Oct 28 (CT) Minneriya Wildlife officials suspect that a rare elephant with crossed tusks, commonly observed in the Minneriya forest reserve, had become a victim of illegal game hunters. The tusker, standing a staggering 11 feet with four and a half feet long tusks, was last seen in Kawudulla, Minneriya, Maduruoya and Somawathiya reserve areas before it disappeared. The tusker had earlier escaped with gunshot injuries from hunters' intent on killing it for its tusks. more..

Oct 28 (Hindu) Sri Lankan govt will release 34 Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu, who were arrested on Monday and Tuesday, along with 86 fishermen, whose release had already been agreed upon. The Indian authorities would also release 36 Sri Lankan fishermen in their custody. Informing reporters here on Wednesday about the commencement of the process of release of the Indian fishermen, Mahishini Colonne, more..

Oct 28 (CG) Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), on behalf of the Govt of Sri Lanka, successfully raised US$1,500 million 10-year International Sovereign Bonds (Bond) with a coupon of 6.850% per annum at par on Oct 27, 2015. This marks Sri Lanka’s ninth US Dollar benchmark as well as the largest offering in the international bond market since 2007. The Bonds have been rated ‘BB-‘, ‘B1’ and ‘B+’ by Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service and Standard and Poor’s respectively. more..

Oct 28 (GDI) The Chinese Ambassador, Yi Xianliang donated 2 million Rupees to Sri Lanka National Library for digitization of its Information Communication Technology training program when Ambassador Yi met with Dr. W.A. Abeysinghe, Chairman of Sri Lanka National Library Board recently. Ambassador Yi said, China stands ready to further strengthen exchange and cooperation with Sri Lanka in the fields of culture and education including library capacity building. more..

Oct 28 (CI) Sri Lanka are almost certain to be without a permanent head coach until a new board is elected - most likely in January - Sri Lanka Cricket officials have said. SLC had advertised for the head coach position, but had been underwhelmed by the list of eventual applicants. This means interim head coach Jerome Jayaratne will likely remain in charge for Sri Lanka's tour of New Zealand, which begins in December and more..

Oct 28 (CI) Kumar Sangakkara, former Sri Lanka batsman, has enrolled for the draft of the franchise-based T20 tournament Pakistan Super League (PSL). Sangakkara has also registered for another franchise-based T20 tournament - Masters Champions League (MCL) - that is expected to run concurrently with the PSL but at different venues in the UAE. The inaugural PSL will feature five franchise-based teams from the provincial capitals - Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and more..

Oct 28 (CT) Incessant rain in the Eastern Province has led to a postponement of yesterday's planned visit to the Batticaloa district by President Maithripala Sirisena. Most of the areas in the Eastern Province, including the Ampara District which experienced severe drought for the past several months, are now inundated with flood waters. While several low lying areas in the East have gone under water following the heavy rains experienced throughout the Ampara District, thousands of acres of sown paddy more..

Oct 28 (ENS) Ranil Wickremesinghe govt is open to the idea of allowing Tamils held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to get bail, Minister Mano Ganeshan said on Wednesday. He said that those under trial and those detained without any charges having been filed against them yet, could be enlarged on bail. But those who had been convicted could be released only by the President of the country. more..

Oct 29 (CT) Collegiality is central to the culture of universities. It means that we are all equal as colleagues and it is our function and duty to voice opinions freely and demand corrective measures when we see something going wrong. Heads, Deans, VCs and the UGC Chairman have administrative functions, but are otherwise equal to the most junior academic. Academics have a right to be heard and a right of reply within a reasonable time to the representations they make. more..

Oct 29 (Island) Former Test captain Arjuna Ranatunga hailed his mentor Sir Garry Sobers as the world’s greatest cricketer. Ranatunga expressed these views during a felicitation ceremony held at the Ministry of Ports and Shipping auditorium in Colombo to honour Sir Garry’s contributions to Sri Lankan cricket. "Sir Garry is a special person for me. I was dropped from the side in 1983 when Australia were touring our country. Sir Garry appealed to the selectors to reconsider me. more..

