Oct 30 (CI) USA coach Pubudu Dassanayake has picked out Oman as the main threat to his team winning ICC WCL Division Four on home soil. Dassanayake is confident USA will finish in the top two and gain promotion after the last two-and-a-half weeks of training leading into the tournament that began with the Auty Cup series against Canada, which he says allowed the team to see its own flaws and work them out ahead of Saturday's tournament-opener against Bermuda. more..

Oct 30 (ST) There is a huge possibility that the injured SL vice captain Dinesh Chandimal would join SL tour squad for the Zimbabwe tri-nation ODI series with West Indies which begins on Nov 14 with their match against the host nation. With the tour captain Rangana Herath already retired from the limited overs version, in all probability Chandimal would wrest back his captaincy in place of regular captain Angelo more..

Oct 30 (ST) Govt has appointed a committee to study the impact of blending tea for re-export from Sri Lanka, a controversial issue that has dogged the industry for many years due to opposing views. The committee has been appointed by PM Ranil Wickremesinghe and would be headed by the National Policies and Economic Affairs Ministry Secretary M.I.M. Rafeek. This stakeholder committee would look at developing a national policy on the aspect of tea blending in Sri Lanka. more..

Oct 30 (ST) The recent arrest of two tourism industry professionals, later released on bail was strongly condemned by Minister John Amaratunga. “Some hoteliers (trade personalities) have been remanded unreasonably through no fault of theirs while there are  others responsible (and no action taken),” he said. He didn’t mention any names but the reference was to two directors at SL Tourism representing the interests of tourism trade chambers who are both respected members of the industry. more..

Oct 30 (ST) Sri Lanka’s state-owned companies (state owned enterprises – SOEs) have been brought under the scrutiny of Auditor General (AG)’s  Department with authority, for the first time, to select and appoint private auditors for auditing of accounts. In some cases earlier the Auditor General got the assistance of private auditors which were however selected by the Public Enterprises Department of the Finance Ministry. more..

Oct 30 (EN) Cyber games and comic book entertainment will feature the Sri Lanka Cyber Games Central Qualifier and Kandy Comic Con to be held in the City Center of the hill country capital of Kandy on the 5th and 6th November. The multi-genre entertainment festival, entrance to which is free, will see the best cyber-athletes battling it out for the chance to represent the region at the SLCG ’16 Grand Finals in Colombo, a statement said. The eSports Championship will feature more..

Oct 30 (ST) Eleven days from now, Minister Ravi Karunanayake will present his second budget and in the days after that corporates will scramble to try and understand what is in there for them; firstly the tax breaks, incentives and to them personally as individuals. Opposition politicians will beat the drums, warning of hard days ahead, tightening of belts (though however much they shout or protest, their own belts are hard to tighten because budget or not budget, price hikes or not; more..

Oct 30 (SO) Going a step further on the promise given to the northern people, President will announce the release of the another 454 acres of land from the present Palali Army Cantonment area in the Thelippalai DS area during his visit to the Jaffna peninsula tomorrow. According to UPFA MP Angajan Ramanathan, President will attend the ceremony to announce the release of these lands and several other houses built by Army. more..

Oct 30 (SL) Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Board has denied claims it boycotted a charity walk held in support of a new cancer unit for the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital. It was reported in The Sunday Leader newspaper last week that SLC had refused to formally support the charity walk in which former top cricketers Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene were participating. Whilst denying the allegations, Cricket Board said that SLC was contacted by organizers of Trail 2016 more..

Oct 30 (Island) With the Sirisena -Wickremesinghe govts proposals on a new Constitution scheduled to be presented to Parliament prior to the budget, India has called for maximum devolution that meets the aspirations of all Lankans. Diplomatic sources said that New Delhi had urged the govt to look at an inclusive solution to the ethnic issue, by devolving power to the maximum, while emphasizing that  it was not being prescriptive. India had said that it was for all Lankans to decide more..

Oct 30 (ST) Perpetual Treasuries, the controversial primary dealer at the centre of CB bond scam, is on a buying spree. In the past two months, the company has directly and through related parties bought large volumes of shares in at least three entities. Perpetual Treasuries have bought around 10 million NDB shares amounting to at least Rs 1.6 billion. More than 6 million of these shares were bought last month. more..

Oct 30 (CT) Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission visited the homes of the two students of Jaffna University, who were killed in a Police shooting on 21 October and recorded the statements of the family members. Commissioner and the media spokesman of SL Human Rights Commission, Counsel Saliya Peiris said that the statements had been recorded by a group of officers of the Human Rights Commission office of Jaffna. He promised to release a detailed report soon. more..

Oct 30 (ST) The much heralded multi-million dollar investment by the troubled German car manufacturer Volkswagen has run into further problems with the Finance Ministry refusing a tax holiday to the local collaborator. Ministry has said tax concessions cannot be extended to Senok Automobiles, which has entered into an agreement with BOI as it was after April 26, 2016, the cut-off date for tax holidays. Only those projects which had won approval before that date were being more..

