July 23 (DM) Dr. Subramanian Swamy - Chairman, BJP Committee on Strategic Action and Member of BJP’s National Executive Committee in an exclusive interview spoke candidly on what to expect in changes to India’s foreign policy under PM Modi’s administration and on India’s support to Sri Lanka. Q In your opinion how do you think Foreign Policy under the Modi-govt would change in comparison to the previous govt? more..

July 23 (ST) Animal trainer and zoo keeper Tilak Perera who reported to work last Thursday discovered something unusual near a gate – a tied up pillow case in which there was movement. Mr. Perera was explaining how a venomous albino snake that went missing from the Dehiwala Zoological Gardens was found four days later. “I was walking in to the animal training place to report around 8 a.m. My first priority was to see if more..

July 23 (AM) Thawheed Jamaath, a hardcore Muslim organization operating in Sri Lanka, has said that they need the support of Muslim countries in the World to protect the Muslims living in Sri Lanka. Speaking to Aljazeera news channel a few days ago, a leader of the Thawheed Jamaath organization had indicated they were no longer in a position to rely on the Sri Lankan govt, especially when it came to the security of Muslims. more..

July 23 (SL) The problem of combating the dengue virus needs the cooperation of all concerned, the Director of the Epidemiological Unit of the Ministry of Health, Dr Paba Palihawadane said, and added there is a downward trend at present compared to the month of June when the issue peaked, and compared it to the situation in 2009 when the highest number of cases was reported. Commenting on obtaining data on the number of cases, more..

July 23 (DM) All indications of certain societal decay are present; the symptoms of a terminal sickness are frighteningly manifest in the body politic of the country. Yet no one, no physician, no surgeon, no psychiatrist or any other medical practitioner or a social scientist has diagnosed the illness. Every symptom is pointing towards a cancerous malady in the making, the progressive indices of which have been evident for quite some time but has evaded studied investigations by any expert. more..

July 23 (DM) Speaking to the media in Colombo, soon after the verdict on British Red Cross worker Khuram Shaikh was delivered on Friday, the brother of Khuram, Nasser Shaikh, said that he was “not ready to forgive the initial delays involved with the prosecution of his brother’s murder,” that took close to two and a half years before a trial date was set for the case. No doubt, this remark was a clear indictment on the law enforcement mechanism in Sri Lanka. more..

July 23 (Island) Had the Sri Lankan govt fulfilled its commitments and addressed contentious issues it wouldn't have been in crisis today and, therefore, the ruling coalition should accept the responsibility for the current situation, TNA leader, R. Sampanthan said. He said President Rajapaksa had repeatedly assured India of his commitment to 13 Amendment and in some instances even talked of 13 Amendment Plus. more..

July 23 (Island) The exact weight of the heroin retrieved from three plastic moulding machines imported from Pakistan was 93 kilos and 760 grammes with a street value of Rs. 656.32 million. Customs were retrieving heroin secreted in the three machines the previous night and they had only got one machines examined by the time yesterday’s edition went to press. The importer had hired a registered company with Customs, Glamour Fashion, and it had been registered under more..

July 23 (Island) Some junior Prison Officers have combined themselves together to reveal to the media, if the former Tanglle Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman. Sampath Vidhanapathirana, who was sentenced to 20 years rigorous imprisonment gets any special treatment at the prison. These junior officers have more confidence about the media and they are not in good terms with the high officials. They revealed to The Island that any special treatment in terms of food or lodging more..

July 23 (CT) Opposition Leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe in Parliament sought clarification over the report that the China National Aero Technology Import-Export Corporation (CATIC) had been granted permission to build an Aircraft Maintenance Centre in Trincomalee. The Aircraft Maintenance Centre would service, maintain and repair all Chinese aircraft in the SL Air force. Project is to be built with a loan of Rs 5 billion. more..

July 23 (Island) Minister Dilan Perera yesterday in Parliament found fault with Chairperson of the Sri Lanka Social Security Board, Sumana Ariyadasa for making irresponsible statements to media and causing unnecessary problems. The minister said that the chairperson of the SLSSB had said they were planning to introduce a contributory pension scheme for Sri Lankans working in Korea. "This was an irresponsible statement which created unnecessary problems," the minister said more..

July 23 (DN) The Dinamina City FM news broadcasting service, a joint venture by Lake House and the SLBC will go on air from today. The new service will broadcast the latest breaking news on an hourly basis using the frequencies of 89.6 - 89.8, from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm through the popular SLBC news channel “City FM”. The ceremonial launch of this new service will be held under the patronage of Lake House Chairman Bandula Padmakumara and SLBC Chairman Hudson Samarasinghe. more..

