Oct 10 (Island) A 62-year-old man succumbed to injuries he sustained in a crocodile attack on Tuesday at the Kataragama hospital. The victim, Chandrasena Wijewickrama of Veyangoda, had been attacked by the crocodile while he was bathing in the Dawson Lake in the Kataragama police area around 4.30 p.m. On hearing the victim’s screams the others who were bathing in the lake at the time a little distance away where the tragedy occurred rushed to his rescue and pulled him out of more..

Oct 10 (SL) Italian manufactured undersea buoy hose in Muthurajawela which is allegedly of inferior quality, and had ruptured 10 days ago, is to be replaced with a used, old, yet quality Japanese hose, a high official at CPC said. Sources, on grounds of anonymity said that although the Ceylon Petroleum Storage Terminal Limited (CPSTL) had gone ahead to purchase undersea buoy hose from the Italian company – Minoli, more..

Oct 10 (FT) In Sri Lanka, the mood within the F&B industry is bleak: the Govt in its 2015 Budget proposals sets out an increase in Nation Building Tax (NBT) and Value Added Tax (VAT) as well as a 15-25% increase in the price of customs duty on imported wines and spirits. Unsurprisingly, this triple whammy is expected to hit growth in the F&B sector hard, there is no doubt consumption will drop – and industry experts are deeply concerned. The move to increase taxation is particularly inexplicable, more..

Oct 10 (PTI) Hospitality major InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) today appointed Shantha de Silva as Head of South West Asia to oversee its India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka operations. He will be leading the company's business in the region, with a focus on India as a key market and will be responsible for driving growth and operational performance of 21 hotels across four brands: InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express, IHG said in a statement. more..

Oct 10 (CT) The island-wide strike by railway employees will continue as a meeting between Deputy Minister of Transport Rohana Dissanayake and Secretary to the Treasury P.B. Jayasundara failed to bear fruit yesterday. Deputy Minister Dissanayake, when contacted in relation to the strike, said he would discuss the demands of the railway employees with the Secretary to the Treasury P.B. Jayasundara. more..

Oct 10 (ST) Sri Lanka’s Law and Society Trust recently held a forum in Colombo on “Sri Lanka’s Road to Sustainable Development” aimed at furthering the discourse on human rights based approach to development in the context of post war Sri Lanka. While the forum featured ideas and points of view from a variety of actors: political, academic and civil society what follows is a brief summary of the main points; which are presented here in order to carry forward the discussions initiated at more..

Oct 10 (FT) Visiting foreign delegates yesterday raised concerns regarding key elements of the local capital market, indicating exercising of caution before investing in the country. During an interactive panel discussion at the Capital Market Conference 2014, potential investors sought clarification from the regulators themselves on areas such as availability of liquidity, transaction costs and probable impacts on Sri Lanka due to interest rates increase in the US. more..

Oct 10 (CT) An attempt by JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, to raise the issue of an alleged assault on Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to the UK, Chris Nonis, in Parliament yesterday, proved futile with Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody not granting leave to proceed. Deputy Speaker prevented MP Dissanayake, on the grounds that the statement was against Standing Orders, when the latter tried more..

Oct 10 (CI) Former West Indies captain Viv Richards has said the ICC's crackdown on bowlers with suspect actions has not come at the correct time and it should have been done a while ago. "In my opinion such action should have been taken some time ago and on a wider basis because these guys have been there for quite some time," Richards said in Colombo, where he is with the West Indies A team as technical director. "I am not sure because West Indies are touring India, more..

Oct 10 (CI) Sri Lanka Women have named uncapped Imalka Mendis in their 14-member squad for the forthcoming home series against South Africa Women, which starts from October 15. The other notable changes to the Sri Lanka squad are the inclusions of Hasini Perera, Ama Kanchana, Sanduni Abeywickrema, Nilakshi de Silva and Prasadani Weerakkody. Wicketkeeper Dilani Manodara, who played for Sri Lanka in their last ODI series against India in January and more..

Oct 10 (LBO) Sri Lanka’s capital market is to list more than 50 companies in the next two to three years, Nalaka Godahewa, Chairman of the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) said. “If you look at last five years since 2009, 73 new companies have been listed,” Nalaka Godahewa, Chairman of the SEC said. “Going forward we have identified the need to bring more and more companies in to the market,” more..

Oct 10 (DM) Inadequate backup power in the World Trade Centre building in Colombo Fort, had forced many people to use the stairs during a power outage this evening, witnesses said. It was also reported that one elevator filled with people had between floors stuck for a long period during the blackout. However, a spokesperson for Overseas Realty, which maintains the building, said that there was adequate backup power. He said there was no fault in the generators and more..

Oct 10 (DN) Govt has allocated Rs. 125 million to develop nurses training schools in the country, in 2014, Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said. There are around 30,000 nurses in the state sector while still there are a large number of vacancies for nurses in that sector. Therefore it is very difficult to give transfers to nurses on their requests. Although the Health Ministry called for applications from eligible candidates to fill the vacancies in the health sector, very few qualified candidates more..

