July 11 (FT) In his presentation the Budget Speech for 2016, the Minister of Finance proposed to introduce a New Income Tax Law on the following lines: “Existing tax laws in the country are cumbersome, complex and based on traditional British concepts. The complexity of the tax laws has been identified as an impediment for the effective implementation of tax policy in SL. It has led to various complications thereby hampering the effective implementation of the tax policy. more..

July 11 (CT) The unscrupulous politicization of Buddhism and the supremacist Sinhala identity by Sinhalese politicians to wrest control of political power and to go on and consolidate that power for exclusively selfish personal gain has been the norm since S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike saw it as his ticket to power when he realized that D.S. Senanayake was grooming Dudley for power. And SWRD could not wait all that long to experience the taste of personal power. more..

July 11 (EN) The global standard setter for securities regulation has urged Sri Lanka’s markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to regulate investment banking and advisory services as a priority. Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) said the lack of regulation of such entities was a serious gap in current regulations. Investment banks (including corporate finance advisers) and financial planners and advisers in Sri Lanka more..

July 11 (DN) The Attorney General today informed Colombo High Court that a document  file pertaining to the registration activities of  Sakvithi Housing and Construction (Pvt.) Ltd that was maintained by the company's registered office, has gone missing. Deputy Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris appearing for the Attorney General made this remarks when the case against Sakvithi Ranasinghe and ten others came up before Colombo High Court Judge Sampath Wijeratne. more..

July 11 (AD) Buddhist Monks at the Dambulla cave temple stated that they will not let the temple close down. After the announcement regarding the temporary closure of the temple due to conservation and till the tourist visiting tickets are printed was made, locals and monks at the temple challenged the govt on multiple grounds, at a press conference. This included the newly appointed seat organizer threatening to resign more..

July 11 (NR) Deputy Minister Manusha Nanayakkara says the UPFA led govt called for an election due to the predictions of an economic crisis. He said the previous govt was aware that it will have to face several unbearable economic issues in the future. He said it is not the duty of MPs to separate themselves according to parties and protect the party. He said it is their duty is to serve the general public adding that that is why the main political parties united. more..

July 11 (AD) Ven. Medagoda Abhayatissa Thero says that Govt must support the Bhikku’s decision to break the silence in a situation where the proposed constitution was likely to separate the country. Thero stated this upon attending a press conference of Federation of National Organizations today. Thero also said that Mahanayake Theros of Malwathu and Asgiri chapters had urged the termination of the constitution creation process on the grounds that it would affect country in an adverse manner. more..

July 11 (AFP) Dozens of groundsmen at Hambantota cricket stadium have complained that they were ordered to give back their uniforms before being paid -- even though they were wearing them at the time. SL's cricket board was forced to apologise after social media reports that some workers had to leave the ground in their underwear at the end of the fifth ODI between Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe on Monday. more..

July 11 (Island) PRECIFAC yesterday questioned MEP leader Dinesh Gunawardena for nearly three hours. PRECIFAC questioned Gunawardena on an alleged fraud running to Rs 3,000 million in implementing a drinking water project during the previous govt. MP Gunawardena had arrived at the commission around 10 am and was there till around 12.30 pm, commission sources said. When MP was present at the commission, former President Rajapaksa, too, was there with him. more..

July 11 (DM) The govt had decided to bring in a new Constitution because the present Constitution had gone through so many amendments, Deputy Minister Ajith P. Perera said today. “There is no point of making Constitutional amendments because the Constitution has been amended so many times, he said. During a field visit to the Colombo Port Power Plant Barge, the he said that there was no need to make amendments to the present distorted Constitution. more..

July 11 (CI) Sikandar Raza rips the new ball, and floats it up above the batsman's eye-line. It is more dare than delivery. Test yourself against my drift and dip, he says. See if you can step out and hit me. Before Monday's match, Zimbabwe captain Graeme Cremer had issued a challenge of his own. "The pressure is more on Sri Lanka because they expected to beat us," he said. "We won't take any pressure into the decider." more..

July 11 (CT) Four political parties, representing minority communities have forwarded a proposal to the steering committee for constitutional reforms, requesting the creation of a vice president post, to represent the minorities. This position should be created through the new Constitution. Tamil Progressive Alliance, All Ceylon People's Congress (led by Minister Rishad Bathiudeen), SLMC and the EPDP have made this proposal, Minister Mano Ganesan said. more..

July 11 (DN) Two suspects including Captain Tissa Wimalasena, the driver and security officer of former President Rajapaksa, were today ordered to be further remanded till July 18 by the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court for allegedly operating an illegal quarry on a govt owned land in the Koratota area causing a loss of Rs. 29 million to the govt. Two suspects Tissa Wimalasena and Lal Priyantha Peiris, a former member of Puttalam Pradeshiya Sabha, were arrested by FCID under more..

