Aug 23 (MoD) The People's Republic of China (PRC) has signed a MOU with Sri Lanka to grant Rs 7,410 million to the Government to develop all State hospitals in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. According to Health Ministry Secretary Dr Ravindra Ruberu and CETC (China Electronics Technology Group Corporation) International, China, Chairman Yan Lijin signed the MoU last week. The Ministry will use these funds to develop all State hospitals located in the North and East. more..

Aug 23 (LP) Aquatic invasive plants which block canals resulting in flash floods have been the worst threat to blockage. Environment Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said that steps have been taken to control aquatic invasive plants species that block canals. Three out of 28 invasive plants species have been identified in Sri Lanka. Salvinia, Japanese Salvinia are among them. A proper Program is underway to control these aquatic invasive plants species and use them in advantageous way, more..

Aug 23 (GDI) The vehicles left by the civilians in the special security zone during the final stages of the conflict will be handed over to their owners from today. The district Secretary of the Notherthern Kilinochchi District Ms. Ruwapathi Ketheeswaran said that the residents of Kilinochchi can obtain thier vehicles from the District Secretariat. He pointed out that the owners have to present the relevant document to take them back. more..

Aug 23 (LB) Bandara Menike hung over the barbed wire fence that marked out her plot of roadside land near Kuchchaveli in Trincomalee, watching vehicles. Her husband sat idly at the entrance of their dilapidated mud hut. It took a few seconds after learning that I was a journalist for the 39-year-old Menike to hurry inside her shack and to rush out again with a well-thumbed sheaf of papers inside an old file. more..

Aug 23 (NS) Kilinochchi, the one- time Tiger political centre, now takes the image of Kataragama or Kandy during a weekend. There are visitors everywhere, as thousands throng to the battle-scarred Wanni. The Wanni was cut off from the rest of the country, between late 2006 up until early this year, due to the final stages of the war. More than 300,000 people were isolated from the rest of the country during this period. more..

Aug 23 (LB) Q: The student bodies vehemently object to the idea of private universities. They warn of islandwide protests. Are you planning to establish private universities regardless of such protests? A: I don’t like the term ‘private universities’. In recent years, 78 private universities have been opened. They only aim at generating profits by selling degrees. What did those who are shouting now do to prevent them from being set up? more..

Aug 23 (NS) Pensioners, who depend on interest income from their bank deposits for their daily expenses, are likely to be hit by the newest interest rate cut announced by the Central Bank, analysts and economists point out. According to them, the interest rate cut announced by the Central Bank last Friday would prompt commercial banks to immediately cut deposit rates. more..

Aug 23 (ST) Sri Lankans, particularly those 4,000 or more who placed their money in trust with Sakvithi Investments, may still be unaware of what the alleged swindler did during his missing days. During the past two years, he went under the name Thangavelu Eliyamoolai and held an Indian Passport obtained in Chennai. His wife and two children too had similar passports. The wife's name was Thangavelu Radha. more..

Aug 23 (ST) The crisis at the 57-year-old elite Capri Club in Colombo took a new turn this week when the Inland Revenue Department announced it would launch an investigation into the payment of VAT following a report submitted by a select committee of the membership that went into alleged irregularities by its senior office-bearers. The alleged irregularities had taken place late last year when the Excise Department routinely asked for the VAT certification prior to more..

Aug 23 (LNP) Paul, the octopus oracle, which accurately predicted, inter alia, the football World Cup 2010 winners, is resting on its laurels. It has wisely retired at the peak of its career, as it were, unlike some of our cricketers and politicians who go on playing and contesting respectively until arthritis, osteoporosis and amnesia set in and they need geriatric care. Now, we hear that Germany`s Paul has had a less famous rival down under, which, too, predicted Spain`s victory. more..

Aug 23 (DN) The Internet usage has recorded a significant growth of 8.3 percent while increasing the number of users up to 1.7 million, Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission (TRC) sources said. In 2009, there were only 1,163,500 Internet users with a growth of 5.5 percent. But web users increased dramatically this year to over 1,776,200 and recorded a 2.8 percent growth compared to the corresponding year. more..

Aug 23 (DN) Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena has decided to streamline the procedure of granting scholarships to Ministry staff. A member of the Ministry can go abroad on official scholarships only three times a year, following this directive. Minister Sirisena has taken this decision after considering the complaints received from health staff and studying the procedure of granting scholarships implemented by the Ministry. more..