Oct 29 (SO) A Passenger Passport Qualification will be a necessary qualification to get new driving licences. For those handling public transport in the Western Province. The new qualification is being mooted by the Motor Traffic Department in a bid to curb road traffic accidents and also to discipline drivers. The driving licence is to be issued to public transport drivers from next year. New driving licence is being introduced more..

Oct 29 (CT) "I and my family members have no secret accounts in Dubai banks," said the Rajapaksa Crown Prince Namal when the media published reports about a secret account in a Dubai bank of a son of a VVIP. The media reports stated that the Sri Lankan Govt had sought details of that account from the Dubai Govt, while seeking assistance from a Dubai Court. The reports claimed that the Dubai bank in question had refused to freeze the VVIP son's account. On the contrary, more..

Oct 29 (CT) After the release of the Paranagama report or the Presidential Commission of Inquiry Into Complaints of Abductions and Disappearances last week at Parliament, Sir Desmond de Silva, the Chairman of the Legal Advisory of the Commission said "One can never be happy with a report that springs from the agony of war. The facts one is dealing with are those that deal with human behaviour of the most brutal kind. However, as professionals one has to put personal more..

Oct 29 (CT) The Treasury would have spent Rs 8 billion on subsidies to tea and rubber in eight months, by November, Minister Navin Dissanayake, said, while explaining his views on the current crisis in the tea and rubber industries, the un-sustainability of continuous subsidies and the coming struggles with estate sector trade unions. Q: The crisis in the tea industry, I assume, is your main concern now as the Minister of Plantation? more..

Oct 29 (SL) At those bubbling, guzzling parties where the young – guys and dolls -even the aged of today have a whale of a time, we tend to retire into a corner and sip a glass of wine. Time and diabetes have made the role we played three to four decades ago from being the life and soul of the party to that of a wet rag, old acquaintances, say. But that is not to say we don’t enjoy these functions as thinkers and drinkers. So when the louts of a loud band were busting our ear drums more..

Oct 29 (SL) Independent of international media coverage, which has been as one-sided as it has mostly been since the end of the war, particularly on accountability issues and war crimes, the Justice Maxwell Paranagama Commission Report is commendable for admitting to the possibilities of the armed forces violating human rights norms and international laws in their time. That it is not a post-polls, manufactured report, produced for the benefit of the present-day more..

Oct 29 (FT) Federal republic of Germany parliamentary state secretary Hans-Joachim Fuchtel believes that countries such as Sri Lanka needs to be in close contact with the European Union (EU) and examine what issues have already been addressed and what issues needs to be addressed. Q: How does Germany see its relationship with Sri Lanka growing in the coming years? A: Since January 2015 many new opportunities for more..

Oct 29 (DM) In our editorial last Thursday, the Dailymirror appealed to the govt to take urgent and effective measures to restore public confidence in the Rule of Law using even novel, creative and imaginative ways available through the marvels of modern technology. We urge the govt to prove to the people that the law is not an ass and especially not the ass of rich and powerful people who suffer from the delusion that the law is for sale and not for justice. more..

Oct 29 (DM) Who should be accountable and primarily to whom, on what issues and why? Are the Sri Lankan state, its military and its leaders primarily accountable under international law? Are they primarily accountable to the UN or a resolution passed by one of its bodies, which is not even the Security Council? Arguably this might have been the case had the Sri Lankan military invaded another country and occupied it even in part. That is a violation of international law and more..

Oct 29 (DM) Murders became an uncertain encounter in the lives of the women folk living in Kotakethana, a remote village in the Ratnapura district, ever since July 2008. The years that followed were quite dark and many women were victims of brutal murders. Although much wasn’t revealed about whether it was done by a particular gang or a person of a higher authority, many rumours were spread with regard to more..

Oct 29 (CT) The UNHRC resolution (A/HRC/30/L.29) was successfully passed on 1 Oct 2015, by so-called consensus! It is a victory neither for the govt of Sri Lanka nor for the victims, mainly the Tamils. But it is surely a victory for countries which have interests in Sri Lanka – the US and India. Those who attended the 30th session of the UN HRC will be aware that this resolution was not agreed by a true consensus. We listened not only to interventions by more..

