Sep 24 (CT) Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) is to set up a separate entity named Enforcement and Resolution Department to take tougher action on financial institutes that violate CBSL regulations, including Basel III requirements that are currently being imposed on banks. CBSL officials revealed that the Enforcement and Resolution Department would be set up early next year, following amendments to the Finance Business Act No. 42 of 2011 and Banking Act No. 30 of 1988. more..

Sep 24 (SO) The Ocean University of Sri Lanka, the first ever state university for maritime and ocean sciences is going to be upgraded under the financial and technical assistance by the Republic of Korea. A grant of USD 2.5 million is provided by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to formulate the master plan for the upgrading of the Ocean University and build the capacities of the academics of the university. more..

Sep 24 (SO) The second phase of clinical trials on Rupatadine as a treatment for Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) will commence at the National Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH), Angoda tomorrow, according to Immunologist and Director of the Jayawardanapura Medical Faculty’s Centre for Dengue Research, Prof. Neelika Malavige. She said that they had brought down the stocks of medication and will commence registrations for clinical trials at the hospital OPD. more..

Sep 24 (Island) A new project for water supply to Jaffna utilizing rainfall into the Vadmarachchi Lagoon with a surface area of 78 sq. km. was announced on Friday by PM ’s Policy Development Office. "The Project envisages making use of 20% of the annual rainfall in to the Vadamarachchi Lagoon with a surface area of 78 sq km. This project approved by the Cabinet of Ministers and the Chief Minister of Northern Province, is implemented under guidance of A.D.S Gunewardana, more..

Sep 24 (CT) ICC's Anti-Corruption Unit has begun a probe into pitch tampering allegations revealed by Lasith Malinga. ICC investigator was at the Khettarama Stadium yesterday and was seen talking to some of the National players. Malinga had charged that pitches were not prepared the way the team required during the last series. Malinga said, the curators had cut the grass of pitches even when players requested to keep more grass more..

Sep 24 (ST) A prime suspect in a murder case and his accomplice were arrested after a manhunt of more than one year, Police said. They said the suspects were wanted in connection with the murder of a Nanu Oya hotel cashier identified as Sunjaya Herath. The victim was gunned down allegedly by the suspect on August 26 last year. The preliminary investigations were conducted by the Peradeniya Police. Later the investigations were taken over by a team under the direction of more..

Sep 24 (CT) Defence Secretary Kapila Waidyaratne says that Security Forces personnel accused of crimes will have to face the law. He said that whoever was responsible for crimes such as the murder of Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunga and the disappearance of Prageeth Ekneligoda will be brought to book. Responding to a question about President Sirisena's statement that Armed Forces personnel would be protected from persecution, the Defence Secretary said that more..

Sep 24 (ST) Hopes of elections this year to three Provincial Councils – North Central, Sabaragamuwa and Eastern – were buoyed by last Tuesday’s announcement of the Supreme Court determination, but evaporated just hours later. Ruling coalition leaders, not in favour of PC polls, adopted other counter measures that will now cause an indefinite delay. It came during a tense, behind-the-scenes political drama. more..

Sep 21 (Island) About 2,600 years ago, Gautama Buddha, the first Buddhist thero and, unarguably, one of the noblest human beings to have trod the soil of this planet, following a vision derived from a spiritual awakening on conclusion of several difficult years of physical and mental hardship, walked the roads of his land, barefoot, on the first Pindapatha journey. A merchant prince, having renounced all worldly possessions, ties and responsibilities, was taking the first few steps more..

Sep 21 (Island) As a lawyer, I have carefully read and studied the 63-page Judgment of the Colombo HC Judge Gihan Kulatunga in the so called Sil Redi Case. Judgment is in Sinhalese and so were the proceedings. Some people have expressed erroneous views about the Judgment without reading it. This article attempts to provide what I think is a correct analysis of the Judgment. After a trial of over 25 days former Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga and former more..

Sep 21 (Island) Minister of Higher Education and Highways (still the world’s oddest ministerial pairing) Lakshman Kiriella has announced that the govt will go ahead and sign the contract with the Japanese company Taisei Corporation as early as next week, for the construction of Stage III of the Central Expressway. The govt’s contention is that unlike the previous govt awhich gave contracts on building more..

Sep 21 (ST) The verbal battle, where strong words were exchanged in the lobbies of Parliament, raised eyebrows among opposition MPs. Minister Rajitha Senaratne and Ravi Karunanayake lambasted Minister Rauff Hakeem, SLMC leader. “This is a shameful thing to do,” lamented Senaratne. “You don’t know what gratitude is. We have done so much for your party and you still behave this way. more..

Sep 21 (DM) NFF leader Wimal Weerawansa said today that the govt was trying to bring in the new Constitution on the requirement of the Western forces and Tamil Diaspora to please Tamil separatists. He said that President Maithripala Sirisena had assured UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zaid Al Hussein that Sri Lanka was carrying out UNHRC recommendations and added that more..