July 11 (GDI) Minister Mangala Samaraweera during a discussion with representatives of the trade unions of the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) stated that the main objective of the new Inland Revenue Bill was to simplify the tax system in the country in order to create an investor friendly environment that will attract more foreign direct investments in the near future. He said that present tax system in place is complicated more..

July 11 (HN) Reports say that an army brigadier who had served as a security advisor at the Sri Lankan Embassy in the Washington DC has disappeared. It was noted that his disappearance coincided with the end of his term in office. The army said that it believed that the brigadier was in hiding somewhere in the US, avoiding his return to Sri Lanka. This brigadier who was attached to the Gajabaa Regiment during the former regime, had been appointed to SL embassy in US in Dec 2014, more..

July 11 (GDI) National Nutrition Program for pregnant mothers is one of the welfare programs conducted by the govt. The program has been implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs with the objective of uplifting the wellbeing of both the child and the mother. Under this program, a pregnant mother receives a voucher for 2,000 rupees each month during her ten months, which will total up to 20,000 rupees at the end. The vouchers are issued by the Divisional Secretariats more..

July 11 (DM) The GMOA is to complain to foreign embassies about Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne’s inability to find a solution to the dengue outbreak in the country which had now reached epidemic proportions. GMOA Secretary Dr. Haritha Aluthge said if the present govt was unable to control Minister Senaratne the GMOA would have to request the international community to intervene to save the country’s health service. more..

July 11 (PMD) Final report on the fairness of increasing of the amount of fines for violation of road rules, formulated by the committee appointed by the President, was handed over to the President today. Secretary to the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation Mr. Nihal Somaweera presented the report to the President. The Budget proposal -2017 suggested the minimum fine for violating road rules to increase to Rs. 25,000, with the objective of preventing road accidents. more..

July 11 (AD) The World Health Organization (WHO) report on the eradication of Dengue in Sri Lanka has been submitted to the Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine, Dr. Rajitha Senaratne. According to the Ministry of Health, the report was presented to the Minister of Health at the National Blood Transfusion Center of Narahenpita. A group of four doctors representing the countries of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka were nominated to compile the WHO report. more..

July 11 (DM) A senior officer of the Central Bank's EPF Department, Saman Kumara, who dealt on behalf of the EPF in secondary market transactions with Perpetual Treasuries Ltd., (PTL) has been interdicted by the CB, the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) today confirmed to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI). This was revealed when SC Justice Prasanna Jayawardena questioned ASG Dappulada Livera on more..

July 11 (CT) Govt has launched a new programme, utilizing new technology, to properly distribute social welfare benefits to the people, Policy Development Unit of PM's Office, said. "Through this programme people can easily get access to an electronic database which will provide information on all the welfare benefits offered by the Govt. The public can obtain information about the areas in which those projects are being implemented and how much money has been spent. more..

July 11 (PTI) TN govt today reasserted its position that the retrieval of Katchatheevu, an islet ceded to Sri Lanka in the 1970s, was the "only solution" to the vexed fishermen's issue. Finance Minister D Jayakumar, who also holds the Fisheries portfolio, said retrieval of Katchatheevu was the topmost agenda of the state govt. "Retrieval of Katchatheevu back to India and restoration of the traditional fishing rights of Indian fishermen in the Palk Bay area are the topmost agenda of govt of TN," more..

July 11 (EN) EPF, a state insurer and a savings bank bought bonds originally held by Perpetual Treasuries at pre-arranged rates through PABC, a commercial bank, PCoI was told. Richard Dias, head of PABC bank's Treasury said billions of rupees of bonds were bought from Perpetual Treasuries, a firm connected to ex-CB Governor Arjuna Mahendran's son-in-law Arjun Aloysius, and re-sold to the EPF. more..

July 12 (Island) UNP proposal before COPE: Pera, Colombo universities to pull out of UGC control, become profit-oriented; This is the front-page headline of The Island of July 7. I find that this is very serious and ominous news. When the SAITM issue was developing into crisis proportions, I had a worrisome premonition. I had the feeling that the govt was deliberately allowing this issue to fester into a national crisis; that there was an underlying method in its madness. more..

July 12 (ST) This is no laughing matter. When some copy writer with hilarity aforethought labelled Sri Lanka the Wonder of Asia about a decade or so ago, there were outbursts of loud laughter that were probably heard by the Inuits in the Arctic. That is the trouble with many Sri Lankans. They do not recognise a good thing when they see it. One could pick up without trouble the derisive laughter directed at our congregation of ministers and politicians in general. more..

