Jul 7 (Island) The govt must establish an institution to entertain complaints from patients about problems with drugs or services and a mechanism to investigate these complaints, President of College of Medical Laboratory Science (CMLS) Ravi Kumudesh says. He had also demanded an investigation into the death of a 35-year-old woman following surgery at the National Eye Hospital, Kumudesh said, adding that more..

Jul 7 (CT) The SL High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa, promoted Sri Lanka tourism and Ceylon Tea at a week-long World Food Festival held from 26-30 June at the Korean Cultural Centre in Pretoria, South Africa. The event showcased food, culture and tourist attractions of eight countries such as Brazil, Iran, Nepal, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Turkey. This was the second year that the High Commission participated in this annual event. more..

Jul 7 (AN) Community Brotherhood Organisation seeks to bring together various religious and civil society groups to promote peace and harmony among SL’s various communities. Starting locally, the aim is to solve religious conflicts through joint actions that avert hatred in a country marked by a long civil war as well as other, more recent wounds, most notably the 2019 Easter massacres. To this end, some 45 representatives from local NGOs and grassroots groups met a week ago more..

Jul 7 (PMD) A special meeting was convened at the Presidential Secretariat today (7), under the patronage of Mr. Sagala Ratnayaka, Senior Advisor to the Prez on National Security and Chief of the Presidential Staff, with the aim of swiftly resolving issues plaguing the health sector. The areas that were discussed during the meeting were shortages of medicines and medical equipment, concerns about the quality of medicines, and challenges in the procurement process. more..

Jul 7 (TM) Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs will soon be appointing an expert committee to look into the issues that have arisen in connection with the acquisition of land by the Dept of Archaeology. In recent times, Dept has come under fire due to matters pertaining to the acquisition of land, particularly, in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. When queried as to whether the Govt has taken any steps to address such issues, Secretary to the Ministry Somaratne Vidanapathirana said more..

Jul 7 (AFP) A SL jail witnessed a rare moment of accord last year when both prisoners and guards clamoured to greet its newest inmate: the man who toppled the island nation's president. Student leader Wasantha Mudalige remains lionised by many for channelling public anger at an unprecedented economic crisis into a movement that shook the foundations of SL's political system. At the height of last summer's unrest, more..

Jul 7 (CT) Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe awarded gifts to the four farmers who recorded the highest paddy yield in the country in the 2022/23 Maha season and to the agricultural scientist who introduced the At 362 paddy variety to SL that led to the highest paddy yield. The gifts were presented during the Amaraviru Abhiman 32 programme held at Magam Ruhunupura Int'l Conference Hall to commemorate the 32nd year of the political career of Minister of Agriculture Mahinda Amaraweera. more..

Jul 7 (TM) US Ambassador to SL, Julie Chung, met with Taliya Peiris, the reigning Miss California Teen, first SL-American to hold the title. Ambassador Chung expressed her admiration for Taliya's dedicated efforts in utilising her influential platform to promote cultural exchange and foster connections between the US & SL. Recognising Taliya's passion for the arts, Ambassador acknowledged the significant impact she has made in inspiring young individuals at the American Centre. more..

Jul 7 (EN) Sri Lanka is planning to bring a reform plan to unbundle CEB to parliament in September separating generation, transmission and generation, Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said. After unbundling there will be four distribution companies. They could state or public private partnerships but all would be required to provide a high level of service and high-quality electricity to consumers, Wijesekera said. more..

Jul 7 (CT) Minister Douglas Devananda announced that a dedicated area has been designated for breastfeeding women at the Jaffna Bus Stand. This arrangement aims to provide convenience to the large number of passengers who are nursing mothers. Given the high volume of daily passengers at the bus stand, the existing facilities are comparatively limited. Devananda emphasised that positive steps will be taken to enhance the facilities for all passengers at the bus stand. more..

Jul 7 (Island) Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) condemned the anti-democratic private member’s bills presented to Parliament by SLPP MP Jayantha Ketagoda to re-convene the dissolved Local Govt Authorities (LGAs) without holding elections. Issuing a statement it said: TISL believes that this move would be a heavy blow to the people’s sovereignty enshrined in the Constitution. Local Govt Members are the grassroots level public representatives. more..

Jul 8 (CT) To a person unfamiliar with the workings of modern concepts of governance, the recent debate in our parliament on a proposed anti-corruption bill would have been rather puzzling. After all, the scope of any anti-corruption bill will necessarily cover the MPs, the many allegations of their financial impropriety, the rapid and unexplained financial prosperity of many legislators. In other words, the very people who may eventually come under the law’s scrutiny have the privilege more..

