July 24 (ST) SL is struggling with pieces of legislation on anti money laundering to bring rogues to justice. While there are at least 3 Acts that need re-hauling, Ministry of Justice will be hard at work to write laws dealing with confiscations of money laundering, officials say. One of the major new laws will be a Proceeds of Crime Act which provides for the confiscation or civil recovery of the profits from money laundering. “We don’t know how to manage forfeited funds from money laundering. more..

July 24 (SLN) A group of naval personnel attached to the Eastern Naval Command managed to rescue 2 elephants that were swept out to the sea, in between Round Island and Foul Point, Trincomalee this morning (23). The jumbos in troubled waters were first noticed by an Inshore Patrol Craft on routine sea patrol. Upon being alerted the Department of Wildlife in Trincomalee, a combined rescue mission was launched by more..

July 24 (PO) New Test captain Dinesh Chandimal has been discharged from the Nawaloka Hospital, where he was admitted for the chest infection on Friday. The name of the Hospital was kept secret so as the fans don’t rush here to see the cricketer. “The discharge was given at around 1.00 PM after being given clearance by Prof. Arjuna De Silva, who came and checked him”, the source added. Prof. Arjuna De Silva is a member of the Medical Advisory Panel of the SLC board. more..

July 24 (Island) Number of dengue deaths since January this year had increased to 292 and that of the patients had climbed to 103,114 as at yesterday. 30% of dengue patients were schoolchildren. The highest number of cases (22,186) was reported from the Colombo District while the second highest (17,228) from Gampaha District. Of the rest of the districts the number of dengue cases was as follows: Kalutara (5,616), Kandy (6,017), Batticlaoa (4,155), Trincomalee (4,428), Kurunegala (6,014), more..

July 24 (Island) State Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene, said law enforcement authorities had been directed to arrest those responsible for recent incidents including the attack on Coast Guard personnel at Vallipuram, in Jaffna peninsula. CG personnel had been attached to Point Pedro navy base and were attacked around 5 pm on Friday after they had taken into custody a group of persons engaged in illegal sand mining. more..

July 24 (AD) Thirteen students including a female undergraduate have been arrested a short while ago for participating a protest violating the Court order issued by the Fort Magistrate on Saturday, Police said. The students attached to the Medical Faculty Students’ Action Committee (MFSAC) launched a five day Nonidana Satana an anti SAITM protest at the Lipton Circus. It was reported that a group of people had pelted stones at the protesters on Saturday night. more..

July 24 (DN) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday called for the stepping up of efforts to control the spread of dengue and made an impassioned public appeal for cooperation to destroy mosquito breeding grounds in their neighbourhoods. PM said the collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage dump in April triggered problems relating to municipal solid waste management and increased the mosquitos breeding grounds. He recalled that the Supreme Court had issued an order temporarily banning more..

July 24 (Island) Presidential Commission probing alleged Central Bank bond scams in Feb. 2015 and March 2016 has summoned former Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, MP, to appear before it early this week. Summons have been served on Karunanayake over the weekend. The presidential commission comprises Supreme court judges, K.T. Chitrasiri and PS Jayawardena and retired deputy Auditor General K. Velupillai. more..

July 24 (DM) hirty four years after Black July, Sri Lanka today has many good reasons to believe that what happened in 1983 will not happen again. Though extremists, critics and cynics emphasise the negatives and divisions in the national unity govt, the positive reality is that for the first time since independence, the two major parties are working together towards all inclusive eco-friendly sustainable development and national unity. Earlier this month, divisions erupted publicly when more..

July 24 (DM) This year marks the 34th anniversary of the July riots of 1983 which reshaped the socio political history of our nation forever. Many still recall the grim images of gutted buildings, vehicles set on fire and bodies charred beyond recognition. The damage the Black July did cannot simply be evaluated in terms of physical casualties or monetary terms.  It split the body politic with an incisive divide in to North and South, an abyss un-bridged to date. more..

July 24 (SL) A battle to save street dogs intensified last week after a video emerged showing street dogs at Moratuwa uni allegedly being administered lethal doses of sedatives. Animal rights activists lashed out at the govt saying the process was being carried out with the blessings of the govt, but the govt denied the claims. AWAC said Minister Musthapha had also given them an assurance that such killings would not happen. more..

July 24 (FT) A second member of the Bank of Ceylon (BOC) Board has resigned within a month of the first, raising questions over their reasons for doing so and confusing the financial services industry.  The bank, via a filing to the CSE on Friday, announced that Charitha Wijewardane, an Independent Non-Executive Director, has tendered his resignation from the board with effect from 21 July 2017. more..

July 24 (NR) Court proceedings in the five districts of the Northern Province have come to a standstill this morning. Court proceedings did not get underway today in protest of the shooting adjacent to the Nallur Kovil in Jaffna on Saturday. The protest was organised by the Judges and Lawyers Association of the Northern Province. All Court hearings scheduled for today were postponed indefinitely. more..

