Jul 24 (AD) Prez Sirisena today presented a cash reward of Rs 5 million to the lorry driver who provided SL Police with the information that led to the discovery of a large stock of explosives in Samanthurai, following the Easter Sunday attacks. The reward was presented at the Presidential Secretariat this morning, in the presence of Acting IGP C.D. Wickramaratne. This is said to be the largest cash reward given by the Police Department to a civilian informant in recent years. more..

Jul 24 (RN) Colombo High Court heard a witness today asserting that MP Udaya Gammanpila had sold all the shares of a company belonging to an Australian National worth Rs 20 million using a fraudulent Power of Attorney and given the proceeds to another person in an affidavit filed with a Fundamental Rights application. Witness, Indivara Perera was being cross-examined by Defense Counsel Shavendra Fernando PC in the trial of Gammanpila who is charged with defrauding more..

Jul 24 (AD) The Permanent High Court at Bar has ordered the Attorney General to submit an affidavit before August 9th, if there are any grounds for the request made to issue a warrant to arrest former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran, the main suspect of the Central Bank bond scam case. The order was delivered by the Special High Court’s three-judge bench consisting of Judges Sampath Abeykoon, more..

Jul 24 (AD) The Colombo Crimes Division has arrested a close associate of notorious underworld figures Makandure Madush and Kanjipani Imran has been arrested at Dharga Town in Aluthgama, the Police Media stated. The suspect was arrested during a raid carried out by the CCD at around 10.40 a.m. last morning (23). He is charged for aiding and abetting the two notorious underworld figures, who are currently under arrest and conspiring to carry out murders. more..

Jul 24 (AD) Twenty-eight Chinese journalists and travel writers arrived in the country, on the 18th of July 2019, as part of a week-long familiarization tour in an effort to gear up publicity in promoting Sri Lanka as an ideal holiday destination to lure more visitors from the orient. They will be in the country from 18th – 24th July 2019. China remains a key source market to Sri Lanka, as a country which brings a large number of tourist arrivals each year. The total number of international more..

Jul 24 (DM) Testifying before the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing the Easter Sunday attacks, Senior DIG and Head of CID and TID, Ravi Seneviratne today said no evidence had been found to confirm that those who staged the attacks had connections with ISIS. He said the attackers have trained locally as per the information uncovered during the investigations. DIG Seneviratne suggested that an investigation more..

Jul 25 (CT) The Sri Lankan Govt is in the process of completing the legal framework under which Colombo Port City will operate. Six months after land reclamation for the US$ 1.4 billion project was completed, Minister Malik Samarawickrama, said they are ready for the next stage. “Yes, the first phase is over. Now we are in the process of finalising the law, which can be completed in about a month or two. I’m told that the Attorney General’s Department has sent it up to the Cabinet. more..

Jul 25 (ST) There was a day-care centre to look after little children while their parents were at work. Parents used to come and drop their children at the day-care centre on their way to work every morning. In the evening, they were back to pick them up. This particular day-care centre was faced with an irritant issue to deal with: Some parents often used to get late when they came back to take their children out. The management had to keep the premises open and, teachers, aiders, more..

Jul 25 (Roar) Gender disparity in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines is an issue often talked about today, even as a number of initiatives worldwide, (GirlsWhoCode, TeachHerInitiative and GlamSci among them) work to bridge the gap. In Sri Lanka, there are still not nearly enough women enrolling in the STEM fields, a 2017 UNESCO report finding that gender stereotypes and biased more..

Jul 25 (DN) Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) enters its 80th anniversary today. It has played a dominant role in the economic development and political arena of Sri Lanka. It is the biggest and most representative trade union in the plantation sector in Sri Lanka. It is also a political party which wields much political power having elected members in Parliament, Provincial Councils, Pradeshiya Sabhas and other local bodies. The precursor to the Ceylon Workers Congress was Ceylon Indian more..

Jul 25 (CT) Sunday July 21, 2019 marks 3 months since the Easter Sunday carnage in SL. Justice for the victims of the massacre seem to be a receding dream at this time: Collective amnesia seems to have gripped civil society and NGO activists — given the geopolitical dimensions of the attacks, while there is an absence of genuine accountability and justice for the victims. Rather, than a day of mourning, a vigil for the victims, and a call for inter-religious unity and peace this weekend, more..

Jul 25 (SO) Nearly seven years after the gruesome massacre of 27 inmates which took place within the walls of the Welikada Prison, the AG’s department finally served the main accused with indictments this week. Two of the main accused in the case Police Inspector Moses Neomal Rangajeewa formerly of the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) and Former Welikada Prison Commissioner Emil Ranjan Lamahewage were served with more..

Jul 25 (Island) A prominent feature of Sri Lanka’s current politics is a resurfacing by some local sections of issues of the immediate post-independence decades of the fifties and sixties, that were hotly debated at the time by those seen as opinion makers, but were unfortunately laid to rest, particularly in the post-1977 years by the same quarters. With the heady emergence of free market economics in particular the issues central to decolonization were widely seen as irrelevant more..