Sep 21 (SL) Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka misled the media last week by claiming he had been refused a visa to US. However, Foreign Ministry sources said that Fonseka’s request for a visa was not even processed. Sources at the Foreign Ministry legal division said that if the visa was rejected, the US Embassy in Colombo would have informed the Ministry. “If a visa of a Minister is rejected more..

Sep 21 (ST) The import of 30 luxury cars in violation of procedures to be followed by the Import and Export Control Department has come under a probe by the Development Strategies and International Trade Ministry. Ministry Secretary Chandani Wijewardena said that pending the inquiry the Controller General of the Import and Export Control Department had been transferred. more..

Sep 21 (Island) The Local, Provincial Councils and Parliamentary Elections Acts would be amended to incorporate a provision that requires candidates elected on the first-past-the-post (FPP) system to constitute 60% of all elected bodies while the balance 40% will be elected on proportional representation (PR), govt said. UNP-SLFP led Govt earlier announced that due to representations made by some political parties, more..

Sep 21 (SO) According to the report, if the CEB, implemented the recommendations contained in the Least Cost Long Term Generation Expansion Plan (LCLTGEP) of 2006, the actual unit generation cost in 2016 would have been Rs. 9.32 per Kilo watt hour approximately. “However the actual unit generation cost has become Rs. 14.79/ per Kilo watt hour, which is Rs. 5.47/ per Kilo watt hour higher than what was originally planned. more..

Sep 21 (ST) The Government has finalised the minimum standards for medical education and hopes to gazette them within the next three weeks after consultations with the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC). The Medical Education (Maintenance of Minimum Standards) Regulations will be presented to Parliament for approval after being gazetted. Every university which provides medical education and training and intends to more..

Sep 21 (DM) A tense situation erupted at the Gampaha UNP Youth Front meeting on Saturday, after Ja-Ela UNP organiser Joseph Michael Perera was refused an opportunity to address the meeting, it was reported. Mr. Perera had attended a function at Weligampitiya, Ja-Ela following an invitation by UNP Youth Front President Kavinda Jayawardene, to initiate the UNP Youth Front Action Committee. It was reported MP Ravi more..

Sep 21 (PMD) The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says the UN is ready to   provide every possible assistance to Sri Lanka in its efforts to build as a prosperous nation where the reconciliation is strengthened. He further said that the UN will provide its maximum support to build as an exemplary nation in the world, where all the Sri Lankans can live with prosper and reconciliation, while closely associating with more..

Sep 25 (ST) Perhaps, it signalled the beginning of the end for the ingrained respect the people of Lanka have long held sacrosanct in their hearts for the sacred saffron robe. Last week, as monks took to the streets to ask the public their money to tinkle and jingle in monks’ begging bowls as alms, what the nation witnessed was a radical departure from the Vinaya Code as laid down by the Buddha for monks to follow in their speech, conduct and behaviour; & emergence of a breakaway sect more..

Sep 25 (CT) Applying Marx’s denunciation of historic personages repeating themselves first as tragedy, second as farce to grotesque financial scandals in Sri Lanka is a tad adventurous. But there is no question that one satire follows the other, tragically and farcically, with little respite. Close upon Arjun Aloysius, principal shareholder and director of Perpetual Treasuries (being declared a non-compellable witness by the Commission of Inquiry inquiring into the CB bond issuance, more..

Sep 25 (CT) President's Counsel and member of the LSSP, MP Jayampathy Wickramaratne spoke about the salient points pertaining to the Interim report, of the steering committee, which centred on the Constitutional Assembly of SL. Emphasizing on the need to include the word Aekiya Rajya in the English and Sinhalese version of the Constitution, he added that the SL lawmakers have a unitary mindset & that the proposal by TNA more..

Sep 25 (CT) Unfortunately chaos theory though mathematically well established, is near useless in problem solving since, usually, it is an after the event description of how some condition came about. It may explain how sea surface temperature and rotation of the planet led to a hurricane (typhoon or cyclone in Asia), but you can do as much to stop a typhoon as to switch off a solar flare or fill up a galactic black-hole. Nevertheless it does provide deeper appreciation of the physics & math more..

Sep 25 (CT) As in life, there are no guarantees in politics. One can only avoid the most obvious mistakes and cultivate the wisdom to manage things prudently. A Constitution cannot function as a prison house. Countries, like people, stay together because of consent and mutual agreement. The stability that most Sinhala patriots (actually ultranationalists) crave, cannot be ensured by rigidity and unilateral imposition. Stability of the whole can be achieved only through dialogue and consensus, more..

Sep 25 (CT) Around 2,400 new oral cancer patients are recorded each year in Sri Lanka, majority of these cases are related to chewing betel with areca nut, tobacco and slaked lime, said Dr Hemantha Amarasinghe, of the Institute of Oral Health Maharagama, emphasised on the need to control smokeless tobacco products to combat cancer. Q: When we think of the impact of tobacco use we automatically think about cigarettes. more..

Sep 25 (Island) Good governance consists in transparency and accountability among other things. Denial of anyone’s right to information is tantamount to a despicable attempt at throttling good governance, which the present regime has repackaged and is marketing aggressively as yahapalanaya. The govt has made a mockery of its much-hyped commitment to right to information laws it introduced with much fanfare JO MP Udaya Gammanpila complains that he has been more..

