Nov 13 (Hindu) An abandoned mechanised boat was found in Bay of Bengal close to coast in Nagayalanka mandal in Krishna district. Fishermen who observed the boat floating in waters alerted the Nagayalanka police on Friday. Police who rushed to the spot decoded the language written in Tamil and confirmed that the boat belonged to Sri Lanka. They seized the boat along with the nets found in it. However, no person or body was found in the boat. “Half-damaged boat was found near more..

Nov 13 (CT) Deputy Minister Ajith P. Perera said, he would be writing immediately to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya to summon the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and Attorney General (AG) before Parliament to inquire into the efficiency of their work. It is important that Parliament knows about the progress of the multitude of investigations into fraud now being conducted and to rectify any problems to do with their efficiency and ensure that the investigations are expedited, he added. more..

Nov 13 (DM) Clouds hampered observations from the ground in Sri Lanka during the re-entry of WT1190F overnight, but a team of astronomers captured spectacular images of the object from a high-flying plane over the Indian Ocean very close to the predicted time of arrival. IAC and UAE Space Agency hosted a rapid response team to study the re-entry of what was almost certainly an old rocket stage. more..

Nov 13 (AD) The three customs officers who were arrested while accepting a bribe of Rs. 125 million from a businessman have been further remanded until Nov 25 by the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court. When the case was taken up at court today attorneys representing the defendants requested that the suspects be released on bail, however the bribery commission stated that their release on bail would hinder ongoing investigations. Commission also informed court that more..

Nov 13 (CT) Free Trade Zones and General Services Employees Union (FTZ & GSEU) called on PM Ranil Wickremesinghe and urged him to submit to the National Labour Advisory Council the proposed format of the new independent management structure of the EPF. In a letter to Wickremesinghe copied to the Minister of Labour and Trade Union Relations, Joint Secretary of the FTZ and GSEU Anton Marcus urged that this should be done to facilitate discussion with more..

Nov 13 (PMD) It is time to utilize the knowledge and technical knowhow of Sri Lankan intellectuals who work abroad, to develop knowledge of the people of the country and enhance the research activities in the country, says President Maithripala Sirisena. The President was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of two days workshop for university students on the theme New Tendencies of Higher Education today at Blue Water Hotel. more..

Nov 14 (CT) Professor Sarah Churchwell’s article, Moonlight and magnolias: The fictions that sustained the American South discusses the portrayal of the American South, focusing mainly on two ‘texts’: the film ‘Gone with the Wind’ and Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. However, her case that fictional works, be they film or novel, can present a varnished and romanticised version and so falsify and hide reality, past or present, can apply to other countries and their visual representations in film/fiction; more..

Nov 14 (CT) On the 12th of Oct, nearly 200 Tamil prisoners held in Sri Lanka began a hunger strike calling for their immediate release. It was reported that three of them had been hospitalized because of their deteriorating condition. Following that, the Sri Lankan government gave the hunger strikers an assurance that it would resolve the issue of their continued detention before the 7th of Nov. The Tamil prisoners suspended their hunger strike relying on this assurance but stated more..

Nov 14 (SO) The Integrated Biological Behavioural Survey, a new study carried out by the National STD & AIDS Control Programme (NSACP) Sri Lanka, has revealed that risky behaviour on the part of female sex workers was nine times higher than that of the normal population, putting them at much greater risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) than the rest of the Lankan population. more..

Nov 14 (GV) In the 35 year history of the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), Sri Lanka ranks number two, shamefully, in the numbers of disappearance cases the WGEID has dealt with. The latest figures from the WGEID are as follows: total cases transmitted to the Govt for clarification – 12,341; total cases clarified by the Govt – 6,551; total cases clarified by other sources – 40; outstanding cases – 5,750. more..

