Jun 29 (TM) The decision to block out the former President’s name in plaques was a regional regulation, the Election Secretariat stated. “Blocking out candidates’ names displayed on plaques set on buildings, development projects, or places where foundation stones were laid is an impractical exercise. It is not a directive issued by the Election Secretariat. It is possible that the regional elections office took such a decision,” Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake said. more..

Jun 29 (DM) Commander of Army Lt. General Shavendra Silva said SL’s battle against COVID-19 was a success story, which could be shared with the world and post COVID-19, the island would have a special place on the global map. With airports set to reopen in August, Silva said risks would remain but strict preventive measures would be put in place to keep the society safe from a re-emergence. more..

Jun 29 (TM) The 32 nd Joint Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for East Asia and Pacific (CAP) and the UNWTO Commission for South Asia (CSA) which is UNWTO’s principal annual event in the Asia and the Pacific Region was scheduled to be hosted by Sri Lanka Tourism in Colombo from 29 th June to 01 st July 2020. However, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and the global restrictions on international travel, it was decided not to hold a physical meeting this year as it was initially planned. more..

Jun 29 (TM) Govt owes a whopping Rs. 135 billion to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) for various services including fuel subsidies. CPC Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe said that this included debt from SriLankan Airlines. “Govt owes Rs. 135 billion to the CPC, including what is owed by Srilankan Airlines and the CEB which also includes the independent power plant,” he said. SriLankan Airlines owed the lion’s share of govt debt to the CPC, which is an estimated Rs. 45 billion. more..

Jun 29 (NR) The SLPP says the MCC report will be tabled at the Cabinet of Ministers meeting this week. Chairman of the SLPP Prof. GL Peiris said govt and the Cabinet will subsequently study the content of the report. He said the final report has been handed over to the govt while it has also been made public. Peiris added the Cabinet and the govt will study the report at length while the govt will reach a decision, more..

Jun 30 (CT) Startling revelations made by Prof. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, who headed the high level Govt inquiry into the proposed Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Agreement is likely to nail the MCC coffin unless the United States renegotiates and withdraws all the harmful clauses in the original proposal. Prez instructed officials to release the Gunaruwan Committee Report to the public so that the people would be aware of the good, bad and ugly sides of the MCC proposal. more..

Jun 30 (CT) COVID-19 is everywhere. It has become the most frightening word in any language throughout the world. The philosopher Nostradamus in 1551, prophesied: “In the twin year (2020), a Queen (Corona) would raise her head from the East (China), and turn into a plague (Virus) in the darkness of the night, on a Country with Seven Hills (Italy) and transform the twilight of men into dust (Death), to destroy and ruin the world. It will be the end of the world’s economy.” more..

Jun 30 (DM) The Daily Mirror discussed politics, Power, Energy and Transport sector changes in the country with the subject Minister Mahinda Amaraweera. Q: People keep asking as to why the govt did not bring down fuel prices when the crude oil price has dropped sharply in the global market? A: Firstly, the oil prices in the global market fluctuate regularly, and we can’t fully depend on int'l market prices alone in deciding the fuel prices more..

Jun 30 (DM) Grand Old Party, the UNP is in deep trouble. The multi-party democracy in SL is too. People are right to scorn the UNP for its self-inflicted calamity. But it is foolhardy to brush off the looming prospect of something of a near resemblance of a one-party state. Democracy needs an active and well -endowed opposition party. That will be missing in the next Parliament. We ended up here courtesy of a tragicomedy of egotism, lethargy and blissful ignorance. And there is a bit of bad luck too. more..

Jun 30 (SO) Once again it is the election phase in Sri Lanka, that comes every five years or so where anything and everything spoken of by politicians is to win the election. Hence, to regain lost confidence in the Catholics, SJB national list candidate Harin Fernando, decided to crack the whip on Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, to take on his comments after the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attack. The comments he presumed robbed the UNP of valuable votes at the November Prez election. more..

Jun 30 (SO) Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said it seems that both UNP factions have committed suicide and there is no question about that. At present the UNP is divided and is in total disarray. Minister said he feels sorry for the supporters who had been with the UNP for a long time. Now they have no option but to join hands with us and look to the future. Commenting on the SJB Leader Sajith Premadasa’s decision to contest more..

Jun 30 (DM) The country is not in a mood for an election, despite the Election Commission (EC) having announced the General Election to elect 225 MPs, to be held in another 35 days. The country is normally a hive of activity during elections with rival political parties holding public rallies bringing in large crowds, hundreds of people engaging in the house-to-house canvassing, and supporters of political parties even literally even engaging in fisticuffs, but this time, no such hullabaloos are evident. more..

Jun 30 (CT) On 25 June, this newspaper in its lead story, published under the headline Major Prison Shakeup, quoting Commissioner General of Prisons Thushara Upuldeniya said, ’19 Chief Jailors of Prisons have been transferred with immediate effect, including the Chief Jailor of the Negombo Prison who was transferred to the Dumbara Prison. The Negombo Prison located in the Gampaha District was in the spotlight recently after a drug racket operating from within Prison was uncovered. more..

