Oct 20 (AM) Imaduwa-Kokmaduwa stretch of the Southern Expressway, which was closed this morning due to the possible threat of rock falls, was re-opened a short while ago. The stretch was closed this morning since heavy rains created a threat of rock fall. The expressway was recently partially closed close to 114km post with one side (from Matara towards Colombo) completely closed due to landslide threat. Colombo to Matara side had been divided to allow bi-way traffic in expressway. more..

Oct 20 (AD) The resolution adopted at the UNHRC as well as the Udalagma and Paranagama Commission Reports were tabled in Parliament by PM Ranil Wickremasinghe a short while ago. PM had previously said that the govt-mandated commission reports would be tabled today and that the govt would facilitate the promised debate on the UNHRC resolution after tabling the reports. more..

Oct 20 (TN) As Sri Lanka comes to grips at the end of 26-years-long war between the govt of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, the nation now focuses on the status of women and their future rehabilitation, it is also a reminder for Pakistani women displaced because of militancy, ethnic strife and military operations. Shyamala Gomez, Country Director for an NGO Fokus, recently made available to The News several studies pertaining to women and their status as Female Heads of Households( FHHs) and more..

Oct 20 (CI) The first unofficial Test between New Zealand A and Sri Lanka A in Christchurch saw four centuries, with the match ending in a draw. Chasing 342, Sri Lanka A lost their openers early as Neil Wagner produced a double-strike in the tenth over. Five overs later, No.3 Minod Bhanuka was dismissed by Colin Munro but a 137-run partnership between Kithuruwan Vithanage and Roshen Silva propped their team up. Roshen struck 14 fours and one six and remained unbeaten on 120 when more..

Oct 20 (NF) The world’s greatest all-rounder the game has ever produced Sir Garfield Sobers arrived in the island on 20 October on the invitation of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said Sir Garry will be a guest of Sri Lanka Cricket during his one week stay in the country and will be a guest of honor at the second Test between Sri Lanka and West Indies to be played at the P Sara Oval from 22-26 Oct. more..

Oct 20 (CT) Grade 1 admissions to schools has become an island-wide epidemic, witnessed in the urban areas as well as rural areas and basically anywhere where there are schools that are considered to be popular schools. Thousands of parents are faced with the obstacle of getting their children into big schools that are generally accepted to be popular, apart from the national schools in their own areas. According to the most recent data released by Dept of Census & Statistics, more..

Oct 20 (CT) The expansion of ministerial portfolios certainly undermined the value and status of Cabinet Ministers which was only 35 and quite adequate till 1989. It was late President R Premadasa who made the initial blunder by introducing a large number of State Minister portfolios to please his confidantes. The 1978 Constitution does not provide for a category called State Ministers. It only has provisions for Cabinet Ministers, Deputy Ministers and subject ministers. more..

Oct 20 (KT) "Cricket might want to be a part of the Olympics but the Olympics might not want cricket," was the message from ICC's chief executive Dave Richardson even as the governing body is exploring possibilities of the game's inclusion in the mega event. A meeting has been scheduled next month between the ICC and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Richardson says it would be exploratory in nature. more..

Oct 20 (CT) The UPFA rebels supporting former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, after a secret meeting at MP Gamini Lokuge’s house last night, have decided to sever their ties with SLFP and contest under a separate party at the upcoming Local Govt elections. The meeting at Lokuge’s residence in Kesbewa was attended by MPs Dinesh Gunawardena, Udaya Gammanpila, Prasanna Ranatunga, Bandula Gunawardane, Wimal Weerawansa and several others. more..

Oct 20 (GDI) A special meeting presided by PM Ranil Wickremasinghe was held in Galle last night to discuss future development activities to be carried out in the Galle City. During the discussion, the PM while focusing attention on the Galle City and the development of the Galle Fort, emphasised on the importance of carrying out the development work safeguarding the ancient value of the Galle Fort. He also requested the officials to identify people's aspirations when preparing development more..

