Oct 17 (EN) Controversial police chief Pujith Jayasundara, who is in trouble mandatory meditation for men and women in the service, is in deeper water this time after taking on a senior minister of the govt. Jayasundara addressed staff of the CID and accused them of leaking a video of him roughing up staff who had failed to comply with his order to meditate. The leaked video showed Jayasundara flying into a rage and lifting more..

Oct 17 (DN) Ministry of Justice through police has sought Colombo Chief Magistrate Court’s permission to record a statement from a Sri Lankan in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate the incumbent Maldives President Abdulla Yameen in 2015. The Ministry of Justice had made a request from Colombo Chief Magistrate that the Colombo Crimes Division be permitted to record a statement from Yassari Danushka Perera regarding the incident. Ministry of Justice in SL had decided more..

Oct 17 (DM) The ongoing proceedings of Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Bond Issuance came to an end today. However, the AG reserved the right to summon witness after notifying the Commission of the evidence they require in the future. Accordingly, the day to day sittings of the Commission have come to an end. Commission informed the AG’s team that in the event new evidence surfaces they would commence proceedings with a one-day notice. more..

Oct 17 (DM) Govt will convert SAITM into a non-profit institution under multiple ownership, State Minister of higher education Mohanlal Grero told Parliament today. He said this in response to a question asked by Chief Opposition Whip Anura Kumara Dissanyake. The state minister said a special council would be set up to monitor private universities and ensure the quality of their study courses. more..

Oct 17 (DM) Stern action would be taken against bus drivers who fail to reach their destination by the scheduled time, Western Province Road Passenger Transport Authority (RPTA) General Manager Jagath Perera said today. He said that several complaints had been received by the RPTA relating to delays.“We receive many complaints about bus drivers stopping and waiting for long periods in order to fill their buses with commuters,” he said. “Every route has a starting and ending time and more..

Oct 17 (CI) It didn't seem so long ago that Pakistan were considered a modest ODI outfit playing an outdated form of the game. Their batting was too slow, their bowlers not penetrative enough, and their fielding conformed to stereotype. Now, suddenly, having beaten the world, they have begun to play like world-beaters. It is the newer players that have injected this fresh energy: the likes of Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan and Fakhar Zaman who have shaken things up. more..

Oct 17 (CT) The post of director Sri J'pura General Hospital (SJGH) is held by an unqualified person, Colombo Telegraph learns. Thus, a mere medical officer without the required qualifications is enjoying a monthly income of Rs 600 000 of public money. SJGH, a tertiary care hospital and a post graduate training institute is governed under the Act of Parliament of 54/1983. In March 2015, when Dr. Athula Kahandaliyanage assumed more..

Oct 17 (EN) Despite a recent increase in foreign exchange reserves, Sri Lanka’s reserve coverage of external debt obligations remains low, with a bunching up of repayments due from 2019 exposing it to external financing risk, Moody's rating agency said. Moody’s Investors Service said Sri Lanka, which is rated B1 negative, has several large external debt repayments due between 2019 and 2022. “The bunching of these future external liabilities, which will average $3.6 b per year, more..

Oct 17 (NR) National Council for Road Safety says it will issue the gazette for increasing fines on traffic offences to 25,000 rupees before the end of October. Chairman of the council Dr. Sisira Kodagoda said the 25,000 rupee fine will be imposed on five traffic violations. Kodagoda said the penalties include exceeding the speed limit, overtaking from the wrong side, drunk driving, and driving uninsured vehicles, and driving without a valid driving licence and underage driving. more..

Oct 17 (PMD) President Maithripala Sirisena emphasized the need for further expanding economic relations between Pakistan and Sri Lanka. He made this statement when Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Ms. Tehmina Janjua called on him at the Presidential Secretariat today. He said Pakistan could invest in sugar and cement industries as there is a huge requirement of sugar and cement in Sri Lanka. more..

