Apr 11 (DM) A female graduate, who is a development officer, was arrested by the Pallewela Police for allegedly pouring boiling water on her 73-year-old mother. The suspect’s brother, a law student, was also arrested for obstructing the police officers from arresting his sister. Last Friday, the elderly woman had been at her home in Kaleliya, Kotakanda when the incident had taken place. She had been admitted to the Wathupitiwala Hospital with burn injuries. more..

Apr 11 (FT) SL’s premier State-owned retail chain Lanka Sathosa toasted the achievement of its historic and overnight network expansion on 9 April. It thereafter went ahead to unveil another first in FMCG history on the same day – distribution of hampers full of household goodies at drastically reduced prices, thereby bringing relief to one million households in the New Year season and cleverly ensuring cash registers of retail chain rang more..

Apr 11 (FT) State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe has been formally invited for the second time to attend a prestigious meeting at the Centre for International Development (CID) at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Govt. This latest program is a platform where 100 leading international policymakers, CEOs, Heads of foundations and multilateral organisations and development experts will meet and discuss important issues relating to global sustainable development and prosperity. more..

Apr 11 (Island) To assist Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), an independent U.S. foreign aid agency fighting against global poverty, to identify issues faced by investors with regard to access to commercially-viable land, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) recently held a roundtable discussion on land use policy in Sri Lanka, bringing together experts and stakeholders. 5-year MCC project aims to identify why land is a binding constraint to investment and development more..

Apr 11 (DM) Some 900 uniformed staff members of SL Excise Department are bewildered and agitated over a decision taken by the department’s Chief Auditor to collect all raided liquor stocks from countrywide stations and distribute them only among its headquarters clerical staff at a concessionary rate during the upcoming Avurudu season. Sudden move was described as unfair and discouraging for all uniformed staff members, more..

Apr 11 (Verve) Number 41 Horton Place is what many refer to as Colombo’s creative nerve centre, with its unmistakably stark and minimalist facade. Lower level of the building houses PR, the capital’s hottest multi-label store, run by Annika Fernando, while the mezzanine is occupied by her sister, Saskia Fernando’s eponymous gallery. To say that the sisters have played an important role in putting the island- nation’s fashion, design and art on the map would not be doing them justice. more..

Apr 11 (Xinhua) This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between SL and China. Over the past 60 years, SL-China relations have withstood the test of international changes and maintained the healthy and stable development. In the past years, the two countries have taken the opportunities generated from the China-proposed Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, known as the Belt and Road Initiative, more..

Apr 11 (Island) President Maithripala Sirisena has assured NUA leader Azath Salley that political interference wouldn’t be allowed in the appointment of the new President of the Court of Appeal. NUA leader Salley yesterday told The Island that he had received an assurance from President Maithripala following the front-page story headlined CC urged to thwart political interference in yesterday’s edition of The Island. more..

Apr 11 (EN) Sri Lanka's forex reserves dropped US$ 514 million to US$ 5,119 million in March from a month earlier. Forex reserves usually drop when the central bank prints to finance the govt and defends the exchange rate when the newly minted cash drives up credit and ends up in the forex markets as imports. Sri Lanka usually ends up printing money to sterilize interventions and maintain a policy rate incompatible with credit demand and inflation or exchange rate target. more..

Apr 11 (DN) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe who arrived in Japan yesterday for an official visit will have a series of meetings from today with key economic agencies working with SL. Further strengthening of economic ties between the two countries will become a key focus of the visit. PM is scheduled to meet Japan-SL MP’s League, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and meet Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade & Industry. more..

Apr 11 (DN) The Power and Energy Ministry has informed the Board of Investments (BOI) that CEB will not procure power through unsolicited tender procedures. “The BOI and other institutions bring proposals on power project investors. Even though these projects had received the BOI approval, CEB by law, cannot accept these power projects,” Power and Energy Ministry Secretary Dr. B.M.S. Batagoda said, adding that more..

Apr 11 (DM) 46 years ago on April 5, the JVP launched its first rebellion, which was quickly extinguished though at a hefty cost of lives. A second uprising followed 17 years later and caused mass carnage. In between, another insurrection that over time transformed itself into mindless terrorism flared up in the North, and held this country hostage, until it was conclusively defeated in 2009 through equally brutal means. The second half of the independent history of this country more..

Apr 11 (DM) Those who continue to agitate against the SAITM in the name of free education do not seem to see the hundreds if not thousands of school buildings about to collapse on poor students because of poor maintenance or substandard construction. The latest reminder of the pathetic condition of many of the school buildings in the country was the incident where eighteen grade-five students of Sririmalwatta Navodya School in Wattegama, Kandy had been admitted to more..

Apr 11 (DM) Sanjeewa Pushpakumara, in a Facebook tribute posted the other day, made the following observation: Vasantha Obeyesekere tharamata shabdaye prabhala bavath sarayath handunagath venath Lankika cinemavediyeku nometha (loose translation: There is no Sri Lankan filmmaker who could play around with the intricacies of sound as well as Vasantha Obeyesekere). Whether or not this is the most discernible achievement of more..

