Dec 25 (FT) From time immemorial, travellers of days gone by and modern-day tourists have been fascinated by Sri Lanka�s elephants. Today, wildlife, and elephants in particular, is a major component of Sri Lanka tourism�s product portfolio. Unfortunately at the same time, due to haphazard and unplanned development, encroaching into hitherto elephant habitats, there are widespread altercations between man and elephant, resulting in large numbers of elephants dying. more..

Dec 25 (NR) 771 persons who contracted the novel coronavirus have recovered and have been discharged from hospitals, raising the number of recoveries to 31,339. 113 persons were discharged from the Gallela Treatment centre, 72 persons from the Kopai Treatment centre, 66 from the Hikkaduwa Treatment centre while 45 persons were released from the Kamburugamuwa Base hospital during the past 24 hours. 7,707 persons including three foreign nationals are currently receiving g treatment more..

Dec 25 (Island) Given that the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) had completely failed to control the prices of essential items; it was highly unlikely that they would be able to fill the shoes of Public Utilities Commission of SL (PUCSL), Lanka Podu Viduli Sevaka Sangamaya (LPVSS) yesterday said commenting on reports that some responsibilities of the PUCSL would be transferred to the CAA after the former�s dissolution. Secretary of the LPVSS Kasun Boteju said that the dissolution of the PUCSL more..

Dec 25 (EN) Pradeep Perera is only 26 years old but as the Grama Niladhari of the Madampitiya area in Modera, in inner-city Colombo he has to care for some 3000 families in his division. They depend on him to channel govt aid to people locked down under SL�s strict Covid regulations, a task he says has him working more than 20-hour days. Out of the 3,000 families, around a thousand live in Muwadora Uyana more..

Dec 25 (FT) Central Bank this week took a tougher stance by banning banks from purchasing SL�s International Sovereign Bonds (ISBs) for three months. The latest move comes after the CB allowed banks to purchase ISBs a fortnight ago, provided such acquisitions are from new foreign currency inflows. Industry analysts claimed that the tougher action of total ban comes after it was found out that some institutions used shortcuts, such as forwarding contracts on dollars, more..

Dec 25 (CT) Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara, said only two areas in the country could be identified as having only a small amount of groundwater. He said, in all other areas, the level of groundwater would range from six feet to various other levels. Nanayakkara said an inspection had already been done to determine the precise levels of groundwater in various areas. He added the report had already been submitted by him to PM as well as the expert panel formed to look into the suitability of more..

Dec 25 (FT) Labour Ministry has initiated discussions with relevant stakeholders on the proposed amendments to the Employees� Provident Fund (EPF) Act to increase the age of retirement in the private sector from 55 to 60 years. The changes to the retirement age are in keeping with the Budget 2021 proposal presented by PM in his capacity as the Finance Minister in November. Labour Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva, more..

Dec 25 (CT) State Minister of Prison Management and Prisoners� Rehabilitation, Lohan Ratwatte, on 23 Dec, said that 8,300 prisoners have been released from 1 to 20 Dec, and that it is the largest number to be released in SL history. Speaking to the Media, Ratwatte said that they will be able to release more prisoners in the event of the four-year-review being published in the near future. He explained that the review would reduce the death sentence issued by Court, to life imprisonment. more..

Dec 25 (CT) Govt cannot cancel private bus licences under any circumstances, and it only has power to do so with regard to semi-luxury buses, Chairman of SL Private Buses Association, Gemunu Wijeratne said. He noted that according to the Motor Traffic Act, private bus licences cannot be cancelled and only a Court can fine them for violating rules such as overloading and hanging on the footboard. Even if Police find a bus which violates rules, the offenders cannot be punished without being more..

Dec 25 (CI) At face value, do Sri Lanka really have a chance? Let's look at the facts against them: They've not played int'l cricket since March. Most squad members have spent three weeks playing T20 cricket, and are now expected to make the substantial switch into Test mode. They've had no warm-up match due to Covid-19 complications. They are missing Angelo Mathews - the most experienced member more..

Dec 25 (MFA) The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI) warmly received the outgoing South African High Commissioner in Colombo, Robina P. Marks to address the Sri Lanka � South Africa Business Promotion Meeting on 14 Dec. Delivering the opening remarks, High Commissioner Marks said that South Africa has been able to expand its trade footprint in Sri Lanka and that overall trade stood hugely in favour of her country. more..

Dec 25 (DM) A total number of 599 Sri Lankans, who were stranded in many foreign countries due COVID-19 pandemic, returned to the country and arrived at the BIA. All passengers who had arrived at the airport by six passenger flights. 390 Sri Lankans arrived from UAE, 120 from Melbourne and 69 from Sydney, Australia during the past 24 hours, he said. The returnees and their luggage were subject to stringent health checks and disinfection process at the airport and then subject to PCR tests. more..

