Jun 22 (CT) Retired IGP, Pujith Jayasundara said the incident of killing two Policemen who were assigned to the Vavunathivu Police roadblock on 30 November 2019, was a coincidence, said Sub Inspector of Police (SI) K.M. Ariyasena. He made this statement on 19 July, while testifying before the PCoI investigating the bombing on Easter Sunday. �In the evening on 29 Nov 2018, Police Constables (PCs) Prasanna and more..

Jun 22 (AD) Colombo High Court acquitted 04 defendants of the case against Samarappulige Niraj Roshan alias Ali Roshan and seven others as there is insufficient evidence against them. The case was taken up before the Colombo High Court Judges Vikum Kaluarachchi, Dhammika Ganepola, and Aditya Patabandige today. Among those acquitted were Priyanka Sanjeewani, the clerk in charge of the Elephant Registration at the Department of Wildlife Conservation, and three mahouts. more..

Jun 22 (AD) Eight suspects involved in organized crimes have been arrested by police within the last 24 hours, SSP Ruwan Gunasekara said. He said that the suspects were arrested with weapons and drugs during operations carried out at three separate locations. He said that STF personnel had arrested two suspects, aged 29 and 26, with weapons in Mathugama yesterday. He said in a separate operation in Hanwella last night the STF arrested three suspects connected to an underworld more..

Jun 22 (CT) Repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was a commitment made by Sri Lanka to the European Union (EU) in the lead-up to SL�s readmission to GSP+ as well as to the UNHRC in April 2019, the EU in its Human Rights Report 2019 released recently said. Despite the progress made following the 2015 elections, progress in implementing UNHRC Resolution 30/1 continued to be slow, the report said. more..

Jun 22 (CT) Permission will be granted for candidates contesting the General Election through political parties or independent groups to display cut-outs with their names and symbols at venues of their meetings, Chairman of the Election Commission, Mahinda Deshapriya, said. Permission has been granted for the display of a cut-out of 50 square feet, if they are being displayed at propaganda rallies in both Sinhala and Tamil languages. If a cut-out is being displayed in one language, more..

Jun 22 (CT) Four persons including a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy drowned while bathing in the sea off Dickowita, Wattala on Saturday evening. The other two victims were identified as women aged 20 and 30 years old. The victims were residents of Uswetakeyawa, Kandana, and Badulla. Wattala Police are conducting further investigations. Meanwhile, Dept of Meteorology urged both the naval and fishing communities to remain alert of rough seas in several areas of the country for more..

Jun 22 (Island) Claim that Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had suspended funding for a new transmission line in SL was not true, JICA SL Office said. JICA said it had continuously supported the establishment of a stable and efficient power system for decades and was always willing to seek new projects in this field, as it believed that it was essential for promoting economic growth in SL." "In fact, currently there are three on-going more..

Jun 22 (Island) Kandy District UNP leader Shanthini Kongahage, yesterday (21), alleged that some of those ex-UNP lawmakers who had switched allegiance to the SBJ secured National List slots. They had shamelessly taken advantage of the National List at the expense of those who really deserved much valued National List slot, former Central Provincial Council member Kongahage said. Kandy leader said that in spite switching allegiance Harin Fernando (Badulla) and more..

Jun 22 (DM) All Share Price Index (ASPI) of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) today crossed the 5,000 point mark for the first time in three months. The main index gained 56.08 points at the end of trading day to reaching 5046.50 points. ASPI fell below 5000 point mark on March 13 when the spread of COVID-19 cases started to escalate in the country. The total market turnover also topped Rs one billion today backed up active trading seen in HNB, Commercial Bank, Royal Ceramic more..

Jun 22 (CT) April 2, 2011. The date has been etched in gold in history of Indian cricket forever. India won the 50-over World Cup for the second time on that day beating Sri Lanka in the final. But former Sri Lanka Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage recently shocked everyone by stating that the match was fixed. However, he didn�t provide any evidence stating he doesn�t want to reveal the names of cricketers. more..

Jun 22 (AD) More patients regaining their health from the COVID-19 infection has pushed the number of coronavirus recoveries in Sri Lanka past the 1500 mark. Twenty-eight patients who had been receiving treatment for the coronavirus infection have been discharged from the relevant hospital upon recovery. Thereby, the tally of recoveries in the country has now climbed to 1,526 cases, stated the Ministry of Health. Sri Lanka has not reported any new COVID-19 infections over the past two days. more..

Jun 22 (NR) Chief Secretary of JVP Tilvin Silva has questioned the govt over the course of action they will follow pertaining to the recent statement by Former Minister V. Muralitharan also known as Karuna Amman. He said the then govt awarded Karuna Amman several prestigious posts. He explained that Karuna Amman is an individual who was a former leader of the LTTE, who later switched sides and joined the govt. He further noted Amman was then offered a National List post from more..

Jun 22 (CT) Musharaf Mudunabeen, a candidate contesting the upcoming General Election from the ACMC led by former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, was allegedly behind the protests against surveying the lands belonging to the Muhudu Maha Viharaya in Pottuvil. It was also learnt that Mudunabeen had apparently worked to forcibly distribute archaeological lands to people and to obstruct land surveying activities, more..

