Sep 14 (ST) Existing social security and pension schemes are to be expanded ensuring better social protection for self-employed persons countrywide, State Minister of Micro Finance and Self Employment Shehan Semasinghe said. The need to make certain the social protection for self employed has been identified as one of the challenges to be urgently tackled by the government, in the near normal COVID-19 period, he told a meeting of senior officials in Colombo recently. more..

Sep 14 (TM) SL Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) is to conduct a separate investigation over the death of a SL migrant worker in Kuwait. �We are conducting a separate investigation with the assistance of the embassy, as the full report from the post-mortem is pending. Furthermore, should the allegations get confirmed, we will file legal action against the sponsor for recompense,� SLBFE General Manager W.M.V. Wanasekara said. more..

Sep 14 (TM) SL�s exports during the month of Aug 2020 recorded a downfall of 19.2% to $ 947.7 million as compared to the value of $ 1,033.3 million recorded the same month of last year. Despite the decline in exports, some products like coconut-based products, electricals and electronic components, spices and essential oils, and food and beverages recorded a positive growth of 22.88%, 8.32%, 19.4%, and 11.45%, respectively, during the month of Aug2020 as compared to Aug2019. more..

Sep 14 (FT) The UNP yesterday called on the Speaker to reconsider his decision to allow Premalal Jayasekara, who was convicted of murder, to take oaths as a MP. In a statement, UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam stated that the verdict in the case Premalal Jayasekara vs. the Prisons Commissioner did not give legal basis for Jayasekara to come to Parliament. �If the Speaker allows this precedent to take effect, even terrorists could enter the Parliament,� he said. more..

Sep 14 (AD) Twenty-five of the inmates at the Boossa Prison have called off the hunger strike they launched last Thursday (10). A total of 43 inmates including notorious underworld figures and drug traffickers such as �Kanjipani Imran�, �Wele Suda�, �Kewuma�, �Jausan� and �Soose� launched the hunger strike based on several demands. The hunger strike is being continued today (13) for the fourth consecutive day. more..

Sep 14 (TM) GMOA has issued a Trade Union (TU) notice for all-island TU action, which is to be initiated during the week, starting from 21 September, to protest against the undue delay in fulfilling several demands made by the Association, including the regularising of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC). In a letter written to Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi on Friday, GMOA Secretary Dr. Senal Fernando stressed that the TU action would be launched against the undue delay more..

Sep 14 (PMD) Maha Sanga stated that Prez Rajapaksa has been given the mandate by the people to make the most appropriate constitution for the country. Theros stated that they are more than enthusiastic to see the Prez�s forward journey to establish a self-sustained economy while fulfilling expectations of the citizenry. These comments were made by the Viharadhikari theros of Lankarama, Mirasewetiya and Sri Sambudhdha Jayanthi viharas when Prez visited these temples today (12). more..

Sep 14 (ST) As the crippled super tanker MT New Diamond began to discharge oil in the sea off the southeast coast of SL, the CID has launched a probe to ascertain if the vessel�s crew ignored safety procedures. Colombo�s Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne on Friday ordered the ship owner�s local agent to provide data records from the tanker to the CID. Magistrate also gave permission to MEPA to collect samples from more..

Sep 14 (CT) The Finance Ministry in a circular dated 9 Sept, 2020 withdrew the temporary suspension of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of state owned enterprises (SOEs) vide their previous circular of 20 Nov 2019. Finance Ministry S.R. Attygalle, in a circular addressed to ministry secretaries, Secretary to the Prez Dr. P.B. Jayasundera and the Auditor General, announced revocation of the temporary suspension order. Attygalle had further told the recipients that more..

Sep 14 (ST) Govt will introduce laws to seize money in bank accounts and vehicles of convicted drug barons and their allies. PM will meet the officials of the Treasury, AG�s Dept and law enforcement authorities to discuss the parameters of this legislation. The new move will empower the govt to seize funds from such accounts and vehicles. Regulations will be made under the Money Laundering Act which empowers Finance Minister to gazette regulations to seize money more..

