Jul 18 (Island) Eight young talented SL football players have been selected for an opportunity of a lifetime, to compete in the first ever MILO Champions Cup, which will be held in Barcelona. MILO hopes to achieve this massive feat by teaming up with the FC Barcelona once again. The selected eight players will go on a journey to Spain on the 29th of July to attend the Champions Cup. The SL team will comprise of eight players, with six males and two females who will compete against more..

Jul 18 (FT) SL will hold a week-long creative festival titled Celebrate Colombo inclusive of art, fashion, food and music in early August to demonstrate peace and return to normalcy after Easter Sunday attacks. Celebrate Colombo, from 3 to 10 August, is a destination promotion tourism-based event, which positively showcases Colombo as a vibrant entertainment city, while also enhancing the experience of the modern travellers, more..

Jul 18 (Island) Sandya Salgado’s invite for her book launch said it was a memoir of an unrepentant dark-skinned girl, a misfit who fitted in. That did attract my attention because black is beautiful. We say in Sri Lanka, dodol kalu unata rasai (kalu dodol is black but it is super tasty). I was born kalu and I haven't had any issues with it. What was Sandya’s issue I wondered ? I couldn’t attend Sandya’s book launch held at the Suriya Village. However, she gifted me with a book. more..

Jul 18 (DN) Fiji beat SL to claim their second win of the Preliminary stage two at the Vitality Netball World Cup, confirming their 13th-place play-off spot against Samoa, the leaders of Group E heading into day six. The match was a play-off to decide who would face Samoa in the 13th-place game and who will face Singapore for 15th place – and it was Fiji who prevailed, 59-44. This was the fifth meeting at a World Cup between the two sides, with Fiji having won all of the previous four matches, more..

Jul 18 (DN) Indika Dissanayake won the Presidential Award for the Sports Personality of the Year in 2017 and 2018 at the third Presidential Sports Award ceremony at the BMICH yesterday. Indika Dissanayake who won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games 2018 in weight lifting also won the Most Outstanding Sportsman award. Commonwealth Games 2018 bronze medalist in boxing, Anusha Kodithuwakku was awarded more..

Jul 18 (FT) The Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka and edotco Sri Lanka, an integrated telecommunications infrastructure services company, yesterday entered into an agreement to invest in the latest smart city solutions and energy efficient systems towards further developing the country’s connectivity landscape. Under this agreement, the BOI grants edotco Sri Lanka the approval to deploy urban smart solutions throughout the country over the next three years. more..

Jul 18 (EN) A fashion show in Sri Lanka is facing a backlash over human table décor used at a launch event in a Colombo hotel which social media users found unfashionable. "What is #SwimWeekColombo smoking? What is this absurd nonsense? You’d expect them to inspire in this industry, to set an example. But instead, here we are. Groan indeed," irate twitter user nuzster wrote, reposting a video that showed smiling women in the middle of tables draped with long skirts in the fashion of more..

Jul 18 (FT) The Archdiocese of Colombo has allocated a sum of Rs. 102.5 million of the total funds it received after the Easter Sunday attacks, for the education of children affected in the attacks. Seth Sarana, which is the social arm of the Archdiocese of Colombo, said it had received Rs. 350.7 million worth of funds from local and foreign donors, including individual donations, those from the Govt, and corporate entities, to assist more..

Jul 18 (RW) A total of 29,123 dengue cases and 58 dengue deaths had been reported from all parts of the country within this year by July 17th, the Epidemiology Unit sources said. The highest number of dengue cases, 6297 had been reported from the Colombo district while the second highest number, 3825 had been reported from the Gampaha district. The third highest number of dengue cases, 2724 had been reported from the Galle district. The Colombo Municipal Council reported more..

Jul 18 (DN) Defending champion Sharmal Dissanayaka retained the men’s singles crown beating Dineshkanthan Thangaraja 7/6(4), 6/4 in the final of the Colombo Championship tennis tournament continued at the SL Tennis Association clay courts yesterday. The men’s singles final turned out to be an exciting battle from the beginning as both players trying to overcome each other. Both players were on top form and Shramal won the first set after a ding dong battle more..