Jul 8 (CT) Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe made a startling revelation, in Parliament last week, that a shocking 33 per cent of the cases that are currently before the Magistrate’s Courts around the country are child abuse and rape cases. Elaborating on the statistics, the minister explained that out of a total of 29,723 cases, a distressing 5,550 are incidents related to child abuse, while an alarming 4,312 are rape cases. Let’s take a moment to ponder this statistic. more..

Jul 8 (CT) Four deaths occurred due to the alleged administration of poor quality medicinal drugs and over ten patients from National Eye Hospital and District General Hospital, Nuwara Eliya who had undergone cataract surgery suffering from a loss of vision due to the alleged use of a poor quality eye drop coincides with the recent accusations of bribing the medical professionals in State health service to conceal accusations more..

Jul 8 (TM) Pendi’s six-year journey began with a lamp, when founders Natalie Pendigrast, who has a background in interior design, and Dilanke Hettiaratchi found that it was difficult to find a variety of decorative lampshades in SL. They made a few lamps, received a good response, and launched Pendi with 4-5 designs, a Facebook page and a pop-up store. The latter got positive feedback as well, which led to the couple accepting more orders and eventually opening the store more..

Jul 8 (TM) Farmers are questioning the Govt’s ability to control paddy and rice prices, following the decision by the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) to stop purchasing paddy from farmers with the Treasury ceasing to release funds to the board, The Sunday Morning learns. The move by the Government has once again caused concern among farming communities – among the worst hit due to the economic crisis and the disastrous fertiliser policy under the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime. more..

Jul 8 (CT) A special train journey to the beautiful Nuwara Eliya was organised for all diplomatic mission heads in this country, on the advice of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. It was the first time in recent history that a group of Ambassadors and High Commissioners were taken on such a trip. Prez Wickremesinghe went to Nuwara Eliya to join the top diplomats last weekend after going to Kandy to accept credentials of 10 new Ambassadors more..

Jul 8 (TM) It is only too easy for authorities to beat up on international schools as unreliable and tuition teachers as exploiters. It is also too easy to label some Govt schools as popular schools and take credit for those when in truth these schools are essentially run on contributions from well-to-do parents. It is also too easy to hide behind three national examinations carried out by the Dept of Examinations, let parents pay for the tuition to help their children jump though these hoops, more..

Jul 8 (ST) The odds were stacked sky-high against him, but they were not ready to give up. From the moment he saw the light of day, much too early for his immature body, the battle was on at the premier De Soysa Hospital for Women (commonly called DMH) down Kynsey Road in Colombo to save Hithesh Sasanga. A life-and-death battle which has lasted four months, up to today! Now, this smallest pre-term baby to be nurtured at the DMH is ready to go home. As the countdown begins to more..

Jul 8 (Island) SL makes international headlines always for the wrong reasons, especially where its fauna and flora are concerned. A few weeks ago, it created a media frenzy by unveiling a plan to send its troublesome monkeys to China to prevent crop damage here. It has abandoned its monkey-export plan due to bad press and said it should not be asked to save cultivations from monkey invasions hereafter! In other words, shipping monkeys to China is the only solution it can think of. more..

Jul 8 (Island) We women particularly mourn the death of a beautiful young mother dying in childbirth at the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital due to being given substandard or death dealing medicine. In Peradeniya again, a school principal lost her life due to the injection given her. When media consulted Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella and the high-ups in the medicines procurement arm of the Health Ministry, they emerged as callous. Cassandra cannot quote verbatim what they said about more..

Jul 8 (TM) The shortage of specialist doctors has reached alarming levels in the country, posing a significant threat to the healthcare system. The Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) has highlighted the pressing need for 4,000 specialist doctors across 62 specialties by 2025. However, the current cadre of specialists stands at a mere 2,000, a significant decline from 2,300 in the past eight months alone. more..

Jul 8 (TM) SL will be hosting the Asia/Oceania Group III matches of the Davis Cup in 2023. at the SL Tennis Association (SLTA) Courts in Colombo from July 24. Tournament will feature eight countries from the Asia/Oceania region: Cambodia, Iran, Malaysia, Jordan, Pacific Oceania, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and SL. These teams will compete on both clay and outdoor courts, providing a diverse and challenging playing environment. SL’s team, led by the experienced Renouk Wijemanne, more..

