June 4 (Island) Bank of Ceylon has once again been ranked No.1 Brand in the country by Brand Finance Lanka, a subsidiary of Brand Finance network (UK). With the current rating Bank of Ceylon has set an unrivalled record by becoming the only business to have achieved this status for seven consecutive years. The Bank has increased its brand value up to Rs. 38 Billon in 2015 from 30 Billion in 2014. Having celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2014 BOC has been continuously fulfilling more..

June 4 (CT) Almost 150 members of the Eastern Province Voluntary Teachers' Association yesterday began to go on a hunger strike in rotation demanding to make their appointments permanent, opposite the Eastern Provincial Secretariat. If a favourable response is not given by the education officials they will organize a fast-unto-death protest, Eastern Province Voluntary Teachers' Association President R. Jeyamohan stated. He said his association had twice metnew Chief Minister more..

June 4 (GDI) Sri Lanka Tourism in a new initiative has ventured out to capture the fast growing Cruise Tourism, the new market segment with 21.7 million guests worldwide. Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism Promotions Bureau (SLTPB) Rohantha Athukorala said Sri Lanka Tourism has chalked a new marketing plan to get the slice of the Cruise Tourism market where the island is registering 50,000 plus in 2015. more..

June 4 (Island) EAP Broadcasting Company, (EBC) a member of the EAP Group of Companies, has announced that it intends to issue listed, rated redeemable debentures worth a total value of Rs. 3 billion. The debenture issue will open on 11 June 2015 with an initial issue of 15 million debentures and an additional 15 million thereafter, at the price of Rs. 100 per debenture. Following the initial Rs. 1.5 billion which the company intends to raise, a further Rs. 1.5 billion will be raised at more..

June 4 (CT) The reported Profit for the year does not include any Gains of a capital nature. Sectorial performance Retail Sector: The Retail Sector of the Group comprises of Arpico Super centres and the network of Arpico outlets across the island. As usual the sector was very active during the period under review and opened its newest large format retail store in Kottawa. The sector also began commercial operations in 4 Arpico Daily outlets during this period. more..

June 4 (TOI) Three parties representing Sri Lanka's 15 lakh Indian Origin Tamils (IOT) have banded together as the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA) to fight for the IOT's political rights and not just for higher wages for plantation workers. The TPA, which was formed on Tuesday, comprises the Democratic Peoples' Front (DPF) led by Mano Ganeshan; Up Country Peoples' Front (UPF) led by V.Radhakrishnan; and more..

June 4 (DN) Although extremists in the South have once again resorted to their sinister tactic of instigating extremist forces in the North, the intelligent people of the country will never fall into their trap again, Deputy Minister Dunesh Gankanda said. He said throughout history, Southern extremists had provided examples of inciting Northern extremists to resort to armed uprisings. Gankanda said the so-called Nugegoda clique shed crocodile tears saying northern extremists more..

June 4 (TOI) Kandhamal administration submitted the inquiry report to the state govt on alleged sale of kidney in the district. Twenty-year-old, Kanhu Behera of Phulbani, working with a private courier service in Berhampur, donated one of his kidney's to Mahendra Patnaik of Gandhi Nagar here and received Rs 3.50 lakh for it. Collector (Kandhamal) Yamini Sarangi said according to the probe the kidney transplant took place at a private hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in April. more..

June 4 (DM) The Opposition would give priority to pass the No Confidence Motion against Minister Ravi Karunanayake, UPFA General Secretary MP Susil Premajayantha said. He said the No Confidence Motion against PM Ranil Wickremesinghe had not been moved in Parliament as yet and therefore, the Opposition wanted to debate and pass the Motion against Mr. Karunanayake as early as possible. more..

June 4 (BE) Two Beaumont men were indicted this week on capital murder charges in the April 29 fatal shooting of a convenience store owner. John Johnson and Chandler Ventress, both 19, are accused in the death of Mettha Kuruppu, 52. Both men are being held at Jefferson County jail on $2 million bonds each. Ventress told detectives he planned to rob the Pick-N-Shop store on Major Drive when he killed its owner, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case. more..