Oct 29 (CT) Unleashing fury throughout the last few Test series has taken local pace star Dammika Prasad to the highest career ranking of 15th position in the latest ICC Test Player Rankings, which was released on Tuesday morning following the conclusion of the Colombo and Dubai Tests. Prasad who claimed 5 for 72 during the last Test has been the main strike pace bowler for Angelo Mathews during the last 11 Test matches. He played throughout those 11 Tests without an injury, more..

Oct 29 (DM) Visiting former West Indian cricketer Sir Garfield Sobers yesterday said the status of the Sri Lankan cricket team is going to get better and it would eventually become one of the greatest teams in the world. He made these remarks when he met former cricket captain Minister Arjuna Ranatunga at the Ministry. Sir Garry, who is in the island for the Sri Lanka-West Indies series named after him and Michael Tissera more..

Oct 29 (DN) Major stakeholders in SL tea industry met PM Ranil Wickremesinghe Tuesday. They expressed positive sentiments on the outcome of the meeting. “We are very happy with the supportive attitude for the tea crisis from the govt, Planters’ Association Chairman Roshan Rajadurai said. He said a patient hearing was given to them and first the PM said that he will send powerful Ministers of the govt to both India and Pakistan to get better tax concessions for the export of tea to more..

Oct 29 (SLA) An eight-hour long rescue operation, actively launched by Army members at the Security Force Headquarters-Mullaittivu (SFHQ-MLT), supported by fishermen and villagers, enabled a 70ft-long whale, trapped in a fishing net by accident in the seas near Kokilai, Mullaittivu set free alive back to the seas on Friday. The giant whale, having got entangled in a fishermen’s net that had been laid in the mid seas had been reportedly trying hard to escape back into the seas, but more..

Oct 29 (Guardian) Australian govt officials may have engaged in people smuggling, by allegedly paying the crew of an asylum seeker boat to return its passengers to Indonesia, an Amnesty International investigation has found. In May this year, the 65 passengers and six crew of an asylum seeker boat bound for NZ said they were intercepted by an Australian naval ship and an Australian Border Force vessel in international waters. more..

Oct 29 (DN) Former UPFA MP Duminda Silva, the 11th accused in the Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra murder case yesterday sought Court's permission to travel abroad for medical treatments. President's Counsel Anil Silva appearing for the former MP informed Special Trial-at-Bar, that his client has to undergo medical treatment in Singapore for two and a half weeks commencing from Nov 10. Defence Counsel submitted in Court several documents pertaining to the matter more..

Oct 29 (CT) The SLFP is in talks to broaden the UPFA in view of the forthcoming local govt polls next March, SLFP Media Spokesperson and Minister Dilan Perera said. Speaking to Ceylon Today he added, "We are fine tuning the UPFA on the principle of the Alliance. We can't let the Alliance be governed by one party's principles. Various parties have got various principles. But the Alliance was formed on the basis of non communal politics. Not racist principles. Fine tuning means, more..

Oct 29 (CT) EDB Chairman and CEO Bandula Egodage resigned from this govt body yesterday. Egodage had previously been seconded to the EDB from the Swiss multinational giant Nestle, where he serves as one of its senior executives. No successor has thus far been appointed. The EDB was created by the J.R. Jayewardene regime of 1977, father of SL's open economy. Its first minister was the mercurial Lalith Athulathmudali, more..

Oct 29 (AFP) Karachi—Sri Lankan veteran Mahela Jayawardene has become the latest player to sign up with the Pakistan Super League (PSL) on Wednesday. Jayawardene, who has represented Sri Lanka in 149 Test, 448 ODIs, and 55 T20Is, joins the galaxy of more than 150 foreign players who have consented to be included in the player draft for the inaugural edition of PSL. “In an illustrious international career spanning 18 years, Jayawardene has established himself as a more..

