Oct 14 (DM) Colombo Chief Magistrate�s Court today issued a warrant for the arrest of BBS General Secretary Ven. Galaboda Atte Gnanasara Thera for not being present in Court in connection with a case filed against him. Gnanasara Thera was not present before Colombo Chief Magistrate�s Court No.3 over an allegation that he had allegedly made a hate speech tantamount to hurting the sentiments of Muslim community in the country. The court decided to issue an arrest warrant since defence more..

Oct 14 (Reuters) The Paris Club creditor nations last month reached out to China and India seeking to coordinate closely on Sri Lanka�s debt talks, but is still awaiting a reply, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday. Paris Club officials reached out to two of Sri Lanka�s biggest bilateral creditors after the crisis-hit nation reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF board for a $2.9 billion loan in September. Paris Club still hasn�t received a reply from either country, more..

Oct 14 (BDN) Bangladesh is hopeful that SL will repay the debt of $200 million that it owes to the country by March 2023. Abdur Rouf Talukder, governor of Bangladesh Bank, provided a positive outlook on the matter after a meeting with his SL counterpart Nandalal Weerasinghe in the US. The central bank chief travelled to Washington, DC, to attend Annual Meetings of IMF and WB. Two governors held a discussion on the sidelines more..

Oct 14 (AD) The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the global financial agency is pressing for a more debt resolution mechanism. Delivering the opening remarks at the press conference for the 2022 Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group (WBG), Kristalina Georgieva said, �We want the G20 Common Framework to become more predictable, with clear guidelines and equality of treatment for all creditors, public and private.� more..

Oct 14 (DM) State Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that immediate action will be taken to enforce the law against people who come to SL from abroad wearing gold jewellery for smuggling purpose, exceeding the limits. He said country is incurring about USD 30 million in losses per month due to smuggling of gold into the country. The minister said that these traffickers have already been identified and that necessary legal measures will be taken against them immediately. more..

Oct 15 (DM) Traditionally democracy�s four major pillars have been the executive, the legislature, the judiciary and the free media. For the past 20 years, social media also has started to play a key role. Just as free media needs to be fair, accurate and balanced, the social media also with its innovative and creative excellence need to act fairly because the rights are directly linked to responsibilities. To the extent, social media fulfils its responsibility, to that extent it could claim its rights and more..

Oct 15 (DM) Well-known Hindi film actor Amitabh Bachchan celebrated his eightieth birthday on Oct 11. The veteran thespian continues to be active, playing a variety of roles in films. As a Rasika who relishes his performances, it is with great pleasure that I write about him this week. It has been the practice of this column to focus on a film, film personality or film-related topic on the first Saturday of each month. Since I was unable to write on the first two Saturdays of this month, I do so now more..

Oct 15 (CT) While almost all the problems that led the public to take to the streets against the government, a few months ago, remain unsettled the Rajapaksa family and their allies, who were rejected by the people, appeared to make a comeback. This was evident when- once loved, later hated-former President, former PM Rajapaksa for the first time since his unceremonial ouster on 9 May, making a public appearance on 8 Oct in Kalutara. more..

Oct 15 (CT) Several laws in our country are outdated and have not been amended to meet the contemporary world, yet the focus of every newly elected Govt is to only bring about amendments to the supreme law; the Constitution, with less focus on some crucial Acts which if amended could have a substantial positive effect. Certain outdated Acts also affect fundamental rights while certain such Acts are in complete denial of the changes in the modern world. Even though certain attempts more..

Oct 15 (CT) �According to the Batalanda Commission the only conclusion one could arrive at about the matters discussed at Batalanda was that they were illegal. Noting that Ranil Wickremesinghe had advised the police on dealing with public meetings convened without permission, the Commission stated that he had no legal authority to give such instructions to the police and therefore he had abused his position. The Commission was of the view that this issue was connected with more..

Oct 15 (HM) Discussions around Sri Lanka�s economic crisis have often focused either on the continuing citizen protests or on economic policy and the details of ongoing IMF staff negotiations. In these discussions, the human cost of living through an economic crisis is often discussed in statistical terms or in one-off narratives that fail to capture the nuanced impacts of increasing poverty, high inflation and widening income inequality. more..

Oct 15 (DM) Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe on Oct 9 made several suggestions to the country�s electoral system during a meeting with a group of professionals at the Prez Secretariat. He stated that the number of members in local govt bodies should be brought down from the current 8700 to 4000, a referendum should be held to decide the Parliamentary electoral system unless the Parliamentary select committee which is to be appointed soon fails to do so by July next yr more..