Jun 22 (CT) The Road Development Authority (RDA) on Tuesday (16) called for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for consultancy services in respect of a US$ 125 million World Bank (WB) funded road development project for the development of 58 kilometres of road along the Ja-Ela to Chilaw section of the A003 corridor (that is, the 131.7 km stretch of roadway connecting Peliyagoda to Puttalam). EOIs close on 6 July, while the project per se will close on 31 March 2023, the World Bank (WB) said. more..

Jun 22 (CG) Norwegian Embassy in Colombo has entered into an agreement to support PAFFREL to follow health and safety regulations relating to preventing the spread of COVID-19 during the upcoming election. Norwegian Embassy said that the agreement also seeks to empower more women to get involved in the elections and elections monitoring process. Rohana Hettiarachchi, Executive Director of PAFFREL and Ms. Monica Svenskerud Charg� d�affaires more..

Jun 22 (EN) Sri Lanka�s exports fell US$ 516 million to US$ 282 million in April 2020 from a year earlier, while imports fell US$ 473 million to US$ 1,123 million, amid a Coronavirus crisis. Sri Lanka�s imports are higher than hard goods exports due to income from tourism, remittances, information technology exports as well as govt foreign borrowings to finance the budget deficit, which generally exceed financial outflows. more..

Jun 23 (GV) At the dawn of the new normal resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, SL moved towards an online based education system, which has completely transformed the existing public educational discourse bringing in a new set of challenges. This transformation was initiated by a prez directive on primary, secondary and tertiary education, which introduced a distance education concept and directed institutions to continue work without any interruptions or delay during more..

Jun 23 (CT) The threat of suicide or a sudden torturous killing is just a few feet away at any University in SL. You will hear by tonight as these words are written, or now as you read them, or somewhere at the time appropriate to the IUSF killers that the horror, mental pain, shame from the basest of sexual offences, have struck again. And will strike again and again while our high talking Ministers of Education and the big brains at the Education Dept and at Universities continue more..

Jun 23 (CT) On the Friday (12) morning, Police on their daily patrol of the park near Independence Square came across an uncharacteristically grim sight � the body of a man, blood streaming from his nose, with a micro pistol and a single bullet casing beside him. The National ID card in the man�s pocket identified him as Rajeewa Jayaweera, a 64-year-old former senior airlines executive and independent columnist. more..

Jun 23 (Island) In the year 1964, the Olympic Games were held in Japan. We were Ceylonese back then. The best long distance runner of Sri Lanka at the time, R.J. Karunananda ran in the 10,000 metres event (400 meters x 25 laps). Twenty nine athletes from 17 nations participated in the event. He found that with four more laps for him to run, William Mills of the United States had already romped home. Even after the others had finished running an undaunted Karu, proceeded to run more..

Jun 23 (Island) Former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera has rushed to the defence of the Central Bank (CB). He has sent an open letter to PM Mahinda Rajapaksa. It is a vivisection of the govt�s monetary and fiscal policies. Samaraweera has also inveighed against his bete noire, Prez Rajapaksa, who has recently lambasted the CB. Opposition politicians always see more devils than vast hell can hold, and cry wolf. SLPP did so before the last prez election, & the boot is now on the other foot. more..

Jun 23 (CT) After the end of the 30-year struggle with the LTTE that cost thousands of innocent lives, Sri Lanka never expected a similar threat to rear its head. However, we were all proven wrong on 21 Apr 2019, when a series of bombs claimed the lives of more than 250 innocent people and sparked fears of our dark history repeating itself. However, there was one marked difference � while the 30-year war was fought over the political aspirations of more..

Jun 23 (ST) The World is facing unprecedented food shortages and a hunger crisis. According to WFP, more than 260 million people will face starvation and about 18 million people are estimated to die of starvation and illnesses related to food shortages. Most of these deaths would be in Africa and South Asia. Arif Husain, chief economist at the UN World Food Programme warns that the coronavirus pandemic and its punitive economic effects are about to set off the next global hunger crisis. more..

Jun 23 (ST) Cricket is back in the news. Barely a few weeks after the dust has settled on the controversy over the attempt to build an int'l cricket stadium at Homagama comes the allegation that the WC final between SL and India in 2011 was fixed. The allegation is not made by a random journalist who had stumbled upon this fact after years of meticulous investigation. Rather by the very individual who sat over the destiny of sports in SL at the time- Minister of Sports Alutgamage. more..

Jun 23 (DM) Prez Rajapaksa on June 1 had stated during a discussion with the Prison officials at Prez Secretariat that the prison system will be entirely overhauled by resolving existing shortcomings of the Prisons Dept. He had emphasized that crimes operated by underworld kingpins and drug mafia from prisons must be put to an end without delay. Citing the use of mobile phones by the prisoners, especially the high profile criminals, he had advised the prison officials that this should be more..

Jun 23 (DM) The contours of the Sino-India rivalry changed last week. On June 15, a savage face-off between the Indian and Chinese border forces killed 20 Indians in the Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control between the two countries. Many of them perished when pushed over from steep cliffs at 14,000 feet from the sea level after being beaten with metal poles studded with nails, a weapon of choice during Mao�s cultural revolution. Both India and China are claiming for a chunk of about more..