Oct 29 (CT) Singer Sri Lanka continued its 2015 aggressive growth agenda posting impressive third quarter (3Q) results as Group revenue increased by 34% during the period. Year-to-date revenue reached Rs. 27.1 billion, registering a 30% growth year on year (YoY). Contributing significantly to the dominant revenue and profit results were a range of initiatives and expansion plans conducted by the group. These included the establishing of new shops, dealers and channels of distribution, more..

Oct 29 (CG) A top US official in the Obama administration has lashed out at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Govt, saying he governed largely through divisiveness and fear. Samantha Power, US Permanent Representative to the UN, speaking during the Open Govt Partnership (OGP) Summit in Mexico said that the Rajapaksa regime persecuted critics. She noted that during the January 2015 elections, Maithripala Sirisena ran on a more..

Oct 29 (Island) The GMOA warned they would lodge complaints against officials of the Health Ministry and hospital administrators with the Public Service and Human Rights Commissions for failing to implement doctors’ annual transfers. GMOA Secretary, Dr Nalinda Herath said there were about 4,000 doctors who had received transfer orders, but a majority of them serving mainly big hospitals had not taken up the new postings, while there was a threat of peripheral hospitals being forced to more..

Oct 29 (Hindu) The Maxwell Paranagama Commission Report on the Sri Lankan conflict had fallen short of truthfulness and justice, said S.P. Udayakumar, Convenor of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) and member of the Steering Committee of Pachai Thamizhagam here. In a letter addressed to the General Secretary of the United Nations, Mr. Udayakumar said that the report appears to be a ploy to circumvent the charges of genocide of the Tamil minority more..

Oct 29 (Island) About a dozen army officers who had been sent on compulsory retirement or compelled to retire early over their alleged clandestine involvement with Gen. Sarath Fonseka during 2009 and 2010 period would be reinstated and retired with promotions and enhanced entitlements, authoritative sources. This would enable them to secure higher ranks, back wages and pension, sources said. more..

Oct 29 (DM) Actress and former MP Upeksha Swarnamalee (Paba) and veteran artiste Bandula Wijeweera have been summoned to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry to Investigate and Inquire into Serious Acts of Fraud, Corruption and Abuse of Power, State Resources and Privileges (PRECIFAC) today. PRECIFAC desires to record their statements with regard to the investigations it is carrying out into a complaint about fraud and corruption at SriLankan Airlines A senior official of more..

Oct 29 (CT) UPFA Ratnapura District MP, Ranjith Soyza said that the MPs quarters complex at Madiwela has become a haven for mosquitoes. He added that there are a number of breeding sites at the premises and 10 STF personnel attached to the complex have been infected with the disease. In addition, several relatives of MPs have also been diagnosed with dengue. They include the wife and child of MP Ranjith Soyza and the sister of MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage. more..

Oct 29 (DM) Colombo Chief Magistrate ordered the FCID to report whether the former Minister S.B. Dissanayake was a suspect or not over the alleged stealing of movable properties in a valuable residence in Colombo 7, which was a gift to the Colombo University by an eminent Gyneacologist. Appearing for Minister S.B. Dissanayake, Counsel K.V. Thavarasa and Kelum Ubeysekara sought Magistrate to direct CID more..

Oct 29 (CG) Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Chennai zonal unit, seized 15.2 kg of gold bars that were smuggled from Sri Lanka and arrested two persons transporting them in a car near the Papanadu village in the Thanjavur district in Tiruchi on Wednesday. Acting on a tip-off that gold bars were being brought by boat from Sri Lanka to Muthupet coastal area for transportation to Chennai by car, a team of DRI officers positioned themselves on Pattukottai–Thanjavur National Highway more..

Oct 29 (CT) Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Govt Faiszer Musthapha said that his Ministry is making all the arrangements required to hold the local government elections in March next year and that the elections will not be postponed. He said further that according to the Local Govt Elections Amendment Act No. 22 of 2012, the election will be held 70% under the first past the post system in electorates and 30% will be held according to the proportionate representative system. more..