Mar 27 (FT) The country�s total COVID-19 patient count rose to 91,561 with 272 persons testing positive for the virus yesterday. Yesterday�s patients include 260 associates of the Peliyagoda cluster and 12 overseas arrivals. The total number of patients detected from the Divulapitiya, Peliyagoda, and Prisons clusters and among foreign returnees has thus risen to 86,951 patients. In addition to the triple clusters, 2,562 Sri Lankan returnees from abroad, 950 Navy personnel and their contacts, more..

Mar 27 (CT) It was revealed at the Committee on Public Accounts (COPA) that cases have been filed by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) in the Colombo Magistrate�s Court to recover Rs 2.67 billion in tax arrears from casinos. Furthermore, the IRD had received 6,878 dis-honoured checks worth Rs 240 million as at 31 Dec 2020. COPA ordered the IRD officials to take immediate action to recover these dues. more..

Mar 27 (DM) SL says talks to purchase coronavirus vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech have been successful and a final agreement is expected to be reached soon. The US based company has offered to supply vaccines in special storage equipment during transportation. The Pfizer vaccine requires storage facilities with minus 70 degrees refrigeration, a facility which the SL Govt does not have. The matter had been discussed with the manufacturer and manufacturer has now offered a solution. more..

Mar 27 (DN) The 16th Discussion with the Village programme presided by Prez Rajapaksa will be held in Kiriwelkele North, step 03 Grama Niladhari Division in the Pitabeddara Divisional Secretariat Division in the Matara District today (27). The discussion will commence at 10.00 am at Derangala Maha Vidyalaya. This is the second Discussion with the Village programme in the Southern Province. The Kiriwelkele Grama Niladhari Division, a highland colony established in 1958, more..

Mar 27 (DM) While claiming that the Easter Sunday attack was politically motivated though it looked like an extremist and terrorist attack, JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said PCoI on Easter Sunday attack has failed to reveal the mastermind and the motive behind the attack. Speaking during the adjournment debate on PCoI report on Easter attack, he said there had been a number of political changes after the attack. more..

Mar 27 (FT) The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) yesterday said the govt has set up a system involving private hotels and resorts to provide free quarantine facilities to SL migrant workers returning home from the Middle East and abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The SLBFE will cover all expenses related to quarantine facilities, other medical, food and transport facilities for migrant workers returning home due to the COVID-19 situation, it said in a statement. more..

Mar 27 (ST) The body of a 33-year-old SL woman who died in Nagoya, Japan, is being held in a funeral parlour in that city pending the completion of investigations, diplomats said. Wishma Sandamali died on March 6 after being taken to hospital from an immigration detention centre of the Nagoya Regional Immigration Bureau. Her parents gave an affidavit to the SL mission in Tokyo requesting her remains to be disposed of in Japan. But the funeral cannot be held until an investigation more..

Mar 27 (FT) A donation of 600,000 doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine from the Govt of China is expected to reach the country on 31 March, despite concerns from the main Opposition that the vaccines have not received approval from the local regulator. According to Minister Channa Jayasumana, the donation was initially to be 300,000 doses but discussions between the countries and a request made by Prez more..

Mar 27 (CT) A luxury housing complex is currently under construction in proximity to the Sigiriya World Heritage Site, claiming to be highly visible from the ancient rock fortress, with 30% of units already sold. Approval for the housing complex was granted by the former Govt in 2017 and construction had commenced in 2020 when the country was completely paralysed by the global pandemic. The complex is located just 1.9 km from the Pothana archaeological site where prehistoric more..

Mar 27 (DM) The officers attached to Pettah police division had made a public announcement to caution the public and passengers that they should be extra vigilant of their belongings, as around 8,000 drug addicts are roaming in the busy areas of Colombo city. They said that several police officers were assigned to make that announcement from today. Accordingly, the policemen get into the buses and advise the passengers to be extra vigilant of their belonging, as hundreds of drug addicts are more..

Mar 27 (DM) Strict legal action will be taken against those who imported unrefined coconut oil that contained carcinogens, Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena said yesterday in Parliament. He added that no political intervention will be allowed when the culprits are brought to book. He observed that there has been a request made to carry out an investigation on the matter by the CID. more..

Mar 27 (FT) It is 69 years since the Father of the Nation, Don Stephen Senanayake passed away, with his death anniversary falling on Monday (22). He helmed the final phase of our struggle for freedom from colonial occupation, but I was not present then to experience his leadership first-hand. However, through reading his words and about his deeds I have come to know him. A few days ago, I spent a considerable amount of time reading clips from newspapers and Hansard reports to more..

Mar 27 (ST) UNESCO�s Sri Lanka National Commission has submitted proposals to declare the Kandy Esala Perahera as a UNESCO World Heritage. This follows UNESCO�s decision to declare the original copy of the Mahawamsa as a World Heritage. At the 2006 International Buddhist Conference held at the International Buddhist Conference Centre at Pallekelle in Kandy, discussions were held to recognise the Kandy Esala Perahera as a UNESCO World Heritage. more..