Sep 14 (FT) SJB expressed concern regarding the provision for Urgent Bills in the proposed 20th Amendment, and the erosion of the public�s right to challenge the legality of upcoming legislation. The party also said that the proposed 20th Amendment has stripped away the power to audit Govt agencies, and probe corruption and malpractice. SJB MP Eran Wickramaratne said that the provisions for Urgent Bills to be rushed through Parliament more..

Sep 14 (ST) The Attorney General does not intend to go before the Supreme Court to appeal against the interim order issued by the Court of Appeal ordering the Prisons Commissioner General to allow murder convict Premalal Jayasekara to attend Parliament sittings, Sunday Times learns. This is despite the AG earlier taking up the position in the Court of Appeal that according to Article 89(d) of the Constitution, a person �under sentence of death� was disqualified from being an elector. more..

Sep 14 (CT) Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera stated that Buddhist monks want neither the 19th nor the 20th Amendment and they prefer a whole new Constitution instead. He added that the monks want a Constitution that respects the interests of Lankans since the existing Constitution consists of bits and pieces of foreign Constitutions. �We do not have a national policy and each and every politician who comes to power works according to their own personal agendas.� more..

Sep 14 (Island) Prez Rajapaksa has assured civil society groups, the National Joint Committee (NJC) and Yuthukama that the proposed 20th Amendment would be rescinded to pave the way for a new draft. Prez gave this assurance at a meeting with Manohara de Silva, PC and lawmaker Gevindu Cumaratunga last Friday. Manohara de Silva is also a member of a special committee headed by Romesh de Silva, PC, more..

Sep 14 (FT) Income of the G7 economies has swelled marginally after the Great Recession in 2007, which accounted for 1% per annum of growth. Expansion of emerging economies continued rapidly even after the Great Recession and stagnated from mid-2013. As average growth of potential regions has stalled during post-recession era, many policy makers have feared the state of secular stagnation over global GDP. There are two controversial arguments have been formed by more..

Sep 14 (FT) The oceans, particularly maritime trade, have been the lifeblood of the modern global economy from the mid-20th century to the early 21st century. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the outlook for global maritime trade and the global economy. However, uncertainties remain on when global maritime trade might recover and what it means for Sri Lanka�s maritime industry. There are different ways to study the oceans economy. The blue economy concept is popular in more..

Sep 14 (SLN) President Gotabaya Rajapaksa the President and Commander-in- Chief of Armed Forces, appointed Rear Admiral Kapila Samaraweera as the Chief of Staff of the SL Navy with effect from 12th Sept. Accordingly, Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Nishantha Ulugetenne, officially handed over the letter of appointment to Rear Admiral Kapila Samaraweera today and expressed his best wishes to carry out entrusted duties in the new appointment. more..

Sep 14 (DM) Acting Chinese Ambassador Hu Wei said SL and China should not limit its bilateral relations only to economic cooperation. He said bilateral relationship is based on strategic partnership cooperation, not economic development only. �As you know, we supported each other even during the past few months in the fight against the pandemic. Numerous amounts of urgent medical supplies including more than 73,000 testing kits, 4.5 mil face masks, 54,000 Personal Protective more..

Sep 14 (FT) One of the charges framed against the present govt by opposition leaders is that it has printed a lot of money through the CB and made available to people. They believe that such a high volume of money released to people will cause inflation in the future. If inflation is set in the economy, people, especially those in the low-income groups, would suffer. These people would feel that they have become poorer because more..

Sep 14 (AD) Nine more patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 have been discharged from hospital after recovering and testing negative for the virus. Two Sri Lankans and one foreign national receiving treatment from the IDH in Angoda and 06 patients from the Iranawila Hospital have been discharged, as per the Health Ministry. Accordingly this brings the number of COVID-19 recoveries to 3,005. Number of COVID-19 patients currently being treated at hospitals has dropped to 217. more..

