Mar 3 (AD) The term tests of govt schools in the Western Province have been suspended after information revealed that two more question papers have been leaked, the Provincial Education Ministry said. Thus, it has been uncovered that the Mathematics and the English papers have also been leaked, just days after the year-end term test papers of Grades 10 and 11 Science were found to have been leaked to social media a few hours before the commencement of the exam. more..

Mar 3 (AN) Sri Lanka is preparing to send hundreds of nurses to join hospitals in Saudi Arabia in 2024, Ministry of Labor said. The first phase of the recruitment process took place in Colombo this week and was overseen by the Saudi Ministry of Health and SL’s Labor and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara. “Saudi Arabia is looking for medical and paramedical staff from countries such the Philippines, Indonesia, and SL to meet the growing demand of this sector in Kingdom” more..

Mar 3 (SO) Sri Lanka and the United States have inked a nuclear security agreement aimed at detecting and intercepting illicit trafficking of special nuclear material and other radioactive substances. This move comes as part of broader efforts to tackle escalating global security risks. The Sri Lankan Navy formalised an MoU with the US National Nuclear Security Administration at the Navy headquarters in Colombo. The MoU was signed in the presence of the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, more..

Mar 3 (TM) A fuel price revision is expected to take place tomorrow (4) night, The Sunday Morning learns. Although a price revision was expected at the end of February, it was slightly delayed and is due to happen tomorrow, a Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) official told The Sunday Morning. It is further learnt that there will not be a “big change” in the fuel prices with the latest revision. When contacted regarding the revision, CPC Chairman Saliya Wickramasuriya said: more..

Mar 3 (SO) Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Health Dr. Saman Ratnayake, who was arrested by the CID in connection with the purchase of substandard doses of Human Immunoglobulin injections, yesterday expressed his willingness before Maligakanda Magistrate Mrs. Lochani Abeywickrama Weerasinghe to give a secret statement before the Court regarding this drug procurement incident. more..

Mar 3 (SO) The local chambers hailed the govt’s move to suspend parate execution or the auctioning of assets of small and medium and other companies until the end of the year. All Parate Executions have been suspended until Dec 15, 2024, as per a Cabinet decision made on February 26 and the banks’ practice of acquiring properties of whose loans are yet to be paid off will be suspended until Dec 15, 2024. The proposal was made by Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as more..

Mar 3 (AD) All-Ceylon Restaurant Owners’ Association has decided to increase the prices of multiple food items including Kottu, Fried Rice and a cup of milk tea with effect from midnight today (2). Joining a press briefing, President of the association Harshana Rukshan stated that this decision was arrived at after considering the significant increase in the production cost of food items. Accordingly, the price of a cup of plain tea has been increased by Rs. 5, a cup of milk tea by Rs. 10. more..

Mar 3 (ST) There are seven months more to go before the presidential election. Don’t get burnt out before that, President Ranil Wickremesinghe warned his UNP stalwarts during a meeting. They met last Sunday to review planning and the progress made so far for the upcoming presidential election. He nevertheless ticked off the party’s General Secretary, Palitha Range Bandara, over what he called things not moving. more..

Mar 4 (CT) Someone asked me; The President has said his Govt was prepared to grant all the provisions in the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution barring Police powers. What have you to say? My response was; I am amused! There is nothing for the Govt to give. The Thirteenth Amendment is part of the Country’s Constitution. It is the Govt’s duty to implement it. When he says he would give, it confirms that we have an ethnocratic Govt in place in Sri Lanka from the time more..

Mar 3 (SO) These days at a modest home in Horana, a woman is praying for the safe return of her younger brother who worked as a deck hand on a foreign-flagged container vessel and she refuses to accept that the young Seafarer is no more after he was swept overboard while sailing on choppy seas near Spain and remains missing without a trace and is feared dead. Demuni De Silva was on his maiden voyage as an Ordinary Seaman on the Portugal flagged cargo vessel-Santuca B when more..

Mar 4 (CT) When Layla confronted her mother about the Khatna she underwent, her mother responded, Women should grow up with fear and shame to live respectably in society. Layla learned that the practice, performed with a butter knife when she was just 40 days old, was considered necessary. Khatna, or Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), is an unspoken topic in SL, with many unaware of its existence. more..

Mar 3 (GV) Local elections in SL have been conspicuously absent since 2018, marking a significant hiatus in the democratic process. Initially slated for 2022, the elections faced successive postponements, first to 2023 amidst economic turmoil and domestic instability and then faced further delays under the governance of Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe’s administration. Presently, there is no definitive timeline for when these crucial elections will be held, leaving the electorate in more..

