Jul 19 (DN) The national cricket selection committee could be revamped by Sports Minister Harin Fernando who has called for the resignation of the entire coaching staff following SL’s dismal performance at the World Cup. Four-member selection panel headed by Ashantha de Mel may also be asked to hand in their resignations, sources close the minister said. Brendon Kuruppu, Chaminda Mendis & Hemantha Wickremaratne are the other members of selection committee. more..

Jul 19 (Island) Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB) has named an eight-member squad to represent the country at the Asian Junior Badminton Championship which will be held at the Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre in Suzhou, China from July 20-28. Team comprises promising young talent in the calibre of Chamath Dias and Dumindu Abeywickrama who are currently among the top 20 national rankings, while Lochana de Silva and Chirath Illeperumachchi are also included more..

Jul 19 (FT) Central Bank yesterday said businesses will be able to obtain loans at reduced interest rates, as it expects lending rates to decline over the next few weeks, and that the Monetary Institution will continue to closely observe rates and take further measures to support economic growth. CB said interest rates of banks and Non-bank Financial Institutions (NBFIs) will reduce further in the immediate future, more..

Jul 19 (DN) Defending champions Sri Lanka stormed into the finals of the XIV West Asia Baseball Cup when they scored an emphatic 10-2 victory against Iran in the first semifinal at the SL-Japan Friendship Baseball Stadium in Diyagama yesterday. Pakistan trounced India in the second semifinal and will meet Sri Lanka in the final on Saturday. SL batters revelled in overcast conditions despite passing showers interrupting play in the morning belting the ball to all parts of the field more..

Jul 19 (DN) Team Colombo recorded their second win in the first round and advanced to the final of the Under 19 Super Provincial 50 over Tournament defeating Team Kandy by 95 runs at Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket stadum yesterday. The match between Team Dambulla and Team Galle at Pallekele International Cricket stadium was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain. All matches will now be played at Rangiri Dambulla International Cricket stadium. more..

Jul 19 (FT) UNP assured the European Union (EU) that they will not allow the death penalty to be implemented, and will work to amend the laws to abolish the death sentence. UNP MP Bandula Lal Bandarigoda presented a Private Member’s Motion to abolish the death penalty on 12 July. The bill had been sent to be gazetted on the same day, suspending Standing Orders in Parliament that required a Bill to be vetted by the AG. more..

Jul 19 (CT) Olympian Sumedha Ranasinghe won the Gold medal for the Javelin Throw at the Vietnam Open Athletics Championship 2019 at Ho Chi Minh City yesterday. Even though Sumedha couldn’t match his usual best, he returned with a legal throw of 74.58m and that was enough for him to seal the Gold medal. His best attempt during the day, which was about 79m, was determined to be a foul throw by a small margin. Sumedha threw 80.22m earlier this yr while has a personal best of 83.03m more..

Jul 19 (TM) Uber Eats, the food delivery app by ride-hailing company Uber, is all set to launch its services in Kandy next month, a pilot has already begun in the city. Similar to the Uber rides app, Uber Eats is a food delivery app that helps bring food to consumers in a convenient and reliable manner from all the best and latest restaurants. Currently, Uber Eats is present in more than 500 cities across the world. It is the world’s largest food delivery network. In Kandy, the service will launch more..

Jul 19 (Island) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe had endorsed the 11- point proposal on amendments to the Muslim Marriages and Divorces Act (MMDA) put forward by the Muslim MPs, a senior govt MP said. The Muslim MPs met the PM on Wednesday to discuss the proposals. The proposed amendment to the MMDA was handed over to Justice Minister Thalatha Atukorale, on Monday. more..

Jul 19 (TM) The Govt says a leadership battle has begun within the SLPP and the joint opposition protest staged in Colombo was a result of that battle. State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene told reporters that the protest was a damp squib. He said there was a lot of expectations with regards to the protest yet in the end it failed to meet those expectations. Wijewardena also said that the protest was not really against the Govt but was part of a leadership battle in the SLPP. more..

Jul 19 (FT) The three Special trial-at-bar judges appointed by the Chief Justice yesterday, released on bail the former IP of Police Narcotic Bureau Neomal Rangajeewa and former Welikada Prison Superintendent Emil Ranjan Lamahewage on Rs. 100,000 cash with two sureties for Rs. 500,000. Their passports were impounded and they were restrained from foreign travel. At the outset of the trial before the 3-Bench High Court Judges Gihan Kulatunge (President) Manjula Thilakaratna more..

Jul 19 (CT) The FCID yesterday, informed Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratna that they were currently probing how a sum of over US$ 100 million had been sent from Saudi Arabia to the Batticaloa Campus Private Limited and the Bank accounts from which that sum had been withdrawn, to construct a University in the Poonani area of Batticaloa. MP Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera had lodged a complaint in this connection more..

Jul 19 (CT) An incident has been reported where officials travelling in two VIP vehicles, allegedly not being allowed to overtake a van, had proceeded to assault a van driver in the Kalagedihena area on the Colombo-Kandy (A1) Road. Police said, the alleged incident had taken place on 16 July and the driver of the van had dialled the 119 Police emergency hotline to report the assault incident. The driver of the van had informed the Police that as traffic in the Kalagedihena area had been diverted onto more..

