Apr 18 (Island) Kalutara Chief Magistrate ordered to further remand ten suspects produced before the court by police in connection with recent prison bus attack where seven persons, including an underworld kingpin known as Samayan were killed. Seven persons – five inmates and two jailors were killed and three others injured during the daring attack on a Black Maria on Feb 27 at Kalutara while the inmates were being transported form the Kalutara prison to Kaduwela Magistrate court. more..

Apr 18 (DM) The Kesbewa Magistrate today granted permission to the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) to dump garbage collected from Colombo at Karadiyana in Piliyandala on a temporary basis. CMC Commissioner V.K. Anura said the CMC would dump garbage not only at the Karadiyana but also at several other places.  He refused to reveal the exact locations where garbage would be dumped saying it would provoke the people in the respective areas against the move. more..

Apr 18 (Nikkei) Hopes are rising for Sri Lanka's ailing national carrier, SriLankan Airlines, as U.S.-based private equity firm TPG Capital conducts due diligence on the indebted company. The process is scheduled to be completed by the of May, after which the SL govt and TPG Capital will start negotiations on a deal to salvage the airline, which has been losing money since 2009. Deputy Minister Eran Wickramaratne said that more..

Apr 18 (SL) British Minister for Asia and the Pacific at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Alok Sharma is to visit Sri Lanka. Apart from holding meetings with the govt, Sharma will also speak at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute on April 21 on challenges in a port Brexit world. British govt had told the UNHRC recently to give Sri Lanka time to fully implement the October 2015 resolution. Sharma told the Council during the high-level segment of the last session, he welcomes Foreign Minister more..

Apr 18 (ITN) The brother and sister of the same family that went for bathing near the Maa Oya Estuary at Waikkala in Wennappuwa have been drowned. The brother and the sister who went for bathing with their father and mother and other relatives after participating in a mass held at the Waikkala Church faced this unfortunate incident. The brother had attempt to rescue his sister who was drowning. As a result both were drowned. The Police said both of them died in this tragedy. more..

Apr 18 (DN) Draft regulations to ban regifoam lunch boxes and extend the ban on lunch sheets less than 20 microns up to 40 microns will be presented to the Cabinet approval next week. The regulations once finalized and approved by the Cabinet would be published in a Gazette and implemented within two months. If necessary a grace period would be announced for the manufactures, sellers & consumers to adapt more..

Apr 18 (Cau) Australia's Under 19s have taken a 2-1 series lead over Sri Lanka with a convincing 102-run success in the third Youth ODI in Hobart.  After Jack Edwards' 95 laid the foundation for an imposing total of 7-251, Ryan Hadley (4-61) and Lloyd Pope (3-46) did the damage with the ball to rout the visitors for 149, despite an unbeaten 55 from middle-order batsman Jehan Daniel. The Aussie innings got off to a rocky start with Matthew Spoors leg before to his first ball, the second of the match, more..

Apr 18 (CT) A crisis situation has been prevailing for a long time at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Angoda due to the failure of the relatives of some 600 patients who have recovered from their illness to claim and remove them. Around 1,300 patients, who have been successfully treated, are currently being put up both at the hospital and at a nearby centre. Despite repeated reminders being given to relatives to remove their patients such requests have fallen on deaf ears. more..

Apr 18 (NR) Former President Rajapaksa says a prompt solution must be provided pertaining to the issue of the collapse of garbage dump in Meethotamulla instead of blaming the govt led by him. He said govt’s responsibility must be to address the issue. Former President said the previous govt came to a conclusion following a report for aid from World Bank adding that it allocated funds for this project through 2015 budget. more..

Apr 18 (PRW) Condé Nast Traveler US today announced the winners of its 2017 HOT LIST, with both Anantara Peace Haven Tangalle Resort in Sri Lanka and Anantara Al Jabal Al Akhdar Resort in Oman recognized in the prestigious annual list. The Condé Nast Traveler Hot List 2017 recognizes the best properties around the world that have opened their doors in the last year. Dillip Rajakarier, CEO of Minor Hotels, parent company of Anantara, comments, “We are absolutely delighted that more..

Apr 18 (NR) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe has reached an agreement with the President of the National Assembly Madam Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan to launch a programme to strengthen ties amongst the National Council of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Madam Ngan during the meeting with the Premier and the Lankan delegation said she was prepared to work closely with law makers of both countries on a bilateral and international level. more..

Apr 18 (CT) A low floor super luxury bus service is to be started, connecting five major suburbs and Colombo within the next two months, LPBOA President Gemunu Wijeratne said. He said that bus services will be starting from Kottawa, Battaramulla, Negombo, Kiribathgoda and Moratuwa. It is expected to use electric buses for this super luxury bus service which will charge double as the normal fee. more..

Apr 18 (NR) Director General of Health Services Dr. Jayasundara Bandara says there is no shortage of the Tamiflu drug used to treat influenza cases. Ministry of Health said the statements made by the GMOA pertaining to the matter are false. Calling a media briefing the GMOA said there was a deficit of the Tamiflu drug used to treat dengue, virus fever and influenza. However the Health Services Director General stated the drug was not used to treat dengue and viruses’, he said. more..

