Jun 28 (DN) Deputy Solicitor General Dilan Rathnayake informed the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s court that investigations are currently underway on the movements of several vehicles which had left Temple Trees on the day of former Rugby player Wasim Thajudeen’s death. DSG Rathnayake stated that AG instructed to release former Narahenpita Crimes OIC Sumith Champika Perera from this case. Former Crimes OIC had been named as a state witness in the case. more..

Jun 28 (DM) Justice Sisira De Abrew trecused himself from the Bench hearing the contempt of court allegation against former chief justice Sarath N. Silva when the matter came up before the Bench comprising Justices Sisira De Abrew, Vijith Malalgoda and Padman Surasena. The court postponed the hearing for Sept 30. Justice Priyantha Jayawardane recused himself from being a member of the Bench on May 8 while more..

Jun 28 (DN) A Special Bill is scheduled to be submitted to Parliament in the near future to prepare a mechanism to conduct the country’s drug prevention campaign in a scientific and productive manner via the Special Advisory Committee appointed by Prez Sirisena. This was disclosed by the Secretary to the Prez Udaya Seneviratne. He further said that a Special Advisory Committee consisting of representatives of the Dangerous Drug Control Board, Rehabilitation Authority, more..

Jun 28 (NR) Minister Arjuna Ranatunga says he will recruit retired railway employees in order to facilitate the railway service. Minister speaking in Parliament today regarding the ongoing token strike launched by railway employees said if the strike persists retired railway employees will be brought in and vowed to provide solutions within a week. Minister said while he is not threatening railway employees, he said he cannot idly stand by while the public is being inconvenienced especially on a Friday. more..

Jun 28 (EN) Central bank on Friday ordered a cut of 1.71% on 3-month deposits under its controversial price control program to stop depositors from getting a market based interest rate. The central bank said maximum rates banks should pay for savings deposits is 7% for the September quarter, down from 7.5% in the June quarter. The rate for 3-month deposits is 8.83%, sharply down from 10.54% in the previous quarter. more..

Jun 29 (CT) I do not know who will be the next president. But I know the sublime qualities he should have. The word sublime has been defined as of such excellence as to inspire great admiration. In that sense sublime quality is an excellent quality that inspires the great admiration among others. Do we have political leaders with this quality today? Before I continue with this discussion, let us pay attention to an important prediction made recently. According to that prediction, more..

Jun 29 (CT) In an interesting synchronicity, the 95th birth anniversary of Ranasinghe Premadasa falls in the 30th anniversary year of the zenith of his political career, his assumption of the Presidency in Jan 1989—a landmark occasion strangely ignored by the political formation he returned to power against all odds. It was a silence made all the more deafening and surreal because that political entity never assumed the highest political office in the land and the leadership of the country more..

Jun 29 (MB) The 18th Conference of the Parties (CoP) to CITES, the Convention on Int'l Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, should have started on May 23 in Colombo. It was supposed to showcase Sri Lanka’s rich biodiversity to an international audience, boost local conservation efforts, and vitalize the country’s ecotourism. However, the terrorist attacks in Colombo on Easter more..

Jun 29 (GV) This June marks the first Pride month in Sri Lanka under a State of Emergency since 2011, when it was last in place. For SL’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA+) community celebrating Pride, the return to Emergency brings back a number of discomfiting experiences and memories. The national crisis unfolding since the Easter Sunday attacks also means that this Pride has seen the community questioning their place within more..

Jun 29 (DN) India, the land of the Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi, Apostles of Nonviolence, took the hard decision in 2012 to hang Ajmal Kasab, the hardcore terrorist of Lakshar-e-Taiba militant organisation responsible for the killing of 72 innocent civilians in the Mumbai terror attack. Furthermore, the most affluent and powerful country in the world, the US executed 25 prisoners for various offences in 2018 alone. The logic behind that death sentence was that the punishment should fit the crime. more..

Jun 29 (CT) The country was developing rapidly before this Govt came to power. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Govt was able to end the war, where other presidents failed. Thereafter, an economic revolution was initiated. When Mahinda Rajapaksa assumed office in 2005 the economy of the country was US $ 20 billion. In the nine years since 2005, the economy expanded fourfold, most people don’t know of that miracle, more..

Jun 29 (CT) In the backdrop of President Maithripala Sirisena calling the 19th Amendment to the Constitution a curse, Tamil and Muslim parties have expressed their dismay over the President’s statement and reiterated that the 19th Amendment prevented the country from becoming a dictatorial State. Tamil and Muslim parties have also pointed out that in no way would they allow the 19th Amendment to be scrapped and will ensure it remains in the Constitution. more..

Jun 29 (GV) Last year, on Oct 2, Iran executed a 24-year-old woman, Zeinab Sekaanvand, who was a child at the time of her alleged offense. Under international law, she should have been excluded from the death penalty. She was also, like many child brides, a survivor of gender-based violence. Born into a poor and conservative family, she was married at the age of 15 to a man who had turned abusive and violent. She appealed to the authorities and her family to protect her from both her more..