Jun 23 (FT) Last week, the media were abuzz with a video showing an angry Prez Rajapaksa reprimanding the senior officials of the Central Bank for the lacklustre growth in credit flows in the country. It is not clear whether the Monetary Board � the legal body responsible for this alleged lapse � was present at this meeting officially. Only two members out of the present three, Governor of the Central Bank and the Secretary to more..

Jun 23 (CT) In spite of the entire globe slowing down as a result of the effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic, Sri Lanka has found a way of keeping up the momentum - a true Olympic Day Celebrations tomorrow � 23 June at NOC Sri Lanka hq in Colombo 7 from 10 a.m. onwards, and it shall be telecast live via NOC Sri Lanka Facebook page. As a result of the banning of crowds gathering and the now proverbial one-metre social distancing, the organising team of NOCSL has planned out more..

Jun 23 (Island) Ranjith Kodituwakku has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer/ General Manager of People�s Bank with effect from June 19, 2020. He had previously served as the Deputy General Manager (Commercial Banking and Digitalization). The appointment as CEO/GM follows the retirement of M.A. Boniface Silva � Acting CEO/GM. Ranjith Kodituwakku has over 37 years of banking experience in a wide spectrum of areas covering Consumer Banking, more..

Jun 23 (Island) Olympian and SL's first Asian Games gold medalist Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam opines that lower age group cricket tournaments should be scrapped this year to avoid health risks while the stalled Under-19 tournaments should be completed under a shortened format for the last year students to get an opportunity to represent their schools. In an email reply to our article No school sports before September, more..

Jun 23 (Island) Lanka Hospitals Laboratories (LHD), the only medical laboratory in Sri Lanka with the merit of the highest-grade in accreditation, continues to be a pioneer in the industry by launching Sri Lanka�s first Drive-thru blood sample collection centre. As a first in the country�s healthcare system, the sample collection process is located within the premises of Lanka Hospital and is capable of receiving a patient every 10 minutes, during the phase of its full scale operations. more..

Jun 23 (DN) ICC has commended SL�s efforts in introducing tough laws to combat the match-fixing menace from the island nation. This was revealed by the ICC Coordinator for Investigations Steve Richardson during an online symposium organised by the Sports Law and Policy Centre of India. Richardson cited the example of SL which became the first country in the sub-continent to criminalise match-fixing last year. Richardson said there was no way out of this situation without declaring more..

Jun 23 (TM) Despite the relaxation of curfew, resumption of construction projects, and reopening of hotels, an opening date for the much-hyped Sheraton Colombo Hotel is nowhere in sight. Sheraton Colombo is a 320-room project and is part of the world�s largest hotel chain, Marriott International, Inc. It was earlier scheduled to be opened in the first half of 2020, but even to date, the developers nor Marriot have confirmed more..

Jun 23 (DN) Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is planning to launch the Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) tournament from Aug 15 to Sept 4. SLC has already called for Expressions Of Interest (EOI) from a suitable Sports Marketing/Management Agency to manage and promote SLPL 2020 in collaboration with the SLC. If this tournament incorporate foreign players, it�s going to be the first Int'l tournament after the lockdown period as the England, India, and South Africa match series was postponed more..

Jun 23 (Island) Over 40% of Sri Lankan MSMEs are unregistered, making it more difficult to open bank accounts, to get loans, licenses and permits for their enterprises. Women entrepreneurs face additional difficulties in all of these areas. Now, with the support of the European Union (EU), registering a business in SL is about to get easier. Ministry of Small and Medium Business and Enterprise Development has received Cabinet approval to establish business services centres more..

Jun 23 (FT) The SJB said it will seek to appeal the Colombo District Court�s decision to reject a request for an injunction order on the UNP decision to suspend 102 members from the party. The request was filed by SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara after the UNP issued letters asking party members who sought nominations from SJB to show cause and suspended their membership. more..

Jun 23 (CT) After a highly successful residential training camp with 13 members in Colombo early this month, the second residential training camp will begin today in Pallekele Stadium Kandy, strictly adhering to health regulations imposed by the Govt. The National squad of 24 members was briefed about safety measures yesterday in Colombo before they left to Kandy, where they will train for ten days. �After about three months the second group will begin their training with the national squad. more..

Jun 23 (FT) SriLankan Airlines has secured a saving of $ 30 million per annum via multiple measures on human resource management amidst the impact from COVID-19. Measures included a maximum pay cut of 25% for three months for those earning above Rs. 100,000 per month; release of 400 contracted employees including pilots on no-pay leave and a further 500 from outsourced services. The monthly salary bill of the national carrier is now estimated at $ 7 million. more..

Jun 23 (EN) SriLankan Airlines is planning to fly to Korea, China and Australia if the airport is re-opened for passengers from August as planned in the Covid-era, amid ongoing efforts to boost cargo and slash costs to survive. SriLankan is planning to re-open the airport for tourists without mandatory quarantine but multiple PCR tests from August 01 with a revamped route network. SriLankan used to operate 140 flights a week more..