Sep 30 (DN) Nadeesha Ramanayake managed to secure a place in the 400m finals at the Olympic Sports Centre Stadium in Hanje yesterday and is hopeful of winning a medal at the Asian Games. Kalinga Kumarage and Aruna Darshana managed to book their spots in the men’s final of the event. In the women’s 400m event, Nadeesha, who joined the second race of the preliminary round, finished second with a time of 52.67 seconds. more..

Sep 30 (ST) Non-functioning CCTV at a MP’s residence and within the state’s CID raise concerns about the lack of maintenance of crucial devices used in detecting crimes and suspicious activities. Anuradhapura lawmaker Uddika Premaratne escaped unhurt when unidentified gunmen in a van shot at his vehicle. Unfortunately, the CCTV at the MP’s residence and neighbouring houses were non-functional. Similarly, CCTV at the CID has been non-functional for some time & there is no video more..

Sep 30 (CI) Half-centuries from Bangladesh's top three of Tanzid Hasan, Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz took their side to a comfortable win over SL in their first warm-up fixture ahead of the ODI World Cup, in Guwahati on Friday. Bangladesh bowled SL out for 263 and chased it down with eight overs to spare; other than all the issues these facts point to, SL will also worry about their opener Kusal Perera, who walked off the field in the 10th over of their innings with a strain in his right shoulder. more..

Sep 30 (ST) Three years after its financial crisis, SL is allowing commercial vehicle imports but importers say they cannot open letters of credit at banks to do the same. The govt assured to allow such vehicle imports along with construction equipment, and electric vehicle makers, starting September. Heavy vehicles including buses, trucks, and tankers can now be imported, according to a government notification issued by Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister. more..

Sep 30 (Island) Govt and Opposition may be at daggers drawn, but they do see eye to eye on matters that are mutually beneficial to them, such as the MPs’ perks and privileges, which they jealously guard. Such concord and coadjuvancy, however, are conspicuous by their absence where issues that affect the national interest are concerned. Not even the country’s worst-ever crisis has prompted them to make peace and put their shoulders to the wheel jointly to drag the nation out of economic more..

Sep 30 (ST) The alarming rise in shooting incidents, many of which occurred in broad daylight in Colombo, other major cities and even remote villages, has raised questions over the effectiveness of police countermeasures. The latest victim was six-year-old Abimani Theruwandika of Kotahena. She came under a trail of bullets that were aimed at her father, with whom she was travelling in a three-wheeler. more..

Sep 30 (Island) The Island of 02. 08. 23 published a statement issued by TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran on his party’s demand for enhanced and meaningful devolution, following their discussions with the President. As usual, Sumanthiran has taken care not to be too specific and to cover up their real intention: “This statement issued in order to clarify our position with regard to the political solution for the national question, the 13th Amendment, the conduct of the long delayed PC Elections more..

Sep 30 (ST) Illegal encroachments and landfilling backed by politicians over the years, have ruined an irrigation tank in the Anamaduwa area, thereby affecting thousands of farmers who have less water for their crops. Farmer organisations point out that the Petthikulam tank has lost almost half of its capacity due to encroachments. The 300-year-old tank in Anamaduwa town was used earlier to irrigate some 25 acres of paddy land, but now the cultivable land has been reduced to 10 to 15 acres. more..

Sep 30 (CT) On the question, of whether any Chinese Spy Ship was coming to SL, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, in New York, has given a detailed response that says everything and nothing. He has not given a simple ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ for an answer, leaving more questions than any answers. What the Minister has said instead is to detail how SL took the Indian neighbour’s security concerns seriously and how they had drawn a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for allowing foreign ships more..

Sep 30 (ST) A few weeks ago, I attended a Transport and Logistics Conference at Uni of Moratuwa as one of the panellists to contribute to a discussion on National Physical Planning Policy and Transportation System in Sri Lanka. The other distinguished panellists were Amal Kumarage, Professor at Dept of Transport Management and Logistics Engineering, and Jagath Munasinghe, Professor and Head of Dept of Town & Country Planning, while the discussion more..

Sep 30 (CT) President Ranil Wickremesinghe who went to New York to participate in the United Nations General Assembly session, returned to the country last Sunday morning. Immediately after returning from a long trip to Cuba and the USA, he resumed his official duties. He came to his office that same afternoon to meet the officials of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance. more..