Jul 18 (DM) The five oil bowsers that were procured in 2018 were found to have been with defects and Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminals Ltd (CPSTL) had received them without carrying out proper inspection on the vehicles and realising the consequences that would cause in the future. It was revealed during deliberations of the PCoI to investigate corruption of the current administration. A senior automobile technician attached to more..

Jul 18 (DN) SL pugilists will launch their preparation for the upcoming South Asian Games when five leading boxers will take part in twin int'l tournaments to be held in Thailand and Indonesia this month. SL team comprises Army, Navy and Air Force boxers selected on their performance at last year's National championships. They will get a taste of int'l exposure at the 23rd Indonesian President's Cup 2019 Boxing Int'l Open Tournament (July 22-29) and Thailand Open Int'l Boxing Tournament (July 18-28). more..

Jul 18 (DM) Five suspects, including an Air force soldier handling disciplinary matters and a leading Airman who were apprehended on suspicion over the theft of 2900 liters of fuel stocked for the use of the Anuradhapura SLAF base camp, were refused bail by the Anuradhapura Chief Magistrate Janaka Prasanna Samarasinghe, when they were produced in courts on Monday and ordered to be remanded until July 29. The suspects identified as Thilina Nuwan Bandara, Dammika Karunarathne, more..

Jul 18 (EN) Central bank said that winter bookings at Sri Lankan hotels are picking up, after the initial setback due to the Easter Sunday terror attack. "I was speaking to Tourism Ministry officials, and they said that bookings for the winter season are not bad at all," Governor Coomaraswamy said. "They [bookings] are picking up, but of course, at discounted rates," he said. Coomaraswamy said he had also spoken to more..

Jul 18 (Sprunge) Stratford Avenue marks the end of Colombo. It separates SL’s capital city from it’s suburbs to the southeast—up and down, the short stretch of road is dotted with small shops and hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and hums with faint chantings of a nearby Buddhist temple. Here is where Kopi Kade calls home. Opened in 2016, the cafe stood out at the gate. A product of Nimeshan Namasivayam, Kopi Kade directly translates to coffee shop in both Sinhala and Tamil. more..

Jul 18 (CT) Biology Teachers and Parents Collective will hold a protest if 2019 GCE A/L Biology Exam is not postponed to a later date in the Exam timetable, said Convener of Collective Keerthi Jayatilake. “New Biology syllabus introduced by the Ministry of Education has discriminated Biology students studying in the Sinhala medium, while this can also affect students studying in the English medium to a certain extent. Authorities were late to send resource material for teachers of both media. more..

Jul 18 (DN) Hindu devotees are up in arms over attempts by archaeologists to excavate and conserve ancient Buddhist ruins near the famous hot springs of Kanniya, Trincomalee, while local Buddhist groups are equally adamant that the ancient site must be conserved. What concerns Hindus is that this site, which they venerate for its link to the Ramayana legends and mythical King Ravana, might be disturbed by more..

Jul 18 (FT) A delegation of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) met with PM Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday to discuss the Status of Forces Agreement (SoFA), which they were assured was not signed. The PM assured the delegation the Govt has not signed a SoFA agreement with the US, the PM’s Office said in a short statement. Commenting on the meeting the PM said: “Had a successful meeting with the Bar Association of SL delegation. They sought clarification on SoFA, MCC and more..

Jul 18 (EN) Sri Lanka's is preparing to float a global tender for a two to three year tourism campaign in September, while fast campaigns worth a billion rupees to recover from the Easter Sunday terror attack are set to launch soon, an official said. "Two months from now, we are planning to float a global tender for the medium to long-term destination campaign," SL Tourism Promotions Bureau (SLTPB) Chairman Kishu Gomes said. "Before the terror attack, we were working on it." more..