Oct 17 (CT) India and Sri Lanka signed the second Programme of Cooperation (PoC) to implement a research programme in the fields of Science and Technology. The agreement was signed between Sri Lanka's Ministry of Science, Technology and Research and India's Department of Science and Technology last Friday. The initial PoC to implement the agreement was signed between the two institutions on 4 August 2016 in India. According to this PoC, a joint call was announced to more..

Oct 17 (TG) Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) has reissued a summons to a Mannar civil society leader. V.S. Sivakaran, who heads the Federation of Community Organisations in Mannar was served a summons at the end of last month to appear for questioning in Colombo in relation to a letter he had sent to the president criticising the president’s plans to attend the opening of an illegally constructed vihara in the environs of Thiruketheeswaram Kovil. more..

Oct 17 (DM) The JO said today there was no point in PM Ranil Wickremesinghe blasting public servants for failing to deliver relief to flood victims when no funds had been released by the Treasury to carry out such work. JO MP Bandula Gunawardena said the economy was in a state of stagnation because of the short-sighted fiscal policies of the govt. “Former minister Ravi Karunanayake should be held responsible for more..

Oct 17 (DN) Court of Appeal today directed the Attorney General to file a report in Court regarding the progress of the CID investigation into the Welikada prison riot in 2012. A writ petition which sought an order directing the IGP and Director of the CID to commence an investigation into the Welikada prison riot in 2012 resulting in the death of 27 prisoners was today re-fixed for support on Dec 6. When the petition came up before Court of Appeal (President) Justice L.T.B. Dehideniya and more..

Oct 17 (DN) Former North Central Provincial Council Chief Minister S.M. Ranjith today filed a Fundamental Rights petition in the Supreme Court seeking an Order directing the Election Commission to forthwith take steps to conduct elections for the North Central Provincial Council which stood dissolved on Oct 1, 2017 by operation of Article 154 E of the Constitution. In his petition, the former Chief Minister had cited Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya, more..

Oct 17 (AFP) Sri Lanka's cricket board Tuesday halved a six-match ban imposed on all-rounder Danushka Gunathilaka for misconduct, amid speculation several players may drop out of an upcoming Twenty20 series final in Pakistan. The board's decision clears Gunathilaka to play in the three-match series starting Oct 26 in the UAE, though the final squad of 15 will not be announced until Friday. more..

Oct 17 (CB) Sri Lanka have drafted in top-order batsman Sadeera Samarawickrama into their ODI squad after conceding a 0-2 lead to Pakistan in the ongoing five-match series, in UAE. The hosts won the first ODI in Dubai by 83 runs and the second game in Abu Dhabi by 32 runs, making the third game on Wednesday (18) a must-win affair for the Sri Lankans. Samarawickrama, who made his Test debut in Abu Dhabi, was supposed to fly to the Caribbean to represent Sri Lanka A, more..

Oct 17 (AD) The CID arrested a relative of former Chairman of Litro gas Shalila Moonesinghe at Kalubowila over the transfer of funds from a bank in Taiwan. CID arrested Litro Gas chairman N.M.S. Moonesinghe in connection with the transfer of 1.1 million USD from the far Eastern Bank of Taiwan to a Sri Lankan bank account earlier this month. Ministry of Public Enterprise Development directed the Chairman of SL Insurance Corporation to remove Mr Shalila Moonesinghe more..

Oct 17 (DM) The TNA will move an adjournment motion seeking the immediate release of those held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). TNA Leader R. Sampanthan, who is expected to move the motion, said Sri Lanka had accepted both domestically and internationally that the Prevention of Terrorism Law is draconian, obnoxious and should therefore be regarded as obsolete. more..

Oct 18 (CT) Mission Impossible-Geneva is an inspiring account of developments at the Human Rights Council in Geneva when Dayan Jayatilleka was our Permanent Representative there. It is written by his wife Sanja, which provides for fascinating insights about the manner in which he planned how to overcome the threats from Western nations that seemed designed to stop us eliminating the terrorist threat within Sri Lanka of the LTTE. The book is essential reading for anyone more..