Aug 23 (LP) On the directive of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Government of Sri Lanka handed over the 2nd consignment of flood relief to the Pakistan authorities at the Chaklala air base in Islamabad on 22nd August 2010 at 1300 hours. The flood relief consignment of 18 tons includes dry rations, tea, medicines and 250 large sized cabin tents. The High Commissioner of Sri Lanka in Pakistan, Air Chief Marshal Jayalath Weerakkody handed over the more..

Aug 23 (DN) A function to evaluate the service of artistes and others who contributed for the success of Kandy Esala Perahera will be held at the Kandy President’s House under President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s patronage Wednesday. To coincide with the function, launching of the souvenir Dalada Abhiwandana Perahera, offering awards to the winners of the singing and art competition titled Dalada Siritha Gam Dorata held among students and more..

Aug 23 (Island) Road accidents have killed over 2,000 annually for the last few years. According to the Traffic Police statistics, 2,055, 2,101, 2,069, 2,224 and 2,176 persons were killed in road accidents in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively. Director of the Colombo South Teaching Hospital Dr. Anil Jasinghe said the most vulnerable group was pedestrians. While one in four pedestrians sustained injuries due to accidents involving motor cycles, more..

Aug 23 (Island) The Planters Association requested for the full and proper disbursement of cess funds required for plantation development activities and also said that if the cess is to be increased again the industry would be in considerable difficulty. G.D.V Perera Chairman Planters Association said, "We continuously appeal to the government to use the cess funds for the development of the sector. more..

Aug 23 (Island) Latest data from the Central Bank showed that the government’s budget deficit for the first six months of this year contracted 15.49 percent to Rs. 215.3 billion from Rs. 254.7 billion for the corresponding period of 2009. As a percentage of GDP, the deficit for this period is estimated at 3.95, as against 5.27 last year. Total revenue grew by 18.56 percent to Rs. 361.5 billion from Rs. 304.9 billion the previous year. more..

Aug 23 (Island) The Second Court Martial probing corruption charges against former Army Chief General Sarath Fonseka is nearing the end of its inquiry. Military spokesman Major General Ubaya Madawela yesterday told The Island that there could be three or four sessions before the Second Court Martial declared its ruling. According to him, I.V. Wimaladasa of the Finance Ministry testified on Saturday more..

Aug 23 (DM) Colombo High Court Judge Deepali Wijesundera has issued summons on former Deputy Minister of Defence General Anuruddha Ratwatte to appear in court to read out the judgement given by the Court of Appeal to proceed with the trial in the case filed by the Bribery Commission against him. In this case General Ratwatte is charged for having concealed certain sums of money and acquisition of properties, more..

Aug 23 (Island) Chairman of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) C. R. de Silva says retired Navy Chief Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri can challenge former Defence Secretary Austin Fernando’s recent statement before the commission. Responding to a query by The Island yesterday, de Silva said that Sandagiri would have to testify before the commission as his recent statement to the media could not be considered official. more..

Aug 23 (DM) The Mirihana police yesterday morning recorded a statement from UNP MP Sajith Premadasa regarding the death of party supporter Rienzie Algama near the party headquarters Kotte, recently Mr. Premadasa’s statement was recorded by Mirihana HQI at Sirikotha following reports that the victim had spoken to him before his tragic death.Sajith Premadasa had told police that the victim Algama had not spoken to him before his death. more..

Aug 23 (DM) President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered IGP Mahinda Balasuriya to remove cut-outs depicting him at unwanted places. If cut-outs are found in unwanted places the police would be held responsible, he had stated. The President has given this order on complaints he had received that cut-outs of him have appeared in many parts of the country.

Aug 23 (BBC) Sri Lanka authorities have detained the latest edition of The Economist magazine, its distributor in Colombo said. "We were not allowed to clear our copies of the Economist on Friday by the customs officials," Vijitha Yapa told BBC Sandeshaya. The magazine has carried an article on Sri Lanka's recovery after the decades of war titled "Rebuilding, but at a cost." "All what I know is that there is a news item in this copy on Sri Lanka; therefore it is detained," more..

Aug 23 (Hindu) Communist Party of India (Marxist) legislator K. Mahendran denied reports that he was involved in the 2009 leak of details about the ceasefire proposed by India to end the war between Sri Lanka and the LTTE. Rejecting the claims of the former LTTE international spokesperson, Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP, that he had conveyed the information to MDMK general-secretary Vaiko, more..