Jul 8 (DN) SL women’s cricket team will meet New Zealand women’s team in the first T-20 game of the three match series today at P. Sara Oval Stadium commencing at 10.a.m. After 2-1 ODI series win at Galle last week Sri Lanka women’s team led by Chamari Atapattu has good confidence to play T-20 series but this is a new format and new challenge and a new venue from Galle to P. Sara Oval and we want to adjust to this game said SL women’s cricket head coach Rumesh Ratnayake. more..

Jul 8 (Island) Coca-Cola Beverages SL (CCBSL) and Uber Eats announced a unique partnership titled Ride for Recycling to address responsible disposal of plastic waste, by enabling courier partners to collect PET plastic directly from households and restaurants in Colombo. Honouring World Environment Day and its theme in 2023 Solutions to Plastic Pollution, this one-of-a-kind partnership signifies a much-needed initiative as two prominent corporate entities more..

Jul 8 (MFA) The 4th Round of Foreign Office Bilateral Consultations, Second Strategic Maritime Dialogue and Third Joint Trade and Investment Committee Meeting between SL and Australia will be held on 11 and 12 July 2023 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo. These Meetings will be co-chaired by First Assistant Secretary of the Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia Gary Cowan, Additional Secretary (Bilateral East) Yasoja Gunasekera, and Additional Secretary more..

Jul 8 (CI) A second straight ton by Pathum Nissanka and yet another four-for from Maheesh Theekshana headlined a dominant 8-wicket win over West Indies, as SL completed a comfortable warm-up for Sunday's final against Netherlands, in Harare. Set a middling target of 244, SL ran it down with little fuss, inclusive of a tournament-best opening stand of 190 between Nissanka and Dimuth Karunaratne - though both more..

Jul 8 (ST) Archeological conservation has lately become a topic of controversy in light of the recent clashes between the Archeological Dept and the people of the North and East of SL. Despite the heated debates on heritage and culture, negligent urbanisation and severe budget cuts, that officials say are related to the coronavirus disease pandemic, are waging a war of their own on rich ancient history right here in SL’s capital. Kotte Kingdom which lasted for almost 2 centuries more..

Jul 8 (FT) 3-day Construction Power & Energy Expo is SL’s premier exhibition in the construction, interior products, power, and energy-related sectors opened yesterday at the BMICH. With its 8th successive year, the expo provides a comprehensive platform for industry stakeholders, service providers, and exhibitors to showcase their products and services, forge valuable connections, and drive industry innovation. The highly anticipated exhibition stands out as one of the only events more..

Jul 8 (Island) TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran on Friday said that the excavation of a supposed mass grave of LTTE cadres at Kokkuthuduwai, Mullativu, was not being carried out according to international standards. The excavation of the alleged mass grave site commenced on Thursday following an order of the Mullaitivu magistrate. On 29 June, officials of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) found human skeletal remains while carrying out a water project. more..

Jul 8 (Island) Attempts made by SriLankan Airlines to recruit foreigners had failed due to low pay and high taxes here, SLFP MP Dayasiri Jayasekera said. He said that the management of SriLankan and the line Minister were encouraging pilots to leave the airline. “The dispute between pilots and the management of SriLankan Airlines continues. It was recently revealed in Parliament that SriLankan needs 330 pilots more..

Jul 8 (FT) State Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya yesterday stressed the Govt has heightened its scrutiny of banks and financial institutions that are reluctant to lower interest rates. He emphasised that commercial banks should align their interest rates with the directives set by the Central Bank, noting that the Govt will enforce strict sanctions against entities they are not complying with. Speaking at a ceremony held at the Excise Department Headquarters, more..

Jul 8 (DN) Education Minister Dr. Susil Premajayantha yesterday said that the evaluation of GCE A/L answer scripts has reached the final stage and immediately after it is over, the O/L answer sheet evaluation will begin promptly. Speaking in Parliament Minister Premajayantha said the A/L Exam for 2023 will be held before the end of this year while the O/L Exam which was scheduled to be held in December has been scheduled to be held in the first quarter of 2024. more..

Jul 8 (FT) In May polling for IHP’s SL Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS) MRP tracking of Prez Election voting intent, support for NPP/JVP Leader A.K. Dissanayake and SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa fell to 38% and 34%, respectively amongst likely voters. Support went to Prez Wickremesinghe and generic SLPP candidate, increasing to 18% and 10% respectively. Estimates are associated with a margin of error of 1–4%. The changes in May maintain the pattern seen more..

Jul 8 (Island) SLPP has allowed Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe to supersede Parliament with regards to public finance, JVP National Trade Union Coordination Centre Convenor Wasantha Samarasinghe said. He said the same Parliament that was unaware that SL was going to default on April 2022, have voted for the resolution to restructure domestic debt without any understanding of its consequences. more..