Sep 30 (CT) Last week, the two elephant-train collisions that occurred within 36 hours of each other tragically resulted in six elephant deaths, out of which four were juveniles who were below the age of five. The high number of elephant deaths and how some of them have died – one juvenile sustained severe injuries and succumbed to them immediately after the collision while a mother elephant was severely injured and died later in the day after much suffering – have again set the stage for more..

Sep 30 (DM) The statement made by former JVP MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa on the relationship between a future JVP/NPP govt and the IMF is a clear deviation from his party’s policy on the global lender. Addressing the media after a discussion between the representatives of his party and the GMOA, JVP frontliner said that a future NPP govt will never hesitate to work with the IMF and other institutions. He told reporters that the NPP would deal with the IMF while respecting more..

Sep 30 (DM) Hanzeer Azad Maulana was the main whistleblower featured in the Channel 4 documentary. Azad Maulana made some startling revelations against former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, State Intelligence Service head Maj-Gen Suresh Sallay and State Minister Chanthrakanthan known widely as Pillaiyan. Gotabaya, Suresh and Pillaiyan have denied the allegations. Maulana has been accused of concocting a false story to more..

Sep 30 (DM) By mid 2021 large numbers of young people were seen to be queuing up at our passport office. So much so that former prez and now MP Mahinda Rajapaksa was force to remark that the young people who voted the govt into office were now fleeing the country in apparent despair. The reasons were clear enough, by early 2022 the country was facing rolling power cuts, small and medium industries were closing down, people were losing employment, cost of living was soaring. more..

Sep 30 (DM) One month has elapsed since the passing of a distinguished public servant who dedicated his lifetime to service to the country through his multi-faceted public service contributions. The history of the Ceylon Civil Service (CCS) is replete with honourable men who have dedicated their lives and services to the development and prosperity of our country. Mr. Kandekumara Hapudoragamage Jothiyaratna Wijayadasa (K.H.J. Wijayadasa) more..

Sep 29 (PMD) Acting Finance Minister Shehan Semasinghe announced that negotiations to secure the second tranche of funding from the IMF are progressing positively. He emphasized that the govt’s economic reform efforts are currently under evaluation by the IMF. Furthermore, Minister noted that discussions to finalize the staff level agreement required for receiving the second instalment are more..

Sep 29 (Island) The govt has taken a number of steps to pass the IMF’s first review of its loan, Prof. Priyanga Dunusinghe, Dept of Economics at the Colombo Uni says. “The IMF made several recommendations. One of them is increasing the tax revenue of the govt. It also wanted the govt to make the Central Bank independent and ensure that the state-owned enterprises adhere to cost reflective pricing. IMF also wanted a strong safety net. Some progress has been made on these fronts,” more..

Sep 29 (DM) Shereen Balasingham, a community medicine expert at the Directorate of Non-Communicable Diseases Division of the Health Ministry, said that the number of deaths and hospitalizations due to heart failure has increased significantly. She stated that 52% of deaths in govt hospitals in 2020 were due to heart attacks and that both men and women between the ages of 18 and 28 as well as between 29 to 39 years of age suffer from heart attacks. more..

Sep 29 (DM) China, more than any other country in the region or elsewhere, offers exchange programmes to the parliamentarians from Sri Lanka. In the previous Parliament, all 225 members were offered chances to undertake familiarisation tours to China and to engage with the Communist Party of China (CPC) as part of its international engagement. A fair number of MPs from the current Parliament has also travelled to China currently, and more..

Sep 29 (CT) Swaps between the Central Bank of SL (CBSL) and Govt of SL (GoSL), where the former swapped rupees for foreign exchange (FX/US dollars), enhanced liquidity by Rs 187,550 million (Rs 187.55 billion/USD 577.08 mil) during Wednesday’s (27) trading. Consequently market’s net shortfall by 77.32% (Rs 182,390 mil) to Rs 53,506 million and GoSL’s face value money printing (FVMP) debt by 0.17% (Rs 5,160 mil) to Rs 3,094,316.63 million (Rs 3.09432 trillion) more..

Sep 29 (DM) Mullaitivu District Judge T. Saravanarajah has tendered his resignation from his posts due to threats on his life and a lot of stress. His resignation letter was sent to the secretary of the Judicial Services Commission on Sept 23. According to the letter, he resigned from the post of District Judge, the post of magistrate, the post of family court judge, the post of primary court judge, the post of small claims court judge and the post of Juveniles court judge. more..

