Apr 8 (CI) This XI was collated from votes given by ESPNcricinfo's staff who worked on the World T20. Many selections were clear, but a few areas prompted more uncertainty: especially the wicketkeeper and opening batsmen. Also, the desire to field a balanced team was taken into consideration with the decision to field two spinners and two quicks among the four specialist bowlers. Stephan Myburgh (7 matches, 224 runs @ 32.00, S/R 154.48): The attacking left hander more..

Apr 8 (DN) Minister Johnston Fernando promised a plentiful New Year where essential commodities are concerned and a guarantee that there would be no increase in the price of goods with round the clock vigilance by raiding units of the CAA to haul up errant traders attempting to cash in on the heavy volume of shoppers. "There will certainly be no shortage of food items or increase in prices of commodities during the New Year season," more..

Apr 8 (PTI) India lost its No. 1 status to Sri Lanka after being defeated in the World Twenty20 final but star batsman Virat Kohli and spinner R. Ashwin attained career-high positions of second and third respectively in the latest ICC rankings. “India pair of Kohli and Ashwin has attained career-best rankings, at the end of the ICC World Twenty20 2014, in the latest ICC Player Rankings for T20I batsmen and ICC Player Ranking for T20I bowlers respectively,” the ICC said in a statement. more..

Apr 8 (Island) Members of the business community within the Central and Wayamba Province showed an avid interest in the possibility of raising capital through listing on the Capital Market, at a forum held recently to inform entrepreneurs on the benefits of going public. Issuer relations forum, held at the Earl’s Regency, was jointly organized by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in association with Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and saw participation of over 50 businessmen more..

Apr 8 (FT) Citrus Leisure ceremoniously declared open its iconic five-star property Citrus Waskaduwa today. The hotel is the largest to be built anew in post-war Sri Lanka on a 9.5 acre land with 150-rooms set on an unspoilt, tranquil beach strip of half a kilometre, which promises a holiday experience like no other. Designed and constructed with elegance and “happiness moments” in mind, more..

Apr 8 (ST) Nature’s Beauty Creations Ltd, a natural herbal cosmetics company, is now coming up with a novel type of bio fertiliser aimed at reviving deteriorating soil conditions in Sri Lankan plantations due to application of chemical fertiliser and agro chemicals, a top official of the company said. It has formed Lanka Bio Fertilisers (Pvt) Ltd as a subsidiary to commercially manufacture and market ‘Biofilm’ bio fertiliser developed by a group of Sri Lankan scientists from the IFS more..

Apr 8 (Island) This programme enables two IELTS candidates to win a scholarship worth Rs 500,000 each to any university in the world. The offer is open to all candidates taking the IELTS test with the British Council from 1 Jan to 15 April 2014. Scholarship programme is focused on enabling the most talented IELTS students to gain access to higher education at any university in the world. "IELTS is recognised by over 8,000 organisations and is among other mandatory more..

Apr 8 (DM) President Rajapaksa is placed on 34 among the list of the 100 Most Influential Asian People of 2014 published by Asian Awards Ltd 2014. Chinese and Indians dominated the list of the 100 Most Influential Asian People of 2014 published by Asian Awards Ltd 2014. Chinese President Xi Jinping, also head of the ruling Communist Party of China, topped the list for a second consecutive time. The awards are given in different categories more..

Apr 8 (Hindu) Nuwan Zoysa credits Sri Lankan bowling for the World Cup T20 victory on Sunday at Mirpur. “Lanka bowling was spot on, especially when it came to yorkers. India’s batting line-up is mighty, but the bowlers had done their homework and became difficult to score off them. Virat Kohli is a big-match player and consistent in different formats. Even he had to be patient. Otherwise, limiting the Indian batting to 130 is unthinkable.” The former Lankan fast bowler is in Rajkot as more..

