Feb 11 (CT) Earnings from Sri Lanka's third-largest source of foreign exchange, tourism, declined 6.5% in January this year to US$ 428.8 million, from US$ 458.4 million a year ago, as tourist arrivals to the country declined 6.5%, mostly due to the Coronavirus outbreak in China. According to the statistics, tourism earnings in rupee terms declined 6.8% during January to Rs 77.8 billion from Rs 83.5 billion a year earlier. more..

Feb 11 (ST) Kelani Cables PLC has set its sight on aggressively expanding the product portfolio while also investing in both related and unrelated sectors in business. This includes forming joint ventures, finding new export markets and even buying into firms related to cable manufacturing, Mahinda Saranapala, CEO Kelani Cables said. For starters the company, which has added to its bottom-line over the years through time-tested management practices of Kaizen, an approach to more..

Feb 11 (PMD) The newly constructed seven-storey building at Ananda College, Colombo was vested with the students by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, today (7). It is a historic occasion that the first and only Executive President produced by Ananda College declared open this new building. On his arrival, President was warmly welcomed by the students. The President first paid homage to the Vihara Mandiraya by following rituals practised during his school life. more..

Feb 11 (EN) Prez Rajapaksa wants sweeping reforms in the Uni curricula gearing them to serve the job market. At a meeting held with the VCs of the Universities, on Monday he called on the leaders in the Universities to �take the right decisions to make this country strong again.� �University course contents should serve the demands of the job market and political pressures and other interference should be ignored in this matter,� more..

Feb 11 (FT) The deadline for applications for unemployed undergraduates to apply for jobs has been extended to 20 Feb from 14 Feb and the application can be downloaded via the Presidential Secretariat website. Higher Education, Technology, and Innovation Minister Bandula Gunawardana said it was estimated that there were 55,000 to 60,000 unemployed graduates in the country and program would provide jobs for graduates below the age of 45 who have been employed for over a year. more..

Feb 11 (Island) Senior students have been banned from entering the Kilinochchi Campus of Jaffna Uni from yesterday, in keeping with a decision taken by the university administration, following reports of sexual harassment. It has been alleged that seniors forced some junior students to engage in acts of sexual nature. Those acts were then recorded and published on social media. The administration is investigating the allegations and seniors will be barred from the premises until then. more..

Feb 11 (DM) Around 60 to 70 new cancer patients are being diagnosed daily in SL and it is the second leading cause of death globally as well as in SL. Globally, about 1 in 6 deaths is due to cancer. Consultant Community Physician Dr. Nayana De Alwis said Oral cancer and breast cancer are the commonest cancers among males and females in SL respectively. �About one-third of the cancers can be prevented and another more..

Feb 11 (DN) Sri Lanka Cricket launched an Under 15 Cricket Academy with the sights set on building a strong team towards the Under19 Cricket World Cup of 2022 and 2024. The Academy launched, as part of the SLC�s newer focus on uplifting the game of cricket in Sri Lanka, has chosen 54 talented cricketers out of the recently concluded Under15 Inter District and Inter Provincial Cricket Tournament. Academy, launched recently operate in two phases, with the first phase launched at the RPICS, more..

Feb 11 (ONT) Sri Lanka health authorities continue to report high levels of dengue fever into early 2020. As of February 10, the country�s Epidemiology Unit has reported 11,352 cases, about double that was reported during the same period in 2019. Two deaths have been reported from across the country by Feb 7. District reporting the most cases include Colombo (1775), Trincomalee (1521), Jaffna (1182) and Batticaloa (1140). Health officials say the public should be vigilant on more..

Feb 11 (FT) CB Governor Prof. W.D. Lakshman yesterday said a fresh IMF program could be on the cards in the future, provided it has a homegrown implementation framework, as experts agreed Sri Lanka will have to chart a careful course balancing growth and stability in 2020. Speaking at the Economic Outlook launch for 2020 at the CCC, Prof. Lakshman acknowledged that there were structural issues that more..

Feb 11 (Island) JHU Genaral Secretary Champika Ranawaka says the tax concession granted by the caretaker govt had boomeranged, causing an economic crisis. Speaking at a meeting under the theme, Aluth Pethumak � Aluth Gamanak (New hope-new journey), on Sunday, MP Ranawaka said: "Prez Rajapaksa announced that he would give a tax relief with effect from Dec 1. What was the result? None paid taxes. We had a systematic procedure in public revenue collection. more..

Feb 11 (DM) Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa who met Elections Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya had informed him that the alliance led by him intended to contest the general election under the name Ape Jathika Peramuna by changing its symbol. Sources close to Mr. Premadasa said that he had informed the polls chief that he intended changing the symbol to the Heart. He also said the officer bearers of Ape Jathika Peramuna would also be replaced. more..

Feb 11 (DM) UNP working committee meeting yesterday ended in a stalemate following the issue on the symbol of the alliance led by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa to contest the next general election. Mr. Premadasa and few others had walked out of the working committee meeting protesting against the proposal made by some members that the elephant should be the symbol under which the alliance should more..