June 4 (TN) Pakistan Test team captain Misbah-ul-Haq has said that beating Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka is though tough task yet he is positive to beat the hosts at their home soil. Misbah said: “Yes, it’s true Sri Lankans are tough opponents and it’s difficult to beat them at their home grounds and we also had lost last two series against them, but we will try to perform well and utilize all our skills and powers to win the series against them.” About Ahmed Shehzad's return to Test squad, more..

June 4 (DM) Customs officials seized a 40-foot container with liquor bottles, pasta and two swords, imported abusing a duty free concession granted to migrant workers. 78 liquor bottles, 37 wine bottles, 5000 kilograms of pasta and two swords, valued at Rs. 684,750 in total were seized. Container arrived on May 21 from Trieste, Italy and was detained by Customs Revenue Task Force at RCT, Orugodawatta. more..

June 4 (ENS) Activists, independent film makers, writers, and lawyers have all rallied behind the director of Porkalathil Oru Poo, who is trying to appeal against CBFC’s refusal to grant clearance to release the film in India. “I will be taking my film before the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) and we will proceed further after its outcome,” said K Ganeshan, who has directed the film based on the life of Isaipriya, a journalist killed during the Sri Lankan war in 2009. more..

June 4 (DN) School athlete Rumeshika Ratnayake clocked her personal best of 11.72 seconds in the semi-final of the women’s 100 metres to book a place in the final start list at the 21st Asian Athletics Championships which got off to a colourful start at the Wuhan Sports Centre in Wuhan, China yesterday. Ratnayake’s 11.72 second run is the best performance by a Lankan woman sprinter after legendary Susanthika Jayasinghe. 19-year old schoolgirl from St. Joseph’s Balika Vidyalaya more..

June 4 (FT) UPFA General Secretary MP Susil Premajayantha insisted no divisions or disagreements existed within the SLFP or UPFA on the 20th Amendment, but accused the UNP and others of delaying the process to delay elections. He stated that UNP had voiced its intention of opposing the 20th Amendment if it was brought forward by the faction loyal to Mahinda Rajapaksa. However, responding to these more..

June 4 (DN) Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa presided when Parliament met yesterday for a special sitting. After an announcement by the Speaker, special statements under 23 (2) by Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva and UPFA MP Dinesh Gunawardena were taken up for debate. Opposition Leader Nimal Siripala de Silva: Samurdhi Minister of the current govt has launched a programme titled Diviya Saviya. Under the programme, loans upto Rs. 100,000 are granted to more..

June 4 (Island) Chief Veterinarian of the CMC, Dr I. Dharmawardane disclosed that the census carried out by his Department had revealed that the number of stray dogs in the city had decreased from 5,000 to 2,100 during the last five years. He said that 900 of them were female. The census was carried out on 1,200 roads in the city. The census carried out by two veterinarians, and their teams from from 5 am to 9 am had helped the Department identify locations frequented by the strays. more..

June 4 (FT) Corruption investigations will soon be kicked into high gear with the Special Presidential Commission appointed to probe large-scale fraud under the former Govt summoning senior officials of State institutions. The Commission has selected 50 complaints for the first round of investigations and selected senior State officials to testify before the five-member Commission comprising four former judges and a former Auditor General. more..

June 4 (CT) Sri Lanka's ornamental fish sector is basking in the glow of international spotlight having bagged many top awards for its diversity-and O-Fish sector is one of highest return on investment sectors, as revealed on 03 June in Colombo. "On behalf of the govt of President Sirisena, I congratulate all the Lankan award winners for their achievements at Aquarama 2015. In 2014 our ornamental fish exports increased by 17% from 2013 exports" said Minister Bathiudeen more..