Jul 25 (Island) A Foreign Ministry panjandrum has come under fire for allegedly seeking to facilitate a UN bid to influence the Sri Lankan judiciary. The Opposition is out for his scalp as he has written to the Chief Justice and the High Court judges, asking them to make available information pertaining to some cases to a group of UN officials. Allegations that foreign powers are influencing the SL judiciary are not of recent origin. They have been there for the last several years. more..

Jul 25 (DM) Vishwamithra Column of July 17, 2019, is a reflection of backward and reactionary feudal values. When addressing the timely issue of the next Presidential Candidate from the UNP, the Columnist portrays his conviction that the is patronised by those who are struggling to restore feudalism in this country, as the entire article is inspired by shameless thinking that was buried long ago for the common good. As far as enlightened readers are concerned, meritocracy is the only principle more..

Jul 25 (DM) The so-called Sudu Juliya (White July) campaign initiated by the UNF govt, could not have been named worse. Not only is the tag so insulting to the sensitivities of the Tamils who lost their loved ones, property, homes and in some cases their motherland forever, due to that infamous Black July of 1983, but it automatically and ironically brings to mind the fact that the bloody Black July was under UNP watch back in 1983. Had this type of tag been used in Europe or the US, more..

Jul 25 (DM) Prasanna is a man who has faced hardships for the greater part of his life. His plans to continue his father’s nylon business too failed. Bankrupt and indebted, Prasanna’s only mode of survival was his lorry. Having come across an Ad by a private cab service, Prasanna decided to sign-up for it and earn an income through hires. Initially things hadn’t turned out well until April 9 when he agreed to go on his first long-distance hire. more..

Jul 25 (Island) The meaning of Serendipitous or Serendipity is enjoying the pleasant journey of life. The word was introduced and explained to me by my friend and journalist, one and only Marwaan Macan-Markar, who now resides in Bangkok enjoying a pleasant journey of life as a journalist. I did take it seriously and have tried my best to enjoy the pleasant journey of life with all its ups and downs. This is a story of Serendipity from the island of Serendib, Sri Lanka. more..

Jul 25 (FT) Asian brand Next Hotel will open its first property with 164 guest rooms and suites in Colombo in November. The Next Story Group currently owns, manages and franchises 37 hotels and resorts in Australia, Laos and Thailand and manages five Kafnu spaces in Taipei, Hong Kong, Sydney, Ho Chi Minh City and Bengaluru. Next has identified Sri Lanka as a fast-growing tourist and business destination and says the hotel is the perfect launch pad to explore the rich culture more..

Jul 25 (DN) The palm oil industry in SL is in a major crisis as Rs.500 million worth of plants in nurseries are being wasted due to an unofficial planting ban. Chairman Planters Association (PA), Sunil Poholiyadde said, “There is a ban in SL which no one knows from where it originated and due this reason, we are unable to plant new trees.” He said that whenever they start to plant the trees NGOs and environmental groups create more..

Jul 25 (ST) Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s future direction is to improve the railway network in the country after negotiations with the state and will present a portfolio in August this year on the Kelani Valley railway network. The transport sector is the best performing sector in the ADB’s portfolio, said Ms. Sri Widowati, Resident Mission Director, Sri Lanka of the ADB addressing the media. She said the ADB’s current focus is also on the Colombo Port and other ports in the country. more..

Jul 25 (DM) SriLankan Airlines issued a statement clarifying recent news reports on a damaged meal tray onboard a SriLankan Airlines flight. It said that there were no defects reported prior to departure of the flight and that the incident occurred during the journey. “The footage that is being aired clearly shows the meal tray getting detached when the passenger attempts to pull it down. We regret the inconvenience experienced by the passenger onboard. more..

Jul 25 (BBC) Sri Lankans are up in arms over the alleged dumping of hazardous waste from Britain, including syringes and suspected human remains from mortuaries. The govt has urged Britain to immediately take back more than 100 containers sent to the island nation that contained the putrid waste mixed up amid mattresses, clothes and plastics. Many of the containers are believed to have arrived from UK as far back as 2017. more..

Jul 25 (DN) Sri Lanka Cricket has banned spectators from bringing to the R Premadasa Stadium portable horns, hooters, backpacks and glass bottles for the three-match ODI series between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh commencing on Friday. A media release from SLC states: “Sri Lanka Cricket wishes to request the public (fans) to avoid carrying the following items to the R Premadasa Stadium on match days: portable horns and hooters, backpacks and glass bottles.” more..

Jul 25 (Island) SEC investor participation was very intense yesterday after some time and the number of transactions per day touched 9457; the highest number of transactions per day in the past four years. The reason being retail investor participation moving well due to political speculation of a certain kind, stock market brokers said. The country’s benchmark stock index ended 0.42 percent up at 5,683.47 after slipping from a four-month high on the previous day. more..

Jul 25 (Island) The SLFP yesterday launched a scathing attack on the UNP over the 1983 July violence against the Tamil community. SLFP General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekera and his predecessor Prof. Rohana Lakshman Piyadasa lambasted the JRJ administration for the communal riots. Referring to a costly UNP campaign, titled White July, to highlight its achievements, they said the govt couldn’t more..