Feb 11 (DM) Prez Rajapaksa had sought a report from Minister Bandula Gunawardane regarding the present status of the SAITM which is commonly called the Malabe Private Medical College. Minister said he undertook a fact-finding mission to the SAITM premises. He said the Neville Fernando Hospital affiliated to the SAITM had been acquired by the govt in the past. Besides, he said the SAITM authorities were planning to sell off its assets to a leading retail chain to settle its loans. more..

Feb 11 (DN) President Rajapaksa visited the Welikada Prison yesterday on a sudden inspection tour. He spoke with the inmates being held in remand. Most of them were in remand for illegal possession of heroin and other prescription substances. They told the Prez that the number of prisoners in the Welikada prison is three times the size that the prison can accommodate. They also informed Prez, that a lot of time was spent hearing cases that were filed without any credible more..

Feb 11 (Island) Former Chairman of the SAITM, Dr Neville Fernando, said that the SAITM had not yet been acquired by the govt though there had been a media circus to that effect in view of protests by university students, parents, doctors and teachers. He said that a lot of publicity had been given to the claim that the govt had taken over the SAITM, but that was a lie. SAITM had been closed for nearly two years and he had no income, more..

Feb 11 (DM) With a nearly 20 million people and close to 15 million voters India�s national capital Delhi is very much similar to Sri Lanka electorally. At the parliamentary elections held in May 2019, the ruling BJP made a clean sweep in Delhi winning all seven seats with massive margins, a repeat of its performance at 2014 polls. The key opposition Indian National Congress (INC) and the ruling party of Delhi Assembly, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) failed to bag a single seat. more..

Feb 11 (DM) Since the beginning of time, women have had to fight to be heard. Homer�s Odyssey tells the story of Telemachus, son of Odysseus and Penelope, telling his mother to �go back up into your quarters, and take up your own work, the loom and the distaff � speech will be the business of me, all men, and of me most of all; for mine is the power in this household�. Not too much has changed in the nearly 3,000 years since, particularly countries like SL, where in every public sphere of society, more..

Feb 11 (DM) Sex. As much as it is a taboo word in the conservative, conventional context, this very taboo has also made it a topic of discussion. Recently, society reacted diversely when Hathe Ape Potha - an attempt to shed light on sex education - was planned to be distributed among grade 7 students. Issues that the youth have to face due to deficiencies of sex education include everything from being not harassed in public transport more..

Feb 11 (DN) The preliminary objection raised by defence, to dismiss the amended indictment in the high-profile Avant Garde floating armoury case, was fixed for its order on Feb 20 by the Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar. On the previous hearing, the defence presented their preliminary objection against the indictment of the Avant Garde case and stated that the indictment, which was filed by the AG, is flawed; more..

Feb 11 (ST) Colombo�s Chief Medical Officer has urged consumers to be more vigilant when buying food products or ingredients because they may be buying outdated items with new expiry date labels. His instructions were issued following a raid on a Mattakkuliya food outlet, where shop assistants were found replacing the expiry date label on packets and bottles of bakery item ingredients from England, Germany & Dubai. more..

Feb 11 (EN) Some tax payers may end up paying a higher 18% tax on interest income after withholding tax deduction of 5% was ordered to be removed by the revenue office, a senior tax consultant has warned. Sri Lanka had withholding tax at 5% on interest income, which was ordered to be lifted from January by the Department of Inland Revenue, as part of broad range of tax cuts and changes, before it was approved in parliament. more..

Feb 11 (TM) Following the Easter Sunday attacks of 21 April 2019, former Prez Sirisena imposed a ban on face coverings including the niqab, the burqa, and full-face helmets from 29 April 2019 onwards under emergency regulations. With the emergency regulations being relaxed, the ban on face covers including niqabs and burqas was lifted in Sept 2019. This was communicated to the then Minister of Muslim Religious Affairs by more..

Feb 11 (IT) After PM Mahinda Rajapaksa backed India's decision bringing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by calling it an internal matter of India, the same was resonated by his minister Arumugan Thondaman. Minister Thondaman, who represents the Tamil community in the Rajapaksa cabinet, said that the citizenship legislation is for minorities from friendly and neighbourhood nations SL Tamil refugees more..

Feb 11 (DM) UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe reportedly told Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa yesterday that he was not ready to reappoint MP Ajith P. Perera to the Working Committee, but had no issue in giving assent to the accommodation of the other three members. Along with Mr. Perera, the UNP did not reappoint its MP Sarath Fonseka, Colombo Mayor Rosy Senanayake and Imitiaz Bakeer Markar more..

Feb 11 (EN) Sri Lanka is not trying innovative treatments for Coronavirus patients using anti-HIV drug cocktails unlike some other countries but is providing already approved supportive therapy, a senior health official said. �So far the whole globe is trying to find a treatment and vaccine but until such time we will provide supportive therapy,� Thilanka Ruwanpathirana, Consultant Epidemiologist said. more..

