Mar 17 (DM) The SJB will start its own programme to repatriate Sri Lankan expatriates and start up quarantine centres in each electoral constituency, an MP representing the party said today. SJB MP Hector Appuhamy that his party was prepared to repatriate SL expatriate workers and start up its own quarantine centres if the govt failed to launch an effective programme to assist SL expatiates. �We are prepared to work with the Foreign Employment Bureau to repatriate SL expatriates and more..

Mar 17 (FT) A total of 286 persons tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the total patient count to 88,524. The COVID-19 patients detected yesterday include 250 associates of the Peliyagoda cluster and 24 persons linked to the prisons cluster. The triple clusters that emerged from Divulapitiya, Peliyagoda and Prisons have thus risen to 84,020. In addition to the triple clusters, 2,386 SL arrivals from overseas, more..

Mar 17 (FT) Cabinet has given approval for the release of fresh rice stocks via Sathosa to keep prices stable, ahead of the April New Year festival period, an official said yesterday. Cabinet Co-Spokesman Dr. Ramesh Pathirana said that the Govt was also prepared to import rice to meet any market shortfall. Typically prices of essential items including rice see an uptick in prices close to the April festival period but Dr. Pathirana acknowledged this had worsened due to pandemic impact. more..

Mar 17 (FT) Health authorities yesterday confirmed two COVID-19 deaths, which brought the country�s COVID-19 fatalities to 534. A 59-year-old individual from Negombo tested positive for COVID-19 while receiving treatment at a private hospital in Colombo. He was then admitted to the Medical Faculty Hospital of the Kotelawala Defence University. However, he died of heart disease, COVID pneumonia, high blood pressure, acute diabetes and kidney disease yesterday. more..

Mar 17 (FT) The economy in 2020 suffered a 3.6% contraction despite a 1.3% improvement in the last quarter, Dept of Census and Statistics (DCS) revealed. It said the previous National Accounts Estimates, released by the DCS for the First, Second and Third quarters of 2020 reflected the adverse impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the economy. In 2019, the economy grew by 2.3%. For the first time in the history, more..

Mar 17 (EN) Police Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) is probing an allegation by journalist Sujeewa Gamage, a web journalist who says he was kidnapped, assaulted and released by a group of men. Speaking from the Colombo General Hospital, Gamage alleged that on March 10, 2021 he was kidnapped by a group of men when he got down at the Mirigama bus station on his way to Colombo. He said he was taken from Mirigama and was tortured for over five hours. more..

Mar 17 (DM) 35 police officers including the Director of the Crimes Division and three senior DIGs have been transferred, police said. They said a Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), eight SSPs, four SPs including a woman Superintendent of Police, eight ASPs, 10 Chief Inspectors and an Inspector were also among those transferred. Accordingly, SSP TGNWD Thalduwa has been transferred from the post of Director of the Crimes Division to the post of Director of the Police Media Division. more..

Mar 17 (TM) National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) Chairman Prof. Asita de Silva has submitted his resignation a week after State Minister Prof. Channa Jayasumana�s unsuccessful attempt at removing four of NMRA�s Board Members. Following the resignation of Prof. de Silva, NMRA Board on Monday has nominated current Board Member and IDH senior consultant physician Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama more..

Mar 17 (EN) SL�s gross domestic product was estimated to have grown 1.3% in the fourth quarter of 2020 against 1.6% in 2019 as the economy recovered from a Coronavirus pandemic. Agriculture grew 1.3%, industry 1.3% and services 1.9%. The third quarter growth was revised down to 1.3% from an earlier 1.5%. The second quarter contraction was revised up to 16.4% from 16.3%. The economy was hit by Coronavirus lockdowns after March 20, 2020 and was re-opened in the second quarter. more..

