June 16 (Hindu) SL filmmaker Jude Ratnam’s début documentary, Demons in Paradise, got the rare red-carpet honour at the Cannes Film Festival recently, but he is certain that he will be called a traitor for making it. “For me, the film was a way of confronting the questions I have had since childhood about my Tamil identity,” he said. As a 5-year-old, Mr. Ratnam fled the capital with his parents to escape July 1983 riots. more..

June 16 (EN) Investors interested in providing ferry services along waterways in Colombo under the proposed Megapolis urban agglomeration project will be invited to make bids this Sunday. The Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development said the ferry services will be run as public-private partnerships. The first phase will be a service on canals from Wellawatte to the suburb of Battaramulla which is expected to be operational in early 2018. more..

June 16 (DS) A fugitive chief recruiter of the Islamic State in the Indian subcontinent has targeted youths from three countries -- India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka -- to involve them with the global terror outfit. Mohammed Shafi Armar, a tech savvy, has been operating on Facebook and other personal messenger services to contact, brainwash and recruit youths from the three nations. He has been named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US yesterday, becoming the first more..

June 16 (AD) ITAK claims that Chief Minister of the Northern Province C.V. Wigneswaran had attempted to dilute the findings of guilt against a provincial minister who was his close confidant, by sacking all four ministers of the provincial council. ITAK Assistant General Secretary M.A. Sumanthiran revealed the actual reason behind ITAK members of the NPC presenting a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister to the Governor of NP. more..

June 16 (DN) A Hartal campaign was launched against the No Confidence Motion filed against Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran today by his supporters in the North. Several shops and businesses were closed and black flags were hung in Killinochchi, Jaffna and Mulativu districts in protest. A No Confidence Motion signed by 21 Northern Province Council members against the Chief Minister was submitted yesterday to Northern Province Governor Reginald Cooray.  more..

June 16 (DN) NFF Leader Wimal Weerawansa was granted permission to travel abroad today on June 19 till 23 to attend a lecture at the National Defence University in Pakistan. Colombo Fort Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne granted permission. He will attend the tour as a part of former President Rajapaksa’s delegation. President’s Attorney Shavindra Fernando informed courts that his client will be absent for the court hearing fixed on June 19 since he is to attend the foreign tour. more..

June 16 (DN) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe assured that schools destroyed by recent floods and landslides will be refurnished, elevating its standards. He said this while paying a visit to Dudley Senanayake College in Pitabadda which was affected by recent floods and landslides. PM directed all authorities to restore all computers and school furniture which were destroyed by the adverse weather condition. more..

June 16 (DM) A petition signed by 15 members of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) to counter the No Confidence Motion submitted against CM C.V. Vigneswaran, was handed over to Governor Reginald Cooray last night. A group of NPC members including TNA Councillor M.K. Shivajilimgam had handed over the petition. The councillors told the Governor that Mr. Vigneswaran should continue as the Chief Minister. However, Governor’s office said no affidavit was found more..

June 16 (DN) It seems that the UNP needs something similar to that of Black July in order to postpone elections. This is what stands behind the recent attacks on shops and mosques of Muslims and not arresting Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera, said LSSP Leader Prof. Tissa Vitharana. Addressing a press conference, he said the only way of postponing elections is by declaring a state of emergency which could be done only if racist violence irrupts in the country. more..

June 16 (DM) The BBS said today Minister Champika Ranawaka and MP Athureliya Rathana Thera should take responsibility for Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera intervening in various matters in the country. “Gnanasara Thera would have turned even more violent had he accepted the contracts given by Minister Ranawaka and Rathana Thera,” BBS CEO Dilanthe Vithanage said. He said they had prompted Gnanasara more..

June 17 (CT) The task for national reconciliation in Sri Lanka embodies not only building bridges between ethnic communities but also religions. Many interethnic issues overlap closely with interreligious differences, suspicions, misunderstandings and frictions. Therefore, I would propose that the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) and the Ministry of National Coexistence and Dialogue should undertake such activities to promote interreligious dialogue at various levels more..

June 17 (CT) To be sure, the yahapalanaya govt, now into its third year, has done something substantial. However, it is getting into the bad books of people for what it has not done. Neglect outdoes achievement. The result is that ample fodder is given on a plate to the opposition. Those who want to see the govt fall like to cling to a negative rhetoric. Where is yahapalanaya? What have they done? To be sure, one hears such negative refrains not only from the Rajapaksa-committed. more..

June 17 (Roar) In the aftermath of the London tower block disaster, the Sri Lanka Branch of the Institution of Fire Engineers, a body of leading fire safety experts, has warned that the traffic is so bad in Colombo that the city’s Fire Department cannot meet its seven-minute target for reaching a blaze. Nalaka Liyanapeli, the Hon. Secretary of the Institution, spoke to Roar following the deadly high-rise fire in London. He called  for increased funding for more..