Apr 11 (SL) Keith Noyahr, former deputy editor of The Nation, is a member of a fortunate fraternity of outspoken SL journalists. While Noyahr, along with Lakehouse journalist Poddala Jayantha and freelance journalist Namal Perera paid for their dissenting articles with white van abductions and vicious beatings at the hands of the former regime’s defence ministry death squads, their lives were spared. more..

Apr 11 (CT) The reason, Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva, proposed the amendment of the Act, was due to the increased concern through the complaints the National Transport Commission (NTC) has been receiving regarding the inter-provincial buses that have been plying from the North to the South without legitimate route permits since the war in the country ended. Amendment will make alterations to NTC Act No. 37 of 1991, more..

Apr 11 (PSL) President says spiritual leaders are the real messengers who connect the hearts of the people and strengthen reconciliation as wished by every religious philosophy. He noted that the guidance for reconciliation is witnessed in Thripitaka, Bible, Quran & Bhagavad-Gita.  He highlighted that Buddhist monks and all other priests belonging to Hinduism, Islam, & Christianity are expected to make use of the norms of great teachings. more..

Apr 11 (NR) A special group of representatives from the European Union are currently in the island to assess Sri Lanka’s eligibility for the reinstatement of the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus or GSP+. Joint Secretary of the Free Trade Zones & General Services Employees Union Anton Marcus speaking to NewsRadio said the visiting delegation will compile a report that will be tabled before the European Parliament. more..

Apr 11 (ST) The expected turned out to be the unexpected, giving a different and uncommon twist to a common health issue. As he peered at the cultures of two sets of sputum and respiratory secretions, as he had done for numerous specimens previously, instead of the usual spheres, rods and spirals, what he saw were shapes like little blooms. It was not bacteria, but a fungus, says Consultant Microbiologist Dr. Muditha Abeykoon of more..

Apr 11 (CT) In an unprecedented move the coordinators of all political groups in the trade committee, the Member of European Parliament responsible for GSP+ and Special Rapporteurs of the European Parliament responsible for South Asia issued an unprecedented ultimatum to Ranil Wickremesinghe. The deadline for Wickremesinghe to meet these demands have been revealed in closed door conversations to be 25th of April. more..

Apr 11 (CT) Anti-Corruption Front (ACF) accused last week that Sri Lanka had again incurred a loss of Rs. 1.953 billion due to the tender awarded to Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. Company to supply coal to Norochcholai Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant from January 2017 to 31 March 2017. They said that the Ministry of Power and Renewable Energy had offered this tender in violation of the order of more..

Apr 11 (Island) More than 30 trade unions in the CEB will meet today to decide when to launch an all-out strike as the govt has ignored their 24 hour token strike staged last week demanding the rectification of their salary anomalies. Convener of CEB Trade Union Alliance, Ranjan Jayalal said that representatives from 32 trade unions in the CEB would meet at its headquarters at 12 noon today. Jayalal said they had struck work from more..

Apr 11 (DN) JVP leader and MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that JVP will stage an island wide strike with the participation of all trade unions against the government's attempt to sell the Trincomalee oil tanks to the Indian Oil Company. He also said Minister Malik Samarawickrama will go to India in April and ink an agreement in this connection. He also said that the JVP has filed a case in this connection as well.  more..

Apr 12 (CT) Wichita State University’s Professor of International Business, Dr Dharma de Silva, known to his friends as Dharma, had been a trailblazer on many counts in SL’s management education. His contributions for the advancement of management education in Sri Lanka were made when he was the Professor of Business and Public Administration at the old Vidyodaya University now known as the University of Sri J'pura. Now that Dharma is no more, it is time to reflect on more..

Apr 12 (CT) The International Women of Courage award to Sandya Ekneligoda by the US govt, and presented to her by First Lady Melina Trump, was a symbolic affirmation that the fate of victims of enforced disappearances is an international priority that will not be negated by either time or official denials.  Sandya Ekneligoda’s husband, Prageeth, a journalist, disappeared in 2010 just a few days before the presidential election that saw President Rajapaksa win a second term of office.  more..

Apr 12 (SO) Chandran Rutnam’s much awaited, According to Matthew, a cinematic rendition of the true story of Fr. Matthew Peiris who was convicted for the double homicide of his wife Eunice and his mistress Dalrene’s husband –Russell Ingram, is ready to come alive in the cinema circuit. A remarkable aspect of this latest venture by Rutnam is that it will be released in English, Sinhala and Tamil. more..

Apr 12 (DN) The late V R Krishna Iyer, one of the most eminent jurists to sit on the Supreme Court of India, pithily and wittingly said once that the replacement of the patronage of the political boss with patronage of the judicial boss has not improved the quality of judiciary. It was a critique of the Collegium selecting Supreme Court Judges in India. He went onto say. “the Collegium is a judicial creation and the syndrome of the personality cult being beyond accountability. more..