Mar 17 (CT) SL National Cricket Team that won the Cricket World Cup in 1996 will receive their medals, given by ICC, today, after 25 years. A special function under the patronage of PM Mahinda Rajapaksa to honour the 1996 Cricket World Cup champions, led by Arjuna Ranatunga and his deputy, Aravinda de Silva, is scheduled to be held this morning at Temple Trees. On a day like today, SL national cricket team won the Cricket World Cup 1996 by 7 wickets, defeating Australia more..

Mar 17 (DM) An alleged loss of Rs. 15 billion in tax revenue following the govt�s decision to slash taxes imposed on Sugar in Oct 2020, has been the point of contention this past week. The incident now widely dubbed as the Sugar scam came into light early January, where sources claimed that a sudden reduction in sugar taxes gave sizable profits to a select few traders. Govt has come under fire as overnight slashing of more..

Mar 17 (FT) There are two prevailing nostrums that those who have opted not to capitulate to the popular Covidian narrative migrate to. The first is that we are experiencing the tremors and absurdities, tragedies and meltdowns, from a lattice-work of over-reaction and a patchwork quilt of misguided, histrionic stupidity. Second is that we are experiencing the grand design of what is sometimes called GloboCap, those who wish to own, run and obscenely profit from the new normal. more..

Mar 17 (FT) Year 2020 was a bumper year for biopiracy. Year saw the publication in int'l scientific journals of no fewer than eight papers involving plant and animal specimens illegally collected and exported from Sri Lanka. These exports involved almost 20 species, mainly comprising invertebrate animals, in addition to a single species of fungus. In all, there have been at least 15 such papers since 2018, involving a total of more than 3500 specimens belonging to some 80 species, more..

Mar 17 (AD) Nearly 20 houses have been burned down in a fire that broke out this afternoon at a row of estate houses in the Queensland section of the Brunswick Estate in Maskeliya. The fire had initially broken out from one of the estate houses, according to the Maskeliya Police. Maskeliya Police, SL Army personnel, and estate workers had worked to extinguish the fire. Nearly 60 individuals of 20 households have been displaced in the fire. The cause of the fire has not been revealed more..

Mar 17 (AD) The CID has recovered a foreign-manufactured pistol with several rounds of ammunition inside a vehicle belonging to former Western Province Governor Azath Salley, says Police Spokesperson. CID arrested Azath Salley in Kollupitiya last evening, on the advice of the Attorney General. The former governor has been detained under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) and is currently under interrogation. Convening a media briefing recently, more..

Mar 17 (EN) SL�s rupee closed at 202/303 in one week dollars on Wednesday dealers said amid record money printing, dollar surrender requirements and reserve outflows. When the currency comes under pressure, spot trading usually stops and trading takes place in the short term forward market in spot next (value three days) or for settlement in a week. Deals were done around 202.50 intra-day in the on week market. more..

Mar 17 (DM) Former cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga today apologized to PM Mahinda Rajapaksa after he used a national event to verbally attack the Sri Lanka Cricket Board and the past administrators. Ranatunga said that he was in two minds on attending the event and wanted to even turn back after he realized that some corrupt officials will be in attendance. The former captain and members of the 1996 World Cup winning SL team were felicitated at Temple Trees today by PM more..

Mar 17 (DN) The govt temporarily halted the import of vehicles not to create any hardships to the public but to create a new business vertical from Sri Lanka in the automobile sector, said PM Mahinda Rajapaksa at the launch of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for automobile Manufacturing and Assembly in Colombo on Monday. He said that when the decision was taken there was a buffer stock of imported vehicles in SL sufficient for two years. He said that due to the import ban of vehicles more..

Mar 17 (FT) Cabinet has given approval for a slew of tax changes introduced in 2019 and also proposed in Budget 2021 to be implemented ahead of the commencement of the new tax year. Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told the weekly Cabinet briefing that Cabinet on Monday had approved necessary changes to the Inland Revenue Act No. 24 of 2017 and the Value Added Tax No. 14 of 2002 in order to implement tax reforms more..

