June 30 (Island) A young Sri Lankan who floated his own IT Company in USA and later sold it to Google says that he is now actively pursuing developing a wearable device that could give blood pressure details and most other information on body functions. "I am working on it now – a contraption that’s unobtrusive and runs on a battery which need not be replaced. It is a wearable device for a lifetime", Dilan Jayawardane said. more..

June 30 (ST) The current development within Colombo city is yet to address the disabled persons’ right of mobility, says National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD), Director M.D.C. Jayamanne. Under the act of protection of the rights of disabled persons, the national council was established to ensure the protection, promotion and advancement of the rights of disabled persons. more..

June 30 (ST) The Attorney General’s (AG) Dept is still waiting for a crucial DNA report to indict suspects in the killing of British Red Cross Worker Khuram Shaikh 18 months ago, an authoritative source from the Dept. said. The case was shifted from the Tangalle Magistrate’s Court to the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court last week, following allegations that the suspects had threatened witnesses. more..

June 30 (Island) In a dramatic development, the former directors of 42 subsidiary companies of Golden Key (GK) are expected to be hauled up before the law after it was discovered that they had devoured a staggering six billion rupees injected by the GK management for the operation of these businesses. Except four of these subsidiary companies, all the others had closed down subsequently and the enormous quantum of more..

June 30 (ST) As eight people died in two horror crashes at level crossings this week, the Department of Railways announced it will construct gates at 48 unprotected crossings by the year’s end. Railways Operating Superintendent L.A.R. Rathnayake said there were 750 unprotected railway crossings island-wide and the department would call for tenders to construct gates at 200 of these at a cost of Rs. 4 million each. more..

June 30 (PTI) Sri Lanka will send President Mahinda Rajapaksa's younger brother Basil Rajapaksa to Delhi to hold talks with Indian leadership over its controversial plan to tinker with the India-moved thirteenth amendment (13A). Basil Rajapaksa, the minister of economic development and the key political advisor to his brother, would leave Colombo on July 4. Basil was quoted as saying that he would be meeting more..

June 30 (CT) Mr. Gamanpila of the JHU, sees no wrong in canvassing for the abolition of the Provincial Councils while continuing to hold office there-in. He has declined to resign from his membership of the Provincial Council. What do we make of this behavior? Should not a person behave in accordance with his beliefs? In common parlance this is called political hypocrisy. The concept of hypocrisy originally arose in the theatre where persons who were acting pretended to more..

June 30 (CT) The politician responsible for national health care of the people has gone on record saying that over 20% of the population appears to suffer from malnutrition. He was speaking at a Pulasthi Knowledge Foundation event in Polonnaruwa. Recent research by Save the Children in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam that infants who do not receive the necessary nutrients in the first 1,000 days of life, from conception to their second birthday, will suffer from developmental more..

June 30 (NS) Health experts have questioned the nutritional value and ‘exorbitant price’ of popular nutritional supplement, ‘Sustagen’, with some claiming it was being marketed in an unethical manner. Consultant Cardiologist and Chairperson of the Committee on Non-Communicable Diseases of the SLMA, Dr. Jayanthimala Jayawardena said the main issue with Sustagen was that there was not much more..

June 30 (SL) The JVP says with the transfer of the Matale Magistrate Chathurika Silva, there are serious doubts whether the Magisterial inquiry into the Matale mass grave will be conducted fairly. Magistrate Silva, who had been conducting the Magisterial inquiry into the controversial Matale mass grave, had been transferred with effect from July 25. JVP Parliamentarian Sunil Handunnetti said the transfer could have been initiated with the intention of influencing the case. more..

June 30 (Island) Australia announced the return of 22 more Sri Lankan irregular maritime arrivals who had failed to meet the country’s international obligations. The group departed Christmas Island last week. Their return takes the number of Sri Lankans sent home to 1,270 – 1,057 of them involuntarily since August 2012. Australian Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Brendan O’Connor, said returning the group to Sri Lankans sends a powerful message. more..

June 30 (SL) The Sri Lanka Journalists’ Trade Union (SLJTU), which was launched in Colombo on Tuesday said that it would commence broad intellectual discussions on key issues faced by media personnel, while focusing on the govt’s proposed code of ethics for the media as a matter of priority. Addressing its inaugural press conference, the SLJTU President Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema, said that the union is more..

June 30 (DM) Several trade unions at the Nuwaraeliya and Dambulla Economic Centres said today vegetable prices would rise because production would decrease if farmers were not provided with fertilizer on time. Dambulla trade union President U.B. Ekanayake said the farmers had not been provided with their quota of fertilizer and several of those who had cultivated their land were in big trouble. “Some farmers have started cultivating their land. more..

June 30 (GDI) In continuation of “Mega Tourism Road Show” held in March – April 2013, the ‘Tourism Promotional Campaign’ in CIS countries, the Embassy of Sri Lanka in the Russian Federation with the collaboration of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau will launch the second phase of the promotion campaign in the Russian Federation from 3 to 17 July. This time the campaign will commence from the capital of Russia, Moscow, and will take its journey through more..

June 30 (Island) Nawaloka Hospitals Friday said in a Stock Exchange filing that it was investing Rs. 575 million in a chain of peripheral hospitals, the first to be located in Negombo, through a fully owned subsidiary, Nawaloka Medicare. The Negombo hospital will be close to the Negombo General Hospital along the main Colombo – Negombo Road. It said that each of the new hospitals will provide all diagnostic facilities more..

June 30 (ST) Hotel Developers Ltd, owners of the Colombo Hilton, re-paid Rs 500 million to Sri Lanka’s Treasury on Wednesday, the first installment of a Rs 3 billion loan. A spokesman for the company said the hotel company had returned to profit after years of losses and was able to return the borrowed cash. The Govt acquired the company in late 2011 under the Revival of Under-performing and Under-utilised Assets and converted 80% (Rs 7 billion out of Rs 10 billion) more..

