Sep 30 (TM) Prez Sirisena yesterday said the SLFP was not ready to form an alliance with the SLPP under the flower bud (Pohottuwa) symbol. Sirisena who was speaking at an event in Kurunegala yesterday, said Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa and SLPP Prez candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa met him on Saturday to discuss matters regarding the forthcoming election. Sirisena said, he had stressed at the meeting that SLFP was not in agreement to contest under the flower bud more..

Sep 30 (Island) Former Northern Chief Minister, C.V. Wigneswaran said he was happy about the UNP’s decision to field Minister Sajith Premadasa as its prez candidate. Wigneswaran said, in a media statement: "Sajith is young. He received his early education at Royal College, Colombo and then, continued his education at the London School of Economics. I believe this would have given him a live-and-let-live attitude." Wigneswaran added that Premadasa had launched several successful more..

Sep 30 (AD) On 27 Sept 2019, Moody’s Investors Service issued a Sector Comment on SL banks titled “Sri Lanka’s lending rate cut is credit negative for banks.” In this respect, the Central Bank of SL is of the view that the conclusion by Moody’s has not taken into account the complete information set, and is therefore unfounded. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka has taken a number of measures over the past eleven months to more..

Sep 30 (AD) The closing date of submitting the applications for the postal voting for the Prez Election 2019 has been extended until the 4th of Oct. The previous deadline for submitting applications fell at midnight, today (30). Accepting applications for the postal votes commenced on the 19th of September and continued over a period of 10 days. Meanwhile, the Election Commission announced the dates for the postal voting of the Prez Election as the 30th and 31st of Oct. more..

Sep 30 (EN) Sri Lanka wants to expand renewable energy and liquefied natural gas power as a 16 year old child warned that the world was on the cusp of a mass extinction, officials said. Sri Lanka started off with hydro power decades ago, but has added coal and other sources of power such as coal during the last decade PM Ranil Wickremesinghe said. Sri Lanka had to boost renewable energy and was also planning to set up three liquefied natural gas power plants, he said. more..

Sep 30 (AD) Lord Naseby of the House of Lords of the UK rubbishes the criticisms of the UN and other countries on the appointment of Lt Gen. Shavendra Silva as the Army Commander of SL and says that it is none of their concerns. Former Deputy Speaker of UK parliament and President of All-Party UK-SL Group Lord Michael Morris Naseby says that he will take up this matter with the Foreign Secretary of the UK as this is not a part of more..

Sep 30 (EN) Sri Lanka’s budget deficit expanded to 684 about 4.4% of estimated GDP by July 2019, up from 3.2% in 2019, as revenues were hit in the wake of a currency fall last year. Sri Lanka budgeted a 4.4% of GDP deficit (685 billion rupees) for the full year 2019. Total revenues fell 4.4% from a year earlier to 1,031.9 billion rupees to 6.7% of GDP from 7.5% a year earlier, and tax revenues fell to 944.4 billion rupees from 983.3 billion rupees a year earlier, fiscal data showed. more..

Sep 30 (CT) The pond situated at the top of the Sigiriya Rock Fortress has dried out due to the hot weather prevailing in the area. Therefore, the Archaeological Unit of the Central Cultural Fund (CCF) has started clearing the silt that has collected at the base of the pond and reconstruction activities of the pond walls. Senior Archeological officer of the unit Sumitra Basnayake said that according to her knowledge the water pond hadn't completely dried out before. more..

Sep 30 (CI) In what could be seen as an encouraging development as far as Sri Lanka playing a Test series in Pakistan before the end of the year is concerned, Sri Lanka coach Rumesh Ratnayake said he hoped the ongoing limited-overs series would encourage more Sri Lankan players to tour Pakistan. The three-ODI, three-T20I series currently being played by Sri Lanka in Pakistan is in lieu of the originally scheduled two-match Test series, more..

Sep 30 (Island) Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) and the Customs arrested a Brazilian woman at the BIA in Katunayake while attempting to enter the country with pellets of cocaine in her stomach, on Saturday. The 50-year-old suspect had arrived from Doha, police said. The cocaine pellets had been observed in her stomach through the security scanner at the BIA. After being admitted to the Negombo hospital, she passed 52 capsules of Cocaine through the alimentary canal. more..

Sep 30 (CT) The TNA's attention has been drawn to field a separate Prez candidate on behalf of the Tamil community or guide the North and East Tamil community to boycott the Presidential Election, senior member of the TELO and former TNA MP, M.K. Sivajilingam said. Since the three main Prez candidates, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sajith Premadasa and Anura Kumara Dissanayake have failed to provide a suitable political solution to the North and East issue, we have arrived at this decision, more..

Sep 30 (CT) Govt is conspiring to arrest Gotabaya Rajapaksa, claimed JO MP Dullas Alahapperuma. He was addressing a meeting, held on 28 Sept in Kamburugamuwa, in support of SLPP Prez candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa. "We didn't accuse Sajith Premadasa of corruption in the Govt; instead we cheerfully welcomed the UNP's candidate. But they are planning to imprison our candidate," Alahapperuma said. more..