Oct 18 (EN) Work on SL�s proposed new constitution has been finalised and what is to be the country�s new supreme law will be ready for parliamentary perusal come January 2022, according to Foreign Minister G L Peiris. �The constitution is the country�s supreme law. [However], it�s not set in stone. As the nature and the needs of society change, so too must the constitution,� Peiris told reporters on Monday (18). �It is a convoluted (vyhaakoola) process. To do this, the president appointed a committee more..

Oct 18 (SLN) The Navy took hold of about 1220kg and 700g of smuggled dried turmeric, during special operations conducted at beach of Thewampiddi in Mannar, beach area of Nachchikuda in Mulankavil and Palleimunai in Mannar on 17th and 18th Oct. The operations also made way to the seizure of a dinghy, a three-wheeler and a suspect in connection to these incidents. Sri Lanka Navy has been conducting regular operations in coastal waters around the island to curb wide-ranging more..

Oct 18 (DM) At the heart of Eastern Province lies a now abandoned ghost town punctuated with towering structures, uninhabited housing, dilapidated buildings, unserviceable machinery and acres of deserted land. 28 years ago, this place, the Sugar Factory premises at Kantale, was a hive of activity. Initially constructed on a 44,000 acre expanse of land the Kantale Sugar Factory was a Czechoslovakian Govt aid more..

Oct 18 (DM) Stressing that the danger posed by COVID is still lurking menacingly though cases have marginally decreased, Health Ministry said people's behaviour especially during the weekend is absolutely distressing. Deputy Director General of Health Services Dr Hemantha Herath said that people were behaving as if the COVID risk had been vanished. �We saw in media how people enjoyed their weekend going on excursions. This kind of irresponsible conduct by people can't be more..

Oct 18 (CT) Secretary to the Ministry of Public Services, Provincial Councils and Local Govt J.J. Rathnasiri said that all 18,000 graduates who were recruited to public service and have been absorbed into the Ministry of Education have been informed that they should compulsorily report for work to the schools they are serving in. When graduate trainees were recruited to the govt service, 58,000 were absorbed into public service and 18,000 of them were sent to the Ministry of Education, more..

Oct 18 (AD) SL�s Minister for Youth and Sports Namal Rajapaksa and hundred plus members of the Buddhist clergy will be in Uttar Pradesh�s Kushinagar at the inauguration of its international airport. The minister will be aboard the first int'l flight landing at Kushinagar airport from SL. Besides, 25 representatives and 100 Buddhist pilgrims will also arrive in the same flight. Many VVIPs and diplomats will also attend more..

Oct 18 (NR) 23 COVID-19 deaths have been reported today. The deaths were reported to have occurred yesterday. 10 males and 13 females were among the victims. A male and female were identified between 30 and 59 years of age while nine males and 12 females were 60 years of above. Accordingly, SL�s coronavirus death toll increases to 13,507. 467 individuals tested positive for COVID-19 thus far today. All new infections were linked to the New Year cluster. more..

Oct 18 (DM) With farmers demonstrating against the govt over the delay in the supply of fertilizer, govt decided to airlift a stock of nano liquid fertilizer from India soon. Initially, the govt planned to import 30,000 tonnes of this nanotechnology-based product from an Indian govt company. �We will airlift stocks to meet the needs for the present Maha season,� State Minister of Promoting the Production & Regulating the Supply of Organic Fertilizer Shasheendra Rajapaksa said. more..

Oct 18 (DM) The sea area from Mannar to Rameshwaram in India should be immediately designated as a High Sensitive Marine Ecological Zone in our country. According to a report prepared by the Ministry, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera decided to submit a report to the Cabinet with all scientific facts in this regard in order to protect the highly sensitive ecological zones in our country. The evaluation report for the protection of more..

Oct 18 (TM) A collection of books in Sinhala and Tamil languages was donated to the Community Languages section of the City Library in Palmerston North, New Zealand on 24 Sept, a media statement from the Sri Lankan High Commission in Canberra noted. The books were officially handed over to the library by Founder of the Sinag SL Foundation Tishan Dissanayake, in the presence of the Mayor of Palmerston North Linda Moore and Grant Smith, the Library Manager and the library staff. more..

Oct 18 (DM) Central Bank is expected soon forward a proposal to the govt for consideration, urging to explore the possibility of resuming car imports paid via foreign exchange as vehicle imports remain suspended for 18 months, exerting pressure on the country�s foreign exchange since the onset of the pandemic last year. CB Governor, Ajith Nivard Cabraal looked at the merits of the proposal made by some sections recently to the effect of allowing vehicle imports paid through foreign currency more..