Oct 18 (CT) I wrote a couple of weeks back about the splendid work of Lord Naseby on behalf of SL, in getting into the open, the reports of the last British Defence Attaché in SL. The Foreign Office initially suppressed these, and the appeal procedure there did not work, so Lord Naseby went to the Information Commissioner. Following that intervention he got 26 pages, with many deletions. He also noted that there was nothing from the last two months, so he appealed again, and got more..

Oct 18 (CT) State Minister of Education, Nuwara Eliya district, Velusamy Radhakrishnan said that while his political coalition TPA had appealed to the President to release all Tamil prisoners arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) on general pardon, he had refused to interfere in the functions of the judiciary. "Our leader Minister Mano Ganesan has spoken about those arrested under PTA. more..

Oct 18 (CT) The scenarios that are being projected is to draw the attention of citizens to the possible dangers and implications of the short-sighted and selfish decisions and actions of leaders and their inability to comprehend and learn lessons from history and the international crisis and conflicts taking place globally. These scenarios afford an opportunity for people to take a step back and imagine if the scenarios can happen in SL and if they do, what would be the consequences. more..

Oct 17 (CT) Mr Arunachalam Thiruketheeswaran (Thiru) won the Local Community Hero Award at the 2017 BRISLA Awards ceremony held at Lord’s on the 14th of October. He was the former President of both the Tamil Schools Sports Association and Jaffna Hindu College’s OBA UK, and is now the current President of the Surbiton Sports Club. A strong academic, Thiru excelled at Jaffna Hindu College where he was a student from 1967 – 1975. His natural skills as a leader, consisting more..

Oct 18 (ST) “Like Gandhi, Khemadasa believes that one must keep the doors and windows of one’s house open so that the winds from the four corners of the earth will blow through it- yet never allow oneself to be taken off one’s feet which should remain firmly planted on your own soil. He has therefore boldly used techniques, forms and instruments from the west and east in expressing himself yet his music more..

Oct 18 (Island) The SLFP is apparently in the suicidal mode. What may be described as a bloodless version of the Night of the Long Knives has debilitated it as never before; several popular party organisers, in the dissident group, have been sacked. The mega purge is far from over. Next few weeks are likely to see many more senior party organisers being ousted. There has been a severe erosion of public faith in the two main parties which have been in clutches of self-serving politicians more..

Oct 18 (DN) As a direct result of Invasive Alien Species (IAS), the depletion of unique biodiversity has affected Sri Lanka in numerous ways. Invasive Alien Species of Flora and Fauna have already caused irreparable damage in the spheres of Agriculture, Fisheries Industry and Tourism Industry of Sri Lanka. This article explores the most common IASs in the country and their areas of impact. Action taken to control the issue however, remains woefully inadequate despite the numerous impacts more..

Oct 18 (DN) With much of modern society already embracing technology, the great question is how elections have largely been left untouched by automation. This is not for lack of role models -- there are pioneers such as Belgium, Estonia and the Philippines, countries which have transitioned to automation and have since been reaping the benefits of fast, transparent, and credible elections. Yet a sizeable number of democracies have not yet taken their electoral process to digital age, more..

Oct 18 (Island) In Sri Lanka today, in addition to the public or government service, there is a semi-govt service, comprising Corporations, Authorities, Boards, Commissions, Universities and Govt owned Business Ventures. According to the 2016 Statistical Abstracts published by Census and Statistical Department, there were 627,000 employees under the govt sector, comprising 334,000 in the central government and 293,000 in the provincial govt, while there were 208,800 employees more..