July 12 (Roar) If you don’t know it yet, your daily rice and curry packet is about to get a whole lot lighter. SL is running out of rice and that spells a lot of trouble for the country—especially for farmers involved in rice production and households whose income levels cannot handle the increased prices of rice. Severe drought that hit the country late 2016 and early 2017 has severely affected the 2016/2017 maha harvest, causing a massive more..

July 12 (NS) A delegation from the UK, representing the prestigious Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) will be in Sri Lanka for the first time ever, to conduct the selection process for members and fellows to this world renowned international body. This is considered as a landmark for Sri Lanka as it is the first time that the international body would be conducting a selection process for Sri Lankans, in Sri Lanka, where the panelists would also be Sri Lankans. more..

July 12 (CT) There is a proverb in English language Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are…  It  means  find wise people and be in their company as much as possible. Very few know the dark side of Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran‘s life or they know but pretend ignorance. In a recent interview M.A. Sumanthiran alluded that Wigneswaran is a devotee of Premananda who was convicted of raping under-aged orphan girls living in his Ashram and murder of a young engineer Ravi. more..

July 12 (CT) Eastern Province Agriculture Minister and General Secretary of ITAK Krishnapillai ThurairaJasingam says that the Chief Ministers of all nine Provinces have continuously demanded for Police and Land powers. Therefore, now the importance of those powers have been understood by many. "All Chief Ministers are emphasizing on devolution of power. The only challenging situation we see is the North and East merger and more..

July 12 (SL) No matter what the official claim, our foreign migrant workers are still in the same predicament they were in before. In President Sirisena’s election manifesto, A country without corruption, a tomorrow without fear, there were many promises made to the migrant workers. In fact the govt promised to introduce a pension scheme for migrant workers raising their hope that they would be taken care of by this govt. Govt also promised to increase their NRFC interest rates more..

July 12 (SL) Institute of National Security Studies Sri Lanka, as the national security think tank, consider cyber security as a top priority. Few weeks ago we held a roundtable discussion on recent WannaCry attack and it’s affects to our region and how to prepare for future such attacks. I am happy that the Secretary of the Ministry of Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure has established a high level task force as an outcome of our discussion. The founder of the World Wide Web more..

July 12 (CT) In this festive period of Pride celebrations across the world, a peculiar incident takes place in SL, with increased mobilisation of Buddhist monks, who are apparently opposed to the proposed new Constitution. Multitude of disagreements on the Constitution, and especially on what goes in the Constitution within Govt itself have repeatedly come to light. Debates that are necessary and somewhat intriguing are taking place, which is just about the only positive sign. more..

July 12 (Island) It looks as though Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) were hell bent on promoting some other ball game by making SL public fed up with cricket. Else, by now, the SLC would have given itself a radical shake-up and gone hell for leather to arrest the rapid deterioration of the standards of cricket. National cricketers who resemble walking jewellery shops with glittering necks and wrists and indulge in a vulgar display of opulence should share the blame for this situation with the SLC panjandrums. more..

July 12 (CT) A country like no other! boasts some of our tourism promotion brochures, where perverts grope fellow passengers in buses and, to go by the latest US Embassy travel warning, where three-wheel taxi drivers find American women passengers fair game on the ride. No others have complained yet! What's the phenomenon? This needs serious attention by the authorities. US Embassy in SL issued an alert last week more..

July 12 (Island) There is no need to elaborate that the collapse of buildings or any other structure will result in very grave consequences. It may lead to loss of life and serious injuries, not only to the occupants but the neighbours and the people around when the mishap happens. These will be in addition to the loss of valuable physical assets and further legal claims. We frequently hear about building failures in crowded cities across the world. However, until recently more..

July 12 (ST) The  first Sinhala film in cinemascope directed by D.B. Nihalsingha- Welikathara –which created a sensation when it was screened 46 years ago, in 1971, is now being shown in cinemas for a limited period. Welikathara was selected as one of the best Sinhala films from among over 843 films screened during the first 50 years of Sri Lankan cinema (1947-97). Nihalsingha had begun the process of converting it into digital format at the time of his unexpected demise. more..

July 12 (DN) Govt has appointed a Task Force to develop a mechanism to transfer state owned condominium and non-condominium properties to those who have lived in them for more than 15 years. Condominium Management Authority has invited the relevant families to provide their information, in pursuance of govt policy of empowering 3 million citizens to become land and house owners. more..

July 12 (ST) An Australian-based Sri Lankan entrepreneur has proposed a novel solution to get rid of one of the country’s stinking problems – transforming garbage to energy. While the concept of transforming garbage to energy is not new and has been proposed in the past with these proposals often thrown to the WPB (waste paper bin) due to bureaucratic lethargy, red-tape and corruption, Kumar Perumal says he has a more practical, quick-fix solution to this burning & unhealthy issue. more..