Apr 8 (ST) Sri Lanka’s trade unions are proposing a national minimum wage for private sector employees and to implement an unemployment benefit insurance scheme as well as a pension scheme for Employees Provident Fund members and a social security scheme for the informal sector. They have also proposed to set up a national wages commission for the private sector. These were the major suggestions included in a 9-point proposal submitted jointly by 4 leading trade unions more..

Apr 8 (FT) As Sri Lanka’s first batch of exporters successfully captured their licences to officially flavour the world with Sri Lanka’s second global brand yesterday, the country recommitted to $ 1 billion in spice and cinnamon exports by 2020. “Today, nine Sri Lankan cinnamon export firms are empowered by this initiative. Together, these nine firms claim more than 25% of our annual cinnamon export values. more..

Apr 8 (FT) Luxury cruise-liner Amadea called at Magam Ruhunupura Mahinda Rajapaksa Port (MRMRP) in Hambantota recently with 479 passengers comprising 423 German nationals and 322 crew members and was under the command of Capt. Jarle Hatebo, creating history as her maiden call at MRMRP. At Hambantota, passengers set off for day excursions in Kataragama and the Udawalawe Sanctuary and their tour was operated by Walkers Tours. more..

Apr 8 (Island) The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) is considering the possibility of propagating its BSc. Degree in Applied Accounting among South Asian countries. CA Sri Lanka President Arjuna Herath said, "we should promote this degree internationally, and as a first step in realizing this endeavor, we must market the degree programme initially to students in the SAARC region," he said. BSc. Degree in Applied Accounting which was more..

Apr 8 (HRW) Sri Lankan govt’s decision to label 16 overseas Tamil organizations as financers of terrorism is so broad that it appears aimed at restricting peaceful activism by the country’s Tamil minority, Human Rights Watch said. Govt should provide evidence of the unlawful activity of specific groups and individuals or remove them from the list. On April 4, Minister G.L. Peiris made public an order signed on March 20, on the advice of the more..

Apr 8 (DN) Parents have to resume traditional food, food habits and behavior patterns if the country needs a healthy and psychologically sound future generation, said Gampaha Base Hospital Mental Health Unit Medical Officer Dr. Srimal Perera. He said some parents are used to feeding their children with junk food, instant food, noodles with artificial flavors which may be cancerous. He said parents give their children milk for breakfast which is the most important meal of the day. more..

Apr 8 (Hindu) After a prolonged and disheartening drought, the ICC World Twenty20 win must come as a supremely happy relief to Sri Lankan cricket. A wretched run in the knockout stages of major tournaments, including four final losses in the last seven years, was ultimately snapped in Dhaka with a victory over India. It was fitting that Kumar Sangakkara, one of the greats of Sri Lankan cricket, played a principal role in the outcome in his last T20 appearance. more..

Apr 8 (CT) A petition was filed in the Supreme Court yesterday, challenging the constitutionality of the Ilankai Tamil Arusu Kachchi (ITAK), the electoral vehicle of the Tamil National Alliance, under the controversial 6th Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka. The petitioner prayed Court to declare that ITAK is a political party, which has the establishment of a separate state, within the territory of Sri Lanka, as one of its aims and objects. more..

Apr 8 (LR) Sri Lankan cricket fans in Canada celebrated their team’s first major world title in 18 years with street parties in Toronto and Brampton yesterday. Revelers danced on Gerard Street, South Asian bazaar district and then paraded in dozens of cars, draped with Sri Lankan flags through the downtown core to Yonge Dundas square. It was the first major party in Toronto since 2008, when the visiting Sri Lanka T20 squad led by Mahela Jayawardene defeated Pakistan in a more..

Apr 8 (CT) Skipper of the 1996 World Cup winning Sri Lanka cricket team and Kalutara District DNA MP, Arjuna Ranatunga, yesterday expressed his elation at Sri Lanka emulating his team's feat of winning a world title, although it took them 18 years. "Sri Lanka's performance in winning the T 20 World Cup at the Shere Bangla Stadium, in Mirpur, Bagladesh on Sunday night was exceptionally brilliant where the team gelled well, playing as one unit" Ranatunga told Ceylon Today. more..

