Nov 4 (TM) Crediting Rs. 2 from every sale of the facemasks made by the State Trading Corporation (STC) to Minister of Trade Dr. Bandula Gunawardana’s Pragna Bandu fund is littered with a conflict of interest as his brother-in-law, niece, and her father are alleged to be the trustees of the said fund. This was claimed by former CAA Executive Director Thushan Gunawardena in a YouTube channel of his, yesterday. more..

Nov 4 (CT) Prez has appointed a presidential task force to take forward the concept one country, one law that proved to be an effective slogan at the election campaign that won him the presidency in 2019. Of course, those were different times. At that time the country was still trying to recover from the shock and demoralization of the Easter bombing that had taken place six months before. Muslim community came under special scrutiny as suicide bombers had been Muslim. more..

Nov 4 (TM) While Sri Lanka is dealing with several ongoing challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic and teacher-principal protests and schools reopening, Prez Rajapaksa is currently attending the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference, or COP26, held in Glasgow, Scotland, discussing a much severe global and national level crisis, i.e. exacerbating climate change, and SL’s plans to curtail environmental degradation and strengthen local mechanisms for the same purpose. more..

Nov 4 (TM) Using and abusing powers by those who have been assigned with higher powers is common in today’s society. Even though there are various mechanisms to lessen these power disparities and their impacts on different parties, there is no guarantee that those mechanisms can operate without succumbing to power imbalances that exist within them. The police force, which has been given powers to more..

Nov 4 (CT) Mage swamipurushayawa nomara meruwa (My husband was killed without being killed) -Then PM Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s reference to the successful strikes organised by LSSP leader Dr. N.M. Perera during the short tenure of her late husband S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike’s premiership, from 1956-59. Therefore, being cognisant of the politics of strikes, Prez J.R. Jayewardene during his tenure successfully sacked 40,000 striking public servants demanding higher pay in July 1980, more..

Nov 4 (Island) PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his speech, at a ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the SLPP, in Colombo, on Tuesday, struck a responsive chord with the public. Among the main takeaways from his address were his declaration that all constituents of the ruling coalition were of equal importance and should be treated as such, and his call for action to be taken to eliminate the factors that had led to an unusual increase in the emigration of the country’s youth. more..

Nov 4 (ST) The appointment of Venerable Gnanasara thero to head a Presidential Task Force (PTF) raises several issues related to both governance and national reconciliation. An examination of the mandate of the newly appointed PTF reveals that it is required and empowered to (1) Make a study of the implementation of the concept One Country, One Law within Sri Lanka and prepare a draft act for the said purpose and (2) To study the draft acts and amendments already prepared more..

Nov 4 (CT) The regular road used by the Kudagama residents is in such a run-down condition that if a pregnant mother chanced to travel on it she would develop labour pains, said the locals. More than 200 families reside in Kudagama village located in the Medawachchiya Divisional Secretariat area. This is the main road to the village and the responsible authorities have not intervened to renovate the road or to address the issues of the village people. The road between the small temple and more..

Nov 4 (DN) Hindus in SL and across the globe celebrate their vibrant Festival of Lights today. Diwali or Dipawali has been deeply woven into the Hindu faith for centuries. It is a time of resurgence in terms of spirituality guided by the light: in a physical and divine sense. Living in multi-ethnic Sri Lanka, we have been blessed to learn about religions and their beautiful traditions, which enables me, a Christian, to write this narrative. more..

Nov 4 (CI) West Indies have lost two of their three matches so far, but theoretically, they could still make the semi-finals. They need to win their game against SL and their next against Australia to end up on six points, the same as South Africa, so long as SA also lose to England. West Indies' problem, though, is their net run rate. At -1.598, it is the worst in the group. They not only need to win their two remaining games to have a chance, they also need to win big, and hope England crush SA. more..

Nov 4 (TM) SL Govt is planning to limit the importation of boats and vessels that cannot be manufactured in the country in order to encourage local manufacturers to venture into new boat & vessel categories. Limiting of importation would be done through a licensing system, i.e. an individual who requires a boat or a vessel that is not manufactured in SL for commercial purposes would have to apply for a licence to import the particular boat or vessel which is subjected to a licence more..

Nov 4 (Island) National coordinator for the Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) Manjula Gajanayake says even offering a cup of tea to a voter could land candidates in trouble at future elections. Gajanayake said so referring to the election petition 01/2018 filed in the Uva Provincial High Court by Sunil Wanasinghe and the land mark judgment delivered by the Additional High Court Judge Monaragala on 13 Sept 2021. more..

Nov 4 (ST) Only hours before the SL team were about to open their World Cup account in Abu Dhabi last Monday (18), the entire SL cricketing fraternity was shaken by the sudden passing away of – Bandula Warnapura – the island’s first Test captain. Though Lankans won the game comprehensively, it was marred by a death of a stalwart of SLC. A deep shock and sadness, the cricketing community is still coming to terms with. A moment-of-silence was also observed by the team, more..