Oct 10 (CT) The Northern Provincial Council yesterday introduced a resolution, at a special session, urging the Security Forces to vacate from the private buildings and private lands in all five districts of the Northern Province before 31 December this year. The Chairman of the Northern Provincial Council, C.V.K. Sivagnanam, who had tabled the resolution at the special session said that the resolution was passed unanimously. more..

Oct 10 (CG) World renowned, award winning singer/songwriter Lionel Richie thanked Sri Lanka today for the warm welcome he received after arriving in the country for a special concert. Richie arrived to perform at the 25th anniversary concert of the Access Group, which is mainly for invitees, with limited amount of tickets being sold. After arriving in Sri Lanka the singer tweeted saying “Arriving in Sri Lanka. Thank you so much for the warm welcome Colombo”. more..

Oct 10 (CT) The Finance Ministry has directed the four State banks to disburse Rs 200 billion in gold loans before end 2014. The Ministry has directed the Bank of Ceylon to disburse loans to purchase gold to the tune of Rs 60 billion, the People's Bank, Rs 70 billion, the National Savings Bank, Rs 50 billion and the Regional Development Banks a further Rs 20 billion, totaling to Rs 200 billion. The banks have been asked to meet the target by end 2014, Treasury sources told Ceylon Today. more..

Oct 10 (FT) A seemingly-upbeat Govt yesterday wooed global investors, promising a prosperous future and outlining goals as far as 2040, with an emphasis that Sri Lanka offers the best growth opportunities based on post-war resurgence so far. The platform from which the emphatic message was conveyed was the mega Capital Market Conference 2014 attended by 70 international fund managers from UK, US, Switzerland, India, more..

Oct 10 (CT) Landmines and anti personnel mines which still remain buried in the land area of 1,620 acres of paddy fields in the Kilinochchi District will be unearthed shortly according to the Kilinochchi District Secretary Rupavathy Ketheeswaran. Seasonal paddy cultivation in hundreds of areas in the Kilinochchi District has not been carried out by farmers due to the dangers of the land mines which are generally known as the 'hidden enemies'. Despite the demining in Wanni & Kilinochchi more..

Oct 10 (DN) Since President Rajapaksa possesses great courage and self confidence more than most other world leaders, international forces are trying to create regime change to install one of their pawns in power spending billions of dollars, said Minister Keheliya Rambukwella. Certain local leaders who tried to demarcate borders and hand over certain parts of the country to forces which espoused the cause of separatism through agreements are shamelessly trying to contest the more..

Oct 10 (CT) TNA MP Suresh Premachandran pointed out that President Rajapaksa was planning to kick off his Presidential Election campaign with his tour of Jaffna on 13 October. "President Rajapaksa's visit to Jaffna next week is not focussed on addressing the humanitarian problems of the people, such as resettling IDPs, in their original places and freeing the region of military presence. more..

Oct 10 (DM) Yesterday was World Sight Day and our cartoonist Awantha Artigala showed that a picture or a cartoon is more effective than a thousand words. In brilliant imagery and symbolism he portrayed the crisis in Sri Lanka where the statue of justice— a blindfolded lady holding the scales evenly was being led by a blind politician with white cane. Our sister newspaper the Ada carried this cartoon which told the story of how the independence of judiciary—time-honoured more..

Oct 10 (Island) Sri Lankans never learn from their mistakes and they are gluttons for punishment. They keep electing rogues to represent them. When they are fed up with one set of crooks they vote for another band of scoundrels who begin to do more of what their predecessors have done. Centuries ago, in a bid to get rid of the Portuguese who committed heinous crimes against them, Sri Lankans sided with the Dutch only to see the newfound liberator metamorphose into a monster. more..

Oct 10 (ST) Yala National Park, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country, is an almost unrelieved stretch of dried vegetation. Only the trunk and branches of large trees remain in many places. The bark of most trees is long gone, with animals feeding on it with food now scarce. Water tanks inside the park have now become large bare areas of dried mud. Along park trails further inside, hoses pumping water more..

Oct 10 (Island) The Colombo National Hospital Judicial Medical Officer revealed that Kollupitiya hardware businessman, Vijaya Kumar Dayaram (64) had died due to critical injuries he sustained in his heart from a sharp weapon like a knife. Kollupitiya police alerted by the police emergency service had recovered a knife lying on his chest around 6.15 p.m. on Wednesday at his residence, 06, Palmyrah Road, Kollupitiya, more..

Oct 10 (DM) Some 10,000 transfers will be effected within the police department during the next year, in a bid to create a more efficient service, the Police Headquarters said. The transfers will be given to officers below the rank of Inspectors from January next year. More than 5,000 transfers will involve police officers who are now serving in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. These transfers would not be based on more..

Oct 10 (Island) Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) leader Kumar Gunaratnam couldn’t even contest a PS election let alone stand for president because he was an Australian citizen, authoritative sources said in response to speculation that he would come here to contest the next presidential election. As Gunaratnam had obtained an Australian passport (N 1016123) bearing the name, Noel Mudalige, he had lost the right to exercise more..

