June 18 (CG) While the UNHRC had agreed on giving time to the new Sri Lankan Govt to address the human rights issue, a discussion has been held at the UN Geneva building where questions had been raised on the Govt and its commitment to ensure justice for the war victims. A panel discussion on “Impending High Commissioner’s Report on Sri Lanka: Comparing North Korea and Sudan recommendations for mass atrocities” more..

June 18 (AD) Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa dismissed media reports that he would enter parliament through the National List and be a minister in Rajapaksa govt. The observation was made when he visited Chief Prelates in Kandy on Wednesday. New Indian Express earlier quoted a source as saying that the Former Defence Secretary will enter parliament through the National List. more..

June 18 (NS) Has the BOI lost its oomph factor; meaning has senile decay set in? There are probably as outdated as their website. The About Us page in the BOI website says that they are 36 years old in 2014; clearly showing that they have just frozen since. But that is no surprise because it’s not just their website, two of the largest projects that could bring billions of dollars of investment to the country namely the Colombo Port City and more..

June 18 (CT) This newspaper on its yesterday's edition reported that Colombo High Court Judge Devika Tennakoon had ordered the CID to present a special report on Sicille Kotelawala in connection with the multi-billion rupee Ceylinco Group fraud revolving round their deposit taking institutions, which led many to penury and others to suicide.Sicille is the wife of disgraced former Ceylinco Group/Ceylinco Consolidated Chairman Lalith Kotelawala, one of the chief accused more..

June 18 (CT) The UNP wants Parliament dissolved. This is not new. Party stalwarts Lakshman Kiriella and Kabir Hashim even bragged that they would dissolve parliament if the 19th Amendment was not passed. That’s the UNP-friendly version of the 19th, folks, a text which would have replaced the all-powerful executive presidency with an all-powerful executive prime ministership. What’s funny is that dissolution is not the UNP’s prerogative. Kiriella, Hashim and others might not more..

June 18 (CT) The only sign on Sarath's tuk (three-wheeler) is the name of his wife printed on a sticker with glitter. It cost him Rs 300. He said he would like to have more signs on his tuk but had no time for such frivolous pursuits. When road rage, traffic jams, stress, potholes and dusty roads take it out on you, many find humour and relief in the versions printed on the rear of three-wheelers more fashionably known as tuk tuks. more..

June 18 (Reuters) Shares edged up on Thursday for a second straight session, helped by market heavyweight John Keells, but turnover slumped to a more than one-week low as investors turned cautious ahead of a parliamentary election. The main stock index ended 0.2% or 14.44 points higher at 7,064.15, further recovering from a two-month low hit on Tuesday. Turnover stood at 566 million rupees, its lowest since June 10 and half of this year's daily average of 1.11 billion rupees. more..

June 18 (CG) Foreign Ministry said that it was unaware of a visit to Sri Lanka by US President Barack Obama being scheduled this year. Minister Lakshman Kiriella had said that while Indian PM Narendra Modi and US Secretary of State John Kerry had already visited Sri Lanka, US President Barack Obama is expected to visit Sri Lanka by the end of this year. However Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that the Foreign Ministry us unaware of such a visit being confirmed. more..

June 18 (DM) The present regime which practices good governance will not hesitate to send Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran to jail if he is found guilty of the controversial bond issue, Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake said today. He said that the present regime cannot throw away its electoral victory on January 9 just because of the Central Bank Governor. He said Mr. Mahendran’s impounded passport is currently with more..

June 18 (Island) Allegations that the switch over from proportional representation (PR) to the mixed electoral system pledged in President Maithripala Sirisena’s January 8th election manifesto will wipe out small and minority parties is another canard spread by these parties, similar to the earlier claim that minority representation will be affected in the mixed system, the National United Front (NUF) Leader M.M. Zuhair PC said in a statement issued to the media today. more..

June 18 (DM) Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya issued an order on the Western Province Probation and Child Care Commissioner to inquire on the alleged bias behaviour of the probation officer investigating the case involving Dinitha Ranasinghe who was allegedly abducted by Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne‘s son. Magistrate made this order considering submissions made by Senior Counsel K.V. Thavarasha who complained to the Magistrate that the probation officer criticized more..

June 18 (DM) At least five crew members were injured this morning when a SriLankan flight, flying from Paris to Colombo encountered severe turbulence, a Spokesman for the airline said. None of the 193 passengers were injured due to the incident. The flight-UL 564, carrying 193 passengers and 16 crew members onboard, landed at the Bandaranaike International Air Port at 5.21 am today, Spokesman Deepal Perera said. more..

June 18 (Island) Fundamental rights violation petitions field by Samurdhi beneficiaries against Minister of Samurdhi Sajith Premadasa was called before the Supreme Court yesterday and was listed for support on June 29. Petitioner was directed to notify the respondents and be present in the court on that day. The petitioners have complained that the Minister has granted Samurdhi funds to outsiders and not to them. They have complained to the FCID, but received no response. more..