June 17 (SO) Sri Lanka, since time immemorial, often referred to as the pearl of the Indian Ocean has till recently been more in the limelight for suicide, ethnic disharmony, and violent crimes. Despite this, visitors to the paradise isle see us as a happy people, and are little aware of the underlying tragedy of suicide that pervades the entire country. According to a recent WHO report, on an average 900,000 people kill themselves worldwide each year. In an earlier report they estimated more..

June 17 (DN) Disturbing news began to flow in from the suburbs and from the periphery. It was about attacks on properties and places of religious worship of the Muslim community and several Christian denominations. It came at first sporadically, here and there. Later, a pattern, an involvement of a hidden hand became visible. How could incidents of similar nature occur throughout such a wide geographic spread without someone orchestrating them? These incidents are of such a nature more..

June 17 (ST) George Calombaris watches a woman roughly grind mint leaves into a bright green paste. Crushed between the stone surfaces of her mortar and pestle, their sharp fragrance drifts through the small clearing around a village home. His hosts, Cinnamon Life, flew Calombaris down from Colombo to Dambulla only this morning, and it took a car, a boat and a brisk walk to bring him here. He is visibly tired but more..

June 17 (NS) Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran who has caught the attention of the Sinhalese society by way of his various debatable statements, recently took a laudable decision. This involved issuing a warning to two Northern Provincial Ministers found guilty of corruption and fraud. On June 14, addressing the NPC, he called for two Ministers to resign from their posts. The emphasis to resign was directed towards Ministers T. Kurukularajah and P. Ayngaranesan. more..

June 17 (DN) Taxes on imported sugar were increased recently to Rs.25/kg. Consumers will be shocked to learn that the tax is almost 50% of the import price, small wonder that sugar retails for over Rs.100/kg. Strangely, sugar is also subject to price control. On one hand hefty taxes are imposed to protect the industry which cause prices to rise. On the other hand prices controls are imposed to protect consumers. This does not make sense. Why is protection necessary? more..

June 17 (Island) Last night (15) as I went to Jaffna Town to pick up some dinner at the Indian shop Amul, the shopkeeper was concerned whether they should open today in response to the Tamil Makkal Peravai (TMP) call for the closure of all shops in support of the embattled Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran (CVW)s. Daily wage earners were in silent meditation about survival if everything was closed. more..

June 17 (Island) The provincial council system seems to have been jinxed since its inception. First, the provincial councils were crippled by northern and southern terrorists. Today, the fund guzzling councils are characterised by debilitating power struggles and inefficiency. Time was when the proponents of devolution argued that the provincial councils had failed to work because they, controlled by either the UNP or the SLFP, had been reduced to mere appendages of govt in power. more..

June 17 (NS) If there is one factor which is important especially for minorities, it is unity. Unity among the people of the community is of utmost important if it was to move towards durable solutions for any issue, be it long term or short term. Scenes at the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) not only brought people to the streets, but also brought out the frictions, and rifts that were hitherto more or less under wraps. In the past too, there were reports of internal rifts between members of TNA more..

June 17 (GV) The 15th of June 2017 marks the 3rd anniversary of the orchestrated anti-Muslim violence in Dharga Town, Aluthgama and several other areas in the south. After a steady buildup of hate sentiment in the public domain over several months in both 2013 and 2014, an inflammatory meeting chaired by the Venerable Galabodathe Gnanasara, Aluthgama descended into violence on June 15th.  The events resulted in three deaths and the widespread and selective destruction of Muslim property. more..

June 17 (CT) The Northern Provincial Council (NPC) four years after its formation is now in upheaval following the report released by a special committee which was appointed by Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran to probe into allegations against four NPC Ministers. Chief Minister Wigneswaran was compelled to appoint the three-member special committee headed by retired judicial official S. Thiyakenthiran and including a retired senior SLAS officer S. Pathmanathan. more..

June 17 (NS) In the wake of Olympic Silver Medalist sprinter, Susanthika Jayasinghe publicly stating that she may have to resort to auctioning off her crowning achievement in order to ensure the survival of her family, Jayasinghe spoke to Nation regarding the controversy surrounding the predicament of sports, especially athletics, the issues with sports officials involved in sports administration and management, and about more..

June 17 (FT) Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera attended the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank's (AIIB) Annual Meeting yesterday, in Jeju Islands, South Korea.  This is the Bank's Second Annual Meeting, and is being jointly hosted by the Bank and the Republic of Korea. He also attended the Board of Governors Roundtable discussion on Financing Asia's Infrastructure Priorities. Minister held bilateral discussions with Indian Finance Minister Arun more..

June 17 (CI) ODI cricket is set to return to Galle after a 17-year hiatus, with the first two of Zimbabwe's five ODIs to be played there on June 30 and July 2. Zimbabwe's first bilateral tour of Sri Lanka since a 2-ODI, 3-Test tour took place in Dec 2001-Jan 2002. A total of seven ODIs have been played in Galle, but none since July 6, 2000 when SL beat South Africa by 37 runs during a tri-series that also included Pakistan. Hambantota Stadium, which has not seen int'l cricket itself for 2 years, more..