Apr 18 (GV) The death toll from last Friday's collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage dump in Colombo rose to 28 people this Monday. Rescuer workers say another 30 people are still trapped under the mud and debris, though hopes are fading that any of these individuals will be found alive. The garbage collapse buried roughly 145 houses in the Colombo slum. 90-meter-high, 180-meter-long garbage dump collapsed last Friday, when a fire broke out. more..

Apr 18 (Roar) Four days into the Meethotamulla disaster, rescue and cleanup operations are still underway. Police and tri-forces personnel can still be seen digging through the rubble, braving the elements, doing their utmost to bring closure to the hundreds of people affected by this tragedy. The death toll from the collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage mountain rose to 31 today. Our photographer was at the site to more..

Apr 19 (CT) During the Presidential election 2015, president Sirisena announced his manifesto under the theme of compassionate Maithri governance, a stable country. In the chapter 10 of the aforesaid, he promised to meet the basic energy needs through renewable energy. The manifesto also included among others protecting against rising of imported fuel prices, inclusion of environmental factors in decision making, building biomass power plants and benefiting rural communities. more..

Apr 19 (CT) Since of late, there seems to be a spate of interest in our PM. Often referred to as Ranil, instead of PM, he has managed to draw unusual attention to himself; by the nineteen eighties he had already become the darling of the Colombo cocktail circuit, paralleling Lalith Athulathmudali at the time; his laidback lifestyle which emanates an aloofness beyond a mere politician-ness of a politician has sometimes caused a great deal of suspicion among his constituents. more..

Apr 19 (SO) Minimum standards of the medical education in Sri Lanka was at the centre of controversy recently with the historic judgment given by the Appeal Court directing the Sri Lanka Medical Council to give temporary registration for the graduates of the SAITM medical faculty students to do their internships. This historic judgment initiated a wider dialogue in society about the minimum standards that have to be followed more..

Apr 19 (GV) In 2012, I visited Madampitiya to help with research for a friend’s thesis. The subject was the spread of disease in this area, situated close to a garbage dump. The tiny lanes in between the houses were muddy and often, filled with filthy water. This happened because when it rained (as it had been shortly before we visited) the streets would flood, and spillover from the dump would wash into the streets and sometimes, people’s houses. In fact, you would often need to step off the road more..

Apr 19 (Island) The death toll from the Meethotamulla disaster continues to rise. About 30 bodies had been recovered at the time of going to press. Experts have warned that the garbage dump may collapse again in the event of heavy rains. They have called for evacuating many more people. Their warning must be heeded if another disaster in quick succession is to be averted. Former President Rajapaksa would have us believe that his administration was about to launch a project more..

Apr 19 (CT) The decision of the Ministry of Education to introduce coloured uniforms instead of inconvenient and unhandy white uniform is indeed praiseworthy. White uniform-clad school children can only be found in Sri Lanka. Whereas, Western countries have not mandated uniforms whatsoever for school children. Schools in the West allow children to be at ease with whatever decent dress code they are comfortable more..

Apr 19 (DN) Sri Lanka faces a serious problem: the country is heavily indebted; total public debt rose to Rs. 9,401,969 million as at Sept 2016. As a % of GDP, public debt stood at 76% in 2015 and the rating agency Fitch estimates this has increased to 77% of GDP by end 2016. More frighteningly, servicing this debt, paying the interest and the capital consumed 90.6% of total govt revenue in 2015. The debt service cost has remained at over 90% for most of the last 10 years and more..

Apr 19 (DN) Colombo’s garbage saga is really a tale of two cities. The affluent neighbourhood in Colombo 7 is cleaned not once but several times a day. At one O’ clock in the afternoon, street cleaners can be seen assiduously picking up a few stray leaves on Horton place. Environment Police is seen placidly patrolling as there is really nothing much for them to do. On the contrary, in the other City of Colombo (for example Colombo North) roads are blocked by wayside eateries and repair shops, more..

Apr 19 (GV) On the afternoon of 14th April tons of garbage at Meethotamulla, one of the biggest dumping sites just outside Colombo, came crashing down destroying scores of homes. At the time of writing, the death toll was reportedly 26 but expected to rise. There have been serious allegations made by the affected community that rescue efforts did not even begin in earnest till very late into the night owing to lack of direction and failures of authority. According to Nuwan Bopage, more..

Apr 19 (Island) A few days after the Meethotamulla tragedy in Sri Lanka, a referendum was held in Turkey. The people of Turkey rejected Western liberal warnings and voted in favour of an executive presidency. Meethotamulla tragedy, which occurred utterly inauspiciously as it were during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year holiday, was symbolic. Two years into the neoliberal Yahapalana govt (and a perennially UNP Municipal Council), at least 30 people died horribly, more..

Apr 19 (DN) The scene remains grim at Meethotamulla, as countless members of the military crisscross the fallen garbage searching for signs of the missing. Distraught relatives of the disappeared, along with those who were lucky enough to have survived the ordeal unscathed, perch themselves on undamaged buildings, surveying the recovery efforts. Pools of stagnant water lie in the shadows of smashed, more..