June 18 (Island) Letters piling up uncleared at the Central Mail Exchange in Colombo, Postmaster General Rohana Abeyeratne requested employees to work overtime to clear the backlog. The Postmaster General said that there were over 100, 000 letters piled up at the CME and of them some 20,000 related to forthcoming GCE A/L exam. He said that most of the letters were applications for exams sent by private candidates. "Annually, we have a large number of letters during this more..

June 18 (CG) The govt today said that its cabinet of ministers had decided to consider clearing the Chinese funded port city project after its gets the environmental clearance. Minister Rajitha Senaratne said that the cabinet had also decided to take the project away from the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and hand it over to the UDA. “Since it is an urban development project it should be under the UDA and not the SLPA. more..

June 18 (AD) The Court of Appeal today dismissed the petition filed by DP leader, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, to seek an order to reclaim his lost Parliamentary seat and revoke the appointment of MP Jayantha Ketagoda. In 2011, Ketagoda became a MP to fill the seat left vacant by the imprisonment of Fonseka who was sentenced to serve a three- year jail term by a military court. Earlier, the court also dismissed another FR petition, which was filed by Fonseka’s Secretary Senaka de Silva, more..

June 18 (EN) Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) is to call for international competitive bids to buy container handling cranes required for a new terminal being built by it in the Colombo port. The SLPA has invested 80 million US dollars to build the initial 400 metres of the 1,200 metre-long East Container Terminal in the new Colombo South Harbour, said Minister Rajitha Senaratne. “Construction work on the project is in the final stage,” he told a news conference more..

June 18 (DM) President Maithripala Sirisena has flatly rejected to grant any concession to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the forthcoming election campaign, Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said today. He said that President Sirisena categorically told the six-member committee appointed to mend fences among the two worrying factions that Mr. Rajapaksa did not qualify to be nominated as the PM candidate, more..

June 18 (CG) A Chinese military delegation is in Sri Lanka to review the construction of a Chinese funded auditorium complex at the Sri Lanka Military Academy, the army media unit said. The 6 member delegation, headed by Major General Cheng Jiang, Political Commissar of Department of Military Training of General Staff Headquarters of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) visited the Sri Lanka Military Academy at Diyatalawa today. The delegation had talks with Major General Mano Perera, more..

June 18 (LBO) Sri Lanka is to call expressions of interest to build the Central Expressway soon which is part of the Northern Expressway leading to the Jaffna peninsula, the Ministry of Highways said. "Bids will be called once cabinet approval has been given for the project, it will be presented to cabinet shortly. We will be commencing work as soon as possible" a Spokesperson from Ministry of Highways said. “There are two options being explored in terms of the route. more..

June 18 (CI) Two wickets immediately after tea brought Pakistan back on level terms after a century stand between Kaushal Silva and Kumar Sangakkara had steered Sri Lanka into a position of strength. Silva batted through till stumps to end the day unbeaten on 80, and he and Angelo Mathews will begin day three looking to extend Sri Lanka's score as far as they can on a pitch that is already showing lavish signs of turn and more..

June 18 (CT) There is great fear among the people of the Rajapaksa village, Thambuttegama, due to unnatural images of a woman, a man and a girl of about 14 years of age, dressed in white, appearing in the village. Several people who have got scared subsequent to seeing these ghostly, unnatural images, have been treated with rituals. Grama Niladhari Ashoka Dharmakeerthi in charge of Thulana said that the residents of the village had summoned 'spiritualists' (Huniyam kaarayao) more..

June 18 (CG) British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, James Dauris, met Sri Lanka’s first Chevening CRISP Fellows Dilan Fernando and Shehani Gomes before they left for the UK to pursue their special course of study. CRISP (Chevening Rolls-Royce Science and Innovation Scholarship Programme) is a Chevening Fellowship programme funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Rolls-Royce, which provides funding for a three month tailor-made course in more..

June 18 (DM) Leftist parties had requested President Maithripala Sirisena to set up an interim UPFA govt before the general elections and appoint Chamal Rajapaksa as the PM to ensure stability in the country and to fulfill political reforms, LSSP leader Tissa Vitharana said today. “I requested President to appoint Chamal Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister temporally because it will help ensure the unity in the party. more..

June 18 (AD) The Director of the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) and two Police sergeants were sentenced to eight years rigorous imprisonment by the Panadura High Court today over a death of a 16-year-old individual in 1990. The judgment was delivered when the case was taken up for hearing before High Court Judge M. Rasheen. The convicted were also fined Rs. 25,000 each. The three cops were charged with the murder of the student in Pokunuwita area in Horana on more..

June 18 (GDI) The Ramadan fast will start from Friday since the new moon was not sighted in any part of the country today, the Colombo Grand Mosque announced. The holy month of Ramadan was expected to begin on Thursday for Muslims in Sri Lanka. Muslims – there are 1.6 billion in the world – believe Ramadan is the holiest month in the year , when the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam, was revealed to the prophet Muhammad. Ramadan (also known as Ramadhan or Ramzan) is more..