Oct 30 (CT) Former CB Governor Arjuna Mahendran said he will before long prove himself innocent of allegations and charges of wrongdoing in connection with the controversial CB Bonds issue. In a telephone conversation last Friday, from Singapore, he said he was not hiding away to duck this issue, but was prepared to face any probe to clear his and his family's honour. He said his son-in-law Arjun Aloysius was not a director of more..

Oct 30 (ST) TRC yesterday blocked a Tamil website following complaints from the Media Ministry and the Justice Ministry, TRC Director General Sunil Sirisena said. He said the complaint was that the website was carrying false propaganda about judicial decisions given in the north, criticising judges and lawyers and posting news inciting the public in the north. He said the particular website was using SLT as the service provider and the site had been blocked until investigations were completed more..

Oct 30 (ST) Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe said the truth regarding the allegations that he was put under duress by UNP MPs on the COPE will come to light once the verbatim reports of the Committee that inquired into the Treasury bond issue are made public. This is intended to clarify reports that he was put under duress by UNP’s COPE MPs owho did not agree with his findings on the Central Bank bond issue. “The facts will come out within a few days once the reports are made public,” he said. more..

Oct 30 (ST) At no time before has the UNP used its might so strongly in Parliament to try and block what it perceived was a report not to its liking. The first occasion was in June last year. The previous COPE had completed its probe on the controversial CB bond issue of Feb 2015. Its then Chairman, Communist Party’s D.E.W. Gunasekera was to table the report but the 7th Parliament was dissolved on June 26, 2015 more..

Oct 30 (Island) The govt may have thought, as its supporters would have hoped, that by presenting a sensible and practical budget it could roll back the many setbacks that it has been having for quite a while. On Thursday, the PM made his second Economic Policy Statement in parliament to set the context for the new budget due on Nov 10. The very next day the political stage was taken over by the report of the COPE on the Central Bank’s Treasury Bond auction transactions in Feb 2015. more..

Oct 30 (Island) There are some encouraging indicators, some perfectly hilarious ones and dark clouds on the global economic horizon. It is budget season but I leave a critique of revenue and expenditure to others. In any case, in previous years they have altered so much and so often during the year that healthy misgiving rather than supposing stable policy is wiser. So let’s relax and get to the humour first. PM Ranil is a jovial chap; did you hear that at some Asian economic forum more..

Oct 30 (SO) Nestlé Lanka marked a new milestone in its local dairy development initiatives by opening another milk chilling centre in Jaffna, to help Sri Lanka reach self-sufficiency in dairy products. The Jaffna District Secretary Nagalingam Vethanayahan and Nestlé officials were also present. The new milk chilling centre in Urumpirai, will enable the farmers in the area to preserve the quality and freshness of their milk, more..

Oct 30 (SL) The decision taken by the Media Ministry last week to cancel the broadcasting licence of the Carlton Sports Network (CSN) is seen more as a political decision than anything related to the law. Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media Minister Gayantha Karunatilake was quoted in the Media Ministry website as saying the broadcasting licence of CSN was cancelled since the channel failed to adhere to transmission regulations. more..

Oct 30 (SO) UPFA Kandy District MP Mahindananda Aluthgamage said that discussions were underway to form a broad anti-Govt alliance to oppose the Govt tooth and nail. There is a huge public demand to form a new political force against this govt. A lot of political parties have rallied around the Joint Opposition (JO) to fulfill this public requirement, the JO front liner said. At present discussions are going on to form an anti-govt people’s movement. more..

Oct 30 (ST) Ministerial level talks between India and Sri Lanka to resolve the long standing fisheries disputes are scheduled to be held next Saturday in New Dehli. Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Mahinda Amaraweera will meet India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Ministerial meeting will be preceded by talks between fishermen’s association representatives of the two countries. more..

Oct 30 (ENS) Sri Lanka’s chances of getting back the European Union’s General System of Preferences Plus (GSP-Plus) trade concessions which it lost in 2010, depend on meeting the European body’s requirements in regard to human rights. With improvements in the human rights situation after Maithripala Sirisena was elected President in January 2015, Sri Lanka applied for the restoration of the trade concessions. more..

Oct 30 (ST) Ask any fan of the fictional British Secret Service detective and they will tell you that their hero James Bond always triumphs over evil. Most Sri Lankans in the past weeks had to contend with a new kind of bond – those issued by the Central Bank. For days before the COPE report on the probe into one such bond issue in February last year was made public, the secret was known. more..

Oct 30 (CG) SriLankan Airlines says it expects to earn profits through the launch of 11 new destinations focussing on the Asia-Middle East region. The airline said the launching of the new destinations reflects the airline’s further commitment in strengthening its presence in the region and beyond. SriLankan will operate direct flights from Colombo to 11 new destinations namely Lahore, Pakistan, Jakarta, Indonesia, Dhaka, more..

