, until the Easter Sunday attack took place in April. more..

Jun 16 (ST) Sri Lanka�s revenue collection target of Rs.1 trillion by 2019/2020 through the expansion of the tax payer base in the country, while adjusting indirect and direct tax has become a distant dream owing to weak tax administration at present, official forecast revealed. In a damning exposure, Auditor General�s Department disclosed that as a result of non-issuance of assessment reports on a timely requirement, more..

Jun 16 (EN) State-run SriLankan Airlines has defaulted on loans which have been backed by govt, a Finance Ministry report has said. "The Govt bears contingent liabilities over the provision of guarantees for loans obtained from People�s Bank and Bank of Ceylon as well as Sovereign Guarantee issued for the Int'l Bond," report said. "These have become obvious liabilities for the govt�" The report said SriLankan was unable to repay some installments with internally generated funds. more..

Jun 16 (Hindu) The three IS-sympathisers arrested by the Coimbatore City Police for alleged conspiracy to stage terror attacks in Coimbatore were radicalised much before the Easter Sunday blasts in Sri Lanka, said the police. Preliminary investigations showed that the three, Mohammed Hussain, 25, from Ukkdam; A. Shajahan, 25, from Anbu Nagar; and Sheik Safiullah, 36, from Karumbukkadai, were actively propagating pro-IS ideologies on social media platforms for over a year. more..

Jun 16 (AFP) Sri Lanka are likely to be hit with an ICC sanction after failing to fulfil their media duties following Saturday's damaging Cricket World Cup defeat against Australia. Dimuth Karunaratne's side were beaten by 87 runs at the Oval, leaving their hopes of progressing to the semi-finals hanging by a slender thread. SL skipper Karunaratne and other players from his team were due to face the press after the match in a more..

Jun 16 (CI) Niroshan Dickwella's ninth List A century and his 165-run opening partnership with Sangeeth Cooray set Sri Lanka A on the track for a seven-wicket win against India A, helping them level the five-match series 2-2. Having been put in to bat in Hubli, India A were anchored by a half-century from in-form opener Ruturaj Gaikwad (74 off 73 balls), who also helped stitch together two half-century stands for the second and third wickets after the early loss of Prashant Chopra. more..

Jun 16 (ST) The famously fickle British weather has dominated the past week of the Cricket World Cup, rain and cold winds interrupting the summer and ruining several games, halting the momentum of a tournament that had started so positively. Everyone hopes that the sunshine will return from this weekend, but the wet summer has clearly impacted the conditions and some teams have faced more challenges that others. It�s obvious that drainage efficiency in different venues varies greatly. more..

Jun 16 (AD) Delivering a speech at the CICA summit in Tajikistan, Prez Sirisena called on Asian countries not to allow outside powers to suppress the power of Asia. The Asian region, as the forerunner of the next century, should be strong and powerful in every aspect especially in peace and economic strength is the Century of Asia, he said. Addressing the Fifth Summit of Heads of State of the Conference on Interaction and more..

Jun 16 (EN) The Tourism Authority of Thailand will stand in solidarity with Sri Lanka following the Easter Sunday attack, and promote bilateral tourism with the local tourism promotions office. "Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand accompanied by a group of outbound travel agents and journalists is to visit Sri Lanka shortly," a statement from Sri Lanka Tourism Ministry said. "The visit is to express solidarity with Sri Lanka and help revive the country�s tourism industry," it said. more..

Jun 16 (Hindu) About 160 Indian military personnel with their families arrived in Colombo on Saturday on a three-day visit, as part of an exchange programme that seeks to promote military ties through reciprocal visits to key, mostly religious, sites in the two countries. The team will visit popular tourist attractions in SL, including the Temple of the Tooth in the central Kandy city and the beach town of Galle. Simultaneously, as many SL military officers and their families left for India more..

Jun 16 (AD) Former Eastern Province Governor M.L.A.M. Hizbullah has left the Terrorism Investigations Division (TID) after giving a statement for over 8 hours. Police Spokesman�s Office confirmed that he left the TID at around 5.45 p.m. after recording a statement. Hizbullah arrived at the TID this morning to give a statement pertaining to ongoing investigations related to him. The former Governor was summoned to record more..

Jun 16 (ST) The govt will extend Permanent Resident visas for up to ten years to attract long-term foreign investors, a senior minister said. Home Affairs Minister Vajira Abeywardena said the move was intended to attract more foreign direct investments to the condominium industry. �At present, to secure a five-year PR visa, an investor has to deposit US$ 300,000. Under the new scheme, the deposit amount would be increased up to US$ 500,000 for a 10-year PR visa,� more..

Jun 16 (DM) The UNP leadership should be changed before the next presidential election, Non-Cabinet Minister Ajith P. Perera said. He said that it was high time for the party to choose its candidate and assign the party leadership to him. �We have a few leaders with the potential to win the presidential election. The party leadership should be handed over to one of them,� the minister said. �There is one whom I prefer but the party could elect anyone as it has been done in the past." more..