Mar 3 (CT) Sri Lanka has over 10,100 Govt schools, in which over 4.2 million students receive their mandatory school education from over 241,000 teachers. The student population in Sri Lanka packs much diversity with varying degrees of educational, artistic, athletic and sports skills. Although competitive exams of the SL education system, in a rather cruel manner, decide the intellectual levels and essentially the future of these students, getting filtered through these competitive exams more..

Mar 3 (CT) An outspoken former MP and Deputy General Secretary of SJB, Mujibur Rahman, shares insights with Ceylon Today, regarding SJB’s political journey and their unwavering political principles, which he asserts will not yield to pressures from other political parties. Rahman’s political journey took a significant turn when he voluntarily relinquished his MP position to contest the mayoral election of Colombo District, more..

Mar 3 (TM) In SL’s quest to recover from the prevailing economic downturn, all forms of revenue is crucial, and the country has been trying to capitalise on whatever resources it can turn into rupees and dollars. However, revenue, despite being the most important factor in the country’s struggle, is one of many factors that result in the growth which we can call an ‘economic resuscitation’. At a time where many crucial decisions are being taken to get out of the economic crisis, more..

Mar 4 (Island) Central Bank of SL (CBSL) is drawing heavy flak for having granted its workers generous pay hikes amidst a crippling economic crisis. Its critics are arguing that such salary increases, allegedly ranging from 29% to 70%, should not have been given at a time when the govt is asking other state employees as well as the public to tighten their belts; their argument has struck a responsive chord with the irate public, as evident from a reader’s letter published in this newspaper today. more..

Mar 4 (ST) It is perhaps one of the many painful ironies afflicting Sri Lanka’s political landscape that though an ecstatic song and dance was made about the country’s first ever law regulating election expenditure passed by Parliament last year, no elections were held thereafter to practically test its legal strength. We cannot blame anyone but the Govt for this given its postponement of elections including local govt elections arguing that it did not have the required funds, more..

Mar 4 (DM) Niroshan Dickwella was drafted into SL T20 squad last week in place of Kusal Janith Perera who is claimed to be suffering from an illness and is unavailable for Bangladesh tour. Since then the chief selector Upul Tharanga has come under heavy criticism over the selection of the notorious wicket-keeper batsman. Tharanga has clearly given his reasons on picking the dashing left-handed opener over the likes of Shevon Daniel and Lasith Crosspulle who are short of runs more..

Mar 4 (ST) The CEB has declared thumping profits for 2023, amounting to Rs. 61.2 billion for the Board and Rs. 75.7 billion for the group (which includes other investments), according to its unaudited interim financial statements for the year ended Dec 31. These numbers were largely driven by soaring profits from October to December last year. Industry experts said such earnings were made possible due to massive rainfall received more..

Mar 4 (DN) The 94th Battle of the Maroons between Ananda and Nalanda ended in a draw at SSC grounds yesterday. However Ananda who scored 286 for 9 wickets declared took a first innings lead in reply to Nalanda first innings total of 277 for 8 wickets declared on the first day. At close of the day Nalanda in their second innings were 120 for 3 wickets and game ended in a tame draw with both teams not adopting a positive approach in their first innings. Anandians continued from 55 for 2 more..

Mar 4 (TM) St. Peter’s College, Colombo stamped their class in Sri Lanka’s Schools Rugby arena as they continued their league/knockout double championship winning momentum after being crowned as champions beating Isipathana College 17-05 in the grand final of the Zahira Centenary Rugby 7s on Sunday. The event was organised to celebrate 100 years of Rugby at Zahira College, Colombo, a pioneer in playing the oval ball game in the island nation as the fourth school to more..

Mar 4 (EN) Sri Lanka has lost Meetings, Incentive Travel and Exhibition travelers to competitors in East Asia and India due to minimum room rates as higher standard rooms were available in other countries at lower prices, industry officials said. President of the Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tourist (SLAITO) Nishad Wijetunga said they the industry managed to retain a majority of booking made before the minimum room rates were imposed by the state last year. more..

Mar 4 (FT) Most of the minority shareholders are already excited over the staggering Rs. 63 billion plus opportunity to sell their stakes in Expolanka Holdings to controlling owners the Japanese owned and Singapore-based SG Holdings Global Pte Ltd. Owning 82.4% SG Holdings on Friday announced a voluntary delisting of shares of Expolanka from the CSE at Rs. 185 per share. One of the leading logistics companies in the world, Expolanka is also the most valuable listed company on the CSE more..