Jul 18 (DN) Liqour and drugs worth of Rs 1.3 billion were taken into custody and 26,082 persons were arrested during the raids conducted in the first half of this year, the Excise Department said. The Department had earned Rs 95 million as fines during the same period. Among the arrested were 2,131 females. The majority of the arrests had been done for violating the Excise Ordinance and the corresponding figure was 17,766. more..

Jul 18 (Sun) A hotel that's just across the road from Buckingham Palace has added an astounding £500 pot of tea to its menu. And despite paying the hefty sum, you still need to fork out for scones and sandwiches. Five-star hotel The Rubens at The Palace is right opposite The Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace. To make the most of its regal position, the property already offers a Royal Afternoon Tea, albeit at the more reasonable £45 per person. more..

Jul 18 (DM) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe had advised State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake to refrain from utterances that would hurt the feelings of the Maha Sangha in future, it was revealed today. The PM had given this advice when he met the State Minister at Temple Trees last evening after he was called in for a meeting by Mr. Wickremesinghe to query a statement made by him that 90% of monks have been sexually abused by the Chief Incumbents of the temples they have been serving in. more..

Jul 18 (AFP) SL’s chief prosecutor on Wednesday ordered the arrest of a top officer at the police watchdog over his alleged involvement in a multi-million dollar gun-running racket. Saman Dissanayake, the secretary and third in command of the National Police Commission, was ordered to appear in court by Friday over the transfer of state weapons to a private company. At the time of the offence, he was a top official more..

Jul 18 (DM) The Parliamentary Select Committee probing the Easter Sunday attacks is to finalize its reports by August 25 this year, a member of it said yesterday. This member of the select committee who did not wish to be named because he is not authorized to comment to the media said the committee would complete the report by Aug 25, 2019. He said most of the deliberations had been completed at the moment. Committee is to summon several intelligence officers including more..

Jul 18 (AD) Dept of Meteorology says there is a high possibility of enhanced showery and windy conditions over South-western part and in central hilly areas of the island and over the North-western, Western, South-western and Southern sea areas till 20th July. Cloudy skies can be expected over most parts of the island, it said. Strong gusty winds up to (50-60) kmph are likely over the island particularly in Western, Southern, Central, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces, fairly strong gusty more..

Jul 18 (CI) Sri Lanka Cricket is likely to completely overhaul the national team's coaching staff following the side's upcoming home ODIs against Bangladesh. The move, which had been mooted for some time, was all but confirmed after local media reported that sports minister had demanded the resignation of all members of SL's coaching staff. "We're looking at that same line, but we (the board) will see what we can do when we come back. more..

Jul 18 (DM) Ideological battles are often marked by a deliberate misnaming of things. One could argue that perspective prompts different kinds of definitions, labels and elaboration, of course, but these choices are not always innocent. Some are used so often that they become entities which allow anyone to read them any which way they like. Sometimes, over-use and even the affirmation through word and deed of the polar opposite, not only robs meaning from words, names, terms more..

Jul 18 (DM) It now seems that Prez Sirisena is having second thoughts on writing to the Supreme Court for a determination on whether his term of office begins on Jan 9, 2015, the day on which he was sworn-in or on May 15, 2015, the day on which the Speaker gave his assent to the 19th Amendment. Prez’s advisers must have held the view that in case of the latter, the President could hold office till May 15, 2020 in which case he would be able to dissolve Parliament no sooner more..

Jul 18 (DM) Turkish Ambassador Tunca Ozcuhadar, in an interview with Daily Mirror, shares his views on the Fethulla Terrorist Organization (FETO) that attempted to overthrow his country’s govt in 2016, bilateral engagements with Sri Lanka to curb alleged FETO activities here. Also, he responds to questions about recent violence in Sri Lanka and how Turkey, along with the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), takes note of it. more..