Mar 17 (Island) Elephant deaths, so far this year, had shot up to 66, on Monday, when a she elephant succumbed to her injuries received from an improvised explosive device, commonly known as hakkapatas, Rally for Animal Rights and Environment (RARE) said yesterday. Biodiversity Conservation and Research Circle of SL Convener Supun Lahiru Prakash said the human-elephant conflict (HEC) had shown a rapid escalation recently. �From 2016 to 2020 we have lost at least more..

Mar 17 (EN) Sri Lanka plans to amend quarantine regulations for returnees to the island, Army Commander Gen Shavendra Silva said. According to the army chief, authorities are considering waiving off the quarantine requirement for returning Sri Lankans who have received both doses of any vaccine at least 14 days prior to arriving in the island, provided they test negative for the virus in a PCR test they will be subjected to upon arrival. Discussions regarding this are currently more..

Mar 17 (LBO) Prominent Russian business tycoon Andrey Melnichenko visited Port City Colombo today. He was accompanied by SL-born British Politician and former EU MP Niranjan Deva Aditya. Melnichenko is a self-made billionaire with major investments in Switzerland based fertilizer giant EuroChem Group and Russia based coal energy company SUEK. He was warmly welcomed by Port City Colombo more..

Mar 17 (EN) Justice for Animals, a Sri Lankan animal welfare organization is demanding that the govt swiftly enact the Animal Welfare Bill as, yet another report surfaced of a dog killing in Anuradhapura a few days ago. �The deliberate killing of the dog in Anuradhapura is even more shocking as it is considered a Sacred City and is dotted with world-famous temples,� Tashiya Captain, Treasurer, Justice for Animals said. �The murder of any animal is a heinous crime. more..

Mar 17 (DM) While saying it is the sole responsibility of the people to adhere to health regulations during the upcoming festive season to prevent any possible cluster from emerging, the Public Health Inspectors Union pointed out that it was not practical to go for a country-wide lockdown in the days ahead. PHIs Union President Upul Rohana said that SL cannot afford to go for a full lockdown, as it is being embroiled by several issues such as the national economy and other sectors. more..

Mar 17 (TM) President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi have discussed mutual cooperation in all fields, as well as in various international fora, in a telephone conversation yesterday. Egyptian Embassy said President Al Sisi received a phone call from his SL counterpart, Prez Rajapaksa, yesterday reaffirming and further consolidating the cordial relationship that has always existed between the two nations. more..

Mar 17 (DM) SL cricket legend Sanath Jayasuriya hopes that the 1996 World Cup win would be an inspiration to many youngsters who show their passion on the game of cricket. "It is 25 years after our World Cup win, it's the dream of every sportsman to represent their country and I was blessed and privileged to have got that opportunity. We had Ana Punchihewa, a fantastic supportive President of SLC at the time and skipper Arujana Ranatunga, was a father figurel to both of us more..

Mar 17 (EN) South Asia Gateway Terminals, a unit of publicly traded John Keells Holdings said it had deployed lashing cages to improve the safety and work environment of lashing crews for the first time at Colombo Port, allowing them to work in rainy or windy conditions. Container Top Safety Work Cages (CTS-WC), made by Dubai based World Crane Services, can accommodate up to eight workmen. The safety cages allow lashing contractors to carryout on-board container lashing more..

Mar 17 (CT) SL will require at least 8.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to inoculate 20% of its population. However, it all would depend on SL�s ability to obtain the vaccine and on the capacity of producing countries, GMOA Spokesman, Dr. Samantha Ananda said. Fielding a question on the issues which would arise on SL�s ability in obtaining jab, he said vaccine producers had reached their maximum capacity. more..

Mar 17 (AD) Arrested former directors of Swarnamahal Jewellers Ltd have been produced before Fort Magistrate this evening, says DIG Ajith Rohana. The arrest was made on Tuesday (16) upon the directions of Attorney General Dappula de Livera. Jeewaka Edirisinghe, Anjalee Edirisinghe Asanka Edirisinghe & Nalaka Edirisinghe were accordingly arrested on the charges of money laundering. DIG Rohana said the CID is carrying out further probes into the matter. more..