Sep 25 (SL) It may sound far-fetched just now, as it has been ever since Independence, but a Tamil as the elected President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka may be one commitment that the nation, nationals and nationalists could give themselves, maybe even without fixing the day and generation. Moving towards such a goal could well be a sign of the progress that the incumbent Govt could set one of its so-called work-in-progress to achieve religious and linguistic integration. more..

Sep 25 (EN) Colombo-based BMS, a business college associated to UK's Northumbria University has a launched a biotechnology degree which is slated to boost country's growth path in the sector. Minister Susil Premajayantha was quoted as saying that the degree will help Sri Lanka's to grow leveraging applied sciences. "Northumbria’s Faculty of Health and Life Sciences has enjoyed a hugely successful working relationship with BMS in Sri Lanka over the years…," more..

Sep 25 (Island) For all of us to defend the institutions we represent is the human condition. Thus, country reports and like documents tend to gloss over the failures of our institutions. This enhances our view of ourselves. However, it is in owning up to these deficiencies that causative factors are resolved or at least ameliorated. None of us has a perfect democracy. We have ideals that we strive to achieve and move towards. Sri Lanka’s is a multiparty democracy. more..

Sep 25 (CT) The Constitutional Assembly (CA) was established on 9 March 2016 with the intention of forming a new Constitution to replace the present and operative 1978 Constitution. The Steering Committee identified 12 different areas, of which six areas were dealt with by sub-committees. The sub-committees focused on the topics of fundamental rights, the judiciary, law and order, public finance, public service and centre-periphery relations. more..

Sep 25 (CT) Glyphosate weedicide ban and the govt's failure to introduce an alternative weedicide has cost at least 20% of tea production annually. In addition, a lack of an alternative weedicide has also led to tea planters using other weedicides, which are unauthorized by the country's export partners, risking export restrictions on SL's tea exports. The Planters' Association, Chairman, Sunil Poholiyadde said, "Almost two and a half years have elapsed since the Glyphosate weedicide ban, more..

Sep 25 (SL) Sri Lanka may justifiably be called Nutty Lanka considering the ludicrous conduct in public of some of our monks, politicians and govt officials. Two weeks ago some opposition politicians took on the role of being gurus to monks making them or those clad in Saffron robes like monks, go on pindapaatha with begging bowls traditionally used to collect alms in the form of a meal. But they collected not alms in the form of meals but coins and currency notes in their begging bowls more..

Sep 25 (FT) Converting the newly acquired Hambantota into a global maritime centre to partner with the country’s growth and attract investment would be the key aim of China Merchant Ports Holdings, a top official said calling on local companies to join the effort. China Merchant Port Holdings (CM Port) entered into $1.12 billion partnership with the State-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) in July to take over the port more..

Sep 25 (NR) Minister Lakshman Kiriella says the govt has decided to provide one acre of non-cultivated tea lands to every plantation worker. He said plantation workers can then maintain the land and build their lives adding that the govt will provide assistance through the Tea Small Holdings Development Authority. There are some plantations that are very profitable while some incur losses. He said the policy of the UNP is to provide equal rights to all communities in the island. more..

Sep 25 (CT) SL Sevens team secured the Plate title in the second leg of the Asian Sevens Series that concluded in Korea yesterday after beating Malaysia 43-7 in the final. SL qualified for the plate final after defeating Philippines 42-0 after they had been beaten 12-31 by Hong Kong in the first quarter-final. Tuskers played quite well in the Plate final having scored the opening try just 40 seconds into the kick-off as Sudam Parinda went under the post and Chanaka Chandimal made the conversion. more..

Sep 25 (CT) Long Jumper Janaka Wimalasiri and Triple Jumper Vidusha Lakshani emerged Most Outstanding male and female athletes respectively at the 43rd National Sports Festival concluded at Matara yesterday. Wimalasiri from Central Province leapt his personal best of 7.83m on Saturday to earn the Trophy. Lakshani who arrived in the country only on Friday after participating at Asian Indoor Games, leapt to a new meet record of 13.22m more..

Sep 25 (DM) A Sri Lankan man who tried to smuggle out a stock of Gold biscuits and jewellery weighing up to a kilogram carefully concealed in his rectum was nabbed by the Customs officials at the Bandaranaike International Airport today. The man who was bound for Coimbatore in South India on a Sri Lanka Airways flight UL 193 at 1.30pm was nabbed at the Customs counters on suspicion. The man was privately searched to retrieve the gold he had hidden in his rectum. more..

Sep 25 (ST) More than 52,000 people have been taken into custody so far this year, for drug related offences, in raids conducted by the Police, the Special Task Force, Customs and the Navy. According to Police statistics, 52,157 drug related cases have been reported and 52,072 people arrested from Jan.1-Sept.11. Topping the list was cannabis-related cases, with 32,673 cases being reported and 32,463 suspects arrested. Heroin related cases comes second. more..