Nov 4 (FT) On the instructions of the Transport Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi, National Transport Commission (NTC) has taken steps to launch a special office transport service to the five major cities of Galle, Kandy, Ratnapura, Kurunegala and Chilaw at 4:15 p.m. near the Shalika Stadium in Narahenpita using buses with route permits. Minister Wanniarachchi inaugurated the office transport service on Monday. With the control of the COVID pandemic and the removal of provincial more..

Nov 4 (FT) Ambassador of SL to China Dr. Palitha Kohona participated in the 2021 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Financial Cooperation and Capital Market Development Forum held in Jiaozhou, Qingdao, during 27-28 Oct. Forum was hosted by the Qingdao Municipal People’s Govt, co-organised by the Management Committee of the Demonstration Zone for China-SCO Local Economic and Trade Cooperation, Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin Uni of China, more..

Nov 4 (Island) Top govt leadership last Thursday night (28) made a last ditch attempt to thwart an influential section of ruling party lawmakers from going ahead with the planned public meeting at the Solis Hall, Pitakotte, against the controversial energy deal with the US-based New Fortress Energy. The meeting, held at the main hall of Temple Trees, with the participation of Prez Rajapaksa, PM Rajapaksa, Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Chief Govt Whip Dinesh Gunawardena, failed to more..

Nov 4 (CI) If there was a word cloud for Mickey Arthur, speaking ahead of Sri Lanka's final World Cup game against the West Indies, 'consistency' would be right up there. "Consistency in message, consistency in selection, and consistency in role clarity," Arthur said, identifying the three key ingredients he believes this young Sri Lankan side needs to regularly compete with the best in the world. more..

Nov 4 (ST) ESoft Metro Campus were crowned the winners of the inaugural Red Bull Campus Cricket Women’s National Finals, when they comfortably overcame Sky Academy by 61 runs in the grand final, played at the Thurstan College cricket ground yesterday. In a rain-shortened game, where each side were given 14 overs, Sky Academy won the toss and put ESoft Metro Campus into bat, only to receive a challenging target of 104 runs. National cap Sathya Sandeepani top scored with 18 more..

Nov 4 (Island) Teachers and Principals Trade Union Alliance yesterday threatened to intensify their trade union action after K.G. Piyatissa, the Deputy Chairman of the Mawanella PS assaulted a parent demonstrating in support of the teachers and principals. Parents were demonstrating opposite many schools across the country asking the govt to resolve the long standing salary anomalies of teachers and principals. “While parents of Mederigama Vidyalaya, Mawanella more..

Nov 4 (FT) In a major step forward in Sri Lanka’s rapid transformation towards becoming a South Asian hub for IT and tech-enabled services, Digital Reality Ltd. yesterday launched the country’s first carrier-neutral, high-density data centre built to TIA Tier-3 standards and a capacity over 200 racks at Orion City IT Park – Colombo 09 under the brand name OrionStellar. The launch event featured ICTA more..

Nov 4 (FT) The detection of 581 COVID-19 positive persons yesterday raised SL’s total COVID-19 case count to 542,793. The COVID-19 patients detected yesterday were from the New Year cluster. A total of 438,116 patients have been detected from the New Year cluster and the country’s local COVID-19 cases also include 82,785 persons from the Peliyagoda cluster, 9,051 persons from the Prisons cluster, and 3,059 persons from the Divulapitiya cluster. 6,959 Lankans, 328 foreigners have tested positive more..

Nov 4 (Island) Water supply would be disrupted if the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) workers did not restore power during breakdowns, Convener of the Water Supply Trade Union Collective Alliance, Engineer Upali Rathnayake said. Rathnayake said that they fully supported CEB unions protesting the sale of the Kerawalapitiya Yugadanavi Power Plant shares to US firm New Fortress Energy. The US Company was also to be entrusted with supplying LNG to SL without any tender procedure, more..

Nov 4 (FT) Micro Electric International and Hypro Holdings Ltd. of Sri Lanka and Lodule International Ltd. of South Korea have entered into a MoU to assemble and manufacture mobile phones in SL. Both these companies are well equipped and have the state-of-the-art technology to assemble and manufacture smart 4G mobile phones not only to the domestic market but also to export to the region of more..

Nov 4 (DM) Former Prez Maithripala Sirisena and those who were in the security establishments only tried to ensure their own safety when they received prior warnings on impending Easter Sunday attacks, Archbishop of Colombo His Eminence Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said. Cardinal Ranjith who visited the residence of a native of Katuwapitiya who has lost his entire family members during the Easter Sunday carnage said the the former Prez and the security establishment during that time had more..

Nov 4 (FT) UK-registered but Malaysian-owned Hobbify China Ltd. is to invest 340 million euros, or Rs. 78 billion, to organically cultivate and export value added durians from 200 acres in Nawalapitiya. The entry into SL and commencement of the venture is via the acquisition of a company called In The Nature Ltd. The latter envisages to establish a project to cultivate durian with the aim of meeting the high demand in global markets. The project will be at Hineford Estate Mapakanda, Nawalapitiya. more..