Jun 29 (DN) The Sri Lanka junior netball team left for Japan to participate in the 11th Asian Youth Netball Championship to be held from June 29 to July 7. The Netball Federation of Sri Lanka (NFSL) selected a 12-player squad which was approved by the Minister of Sports Harin Fernando. Tharushi Illangarathna who played in last year’s championship as well and also represented Sri Lanka in the 2017 Netball World Youth Cup in Botswana, was named as captain. more..

Jun 29 (CT) The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned the Macau Football Association (MFA) with a heavy penalty for failing to play the second leg of their first-round match against Sri Lanka in the AFC’s FIFA World Cup 2022 preliminary competition, and concurrently awarded the match to Sri Lanka by 3-0. With this, Sri Lanka will now proceed to compete in the group stage of the World Cup Qualifiers after a lapse of 17 years, having last played in a group fixture in 2002. more..

Jun 29 (FT) Prez Sirisena’s decision to carry out the death penalty will lead Sri Lanka to lose GSP+ benefits received from the European Union as well as set the stage for an anti-SL campaigns across the world, the JVP MP Bimal Rathnayake cautioned the Parliament. According to MP, Sri Lanka has damaged its reputation due to the Easter Sunday attacks and is badly in need of rebuilding it among other countries. more..

Jun 29 (Island) Even second rate theatre can thrill if the plot is good and the cast is well supported by a couple of experienced old hands, propping up the show. SL were second raters on the morning of the match against England at Headingley, but not so by the day’s end. In the process they caused such an upset, they may have precipitated the elimination of the favourites and opened up the tournament wide. As for the English, this was a day of sheer anti-climax, on the longest day of the year. more..

Jun 29 (Island) Govt MPs were conspicuous by their absence in Parliament, on Thursday, when the extension of Emergency was taken up. Only a handful of them turned up even after the ringing of the quorum bell. Others were missing. They don’t seem to care a damn about their legislative duties, much less national security. Where were they while Parliament was in session? The absence of terrorist activities since late April has apparently lulled the govt into a false sense of security. more..

Jun 29 (CI) Dearest 2019 World Cup, Right from the start people said this love could never be. They said Sri Lanka were losers, because we'd lost 18 ODIs and won only six in the past year. They said, you were too good for us. But when we saw you beneath that brooding English sky, sat proud upon that trophy stand, your gold paintjob shimmering amid the drizzle like moonlight scattered through mist, and how could we not dream of more..

Jun 29 (BP) Thailand and Sri Lanka have entered an agreement to promote bilateral tourism. A MoU was signed by Kishu Gomes, chairman of the SL Tourism Development Authority, and Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, deputy governor for marketing in Asia and the South Pacific at the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), in Colombo on Tuesday. Event was witnessed by John Amaratunga, SL's minister of tourism and Chulamanee Chartsuwan, Thai amb. to SL. more..

Jun 29 (DN) A delegation of four young players, coach and official from Renown Football Academy represented Sri Lanka in the seventh season of Gazprom International Children’s Social Programe, Football For Friendship held in Madrid, Spain recently. This year children from more than 50 countries from all over the world participated in the final series of events featuring football training camps, workshops to teach good sportsmanship and the values behind the game more..

Jun 29 (CI) How England must wish this was the match report for their meeting with Sri Lanka in Leeds. South Africa, already out of semi-final calculations, restricted Sri Lanka to mediocrity with the bat and then formed a single definitive partnership to run down the target with 11.4 overs to spare at a sun-drenched Chester-le-Street. There was ruefulness as well as proficiency about the 175-run union between the captain Faf du Plessis more..

Jun 29 (FT) The Day of Poson was celebrated at the Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Frankfurt am Main on 16 June. Venerable Dr. Wijayarajapura Seelawansa Maha Thero who visited from Austria led the observance of Poson at the premises of the SL Consulate General. This is the first occasion on which a Poson program was organised at the Consulate General where communities of all religious denominations participated in. SL’s Consul General to Frankfurt am Main, Madurika more..

Jun 29 (Island) To position Sri Lanka as a hub for data science and artificial intelligence (AI) skills, the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) today announced the launch of its knowledge and skills mission to train 50,000 engineering and non-engineering students in Sri Lanka. The students will receive training on cloud computing and AI skills over the next two years in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) through the global AWS Educate program. more..

Jun 29 (Reuters) Sri Lanka has hired two hangmen as it prepares for executions of four prisoners convicted of drug offences in what would be the country’s first use of the death penalty for over 40 years, prison authorities said on Friday. The Prisons Department began the recruitment process in March after the last hangman quit in 2014, citing stress after seeing the gallows for the first time. Another, hired last year, never turned up for work. more..

Jun 29 (CT) Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne yesterday fixed 12 July for the defence to submit initial objections in the case filed by the CIABOC against former MP and former CEO of Mihin Lanka Sajin Vaas Gunawardene. The CIABOC has charged Gunawardene with having caused a loss of Rs 883 million to Mihin Lanka when purchasing equipment during the last regime. Gunawardene appeared in Court yesterday and his lawyer told the Court that the defence intends more..