Aug 23 (DM) UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at the last UNP parliamentary group meeting had made enquiries from MP Lakshman Seneviratne as to why he had given evidence against DNA Leader MP Sarath Fonseka before the first Court Martial. The Court Martial stripped the former army commander of his ranks and medals. It also deprived him of his pension rights. more..

Aug 24 (SL) Courts today (23) released on bail UNP Kalutara District parliamentarian Palitha Thevarapperuma who has been in remand custody since December 2009. The Colombo Appeal Court has granted bail to Thevarapperuma. The Appeal Court has granted him a personal bail of Rs. 25,000. Thevarapperuma was arrested in December 2009 for allegedly assaulting a secretary of a government minister during the Presidential election campaign. more..

Aug 24 (BBC) Many young people in Sri Lanka, especially those living far from the capital, rarely get a chance to meet their peers from across the ethnic divide. In the Sinhalese-majority country with its Tamil and Muslim minorities, ethnicity was a big factor in the long-running war and is still the cause of deep social divisions and even mistrust for some Sri Lankans. So the locally-based Galle Film Festival has started a series of film camps to bring teenagers together. more..

Aug 24 (IANS) Officials of the US embassy presented the Sri Lanka Air Force Rs.674 million ($6 million) in equipment to enhance maritime security, the embassy said Monday. At a ceremony at the Ratmalana Air Base, Valerie Fowler, Deputy Chief of Mission at the embassy, announced the donation to Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetileke, Chief of Defence Staff from the Sri Lanka Air Force. This hardware, including data links for two Beechcraft 200 aircraft, enables real time imagery that more..

Aug 24 (GP) Searching for an identity between its pristine beaches and its reputation for suicide bombings, Sri Lanka is struggling. A 26-year civil war pitted the Sinhalese government — the ethnic majority — against the LTTE — one of the world’s most notorious terrorist organizations. The war ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the LTTE and the capture of its leader and founder, Velupillai Prabhakaran, yet many say that this country still has a long way to more..

Aug 24 (SL) The UNP today (23) requested President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the government to hand over its proposed constitutional amendments in writing. A delegation of UNP members led by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe informed this to the President during a meeting today afternoon at Temple Trees. The discussion was based on the government’s proposed constitutional amendments on extending the two term limit to more..

Aug 24 (DM) Former Peace Secretariat Head Professor Rajiva Wijesinha today said that the ceasefire agreement (CFA) of 2001 was a good idea but yet it was a failure mainly due to then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe’s inability to integrate it. Speaking before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) Prof. Wijesinha said that the actions of Mr. Wickremasinghe and many officials who were engaged in the CFA process, more..

Aug 24 (SL) A visiting IMF mission in Sri Lanka to review its programme in the country expressed satisfaction over the progress of the Sri Lankan economy. The mission said today (23) that it could make the necessary recommendation to release the next tranche of US$ 200 million from the Stand-By Arrangement. “Overall economic conditions are improving as expected in the last visit, and the economy is likely to show strong growth this year,” more..

Aug 24 (CI) Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, one of Sri Lanka's three venues being developed for next year's World Cup, is the ground organisers are most confident about, in terms of how the pitch will behave and completing the construction sufficiently in time. "We have no fears," Suraj Dandeniya, director of the World Cup secretariat, said, "because we are playing matches, we are playing South Africa, New Zealand, all those matches, so it is 100% sure that the pitch is complete." more..

Aug 24 (TC) It is not that Sri Lanka’s foreign relations are not in need of repair, especially after five dismal years between Lakshman Kadirgamar and GL Pieris, but it is ironic in the extreme when the criticism comes from the UNP or its sympathisers. The UNP and its fellow travellers seem to think that Sri Lanka’s foreign relations are in need of repair because a group of provincials, rustics even, have taken over the reins of the state and more..

Aug 24 (NF) Karu Jayasuriya, Deputy Leader of the UNP met with the Most Venerable Thibbotuwawe Sri Sumangla Thero, Mahanayake of the Malwathu Chapter this morning. The objective of the visit was to brief the prelate of country's present situation. He said that he had briefed the venerable Mahanayake of the measures taken on the former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, democracy and the right to bear independent views. more..