Oct 18 (Roar) Approximately 3,025 people committed suicide in Sri Lanka in 2016, with a death rate of 14.7 per 100,000 population, according to Dr Duleeka Knipe, a mental health epidemiologist of the University of Bristol. Of these, 70% were men. However, Dr. Knipe’s groundbreaking 2016 study of 165,000+ individuals across the North Central Province revealed young women (10–25 years of age) as having more..

Oct 18 (Roar) “I have one trick when it comes to making investment decisions in startups in Sri Lanka,” began Rajan Anandan, Vice President of Google of South East Asia and serial Angel Investor, whilst announcing the Venture Engine (VE) 2017 winners. “I call the business leader at 12pm on Sunday and if they’re enjoying a long brunch, I think no way, but if they’re in the office, I’m in!” Events like this mark a new age of progress and development in Sri Lanka. more..

Oct 18 (SLN) In support of the vision, A Green Country, A Clean Environment set by the Ministry of Environment, which incidentally comes under the purview of His Excellency the President as the subject minister, navy divers attached to the Northern and Eastern Naval Commands have embarked on replanting corals in the seas off the Coral Cove in Trincomalee and the Charty beach in Jaffna under the guidance of the Wild Life Research and Conservation Trust (WRCT). more..

Oct 18 (CI) SLC is hopeful of naming a strong team for the third and final T20I against Pakistan in Lahore - first fixture the team will play in Pakistan since 2009, when their team bus was attacked by armed gunman. Players had raised concerns about travelling to Pakistan, but the board on Monday confirmed that it will be sending a team across. There have been questions around whether SLC would be forced to name a weakened more..

Oct 18 (DM) Leo Burnett Sri Lanka, the local office of the global advertising network Leo Burnett Worldwide was recently named the Agency of the Year at this year’s Effie Awards Programme. Leo Burnett Sri Lanka added credentials to its standing as Sri Lanka’s leading creative agency by securing the coveted Agency of the Year effectiveness in creative communications, which is revered as a top industry accolade. Award was received by Ranil de Silva and the agency team, more..

Oct 18 (DM) A dog had been seen running through a street in Nuwara Eliya grabbing the body of a new born infant in its mouth. Grama Niladhari Officer of the area had witnessed this horrific scene and immediately released the body from the dog. After being informed by the Grama Niladhari officer, a police team held investigations at Gibson Road over the incident. Police have launched a probe to locate a woman from the area said to have undergone an abortion the previous night. more..

Oct 18 (BBC) A 26-year civil war in Sri Lanka left at least 100,000 people dead on both sides of the conflict. In 1987, India sent a peacekeeping force, but it ended up getting drawn into the fighting. Thirty years on, BBC Hindi's Vineet Khare revisits the former battlefields of Sri Lanka with a retired Indian major-general who served there. The main hospital in Jaffna is a clean, white building, bustling with activity. more..

Oct 18 (CT) Defamation lawsuit will be filed against Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake over the claims he has made in the incident in which a youth was found dead at MP Wimal Weerawansa's home, lawyers of Weerawansa's wife Shashi Weerawansa, said. Attorney-at-law Premnath Dolawatte further said, that due to false claims made by Ramanayake and several other individuals, Weerawansa's family, specially his 15-year-old daughter had to go through psychological trauma. more..

Oct 18 (Island) Sri Lanka have failed to reproduce their fine touch in Tests against Pakistan into the ODIs and need to win today’s third game here at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in order to stay in competition in the five match series. Sri Lanka’s ODI form has been disastrous this year having only won four of their 23 games and there is very little sign of it improving as well. SL’s batting woes continued as they failed to chase down a target of 220 in the second game here in Abu Dhabi on Monday. more..

Oct 18 (DN) Batting coach Hashan Tillakaratne was confident that Sri Lanka can bounce back in the five-match one-day international series against Pakistan which they are trailing 0-2 after their 32-run loss in the second ODI played here on Monday. SL bowlers did a splendid job to confine the strong Pakistani batting to a total of 219-9 but all their good work went unrewarded when SL’s batsmen failed to match the performance of more..