Oct 19 (DM) If there�s one question that we rarely give a genuine answer that would be it. How are you? as a greeting therefore is quite stumping. Indeed one may say it�s really preposterous that people keep greeting others with how are you even during these difficult pandemic days and we continue to reply with the usual good or not bad despite the hardships. Out of habit we both pose the question and respond in that accepted way. We hardly question the logic behind it. more..

Oct 19 (ST) Now that there is far less accumulated garbage as families buy less household needs even if commodities are available, that yawning gap is being filled with verbal garbage spewing from the lips of our political worthies. Not that political garbage emanating from that great Hall of Fame by the Diyawanna Oya is something new. Oh no. But then the Hansard throwing, chilli- powder bombarding brigades that have marched into our Holy of Holies in the name of our more..

Oct 19 (DM) Secretary to the Agriculture Ministry Prof. Udith Jayasinghe takes questions from Daily Mirror about the current crisis of the agriculture sector and the dispute over detection of harmful bacteria in fertilizer samples imported from a Chinese company. He is an expert in the agriculture sector. He is the former Vice Chancellor of Wayamba Uni. Q: There is a crisis in the agriculture sector with farmers agitating over more..

Oct 19 (CT) Facing mounting discontent island-wide due to misgovernance, inefficiency, reversal of policies almost overnight, the galloping cost of living etc., Rajapaksa regime now appears to be on a calculated path to weaken the Opposition by going against key Opposition figures. The plan is to create havoc in the Opposition and win the PC elections to be held in the first half of 2022. It is reliably understood that the groundwork has been laid to move against Opposition leader Sajith more..

Oct 19 (CT) It is alleged that our politicians have been siphoning money off the national treasury or from coffers belonging to the people during the better part of the last seven decades. The voters have resigned to accept that there is an unwritten law in the country, that explicitly licensed the politicians and their cronies to embezzle the national wealth. The judiciary system or the bribery commission established by the very same thieves who have made a career practice out of more..

Oct 19 (DM) In one of his recent addresses to the nation Prez Rajapaksa requested the citizenry to get ready to make more sacrifices. Keeping to his word, the prices of essential items were raised overnight as COVID restrictions were relaxed. With that, the cost of a 12.5kg domestic gas cylinder for example, shot up to Rs. 2840 before the price was subsequently brought down by about Rs. 75 as it was an abnormal price increase. more..

Oct 19 (CT) Worker remittances, led by Middle-East earnings, SL�s single largest foreign exchange (FX) earner, suffered its biggest setback since the exploitation of this sector as an FX earner by the then Premier Sirima Bandaranaike 45 years ago, in 1976, with remittances earnings year on year (YoY) declining by a record 98.93% (US$ 349.5 m) to $ 353.2 million last month (Sept). This YoY fall in remittances last month, both in absolute and percentage terms, is also the largest ever more..

Oct 19 (TM) Even in Colombo, also known as the commercial capital or the most developed city in the country, we rarely see garbage bins in public places, despite the well-known fact that Colombo is a city that generates a large amount of garbage compared to other cities. SL generates around 7,000 metric tonnes (MTs) of solid waste per day, and while the Western Province accounts for close to 60% of waste generation, each person generates an average of one to 4 kg of waste per day. more..

Oct 19 (DM) The present framework restricts the sovereignty of the people merely to the day they go to the polling booth to change or retain the ruling party, [mostly according to their irrational selections] and thereafter leave sovereignty in the safe hands of the unscrupulous elected [servants], and take a backseat watching powerlessly whilst their servants turned masters breach their confidence and expectations with impunity! The sovereign citizens have no recourse to intervention, more..

Oct 19 (CT) Sri Lanka won the second game of the five-match series by a thrilling one run against the visiting Bangladesh under-19 team at Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket stadium yesterday, to take a 2-0 lead. Electing to bat after winning the toss, SL scored 228 runs for 8 wickets in their 50 overs. Right hand opener Sadeesh Jayawardana scored a valuable 58 runs in 94 balls with 4 boundaries. No.4 bat Pawan Pathiraja once again scored a valuable 51 runs in 68 balls more..

Oct 19 (CI) An all-round display from Sri Lanka was too much for Namibia to handle, with Dasun Shanaka's men beating the Associate side by seven wickets. Spinner Maheesh Theekshana was primarily responsible for bamboozling the Namibian batting line-up, who didn't find any rhythm all innings, collapsing to 96 all out inside 20 overs. A brief stutter at the start of the innings from Sri Lanka in the chase looked like it had given Namibia more..

Oct 19 (DM) Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the eighth executive President, and the incumbent in the office seems to believe that the next thing Sri Lanka needs right after the pandemic is a new constitution and a new electoral system. At a ceremony to mark the 72nd anniversary of the Sri Lankan Army last week, he pledged to introduce both within the next year. In the meantime, the country is stuck neck-deep in the worst ever economic crisis in recent memory. It is worsening with every day that passes. more..

