Mar 9 (Island) The prevailing high temperature has led to a surge in domestic violence, Head of the Department of Education at the University of Colombo, Dr. Chinthaka Chandrakumara says. He said that most people were concerned only about the physical discomfort triggered by high temperatures. However, the prevailing weather conditions had a significant impact on mental health and could worsen mental health conditions, like depression, Chandrakumara added. more..

Mar 9 (EN) Sri Lanka needs to work on its morality before it solves its economic issues, opposition NPP legislator Harini Amarasuriya said. “We have a government that is utterly unconcerned with what the people want. They’re behaving now as if the people are their enemy,” the MP said speaking at an event. “They’re confronted with a public that does not accept them or listen to them. They’re acting with a feeling that the people need to be suppressed,” she said. more..

Mar 9 (BBC) A SL father who survived the mass murder of his family in Canada said he returned home from work on Wednesday to find his wife and four young children had been killed. Dhanushka Wickramasinghe, 34, was also attacked but managed to subdue the suspect. He is now recovering in hospital from a slash to the eye and one of his hands. A 19-year-old SL student who was living with family was charged with deaths. more..

Mar 9 (AD) Veteran actress, journalist and former radio news presenter Ramya Wanigasekara passed away on Friday morning. She was aged 73 years at the time of her demise. Wanigasekara made her debut stage drama appearance in 1976 with a minor role in the stage drama Hasthiraja Mahaththaya. She had her breakthrough role in the 1978 stage drama Mana Ranjana Weda Warjana. She also acted in many other stage dramas, including Kelani Palama, Ahasin Wetunu Minissu, Jailer Unnahe, more..

Mar 9 (DM) The declaration by State Minister Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon in Parliament yesterday regarding the population of stray dogs in the country is baseless and it is asserted that the State Minister issued this statement without possessing accurate data on the subject, advisor to the Association of Veterinarians for Humane Management of Animal Population, Dr. Chamith Nanayakkara said. State Minister said that some 6.2 million stray dogs are roaming in different more..

Mar 9 (Island) SL has capable engineers to operate a nuclear power plant and these power plants are very safe, Prof. S.R.D. Rosa, Chairman, SL Atomic Energy Board (SLAEB), said during a recent seminar organised by the Institution of Engineers SL (IESL) on Potential of nuclear energy and its challenges in SL. Prof. Rosa said that many erroneously believed that SL did not have the human resources to operate and maintain more..

Mar 10 (SO) State Minister Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon has stirred a hornet’s nest by saying that over six million stray dogs are roaming around the country. Several veterinary and animal rights groups have disputed this claim, saying the actual figure is very much less. Despite the tussle over the numbers, there is no doubt that a large number of stray dogs are on our streets. There is also a feral domestic cat population and also some small wild cats such as fishing cats, but more..

Mar 10 (CT) Central Bank of SL (CBSL) salary hike ranging from approx. 29.53% to 79.97% has taken the Nation by storm! This article intends to show the worthy citizenry of SL that the attempts of the Governor/CBSL to cover up this faux pax and unconscionable abuse of powers is utterly fallacious and designed to deceive the people and Parliament of SL. The Governor of the Central Bank has declared the country financially bankrupt, insolvent, unable to pay its debts on 12th April 2022. more..

Mar 10 (CT) The govt in the past 14 months, through Parliament, has enacted 42 new laws aimed at facilitating the economic transformation of the country and there is a need to pass an additional 62 laws through Parliament. Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe stressed that if this cannot be accomplished in the current parliamentary session, the Bills will be reintroduced in the subsequent session for approval. more..

Mar 10 (Island) Politics in Sri Lanka is becoming more and more interesting with a presidential election due between September and October this year. Although the constitutionally mandated presidential election is a certainty, speculation on the possibility of a parliamentary election coming first continues. As is well known, Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe is now empowered to dissolve parliament any time he chooses to do so. Alternatively, parliament itself can resolve that more..

Mar 10 (Island) The economy is the base; everything else is superstructure. That is the old Marxian concept, simply put. The base ultimately determines what goes on in the superstructure, which includes among other things the state and its institutions, as well as their processes and functions. Included are the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, and their elections and appointments. Over time, there have been modifications to the old concept. Borrowing from Freud’s psychoanalysis, more..

Mar 10 (TM) While being on a path to economic recovery, SL continues to be full of distractions, which politicians hope will keep the masses otherwise occupied – at least for a while – instead of demanding governance and accountability from their leaders. The continuous distractions spurned by politicians that kept the general public occupied in the past even resulted in SL at one point being likened to a land of lotus eaters by some. more..