Apr 12 (SL) Whether or not there is a national consensus of some kind for pushing through constitutional reforms, as promised by the present-day rulers, there are already differences if any consensus has at all been achieved. On that would also hinge the question if any of the proposed constitutional amendments, including a new constitution, if agreed upon, would require a nation-wide referendum. The current phase of the issue started with TNA’s M A Sumanthiran claiming more..

Apr 12 (CT) State Minister and Leader of Up Country People's Front (UCPF) Velusamy Radhakrishnan said it is a must for the Plantation Tamils to obtain administrative powers at least through the upcoming constitutional reforms. "We are not demanding for a separate State, but administrative powers. We want powers devolved for our community as well. They must adopt such demands to constitutional reforms. more..

Apr 12 (Island) Many a tribute has been paid to Ravindra Vimal Jayewardena whose sojourn in this world ended on April 02, a few days short of his 81st birthday. Though we are saddened by his demise, I am sure Ravi would have faced the end with equanimity he developed over the years. Born the only child of parents, President JR and Madam Elina, both belonging to elite families, he could have been the proudest of the proud but Ravi was the humblest of the humble. more..

Apr 12 (SL) President Sirisena has instructed several senior ministers to expedite the Constitution drafting process.  Although the topic of formulating a new Constitution has been discussed, there is a concern among many over the delay in the process. Formulating a new Constitution was one of the main election promises of the good governance regime. While many opinions have been expressed regarding the new Constitution, the President had instructed the relevant committees to more..

Apr 12 (ST) Mix Palmyrah fruit pulp and wheat flour in proportionate quantities. Add a bit of sugar and salt for taste and a pinch of baking powder and mix well. Deep fry small globes of this saffron-hued mixture in oil. Offering freshly fried panangai paniyaram, a signature delicacy of the Hindu New Year table, for us to sample is S Kamaleshwari, Production Officer of the Palmyrah Development Board (PDB), joined by her able assistant Chitra, busy before a cauldron of hot oil and more..

Apr 12 (Island) Kumar Sangakkara paid a glowing tribute to his cricket coach Bertie Wijesinghe calling him a man of impeccable values. Wijesinghe, who passed away at the age of 96 on Saturday was Sri Lanka’s oldest cricketer. He had coached generations of cricketers. At S. Thomas’ College, Mount Lavinia, he had coached cricketers like Chandra Schafter, Michael Tissera and Anura Tennekoon. Much later, he shifted to Trinity College and apart from coaching cricket, more..

Apr 12 (ST) Bak Full Moon Poya falls on April 10 and the Sinhala and Tamil New Year on the 14th. Good Friday is also on April 14. Therefore the coming week is very significant for Sri Lankans. It was on a Bak Full Moon Poya that the Buddha visited Sri Lanka. Buddha with his divine eye surveyed the world and observed a dispute brewing between two Naga communities in Lanka (Sri Lanka). more..

Apr 12 (Island) In a nation whose environment was once clean and benign, we have now begun to suffer the wages of a Govt appointed to protect the health and well being, letting destructive development become the state norm. The trend in public health deterioration is so acute that at a recent medical meeting on the subject, Prof O.A. Ileperuma stated that 45% of hospital admissions are for respiratory disorders. The quality of air in the city is degrading and the levels of airborne more..

Apr 11 (Island) We quoted NAU Leader Azath Salley, as saying President Sirisena had assured him that the established procedures would be followed in appointing judges. The President is only making a virtue of necessity! Having promised to usher in good governance, the govt cannot act in contravention of time-honoured procedures. Similarly, Salley ought to give a pledge to the public that established procedures will also be followed in removing judges. more..

Apr 12 (CT) Leader of the Opposition R. Sampanthan has warned that if the grievances of Tamils were not addressed properly, even the present govt would be ousted from power. He was addressing an event in Vavuniya, at which 150 houses, constructed in the Sinna Adampan village in Vavuniya, by the London-based Lyca organization, were handed over to their tenants. The houses were constructed at a cost of Rs 23 million. more..

Apr 12 (CT) She spent a life of luxury and comfort in a large mansion. Even where power was concerned, in that country she was second to none. She ruled above everyone and believed that not even a crow could fly over her head. However, she could not maintain this authority of power and dictatorship throughout her life. She was accused of a number of things including bribery, corruption and misuse of power. In the first week of March, before a people's Court she was proven guilty. more..

Apr 12 (DN) Moratuwa University students protesting against SAITM at SL vs. Bangaladesh T-20 match. Cricket fans were treated to an unusual spectacle at the first T-20 between SL and Bangladesh at the Premadasa Stadium when a group of university students took occasion to stage a peaceful protest. The students—from the Moratuwa University’s Students Union, as evinced by posts on their Facebook page—decided to use the occasion to protest against SAITM. more..