Feb 11 (TM) Continuing its extensive examination of the Central Bank Forensic Audit (FA) reports over the past few weeks, The Sunday Morning analysed the third FA report which investigated the issuance of Treasury bonds and remittance of funds received to the General Treasury during the period from 1 Feb 2015 to 31 Mar 2016 by the Public Debt Department (PDD). The report has found that due to irregularities in more..

Feb 11 (NR) US President Donald Trump has sought US$ 48.2 million for US State Department�s development programs to be carried out in Sri Lanka, through the budget for 2021 Fiscal year. According to the US State Department, President Trump has requested US$ 39.2 million under the Economic Support and Development Fund. Meanwhile, US$ 8.38 million has been requested for the Fiscal Year 2021 under more..

Feb 11 (CT) When J.R. Jayewardene took over the helm of the UNP after the demise of Dudley Senanayake in 1973, he purged the Party or made room for those who were inimical to the Party's interests to crossover, thereby paving the way for a new face UNP to sweep the 1977 Parliamentary Poll by a record 5/6ths majority. Among some of the key heads which rolled or were allowed to be rolled by Jayewardene were Senanayake's only brother's son Rukman, UNP MP for Dedigama; more..

Feb 11 (AD) If the lotus bud is selected as the symbol of the alliance between SLFP and SLPP, SLFP has no issue of contesting under that symbol, stated, General Secretary of SLFP, Dayasiri Jayasekara. He said: �The basic structure was to register the alliance under the People�s Alliance (PA) by the name Sri Lanka Nidahas Podujana Sandhanaya. We have made the necessary arrangements for that. Now we have to go through the process to get office bearers appointed. more..

Feb 11 (Island) Uni of Peradeniya asked for Rs. 2,396.7 million for ongoing and new projects in 2018 but received only Rs. 535 million, the 2018 annual report says. "Due to severe financial constraints, the University was not able to settle payments on time and this badly affected the progress of the capital projects," the report said. The drop in the allocation for capital funding made it difficult to continue with some construction work and it was difficult to maintain proper budgetary control more..

Feb 11 (FT) A six-member committee was appointed by the Power and Energy Ministry yesterday to review power generation on a daily basis, with its members comprising one Ministry officer, two Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) officers and two Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) officers. According to a statement issued by the ministry, the committee will be required to submit a daily report to Power and Energy Minister Mahinda Amaraweera on the activities of the Ministry, CEB and the CPC. more..

Feb 11 (DM) Over 170 patients, over the weekend, sought treatment at various hospitals in Sri Lanka, including the IDH in Angoda, in fear that they may have contracted the novel coronavirus, health ministry sources said. In total, 178 patients had visited various hospitals set up to treat coronavirus patients on Saturday and Sunday, but were released after they were treated and were found to be suffering from flu. more..

Feb 11 (DM) A smart card and an online E-ticketing system would be introduced for easy seat reservation in trains, Transport Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said. He said a Cabinet Paper would be submitted in this regard soon. It was reported that the present ticketing and reservation system had loopholes for scammers to cheat local and foreign passengers. �Certain brokers used to sell the seat reservation tickets several times higher than the original price. It was reported that more..

Feb 11 (EN) State Minister Susil Premajayantha says that the govt will nominate a variety of persons to contest on its behalf at the upcoming Parliamentary General elections not only the highly educated. Speaking to reporters this morning he said that when considering the history of the country there were labour leaders, peasant leaders and others representing different communities in society as the people�s representatives in Parliament. So he said the people do not necessarily consider more..

Feb 11 (AD) The Attorney General has expressed his displeasure to the Acting IGP over the response in dealing with the AG�s advice and directives on Justice Gihan Pilapitiya. On Jan 23, the Attorney General instructed the Director of CCD to obtain a warrant and arrest interdicted HC Judge Gihan Pilapitiya and to produce him before the court for conspiring to fabricate false evidence� along with MP Ranjan Ramanayake. more..

Feb 11 (FT) Matters that came up for investigation before the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) sometime back, debated with much ardour, appear to have lost the passion and consigned to oblivion. Several important State enterprises came under its scope with public focus on the issues raised with great interest and enthusiasm. Nevertheless, there is very little known now about the outcome of some serious revelations and exposures made in this forum. more..

Feb 11 (DM) Parliamentary Committee on High Posts will examine the suitability of nominating and appointing artiste Rohana Beddage as Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the Maldives, a paper advertisement said today. The committee requested any organization or individual desirous of making representations with regard to the relevant nomination to send duly signed written memorandums under the registered cover to the Secretary, Committee on High Posts, more..

Feb 11 (EN) UNP MPs loyal to Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa called into question today the controversy surrounding the symbol of the party�s proposed electoral alliance. MP Ajith P Perera said that the controversy had been manufactured in an attempt to disrupt the common ground reached with the faction loyal to party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe on Jan 30. Following the Working Committee meeting more..