July 3 (TOI) A Sri Lankan woman has appealed to the district administration to save the life of her 49-year-old husband, a prisoner undergoing treatment for blood vomiting at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial govt hospital (MGMGH). However, the officials reasoned that his health condition was not as worse as she claimed. Pattu Gunaraja of Jaffna in Sri Lanka was under treatment at MGMGH for the past one month. He was shifted from the Trichy Central Prison after he fell sick. more..

July 2 (SM) UNP’s LC chairman Karu Jayasuriya tells the govt that the people are realizing the truth about its hypocritical behaviour. In a statement, he says there is no 5 star democracy or people friendliness in the govt. “We can change this situation only by defeating the Rajapakse regime and abolishing the executive presidency,” he says. Statement reads, the UPFA Govt and its leaders repeatedly states that they are more..

July 3 (Island) Police Constable Suminda Saman, who came under a goon attack recently, has tendered his resignation. He claims he was assaulted and his car burnt because he had booked Deputy Minister Hemal Gunasekera’s driver on the Southern Expressway for speeding and had a nasty brush with the politician as a result. He has said he has no faith in the on-going police investigations and he fears for his safety. SSP Ajith Rohana has said investigations will take another week or so. more..

July 3 (CT) In the aftermath of the recent riots involving the Muslim and Sinhala communities in Aluthgama and Beruwala, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has begun to preach about unity and national unity to usher a new era whilst blaming the govt for the breakdown of law and order. He also confessed that the UNP Govt of his late uncle J.R. Jayewardene failed to curb the violence in 1983. Wickremesinghe was a Cabinet Minister in that govt when the July riots broke out. more..

July 3 (Island) What was ironic about the Aluthgama violence was that it took place in the Beruwela electorate where the SLFP organiser Minister Rajitha Senaratne happens to be a prominent activist for inter-ethnic harmony. He was overseas when violence flared up. He explains his take on what happened in Aluthgama. Q: You had just started your programme at Harvard University in the US when the Aluthgama incidents began more..

July 3 (CI) Sri Lanka have recalled batsmen Kithuruwan Vithanage and Upul Tharanga in their 16-man squad for the first two ODIs against South Africa in July. Suranga Lakmal makes a comeback after being injured during the series in England, while Kusal Perera has been included subject to fitness. Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Chandimal and Chaturanga de Silva, an allrounder who bowls left-arm spin, were the players cut from the group that travelled to England. more..

July 3 (CT) A truly Sri Lankan based family-owned business run by himself and his sisters, which he started at the age of 20 utilizing only the household cow, has now grown into a multi million rupee enterprise employing thousands and marketing 30 different dairy products, said Lal Keerthi Gunawardhana, introducing the Lucky Lanka Milk Processing Company IPO, on 1 July. He expected the Rs 300 million worth of shares of the company which will go on sale on 7 July 2014 to more..

July 3 (FT) The first dawn after the crescent moon sighting, which signalled the beginning of the Ramazan fasting season for Sri Lanka’s Muslim community this year, was marked by violence. It was the kind of shadowy, isolated attack that has been quietly besieging the Muslims of Sri Lanka for 18 long months, ever since the birth of the Bodu Bala Sena brought Sinhala Buddhist hardliners to the frontlines of politics in the country. more..

July 3 (FT) Japan is known as the land of the rising sun. At home, Sri Lanka and Japan enjoy perhaps one of the strongest and friendliest relationships. With former President J.R. Jayawardene in 1951 as Finance Minister appealing for compassion for Japan on global stage following World War 2, bilateral ties got a new meaning and a major boost. Last year Japan and Sri Lanka celebrated the 60th anniversary of bilateral relations with President Rajapaksa making a state visit to Tokyo. more..