Sep 14 (AD) The remaining inmates at the Boossa Prison have called off the hunger strike they had been engaged in since Sept 10, confirmed Commissioner General of Prisons Thushara Upuldeniya. The hunger strike, launched by 43 inmates including notorious underworld figures and drug traffickers such as Kanjipani Imran, Wele Suda, Kewuma, Jausan and Soose, lasted 4 consecutive days. As of yesterday (13) 20 inmates had withdrawn and only 14 inmates had been more..

Sep 14 (EN) Former State Minister for Defense Ruwan Wijewardene has been elected the Deputy Leader of the UNP secret ballot at a meeting of the Party Working Committee today. He will now take over as the Party Leader from his cousin former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe in January next year. Wijewardene was anointed as the future leader a few weeks ago. Assistant Leader of the Party Ravi Karunanayake also more..

Sep 14 (Island) The former govt had been concerned that addressing rising Islamic extremism by arresting Muslims in the East would draw the ire of the international community, especially Middle Eastern leaders, former Secretary to the Ministry of Law and Order, Jagath Wijeweera, told PCoI. He said that Islamic extremism had been discussed frequently at the National Security Council (NSC). but former govt had lacked the strength to take appropriate decisions to counter extremism. more..

Sep 14 (CT) Maritime trade unions appealed to Prez Rajapaksa and the Foreign Office in Colombo to intervene in seeking the early release of a senior SL Seafarer currently jailed in Mauritius. �We have already handed over a letter to the President�s Office and the Ministry of Foreign Relations seeking their assistance to release the SL Seafarer,� Palitha Atukorale with the National Union of Seafarers SL (NUSS) said. He said that NUSS was in touch with the Seafarer�s family and more..

Sep 14 (AD) The person who passed away at the Chilaw Hospital earlier this evening has been identified to have been infected with COVID-19. The deceased is a 60-year-old seaman who had been undergoing quarantine after returning from abroad, according to Dr. Sudath Samaraweera of the Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry. He had arrived in Sri Lanka from Bahrain on the 02nd of Sept; however, he had not been identified more..

Sep 14 (EN) Twelve new high court judges were appointed today. A statement from the president�s office said letters of appointment were handed to the new judges by Prez Rajapaksa earlier today. Among the appointments were six district judges, a chief magistrate and two magistrates. The appointments are as follows: District judges: W A Perera, Ms C Meegoda, Ms A I K Ranaweera, W A M Thalagodapitiya, Ms D W W M R C P Kumari Dela and H S Ponnamperuma more..

Sep 14 (AD) Kamal Arunashantha alias Army Kamal, who has been charged with various crimes, has been arrested by the Welipenna Police. The arrest has been made yesterday at the Henpita area in Welipenna, based on a tip-off received by Police Special Investigation Unit. Reportedly, he had been using heroin with his son at the time of arrest. However, the son had managed to flee and evade arrest and Army Kamal has been taken into police custody. Police has recovered 10 gr of heroin, more..

Sep 14 (Island) Some Islamic groups in the East had armed themselves on the pretext of fighting the LTTE, but had not been involved in extremist activities, former SDIG Eastern Province Edison Gunathilaka informed the PCoI. Zahran was also a member of one of the 18 extremist groups that had emerged during that time. The retired SDIG said that those groups also engaged in criminal activities but people were afraid of lodging complaints because more..

Sep 14 (FT) Dialog Axiata PLC, Sri Lanka�s premier connectivity provider in partnership with Dialog Finance PLC and Lanka Clear, announced the launch of LANKAQR � the National Quick Response (QR) Code Standard for local currency payments introduced by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, enabling a cashless Sri Lanka. Dialog aims to enable over 50,000 of its partner merchants with access to LANKAQR platform for digital financial transactions by end of the year. more..

Sep 14 (FT) Fabric and Apparel Accessory Manufacturers Association (FAAMA) is urging the Government to reduce prices of furnace oil as it impacts competitiveness and deprives the country from saving valuable foreign exchange. FAAMA made this request at a recently held forum on SL�s Export Development and Way Forward, chaired by Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena at NSBM Green Uni in Homagama. FAAMA pointed out that SL needs at least $3.3 billion worth of fabric more..