Mar 27 (AD) The approval was granted at the cabinet meeting held on the 04th Janu 2021 to establish the Colombo Port City Special Economic Zone which will be an International business and services hub with specialized infrastructure facilities. Port City investor company, CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd. welcomes the Govt�s move and expects this initiative will bring more Foreign Direct Investments to SL. The Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill would form the framework more..

Mar 27 (Island) The People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) yesterday said that decisive international action is the only way to achieve justice and a sustainable peace in Sri Lanka. PEARL said so in the wake of Geneva-based UNHRC adopting resolution against SL with 22 members voting for, 11 against and 14, including India skipping the vote: PEARL said that on March 23, the UNHRC had passed an important resolution rejecting SL�s narrative of reconciliation and progress. more..

Mar 27 (EN) SL risked a showdown with New Delhi over the arrest of 54 Indian fishermen in what was widely seen in diplomatic circles as a retaliatory move over the censure motion against Colombo at the UNHRC. India abstained from voting, but made a statement that supported UK-led resolution despite SL�s Foreign Secretary, Jayanath Colombage, having indicated New Delhi would support C'mbo at Tuesday�s vote in Geneva. more..

Mar 27 (DN) Three children, aged nine, eight and three who were left orphaned following the tragic death of their parents who died in the bus accident in Passara have been adopted and are to be taken in by the new parents who after hearing of their plight have come forward to care for these three children. The grandmother of the children is said to be unwell and not in a position to look after the three children. Father of the child was an epidemiologist while his wife was a teacher in Ampara more..

Mar 27 (FT) Globally recognised branding leader Rebecca Robins will speak alongside a panel of women leaders at the Interbrand-Daily FT Int'l Women�s Day Forum on Sunday. Robins is Global Chief Learning and Culture Officer for Interbrand based in London. She heads the Interbrand Academy � a global centre of excellence in learning and development, running programmes in collaboration with partners such as Microsoft and UCL. more..

Mar 27 (AD) COPA was told on Friday that the human-elephant conflict remains unresolved although Rs. 490 million was spent on setting up an electric fence from 2019 to 2020. A meeting of COPA, headed by its Chairman Prof. Tissa Vitharana, was held at the Parliament Complex. As per the revelations made at the COPA meeting, Rs. 275,447,639 was spent in 2019 to construct an electric fence in order to resolve the conflict. more..

Mar 27 (NIA) The High Commissioner of India in SL, Gopal Baglay on Thursday visited the Vidyalankara Pirivena in Peliyagoda, one of the leading Theraveda Buddhist Monastic schools in the world, established in 1875. The HC prayed at the shrine room in the campus which houses the sacred relics of Lord Buddha and paid his respects to Venerable Welamitiyawe Dharmakirthi Sri Kusaladhamma Nayaka Thero, Principal of the Vidyalankara Pirivena and Chancellor of the Uni of Kelaniya. more..

Mar 27 (DM) No matter what are the difficulties the Govt experiences, they have no right to increase the fuel or domestic gas prices, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation's (CPC) Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya wing's (JSS) Secretary Ananda Palitha said. He said that no efforts have been made by this Govt to grant fuel subsidy to the general public even during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Govt is now holding on to the fuel and gas price increase until the end of the New Year season. more..

Mar 27 (FT) Tourism industry stakeholders lamented that the Govt has neglected the sector employees, many of whom have still not been vaccinated through the national Covishield vaccination program, despite the sector being identified as a priority. �The authorities have not informed of a timeline for the vaccine for the industry yet and all stakeholders are desperately waiting,� industry sources said. more..

Mar 27 (Island) The Opposition would have the public believe that the UNHRC resolution against SL could have been avoided if the govt had cared to do so. Its MPs sounded like a group of apologists for the western bloc, when they waxed eloquent, in Parliament, on the UNHRC decision, the other day. There was absolutely no way the govt could prevent hostile actions of the UNHRC, which is acting at the behest of the western powers bent on punishing the SLPP leaders and the war-time military more..

Mar 27 (ST) The negative impact of single-use plastic on the environment has been a long established fact,and as a result the Central Environment Authority (CEA) banned the use of plastic flower garlands effective tomorrow, Director General CEA, Hemantha Jayasinghe, said. He said steps are being taken to replace plastic garlands with eco-friendly garlands in places of worship around the country. Mr Jayasinghe added that the intention behind advocating such a ban is to more..

Mar 27 (ST) Non-performing contractors in the iRoad (Integrated Road Investment Programme) project for developing roads in rural areas are causing huge financial losses for the govt. Great hardship is being experienced by people living in areas involved in the project due to roadwork being abandoned halfway by non-performing contractors. Local residents are forced to use partly dug-up roads, hazardous in their incompleted more..

Mar 27 (CT) The US$51.25 million Asian Development Bank- led (ADB) project, to provide rooftop solar energy/electricity to households in Sri Lanka, had by end 2019 seen 2,081 subprojects, mainly dominated by households, approved, amounting to 23.5 megawatts (Mw) of clean electricity generated, the ADB, said. The project upon completion expects 60 Mw of clean electricity generated, translating to the production of 94.6 giga Watt hours (gWh) of clean electricity annually. more..