Apr 8 (DBS) Sri Lankan defence establishment has successfully accomplished the feat of renditioning a senior leader of the LTTE functioning abroad with the aid and cooperation of Iranian and Malaysian authorities. Senior LTTE leader Nanthagopan was brought to Sri Lanka exactly one month ago on March 6th. He has been functioning as one of the two deputy leaders of the LTTE overseas network controlled by more..

Apr 8 (CG) The Govt has assured equal rights to all communities in Sri Lanka with President Rajapaksa saying there cannot be any minorities in the country. Addressing the National Unity Convention at the BMICH, he said that all citizens in Sri Lanka have equal rights to live as one nation and one people with same laws and facilities, without any discrimination. “This is my policy. That is the policy enshrined in the Mahinda Chinthana. There cannot be any minorities. more..

Apr 8 (CT) Press Council of Sri Lanka announced that journalists are now able to immediately lodge their complaints, regarding incidents of harassment, threats or injustices, via an online complaint mechanism which has been established at the Press Council. Acting Press Commissioner, Nalaka Kaluwewa, expressing his views, said that the initiative is part of the National Plan of Action (NPOA) which has been set in place to implement the recommendations of the LLRC. more..

Apr 8 (Island) Sri Lanka will not cooperate with the proposed war crimes investigation undertaken by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, though the govt remains committed to work with the UN as well as other international agencies, such as ICRC. Minister G.L. Peiris emphasized that the govt of Sri Lanka wouldn’t accept the jurisdiction of the UNHRC to undertake an inquiry, therefore more..

Apr 8 (DM) Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki-moon has asked Sri Lanka to engage constructively and cooperate with the UN’s human rights body to implement the US-led resolution passed in Geneva. This is as it should be. Ban Ki-moon is after all the top employee of the UN. He is duty bound to support lesser employees in their work, the relevant individual being the chief of the UNHRC Navi Pillay. UN chief’s request to the Sri Lankan govt is a necessary and timely move. more..

Apr 8 (DM) In a historic judgment, an ordinary citizen has successfully argued a case against the traffic police and won it. Mohammad Baskar Farouk isn’t a lawyer. But, falsely accused by the traffic section of the Pallama police station for using a mobile phone while driving, and charged accordingly, he defended himself successfully in court. He decided to forego the services of a lawyer because, apart from the expense, he wasn’t sure a lawyer would argue the case the way he wanted to. more..

Apr 8 (DM) It is the 21stcentury and according to UNICEF statistics 783 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. Each day at least 5,000 children die of preventable water and sanitation-related diseases. The world is plummeting towards a situation of extreme water scarcity. Indeed, between now and 2025, it is expected that we will need 17% more water to produce food for the swelling populace of developing countries. more..

Apr 8 (IE) “For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name, he marks not that you won or lost, but how you played the game.” This line was written by Grantland Rice, the American sports writer but has been Percy Abeysekera’s lifestory over 18 years; ever since he watched Arjuna’s side win the 1996 World Cup title. Since that glorious night, Percy, the most famous non-playing SL at a cricket ground, more..

Apr 8 (CI) Sri Lanka's highest scorer of the tournament, Mahela Jayawardene, was the joint tenth-highest over the entire World Twenty20; their highest wicket-taker, Nuwan Kulasekara, was the ninth-best in the tournament. India, on the other hand, had the highest run-scorer in Virat Kohli, and the second-best wicket-taker in R Ashwin; two of their top run-getters were among the top four, and more..

Apr 8 (SL) As was to be expected after the twin-PC polls in the West and the South, UNP’s Ranil Wickremesinghe has sounded the bugle for street-protests in the long run-up to the presidential polls, due in January 2016. For his part, DP leader Sarath Fonseka was the first one to kick-start the future campaign, by readily proposing a common candidate for the presidency, to take on incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa. more..