Jun 30 (Island) Trump administration and its political opponents are clashing over a claim that Russia has offered bounties to the Taliban-linked terrorists to kill US troops and their coalition counterparts in Afghanistan. Prez Donald Trump has, in a Twitter thread, vehemently denied the allegation, claiming that nobody has been tougher on Russia than his administration and, true to form, taken a swipe at Joe Biden. Both Russia and Taliban have refuted the reports of bounties, but the Democrats are more..

Jun 30 (CT) 15- year-old Jada Mawongo is the latest overseas soccerite (who has a SL background) expected to join the SL squad. He is currently playing for Swansea Football Academy. Football in Sri Lanka had its glory days in the 90’s and became the best team in Asia when they emerged South Asian Champions in 1995, but lack of infrastructure and proper planning led to its eventual snake-like downward slide. Still where there was a glorious past, surely a great future can be recreated. more..

Jun 30 (Roar) Across the largest Gulf State, more than hundreds of SL workers wait in hope to return home. It has been over three months since the WHO declared a COVID-19 pandemic, but none of the stranded workers in Saudi Arabia have yet been repatriated. Malini* (45) has worked in a number of countries in the Middle East for around 20 years. Now in Saudi, she is employed as a housemaid and undertakes more..

Jun 30 (DN) Former SL Cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan who was a member of 2011 world cup final Sri Lanka team, spoke about the 2011 Cricket World Cup fixing allegation levelled by former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage at his brothers up country election campaign meeting. He said that since the former minister has made it clear players are not involved, there is no reason to reply to the accusation. Murali who has been named as the Most Valuable Test Player of the 21st Century by more..

Jun 30 (ST) Let us assume that one day a helicopter flying above drops hundreds of currency notes among the people across the country. The money that falls from the sky is everywhere and people will wrestle and grapple to grab them. They know that this is a unique opportunity which is unlikely to happen again. As a result of the money from the sky, the amount of money in the country rises so much that people start spending freely this additional money in their hands. more..

Jun 30 (SO) Revelations came to light at the PCoI probing into the Easter Sunday attacks this week, with a focus on several public figures in the political arena. Former Minister Rishard Bathiudeen came under scrutiny following several testimonies relating to him at the Commission this week. Making testimony before the Commission on Monday, a former Intelligence Director explained how a piece of information can be verified more..

Jun 30 (TM) Ceylon Chamber of Commerce has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to attract more companies to list at the SEC, during a recent meeting between officials from both institutions. During the discussion, the Chamber also pointed out the importance of establishing an apex committee comprising capital market stakeholders including the SEC, CSE, Central Bank, Ministry of Finance and other key policy makers including industry bodies to decide on matters more..

Jun 30 (FT) A nine-day consecutive winning streak ended yesterday at the Colombo stock market as it closed negative though turnover remained over Rs. 1 billion amidst continued foreign selling. Acuity Stockbrokers said the bourse ended on a negative note as the ASPI decreased by 0.19% or 9.58 points to close at 5,153.77 points, while the S&P SL20 Index also decreased by 0.59% or 13.53 points to close at 2,277.32. Turnover decreased by 6.4% relative to last Friday to amount to Rs. 1.19 b more..

Jun 30 (FT) Over 50 tenants at Crescat Boulevard are up in arms over the early closure of the popular mall in Colombo-3 for purported renovation though new contracts were signed previously for operation till June next year. The tenants have formed a collective and made strong representations to the Prez as well as John Keells Holdings whose subsidiary Asian Hotels and Properties manages the Crescat Boulevard. more..

Jun 30 (CT) Former LTTE militant V Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman has told a Tamil radio station that there were no child soldiers in the LTTE. He was questioned about the LTTE recruitment of child soldiers that has been mentioned in the UNHRC report. “There is no history of the LTTE recruiting child soldiers,” he said, adding that one of the slain LTTE Leader V. Prabhakaran’s rules was not to recruit child soldiers and that all the cadres had to be above 18 years of age. more..

Jun 30 (TM) Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) would not be reopened on 1 Aug as previously scheduled due to the influx of repatriates. AASL Chairman Major General (Retd.) G.A. Chandrasiri said that the airport would most likely be opened in mid-August. “We are still carrying out the repatriation process and therefore we cannot open the airport for tourists just yet. The process should conclude in about three weeks and we hope to open the airport by the second week of August,” he stated. more..

Jun 30 (FT) An area of 3,600 hectares in the Moragahakanda-Kaluganga Mahaweli ‘F’ zone has been declared as a sustainable development area for organic agriculture by Minister Chamal Rajapaksa. Minister has made the Order under Mahaweli Authority Act No. 23 of 1979 in concurrence with Prez Rajapaksa. The sustainable development area has been declared to promote organic vegetable crops, fruit crops and more..

Jun 30 (DN) SL’s World Cup winning cricket captain Arjuna Ranatunga is likely to be elected as President of the Sri Lanka Elle Federation at the annual general meeting scheduled to be held on August 29. He has already submitted a plan to improve the poor man’s sport of Elle after discussion with veteran Elle players of Sri Lanka. He said he was disgusted with the cricket administration as they did not make use of his vast knowledge and experience to promote cricket in the country more..