Oct 30 (CT) The last govt emphasized the launch was a private effort, carried out by SupremeSAT (Pvt) Ltd and the China Great Wall Industry Corp. but then President Rajapaksa's youngest son, Rohitha Rajapaksa, stole the show and was credited in domestic media as the creator of the satellite. Nov 2012 was a month of celebration. Amidst criticisms, then Rajapaksa govt announced that it was going to send the first ever more..

Oct 30 (DM) The report of COPE on the Central Bank bond issue did not include the suggestions made by MP Ajith P. Perera that Perpetual Treasuries should be held responsible and the CID should be called upon to conduct an investigation, Deputy Minister Harsha De Silva said. He said that the COPE report did not include that. “The most important thing is that all members of COPE had agreed to all recommendations,” more..

Oct 30 (CT) The COPE has made public the final report on the Financial irregularities reported on bond issues at the CB from Feb 2015 till May 2016 on Friday. COPE Chairman and JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti presented the report to the House, along with recommendations, as promised at an earlier occasion. The controversial Bond issue that arose during the tenure of former Governor of CB, Arjuna Mahendran, more..

Oct 30 (SL) The question papers of a competitive test of the wholesale storage complex of Ceylon Petroleum Corporation had been leaked before the test was held. Applicants charged that two new officials were recruited to CPC delivery and assistant transport sections by the manager of the storage complex from among his supporters, the applicants charged. Some 18 applicants had submitted their applications for the test. But while the exam was being held, the appointments had more..

Oct 30 (SL) Former Judge of High Court of Madras, K. P. Sivasubramaniam is to file a communication with the UNHRC that the 6th Amendment to Constitution is a violation of freedom of speech and conscience guaranteed in Articles 18 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. He is to be part of a campaign led by Transnational Govt of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), a pro-LTTE diaspora group in the US. Former US AG Ramsey Clark is also part of the campaign. more..

Oct 30 (CT) The UNP had to give up its attempts absolve former CB Governor, Arjuna Mahendran, of any responsibility in the Treasury Bond scam investigated by theCOPE when the Committee pushed forward and presented to Parliament with its original report recommending that legal action be taken against Mahendran and relevant CB officials. Ever since the controversial Treasury bond sale on 27 Feb 2015, involving Mahendran, his more..

Oct 30 (Island) Global Tamil Forum (GTF) says that its proposals sent to Public Representations Committee (PRC) on Constitutional Reforms had been ignored, while submissions from unknown diaspora groups had been taken into consideration. GTF’s Spokesperson said that GTF which  was established in 2009 by a number of grassroots Tamil groups following the end of the armed conflict in SL was the largest Tamil diaspora organization with members drawn from across five continents. more..

Oct 30 (Island) It was a week-long affair of the pot calling the kettle black in Parliament where much time was spent on the multi billion rupee Treasury bond scam.  A parliament where lines between govt and opposition are blurred saw many parties fishing in troubled waters.  The SLFP, JVP and the Joint Opposition made merry in the matter of crucifying the former CB Governor while UNP members engaged in a brave but ultimately futile battle to counter them.  more..

Oct 30 (Island) The two-part article by retired diplomat and former Ambassador Izeth Hussain (IH) published recently in Sunday Island’s sister publication The Island makes very interesting reading and is thought provoking. There is much merit in his analysis and proposals. IH is spot on when he states even though the LTTE is militarily no more, Eelam project is still on. It’s propagation by some segments of the Tamil community, especially amongst Tamil diaspora groups overseas, more..

Oct 30 (DM) A six-inch piece of wood had been removed from a man’s belly by the doctors at the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital recently. They said it was a matter of concern that the doctors in Matara Hospital, who provided treatment to the patient for about a week failed to detect the piece of wood in the patient’s belly, which the doctors in Karapitiya Teaching Hospital found within half-an-hour. The patient, E.H. Dhanushka (22), sustained serious injuries when he fell on a fence and more..

Oct 30 (CT) Police have been ordered to crack down on the gang going by the acronym AAVA which has been operating in the North for a couple of years, intent on instilling fear into the people with sudden day and nighttime visits brandishing swords and machetes. Police sources said the government has deployed the STF and two other special Police teams in Jaffna to crack down on this gang that is creating fear psychosis more..

Oct 30 (AM) Two suspected members of the Aava sword gang were arrested by the Jaffna Police earlier today. The two individuals were arrested in a by road in Jaffna when they were traveling by a motorbike. They had two swords in possession. They had insisted that the swords were used for the practices of a drama. However, the swords were larger and not the kind used for dramas. The Aava gang claimed responsibility to the assault on two policemen in Chunnakam recently. more..

Oct 30 (NR) Three officials have been suspended in connection to the incident of six inmates escaping from the Dalupotha Open Prison in Negombo. An investigation has commenced to look into the actions of the suspended officials. Prisoners had escaped at around 3:45 last morning from the open prison. The escaped inmates had been serving sentences for heroin-related offences and burglaries. Investigations have revealed that the inmates had escaped owing to the ignorance more..