Jan 6 (CI) 10: Wickets taken by Kagiso Rabada in this Test. His of 10 for 92 is the best match figures by a South Africa bowler against Sri Lanka. The previous best was Vernon Philander's 10 for 102 in Centurion in 2011. Rabada's match figures are also the best at Newlands since Sydney Burke's 11 for 196 in 1962 against New Zealand. 4: Bowlers with better figures than Rabada in an innings at Newlands. This is the third time Rabada has taken six or more wickets in an innings. more..

Jan 6 (NS) Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB) President, Suraj Dandeniya’s statement that only players under 25 will be drafted into the national pool in future has attracted both praise and criticism. Former SL junior badminton coach, Chintaka Fernando praised the decision taken by SLB to draft youngsters to the national pool but warned that playing standards of national teams should be maintained. “If you see the players from other countries, there is hardly anyone between ages 30-35 who is performing well. more..

Jan 6 (CI) Angelo Mathews has called on his batsmen to take a cue from Dean Elgar on how to bat in seaming conditions. SL were blown away in Newlands Test, losing by 282 runs by lunch on the fourth day. Sri Lanka were dismissed for 110 in the first innings, and 224 in the second. In comparison, Elgar's match aggregate was 184, 129 of those runs coming in the first innings, when the green Newlands pitch was at its freshest. more..

Jan 6 (CT) Colombo District Court yesterday questioned Minister Champika Ranawaka in connection with the accident that took place in Rajagiriya last year, which resulted in two youths being injured as well as about an issue relating to a popular film actress. Ranawaka has filed a case in the Colombo District Court against the Secretary to National Electricity Workers' Association (NEWA) Ranjan Jayalal demanding a sum of Rs 500 million from him by way of damages caused by more..

Jan 6 (ST) All arrangements have been finalised for the launch of the much looked forward to Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year 2017 competition. We are now ready to add a whole new dimension to this prestigious contest which began in 2008. It is with a profound sense of pride we wish to announce that Dialog Axiata– second to none in the local telecommunication industry- is joining hands with the Sunday Times, in our way forward to in taking this competition to new heights. more..

Jan 6 (DM) National Police Commission (NPC) Chairman Prof. Siri Hettige has tendered his resignation letter from the post to the Constitutional Council (CC). He said he had decided to resign because he was offered a Professor Chair at a German University. However he said he would be acting as a member of NPC. “It’s a chair dedicated to Sri Lanka. They had established and commenced the first semester. more..

Jan 6 (DN) For the first time in SL a former English beauty queen will host a mega joint beauty pageant in SL involving beauties from both English and Sri Lanka. Premier Ceylon into High-end Hospitality Sri Lanka will be coordinating this event along with Sri Lanka Tourism and have also partnered with Miss England Limited, UK. SLTB Chairman Paddy Withana said that this would be a major MICE event and the country would get tremendous free destination mileage through it. more..

Jan 6 (DN) Construction work of the Garment factory at Sammanthurai is nearing completion. The factory is constructed under the East Development program. This garment factory is the second one in the Eastern Province open after forming the good governance. Eastern Provincial people are happy about this and thankful to the government. There is a possibility of getting employment for a good number of youngsters from Ampara district sources said. more..

Jan 6 (FT) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe officially kicked off construction work on what will be the country’s largest fully-integrated tyre manufacturing facility, Rigid Tyre Corporation plant, with its foundation stone-laying ceremony held at the BOI Industrial Zone in Wagawatte, Horana. Project is being carried out with a whopping investment of Rs. 11.25 billion which will open a new page in SL’s industrial sector. more..

Jan 6 (NS) Governors’ Guild has charged that the Northern Provincial Council’s (NPC) request made to the Govt calling for the reduction of the powers given to Provincial Governors was a ridiculous one. NPC and the TNA recently called on the Govt to curtail powers given to Governors. According to NPC and TNA, Governors, being representatives of the Executive President were vested with wide powers. They also said that the term Governor itself contained connotations of being possessed more..

Jan 6 (Island) In the face of devastating crop losses in excess of an estimated Rs. 15 billion in 2016, Planters Association of Ceylon (PA) released a statement pleading with the govt to immediately provide a rational, and effective solution to the management of chemical weeding in the estate sector in a commercially viable manner. Since the govt had imposed its blanket ban of glyphosate-based weedicides in May 2015, agricultural productivity, particularly in the estate sector more..

Jan 6 (ST) There is no involvement of German carmaker Volkswagen AG in the project to set up an assembly plant at Kuliyapitiya, spokesman for German Embassy said. “SENOK Trade Combine (Pvt) Ltd. and BOI are the parties of the contract signed on 13th Aug 2015,” said Dr. Michael Dohmen, Deputy Head of Mission. “According to our state of knowledge currently there isn’t any involvement of Volkswagen in the project. more..

Jan 6 (FT) Minister Rajitha Senaratne pooh-poohed an allegation that he was involved in creating the BBS made by former President Rajapaksa last week, counter-alleging that it was his brother former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa who was the true patron of the extremist Sinhalese movement accused of targeting religious and ethnic minorities in the country.  Senaratne told reporters that the former President’s claim was the “joke of the 21st Century.”  more..