Mar 17 (AD) The Attorney General has filed indictments against the suspects of the Central Bank bond scam, says the AG�s Coordinating Officer State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne. The indictments were lodged before the two Trial-at-Bars hearing the legal matters on Central Bank Treasury Bond auctions held between March 29 and March 31, 2016. The Chief Justice appointed two Trial-at Bars for the hearing of the Bond Scam cases involving the said two bond auctions. more..

Mar 17 (AD) The govt is considering the use of single-shot Johnson & Johnson (J&J) coronavirus vaccine for SL�s inoculation driver, says State Minister Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle. She noted that SL has witnessed a decrease in its figures of positive COVID-19 cases, adding that the govt is looking into procuring other brands of coronavirus vaccines. Chairman of State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) has informed Pfizer Inc. more..

Mar 17 (EN) A 40-year-of old male resident of Embilipitya who received the Covishield AstraZeneca vaccine two weeks ago died yesterday after being admitted to the Karapitiya hospital in Galle with high fever and a drop in platelets. An autopsy has revealed blood clots in the patient�s vital organs, though there is no evidence at present of a link between the death and the vaccine. �Cause of death cannot be confirmed at the moment since we�re still waiting for some reports� more..

Mar 17 (DM) Minister Sarath Weerasekera said, former Western Province Governor Azath Salley was arrested by CID as is alleged to have had links to the Easter Sunday suicide attack. Speaking to media after the Kolonnawa Regional Development meeting, he alleged that according to initial investigation it was revealed that Salley had overt or covert link to vandalizing of the Buddha statues in Mawanella and to the attack. He said the CID conducting further investigation on more..

Mar 17 (Island) Chairman of the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Directors, Prof. Jayantha Lal Ratnasekera says accommodating approximately 43,000 students��a staggering 33% increase in the annual uni intake�� would be a daunting task. Prof. Ratnasekera, who is also the VC of Uva Wellassa Uni, discussed ways and means of providing the basic facilities required by new entrants, especially at a time more..

Mar 17 (EN) Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration has won the gold medal in deforestation, and the alleged destruction of the environment at the hands of the present govt has spiraled out of control, SJB MP Nalin Bandara said. Accursing members of the ruling SLPP who rank below Prez Rajapaksa in the party hierarchy of contributing to the alleged deforestation, Bandara said �They are the ones who are destroying the environment. We don�t know if this is the wish of Prez Rajapaksa or not, more..

Mar 17 (FT) Govt yesterday said it would not walk back the policy decision to raise the daily wage of plantation workers to Rs. 1,000 and stands ready to provide support to implement the measure, despite legal action taken by a group of plantation companies. Plantations Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana told the weekly Cabinet briefing that the Rs. 1,000 daily wage was included into the Budget for 2021 and therefore it was the responsibility of the Govt to ensure it was implemented. more..

Mar 17 (NR) SJB has questioned the progress of investigations into the former Director of the Terrorist Investigation Division DIG Nalaka Silva, who was charged over the alleged VVIP assassination plot during the 52-day coup. MP Nalin Bandara questioned developments of investigations into Namal Kumara also allegedly involved in the assassination plot. MP Bandara charged that statements at the time were more..

Mar 17 (CT) SLT-Mobitel has collaborated with the IT Division of Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) to introduce yet another pioneering initiative through Mobitel�s eChannelling service, enabling the convenient registration of persons for the COVID-19 vaccination. As part of the first phase, senior citizens over the age of 60 years and residing within the City of Colombo can avail themselves of this facility online, free of charge. Commenting on this national collaboration, CEO, Mobitel, more..

Mar 17 (CT) AG has initiated a special audit into the Sugar Scam which cost the State more than Rs 15 billion in taxes. Spokesman to the Auditor General noted that the process regarding the audit is ongoing and was initiated two weeks ago. He also noted that a team of officials from the department is working towards this end and once the audit is concluded the respective institutions connected to the matter will be questioned with regard to the relevant information and files. more..