July 24 (Yahoo) Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau, today issued the following statement on the anniversary of Black July: "Between July 24 and 29, 1983, anti-Tamil pogroms were carried out in Colombo and other parts of Sri Lanka resulting in thousands of deaths and the displacement of countless victims. "Today, we join Canadians of Tamil descent and members of the Tamil community to commemorate more..

July 24 (ST) As a measure to prevent improper waste disposal and to combat the deadly dengue epidemic in Colombo and suburbs, the Cabinet has approved a proposal to invoke Public Security Act provisions to check unattended houses and properties and take legal action against owners. The measure was among a series of other proposals approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday and will be put into action shortly. more..

July 24 (DN) PM Wickremesinghe marks his 40 years of uninterrupted political life this year having entered the parliament in 1977. The Premier hosted a celebratory meeting at Temple Trees on Saturday (22) for all members of the Biyagama UNP Bala Mandalaya in appreciation of their support rendered to him for entering parliament and paid his gratitude to all who supported him in his 40 years of uninterrupted political journey. more..

July 24 (CT) There is a Cocaine Prince on the loose and he must be identified, said former President Mahinda Rajapaksa commenting on the massive cocaine haul in Ratmalana last week. He said that "Sathosa doesn't have sugar. It doesn't have dryfish (Karawala). In the past they made an accusation of a karawala kumaraya, but now there isn't a Karawala Kumaraya. There is only a Cocaine Kumaraya. more..

July 24 (DM) Number of members elected to 336 Local Govt bodies under the new electoral system will be doubled while the number of Local Govt bodies will be increased by one Pradeshiya Sabha, Minister Faiszer Musthapha said. Number of members to be elected to Municipal Councils, Urban Councils and Pradeshiya Sabhas is to be increased to 8,825 from the current 4,486, and the new number of Local Govt bodies will be 336. more..

July 24 (DN) The govt is set to initiate three projects in the Western Province next month to generate electricity using municipal solid waste. The initiative forms the basis of measures to find a permanent solution to the festering garbage crisis in urban areas. President and PM spearheaded the move to find permanent solutions to the existing issue surrounding garbage. As a result, President Sirisena appointed more..

July 24 (FT) Sri Lanka may need to underscore its fiscal consolidation by re-pacing structural reforms, including implementing transparent energy pricing and tightening policy rates, Head of IMF staff team Jaewoo Lee said, assuring macro prudential measures would not slow growth for this year.  He said the Govt has over performed on fiscal consolidation targets and addressed reserve challenges from about March 2017, more..

July 24 (CT) Police Sergeant Sarath Premachandra paid the supreme sacrifice in his valiant attempt to save the life of Jaffna High Court Judge Manickavasagar Ilancheliyan on Saturday. 51-year-old Police Sergeant Sarath Premachandra of Chilaw, has been serving High Court Judge M. Ilancheliyan for several years. Last Saturday Police Sergeant Premachandra succumbed to serious gunshot injuries in his abdomen at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. more..

July 24 (FT) An important message was delivered to SL’s policymakers and bastions in the tea industry by five experts who participated in a live TV discussion on the subject recently. The message was that the industry was going through a crisis, it needed a long-term vision and it was time for everyone to give up their pet ideology based on thinking local and acting global. What was observed was that everyone was savouring small gains in the form of temporary increases more..

July 24 (LBO) Fitch Ratings, a credit ratings agency, has affirmed the long-term issuer default ratings (IDRs) of ten local finance companies, a statement said. “Fitch expects capitalisation in the sector to come under pressure as a result of asset quality pressures stemming from a challenging operating environment and unfavourable weather conditions and declining profitability due to higher funding and credit costs,” the agency said. Fitch sees that the shift in the business mix of the entities more..

July 24 (CM) Police have issued an arrest warrant for a 49-year-old SL man in connection with the murder of a 45-year-old compatriot in a Limassol apartment in the early hours of Monday. Suspect is illegally in Cyprus and had been deported in 2011, but he came back on another passport which was found in the apartment, located in a block of flats opposite the murder scene. His wife, who was with him, had also left the apartment when police went to search & police are looking for both of them. more..

July 24 (CT) SAITM Medical Faculty Parents' Forum claimed that they are disappointed with the lethargic approach of the Govt in resolving issues related to SAITM and asked PM Ranil Wickremesinghe to intervene in providing an equitable solution. Convener of the Parents' Forum Gemunu Wijerathne said that the matter was taken up by the Forum with PM and they now await a quick resolution, Wijerathne said more..

July 24 (DM) A 24-year-old man who had been produced before Galle Addl. Magistrate Asanga Hettiwatte and was released on a cash bail of Rs. 15,000 and personnel bail of Rs.1 million with sureties each. The man was taken into custody by the National Child Protection Authority for allegedly raping of a 15-year-old Sri Lankan origin Australian in Australia, where she first lodged a complaint. The suspect’s passport was impounded pending further investigations. more..