July 23 (Island) Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told Parliament that President Rajapaksa had 23 coordinating secretaries. Each of the coordinating secretaries was paid Rs. 30,000 as monthly salary, 170 litres of petrol, a transport allowance of Rs. 30,000 and a telephone allowance of Rs. 5,000 monthly, the minister said. He responding to a question raised by JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that more..

July 23 (FT) A Sri Lankan economy worth $ 100 billion has been hailed by some and decried by others as an ambitious target. Despite the debate, the crux of this aspiration is that it will force the country to stretch its capabilities in achieving it. The impact on the economy of developing capital markets has long been established with studies underscoring their role in long-term economic growth, so what part do they have to play in reaching Sri Lanka’s goal? more..

July 23 (CT) The Government Nursing Officers' Association (GNOA) yesterday urged the Ministry of Health to probe whether milk powder containing Dicyandiamide(DCD) was used to manufacture ice cream. This comes in the light of a statement made by Minister of Technology and Research Patali Champika Ranawaka, that stocks of milk containing DCD, seized from the market, had been used to make ice cream, which was served as alms in dansalas during the Poson season. more..

July 23 (TOI) India gave Australia a bit of a breather by agreeing to investigate whether some of the 157 boat refugees confined to their boat on Christmas Island are Sri Lankan Tamil refugees from a camp in Puducherry. Australia has asked the Indian govt to provide consular services to the refugees to see if India can take them back. The refugees are held as prisoners in a boat and only let out during meal time. Scott Morrison, more..

July 23 (DNA) That Kick starlet Jacqueline Fernandes has a restaurant in Sri Lanka is known, but did you know there's a salad named after her in Mumbai? How cool is that! In fact, this particular healthy treat is also her favourite and has found a place in the menu of a Bandra café after she gave the owner her recipe. She confesses, "It's a beetroot feta salad I made it for Mishali, the owner of the café) when she came over. She was like, 'Oh my God, what is this?' She further adds, more..

July 23 (Island) First violent incident related to the forthcoming Uva PC election 2014 was reported from the Moneragala District yesterday, according to the local election monitoring organisation CaFFE. CaFFE Chief Keerthi Tennakoon said that UNP Moneragala District Organiser and former Provincial Council member Janaka Tissakuttiarachchi’s election office at Handapanagala in the Wellawaya Divisional Secretary area was attacked in the early hours of Monday. more..

July 23 (DN) The tourist zone including the Udawalawa national park will be further developed to attract tourists under the Pura Neguma program of the Mahinda Chintana. Rs. 55 million will be spent for the construction work which is already inaugurated. Under this development program, the Udawalawa weekly pola will also be given a facelift. In addition, a new library and information centre for tourists will be set up. more..

July 23 (Island) Govt yesterday revealed that over 13% of cancer patients in the country were those who suffered from oral cancers. Explaining the situation, for every 100,000 persons 19 men and four women were added annually to the list of oral cancer patients. Three persons died daily of oral cancer. The Cancer Research Institute, the Peradeniya University Dental Health Institute and the Sri Lanka Cancer Control Programme in collaboration with the Health Ministry had more..

July 23 (GDI) Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade C-operation, Bernard K Membe, presently in Sri Lanka on a tree day visit, met with the Minister Basil Rajapaksa on Monday and had discussions on strengthening bilateral economic relations. At the discussion held at the Ministry of Economic Development, Tanzanian Minister expressed his pleasure over the rapid development achieved by Sri Lanka within a short period after cessation of a terrorist war. more..

July 23 (FT) It is a well-known fact that Sri Lanka’s population is ageing rapidly. In fact, Sri Lankans over 60 years of age comprise 9% of the population, but in 30 years from now the number is estimated to reach 25%. An interesting point to explore is, where in Sri Lanka do people live the longest? Does the location have a correlation to longevity? Apparently it does – or so it seems. The best places to live if you want to live to a more..

July 23 (FT) The Central Bank announced it has appointed Assistant Governor C.J.P. Siriwardana as the Secretary to the Monetary Board with effect from 14 July. Siriwardana joined the Central Bank as a Staff Officer in 1986 after graduating from the University of Ruhuna with a B.Sc. Degree (Hons) in Agriculture. In 1994, he received his Master’s Degree in Quantitative Development Economics from the University of Warwick, UK. At present, being the Assistant Governor in charge of more..

July 23 (Hindu) Tracing the history of maritime trade with Sri Lanka through traditional mode of shipment by vessels from Tuticorin, S. Lasington Fernando, secretary, Coastal Mechanised Sail Vessel Owners Association, said maritime relations between people of these countries were still evolving. It was through the dry fish trade in Sri Lanka by merchants of coastal hamlets in Tuticorin, relations were established between the people of both sides centuries ago. more..