June 18 (CG) Canadian Govt says Sri Lanka has an opportunity to reap the economic benefits of a peace dividend by fostering a transparent, responsive and pluralistic govt. The Canadian High Commission in Sri Lanka said that Sri Lanka is actively seeking to strengthen exports, and the Govt of Canada has called for increased efforts to conduct bilateral trade between the two countries. High Commission of Canada in SL said more..

June 18 (CT) The Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education, P. Ranepura, pointed out that improvements made with regard to the development of the higher educational institutions would be meaningless, if the students who enroll at universities were not focused on their studies. "Students must remain committed to following their higher studies. They should be aware of the enormous amount of money spent on improving their educational standards with more..

June 18 (Xinhua) Loans and investment from China are crucial not only for the development of Sri Lanka but also in strengthening China-Sri Lanka bilateral ties, A senior official of Sri Lanka said. Chamal Rajapakse, speaker of Sri Lanka Parliament, said that while China and Sri Lanka have enjoyed generations of friendship and cordial relationship, it was only at the end of the civil war in 2009 that China started to play an important role in the country's reconstruction efforts. more..

June 18 (DM) Financial Crime Investigation Division (FCID) has obtained a court order from Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya to investigate the accounts of four private banks in Colombo over the alleged fraudulent dealings of Sri Lanka Football Federation former Chairman Manilal Fernando and Executive Officer Krishantha Perera committed during 2006 to 2014. FCID sought the Court’s order to investigate the accounts in more..

June 19 (CT) It is very clear that the SLFP is divided into several factions; fascistic Mahinda faction is one of them. Maithri is trying hard to dilute the fascistic tendency, and unite the party under his umbrella. Others vacillate in between them. There is a hard core that has decided to weed out the right wing at any cost; but they are not necessarily with Maithri. The appointment of two former PMs, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake and D.M. Jayaratne as Senior Advisors to President more..

June 19 (GV) I am going to talk to you on the 19th Amendment as a scientist and professional, and I will talk about its relationship to Sri Lanka’s path towards sustainable human development (SHD) – ie., sustainable development with a human face. The first point I want to make is on the well-known sustainable development triangle (Figure 1). It has an economic dimension, because in any country, growth and income are important factors. It also has a social dimension with elements such as more..

June 19 (SO) Gamini Viyangoda is well-known as a writer in Sinhala, prolific translator into Sinhala of many great western literary works, a political columnist and pro-democracy activist. He is one of the founders and chief organizers of the Puravesi Balaya (Citizens' Power) social movement of artistes, writers, dramatists, filmmakers and other intellectuals who threw their weight behind President Sirisena's more..

June 19 (CT) A sanguine President Sirisena plans to thwart a rebounding Rajapaksa. A restless Ranil relies on a chagrined Chandrika to offer SLFP support after elections to keep him in office. The adjectives applied to the principal protagonists decidedly describe the dialectics of our post January democracy. Sanguine is to be optimistic or positive in an apparently bad situation. Rebound is to bounce back through the air after hitting something hard. Restless is the inability stay still or more..

June 19 (CT) We refer to the article Land grabbing – Yahapalanaya Style by Malinda Seneviratne, posted on the Colombo Telegraph which features a completely inaccurate account of a recent action of the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka relating to the recovery of an unutilized BOI land in Seeduwa. However, the published opinion article has merely been based on a one sided version without finding the veracity of the chain of facts connected to the matter. more..

June 19 (Island) A.L.M.Hisbulla the sole UPFA MP from the Batticaloa district speaks about the present relationship between the UPFA and the Muslim community and his own stand in relation to the raging power struggle within the UPFA and the SLFP between former president Rajapaksa and the incumbent president Sirisena. Q: You supported former president Rajapaksa at the last presidential election. Do you still consider more..

June 19 (NS) The level of politics: “I do not earn that much from politics. Only 5,000 rupees monthly,” a friend of mine told me. He is working on contracts for poster campaigns around Colombo on behalf of a certain politician. From his statement I realized, however, that no one knows more about politics than he. What he earns from politics may be (relatively) low, of course. Still. From Borges: At the worst the hypocrite who pretends to be good does less harm than the open sinner. more..

June 19 (NS) News of reduction in corrupt acts by politicians since Modi became PM in India causes panic in Sri Lanka. “Modi is putting unnecessary pressure on Ranil’s fragile kleptocracy” – Maithripala Sirisena, titular head of Sri Lanka. “I will not let such insignificant, irrelevant and implausible news, threatens MY fragile kleptocracy!” – Ranil, actual head of Sri Lanka. “So what? That is India. I’ve never been honest or ethical a single day of my life. I don’t plan to start that bloody nonsense now!” more..

June 19 (Island) SLFPers were elated at the outcome of a party heavyweights’ meeting on Tuesday; President Maithripala Sirisena appointed a committee to settle the acrimonious dispute over former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s efforts to be the UPFA prime ministerial candidate at the next general election. Their euphoria was short-lived. No sooner had President Sirisena appointed the reconcilliation committee than he let his position known to the SLFP rebels that more..