Nov 14 (CT) Chronic Kidney Disease of uncertain Origin (CKDu) is currently the most serious non-communicable disease afflicting farming communities in Sri Lanka's dry zone. It was first diagnosed in the mid 1990s in North Central Province (NCP), and has now been positively diagnosed in six out of the nine provinces in the country. Over 25,000 people are estimated to have died from this kidney disease already. Approximately 1,000 patients die from the disease each year more..

Nov 14 (CT) Nimal is a man with a mission. His mission is to conserve his traditional mode of occupation, snake charming, in a world where very few have any use of him. He does not fit into the PM's third generation economic model, but this does not stop him from trying. As a member of the Telugu community and the president of the Sri Lanka Traditional Telugu Community, Nimal is the proud owner of a python and a few cobras. more..

Nov 14 (Island) Politicians and others who spoke at Ven. Sobitha Thera’s funeral on Thursday, waxed eloquent, eulogising as they did the late monk. Each one of them paid a glowing tribute to the intrepid activist monk for the role he had played in preserving democracy under successive govts. They were exerting themselves in vain, we thought. People knew Ven. Sobitha well and they braved inclement weather to gather at parliament grounds in their thousands to pay their last respects more..

Nov 14 (Island) My shift of terminology from submerged minority to invisible minority represented a shift of focus from noting the objective fact of submergence to the process behind that submergence, the subjective process of failing to notice the plight of the submerged, a process of reducing them to invisibility. Orwell noted that all colonial empires are built on that strategy. It seems to m that that strategy applies also in the case of ethnic majorities and some ethnic minorities. more..

Nov 14 (SL) Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) or Ajinomoto is the sodium salt of glutamic amino acid, which is a non-essential amino acid. However, farmers in Sri Lanka now mix MSG into their chemical solutions as it increases the strength and effect of the pesticides. MSG is used in food as a flavour enhancing agent, and is highly addictive. It balances, blends, rounds and refines the perception of other tastes, and is popular in Japanese, more..

Nov 14 (Island) "Don’t you think we are coming to the age of a new chronicle," asked Chathura Jayawansa ‘What makes you think so, when we have an active mainstream and social media today," asked Vidura Punyawansa. "Surely both the mainstream and social media must show you what I am thinking of," said CJ. "What are you getting at? There is nothing about any new chronicles in any media,’ said VP. "It is not what is reported, but what is happening." "Well, what is happening more..

Nov 14 (FT) Softlogic Holdings has exhibited strong performance, recording a revenue growth of 57.0% to Rs. 26.2 billion with second quarter consolidated revenues increasing by a 52.2% growth to Rs. 13.2 billion. The retail sector led the consolidated revenue, post-acquisition of Odel, with a contribution of 33.3% to 1HFY16 followed by ICT, especially its mobile phone items, with 28.7%, Healthcare Services with an impressive 18.0% and Financial Services contributing 16.6%. more..

Nov 14 (FT) Shocked and terrified when she heard that she was going to marry soon, Srimathi, who was in her early 20s, kept crying incessantly. The youngest in a family of five, she used to live a carefree life but cried for days wondering how she could be the wife of a revolutionary leader since she was still an immature young girl. With just a month left to tie the knot with a man who was behind bars for leading the 1971 youth insurrection, more..

Nov 14 (Island) Sri Lanka Telecom, the national telecom services provider released its company and group financial performance, for the 3rd quarter 2015. The group comprises of Sri Lanka Telecom and its eight subsidiaries including mobile arm Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd., (Mobitel). The group reported Rs.50.8 bn revenue during the nine months ending in September 2015 with 6% year on year growth with both fixed and mobile telephone segments contributing to the success. more..

Nov 14 (Island) Two significant events took place in the Month of Nov. Sri Lanka lost one of her most erudite and respected Buddhist priests, Ven. Madulawae Sobitha Nayaka Thera at the beginning of the month. He passed away due to complications of diabetes. Then nearly a century ago in the month of Nov, Sir Fredrick Banting, the discoverer the life saving drug insulin used in the treatment of diabetes was born in Canada. Nov 14th is the birth day of Sir Banting and authorities have named it more..