June 17 (CT) Present president of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) Anura de Silva and former president Ranjith Rodrigo along with two other nominations have been ratified by the election committee of the Football Federation for the post of president at the forthcoming election of FFSL which will be held on 1 July at their headquarters. The election committee headed by deputy director general of sports R.B. Wickramasinghe more..

June 17 (SLN) A guided-missile cruiser of the US Navy, USS Lake Erie arrived at the Port of Colombo on a post relief mission on 11th June. In appreciation of the noble efforts of the ship’s crew, Minister Ravi Karunanayake made a visit aboard the US naval vessel today (16). US Ambassador to SL, Atul Keshap, Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne, Rear Admiral Piyal De Silva and Rear Admiral Niraja Attygalle were also present on this occasion. more..

June 17 (FT) Supreme Court has fixed for hearing on 2 Oct, the Contempt proceedings against Central Bank and the then Minister of Finance initiated by aggrieved Golden Key Credit Card depositors for failing to repay deposits above Rs. 10 million as pledged by the Govt. Petitioners initiated contempt proceedings for allegedly failing to pay depositors as undertaken by the Respondents wherein under settlement entered into in Court, the depositors above Rs. 10 million had to be paid more..

June 17 (DM) GMOA urged Health Ministry to immediately implement the transfers of the doctors by dodging ministry’s weaknesses without criticising others in order to conceal their shortcomings. GMOA Secretary Dr. Naveen de Soyza said that the entire health sector had been deteriorated due to several actions taken by Health Ministry and added that ministry’s arbitrary nature had risked the lives of the innocent patients. more..

June 17 (FT) SLFP on Thursday expressed confidence in winning the soon to be held LG elections, while dismissing the threat posed by the Joint Opposition. UPFA General Secretary Mahinda Amaraweera said that the long awaited LG elections will take place once the Act has been tabled in Parliament at the next parliamentary sessions. “We’re ready for an election at any time. We have named our nominees, and we’ve informed our party organisers to get to work more..

June 17 (Island) Ave Maria Convent, Negombo beat leading Colombo schools to win the All Island Under-14 Inter School (Girls) Tennis title for this year’s Arjan Perera Memorial Trophy last Sunday. Many leading schools, particularly the more affluent, traditionally rich and broad-based girl-schools in the metropolis, took part in this tournament, organised by the SLTA. Ave Maria, on the contrary, could emerge from an outstation to be a decisive force in the senior age categories more..

June 17 (DN) President Sirisena said various attempts are being made through the internet and some media institutions, to spread civil unrest among communities in the country. He further said that if any individual or organisation acts obstructing the day-to-day life of the people, it is a matter of their education and civilisation. He made these remarks participating in prize giving ceremony of Sri Chandananda Buddhist College, more..

June 17 (CT) Chief Minister of the East, Hafiz Naseer Ahamed, on handed over teacher appointments to 259 graduates from the province. The appointments were for Sinhala, Tamil and History. A ceremony to hand over appointment letters was held at the Orrs Hill Vivekananda School in Trincomalee. The ceremony was presided over by Eastern Province Education Minister S. Thandayuthapani. The letters of appointment were handed over to those graduates who did not more..

June 17 (DN) George Patrick Sisira Kumara stamped his authority as a leading Sri Lankan Amateur Golfer sealing victory in the Pin Fernando Grand Prix 2017, June Edition maintaining his lead from the 1st Round of the 4 round event. Sisira Kumara, the runner up in the 129th Sri Lanka Amateur National Golf Championship played in October 2016, entered the Cat Solar Powered Pin Fernando Grand Prix monthly Winners enclosure with a first time win in the 2017 PFGP Series. more..

June 17 (DM) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe said A/L students in flood and landslide-affected areas should be allowed to sit the GCE (A/L) exam next year instead of this year. He said this when he was informed by the divisional secretaries in the Matara District that students who were expecting to sit the GCE A/L exams this year were still in a state of shock having lost their study material. more..

June 17 (CT) Dr. T. Sathiyamoorthi, Director of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, denied media reports quoting him as saying there was a shortage of blood at the Hospital's Blood Bank. "If any shortage of blood occurs in the hospital we follow prescribed procedure to obtain blood from other hospitals. Jaffna Teaching Hospital does not function on its own with regard to blood transfusion services and stocks. It is linked to the National Blood Transfusion Service" he added. more..

June 17 (CT) Noted astrologer Ven. Liyangaswathure Devananda Thera says that as the horoscope of President Sirisena is quite powerful, no person or element in the country will be able to harm him either through occult practices or similar rituals. Thera said that President has assumed Presidency due purely to powerful influence of his horoscope. He asserted that no enemy in any form will be able to harm the President as the latter was noted for his devout religious beliefs & conduct. more..

June 17 (Island) Alleging a govt backed TNA move to oust outspoken Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran, a section of the Northern Provincial administration yesterday launched a protest campaign in the Jaffna peninsula and some parts of the Vanni region. At the behest of those backing Wigneswaran, many shops and markets remained closed while schools reported low attendance. Protest leaders also raised black more..