Sep 29 (DN) NDB is proud to announce its appointment as a member of the LankaPay USD Online Payment System. SL Interbank US Dollar On-line Payment System is yet another payment product introduced by LankaPay with the aim of assisting Central Bank of SL (CBSL) and the economy by curtailing the foreign exchange outflow from the country when processing US Dollar transfers. Prior to the introduction of the USD On-line Payment System, any domestic more..

Sep 29 (DN) Chairman and President of Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry known as VCCI, Pham Tan Cong, had a comprehensive and detailed bilateral meeting with the Ambassador of SL to Viet Nam, Prof. A. Saj U. Mendis, at the VCCI Head Office in Ha Noi. VCCI is the largest and most influential business chamber in Viet Nam consisting of nearly 15,000 members/corporates. VCCI plays a seminal and pivotal role as the most reputed business chamber in navigating and more..

Sep 29 (TM) Asgiri Chapter of the Siam Sect yesterday said that it is the responsibility of the Govt to take decisions which do not create unnecessary tensions between ethnic groups in its effort to protect archaeological sites in the Northern and Eastern provinces. A proposal has reportedly been made by the Buddhasasana, Religious, and Cultural Affairs Ministry to allocate three acres outside the Kurundi archaeological site more..

Sep 29 (CT) Former President of the Football Federation of SL (FFSL), Anura de Silva, is confident Prez candidate Dacshitha Sumathipala will gain majority of votes at the upcoming AGM and will be elected the new President of Football House at Independence Avenue. On the eve of a crucial secret ballot scheduled for Friday (29), Anura de Silva, a supporter of the Dacshitha Sumathipala’s faction, said they have met about 90% of the league voters to convey and gather their feedback. more..

Sep 29 (DN) Bourse rallied with a gain fueled by bullish optimism continuing its winning streak from the previous session. Both the ASPI and S&P SL 20 indices closed in the green zone at 11,336 and 3,198, respectively, reflecting renewed confidence following S&P Global’s upgrade of SL’s local currency rating from SD (Selective Default) to CCC+/C post domestic debt restructuring. This positive sentiment also bolstered the market turnover which was recorded at LKR 1.4Bn, more..

Sep 29 (DN) Women’s Squash Week celebration held at Cinnamon Lake squash courts last Sunday proved to be an exhilarating experience for all participants. Led by senior coach and former champion Yasmin Zarook, the event featured a multitude of engaging games that left attendees of all ages cheering in delight. The event was made possible through the dedicated efforts of Kushani Daluwatte, SL Squash Vice President and former champion, who not only organized more..

Sep 29 (Island) Cricket administrator Jayantha Paranathala has passed away at the age of 72. He captained Police, rose to the rank of Senior DIG and was a Vice-President of SLC. He also had a stint as Team Manager of the national cricket team and served as a member of the National Selection Panel. He was instrumental in bringing BRC to its current glory. In remembrance of his service to the club, the remains of Mr. Jayantha Paranathala will be brought to BRC today (28) from 2:00 PM to 5:30 PM, more..

Sep 29 (TM) The increase in the number of SL migrants who enter the Sultanate of Oman on visit and tourist visas has caused inconvenience to the procedures of the SL diplomatic corps in Oman. In the wake of around 130 illegal migrant workers being stranded in Oman at the moment, Ambassador of SL to Oman, Ahamed Lebbe Sabarullah Khan said that the SL Embassy had repatriated more than 400 migrant more..

Sep 29 (TM) SL is looking to commence negotiations with Malaysia and South Korea for FTAs following the completion of the trade agreement with Thailand, with the vision of joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Int'l Trade Office Chief Negotiator K.J. Weerasinghe said. He said the FTA negotiations with RCEP countries, such as China, Singapore & Thailand, should be completed prior to SL joining the RCEP, as per the vision of the Govt of SL. more..

Sep 29 (DN) The much-awaited Football Federation of SL (FFSL) elections are set to begin today at the SL Foundation Institute’s Auditorium. at 3 PM, the proceedings will be under the watchful eyes of officials from FIFA and AFC, with guidance from the Sports Ministry. This electoral showdown sees two rival parties vying for the prestigious roles of President and the Executive Committee, entrusted with steering the FFSL’s course until Sept 2027. From the FFSL’s 67 affiliated leagues, more..