Mar 10 (CT) It is not clear if Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe wants bouquets or brickbats for his claims of having Parliament pass 42 new laws in 14 months, many of them controversial. One of them, the Online Safety Bill (OSB) even has the Opposition moving a No-Confidence Motion against Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, for endorsing the amended version that violated the Supreme Court’s advisory opinion. It is another matter that the Court has refused to interfere in larger question more..

Mar 10 (TM) One thing that is pertinently clear from the seemingly isolated but characteristically well-coordinated chain of events surrounding the ruling SLPP over the course of the past week is that it has now shifted to election mode. First in the chain of events was the arrival of Basil Rajapaksa from the US. Having left as a villain responsible for the economic crisis, he arrived to a hero’s welcome from the SLPP, with its hierarchy rolling out the red carpet for its Founder. more..

Mar 10 (AD) The total tax burden on sanitary napkins in Sri Lanka currently sits at 47.1%, which is a significantly higher rate compared to the tax levied on selected non-essential items, gold jewellery, raw silk, golf clubs and golf balls and military artillery weapons, the PublicFinance.lk revealed. PublicFinance.lk, run by Verité Research, an independent think tank that provides strategic analysis for Asia in the areas of economics, politics, law, and media. more..

Mar 10 (AD) The majority of the MPs representing the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) have reportedly decided not to participate the meeting with the representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) convened by Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe. This was revealed by the National Organizer of the SJB Tissa Attanayake today (9). Joining a press briefing held today, MP Attanayake stated that however the party’s stance on the matter would be officially communicated later. more..

Mar 10 (CI) Nuwan Thushara's five-wicket burst, including a hat-trick, after Kusal Mendis struck a 55-ball 86 handed Sri Lanka a 2-1 series win against Bangladesh in Sylhet on Saturday. Thushara blew away the Bangladesh top order with a hat-trick in his first over - the fourth of the innings. He became the sixth Sri Lankan to achieve the feat. Rishad Hossain and Taskin Ahmed, also Bangladesh's best bowlers on the day, more..

Mar 10 (SO) The 145th Battle of the Blues cricket match concluded in a peaceful draw although Royal College secured the cherished DS Senanayake Memorial Trophy on the final day of their traditional match against S Thomas’ College at the SSC ground in Colombo yesterday. When the match wrapped up S Thomas’ College, batting in their second innings reached 229/4 in 86 overs, a lead of 248 runs. S Thomas’ with a slim first innings lead of 19 runs, adopted a cautious approach in their second more..

Mar 10 (SO) SL Olympian and badminton player Niluka Karunaratne bid an emotional farewell at the Olympic House on Thursday (7) commemorating an illustrious career and launched the OLY Niluka Karunaratne Foundation. He expressed his heartfelt gratitude especially to his parents who he said were always behind him throughout his career and at the same time did not forget to mention his sporting fraternity, friends, supporters and all those who contributed in his remarkable journey. more..

Mar 10 (CI) Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto has asked SL to move on from the timed-out incident at the 2023 World Cup. Shanto's comments came after SL's win in the third T20I in Sylhet, where the visitors had sealed the series 2-1 and, while celebrating with the trophy, made a collective gesture - players pointing to their watches - that originates from that incident. Later, SL's assistant coach Naveed Nawaz played things down, saying players from both sides are more..

Mar 10 (Hindu) The meteoric rise of Lankan tourism from the ashes of the economic downturn and civil unrest a year ago now serves as a wake-up call for Kerala, two major foreign tourist destinations in South Asia. Sri Lanka is considered a major competitor to Kerala with both destinations blessed with panoramic landscapes, beaches, wildlife, verdant leaf-cloaked hills, relatively similar cuisine, and similar weather. However, there has been a growing preference for Colombo by more..

Mar 10 (TM) The billion-rupee losses incurred by the State-run Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) remain unsettled despite the suspension of the paddy purchasing mechanism by the Govt two years ago, as learnt by The Sunday Morning. It is reliably learnt that the Cabinet had not approved the request made by Minister Mahinda Amaraweera to allocate a total sum of Rs. 2 billion for paddy purchasing during ongoing Maha season. more..

Mar 10 (SO) Ministry of Labour and Foreign Employment hopes to provide nearly 40,000 job opportunities in Israel this year. This is the first time that the country has received such a large number of job opportunities from a non-Arab country in view of SL’s professional skills. These jobs include 20,000 jobs in the construction sector and 10,000 jobs in agriculture. Moreover, Ministry has made arrangements to increase the number of caregiver job vacancies that are currently available more..