July 3 (BH) Aylesbury Vale’s Anuradha Cooray ran in the inaugural Hackney Half Marathon that attracted almost 10,000 runners, over 9,500 of whom completed the race. Cooray ran a great race in difficult conditions to finish in third behind two Kenyan runners. He completed the course in 1.06.44, just 44 seconds behind second place. The race, one of the 10 largest in the UK, started and finished in Hackney Marshes with the route passing the famous Hackney Empire, not to mention more..

July 3 (CI) Allrounder Sachith Pathirana grabbed three wickets in four balls as Udarata Rulers lost four batsmen in a dramatic last over to fall five runs short of the target of 162 in the final against Southern Express after an opening stand of 95. Rulers needed eight runs going into the final over with five wickets in hand, but Pathirana conceded only three, one of them from a wide. The wide was the first delivery of the over. more..

July 3 (MoD) Strongly denying the false allegation fabricated with several photographs that, BBS has a link with the Secretary Defence', Military Spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya stated that, Secretary Defence Mr. Rajapaksa graced an opening ceremony of a Buddhist Cultural Centre, named 'Methsevana' at Pilana, Chanchawala in Galle during the day on an invitation extended by the founder of the Buddhist Cultural Centre Ven. Kirama Wimalajothi Thero. more..

July 3 (CT) With excess liquidity in the money market further constricted due to govt's foreign debt servicing commitments, the weighted average rate of call money transactions increased by one basis point (bp) to 6.98% yesterday, though overnight (o/n) market repo transactions stagnated at the 6.55% level. Since the beginning of the week, call money and o/n market repo transactions have had increased by three bps each. Yesterday, data showed that foreign exchange (FX) to more..

July 3 (CT) A senior economist has warned that the country's balance of payments surplus was unhealthy with weak business confidence and debt driven govt spending dominating the economic environment. Senior Economist Prof. Sirimal Abeyratne said Sri Lanka's current account and capital account in the balance of payments were driven by 'unhealthy' economic factors such as remittances and borrowings. more..

July 3 (Island) Extremely complex web communication and the associated proliferation of cyber space in the growing IT world spanning the web, in sync with allied communication facilities, prompted the establishment of the sector specific Computer Security Incident Response Team, (CSIRT). CSIRT fashioned to protect banks’ fund transfers and other usual bank business was launched this week under the auspices of the Central Bank at the Central Bank. more..

July 3 (Island) Ranjith Rubasinghe was appointed as the CEO of Mobitel with effect from June 27, 2014. Rubasinghe brings with him a wealth of experience in the fields of telecommunications and IT in several national and multinational organisations, including Sri Lanka Telecom for 12 years. He is a Chartered Engineer, Representative Fellow of the Council and the Chairman of the Electrical & Electronic Engineering Sectional Committee of the Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka (IESL) more..

July 3 (FT) The nation’s public sector enterprises have, for the first time, been ranked on the basis of public perceptions – by multinational research firm TNS, for leading business magazine LMD. In its July Cover Story, magazine also reports on the latest financials of Sri Lanka’s State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). Survey assesses the reputation of SOEs among the general public – it produces the personality traits of and perceptions more..

July 3 (Island) The Rajarata University has been closed indefinitely yesterday due to lecturers and non academic staff refraining from work in protest against student violence. Vice Chancellor of the University Prof. Ranjith Wijewardena said that the Teachers’ Association of the University had informed him in writing that they would not carry out academic and administrative duties until their safety was guaranteed at the university’s main complex at Mihintale. more..

July 3 (BT) These facts we know: There are confirmed reports of Tamil refugees headed for Australia. They are Sri Lankan Tamils who had gone to India and set out from Puducherry. Their English has a Sri Lankan accent, and their Tamil does not have a strong Indian-Tamil accent, so it is quite likely that they had been in India for only a short time. India has not signed the UN's Refugees Convention. One boat was certainly carrying 153 people: 84 men, 32 women and 37 children. more..