July 23 (Island) The JVP affiliated, Women for Rights Movement (WRM) urged the Child Development and Women Affairs Minister Tissa Karaliyadda to resign from his cabinet portfolio for failing to reduce the incidence of rape in the country. WRM President Samanmalee Gunasinghe said that Minister Karaliyadda was doing nothing to help the country’s women and children though the govt had allocated huge sum of money to the Ministry more..

July 23 (Island) Time was when Sri Lanka was known as the Granary of the East. But, today, it is fast becoming the narco hub of the region. Drug smugglers are employing every conceivable method to carry out their sordid operations. The Customs have detected, at a container terminal in Colombo, a massive stock of heroin weighing as much as 93 kilos with a street value of Rs. 700 million, secreted in three moulding machines imported from Pakistan. Let the officers responsible for more..

July 23 (ST) Expenditure on fuel imports declined by 35.4 per cent in May 2014, mainly due to the delay in unloading crude oil imports during the month due to maintenance activities in oil pipelines, the Central Bank said in its latest (monthly) report on the economy. It said the trade deficit continued to improve in May, strengthening the performance in the external sector. Earnings from exports increased, while expenditure on imports reduced driven mainly by the reduction in fuel imports. more..

July 23 (CT) With the country's elderly population expected to double by 2030, the Ministry of Social Services, along with the National Institute of Social Development (NISD) has now come up with a novel course to award a diploma on elderly care. "With the elderly population of the country expected to rise from 16% to 30% in 2030, caring for the elderly people will become a priority soon, as it is unavoidable that children more..

July 23 (FT) Aiming to shed light as to how Sri Lanka can achieve rapid development to make up for the time it lost in the 30-year war, the Institute of Certified Management Accountants (CMA) recently held its 14th National Management Accounting Conference under the theme ‘Sri Lanka 2.0 and Beyond: Fast Tracking Economic Development’. 3-day conference that was held in Colombo had eight sessions on diverse topics and was addressed comprehensively by over 35 speakers. more..

July 23 (CI) What is it they say about leopards? They cannot change their spots, right? Wrong. Four years ago, it was discovered, Rudyard Kipling was onto something when he wrote his tale of how the leopard got its spots. It was described as a gift from an Ethiopian, who said, "Now you can lie out on a leafy branch and look like sunshine sifting through the leaves; and you can lie right across the centre of a path and look like nothing in particular." The leopard was being prepped for camouflage, more..

July 23 (CI) Shane Bond dreamed of knocking batsmen out, so they would fall on their stumps. Dale Steyn loves nothing more than to "pitch leg, hit off". Bouncers. Banana swing. Batsmen backing away in fear. Stumps cartwheeling. If a sport played in whites over five days could have adrenaline junkies, fast bowlers would come closest. But not everyone has the means to become merchants of chaos. Steyn and Mitchell Johnson can more..

July 23 (DM) Private sector pharmaceutical importers are crying foul over the Custom’s directive issued in consultation with Cosmetics, Devices & Drugs Regulatory Authority (CDDRA), that makes compulsory to import pharmaceutical items in refrigerated containers, to maintain the required temperature. The outgoing Chairman of the import section of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, Kevin Edwards charged that private sector importers were singled out by the authorities whereas more..

July 23 (Island) There is a variety of fundamentalisms. The home grown fundamentalism of Sri Lanka is a reaction to the fundamentalism of colonialists. It is like tit for tat, doing for them what they did to us. It has nothing to do with civilization or religion or culture. Fundamentalism becomes a religious fundamentalism when it wears a religious mask with a religious garb; it becomes a national and political fundamentalism when it wears a national garb with a patriotic mask more..

July 23 (SL) Cheers to the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association club for banning the entry of a Madras High Court judge wearing a dhoti and entering their club, pukka sahib Mike Gun called out at the bar of the Water Hole on Wednesday. Mike Gun (Registered name Mahipala Gunawansa) continued: ‘Bloody good. I mean– a rule’s a rule. A code’s a code. If it’s there, it has to be observed but it does not happen in this part of the world. That’s why we are in this state. more..

July 23 (Island) Most of the cultures in the world at present are associated with religions though it is not necessary that a culture should be associated with a religion. Of course, it depends on the definition of religion and one could define religion as a system that includes rituals, and could say that cultures have been associated with religion for a very long time. All knowledge is grouped into conventions, and conventions like anything else are not absolute but relative. more..