Dec 25 (CT) The Govt has no plans to throw overboard the 13th Amendment, Minister Douglas Devananda told India�s Deputy High Commissioner, S. Balachandran, on 20 Dec. He also told Balachandran that bankrupt politicians, for their survival, were spreading false stories after receiving US dollars as payment from certain foreign countries. In related developments, Devananda, speaking at a function in Kilinochchi more..

Dec 25 (Island) Provincial Council polls could be held safely under strict health guidelines, election monitors said. National Coordinator of the CMEV, Manjula Gajanayake said that practices like physical distancing and wearing masks had become a part of people�s lives and the manner in which the general election was held was a good template to follow in the coming election. �We have experience in holding an election under COVID-19 before and we did it successfully. more..

Dec 25 (CT) The Kilinochchi Educational Zone will be divided into two separate zones in future for the benefit of schools in the district. Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda said he, in his capacity as the Co-Chairman of the Kilinochchi Development Council, decided to take this measure for the benefit of the schools functioning in all four Divisions of the District. The final decision in this regard was arrived at, at a meeting held at the Kilinochchi District Secretariat presided over by more..

Dec 25 (Island) Police officers and men allege that the Human Resource Division of the Police headquarters has selected a team of policemen and women to serve in the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan in violation of the established procedure. The HR division is alleged to have selected 21 male and two female police personnel to serve at the UN mission in Sudan without conducting interviews & tests. more..

Dec 25 (TM) National Safety Day 2020 to commemorate the victims of the 2004 Tsunami will be observed tomorrow in line with health guidelines, Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said. It said religious observances will be held at district levels to invoke blessings on the victims of natural disasters including the 2004 Tsunami. Due to COVID-19 concerns, the DMC has limited the events to an alms giving at the Mallika Home for the elderly in Kollupitiya. more..

Dec 25 (TM) A Sri Lankan is among the 13 new Covid-19 cases reported in Singapore yesterday, Ministry of Health (MOH) of Singapore has confirmed. Eight among the 13 are work permit holders who arrived from Indonesia, India, the Philippines, and SL. This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 58,495. Amongst the new cases reported yesterday, 12 are asymptomatic. One is a Singaporean who returned from the US, one is a Singapore Permanent Resident more..

Dec 25 (DM) Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera has instructed the Ministry Secretary Dr. Anil Jasinghe to lodge a complaint with the Basel Convention Office regarding 28 containers containing agro-waste imported by an Ukrainian company under the pretext of importing coriander into the country. The Basel Convention on the Control of Trans-boundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, more..

Dec 25 (CT) SJB MP, Dr. Harsha de Silva, said that there has not been an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted for the construction of the bridge connecting Ethul Kotte and Nawala. He added that although meetings were to be held to discuss the matter, the relevant officials failed to turn up for discussions, adding also that there is no evidence of an EIA, an archaeological report, or a social report, to proceed with the construction. Dr. de Silva further emphasised that while more..

Dec 25 (AA) Turkey has sent medical assistance to Sri Lanka, as Ankara continues its relief efforts across the globe during the novel coronavirus pandemic. The country's embassy in Colombo said in a statement that Turkey donated 12 NF-400 NUVE Benchtop Centrifuges to SL's Ministry of Health to fulfill the requirements of the SL health authorities in the fight against COVID-19. Turkey has so far sent aid to nearly 153 countries to help stem the spread of the contagion since March. more..

Dec 25 (Island) More than 55 elephants had been illegally captured from the wild between Jan 2008 and Dec 2018, but the law enforcement had failed to bring the culprits to justice, researcher Supun Lahiru Prakash of Biodiversity Conservation and Research Circle said. Prakash is part of a team that studied the illegal trade of elephants in SL. He said: �We collected data from case records maintained by more..

Dec 25 (EN) The first charter flight carrying visitors from Russia is due to arrive in Sri Lanka on Dec 28 an official said, resuming tourism in the Indian Ocean Island in the Coronavirus era which ended in March 2020 with airport closures. Ukraine�s SkyUp airlines will carry the first complement of passengers on Dec 28 to Mattala Airport, Shehan Sumanasekara, Director Operations, Airport and Aviation Services (SL) said. The SkyUp Boeing 737-900 is scheduled to land at 1440 hours. more..

Dec 25 (DM) The CID has launched an investigation on those who have involved in corrupt activities at the Department of Motor Traffic (DMT), Transport State Minister Dilum Amunugama said. He said, appropriate action will be taken against the wrongdoers once the investigations are completed. "This is not just about forging documents. Those who have made the entery in the Dept's computer system had allegedly created forged documents that look like original," he said. more..

Dec 25 (Nikkei) Predominantly Buddhist SL's ultranationalist govt is forcing families of the country's Muslim and Christian minorities to abandon their faith-based burial rites for relatives who die of COVID-19 -- consequently inviting fresh int'l scrutiny of the nation's already troubled human rights record. As the country's death toll from the pandemic inches toward 200, govt of the hawkish Prez Rajapaksa is sticking to a policy more..