Jul 19 (DM) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe has informed junior MPs of his party that he would soon come up with an official statement on the implementation of the death sentence on behalf of govt and UNP. The junior MPs of the UNP had called on the Premier at Temple Trees to discuss current issues. The MPs informed PM that Sri Lanka might lose tariff concessions granted under the GSP + facility to export various products to the markets in European Union if the death penalty was implemented. more..

Jul 19 (DN) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe had rejected claims made by members of the Bar Association (BASL) that the SOFA agreement, MCC and Land Bill were all interconnected. A delegation of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) met with PM Ranil Wickremesinghe on July 17 at Temple Trees to discuss the concerns the BASL had regarding these agreements. more..

Jul 19 (DN) Bakery Owners’ Association said that it has decided to withdraw the price revision of a loaf of bread announced on Wednesday. It said the decision to increase the price of a loaf of 450g bread by Rs. 5 has been withdrawn and the price will be same as previous.The price increase was announced after two wheat flour companies increased the price of wheat flour by about Rs.7 per kilo. However following negotiations the price increase was suspended. more..

Jul 19 (DM) Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court yesterday ordered the Bank of Ceylon (BoC) Senior Manager to submit the bank records to the FCID with regard to an organisation in Saudi Arabia which had transferred USD 100 million to the controversial Batticaloa Campus. When the case was taken up, the FCID has informed the Magistrate that the complainant had requested to check whether the USD 100 million had been transferred by a banned company in Saudi Arabia. more..

Jul 19 (DM) Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medicine will soon take over the Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital (NFTH) at Malabe by paying a sum of Rs. 3.5 billion, Health Ministry Secretary Wasantha Perera said. She added that the govt or the Health Ministry had not made any payment to the NFTH at any stage as charged by the GMOA. Mrs. Perera told the media that the management of NFTH has been absorbed more..

Jul 19 (DM) SL’s present generation, comprising the young, must continue with the habit of promoting cultural harmony. The present generation, specially schoolchildren and undergraduates, are seen moving freely with fellow students who belong to different cultures and religions. They attend school or campus together and hangout with friends of all races knowing well that some of their friends do have personal choices when it comes to consuming food dressing up for the evening. more..

Jul 19 (DM) Finally, after more than sixty years of efforts by various Muslim groups, Sri Lankan Muslims have arrived at an agreement to amend certain clauses of the law that governs matters pertaining to their marriage and divorce. Former Minister Faiszer Musthapha had broken the news by talking to several newspapers this week. The reformation of the Muslim Marriages and Divorce Act (MMDA) of 1951 had been stalled always owing to differences among various influential groups more..

Jul 19 (DM) Presidential aspirants from all shades and shapes on political and apolitical platforms promise a Prosperous, corruption-free Sri Lanka when elected. That is the most common single slogan, all have accepted without contradictions and deviations. The other common factor among them all is, none has any serious programme to provide answers to major issues the country is facing now, but all have rhetoric. more..

Jul 19 (ST) As explained in paragraph of the witness’s Affidavit marked, an official state visit was made to Kampala, Uganda on the 27th Nov 2007 on a Mihin Lanka charter flight, in which the witness was part of the Mihin Lanka operational staff that travelled with the Govt delegation. The witness states that this was a VVIP charter flight and the Govt delegation consisted of the then Prez Rajapaksa and his delegation more..

Jul 19 (ST) Sri Lankans are the spark for forest fires wherever they are reported, and cause immeasurable economic losses and environmental damage to the country and themselves. This past week, more than 500 acres of forest cover was burnt down. Major damage is done to water resources. Monaragala DMC assistant district director A H Ravindra Kumara said a woman and two males from Monaragala District more..

Jul 19 (DM) Prez Sirisena is a politician who springs surprises. He sometimes stuns the entire country with his political steps. He took the entire country by surprise when he brought about a regime change last year through the new Govt he installed, which lasted for just 52 days. Prez is now purported to have planned to make a reference to the Supreme Court to make way for the PC elections to be conducted ahead of Prez Elections more..

Jul 19 (EN) Sri Lanka has settled about 70% of US$ 5.4 billion in foreign debt repayments in 2019 and will have a buffer to settle part of next year's debt as well, CB Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy has said. "We repaid 70% of that and we think we have raised enough money," he said. "And we are about to raise a bit more money I hope, in the coming weeks. And we will be able to settle all of our obligation till about the middle of next year." more..

Jul 19 (Island) Governor of the North Western Province Pesala Jayaratna was attempting to sell students exercise books produced by certain companies, General Secretary of Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) Joseph Stalin said. Stalin said: "Governor has asked the zonal education directors to take steps to sell exercise books through the zonal education offices. They have also been asked to allocate a storage space at more..