June 30 (NS) The Govt said only 340 former combatants continue to be rehabilitated adding that they would be reintegrated into the society during the coming year. Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Brigadier Dharshana Hettiarrachchi said that the remaining former combatants were being rehabilitated at the Poonthottam rehabilitation center in Vavuniya. “The remaining beneficiaries will be released in separate batches depending on the time they commenced rehabilitation,” he said. more..

June 30 (AD) A school principal has died after suffering a heart attack while undergoing ‘Leadership training’ at the Rantambe camp this morning, the Ceylon Teachers’ Union said. W.A.S. Wickramasinghe, Principal of Raddolugama Pangngananda Madya Maha Vidyalaya, had suffered a heart attack at the Rantambe Cadet Camp while preparing for morning exercises today, CTU secretary Joseph Stalin said. more..

June 30 (GN) “Mali” the elephant appears to be in the pink of health—if a bit on the stout side—but it’s too early to tell if the most famous resident of the Manila Zoo should stay or go, a visiting Thai elephant expert said on Friday. Amid the clamor from animal rights activists to ship her to a sanctuary in Thailand, Mali actually looks well cared for in her enclosure at the zoo, said Dr. Nikorn Thongtip of Kasetsart University’s Department of Large Animal and Wildlife Clinical Sciences. more..

June 30 (Island) Sacred Heart Parish, Rajagiriya, has stepped in to assist more than 100 under-privileged families in the area by raising funds through activities initiated by corporate members of the congregation, Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Anslem said. Subject to identified needs, housing, sanitation, vocational training and education will be priority areas that would have planned attention in sustained attempts to broad base areas for assistance, he noted. He said all envisaged attention would more..

June 30 (AD) The UNP today stated that the govt’s wide scale corruption and nepotism is continuing to burden the public and that the workers are becoming paupers while one family enjoys the riches. UNP MP Joseph Michael Perera stated that the govt has no money to even pay the salaries of SLTB employees, who he says have not been paid for 4-5 months. He stated that the when SLTB employees strike, govt politicians more..

June 30 (PTI) Four Fishermen from Thangachi Madham in Ramanathapuram district, stranded in the Sri Lankan area, had been rescued and they would be handed over to the Indian Coast Guard tomorrow along with their boat. Assistant Director of fisheries, Phelomin Thiagarajan, said the fishermen and the boat would be handed over to the Coast Guard personnel at the International Maritime Boundary Line by the Sri Lankan naval men tomorrow by 11 AM. more..

June 30 (NS) Nearly 200 university students have been suspended in four national universities within the past four months, according to Convener of the IUSF, Sanjeeva Bandara. These include 71 students from Sri Jayawardenapura University, 53 from Sabaragamuwa, 51 from Peradeniya and 21 from Ruhuna. Different reasons have been given for these suspensions. However, Bandara alleged that the real motive behind the suspension was the suppression of student protests. more..

June 30 (AD) The NFF today accused the SLMC of assisting separatists and blamed the its leader Minister Rauf Hakeem for turning the party into the “tail” of the TNA and doing its bidding. NFF spokesman Mohammed Muzammil stated that the TNA’s “nudity” is clear to everyone today and that the Tamil party itself has admitted to cooperating with the LTTE terrorist organization and supporting the Eelam cause. more..

June 30 (LBO) AirAsia, a Malaysia based budget carrier, is planning to resume flights to Sri Lanka's capital Colombo through its long-haul unit, a media report said. The Sunday Times newspaper quoted Ranjeewa Senaratne, who head of sales and marketing for Sri Lanka as saying that they hoped to resume flights as early as August through AirAsia X, the group's long-haul unit. The airline was in talks with Sri Lankan civil aviation authorities over the flights the report said. more..

June 30 (CT) Kingsley R. Robert, General Secretary of the Lanka Estate Service Union (LESU), said they will report sick today as well, in protest over not receiving their medical allowance for more than a year. The medical allowances have not been paid to the Sri Lanka State Plantations Corporation (SLSPC) officers over a year and they started a sick note campaign from yesterday to mark their protest. Over 200 officers of the SLSPC have notified the Chairman of the the Corporation on more..

June 30 (CG) Sri Lanka and Seychelles signed three agreements today following bilateral discussions between President Rajapaksa who is currently on a two-day state visit to Seychelles and his Seychelles counterpart James Alix Michel. The agreements signed were bilateral air-service agreement, MOU on vocational training and youth development and MOU on defense cooperation between the two countries. more..

June 30 (DM) The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has asked the Railway Department and the Transport Ministry to immediately submit a report regarding the unprotected railway crossings island-wide, Human Rights Commissioner Dr. Prathibha Mahanamahewa said today. The Commissioner said the HRCSL would intervene in the matter after considering several fatal incidents that took place throughout the country, and he further said the Commission would more..

June 30 (ST) The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has sent nine surveillance referrals to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) so far this year, SEC sources said. “Since the start of this year, CSE has referred nine irregularities to us and we are following these,” a SEC source told the Business Times. During the year 2012, a total of 54 surveillance referrals were prepared on various issues, where the SEC also received 14 surveillance referrals – which refer to suspicious trading more..

June 30 (PTI) The Sri Lankan parliamentary select committee (PSC) on devolution will meet on July 19 despite boycott by opposition members, who say the meeting has been convened to strip provincial council of powers. "The PSC with 19 govt MPs would meet as scheduled. The opposition is yet to name their allocation of 12 members," Nimal Siripala de Silva, the senior minister and Chair of the PSC said today. more..