July 3 (TA) A boatload of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers found near Cocos Island has been picked up by Australian authorities and will be handed over to the Sri Lankan navy, navy official has confirmed. A second senior Sri Lankan navy official said the asylum-seekers, picked up on a separate boat from that believed to have left southern India in mid-June, would be transferred to a Sri Lankan naval vessel in mid-ocean, more..

July 3 (Island) A father hanged his two little children in the early hours of yesterday following a dispute with his wife employed abroad and attempted to commit suicide by slashing his wrist at Beediyawatte, Yatiyantota, according to police. Investigations have revealed that he killed his three-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter by hanging them from a roof beam. A police team led by Yatiyantota OIC Asela Herath visited the crime scene and arrested the suspect. more..

July 3 (DM) Charges had been filed before Colombo Additional Magistrate Chandima Liyanage against a popular actress and her husband for instructing a private bank to stop payment of a cheque valued at more than Rs 1.8 million, issued in connection with a construction project. The case had been filed against Upali Jayasinghe, Sabitha Perera and D.P. Jayasinghe Tours and Transport Private Company. The complainant in this regard was Amal Withana, Director of Lakmina Lanka Building Systems. more..

July 3 (SMH) PM Tony Abbott described SL as a society at peace, amid mounting speculation that two boats carrying Tamil asylum seekers have been handed over to SL navy in the middle of the ocean. He said it was no secret that Australia was turning back boats on the high seas. "We said before the election that one of the policy options that we reserve the right to use, were it safe to do so, is turning boats around," he said. more..

July 3 (Island) BBS Ven. Galabodaatta Gnanasara yesterday alleged that SLMC could be behind religious violence. Ven. Gnanasara was addressing the media outside the CID last evening after making statement to the police as regards allegations that the BBS was responsible for the recent religious strife at Alutgama and Beruwela. Police said that Ven. Gnanasara Thera had been questioned by the CID in the wake of allegations directed at his organisation over recent violence. more..

July 3 (AN) Sri Lankan Justice Minister Rauf Hakeen called on his govt to bring the perpetrators of recent violence in the country to justice. He lamented that those responsible for waging anti-Muslim violence were roaming free and stressed need to arrest them to restore law and order, the minister said while speaking with Arab News in Colombo. “The organization and the person who instigated the violence have not been held accountable for their crime,” Hakim said. more..

July 3 (FT) BBS General Secretary Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero was interrogated by the CID for four hours yesterday, as calls mount for action against the monk for allegedly inciting religious violence during a rally in Aluthgama two weeks ago. BBS CEO Dilantha Withanage said that the monk was taken in for “thorough” questioning at 2 p.m. and released by the CID at 6:20 p.m. “They asked him about his more..

July 3 (DM) Conflict after conflict, conflicts within conflicts and diseases within diseases for the past few months among doctors, nurses, midwives and other paramedical personnel, have plunged Sri Lanka’s life-or-death Public Health Services into a shameful shamble. The number one priority in the Public Health Service should be the well-being of millions of suffering patients, many of them from the poverty-stricken classes and some of them the poorest of the poor. more..

July 3 (DM) Opposition MP Mangala Samaraweera, never out of the limelight for long, was the focus of attention when he made startling accusations about Army’s alleged involvement in the communal riots that engulfed Aluthgama and its neighbouring towns recently. Samaraweera was to say that military intelligence officers were responsible for the riots. He could have opted to make the statement in Parliament where he would have been protected by Parliamentary privilege. more..

July 3 (SL) Speculation is rife behind the arrest of the leader of the Jathika Bala Sena a fierce critic and hardliner Ven. Watareka Vijitha thero by the police on Wednesday after he was discharged from the National Hospital, Colombo. According to police, the whole incident was a fabricated story of the Thero to seek police security, as he had death threats. A member of the Mahiyangana PS said that Vijitha Threo had more..

July 3 (SLA) In compliance with military formalities, generally conducted in all military ceremonies elsewhere, the first batch of 30 woman recruits from Mullaittivu area, passed out on Wednesday during a colourful ceremony upon completion of their three-month long training period at the Security Force Headquarters - Mullaittivu (SFHQ-MLT). The ceremony, headed by Major General Jagath Dias, more..