Jun 29 (FT) The Institute of National Security Studies SL (INSSSL) held its Threat Lens Discussion titled Easter Sunday terrorist attacks: Countering violent extremism in Sri Lanka at the Ministry of Defence Auditorium on 16 May. INSSSL researchers presented their analysis on three inter-related areas: geopolitical dimension of the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, radicalising drivers of Islamic extremism in Sri Lanka and the economic fallout of the terrorist attack. more..

Jun 29 (Island) Jaffna District MP Sivagnanam Shritharan, alleged that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had deprived him of an opportunity, on Thursday, to ask for a division before Parliament approved Emergency Regulations for another month. Parliament approved Emergency Regulations soon after Easter Sunday attacks to pave the way for the deployment of security forces in support of the police. more..

Jun 29 (Island) President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) Kalnga Indatissa, PC, addressing a public seminar at the BMICH recently, said social media platforms such as Facebook which advocated freedom of expression were abused for the dissemination of hate speech. Indatissa said: "There are certain groups operating with vested interests to instigate racial tension. Whether it’s community A, B, C or D, it is wrong. The same rules must apply to everyone. more..

Jun 29 (AD) President Maithripala Sirisena said that it is very important to provide a good education for all the children of the country to build a disciplined and peaceful country where all communities are living. Prez made this observation when he declared open the new three storied building at the Thambala Al Hilal Muslim College in Polonnaruwa this (28) morning. He said that if the country is divided by ethnic groups, it will not benefit to any community. He added that he was committed to more..

Jun 29 (FT) Minister Arjuna Ranatunga, refusing to budge an inch over the strike carried out by railway trade unions representing the drivers, regulators, operators, stationmasters and the oversight managers, pledged to use railway pensioners and also to bring down foreigners to return the train service to normalcy. Current railway strike started due to salary anomalies, but Minister took the side of badly-affected passengers. more..

Jun 29 (DN) In what is SL’s biggest corruption case to date, AG Dappula de Livera has filed indictments in the First Permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar against former CB Governor Arjuna Mahendran and nine others in connection with the Feb 2015 CB Bond scam, supported by the largest ever set of production items. The coordinating officer to State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne, said that the production items consisting of over one million pages have been attached to the indictments. more..

Jun 29 (FT) The National Police Commission's Public Complaint Management System was launched by the National Police Commission (NPC) yesterday under the patronage of Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. The Public Complaint Management System enables the public to submit complaints via a web-based interface, streamline public complaint investigation process and strengthen monitoring, data analysis and reporting capacities of the NPC. Strengthening independent commissions more..

Jun 29 (AD) Norway and Germany have expressed deep concern regarding the Sri Lankan President’s decision to resume executions in the country for drug offenders. “Norway is deeply concerned that SL intends to implement the death penalty, which would put an end to Sri Lanka’s 43-year moratorium on the use of this cruel and irreversible punishment,” Norwegian Embassy in Colombo said. more..

Jun 29 (DM) The SLPP and the political parties which represent the joint opposition have decided to contest the upcoming elections including the presidential election as a new alliance, the SLPP said. It said arrangements would be made to register the new alliance before the presidential election. Party sources said mainstream political parties, civil society organisations, professionals, religious and multi-ethnic groups would be included in the alliance-making process. more..

Jun 29 (CT) The private medical centres of the Assistant Secretary of the GMOA Dr. Naveen Zoysa and the Vice President of the GMOA Kalutara Branch, Dr. Kapila Siriwardhane were attacked during the early hours of last morning. Dr. Zoysa, when contacted, said there had been damage to the two practices while the duo had lodged two separate complaints at the Police Stations of Kalutara North and South. He said comments made by the Health Minister over Media channels and more..

Jun 29 (DN) Parliament Select Committee (PSC) investigating the Easter Sunday terror attacks can take necessary action against UPFA MP Dayasiri Jayasekara if he does not comply with its summons, Minister Lakshman Kiriella said in Parliament. He made this observation in reply to MP Dayasiri Jayasekara who requested the Deputy Speaker Ananda Kumarasiri, to allow him not to appear before the PSC as requested. more..

Jun 29 (DM) Heated arguments prevailed in parliament after JVP MP Sunil Hadunnetti claimed that moves were afoot to hand over Mattala Airport to India and asked the subject minister if the govt was planning to do so. State Minister Ashok Abesinghe said the govt had invited any interested country to join hands with the SL govt to develop Mattala Airport as a functioning airport on the basis of a PPP. He said the decision was taken as the govt was short of funds to develop the airport. more..

Jun 29 (DM) JO MP Bandula Gunawardane said there were doubts if a conspiracy was being hatched when most of the UNPers including the PM were absent during Thursday's debate on the state of emergency. He told parliament that if the State of Emergency could not be approved, it would have led to a serious matter where thousands of suspects detained under the state of emergency would have had to be released. "As the Head of the Cabinet and of Parliament, PM should have been present more..