Sep 14 (FT) TMTK MP C.V. Wigneswaran told Parliament that the journey towards self-sufficiency would help the war-affected people in the north and the country faced with innumerable economic setbacks. Speaking during the debate on Nine Orders under the Excise (Special Provisions) Act and 10 Notifications under the Excise Ordinance (Chapter 52), Wigneswaran said the Govt was proposing to give fillip to inland production more..

Sep 14 (AD) NASA�s International Space Station will be visible to the naked eye above Sri Lanka this evening (14). Reportedly, it will be visible to the country at 6:44 pm local time if there is a cloudless sky. According to NASA, its International Space Station, is the third brightest object in the sky and easy to spot if you know when to look up. Visible to the naked eye, it looks like a fast-moving plane only much higher and traveling thousands of miles an hour faster, NASA says. more..

Sep 14 (CT) Chief Incumbent of the Abhayarama Temple in Colombo, Muruththettuwe Ananda Thera called for a complete ban of cattle slaughtering including importation of beef while insisting the ban should be expedited. Thera urged the PM Mahinda Rajapaksa to find a way to ban consuming beef in the country since SL is a Buddhist country. He said that the only vision of late Anagarika Dharmapala Thera was to ban the consumption of beef and hoped it would be done by this Govt. more..

Sep 14 (CT) Army orientation-training programme for 50,000 graduates, recruited to the public sector, in line with the President�s Saubhagayaye Dekma (Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour) policy statement and on directions of Prez Rajapaksa to the Army, begins in phases on Monday (14) in 51 islandwide Army Centres including, Security Forces HQs, Regimental HQs and Training Schools. more..

Sep 14 (CT) Following a third earth tremor recorded in Kandy at around 11:30 p.m. on Friday (11), the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) has decided to appoint a committee today (14) comprising scientists from the Universities of Peradeniya and Moratuwa, to conduct a probe. The minor earth tremor is said to have occurred due to the Limestone deposits and its cavities. However, the earth tremor 1.79 on the Richter scale was recorded at around 11:30 p.m. on Friday, more..

Sep 14 (Island) Retired Civil Servant and writer, PG Punchihewa has concluded his popular Mahi Pancha series of children�s stories with the seventh publication, Mahi Raja Retires illustrated like its predecessors by the late Sybil Wettasinghe, perhaps her last published sketches. A winner of the State Literary Award in 2002 for the best Children�s Book, the author, who retired from the Public Service as Secretary to the Ministry of Coconut Industries, and later served as the head of the Jakarta-based more..

Sep 14 (FT) EDB Chairman Prabhash Subasinghe is renewing his call for greater product and market diversification to enhance SL�s foreign exchange earnings amidst COVID-19 challenges. He made this appeal as the EDB released latest data which confirmed exports touched a near billion dollars for the third consecutive month in Aug. Exports in Aug were $947.7 mil, down by 19% from yr earlier. more..

Sep 14 (AD) 19 new positive cases of COVID-19 have been detected within the day (14) so far while the total number of positive cases in the country soared to 3,253. Among the latest cases one is an associate of the person who passed away while being infected with COVID-19 virus. In addition, 6 recent arrivals from the UAE, one each from Kuwait, Qatar, and Vietnam, 4 from Bahrain, and 5 Indian seamen have been tested positive for the virus. The active cases under medical care at hospitals more..

Sep 14 (AD) A suspect arrested by the Kalutara North Police has allegedly committed suicide inside the police cell he was being held. He had been arrested over a drug-related charge, according to the Police. The deceased is a 32-year-old father of two from the Uggalbada area in Kalutara. Reportedly, the suspect had used a tape of cloth from the mat provided to him in the police cell to commit suicide. The magistrate�s inquest had been carried last morning, shortly after the incident. more..