Oct 15 (GV) Are you a wife or a widow if your husband has been gone for years? Are you still a mother if your only child is missing? Do you speak of your brother whom you have not seen in decades? A wife keeps the light on each night hoping her husband will come home. A mother cooks extra food for each meal in case she has another mouth to feed. A daughter�s face lights up hopefully at each knock on the door. The uncertainty about the fate of missing relative results in a state of more..

Oct 15 (Island) SL govt adopted a relaxed monetary policy coupled with lower taxes to stimulate economic growth since 2020 (beginning) till end of 2021. The objective was to provide relief to people and businesses in order to overcome negative effects due to COVID 19 and Easter Sunday attack in April 2019. However, whether the economy really produced goods and services to the extent that is required is questionable. It is true that during the year 2021 they have been able to convert more..

Oct 15 (DN) SL young left arm medium paceman Dilshan Madushanka was highly praised by Pakistan cricket legend Wasim Akram during his interview with the Daily News. The 56 year old former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram said young Dilshan Madushanka really performed well during the Asia Cup T.- 20. I had a chance to chat with Madushanka and his bowling coach Dharshana Gamage and gave some tips to the young bowler. He has good potential as a young left arm medium more..

Oct 15 (MB) The horrific fatal shooting of a 1 1/2-year-old Rottweiler in Sri Lanka has sparked fresh concerns about the country�s outdated animal cruelty laws. Rexie went missing in the early hours of Aug 8 in Galgamuwa, some 170 kilometers (105 miles) northeast of the capital Colombo and was found in a forest three days later. �On Aug 8, we heard gunshots at around 6:30 in the morning. more..

Oct 15 (Island) Minister Keheliya Rambukwella is reported to have said that more paying wards will be set up at the state-run hospitals. Such a scheme will not only enable cost recovery but also benefit the public as the cost of private healthcare provision could be brought down to affordable levels, he has said, claiming that the state sector healthcare institutions can provide a much better service than private hospitals. It is not clear from the media reports on the proposed scheme whether more..

Oct 15 (FT) The Govet has stepped up its efforts to achieve an export-oriented economy, whilst creating an investment conducive environment to boost foreign direct investment into the economy. A high-level discussion to review the progress, initiatives and challenges of Sri Lanka thus far was held under the patronage of Industries Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana and Investment Promotions State Minister Dilum Amunugama this week. Industries Ministry Secretary Thilaka Jayasundara, more..

Oct 15 (MFA) Leading SL's delegation to the Sixth Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Astana, Kazakhstan from 12-13 Oct 2022, State Minister of Foreign Affairs Tharaka Balasuriya called on CICA to focus on the challenges encountered by the membership. He stressed the need to remain firmly committed to collectively identify the challenges, find viable solutions and follow the right strategies towards promoting inclusive and more..

Oct 15 (FT) Vidullanka PLC this week announced the official commissioning of the Vavunathivu Solar Power plant by the joint venture company; Solar Universe Ltd. The ground mounted solar power project with 10 MWac is developed with a total investment of Rs. 2.4 billion, ceremonially connected to the national grid by Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera. The project is an outcome of a joint venture undertaken by Vidullanka PLC, Windforce PLC and HiEnergy Services Ltd. more..

Oct 15 (ST) SL has a proud history of producing spinners. But in recent times there�s is a significant increase in producing fast bowlers. This is a result of the commencement of the High Performance Centre at the R. Premadasa Stadium. Several young fast bowlers have developed with the guidance of the panel of coaching experts comprising Chaminda Vaas, Ravindra Pushpakumara, Chamila Gamage more..

Oct 15 (CI) India will take on Sri Lanka in the Women's Asia Cup final on Saturday, and Harmanpreet Kaur talked up her players' strength of character for the quick switch from pleasant England to steaming Sylhet, hitting their stride after just one training session. "Conditions and wickets were totally different [in England], and it is totally different here. We only got one day to change our gears," Harmanpreet said. "In England, we were getting good batting tracks and ball was swinging. more..

Oct 15 (CI) All the talk before the game was around how England would handle Sri Lanka's spin threat, but when the hosts began their defence of 169, Malinga stole the limelight and England's title defence was run aground in a single over. Luke Wright, Jonny Bairstow and Alex Hales were dispatched in his first over, and Jos Buttler and Samit Patel were accounted for later. This was far from peak Malinga - he did not hit his yorkers as reliably as he generally did - more..

Oct 15 (DM) The rescheduled Lanka Premier League will begin on Dec 6, SLC announced on Friday, with the tournament broken down into three stages. The opening stage, spanning the first five games, will take place in Hambantota, before the teams travel to Kandy, for the next nine matches. The final six group stage matches, the playoffs and final will be played at the R. Premedasa Stadium, with the tournament concluding on Dec 23. more..