Jun 16 (ST) Muslim MPs who stepped down from their Cabinet, State and Deputy Minister positions will hold a special meeting in the Parliament complex on Tuesday to consider whether to again accept ministerial posts in the Govt. Former Minister Abdul Haleem said that the meeting would take place once Parliament sessions resume on Tuesday. He said the MPs would hold the meeting to discuss an appeal made by Chief Prelates more..

Jun 16 (AD) A group of pro-LTTE activists staged a demonstration near The Oval in London, during Sri Lanka�s World Cup match against Australia on Saturday. The group held up placards, waved LTTE falgs and protested against Sri Lanka and the country�s cricket team while also calling for Sri Lanka to be referred to the Int'l Criminal Court for the alleged Genocide of Eelam Tamils. The protesters had also obstructed the Ada Derana reporter who attempted to cover the agitation. more..

Jun 16 (AD) Former Minister Kabir Hashim says that he has always acted while staying true to his heart and that every decision he takes is on behalf of the country. Asked why all Muslim ministers decided to resign despite only one of them being accused, the UNP Parliamentarian said that they had to take certain decisions by thinking about the country due to the instability in the country at the time and because there was a possibility of a huge fire spreading in the country. more..

Jun 16 (ST) President Maithripala Sirisena wants to conduct a parliamentary general election first after seeking approval at a non-binding national referendum. Towards this end, sources close to the Presidency said, he has sought the opinion of the Attorney General Dappula de Livera. He has concurred that the move was possible but the President�s own legal advisers have differed in their view. more..

Jun 16 (Island) In line with the present-day stress on the need for religious teachings to be personally relevant and directly verifiable, in certain Dhamma circles the time-honored Buddhist doctrine of rebirth has come up for severe re-examination. Although only a few contemporary Buddhist thinkers still go so far as to suggest that this doctrine be scrapped as unscientific, another opinion has been gaining ground to the effect that whether or not rebirth itself be a fact, the doctrine of rebirth more..

Jun 16 (Island) Buddhist devotees are quite familiar with the basic philosophical concept of Tilakkhana the three characteristics of existence, as explained in the in the Buddha Dhamma. They are anicca impermanence, dukkha misery or suffering, and anatta non-self. As revealed by the Buddha, the comprehensive realization of the fact that our physical form, (rupa) feelings, (vedana) perceptions, (sanna) karma formations, (sankhara) and consciousness (vinnana) more..

Jun 16 (ST) PM Narendra Modi is �not only the leader of the largest democracy in the world, but also a leader with the largest popular mandate in the world,� declared India�s cherubic High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu at a recent lecture. True, there are more attributes to describe Premier Modi. One that did not go unnoticed during his four-hour visit to Sri Lanka last Sunday was his ability to recognise faces. more..

Jun 16 (SO) The CID will report facts regarding Dr. Seigu Shihabdeen Mohamed Shafi�s case before the Colombo Magistrate�s Court on June 27, on recent statements recorded from other medical and non medical officials, including minor staff. The CID has recorded statements from 69 nurses, 26 doctors including Visiting Obstetrician and Gynaecologists (VOGs) and 14 minor staff employees who have more..

Jun 16 (ST) More than a million Buddhists are expected to join in pilgrimages to historic sites, especially Mihintale on Poson Poya today, the day when Buddhism was introduced to SL by Arahat Mahinda. Hundreds of thousands of Buddhists are also converging on Anuradhapura, the ancient capital, where the then Sinhala monarch, King Devanampiya Tissa embraced Theravada Buddhism following his meeting with Arahat more..

Jun 16 (SO) Politicians representing ethnic minority parties in the JO prefer Chamal Rajapaksa to Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the Pohottuwa candidate in the forthcoming Presidential elections later this year, the Sunday Observer learns. In any future decision-making process for the selection of the candidate of the SLPP, the ethnic minority groups and Leftist groups aligned with SLPP would favour former Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa more..

Jun 16 (ST) President Maithripala Sirisena wants to conduct a non-binding national referendum to seek public approval for parliamentary general elections ahead of the presidential poll this year. Though he has obtained a favourable opinion from Attorney General Dappula de Livera, there are other political obstacles he would have to surmount. His own legal advisors have also expressed skepticism over the move. more..

Jun 16 (DM) The orchestrated political campaign by the Mahinda Rajapaksa-led opposition in association with sections of the Buddhist clergy and mainstream media against three prominent Muslim politicians has ostensibly succeeded. The said aim of the campaign was to secure the dismissal, resignation and/or arrest of two Provincial Governors and a Cabinet Minister. EP Governor M.L.A.M. Hizbullah and WP Governor Azath more..

Jun 16 (CT) Govt officials strongly condemned the aggressive manner in which the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing the Easter Sunday attacks questioned reputed civil servant, Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration J.J. Rathnasiri last Thursday. In this backdrop Minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara, last Friday, contradicting what was expressed by his Cabinet colleague Ravi Karunanayaka more..