Mar 27 (DM) SL Cricket team is not among the top ten in the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League while England have climbed to the top following their victory over India. ICC Cricket World Cup Super League will help decide which teams feature in the ICC Men�s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India. India, who are the hosts in 2023, and the other top seven teams will qualify automatically for the World Cup. The bottom five teams will play a qualifying tournament, which will also feature more..

Mar 27 (FT) Former President and Polonnaruwa District MP Maithripala Sirisena yesterday told Parliament that legal action should be taken against those suspects being held in connection with the Easter Sunday terror attacks before taking action against him and those in the security establishment as recommended by the PCoI which probed the attacks. Sirisena said that that the real perpetrators of the attacks more..

Mar 27 (DM) Large gatherings will be prohibited during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, Govt said. State Minister Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle said that so far no decision has been taken to enforce travel restrictions during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year holidays. However, she said that large gatherings will be prohibited to ensure there is no spread of the coronavirus. The public will be urged to ensure existing health guidelines are strictly followed during the holidays. more..

Mar 27 (Island) The 19th Amendment created the disagreements, contradictions and conflicts between the then Prez Sirisena and PM Wickremesinghe and that resulted in serious lapses in national security, ultimately leading to Easter Sunday terror attacks, SLPP MP Gevindu Kumaratunga told Parliament. MP said the report shed light on how the security apparatus operated under the former govt. �There are accounts on how our officers acted in the face of the spread of Wahabism in the country. more..

Mar 27 (DM) Sometimes a loan obtained to save a life can end up taking another life, in the debt-stricken villages of SL. A 24-year-old mother killed her child and committed suicide two months ago due to her inability to repay a loan of Rs. 400, 000 to a micro-finance company. It is just one story out of millions of borrowers. Like more than 2.5 million other people in SL, most of them were women; she had turned to microcredit more..

Mar 27 (ST) Business owners in the hospitality industry, now entering yet another year of stagnation, claim they are drowning in accrued capital and interest on loans after availing themselves of a debt moratorium introduced by the Central Bank last year. Enterprises were worse off than before they received the moratorium, a hotelier from Unawatuna claimed. He had taken a small-and-medium-enterprise (SME) loan via the Bank of Ceylon during the pandemic and more..

Mar 27 (CT) Power Minister Dullas Alahapperuma, and French Ambassador in SL Eric Lavertu, inaugurated the French funded new Grid Sub Station and the related transmission line at Nawalapitiya, the French Embassy in Sri Lanka announced on Wednesday. This project is a sub component of the French funded Euro 30 million soft loan electricity project to promote Renewable Energy (RE) Absorption Transmission Development that aims at improving transmission grid�s more..

Mar 27 (ST) While the Indian Ocean�s yellowfin tuna stocks are fast depleting, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission�s latest meeting ended without positive conclusions aimed at sustainable measures. The yellowfin Tuna (Thunnus Albacares), or Kelawalla as it is popularly known locally, is probably one of the most favoured fish of Sri Lankans, but little do we know that this species is being overfished. more..

Mar 27 (SLN) Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Nishantha Ulugetenne presided over the inauguration of 1st reef cleaning project in 2021 organized by Oceanlust e-magazine at Malima Club House, Uswetakeiyawa today. The main aim of the programme was to clean the natural coral reef extending northwards from the Kelani estuary and the neighboring shoreline. In an attempt to completely eradicate plastic from our oceans, this timely initiative was set afoot with more..

Mar 27 (Hindu) SL on Friday released 40 of the 54 Tamil Nadu fishermen who were detained by the Navy there. On Wednesday, 20 fishermen from Thangachimadam in Rameswaram, 20 from Nagapattinam and 14 from the Karaikal region had ventured into the sea for fishing. At three different locations, they were held by SL Navy personnel in the early hours of Thursday and detained on three islands. They were informed that after the quarantine period, they would be produced before more..

Mar 27 (BBC) On the eve of the 1996 final in Lahore, the players of Sri Lanka and Australia dined together in the company of a special guest - the World Cup trophy. As Australia's players posed for photos with the gleaming silverware, some of the Sri Lankans got up to do the same, only to be halted in their tracks by their combative captain Arjuna Ranatunga. "Arjuna told them: 'no pictures now because we're going to win the World Cup', more..

Mar 27 (Island) Irrigation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa on Thursday told Parliament that there were many weaknesses in the current Irrigation Act, and that the ministry had proposed amendments thereto to the Attorney General�s Dept. Minister Rajapaksa made this statement responding to SJB MP Buddhika Pathirana, who asked whether it was possible to construct two reservoirs inside the Sinharaja Rainforest under the Irrigation Ordinance. The govt had initiated a programme to clean more..

Mar 27 (Island) Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) had incurred a loss of Rs. 320 million from a contract awarded for collecting and transporting garbage, JVP Municipal Councilor Hemantha Weerakoon said. He said that garbage collection was done separately in several wards and when renewing the contracts, CMC had awarded the tender to a company that had quoted a much higher price than previously. �For example the previous contract to collect garbage in Ward No 4 was Rs 118 mil. more..