Aug 24 (GT) Major Sri Lankan hotel chains are pumping in approximately Dhs18 billion into new projects The hotel industry will experience a 45% influx in room capacity. The double-digit growth of inbound tourism to Sri Lanka has sparked a massive hotel expansion drive by several hotel giants, including refurbishment of existing hotels and major development plans in the pipeline announced Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau’s (SLTPB) Middle East office. more..

Aug 24 (LG) Two cabinet ministers laughed in public about the police assault of two opposition Members of Parliament at the Galle police station. They added to their laughter by adding to the story, saying that nothing else is to be expected when anyone tries to assault police officers inside a police station. That was a twist to their merriment. The two ministers were also showing that truth is whatever they say it is. Truth was unimportant. more..

Aug 24 (LG) Over a year and a quarter have elapsed since the end of the war. Sri Lanka ought to be well positioned to successfully project itself as a country that is on the mend. The government’s determination to hold the Indian International Film Awards in Colombo in May this year was to send such a message to the world. This effort turned out to have mixed results. The film industry in South India opposed the event on political grounds. more..

Aug 24 (NS) The Central Environmental Authority will soon launch a countrywide campaign on electronic waste management with the participation of all stakeholders to tackle the growing menace to the environment. Many feel that this should have been launched about 20 years ago with the wide introduction of mobile phones and computers whose used batteries particularly are a hazardous waste. A stakeholder meeting on E Waste Management was held last Monday at more..

Aug 24 (NS) Life is full of disappointment and pain – for everyone. The pain takes on different shapes and sizes, but it is doggedly constant. Your heart maybe ripped out all at once, as with the miscarriage of a baby for a first-time mother, the shattered trust of an honest lover, the rape of a child, or the diagnosis of cancer of a father. In these instances, none of life’s usual disguises of ‘happiness’ such as fame, beauty, or more..

Aug 24 (NF) A medical clinic was conducted today for more than 90 elephants taking part in the Kandy Perahera. The clinic was conducted in association with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, University of Peradeniya. At the clinic conducted at the Natha Devale premises in Kandy. “At this clinic, we first pay attention to the young elephants with regard to the minerals and vitamins that should be given. more..

Aug 24 (LBO) The Sri Lanka Ports Authority is to borrow 6.3 million US dollars from the state-owned Bank of Ceylon to fund the acquisition of new cargo handling cranes from China, a statement said. The SLPA statement said it will buy one crane of 50 tonne capacity, two cranes of 41 tonne capacity and 24 Rubber Tired Gantry cranes of 41 tonne capacity. The equipment is urgently needed to replace aging cranes at the Jaya Container Terminal, th port's main container transhipment facility, more..

Aug 24 (Island) The ongoing leadership struggle in the UNP came to the fore when two UNP MPs, Ranjan Ramanayake and Rosy Senanayake clashed on Mega star, the popular reality show telecast over Swarnavahini on Sunday. An irate Ratnapura District MP Ranjan Ramanayake demanded to know from Mrs Senanayake whether she liked Sajith Premadasa, MP or incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe as the leader of the party. more..

Aug 24 (LB) Udul Premarathna, the convener of the IUSF, says that the students of the private universities can be summoned for protests with a single SMS or an e-mail. He said, “education in the government universities is provided free; students are provided free hostel accommodation and Mahapola scholarship grants. It is they who are difficult to take out of the universities. more..

Aug 24 (NS) The Sri Lankan prison hell hole is finally getting some serious makeover under the Marxist Prisons Reform and Rehabilitation Minister DEW Gunasekera. It is an endeavour no other minister has hitherto undertaken since independence despite there having been commissions that looked into the problem on several occasions in the past. Fortunately some foreign donors, realising the seriousness and honesty of his undertaking, more..

Aug 24 (ST) Controversial businessmen Harry Jayawardena has claimed that state-owned Sri Lanka Insurance Corp (SLIC) is close to selling a stake to the public to repay Rs 6 billion owed to Distilleries Corp of Sri Lanka (DCSL) but a top SLIC source says, ‘There is no such decision.’ Responding to a query from a shareholder about the money the government owes DCSL after the privatization was reversed by the Supreme Court in June 2009, more..

Aug 24 (ST) Economists are confronted in many different places and asked to explain what is happening in the economy. The diverse and contrary views about the country’s economic performance are no doubt the underlying reason for this. One can hardly satisfy these intelligent appetites in those brief encounters. Meeting an old friend at the Press Institute the other day led to such an encounter on the economy: What’s happening? Are we getting anywhere? more..