Jan 6 (ENS) Sri Lankan Navy on Wednesday arrested 10 fishermen, including a 15-year-old, from the district while they were fishing near Neduntheevu. Their two mechanised boats were confiscated and taken to Karai Nagar Port in Sri Lanka. According to sources, around 900 fishermen of Jegathappattiam had ventured into the sea in 270 mechanised boats on Wednesday morning and were expected to return on Thursday morning. But, except two, all other boats returned to the shore. more..

Jan 6 (DM) 3-day parliamentary debate on constitutional proposals was postponed yesterday because some political parties sought further time to come up their stands, it is learnt. Earlier, the debate had been scheduled for Jan 9, 10 and 11. Steering Committee, working out constitutional proposals, met yesterday. Minister Lakshman Kiriella said that though there was, by and large, agreement on constitutional proposals, more..

Jan 6 (Island) Senior Consultant Psychiatrist, Mental Health Institute (MHI), Angoda, Dr. Jayan Mendis, responding to allegations levelled against him by Harsha Thilakasiri, a former employee of the Minister of Megalopolis, said the patient had been admitted to his institution due to an overdose of an anti-depressant drug. Dr. Mendis denied that he had followed orders of a politician Thilakasiri had been dealing with. He said he could not reveal more about the patient for more..

Jan 6 (Island) All state buildings in SL would be made eco-friendly in ten years, UDA Chairman Jagath Munasinghe said. Under the guidance of Presidential Secretariat, Mahaweli Development and Environment Ministry in collaboration with UDA has prepared Green Building Guidance and Rating Systems, which will be launched under the patronage of President on Jan. 9. State buildings which would be constructed in the future would also have to comply with eco-friendly guidelines. more..

Jan 6 (Island) Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms (CTFRM), headed by attorney-at-law Manouri Muttetuwegama, has called for full participation of foreign judges and other personnel including defence lawyers, prosecutors and investigators in transitional justice mechanism to address accountability issues. The eleven-member committee stressed that foreign participation was required as those who had suffered during more..

Jan 6 (AD) Justice C.G. Weeramantry, former Judge of Supreme Court and former Vice-President of the Int'l Court of Justice (ICJ), has passed away at the age of 90. Christopher Gregory Weeramantry was a Judge of Supreme Court of SL from 1967 to 1972. He was a Judge of ICJ from 1991 to 2000, serving as its Vice-President from 1997 to 2000. In the course of his professional career of over five decades as lawyer, legal educator, domestic judge, int'l judge, author and lecturer, more..

Jan 6 (Island) Cricket South Africa (CSA) has scrapped Sri Lanka’s scheduled tour of South Africa later this year. National cricket team was scheduled to make back-to-back tours of South Africa and the scheduled series in Dec 2017 and Jan 2018 was suppose to consist three Tests and limited-over games. However, CSA confirmed that the tour is unlikely to happen. "I have given an indication to Sri Lanka that it is unlikely," CSA Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said. more..

Jan 6 (DN) Govt has neither drafted any agreement nor any committee report has been released on Hambantota Harbour and proposed industrial zone, President Sirisena said. Govt will not sign agreements with any foreign country or institution that would be detrimental to SL’s heritage and dignity. Govt will ensure the highest level of transparency when bilateral agreements are signed with foreign nations and institutions. more..

Jan 6 (FT) Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) insisted that High Commissioner Zeid Al Hussein’s position on a hybrid court to prosecute alleged war crimes during Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war remained unchanged. OHCHR took to Twitter yesterday to clarify what it called Zeid’s unchanged position, after Minister Rajitha Senaratne controversially proclaimed to reporters, that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights had endorsed the Govt’s position that more..

Jan 6 (DN) Deputy Minister Harsha de Silva issued a personal clarification regarding the Volkswagen deal, in which he detailed why plans with that car manufacturer did not go ahead. In a evidence based, fact-filled message posted on Facebook he said, ‘1. Given I was responsible for the initiation of this project I would like to place the following facts before the public. 2. In my new job as the Deputy Minister of Policy Planning and Economic Affairs I met with the then Ambassador more..

Jan 6 (FT) Govt fired back at JO for what Ministers described as damn lies and crocodile tears over the new and crucial $ 1.4 billion revival deal for Hambantota Port with China Merchant Port (CMPort). Ministers Malik Samarawickrama and Ravi Karunanayake literally shot down each of the criticisms and allegations against Govt’s initiative and emphasised that JO, influenced by MP and former president Rajapaksa, was misleading more..

Jan 6 (DM) With the National Govt giving high priority to climate change concerns in its sustainable development mission launched on January 2, a vital step will be the Youth Climate Summit (YCS) to be held at the MAS Athena in Thulhiriya from Jan 20 to 22. This is based on the concept that the youth, as the leaders of tomorrow should themselves workout creative imaginative and sustainable solutions to tackle climate change concerns that prevail now and may arise later. more..