Nov 14 (SL) In the 19th century Eurocentric education was born with the intention of providing a proper education and to build discipline. Several different schools of thought on education operated with various other social institutions as well. With the birth of capitalist wealth distribution in the 19th century the European society took a sharp turn in to changing their educational objectives to cater to their requirement of more..

Nov 14 (AF) What’s in a name? Shakespeare famously queried, adding that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. That might well be true. But in the minefield of diplomacy and international negotiation, nomenclature is no attar of roses. This the new Sri Lanka govt is increasingly discovering as it tries to squeeze itself out of a tight corner following September’s 30th session of the UNHRC in Geneva, which had before it a Council-mandated report on SL alleging human rights violations more..

Nov 14 (DN) The Elite Championship organized by Sri Lanka Cricket and conducted in three categories first-class, limited-over and T20 is expected to offer a pathway from local youth cricket to Test level. Not everyone will play at Test level, but the pathway is in place for anyone to do so if they have the desire and work ethic to achieve this. It also provides a pathway for school/ academy/ district/ specialist coaches, support staff to International level. The five teams that will compete in the tournament more..

Nov 14 (DM) Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala is confident that nearly 201 MPs belonging to the main political parties are expected to forget their political differences for a period of two years to realise a common goal for the benefit of the country and its people. But events taking place currently do not project positive images in that direction. When taking into account the use of abusive language, the waving placards, more..

Nov 14 (CT) The entire Jaffna Peninsula was crippled yesterday due to the boycott in support of demanding the release of all Tamil political prisoners. Tamil political parties irrespective of their differences and various civil society organizations participated in the boycott (hartal) which resulted in the closure of business establishments and schools in the North. Nearly 270 Tami political prisoners put behind bars in various prisons throughout the country launched a fast unto death more..

Nov 14 (FT) The Animal Welfare Coalition of Sri Lanka organised a public consultation on animal welfare in Sri Lanka and the draft Animal Welfare Bill which has been shared to the public by the Ministry of Livestock and Rural Community Development. The consultation that took place at the Sri Lanka Press Institute, comprised member organisations of the coalition including Sathva Mithra Foundation, Animal Welfare Protection Association, Blue Paw Trust, Dogstar Foundation, more..

Nov 14 (CT) Ministry of Sports announced that the 41st National Sports Festival will be held at the Diyagama Ground on 18, 19 and 20 of Nov. Over 800 athletes from nine provinces will participate in the event, while as many as 350 officials will be on duty at the Festival. A total 60 track-and-field events will be worked off during the three days, in addition to the men's football finals. PM Ranil Wickramasinghe will be the Chief Guest more..

Nov 14 (FT) Fiji U19 cricket teams will travel to Sri Lanka for two weeks next month for their final phase of preparations for the world cup. Head coach Shane Jurgenson said the allocation of $285,000 from the state was enough having reorganised the budget to suit the provided amount. "It's definitely enough. So we are going to go to Sri Lanka for two weeks and we are going to be leaving on Jan 6. "Sri Lanka cricket is giving us basically what a test playing nation would receive on a tour more..

Nov 14 (GDI) SL Navy and the US Friday held discussions on bilateral defense cooperation placing special emphasis on maritime security. The discussions took place when the Commanding General of the United States Marine Corps Installation West (MCI-West), Brigadier General Edward D Banta called on the Commander of Sri Lanka Navy, Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne at the Naval Headquarters on Friday. The Deputy Defense Attaché at the US Embassy in SL more..

Nov 14 (DN) We refer to the comments made by Sidath Wettimuny, Chairman Interim Committee in the Daily News last week regarding the healthy financial situation that Sri Lanka Cricket is in at the moment. A recent Financial Statement of the SLC was also published, comparing the finances during their tenure with that of previous administration. These media releases & statements give a completely false picture more..