Oct 15 (FT) Colombo stock market turned bearish yesterday but gains in the early part of the week helped it to close on the up ending three weeks of decline. The benchmark ASPI gained by 43.85 points (+0.48%) and the S&P SL20 edged up 10.90 points (+0.39%). Average daily turnover was Rs. 2.56 billion. The market also enjoyed net foreign buying. With net foreign inflow of Rs. 48.6 million yesterday the amount so far in October moved up to Rs. 1.5 b and year to date to Rs. 16.8 b. more..

Oct 15 (CT) Sri Lanka will feature in the opening match of Round 1 group at the ICC Men�s T20 World Cup 2021 against Namibia at Kardinia Park in Geelong on Sunday (16). Like last year, Sri Lanka once again find themselves in unfamiliar land in the T20 World Cup � they will have to go through the trials and tribulations of Round 1 to make it to the Super 12. They will want to replicate their performances of last year where they stamped their authority to win three-from-three in Round 1. more..

Oct 15 (DN) SL women�s cricket Head coach Hashan Tillekaratne is confident his team will perform well to clinch the historic Asia Cup T-20 today in the final against India at the Sylhet Int'l cricket stadium in Bangladesh. Former Sri Lanka Captain and Mr Reliable Tillekaratne further said the team has good commitment and that was really shown in the semi final and their fighting spirit was also very high to beat India. We know India is a very strong side and they have good all rounders. more..

Oct 15 (FT) Gampaha district MP Nalaka Godahewa says the people must not only raise their voices against corruption but also against ill-considered decisions made by rulers. �From lessons learnt from our history our country�s people must raise their voices against not only fraud and corruption but also imprudent political decisions,� he said. Godahewa made these comments at a press conference held at the Nidahasa - or Freedom office located in Nawala on Thursday. more..

Oct 15 (CT) She was a famous personality on social media for the charity work she carried out through her company. Portrayed as a religious person, she always gave almsgivings and donations to the temple. These actions gained lot of admiration from everyone regardless of their social status. This image of her, built through social media and mainstream media, helped her to climb the ladder and provided access to the top level more..

Oct 15 (DM) The recent tax increases introduced by the govt will result in massive social unrest, MP Champika Ranawaka said. �The lower middle class would fall into lower strata, while the upper middle class would become lower middle class because of tax increases. There will also be massive migration and SL will become a human desert. There will be social unrest at the end of the day. Therefore the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance will have to create a scientific tax regime,� MP said. more..

Oct 15 (DM) China's Ambassador to SL Qi Zhenhong today assured former Prez Mahinda Rajapaksa that Chinese tourists would begin to visit SL soon as China's COVID-19 common policy allows. Chinese envoy paid a courtesy call on Mahinda Rajapaksa today where the two discussed a wide range of issues in relation to further strengthening the cordial relations between SL and China. During the discussions, Rajapaksa handed over a congratulatory letter addressed to more..

Oct 15 (DM) Transport Ministry has initiated a discussion on the need to restructure the Dept of Railways to make it a commercially viable venture. Dept sustains an operational loss of Rs. 10 billion annually. Minister Bandula Gunawardane said that its organisational structure as a govt department blurs commercial viability. �In 2021, Dept earned only Rs.2.6 b. However, as much as Rs. 2.3 b had been spent on overtime payments alone. For the payment of salaries, Rs. 7 b had been spent. more..

Oct 15 (CT) SL Air Force (SLAF) rejected the Right to Information (RTI) request on the details of former Prez Rajapaksa�s visit to Maldives on an Air Force aircraft on 13 July. The former Prez fled to the Maldives a few days after protesters occupied both the Prez�s House in Fort and the Presidential Secretariat on 9 July, following a mass protest in Colombo. Both Information Officer and Designated Officer for RTI at Air Force Headquarters rejected the application and said requested details more..

Oct 15 (CT) The low-level atmospheric disturbance persists in the vicinity of the island. Therefore, the prevailing showery condition is expected to continue (southwest quarter) during the next 24 hours. Cloudy sky can be expected in most parts of the island. Showers/thunder showers will occur at times in Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and North-Western Provinces, and in Galle & Matara Districts today. more..

Oct 15 (EN) IMF is working with other multilateral lenders on financing programs for SL, Deputy Director for Asia Pacific, Anne-Marie Guilde-Wolf said. �I would say that we are working very closely with World Bank, ADB, AIB, on programs for SL,� she told reporters in Washington. �Those programs would help for closing the financing gap. But I want to say also very importantly that the policies under the other multilateral lenders in their areas of expertise will be important to resolve SL�s more..