July 3 (ST) Dengue fever, which has claimed 50 lives and made 17,000 people ill, will put the country’s lucrative tourism sector in danger if the current outbreak continues, a top health official warned. Peaks of dengue outbreaks are experienced in June and July and a lack of preventive measures will drive tourists away. The United States has warned its citizens travelling or living here that dengue fever continues to pose risks. more..

July 3 (DM) Govt members received a piece of paper with 5 questions mentioned, at a workshop conducted on Monday in Beruwala. Workshop, meant for all the ruling party members, was graced by President Rajapaksa. In this manner, their opinions were sought on whether govt should opt for a parliamentary election or presidential election first. It was a survey, and members had the chance to express their views confidentially. more..

July 3 (CT) The Chairman of the State Printing Corporation (SPC) Jayampathi Bandara Heenkenda is under investigation over allegations of financial irregularities, owing to an internal document being leaked to the public. The document had been leaked for reasons of political gain or a personal grudge, Heenkenda remarked. The SPC comes under the direct purview of the Ministry of Mass Media and Information. more..

July 3 (DN) The newly built Sri Lanka Customs headquarters building at Charmers Jetty in Colombo Fort will be opened by President Rajapaksa on July 14. The new building which has state-of-the-art facilities, will bring over 20 directorates of Customs that functioned in various places under one roof. It has been built at a cost of Rs. 4 billion. Aside from space for its administrative functions, the building also includes a state-of-the-art more..

July 3 (Island) The Supreme Court will resume the hearing of an appeal filed by the poosaris of the Munneswaram Sri Baddrakali Amman Kovil, Chilaw on July 31. The poosaries yesterday submitted for the consideration of the Court, the mechanism proposed by them for Regulating the annual Velvi festival of the kovil. The respondents in the appeal, the original petitioners in the Court of Appeal, Sri Bodhiraja Foundation more..

July 3 (HRW) At least 142 Pakistanis arrested in police sweeps in Sri Lanka in June 2014 are being detained and are at risk of deportation, Human Rights Watch said today. The Sri Lankan controller general of immigration should not deport members of Pakistani minority groups until the UNHCR has had full access to them and determined their need for international protection. Most are members of Ahmadiyya minority, more..

July 3 (Island) The GMOA lamented that Sri Lanka lacked effective and fully-pledged Food Authority Act for the last 33 years. GMOA President Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya pointed out that successive govts had failed to focus their attention on ensuring food safety. Numerous kinds of food items with artificial preservatives and flavouring enhancers were being added to the food items sold to the people. more..

July 3 (DN) South Africa’s Special Envoy to Sri Lanka Cyril Ramaphosa will arrive in Sri Lanka on Monday for talks with the govt, the opposition and other groups in an initiative to find a lasting solution to the North-East problem. Earlier the visit of Ramaphosa was in the balance due to opposition by some UPFA constituent partners. Meanwhile, TNA leader, MP R. Sambanthan said he was not aware of Mr. Ramphosa’s visit to Sri Lanka more..

July 3 (CT) As reported in Tuesday's issue of this newspaper, the Department of Police is to shortly begin the second phase of the programme to install Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras within the precincts of inner-Colombo. A peep into what is happening in Colombo on a 24/7 cycle would certainly represent a peep into a futuristic, modern-day Sri Lanka, the moves of the criminals, ordinary people and law enforcement officials, every transgression human and vehicular, more..

July 3 (Island) Wildlife officers will move deep into forests in Uda Walawe and Hambantota to ascertain how many animals have died after drinking from waterholes poisoned by hunters. Wildlife and Conservation Department, Director General, H.D. Ratnayake said that hearing that some animals like deer and monkeys had died due to drinking poisoned water a team had been dispatched. They would conduct tests on waterholes to find out whether they have been poisoned. more..