Nov 14 (CT) Minister of Education Akila Kariyawasam stated that he is hoping to provide cash vouchers instead of uniform clothing for school students from 2016. He said his ministry had discussed on steps that have to be taken to provide cash vouchers for students to purchase their ready-made uniforms instead of giving them clothing. "During the past we had received many complaints about receiving low quality clothes from the schools as uniform material. more..

Nov 14 (AT) Sri Lanka has said it “wishes to see the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) move beyond, where a dialogue among States would be at the center of any future discussion on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS), and that such a process will help in ensuring clarity on the concerns of States, as well as to create a matrix of common elements which could be derived from the debate“. Addressing a dedicated discussion within the CCW agenda more..

Nov 14 (AT) Pursuant to an announcement made by PM of India, Shri Narendra Modi, during his visit to SL in March 2015, the High Commission of India will be shortly launching a Festival of India in Sri Lanka. Theme of the Festival is Sangam, a confluence of cultures of India and SL. Logo of the Festival, which is a pictorial depiction of Sangam in Sinhala, Hindi and Tamil, is a manifestation of symbiotic ties that bind us. more..

Nov 14 (GDI) Fulfilling a long-left need, the Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne declared open the Sri Lanka Navy’s School of Nursing at the Welisara Naval Hospital Complex on 13th Nov. Director General Health Services, Rear Admiral Nicholas Jayasekara, the Director General Training Rear Admiral Udaya Bandara, senior naval officers attached to the Western Naval Command, lecturers, principal, tutorial staff and clinical instructors of NTS more..

Nov 14 (LBO) Sri Lanka plans to draft legislations to make provision for revocation of irrevocable deeds of gift to provide greater security for lending institutions who lends money using property as collateral. Minister Rajitha Senaratne said issues have been raised on the rights of donees as the Court of Appeal upheld a judgment of a District Judge wherein the court had held that a donor can revoke an irrevocable deed of gift by executing a deed of revocation without filing action more..

Nov 14 (AAP) International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, has signed a MoU with Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU), Sri Lanka. Purpose of agreement is to cooperate and develop activities in the fields of allied health sciences, food sciences, herbal medicine, spectroscopy, bioequivalence studies, clinical research disease genomics, tropical disease, more..

Nov 14 (Reuters) Gunmen and bombers attacked restaurants, a concert hall and a sports stadium at locations across Paris on Friday, killing at least 120 people in what a shaken President Francois Hollande called an unprecedented terrorist attack. A Paris city hall official said gunmen systematically slaughtered nearly 100 people attending a rock concert at the Bataclan music hall. Anti-terrorist commandos eventually launched an assault on the building, killed the gunmen and more..

Nov 14 (DN) Jaffna District MP Dharmalingam Siddharthan said more hartals will be staged in the future too, until all Tamil political prisoners are released unconditionally. MP Siddharthan said President Maithripala Sirisena promised that he will take a strong decision with regard to the issue on Nov 7, 2015, but, no proper decision has been taken so far. He further said "The decision has to be taken to release all Tamil political prisoners. On Nov 9, 32 prisoners were released on bail. more..

Nov 14 (Island) The govt is absolutely keen on regaining the lost EU GSP Plus trade arrangement and on promoting several free trade agreements with US and other countries to increase exports and investments, which have now dropped significantly, Deputy Minister Dr Harsh de Silva said. "We are now in the process of negotiating with USA to get Trade and Investment Facilitation Agreement (TIFA), apart from EU GSP+ more..

Nov 14 (DN) The corruption case filed against former Minister Keheliya Rambukwella and two others for allegedly causing an unlawful loss to the govt after purchasing 600 of GI pipes using Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC) funds was yesterday fixed for trial by a Colombo Court. When the case came up before Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya, the fourth and the fifth witnesses in the case were noticed to appear in Court on February 19 to give evidence. more..