Apr 19 (GDI) State Minister Dilip Wedaarachchi said that he is willing to go beyond new and old models of THINK TANKS to deliver very productive results value to the society. “I strongly feel that it is the time to think of new model for Think Tank, one that takes full advantage of managing the available resources and some of the best practices from more established think tanks across the world. I am willing to go beyond new and old models, thinking entirely of new ways of delivering more..

Apr 19 (FT) Last week, President Maithripala Sirisena addressed a forum in Kandy where he extolled the dip in Govt revenue from tobacco and alcohol, and went on to say that despite the drop in revenue, this would serve as an investment for future generations. It is difficult to assess if he has been kept in the dark on some of the developments on the ground over the past six months, or if this be another fine example of shrouding the truth for the want of baseless applause.  more..

Apr 19 (DM) The biggest star Sri Lanka has ever produced in netball Tharjini Sivalingam left for Australia for a six-month playing and training contract in a move that may signal the end of an era. But the humble sports icon also gave a clear indication that it is still not too late if the country’s sporting authorities are ready to wake up to the reality and think about the country than playing petty sports politics. more..

Apr 19 (ST) Silence. The house and surroundings were absolutely silent. No singing by Kussi Amma Sera (KAS), no shouting from the kitchen, no bloody interventions when home people on the phone (to borrow a phrase from writer Carl Muller). Absolute silence! Only dogs barking and the ringtones from the choon paan karaya down the road. Holidays are here and the home help have gone for their long summer sojourn to the village, taking away that much-needed gossip, more..

Apr 19 (Island) Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) seeks to obtain the views/observations of the general public and the stakeholders of the CSE, including Listed Companies, regarding the proposed amendments to certain Listing Rules of the CSE. The amendments have been proposed with a view to facilitate the implementation of an appropriate enforcement mechanism with the continuous listing rules by listed companies. Rules have been revisited to establish an enforcement mechanism more..

Apr 19 (TOI) Sri Lanka may find it difficult to wriggle out of China's clutches because of the massive debt it owes to Beijing but to balance things out, it is now set to allow India to jointly develop the Trincomalee port in northeastern part of the country. Diplomatic sources said Sri Lanka has readied an MoU for joint development of the project and that it's likely to be signed during PM Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to Colombo. more..

Apr 19 (Island) The sleepy hamlet of Nuwara Eliya was bursting at the seams with the flood of visitors who seemed to pour in over the New Year weekend! It was a beehive of activity and resonated to the sound of music and celebration. In the thick of things and by far the most popular attraction was the Royal Turf Club, home of one of the most picturesque racecourses in the world. You wouldn’t be far off the mark in thinking that virtually all roads seemed to be converging on Little England as more..

Apr 19 (EN) After a slowdown last year, SL is now benefiting from its efforts to improve its fiscal sustainability and to reform its economy, World Bank has noted in a new report. SL is projected to grow by 4.7% this year and by marginally over 5% in the medium term, according to the bank’s South Asia Economic Focus report. Recent policy measures supporting fiscal consolidation and monetary tightening contributed to an improved outlook, against the backdrop of IMF program, it said. more..

Apr 19 (AFP) Hundreds of tonnes of rotting garbage piled up in Sri Lanka's capital Tuesday after the main rubbish dump was shut following an accident that killed at least 30 people. Authorities sealed the massive 300-foot (90-metre) rubbish mountain on the northeastern edge of Colombo after it collapsed Friday, destroying 145 homes nearby and burying victims in a garbage landslide. more..

Apr 19 (FT) Colombo Additional Magistrate further remanded former Senior DIG Anura Senanayake until 27 April over the murder of Wasim Thajudeen, for allegedly concealing evidence. Counsel Dilan Ratnayake appearing for the Attorney General told the Court that the investigations on former Chief Judicial Medical Officer Professor Ananda Samarasekara, who has been held responsible for the missing body parts of murdered rugby player, will be concluded on 21 April. more..

Apr 19 (Island) The ICC announced that Kumar Sangakkara will feature in the commentary panel for the Champions Trophy to be played in England and Wales in June. Sanga will be joined by Ricky Ponting, Brendon McCullum and Graeme Smith, who will be making their television debuts. Other big names who will commentate through the tournament include Sourav Ganguly, Shane Warne, Michael Slater, Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton, Shaun Pollock, Ian Bishop and Ramiz Raja. more..

Apr 19 (ENS) Politics, rather than science, is playing an important role in marine fisheries governance especially in South Asian countries, said Maarten Bavinck, a Dutch scientist, whose research projects include providing space for small scale fishers of India and Sri Lanka.  “The dispute between India and Sri Lanka over the fishing activities in the Palk Bay remain unsolved mainly due to political reasons, he said more..

Apr 19 (CT) Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang expressed his and his govt's deepest condolences over the Meethotamulla tragedy that resulted in the death of over 30 individuals. During bilateral discussions held with PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, Vietnamese Govt said they would remain with all Sri Lankans in these tragic times. Furthermore, Quang added that Vietnamese Govt is ready to render all support necessary in order to prevent such disasters from happening in the future. more..