Mar 4 (CI) Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto and SL coach Chris Silverwood both played down any narrative of personal scores being settled by the two sides over the next month. While SL-Bangladesh clashes in the past have occasionally boiled over, both camps, at least for now, expect little more than a competitive series played in the right spirit. "I am not thinking about the past," Shanto said, on the eve of first T20I more..

Mar 4 (ST) SL Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC), in a revolutionary move, has ventured into new spaces in Nanomedicine. The institute is now developing nanocarriers that can conjugate into existing or newly developed medicine which can carry the medicine to the correct organ in the body to treat the ailment better, Thushara Vajira Perera, Director SLINTEC said. Nanomedicine is the field of science that deals with organic applications of medicine at the nano-scale level. more..

Mar 4 (DM) Corruption and Crime in our country have hit a new high. According to Transparency International, Sri Lanka is the 115th least corrupt nation out of 180 countries. According to the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International Corruption Rank, Sri Lanka averaged 87.50 from 2002 until 2023, reaching an all time high of 115.00 in 2023. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) say, impunity has over the years become more..

Mar 4 (FT) Tourist arrivals in February have hit a post-COVID all-time high of 218,350 whilst pushing the cumulative figure to 426,603 setting a positive start for the year. SL welcomed over 200,000 tourists for three consecutive months, marking a hat trick. February arrivals also set a new benchmark, beating the previous high of 210,352 recorded in December since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. more..

Mar 4 (DN) Axiata CEO of Telecommunications Business and Group Executive Director, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, has been recognised for his stellar contribution to the mobile telecommunications industry with the GSMA Chairman’s Award held in Barcelona on Feb 28. GSMA Chairman’s Award annually recognises the outstanding achievements of individuals or organisations from across the mobile industry worldwide. Established in 1996, award celebrates those who are responsible more..

Mar 4 (DN) SL T-20 cricket team will commence their tour when they meet Bangladesh in their first T-20 game of the three match series today at Sylhet Bangladesh. Charith Asalanka will lead the SL side. But it’s not Hasaranga, the captain, that SL will miss the most, it’s Hasaranga, the all-rounder. He was the top scorer for SL during the recent T20 series against Afghanistan, scoring 102 runs, including a match-winning 67 in the first ODI, and four wickets for 74 runs in 12 overs. more..

Mar 4 (DN) SL’s Christina Perumal, a student of Asian International School, made a big splash in the swimming world. At the 11th Asian Age Group Aquatic C'ships in New Clark City, Philippines, she achieved a remarkable feat. Perumal, just 16 years old, became the seventh fastest women’s 200m breaststroke swimmer in Asia. In a thrilling race, Perumal finished the women’s 200m Breaststroke in just 2 minutes and 55 seconds. She overcame top swimmers from across Asia, more..

Mar 4 (PMD) President Ranil Wickremesinghe attended the 94th historic Battle of the Maroons cricket encounter between Ananda and Nalanda Colleges, prestigious Buddhist boys’ schools in Sri Lanka, held today (03) at the SSC ground in Colombo. This annual cricket encounter commemorates the esteemed Late Dr. N. M. Perera Memorial Challenge Championship Trophy, with today marking the culmination of two days encounter for this year. more..

Mar 4 (FT) The legal saga unfolding in the Southern District Court of New York, between Hamilton Reserve Bank (HRB) and Sri Lanka locked in a dispute with significant implications for international finance and sovereign debt restructuring, turned a new page on Friday with the defendant, Govt of Sri Lanka requesting a further stay of proceedings for five months submitting a joint status letter to the court. more..

Mar 4 (PMD) The application process for the Presidential Scholarship Program 2024/25 targeting 100,000 school students facing economic difficulties is now open. In line with the vision of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, applications are being accepted until March 20, 2024. To apply, interested candidates can access the application form, instructions and all the relevant information in Sinhala, Tamil and English through the official Facebook page of the President’s Fund at more..

Mar 4 (TM) A writ application has been filed before the Court of Appeal (CA), seeking an order directing the IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon to arrest former State Intelligence Service (SIS) Director and incumbent Senior DIG Nilantha Jayawardana over the latter's failure to prevent the Easter Sunday terror attacks on 21 April 2019. The application has been filed by attorney Manushika Cooray the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR) in Maradana, its Director Fr. Rohan Fernando, and more..

Mar 4 (TM) The no-confidence motion (NCM) planned by the SJB against the Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena is to be handed over to the Parliamentary Secretary General Kushani Rohanadheera today. On 26 Feb, the SJB started obtaining Parliamentarians' signatures for an NCM against the Speaker, alleging that he had flagrantly violated the Constitution and Parliamentary standing orders (SO) and privileges during the process of passing the Online Safety Act more..