Oct 10 (MoD) A delegation led by Indian Defence Secretary Shri RK Mathur held discussions with his Sri Lankan counterpart Gotabaya Rajapaksa and high-ranking Sri Lankan Defence Officials at the Ministry premises during the sidelines of the 2nd Annual Defence Dialogue held yesterday. Indian Defence Secretary Mathur and the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Rajapaksa co-chaired the 2nd Defence Dialogue in the company of more..

Oct 10 (DM) Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shaharyar Khan had made a very brief and top secret visit to Sri Lanka last morning to have a discussion with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) President Jayantha Dharmadasa and invite Sri Lanka “A” and Under 19 teams to tour Pakistan. What appears to be a desperate move by the PCB Chairman to show the world that Pakistan is safe enough for visiting sports teams comes more..

Oct 10 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's foreign direct investments rose 49% in the first nine month of the year from the same period a year earlier to $1.3 billion, state-run Board of Investment said on Friday. The investment board said in a statement that an estimated 23,600 jobs new jobs were created by the enterprises under its purview. The $67 billion economy achieved $870 million in FDI in the first nine months of last year, more..

Oct 10 (Island) The Professional Trade Union Alliance (PTUA) had been invited to a meeting with President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunge. The Secretary to the Finance Ministry Dr. P.B. Jayasundara, who met the PTUA yesterday afternoon, had invited the PTUA to discuss the issue with the President’s Secretary, Alliance Convener Janaka Fernando said. Thousands of rail commuters, including schoolchildren got stranded yesterday more..

Oct 10 (NS) Indian Defence Secretary R.K. Mathur called on President Rajapaksa at the President's House in Kandy this morning. President Rajapaksa has continuously maintained that cooperation between Sri Lanka and India in the sector of defence is an important aspect of the strong friendship shared by the two South Asian neighbours. Among the range of matters that came into focus during the meeting, more..

Oct 10 (Xinhua) The World Bank said on Friday that Sri Lanka's short-term macroeconomic outlook remains positive, but warned the country's growth will depend on structural adjustments in the external and fiscal sectors and the implementation of sound macro-management policies. In its latest economic report on South Asian countries, the World Bank says the outlook for Sri Lanka remains positive with more..

Oct 10 (Island) Supreme Court yesterday informed Parliament that the provisions of Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Bill were not inconsistent with the Constitution. Announcing the Supreme Court decision, Deputy Speaker Chandima Weerakkody said: "I wish to announce to the House that I have received the determination of the Supreme Court in respect of the Bill titled ‘Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses’, more..

Oct 10 (Reuters) The Sri Lankan rupee ended weaker on Friday due to dollar demand from importers and banks, while dealers said the central bank's moral suasion capped the local currency at 130.40 and forwards picked up as a result. The spot currency was quoted at 130.40/50 per dollar. Dealers said the spot rupee did not trade above 130.40 as banks were reluctant to trade beyond this level due to moral suasion by the central bank. The rupee had closed 130.35/45 on Thursday. more..

Oct 10 (LBO) Sri Lanka's stocks closed 0.88% lower with tobacco and banking stocks losing ground amid strong foreign selling. All Share Price Index closed 65.08 points lower at 7,321.00, down 0.88%. The S&P SL20 closed 41.33 points lower at 4,110.02, down 1%. Turnover was 2.81 billion rupees, up from 1.46 billion rupees a day earlier with 53 stocks closed positive against 164 negative. John Keells Holdings closed 1.10 rupees lower at 250.90 rupees with nine off-market transactions of more..

Oct 10 (CT) A visitor to this country can be forgiven for thinking that the majority of Sri Lankans are automatons, living day to day in an unthinking routine of motion and reaction. The capacity to initiate, a fundamental feature of an autonomous being, is only a preserve of a select few. Whichever place he were to go to, the visitor will observe columns, banners, plaques and hoardings commemorating the beginning, launching or the opening of a project, by the govt. more..

Oct 10 (CT) With the talks about the possible presidential polls in 2015, Budget 2015 too would be very crucial for the govt as well as to the public. Followed by the presentation of the Appropriation Bill 2015, Opposition opined that the Budget 2015 would be an election oriented one, highlighting the possibility of the supplementary estimates could be added to the Budget 2014. JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti, said that more..

Oct 10 (CT) The declared Govt policy on encroachment as contained in a cabinet decision, was to regularise all bona fide encroachments made prior to 31st March 1979, if the land did not fall within reservations, and to debar encroachers after 7th April 1980 from be- ing considered for land. Deserving non-citizens on encroachments prior to 31st March 1979, were to be allowed to remain on their encroachments until their citizenship was decided (see Gamini Dissanayake, referred more..

Oct 10 (Island) District Judge of Colombo Sujatha Alahapperuma, yesterday issued notice on the President of the Self Employees Union, Mahinda Kahandagama and its Secretary Chanaka Hettiarachchi. They have been asked to be present in court or be represented by a counsel on Oct 23, 2014. The notice is pertaining to an application for a restraining order on these respondents filed by Sunil Perera of Colombo 5 and A.W.A.N. Swarnalatha of Mademulle, Minuwangoda. more..