Nov 4 (FT) Govt of SL and the World Bank (WB) have signed a $ 500 million financing agreement to provide safe, efficient and climate resilient connectivity to strengthen agricultural supply chains through the Inclusive Connectivity and Development Project. This project is expected to benefit around 16 million people living in rural communities in selected districts of SL. Ministry of Finance Secretary S.R. Attygalle signed more..

Nov 4 (CT) Financial Crimes Division affiliated to the CID yesterday informed the Colombo Chief Magistrate that they had begun a probe into the misappropriation of a sum of Rs 1 billion by compiling fake chemical reports on fertiliser brands such as Urea, TSD and MOV, which are supplied by the Govt to paddy farmers. Sources said several officials have already been interdicted in connection with the incident. Ex-Secretary of the Ministry of Mahaweli, Agriculture & Irrigation Dev, more..

Nov 4 (DM) Central Bank announced the establishment of a new department named Foreign Remittances Facilitation Dept (FRFD), with effect from November 3, 2021, which is tasked to facilitate and streamline workers’ remittances inflows to the country, under the provisions of Monetary Law Act No. 58 of 1949. Workers’ remittances have been a key pillar of SL’s foreign currency earnings that have nearly 100% of domestic value addition, providing a substantial cushion for external sector more..

Nov 4 (TM) The heads of a number of state-owned institutions have expressed annoyance over a series of lengthy meetings convened by President’s Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera which they claim serves no real purpose. Several heads of state institutions said that these meetings are unnecessarily long, and have proven to be pointless as Dr. Jayasundera does not take any action with regard to any of the proposals made by more..

Nov 4 (EN) SL’s INSEE Cement, a unit of Siam City Cement of Thailand said it was adding two ships to boost supplies as forex shortages cut off imports to the island disrupting construction. INSEE which has an integrated cement plant Puttalam and also a grinding plant in Galle said it was already producing and importing 3.6 million metric tonnes to meet demand. SL’s govt initially created a shortage by imposing price controls as the rupee fell and forex shortages were created by printing money. more..

Nov 4 (AD) A large consignment of Nano Nitrogen liquid fertilizer ordered from India, which weighs up to 145,152 litres, arrived in Sri Lanka today (4). Two flights carrying the fertilizer shipment in two batches touched down at the Bandaranaike Int'l Airport (BIA) in Katunayake early this morning. One of the flights reached the island at around 12.06 a.m. with 72,576 litres of Nano Nitrogen liquid fertilizer while the other arrived at around 3.02 a.m. with another 72,576 litres of fertilizer. more..

Nov 4 (FT) Top officials of the energy sector described the US New Fortress-Yugadanavi deal as a great investment opportunity for SL, insisting it is necessary to consider the long-term advantages of power generation. The CEB Chairman M.C. Ferdinando, along with General Manager M.R. Ranatunga and LECO Chairman Athula De Silva spoke on the controversial power plant to journalists at a briefing titled more..

Nov 5 (DM) Sri Lankans must learn what discipline is before they learn the intricacies of how Covid-19 spreads and forms new clusters. Right now the island is administering the booster dose of the Covid vaccine to people engaged in essential services. As a result people working in the health sector, as frontline workers and military establishments received the third jab, commencing November 1. But what alarms us is that there are still individuals who have not received a single jab; more..

Nov 5 (DM) Govt is under fire these days from an opposition that has arisen from within the Cabinet. This is a good sign for the people and a bad one for those who wield real power within this govt. The govt is criticized largely these days regarding the deal it is said to have struck with the USA regarding the Yugadanavi Power Plant at Kerawalapitiya. The new opposition states that ministers and members of parliament were not informed about the US-Sri Lanka deal and more..

Nov 5 (Roar) In 1938, Heinrich Himmler, one of the leading members of Germany’s Nazi Party and a key architect of the Holocaust, appointed a five-member team to go to Tibet, to search for the origins of the Aryan race. Their mission, however, began in SL — then Ceylon — where they planned to spend a few weeks studying the population of Ceylon and its potential Aryan heritage. And so, a little over a year more..

Nov 5 (CT) I was in Indonesia as a boy, accompanying my parents a month before the infamous Sept 1965 coup and the horrifying bloodbath. President Suharto’s progressive foreign minister Dr Subandrio (later jailed by the military junta for life), passing through Colombo had invited my father and the family to the 10th anniversary event commemorating the Bandung Conference of 1955. It was the Afro-Asian Journalists Conference. My father was last foreign journalist to more..

Nov 5 (DM) Here is a sequence of events that makes for interesting commentary: a) Rev. Father Cyril Gamini makes a public statement regarding the Easter Sunday Attacks where he points an accusing finger at the Director, State Intelligence Service (SIS), b) the Director lodges a complaint with the CID, c) the CID summons Fr. Gamini, d) Fr. Gamini requests a week to prepare himself for any possible questioning, e) Secretary, SJB and former Minister Ranjith Maddumabandara more..

Nov 5 (TM) Giving students and parents an opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief last month, after months-long protests by teachers and principals, and the Covid-19 pandemic situation, the primary grades of schools were reopened, and the educational authorities have expressed hope about reopening other grades gradually. On 21 Oct, the primary grades of schools with less than 200 students were reopened, and on 25 Oct, more..