Jul 18 (ST) The Presidential Commission of Inquiry which investigated into SriLankan Airlines and Mihin Lanka operations from 2006 to 2018, noted that due to the insufficiency of time, it was unable to make an in-depth analysis of the agreements and outcome but the excerpts from the evidence/affidavits of certain witnesses explains the factual background in this aspect. Excerpts: Witness Dulitha Wickrama, Manager more..

Jul 18 (Island) Prez Commission of Inquiry (PCoI), today, will commence an inspection tour of farms which have got 3,030 substandard imported Australian cows from the govt. They will also inquire into claims that the cows are suffering from Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD), hitherto not found in Sri Lanka. A complaint has been filed with the commission that the govt distributed 3,030 substandard Australian cows among more..

Jul 18 (MB) A four-year study of streams in the cloud forests of Sri Lanka’s picturesque Knuckles Mountain Range has turned up an unexpected discovery: a new frog species found nowhere else on Earth. Lankanectes pera, a glistening, chocolate-hued frog, is only the second known species in the genus; the other, L. corrugatus, is also endemic to SL. The researchers named it in honor of their alma mater and more..

Jul 18 (EN) Heads of Missions (HoMs) of the European Union in Sri Lanka called for the abolishment of the death penalty on Thursday after meeting a group of govt legislators. “The HoMs reiterated their call to Sri Lanka to maintain its moratorium on the death penalty with a view towards complete abolition," a statement from the EU Delegation in Sri Lanka said. The statement was issued jointly with the Embassies of more..

Jul 18 (Island) Common candidate was a term that no longer had any political value in the country thanks to the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe govt, JVP Kalutara District MP Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa said. He said that the people had enough of common candidates and no party would be able to field another one at the next presidential election. Dr. Jayatissa said the JVP would not form any more electoral alliances and would field its own more..

Jul 18 (Island) SLPP Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris said that the Election Commission should concentrate on the next presidential election. He emphasised that long delayed Provincial Council (PC) polls shouldn’t be now allowed to clash with the 2019 presidential election. Prof. Peiris was responding to Chairman of the Election Commission Mahinda Deshapriya recent declaration that EC was geared to hold PC & prez polls in quick succession. more..

Jul 18 (PMD) World Bank Vice President for South Asia Region, Hartwig Schafer said that the World Bank will increase assistance to Sri Lanka under three of its new operations. They include assisting the agriculture sector faced with climatic vagaries, irrigation, renewable energy, climate resilience operations and renovation of tanks in rural areas. Mr Schafer said this when he called on Prez Sirisena more..

Jul 18 (AD) The discussions held with Minister of Postal Services & Muslim Religious Affairs Abdul Haleem have failed, the postal trade unions stated. The 48-hour token strike launched by the postal workers at the Central Mail Exchange at 4.00 pm on the 16th of July will continue until 4.00 pm this evening (18), the Convener of the Joint Postal Trade Union Alliance Chinthaka Bandara said. more..

Jul 18 (SLG) US ambassador in Colombo, Alaina Teplitz went online through the embassy’s social media site to answer the questions on SL–USA relations today. Here are some interesting excerpts of the dialogue; U.S. Embassy Colombo: Thank you for joining me. Though the circumstances that surrounded our last live chat in May were difficult, I enjoyed hearing from you and hope that today’s discussion will be just as candid & productive! more..

Jul 18 (LBO) Japan International Cooperation Agency on Wednesday extended a grant agreement under JDS amounting to 263 million Japanese Yen (Rs 420mn) for young govt officers to undergo studies in top Japanese universities in their selected professions. The signing of the present grant agreement will enable 17 fellows to undergo Masters and Doctoral studies in Japan. The Project for Human Resource Development or JDS is been implemented in 16 target countries by JICA more..

Jul 18 (FT) Sri Lanka would not want a military presence from any country on our territory including in the legal Sea territory. Infighting amongst the political forces within the country on foreign policy should give way to a bipartisan policy that recognises the realities around us and the opportunities that it provides. Unless we are all suffering from dementia, the last experience with a foreign military on our soil should be very clear in our heads. more..