Oct 19 (CT) Ireland�s Curtis Campher, the 22-year-old paceman, did a Lasith Malinga as he claimed four wickets in consecutive deliveries which set up an easy seven wickets win over Netherlands in the Group �A� first match of the ICC T20 World Cup round one played here in Abu Dhabi yesterday. Lasith Malinga was first to achieve four which was against South Africa during the ODI World Cup 2007. Rashid Khan performed the same feat in T20s against Ireland in 2019, while Malinga more..

Oct 19 (ST) Sri Lanka�s most gifted and decorated female swimmer Kimiko Raheem, an Olympian who had won five gold medals at a single South Asian Games (SAG), has announced her retirement, the Sunday Times learns. This was confirmed by her coach Manoj Abeysinghe and the Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union (SLASU). �She notified me, and I have informed SLASU. It�s sad, since her talent did not reach full potential more..

Oct 19 (CT) Major Division events of the National Chess Championship cycle of the Western 1 Women�s, Western 2 Open, Central Open and Northern Women�s events started with a bang recently, though it took a little longer to finalize the results until such time the fair play reports were received. It was a foregone conclusion that Oshini Gunawardena of Ferguson High School Ratnapura, the newly crowned World Youth Online Under-10 Chess Champion this Year, would ascend more..

Oct 19 (DM) An employee attached to Fonterra Brands Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. has sent a Letter of Demand to the company claiming Rs.1000 million as damages for terminating her employment under the false claim of redundancy. This Letter of Demand has been sent through attorney-at-law G.G. Arulpragasam urging the company to pay the damages within 14 days. It has warned that legal action will be instituted if the money is not paid during this time period. more..

Oct 19 (CI) Avishka Fernando has not hit a T20I fifty in 21 innings. But in the last four matches - two practice games against an Oman side, and in SL's warm-ups against Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea - he has made scores of 83* off 59 balls, 33 off 18, 62* off 42, and 61 off 37. These were perhaps lower-intensity matches than regular T20Is, but there was also a positional change that Sri Lanka believe allowed Fernando to run up these scores. Though he is usually a top three batter, more..

Oct 19 (DM) The Transport Ministry is ready to resume transport services as soon as the govt gives the green light, Transport State Minister Dilum Amunugama said. He said the health authorities had not given any detail about resuming train services. The train services will not operate except the advice of the Health Authority, he said. However, several bus services will be operated under special permission soon after reopening the country on October 21, the State Minister said. more..

Oct 19 (TM) While high-ranking officials and leaders of India and Sri Lanka are holding discussions to strengthen ties between the two countries, tensions between the northern part of Sri Lanka and the southern part of India show signs of intensifying. While it was initially merely a matter of poaching and violating maritime boundaries, it is now a matter of violent activities such as damaging properties and assaulting fishermen. more..

Oct 19 (CT) JVP refuted allegations publicised by a local website claiming that the party has spent Rs. 50 million on a social media campaign aimed at Prez Election in 2024. JVP MP Vijitha Herath claimed that this was another failed attempt by the Govt to ruin the reputation of their party and legal actions should be taken on the fake documents used in the said web article. �We have no connections with the advertising agency mentioned in the article. This is nothing but bogus information to tarnish more..

Oct 19 (EN) Sri Lanka�s central bank will discuss with banks and the Credit Information Bureau (CRIB) on borrowing difficulties faced by people who were unable repay their past loans due to the disruptions by COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Nivard Cabraal said. The central bank in May this year advised banks not to decline loan applications from eligible borrowers solely based on an adverse CRIB record. The central bank also directed banks, in consultation with CRIB, more..

Oct 19 (ST) While air ticket prices soared beyond the reach of SL migrant workers desperate to return in 2020 during the pandemic, an interesting development was that despite large numbers returning, remittances by workers grew by 5% in 2020, according to one of the country�s foremost researchers on labour migration. There were many reasons for the increase in remittances during a pandemic-affected period, more..

Oct 19 (EN) Sri Lanka�s main share index touched a fresh all-time high on Monday as speculative buying in Commercial Leasing and Finance and earning hopes on a few export-related shares helped boost the index, brokers said. The Colombo benchmark All Share Price Index gained 0.89 percent or 85.33 points to close at 9,709.14, It touched a new all-time high of 9,731.21 during the trade. The S&P SL20 index of more liquid stocks gained 0.09% or 6.84 points to close at 3,5553.61. more..

Oct 19 (DM) Due to sharp increase in poultry food and other materials that are used for increase egg production, the selling price of an egg has been increased between Rs. 20 and Rs.21 in the market, All Island Poultry Association of SL (AIPASL) President Sarath Rathnayake said. He said most of the poultry farmers had to increase the price of an egg due to the increase in the prices of grains which are used to feed the hens. The govt used to import the required maize as animal feed. more..