Oct 20 (EN) Sri Lanka will relax existing foreign controls on some sectors, while encouraging domestic investors, and also the financial sector to broaden activities, Minister Ravi Karunanayake said. "Even what is restricted would now be open," Karunanayake told a business forum in Colombo, when asked whether priority to domestic investors would mean restrictions for foreign investors. more..

Oct 20 (CT) Supporters of S Chnadrakanthan alias Pillaiyan, former Chief Minister of the EPC, conducted a blood donation campaign in Valaichchenai, Batticaloa–a Pillaiayan stronghold, demanding his immediate release. Pillaiyan is detained in Colombo remand prison till 2nd Nov. Pillaiyan, who is the leader of the TMVP was arrested last week in Colombo, after giving a statement to the police in connection with the killing of former TNA MP Joseph Pararajasingham more..

Oct 20 (AM) Former President Rajapaksa's Media Coordinator Rohan Weliwita was summoned to the Homagama Police today on an investigation regarding the disappearance of 3000 video tapes from the Presidential Secretariat. Weliwita was a Coordinating Secretary to the President when former President Rajapaksa was in power. Police said that a complaint was received from the Presidential Secretariat on this alleged disappearance of video cassettes. more..

Oct 20 (EN) The War crimes investigation set up by former president Rajapaksa has made startling revelations that senior military commanders should be hauled up for criminal prosecutions. Maxell Paranagama commission appointed in 2013 in what many at the time feared was an attempt to white wash security forces has surprisingly produced a shockingly frank report amounting to an indictment of more..

Oct 21 (CT) The common ruse of the intellectually bankrupt interventionists in the public debate on various aspects of the national crisis is to brand those who defend the Sinhala-Buddhist majority as extreme racists. It is the stock in trade of those in the anti-Sinhala-Buddhist lobby to label the Sinhala-Buddhists as chauvinists, racists, ultra-nationalists, extremists etc. Demonizing the Sinhala-Buddhists with pejorative adjectives is their standard defence. It is their debased means of covering up more..

Oct 21 (CT) I refer to HLDM’s attack on me in the Colombo Telegraph of October 13 under the title A- Izeth of Hussein’s Haram Politics. That title shows a highly eccentric use of the English language pointing to the ethnolunacy of which the whole attack reeks. By ethnolunacy I mean the extreme irrationality that is characteristic of extreme racists. HLDM has a wide notoriety, a richly deserved one, as an extreme Sinhala racist. Several of the readers’ replies to his article show that. more..

Oct 21 (SO) A wave of crimes against mainly children reached its peak with the rape and killing of five-year-old Seya Sadewmi, whose body was dumped in a canal close to her home at Kotakadeniyawa. Seya would have celebrated her fifth birthday on - Sept 11-the day she was buried, her parents having even chosen cake & frock she was to wear for the occasion. Her murder, although one in an increasing list of child rape more..

Oct 21 (NS) Talk, talk, endless talk… but very little action. We have had over two decades of research, many talk shops – symposia, seminars, public awareness campaigns and several publications in scientific journals and newspaper articles on CKDu. To many, CKDu seems to be a mere academic exercise to be discussed and debated, and no more. Since many researchers do not spend adequate time on the field and visiting kidney disease patients in their homes. more..

Oct 21 (NS) The majority of those who cast valid votes on Jan 8, 2015 wanted change. The change candidate and his supporters outlined in manifesto what that change was going to be. There was change. An incumbent was removed. We got new face in the President’s office and a new Govt. But change was not to be just that. The pledge was to right a lot of wrongs within 100 days. That was quite a bold promise. Realists would say over ambitious. But then again, people in this country more..