Jul 25 (Island) AYATI Center - SL’s first National Center for Children with Disabilities, was ceremonially handed over by the SL Army to the Faculty of Medicine- Uni of Kelaniya on July 18. Graced by members of the SL Army along with AYATI Trustees, partners, academics, donors and many more, this occasion marked the completion of construction of the AYATI Center. The center will be opened to the public by end 2019, providing its services free of charge to help children more..

Jul 25 (TM) SL’s Ideal Motors together with the Indian automotive giant Mahindra and Mahindra Limited are set to open their new vehicle assembly plant on 17 Aug, said Ideal Group Chairman Nalin Welgama. The plant in Welipanna has finished its construction and is putting the final few touches, according to Welgama. “The factory has been completed, we are currently in the process of installing the machinery, Mahindra has sent in their team, and the first kits have arrived,” more..

Jul 25 (HS) A British woman who was raped by an electrician while on a package holiday has succeeded in having her case referred to the European Court of Justice. In a case which could have major implications for the travel industry the woman is claiming £29,000 in damages from Kuoni Travel, tour operator through which she booked the luxury holiday. Woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sexually assaulted more..

Jul 25 (Island) Commercial Bank of Ceylon bagged five awards at the 2019 Asian Banking and Finance Awards, two in the Wholesale Banking Awards category, two in the Retail Banking Awards category and one in the Corporate & Investment Banking Awards category, continuing its winning streak from the preceding year. The Bank was adjudged Domestic Technology & Operations Bank of the Year, SL and Domestic Trade Finance Bank of the Year, SL in Wholesale Banking Awards more..

Jul 25 (DM) A leading apparel exporter in the country has called for clarity and direction from the govt for private enterprises to play a key role in regaining and sustaining Sri Lanka’s economic resurgence in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks and constitutional crisis of last October. Speaking about Sri Lanka’s current economic context at a panel discussion organized by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, MAS Holdings Chairman Mahesh Amalean highlighted more..

Jul 25 (FT) Companies (Amendment) Bill 2019 received House approval yesterday, further reducing the difficulties investors undergo to register a new business in SL. Dy Minister Buddhika Pathirana moved the Motion, highlighting the impact it would have in attracting much-desired foreign investment to the country. “Companies Act No. 7 of 2007 was passed in the Parliament and came into effect 3 May 2007. more..

Jul 25 (Island) JVP MP Nalinda Jayatissa told parliament that the Internal and Home Affairs Ministry was forcibly occupying the new building constructed for the Colombo District Secretariat. Participating in the debate on the proposal to include the reclaimed land known as Colombo Port City within the area of authority and the limits of the administrative district of Colombo, MP said that the construction of the new building had been proposed for the Colombo District Secretariat in 2001. more..

Jul 25 (CT) All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), in a letter addressed to MP Mujibur Rahuman, has requested an urgent meeting to discuss the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA), No. 13 of 1956, and postpone the submitting of proposals to the Cabinet of Ministers, until an amicable decision is reached. In the letter signed by ACJU General Secretary M.M.A. Mubarak, it was claimed that the ACJU had submitted proposals on reforms to the 18-Member Committee to Consider and more..

Jul 25 (CT) MP Indika Anuruddha Herath lodged a complaint with the CIABOC yesterday, against Minister of Education Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, over allegations of the Govt incurring a loss of Rs 128.9 million, in printing schoolbooks. Herath said the complaint is based on a report by Director of Investigation of the Presidential Investigation Unit, Ruban Wickramaarachchi, and addressed to the President on 17 May 2017, more..

Jul 25 (DN) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday told a high-level meeting on security for the Kandy Perahera that the Govt would provide maximum security to ensure the holding of a successful Esala Pageant of the Sri Dalada Maligawa this year. The PM was presiding over a conference held in Kandy to plan security arrangements for the historic pageant, the country’s biggest annual religious event that draws thousands of devotees and is a major tourist attraction. more..

Jul 25 (DN) MP Sandith Samarasinghe said the Opposition is falsely spreading information about 80,000 unemployed graduates in the country. “There is no list bearing information on 80,000 unemployed graduates for the Opposition to make such claims. The current govt has given 4,000 graduates employment and another 16,000 will be given employment in August. We have a framework where we employee graduates to certain departments”. Earlier, it was said that graduates in the N&E more..

Jul 25 (FT) Cabinet this week approved a legal framework for counterterrorism, to prevent the rise of new terrorist groups, prohibit encouragement and recruitment, and place restrictions on groups controlled from a designated foreign area. Noting the introduction of new legal measures to prevent the rise of terrorist groups in the future is a timely need, PM Ranil Wickremesinghe told the Cabinet that more..

Jul 25 (DN) Three suspects involved in the shooting incident which occurred near the Maw Ara Wewa deep inside the Uda Walawe National Park in which three French tourists narrowly escaped unhurt have been arrested. A special Wildlife Department team was despatched to the area by Minister John Amaratunge. The Wildlife team managed to apprehend the suspects after scouring the jungle in a two day search operation using the photos videoed by the tourists. more..