Mar 10 (TM) The milk powder pricing formula has not been reimplemented since it was halted in 2021 with the removal of milk powder from the ‘specified foods’ list, a Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) official revealed. The official said that the pricing formula had been in place until former State Minister of Consumer Protection Lasantha Alagiyawanna had removed milk powder from the list of specified goods. This order was gazetted on 8 Oct 2021 (as available on the CAA website). more..

Mar 10 (TM) Concerns have emerged regarding the recently-commissioned Indian Housing Project (IHP) Phase IV, which aims to construct 1,300 houses across 45 plantation estates spanning 10 districts. The timing of this long-delayed project, coinciding with imminent elections in both India and SL, has ignited a debate about the underlying motivations behind its sudden activation. Questions have been raised by more..

Mar 10 (Island) Our criticism of Niroshan Dickwella hasn’t gone down too well with some people.After a career with the SL side that lasted for nearly ten years, Dickwella was finally axed last year in favour of Sadeera Samarawickrama. He is back in the reckoning now having joined the team in Bangladesh as a last minute replacement for Kusal Perera. Dickwella and his successor Samarawickrama have contrasting lifestyles. But that’s none of our problem. As the great Richie Benaud, more..

Mar 10 (SO) A team of junior badminton players from SL returned to the country winning as many as nine gold medals and six silver medals at the South Asia Regional Junior Badminton Championship 2024 held in Islamabad, Pakistan. The budding boys and girls who are obviously the future of Sri Lanka badminton along with many others who could not make it have not just won gold and silver have come through with a telling message that with the right commitment and encouragement they can go places more..

Mar 10 (Island) Colombo Archbishop Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith told the UNHRC’s 55th Session last week that situation in Sri Lanka was turning for the worse with the government making dictatorial and undemocratic moves to introduces laws curtailing media freedom, with subjective definitions of terrorism in a way that could lead to arbitrary arrest, extended jail terms for those clamouring justice in the country. Full text of the presentation delivered by the Cardinal: more..

Mar 10 (EN) Two bills, aimed at advancing gender equality and empowering women, will be presented to Parliament in May, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said. “It is imperative that women’s rights go beyond mere rhetoric; therefore, it is crucial to enact appropriate legislation, a task that has been neglected for far too long,” Wickremesinghe said at an International Women’s Day event at the Water’s Edge, Battaramulla on Friday. “In celebrating Int'l Women’s Day, more..

Mar 10 (TM) In the aftermath of a series of brutal killings of six Sri Lankans in Ottawa, Canada on Wednesday (6), the Foreign Affairs Ministry has confirmed that the SL High Commission in Ottawa is actively engaged in coordinating with the next of kin of the deceased families and the SL community residing there to provide necessary support and assistance. A Foreign Ministry official stated that, as of Friday evening, more..

Mar 10 (TM) The Board of Investment (BOI), together with the Ministry of Investment Promotion, has appointed a committee to formulate a proposal for a package of incentives and concessions to spur investments in SL. BOI Director General Renuka Weerakone stated that a committee would be appointed to formulate a proposal for a package of incentives and concessions to be offered to any investor who met certain investment thresholds. She noted that this proposal would be finalised more..

Mar 10 (CT) Although five per cent of the revenue generated from the Supiri Vasana Sampatha lottery, conducted by the National Lotteries Board (NLB), is designated to be remitted for the fund providing financial assistance to construct houses for persons with disabilities, a significant portion of this allocation has not been remitted thus far. Accordingly, the programme should have received Rs 5,985,145 in 2021 and Rs 90,012,050 in 2022 from the lottery income. more..

Mar 10 (TM) Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) is raiding places that claim to dispose of waste oil while the Power and Energy Ministry is to take steps to prevent unlicensed products from entering the fuel market. CPC Chairman Saliya Wickramasuriya said that the CPC had been raiding and sampling products from certain places that purport to dispose of waste oil, which should only be incinerated in accordance with international norms. “The ministry will be taking steps to curtail illicit products more..

Mar 10 (TM) There will be no further tax increases for the year, and the IMF second review will focus on monitoring whether Sri Lanka has met programme targets sufficiently. “We don’t have any new targets to meet for the second review. The IMF will be observing how we are meeting the programme’s targets,” a Treasury official said. The official also said that no further tax increases would occur this year as all necessary measures had already been adopted. more..

Mar 10 (TM) The recently-gazetted Electricity Sector Reforms Bill prepared by a special consultant team appointed by the Ministry of Power and Energy under CEB Restructuring Committee has been submitted to the Attorney General’s (AG) Dept. Power Sector Reforms Secretariat (PSRS) Head Dr. Pradeep Perera confirmed that the bill was currently under review by the AG’s Dept. more..