Oct 21 (CT) Nearly 90 km off Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in the Thiruvallur District bordering Andhra Pradesh, a dusty little village, Gummidipoondi, shelters more than 3,000 Sri Lankan Tamils, including children of the third generation. Their only dream is to return to the land they belong to – Sri Lanka! They looked like families of lost and found by Ceylon Today when the writer walked into disorderly put up shanty camp of metal shackle, more..

Oct 21 (SL) The Resolution adopted by the UNHRC on Sri Lanka directs a full scale investigation in respect to alleged abuses and violations, the institution of judicial proceedings against perpetrators and establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The UNHRC and its membership have unanimously agreed that the investigation and the judicial proceedings be established under a domestic mechanism with the assistance of foreign experts. more..

Oct 21 (SL) As the Govt begins the process of mending broken hearts from the bitter 30 year war, questions are being asked at what cost this process will take place. Who will be held accountable? Will the process create more harm than good? The opinions of the Diaspora is crucial in the process for Sri Lanka to move forward, over six years after the war as the Diaspora play a key role in building international opinion on the country. Global Tamil Forum (GTF) is a very powerful more..

Oct 21 (CA) The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) recently received a special accolade as the best new exam centre of the year’ from the University of Cambridge, at the Centre Exams Managers Conference held in Chennai, India. The award was granted in recognition of institute’s extraordinary performance and for the superior quality of teaching, learning & assessments at CA Sri Lanka. The first batch of 391 students who followed Cambridge more..

Oct 21 (CT) Sri Lanka are set to blood youngsters as Chamika Kusal (Wesley), Sithum Pieris (Wesley), Buddhika Piyaratne (DS) and Riza Raffaideen (Kingswood) have been called to the national sevens rugby pool ahead of the upcoming Asia Olympic Qualifiers which will be kicked off in Hong Kong next month. Kusal, Pieris, Priyaratne and Raffaideen all made their mark in the recently concluded U-20 Sevens tournaments in Malaysia and Hong Kong where the young Tuskers more..

Oct 21 (Island) With the govt announcing that GSP+ would be restored by next year, the apparel sector trade unions are gearing up to use the conditions under which GSP+ is awarded, to persuade factory owners to increase the salaries of workers. GSP+ is a special trade concession awarded by the European Union to countries that pledge to accede to and uphold more than two dozen international conventions pertaining to more..

Oct 21 (Island) Transport Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, who also handles civil aviation, has called for immediate removal of paddy stocks currently stored at the Mattala airport. What he witnessed there during a recent inspection tour put him in a paddy. The Mattala warehouses are equipped to store only sealed cargo and the sensitive scanning equipment has reportedly gone haywire due to paddy dust. Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) Chairman M.B. Dissanayake has passed the buck. more..

Oct 21 (Island) Report of the Secretary General Ban ki-moon’s Panel of Experts (PoE), on Accountability in Sri Lanka, alleged the deliberate use of artillery fire to cause loss of civilian life, during the Vanni offensive. The PoE alleged that the majority of civilian casualties, during the final phase of the war, had been caused by indiscriminate military action, particularly the use of artillery, hence the decision to exclude international organizations from the war zone. more..

Oct 21 (CI) Dhammika Prasad once rode the Sri Lanka fast bowlers' injury carousel. He would come into international contention briefly, play one or two Tests, then disappear into the shadows with another ailment only to be replaced by the next quick who would play for a little while before fading out of view. Last year Shaminda Eranga and Suranga Lakmal were Sri Lanka's best fast bowlers. In 2015, they've each been ruled out through more..

Oct 21 (DN) MasterCard and National Savings Bank (NSB) have partnered to deploy MasterCard Expert Monitoring Solutions (EMS) with Real-time Fraud Scoring Service. The service uses a unique combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Smart-Agents technology to detect and prevent fraudulent payment transactions at the time of authorization. Its state-of-the-art predictive modeling technology processes all transactions and provides a real-time predictive fraud score that indicates more..