Apr 8 (ST) 14 undergraduates of Sri J'pura University arrested by police for allegedly assaulting a security guard were granted bail of Rs. 50,000 each on Friday by Nugegoda Magistrate. Next hearing is due on July 11. Mirihana police arrested the 14 second-year students of the Arts Faculty on Monday on charges of assaulting university security guard and damaging the security post at the university on Feb 24. more..

Apr 8 (Reuters) Sri Lanka sold a $500 million, five-year sovereign bond at a yield of 5.125%. It was the second eurobond the $67 billion economy sold this year. In January, it sold $1 billion, five-year sovereign bond at a yield of 6%. SL's 2014 budget approved a $1.5 billion overseas borrowing to finance some infrastructure projects. Latest bond issue, 7th since the first eurobond in 2007, was priced at a yield of 5.125% after a 5.5% initial more..

Apr 8 (CG) President of the TNPF and lawyer Gajen Ponnambalam questioned the motives behind the Govt’s decision to proscribe several Tamil Diaspora groups and individuals living overseas. Ponnambalam said the move seemed to have been linked with the resolution adopted at the UNHRC. He said that if the Govt had the documents related to the Diaspora groups for a long period of time as claimed by some officials, more..

Apr 8 (Island) Leader of the Democratic Party (DP) and former army commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka yesterday again pitched into Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya and said that he (Fonseka) did not see a difference between a scarecrow and a corpse as the Commissioner had said he was happy to be called a scarecrow rather than a corpse. Soon after after swearing in ceremony of DP members who more..

Apr 8 (Island) President Rajapaksa on Sunday officially declared open the country’s latest five star resort Citrus Leisure at Waskaduwa. Citrus Leisure is a 150 room property in the golden mile tourist resort between Kalutara and Beruwala, which is lined with a string of tourist hotels belonging to Citrus Leisure PLC. After declaring open the hotel, the President was led to a special enclosure by Minister Rohitha Abeygunawardane and more..

Apr 8 (DM) Lakshman Hulugalle, former Director General of MCNS who was removed from his posts under controversial circumstances was prevented from receiving a diplomatic posting when a minister opposed the move at last week’s cabinet meeting, govt source said. He said a much respected senior minister had expressed serious concerns when Minister G.L. Peiris’s cabinet memo to appoint more..

Apr 8 (CT) One last sixer over the straight hit and the entire nation erupted in celebration. That victory has been a long time coming and Sri Lanka waited for 18 long years for that poignant moment. It was a low scoring game, but for three nervous hours it kept 20 million Sri Lankans - and 1.2 billion Indians across the Palk Strait - on their toes, until that seventeenth over, when maestro Kumar Sangakkara and Thisara Perera took control of the game, and guided Sri Lanka to an emphatic victory. more..

Apr 8 (CT) Arjuna Ranatunga and the team he led did Sri Lanka proud by winning the ICC World Cricket Cup in the 50-over version of the game at the picturesque Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore in 1996. After an 18-year wait, Sri Lanka has now won the even shorter version of the game by winning the T-20 ICC World Cup in Dhaka after coming excruciatingly close to winning a World Cricket Cup on four previous occasions during this near two decade wait. As in 1996, so in 2014, more..

Apr 8 (Reuters) The Sri Lankan rupee ended firmer on Tuesday due to remittances from migrant workers and exporter dollar sales ahead of the festive season, but a state bank greenback buying capped the appreciation in the local currency, dealers said. The spot rupee which strengthened 0.1 percent to 130.55 during the day ended at 130.57/63 per dollar, firmer from Monday's close of 130.68/70. "If not for the state (bank) buying, rupee would have strengthened further. more..

Apr 8 (Island) 13 students and two drivers were hospitalized yesterday afternoon after a school bus carrying students from Horana crashed head on with the pre-mix cement truck at Egaloya in the Bulathsinhala police area. The school bus plying to Bulathsinhala from Horana collided head on with the truck around 2.40 p.m. when it attempted to overtake a trishaw. There had been 13 students at the time of the tragedy in the bus and all of them had sustained injuries. more..