June 4 (Island) JVP announced its Colombo District MP Sunil Handunnetti had been appointed the party’s new organiser for the Matara District. The new appointment was made by the party’s supreme body as part of its reorganisation programme based. Handunnetti has been a MP for the Colombo District since 2000. He was appointed to the party’s politburo and made the Finance Secretary at the Seventh Convention of the party at the Sugathadasa Stadium on February 02, 2014. more..

June 4 (FT) Colombo leads the pack as the fastest growing city in terms of international overnight visitor numbers in annual MasterCard Global Destinations Cities Index released yesterday. Rapid rise in tourism after the end of long running civil war brought about Colombo’s double-digit cumulative annual growth rate over the last six years. Seven of the top 10 fastest growing cities by visitor number over this period are in Asia. more..

June 6 (DM) June is likely to be a crucial month for Sri Lanka and the new Yahapalanaya Government which was elected to office on January 8 through the people’s electoral verdict, stunned the Rajapaksa regime. The new Govt headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and PM Ranil Wickremesinghe is facing its biggest challenge from what Government leaders describe as counter-revolutionary forces led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and those loyal to him. more..

June 6 (DM) Harindra Dunuwille, former State Minister of constitutional and state affairs and Mayor of Kandy was appointed Organiser for the Pathadumbara electorate. Although he took a break from his political career after 2002, as a lawyer he has been actively involved in many civil rights activities during the past few years. In an interview he said he would focus on the development of the infrastructure and special attention for the estate sector. more..

June 6 (ST) With only 50% of all the HIV AIDS patients in the country diagnosed, Sri Lanka is facing a greater risk of infection, while 40% of those diagnosed have been abroad for work, UNAIDS Country Manager for Sri Lanka, Dr Daynath Ranatunga said. While Sri Lanka remains a low prevalence country, number of people living with HIV AIDS has increased steadily over the years. National STD/HIV Control Programme has more..

June 4 (DM) Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) chairman Rumy Marzook handed over his resignation to the Secretary to the Ministry of Commerce earlier this week and will cease to serve as the Chairman of the CAA with effect from today. Marzook, who has been the Chairman of the CAA for the past eight years, said that he was resigning for personal reasons. Prior to being appointed as the Chairman of the CAA, more..

June 4 (SL) Kuragala has been the centre of another dispute between the Buddhists and the Muslims of this country for a considerable duration of time. While the Muslims claim that Kuragala belongs to them and that Sufi saint, Sheikh Muhiyadeen Abdul Qadir Jilani (d. 1166 CE, in Baghdad), renowned throughout South Asia as the founder of the Qadiriya order, is said to have meditated for 12 years after more..

June 4 (DM) TNA MP and well-known Constitutional lawyer M.A. Sumanthiran says that his party emerged to voice the grievances of the people of the North and East but was ready to expand its activities to other parts of the country and would be involved in national politics. Mr. Sumanthiran who is based in Colombo and plays a vital role in the TNA as a bridge between the North and the South says though there are certain obstacles there more..

June 6 (Island) China wants to be Sri Lanka’s biggest development partner despite the construction of the USD 1.4 billion Colombo Port City Project being suspended. Deputy Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Ren Faqiang addressing a Seminar on the book Xi Jinping: The Governance of China in Colombo last week said that regardless of queries over certain Chinese funded projects his country continued to be Sri Lanka’s largest provider more..

June 4 (CT) The Ranbhumi Rally for Unity which has gathered momentum over the last few days has reached the town of Urubokka today to a rousing welcome from the people who looked forward to the festivities that would entwine the hearts and soul of the multi religious and multi cultural Sri Lankan people who still remain scarred and traumatized despite it being six years since the end of the terrorism that wrecked the country. more..

June 4 (DM) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe said in Parliament that there was no legal impediment for the appointment of Arjuna Mahendran as the Central Bank Governor. The PM was responding to MEP Leader Dinesh Gunawardane, who questioned the eligibility of Mr. Mahendran to hold such a post as a Singaporean citizen. PM said the criterion, to be followed in the appointment of Monetary Board and Central Bank Governor, more..