Jun 16 (CT) PHU General Secretary Udaya Gammanpila has written to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, complaining that the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on the Easter Sunday attacks has violated its mandate by questioning the Public Administration Ministry Secretary about a circular issued in connection to the attire of public servants. �The Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration J.J. Rathnasiri had been more..

Jun 16 (DM) Sri Lanka is among the front line countries that had effectively controlled the spread of HIV/ AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases like Syphilis and Gonorrhea. Dr. Lilani Rajapaksa said that the number of HIV/AIDS infected persons stood at 3,195 at the end of 2018 and Syphilis and Gonorrhea patients countrywide stood at 100. �The spread of the three diseases in SL is about .02% a year and more..

Jun 16 (EN) Sri Lanka will hike pensions of those who retired before Dec 2015 effective from July 2018, with the basic salary raised by 107% by 2020. SL has allocated 12 billion rupees in the 2019 budget for the increments. The pensions of already retired state workers will be raised by between 2,800 rupees and 20,000 rupees, the finance ministry said. Under Rajapaksa administration, state the basic wage more..

Jun 17 (ST) Even as the rest of the world look to renewable power as the fuel of the future, Lanka goes into retro mode and seeks its future energy needs in the past. Whilst the world stares at the heavens and views the sun as the answer to provide infinite solar power, Lanka�s busy, digging into the nethermost regions of infinite hell to find, in that underground mine of condemned coal, the solution for its future energy needs. For even as there is money in muck, there�s gold in coal for some, more..

Jun 17 (CT) Off and on, one now encounters the word fascism but those who use the term don�t pause to define or to make clear what they mean by it. Hoping to be of use, I resurrect in what follows parts of something I wrote a while back. An earlier meaning of the word nice was precise, and so it is we try to make, for example, nice distinctions between democracy in form and true democracy, that is, in spirit : the former may prove to be merely majoritarianism. more..

Jun 17 (SO) The administration of the Ruhuna Uni has locked horns with the campus student union leadership while the Uni and radical student leaders battle for the souls of the incoming new students. If it is the last thing I do! an outraged University Vice Chancellor declared while promising the news media last week that he was determined to fight the hold that the student union leadership has over the junior students via a vicious ragging cult. more..

Jun 17 (CT) Sri Lanka is an amazing country. Cricket is the national sport and the whole country stands united only on the occasion of its cricketers on the field. The game is, therefore, crucial to our national psyche. The talent is there and so is the experience and built-up cricketer confidence. Yet, over the last decade we get extremely frustrated to see our players going down so miserably.-match after match. We expatriates living in Australia ask just one question from Sri Lankan Cricket: more..

Jun 17 (ST) The recent statement by former Eastern Province Governor M.L.M. Hizbullah that Muslims are a majority in the world and that Sri Lankan Muslims should not fear even if they are a minority is dangerously inflammatory. It also amounts to an encouragement of the primitive cacophonous yelling on the part of Sinhala extremists that more Sinhalese ought to be born, that forced sterilizations of Sinhala Buddhist mothers are being carried out by Muslim doctors (without a shred of tangible more..

Jun 17 (CT) Bloody terrorist attacks in Colombo, on Easter Sunday have taken a heavy toll on the tourist industry, almost reducing employees to penury as many of them don�t fit into any other job and have no other source of income. Smaller hotels which catered to the average tourist were also badly hampered. Many vendors who sold their wares to tourists have nowhere to turn to and were facing immense hardship. more..

Jun 17 (Island) My Editor, and the general readership of this newspaper fall into a demographic that doesn�t quite understand the media landscape in SL today. As long as this demographic doesn�t go on to propose and make laws or regulations that seek to govern for tens of millions what they cannot or do not understand, I empathise with their confusion and discomfort. Because of sheer complexity as well as the speed of evolution, we can no longer clearly explain what we see or more..

Jun 17 (Island) Time was when the European Union (EU) was known for treading cautiously with measured steps anent sensitive issues. Its responses used to be balanced and buttressed with solid facts and figures. But the EU seems to have departed from tradition if the recent statement issued by the EU mission in Colombo on the SL media, among other things, is any indication. EU has accused the local media of repeatedly publishing prejudiced & unsubstantiated allegations. more..

Jun 17 (SO) The issue of having a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing the Easter Sunday bomb attacks has generated much controversy, with claims that the probe endangers national security by discussing the day to day workings of the security establishment and exposing intelligence officers. The PSC has been opposed by the SLFP and the JO but is continuing its sessions with the UNF, TNA and JVP actively participating in it. President Sirisena has also reportedly expressed more..

Jun 17 (FT) Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) is urging the Govt to underwrite critically needed working capital loans for the tourism sector, especially to the small and medium sector seriously impacted by the Easter Sunday terror attacks. "As an industry, taking stock of the situation with no immediate turn around in sight, we urge the Govt to underwrite working capital loans amounting to Rs. 12 billion to meet monthly salaries, employee benefits and utilities for a period of one year more..