Jun 30 (DN) Former UNP MP Ravi Karunanayake challenged the CEB Chairman to reveal the name of the Good Governance Govt’s Power and Energy Minister who allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 500 million to approve the construction of a 50 MW Solar Power Plant. Former MP Karunanayake said that according to the existing laws there were no provisions to allow construction of solar power plants bigger than 2 MWs. He said that the CEB chairman on an earlier day at a press conference more..

Jun 30 (FT) While assuring the safety of the Muslims community in the country, PM Mahinda Rajapaksa pledged to protect values of every community under a SLPP Govt led by Prez Rajapaksa. SLPP Prime Ministerial candidate expressed these views while addressing the SLPP Muslims convention held in Colombo. Rajapaksa also noted he had always taken measures to protect the rights and values of every community more..

Jun 30 (Island) World’s highest Test wicket-taker Muttiah Muralitharan has been named as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 21st Century by the Wisden Cricket Monthly. Magazine in consultation with the CricViz, world’s leading cricket analytics company has released the top 30 Test players of the 21st Century and SL off-spinner tops the list. "We have collected the data from the year 2000, so the list is for the period 2000-2020," Sam Stow, Marketing Dir, Wisden Cricket Monthly, said. more..

Jun 30 (CT) Acting IGP Chandana Wickremaratna has submitted a proposal to the National Police Commission (NPC) to facilitate the transfer of the Head of the Police Narcotic Bureau (PNB), DIG Sanjeewa Medawatta to the Police Welfare Unit. IGP Wickremaratna had sent the recommendation to the NPC on 27 June. Already, CID has begun a few probes into charges that certain top officers attached to the PNB had allegedly maintained close links with big time drug traffickers. more..

Jun 30 (FT) In a key breakthrough, the confectionary manufacturing industry has agreed to join hands with Coconut Research Institute (CRI) to develop and use coconut oil for their products instead of palm oil. Following the successful meeting with CRI recently, Lanka Confectionary Manufacturers Association (LCMA) has agreed to use a specially developed coconut oil that will suit their production going forward. more..

Jun 30 (Island) Prof Harendra de Silva says no lawmaker has campaigned against university ragging. He said so participating as a panelist in a webinar held last Saturday. The webinar, hosted by the Human Rights Commission of SL to mark the International Day in support of victims of torture 2020 was held under the theme, Torture and other forms of societal violence in SL - Parts of one spectrum? Professor de Silva said that the most politicians did was to appoint a commission more..

Jun 30 (Island) District Leader of the SJB former Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera’s withdrawal from the 2020 parliamentary election contest, SLPP has a good chance of securing another seat in Parliament, said former MP and state minister Kanchana Wijesekera, on Sunday (28). There were 659,587 registered voters in the Matara District, who would elect seven MPs and the SLPP was confident of winning the five seats they held in the last parliament. more..

Jun 30 (PMD) Prez Rajapaksa has directed the officials of the Central Bank to deliver justice to the depositors of the ETI Finance and The Finance Company PLC after seeking legal advice regarding those insolvent companies immediately. Prez further said that a committee representing the Prez Secretariat, Central Bank, Treasury and the depositors should be established to monitor the future course of actions more..

Jun 30 (ST) SriLankan Airlines is facing a number of hurdles in overcoming its financial losses as they garner revenue off repatriation of nationals stranded overseas amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The national carrier has repatriated 7800 Sri Lankans stranded overseas so far with no loss to the airline as the costs were covered in full, SriLankan Airlines’ Chairman Ashok Pathirage said. The airline still has to bring down a further 30,000 Sri Lankans living overseas, he said. more..

Jun 30 (DM) The previous govt did agree on some points on the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement with the US but later decided against signing it following the derogation by the general public with regard to the issue, UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said. “We did discuss the MCC agreement with the US during our regime and even agreed on some points, but we decided against signing it because the general public went against it,” he said. more..

Jun 30 (AD) Retired DIG Keerthi Gajanayake believes that the intelligence information the IGP received prior to the Easter Sunday terror attacks had been undermined by the IGP himself, with the inclusion of a common phrase used by the police. Giving evidence before the PCoI probing the Easter attacks, Gajanayake insisted that the phrase For Necessary Action should never be included on a document containing more..

Jun 30 (NR) The BAR Association says a number of concerns highlighted in their observations of the Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement have been recognized by the Special Committee appointed by the Prez to study and submit a report on the agreement. Full Statement: The attention of the BASL has been invited to several news items appearing in the Electronic and Print media relating to the handing over of the Final Report on the MCC Agreement by the special team appointed by more..

Jun 30 (AD) US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo spoke with Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, today (29). US Dept of stated that this was to reaffirm the US’ partnership with the people of SL and their commitment to supporting SL’s development and sovereignty. Secretary Pompeo and Minister Gunawardena discussed the two countries’ mutual interest in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and shared commitment to economic stability and sustainable growth. more..