July 24 (IT) A Tamil widow who says 10 of her relatives were massacred by Sri Lanka’s police in 1986 has lodged a complaint with Northern Ireland’s Police Ombudsman after RUC links to the country’s security forces emerged. Senior Sri Lankan police officers visited Belfast in 1983 to “see at first hand the roles of the police and army in counter-terrorist operations”, according to secret British govt files. The visit happened months after the Special Support Unit, an elite RUC police commando team, more..

July 24 (DN) The GMOA will embark on trade union action from 8 a.m. tomorrow if the Govt fails to meet eight demands today, GMOA Secretary Dr. Haritha Aluthge said. He said that the first of the demands was that all details pertaining to white van number NP – 0410 – used in the abduction attempt on Ryan Jayalath - is disclosed to the public. He also demanded that the identity of those who arrived in the van to abduct more..

July 24 (AD) Former Minister Basil Rajapaksa stated that the Sri Lanka People’s Front, which was considered to be the newest party, would be establishing its own Govt before long. He expressed these sentiments upon attending a public gathering at the Agalawatte Prathiraja Pirivena yesterday. He said that measures preparations had been made to recruit 200,000 new members to the Front at once. He also said that the country’s economy had declined drastically and more..

July 24 (DM) A driver of a motor car who took offence at a driver of a SLTB bus plying on the Galle - Matara road for tooting the horn repeatedly in order to obtain space to overtake had assaulted the driver and the conductor of the bus when the bus had stopped at a bus stand. The driver of the motor car who was so annoyed by the bus driver's tooting of the horn had boarded the bus when it had stopped at Mihiripenna to pick up passengers and assaulted both the driver and the conductor more..

July 24 (Roar) Earlier this month, an official announcement was made that Asia’s tallest building, to be titled World Capital Centre (WCC), will be constructed in Colombo. It was to be completed in 2023. According to Al Aman World Capital Centre—the company behind the project—the 117-storey twin-tower structure will be a 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) to the tune of USD 2.4 billion, the likes of which has never more..

July 24 (EN) Sri Lanka’s tea production in June rose 5.8% or by 1.5 million kilos from a year ago, with the gains coming from the low grown elevation most of which is grown by small farmers. Forbes & Walker tea Brokers said SL’s tea production for June 2017 totalled 27.1 million kilos compared with 25.6 million kilos in June 2016. “Low Growns have shown a gain year-on-year whilst High Growns have remained static. Mediums however show a marginal decline vis-à-vis June 2016,” the brokers said. more..

July 24 (PSL) The Japan- Sri Lanka Friendship Foundation has donated two ambulances worth Rs. 150 million to Sri Lanka at the President’s official residence, today. The donation was made according to a request made by Matara district Member of Parliament Buddhika Pathirana. Representing the Japan-Sri Lanka Friendship Foundation, its Chairman Dr. Lal Thilakarathne handed over the ambulances symbolically to  President Maithripala Sirisena and subsequently more..

July 24 (AFP) Sri Lanka announced Monday it was intensifying its war on dengue fever, with schools to shut across the island to help curb the unprecedented outbreak of the mosquito-borne virus that has claimed nearly 300 lives. Red Cross also announced it was scaling up its emergency response to the country's worst-ever outbreak of the disease as the number of dengue cases topped 100,000. That figure is nearly double the more..

July 24 (PSL) Inauguration ceremony of the 28th POLA Summit (Presidents of Law Associations in Asia) was held yesterday (22) under the patronage of President Sirisena. This summit which is organized by SL Bar Association is held for three days in Colombo. During the summit attention will be paid on the problems faced by the lawyers in Asian Region. They will discuss about the solutions for them. PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, Minister Wijayadasa Rajapaksha and more..

July 24 (Island) SP Ruwan Gunasekera said that there had been no attempt to abduct student leader Rayan Jayalath and police had tried to take him into custody as he had violated the law. White van they had used belonged to Colombo Crime Division (CCD), he said, claiming that it had been driven by a uniformed policeman. There had been other police officers in uniform, he added. Asked whether police could deploy their personnel in civvies to make arrests, SP answered in the affirmative. more..

July 24 (PTI) TNA has demanded concrete action from President Maithripala Sirisena on disclosing the whereabouts of their relatives who are still missing eight years after the end of the country's nearly three-decade-long civil war. In a letter to Sirisena, leader of TNA R Sampanthan demanded govt disclose names of all the detainees and the places where they were being held besides allowing their relatives to visit them. more..

July 24 (Island) Parents and medical students of the Gampaha District, on Saturday, dashed coconuts at the Seenigama Devalaya near Hikkaduwa to invoke divine intervention as part of their campaign to pressure the govt to close down the SAITM. Following the ritual the parents and students staged a demonstration opposite the devale on the Galle Road displaying anti-SAITM banners for half an hour. Addressing the gathering at the end of the demonstration, Secretary of Gamapaha more..

July 24 (CT) The JVP and several civil society organizations are mounting pressure on the President and PM to make it compulsory that the new Constitution obtains a proper public mandate through a referendum. JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said the new Constitution has to use the current Constitution as the base, even though it was forced on the people by then President J.R. Jayewardene in 1978 with his 5/6 majority in Parliament. more..