Dec 26 (GV) Sri Lanka hit the lowest point in their COVID-19 response when a 20-day-old Muslim infant was cremated on Dec 9, 2020 against the wishes of his parents and against their religious faith. Islamic faith requires followers to treat the dead bodies with respect and prescribes burial of dead bodies. While the cremation of the infant caught the attention of the media, what is missing from the picture is months long targeted stigmatizing of the Muslim minority on social media more..

Dec 26 (DM) COVID 19, first detected in Wuhan, China in Dec 2019, has, within just a few months, infected almost every corner of the world. The uproar in safety concerns, resulting in the implementation of measures such as lockdowns, forced many businesses to cease production temporarily. The lockdown led to many industries experiencing losses throughout the year 2020. Early estimates predicted that the virus would result in major economies losing at least 2.4% of more..

Dec 26 (CT) Gone are the days of guerrilla warfare, and the countries around the world are bracing themselves to face invisible enemies that would threaten national and regional security. On the other hand, Sri Lanka, due to its strategic positioning in the Indian Ocean, where superpowers USA, China, Japan and India are trying to obtain the upper-hand, is in an extremely volatile situation. Commander of the SL Air Force (SLAF), more..

Dec 26 (CT) For nearly 10 months of this year, the entire world had just one priority: Battling a rapidly spreading deadly virus. It crippled global trade, it overwhelmed healthcare systems around the world, it changed our social norms and practices, it transformed the way we work and learn, and most of all it irrevocably changed what we hitherto took for granted as normal. And now, in a few days time, we bid adieu to 2020 and step into 2021. The rest assured, the new normal we have got used more..

Dec 26 (DM) Christmas is associated with such a festive jeer that it looks unthinkable to make people remain low key during this period. Already we see posts on social media regarding people driving on the expressways to get to their party destinations. Inside information received by this newspaper reveals that some of the down south hotels are already fully booked for 31st night. What�s disturbing is that all this is happening despite existing govt warnings and health guidelines which more..

Dec 26 (TM) SL�s economy continues to suffer further as the present pandemic keeps pushing a majority of people below the poverty line. The increasing cost of living (CoL), the shortage of certain food commodities which has tipped the retail prices of essential goods, and the increasing inflation seems to be adding further weight on the regular citizen. This week, Minister of Trade Dr. Bandula Gunawardana discuss more..

Dec 26 (GV) A constitutional crisis is not just a matter relating to a legal text. It influences all aspects of life and, in particular, the working of public institutions. Prison Study carried out by the National Human Rights Commission of SL (HRCSL) reflects the magnitude of the problems in the criminal justice system in general and the prison system in particular. The study was done by a team of researchers on behalf of HRCSL and deserves careful examination and consideration. more..

Dec 26 (ST) In Dec 2009, rating agencies � Fitch, Moody�s, and Standard and Poor�s, all downgraded the Greece sovereign bonds. These bonds so far had �A� ratings and the sudden downgrading shocked the investors in Greece bonds or, to say it in plain language, the lenders to the Greece govt holding its bonds. With further downgrading in 2010, the Greece bonds fell into junk status which carries high risk for the investors. Until 2017, a series of further downgrading continued with more..

Dec 26 (AHRC) On behalf of the Asian Human Rights Commission, I write to make a request for you to make a special gift to the women prisoners in SL, which would be a continuing gesture of goodwill towards those needy women, beginning with Christmas 2020. First of all, we take this opportunity to wish your Eminence, the Bishop�s Conference of SL and all Catholics, a very happy and blessed Christmas. Christmas this year is being celebrated in a grim atmosphere due to circumstances more..

Dec 26 (Island) Oh me gosh! It�s Christmas today: a celebration calling for good cheer and enjoyed by most people in SL. Buddhists particularly, join hands with Christian friends and relatives to sing carols, enjoy exchange of gifts, turn charitable, eat well and imbibe too. All this is stymied with precautions against the fast spreading Covid-19. Reading a news item in The Island of Friday 18, admiration for Cardinal Ranjith and Christians was enhanced. Church services are to be conducted more..

Dec 26 (CT) A special Party Leaders� meeting of the Govt is set to be chaired by Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa and PM Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat at 6 p.m. on 28 December. Govt sources said that among the topics on the agenda would be how to face the challenges posed by the country during the New Year as well as what measures need to be taken to counter the continued threat posed by more..

Dec 26 (DM) As dozens of Covid-19 remedies continue to circulate on social media, a traditional medicine physician has come forward with allegations that indigenous medicine is now ridiculed thanks to the actions of a few quacks. Dr Abeywardhana Hettiarachchi is a traditional medicine practitioner from Kandaliyadda Paluwa, Ganemulla. In an interview with a YouTube blogger published in Jan 2020, Dr Hettiarachchi stated that the fear around the novel Coronavirus more..

Dec 26 (DN) Amid all the headlines about the COVID-19 pandemic, a notable development may have escaped the attention of observers. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun organized a conference call with close allies and partners to discuss the crisis and ways to coordinate their responses. The call featured senior officials from the Govts of India, Australia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Vietnam. The participants planned to meet in weekly conference calls. more..