Oct 21 (DN) Headline inflation is expected to remain comfortably in low single digit levels by end 2015 despite the impact of the depreciation of the Sri Lankan rupee against major currencies on inflation, Central Bank said yesterday. Headline inflation, on a year-on-year basis, has declined further to -0.3% in Sept 2015 from -0.2% recorded during the months of July and August 2015,the Bank said. On an annual average basis, headline inflation continued its moderation, recording 0.7% in Sept 2015 more..

Oct 21 (FT) Bandaranaike International Airport has been rated among top 10 worst airports in Asia. Guide to Sleeping in Airports found at www.sleepinginairports.net, Sri Lanka is ranked at Number 10 and Kathmandu International Airport, Nepal is on the top. On BIA, the website states Sri Lanka’s primary airport is criticised for dirt and corruption. Bathrooms are, like in many other terminals on this list, remarkably unclean and more..

Oct 21 (PRN) An AJC ýdelegation joined Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva in launching the Sri Lankan-Jewish Friendship Association at a press conference Monday in the island nation's capital. The event was one element of a two-day program of meetings and consultations by a 16-member delegation, led by Jason Isaacson, AJC Associate Executive Director for Policy, and Robert Peckar, member of AJC's Board of Governors and Asia Pacific Institute (API) board. more..

Oct 21 (ST) Some of the depositors of the failed Finance & Guarantee (Real Estate) Co and Property Developers (Pvt) Ltd (F&G PDL & RECL) complain that the newly appointed director board of this company is using unfair tactics to prevent the depositors from organising themselves as a group. Some of these depositors have received a letter by mail signed by one of the directors, C. Caldera of the company indicating that the Central Bank has submitted an action plan to pay back more..

Oct 21 (ST) When President Sirisena announced on Sept 4, the day the new cabinet was appointed, that a high powered committee chaired by him and the PM would select only those suitable for top posts in govt institutions, there was a sense of relief across many segments of society. For, this meant that cronies, the corrupt and even family members of politicians would not get high posts as has been the case not only during more..

Oct 21 (Hindu) Buddhist relics preserved at the Archaeological Museum in Amaravati and kept away from public eye will be exhibited, during the capital foundation ceremony. A collection of exclusive artefacts from the museum, including bone relics of Buddha will be on display at Amaravati Pavilion, proposed to be created by the Tourism Department at the venue. According to sources, the relics were originally found in the stupa at Bhattiprolu in Guntur district. more..

Oct 21 (Hindu) PMK leader S. Ramadoss on Tuesday appealed to the University Grants Commission (UGC) to allow universities in Tamil Nadu to conduct correspondence courses in Sri Lanka for the benefit of Tamil students there. The UGC had directed the universities not to run off-campus/ study centre/ outreach centre outside the territorial jurisdiction of the State. “UGC direction will affect the future of students, particularly 5,000 Tamil teachers in govt run schools because more..

Oct 21 (DN) In a significant progressive step in the ongoing plantation sector wage discussions, the Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) have put forward their recommendation for a revenue sharing model for the remuneration of estate workers. This bold initiative is the only sustainable solution and way forward, which would see a drastic change not only in increased incomes through improved productivity, but more..

Oct 21 (CT) The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) will reconsider its 70% vehicle lease directive only after an industry consultation, Governor Arjuna Mahendran said. "We are not going to change our decisions from time to time. We will reconsider it only after industry consultations. We are collecting all information before amending it," he said. The Central Bank issued a directive to offer leasing facilities on motor vehicles only up to a maximum of 70% of the value. more..

Oct 21 (DM) Former President Rajapaksa has paid a visit to Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera, who is currently at the Dr. Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital in Malabe. Ven. Sobitha Thera had undergone a bypass surgery at the Central Hospital in Colombo three weeks ago after undergoing treatment at National Hospital previously. Secretary of NMSJ, Sisira Jayamaha said Prelate was later transferred to Neville Fernando Hospital until he was fully recovered. more..