June 6 (Island) A major Indo-Pakistan crisis is rapidly developing over the go-ahead for a mega USD 46 billion development project called China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) strongly opposed by Premier Narendra Modi’s government. Several Chinese funded projects in Sri Lanka are also under a cloud with the new government suspending Colombo Port City Project pending a fresh assessment. more..

June 4 (BN) A ban on casinos by Sri Lanka’s new govt isn’t stopping the nation’s biggest conglomerate from pressing ahead with a $850 million development project as the island rebuilds from a 30-year civil war. Lenders are fully committed to John Keells Holdings’s Waterfront Properties mixed development project though the absence of a casino may take some sheen off it and dent revenue, Chairman Susantha Ratnayake said. more..

June 4 (DM) The JVP today urged the govt to appoint the members to the Constitutional Council and re-instate the independent commissions before the next general election. JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva said the govt had not fulfilled its promises other than to implement the 19th Amendment to the Constitution and urged it to fulfil the promises made to the people at the presidential election. more..

June 4 (Reuters) Sri Lankan shares fell for a fourth straight session on Thursday and closed at their lowest in six weeks, led by conglomerate John Keells Holdings as concerns over political uncertainty before parliament elections dented sentiment. Continued foreign selling also dragged the index lower. The main stock index fell 0.4 percent to 7,120.91, its lowest finish since April 23, erasing 12.08 billion rupees ($90.22 million) worth of market capitalisation. more..

June 4 (CT) A video circulates in social media networks, featuring Dr Dayan Jayatilleka (hereinafter referred to as the speaker), a strong supporter of former President Rajapaksa, delivering a speech in Sinhala at a pro-Rajapaksa public meeting. The speaker, it appears, actively supports the bring back Mahinda movement. The speaker asks several questions that echo rather macho and derogatory views on two public figures, namely Ranil Wickremesinghe & Chandrika Bandaranaike. more..

June 4 (DN) The death of a youth who was allegedly locked up in a room for more than 28 days as a penalty for having consumed beef at a party was reported from Mawanella yesterday. The parents of the deceased have said that the youth had to be kept locked up in a room for 28 days without providing him with any food as a punishment from the gods, on the advice of a Kapu Mahththaya of the devalaya who is also their relative. more..

June 4 (CT) In his aspiration to be a force in politics despite his defeat at the last presidential election, former President Rajapaksa will contest for the Premiership at the forthcoming general election. Elections are due not later than next year. Nevertheless, President Maithripala Sirisena, by using his executive powers may even dissolve Parliament now and call for early polls. He's reported to have had said that a new Parliament will be in place in another 3 months' time in Sept. more..

June 4 (DM) Shashi Weerawansa, the wife of MP Wimal Weerawansa arrived at the Financial Crime Investigation Division (FCID) a short while ago. She was summoned to FCID on May 28 but she had sent a sick note supported by a medical certificate through her attorney requesting for a later date to appear. Ms. Weerawansa had been asked to report to the FCID over allegations of unlawful acquisition of assets both by herself and her husband. more..

June 4 (CT) Lanka Hospitals has opened its doors to foreign student nurses from the Asian region. Following an agreement with Maldivian govt, from 2008, two batches of 30 Maldivian student nurses every year are given clinical training at Lanka Hospitals. In the long term bi-lateral corporation between SL and Maldives, our country has continually extended health care support to its SAARC neighbour. more..

June 4 (Island) Legislation introducing restrictions on the use of sugar by artificial beverage manufacturers will come into effect soon. Director General Health Services Dr. Palitha Maheepala said that Environmental and Occupational Health Division of the Health Ministry had drafted a provision to be incorporated into the Food Act to make it compulsory for all beverage manufacturers to reduce the sugar levels drastically in their products. Though some beverage manufacturers had more..