Jul 19 (CT) Dushana Vidu Nethin (DVN) association of professionals condemned the alleged political appointment of Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s personal lawyer Sandun Gamage, to the fifth vacancy of Commissioner, at the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL). DVN claims, “Gamage’s name was approved by the Constitutional Council last week. Gamage represented Karunanayake multiple times, more..

Jul 19 (AD) Owing to the prevailing downpours in the central hills, 10 shops in Ginigathhena town have been destroyed in alandslide, while one person is reported missing. The incident has taken place at around 2.00 a.m. this morning (19), Ginigathhena Police said. A part of the Kandy Road, from Ginigathhena Police to the town’s bus stand, has been completely closed as the landslide risk still prevails. more..

Jul 19 (DM) An incident was reported from Kalagedihena yesterday in which security personnel of a VIP motorcade had attacked a van for allegedly not allowing the vehicle convoy of the VIP to proceed. The violent attack, captured on camera, had taken place on the Colombo - Kandy Main Road at Kalagedihena. The video of the incident shows security personnel getting down from a defender vehicle and a luxury jeep & attacking the van more..

Jul 19 (DM) Permanent High Court-at-Bar today served indictments on 8 accused in the the Central Bank bond scam case including Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) owner Arjun Aloysius. The defendants were subsequently granted bail by the court. The case was taken up before a bench comprising Justices Sampath Abeykoon, Sampath Wijeyaratne and Champa Janaki Rajaratne in the Special High Court today. more..

Jul 19 (CT) The death of a student by ragging recently brings up the total death count due to ragging to 16, UGC Chairman Professor Mohan de Silva addressing a forum in Colombo yesterday, said. He said that the latest victim was attached to a technical college affiliated to Moratuwa University. To overcome this situation, de Silva said that he appointed a retired General to head this technical college. Though now there are no disciplinary issues in respect of this institution after this more..

Jul 19 (FT) It can be seen that there is a serious mess-up not only in the State and the social system in Sri Lanka, but also in the lives of the people. People of Sri Lanka are having smiling faces, yet those who live happily are very rare. You will find that unhappiness meets you everywhere. The segment of unhappy people is quite large. Even those having everything to live happily do not seem to be happy. This is a common feature that can be discerned in interrelations between people more..

Jul 19 (CT) Court of Appeal yesterday acquitted five Police officers, who were convicted and sent to death two years ago, after a firearm had gone off killing a robber. The man had been killed while the Police were grappling with a gang of robbers in an attempt to arrest them with a stock of stolen gold. That incident had occurred in the Bandaragama area on 1 June 1990. It had resulted in the Police apprehending a 3-member robber gang, but one of them, Mohammad Munaz had succumbed to more..

Jul 19 (DM) Nine Senior Superintendents of Police (SSP) have been promoted to the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) with the approval of the National Police Commission. The list of those promoted are as follows: SSP W. S. E. Jayasundara has been promoted as the Director, Terrorists Investigation and Ministerial Co-ordination Division; SSP K.V.D.A.J. Karavita as the Director, Prime Minister's Security Division; SSP S.W.M. Senaratne as Director, Research & Dev. Division more..

Jul 19 (AD) Acting IGP Chandana Wickremaratne has directed the Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) to investigate into the incident where VIP security personnel had attacked a van recently at Kalagedihena. A video recorded on a mobile phone had been widely circulated on social media recently depicting a group of individuals, dressed in white shirts and believed to be VIP security officers, arriving in a white Defender and Prado and more..

Jul 19 (AD) Secretary of the National Police Commission (NPC), Saman Dissanayake, who was arrested in connection with the Avant-Garde case, has been ordered remanded until Aug 2. Gangodawila Acting Unofficial Magistrate visited the suspect, who is currently hospitalised, and ordered that he be placed in remand custody. Dissanayake, a former Senior Assistant Secretary at the Defence Ministry, was taken into custody by officers of the CID at the Sri J'pura Hospital yesterday. more..

Jul 19 (RN) Reverse Osmosis Plants built and run by the Sri Lanka Navy are helping thousands of rural households hit by Chronic Kidney Disease. These plants are on show at the Shilpasena exhibition now on at the BMICH in Colombo. It will be open until July 21. Built by the Research and Development Unit of Sri Lanka Navy these units use a water purification process that uses a partially permeable membrane to remove ions, unwanted molecules and larger particles from drinking water. more..

Jul 19 (DM) Though the Kurunegala Magistrate Court has advised over 1,000 women who had lodged complaints against the controversial Gynecologist of the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital, Dr. Siyabdeen Safi for alleged unlawful sterilization to have tests at De Zoyza and Castle Street women hospitals, not a single complainant had come forward for the tests up to yesterday, Director Gen., Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe said. more..

Jul 19 (AD) A woman and two children have been killed after a tree fell on top of a three-wheeler at Sooriyawewa today. Police said that a mother, her young daughter and another small girl were inside the parked three-wheeler when a tree had fallen on top of it due to inclement weather conditions at Karyala Mawatha, Sooriyawewa. They were immediately removed from the vehicle and rushed to the Sooriyawewa Hospital, however all three of them were pronounced dead on admission. more..