Jan 6 (DM) R. Sampanthan is the Leader of the Opposition. He is also the Senior-Most Citizen of Tamil Nationalism. Some might demand that the Nationalism descriptive is incorrect, but let’s leave it at that. It’s a new year, after all. Let’s also leave aside track records. Mr. Sampanthan has made a statement, a gracious one in fact, and as such is richly deserving in reciprocated grace. In his New Year message as the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Sampanthan has made an appeal to citizens more..

Jan 6 (SL) A racket involving the distribution of school uniforms has been under discussion for the past few months. It has once again come under the limelight with allegations being raised against the tender procedure for supplying the uniform material.  At present school uniforms are being distributed under a voucher scheme. It was a move that was introduced by the new govt. However, Principals of seven schools more..

Jan 6 (NS) Four Bulgarian Nationals who stole money from Electronic Teller Machines (ETM) of several private banks by recording and tracing depositors’ PIN numbers and data through high powered cameras surreptitiously fixed overhead within ETM booths were arrested by the CID sleuths in Mirissa, Galle earlier this week. The arrested persons belong to an international credit card fraud group who have for some time more..

Jan 6 (Island) The JHU urged President and PM to stop the spreading of racism by the Northern Provincial Council. WPC member Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe said the behaviour of NPC Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran was an impediment to reconciliation. He said the NPC had recently passed a proposal prohibiting transport of toddy from South to North, but the South welcomed all productions from North, including red onion more..

Jan 6 (Island) Dr. Sujatha Senaratne has challenged a bid to prevent her from contesting for the post of President, College of Medical Administrators of Sri Lanka on the basis of an amendment brought to their constitution last year. Dr. Senaratne had taken exception to a decision taken by a committee comprising five past presidents of the College of Medical Administrators of Sri Lanka to deprive her of an opportunity to contest more..

Jan 6 (ENS) Independent Police Commission lacks powers to control the police force, and the Commission has had to seek appropriate powers, says Prof. Siri T. Hettige, who resigned from the chairmanship of the commission recently to take up a teaching assignment at Heidelberg University in Germany for a semester. Hettige, a Professor of Sociology at Colombo University, said that for the first year of commission’s work, more..

Jan 6 (ST) With more and more people gaining internet access and online banking being encouraged in Sri Lanka, cyber security threats are also likely to increase in the coming years. Over 2,200 social media related complaints were made to SL Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) in 2016. Many of these incidents could have been avoided had users been more careful about sharing their personal information online more..

Jan 6 (FT) Defending the Govt’s move to lease the Hambantota Port to China Merchants Port Holdings Company (CMPort), the SLFP yesterday refuted the claims of the Joint Opposition that it would confiscate the lands of people in Hambantota for a proposed industrial zone. UPFA General Secretary Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that not a single family living in Hambantota would be removed due to the industrial zone.  more..

Jan 6 (DM) If CB Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy has said the economy is clearly in the hospital today, it was in the ICU during Rajapaksa Govt and Dr. Coomaraswamy was an attendant to it, Minister Ravi Karunanayake said. Minister said he believed that Dr. Coomaraswamy hadn’t made such a comment but said if he had done so, Coomaraswamy should understand that he had played role of a hospital attendant more..

Jan 6 (NR) President Maithripala Sirisena says Sri Lanka will regain the GSP+ trade concession that was suspended during the tenure of the UPFA led govt in a week. He said the current govt has overcome all obstacles faced when developing the country. President Sirisena said during a short time frame the govt eliminated obstacles faced when building the country adding the international community is now considered a friend. more..

Jan 6 (ENS) In the context of the raging controversy over the grant of 80% stake in the Hambantota port to the Chinese state-owned China Merchant Ports Holding Company, President Maithripala Sirisena has said that there is no such agreement and that any agreement his govt will sign will be in the country’s interest and transparent. “As of late, there has been a massive opposition towards Hambantota Port and Industrial Zone there. more..

Jan 6 (ENS) Noting that the latest incident of fishermen from Tamil Nadu being apprehended by SL Navy has come at a time when the fishing community here was hopeful of a permanent solution following the ministerial meeting at Colombo on Monday, Chief Minister O Panneerselvam shot off another letter to the PM, urging him to send a firm message to the island nation against continuing such arrests. On Wednesday, 10 fishermen from Jegathapattinam fishing base more..

Jan 6 (CT) Concerns have been raised about the preliminary report of the Consultation Task Force (CTF), particularly about hybrid courts and foreign judges. It should be remembered that this report and its recommendations have not been finalized. Additionally, at the very beginning of the report, the CTF write that they are not making extensive recommendations themselves, but that this is merely a collection of ideas from various people to whom they have listened. more..

Jan 6 (NR) Former Senior DIG Anura Senanayake and Former OIC of the Crimes Unit of the Narahenpita Police Sumith Perera arrested and remanded on charges of concealing evidence in the murder case of National rugby player Wasim Thajudeen have been further remanded till the 19th of January. The order was issued by Colombo Additional Magistrate this morning. Tabling facts in Court Deputy Solicitor General said evidence has uncovered that another individual more..