Apr 27 (Macleans) A spokesperson for the Sri Lankan govt tells Maclean’s the country is concerned that PM Justin Trudeau repeatedly sidelined the South Asian nation’s majority ethnic group in his festive statements—one of which was described internally as clearly out of step by his national security advisor Daniel Jean. SL’s concerns, expressed publicly for the first time, represent yet another South Asian diplomatic more..

Apr 27 (CT) Sri Lanka is reaping the dividends from its successful participation at the Commonwealth Business Forum held recently in London, according to a press communiqué issued by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. The SL Department of Commerce and Export Development Board, with the SL High Commission in London, organized a breakfast networking session of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Economic Council on the sidelines of the recently-concluded CHOGM 2018. more..

Apr 27 (DM) National Freedom Front (NFF) said it would never allow the JVP proposal on abolishing the executive presidency to be approved in Parliament as it would lead to a divided country. “The govt headed by PM Ranil Wickremesinghe has induced the JVP to submit a proposal to abolish the executive presidency so that it can fulfil the agendas of foreign countries. PM failed in his attempt to create a federal State because of the lack of support from other political parties. more..

Apr 27 (Island) Lord Naseby has suggested to President Maithripala Sirisena that Sri Lanka seek the assistance of countries, where Sri Lankans sought political asylum in 2009/10, for the ongoing investigations into disappearances, because some of those, categorised missing, could be living there. Sri Lanka brought the war to a successful conclusion in May 2009. President Sirisena received Lord Naseby, at his hotel, more..

Apr 27 (ST) We wish to clarify the statements made by academics, on the adverse aspects, of this mega Colombo Port City project since the response from CHEC Port City Colombo (Pvt) Ltd is misleading as reported in your newspaper under the above heading. Prof. G.P Karunaratne Ph.D, EP, FASCE an international land reclamation expert with over 300 publications in scientific journals, conducted research in Sri Lanka in 2017. He states in response to your article: more..

Apr 27 (FT) CK Hutchison Group (CKHH Group) and Emirates Telecommunications Group Company PJSC (Etisalat Group) announced they had entered into a definitive agreement to merge their mobile telecommunications businesses in Sri Lanka operating under Hutchison Telecommunications Lanka Ltd., (Hutch Lanka) and Etisalat Lanka Ltd. (ESL) respectively. In a statement, they said the combined business of Hutch Lanka and ESL will be better positioned to serve their SL customers. more..

Apr 27 (TS) Renuka Amarasingha’s son meant the world to her and last year she asked a lawyer friend to make a will to designate two legal guardians for the boy in the event anything bad happened to her. When the friend, Anoshan Ahangama, learned Monday afternoon that the 48-year-old Toronto woman was among 10 people killed in the van rampage on Yonge St., he and his wife rushed to the boy’s school more..

Apr 27 (DN) The Colombo National Hospital yesterday created a surgical breakthrough by successfully performing a surgery to remove a thyroid gland using the 3D Trans Oral Endoscopic Thyroidectomy method. The operation used 3D Einstein Version cameras and has removed the need to have an invasive procedure performed. The operation was conducted by a medical team from the National Hospital Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Unit headed by Specialist Dr. Rizny Sakkaff. more..

Apr 27 (AD) The 10 university students arrested for attempting to forcibly enter the UGC premises in Colombo during a protest have been remanded until May 10 after being produced at the Colombo Magistrate Court. Ten university students including a Buddhist monk were arrested for attempting to forcibly enter University Grants Commission premises during the protest staged by the Inter-University Bhikkhu Federation (IUBF). Earlier, Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse more..

Apr 27 (FT) Central Bank staunchly defended its flexible exchange rate policy despite the recent steep depreciation of the rupee, insisting that it was dedicated to maintaining a fair value and is ready to intervene in the currency market if necessary. Both CB Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy and Deputy Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe backed the Central Bank’s non-intervention policy in the currency market and more..

Apr 27 (Island) Apropos the news item, CEB engineers study national LNG requirement on front page of The Island, Minister Malik Samarawickrema has sent us the following statement: "At the outset, I reiterate that I have no personal interest whatsoever to "push" the govt towards signing "... an agreement with private investors from Japan and India to build an LNG Terminal and to purchase 2.7 million tonnes of liquid gas per year for a period of 20 years" as reported in the said article. more..

Apr 27 (Island) Deputy Leader of the UNP Sajith Premadasa told the party Working Committee yesterday that he did not agree with the decision to appoint Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam as the General Secretary of the UNP. However, Premadasa added that as the majority wanted Kariyawasam, he wouldn’t oppose the appointment. UNP Working Committee met yesterday at Party HQ to decide on whether to appoint nominees selected by the Party politburo to party positions. more..

Apr 27 (FT) A group of UNP backbenchers and state and deputy ministers will be compelled to sit independently in Parliament if the party leadership fails to nominate an individual as the future leader, UNP MP Heshan Withanage said. He that 15 backbencher parliamentarians and 15 state and deputy ministers disagreed with the appointments made to the party leadership by its politburo on 25 April and that they had requested a meeting more..

Apr 27 (DM) In the aftermath of the Horana tragedy where five people were killed allegedly due to negligence in the maintenance of ammonia and other gas tanks at a private rubber factory where export quality shoes are manufactured, the UN and its member countries tomorrow mark the World Day for Safety and Health at Work. It also comes three days before the traditional May Day or labour day, though in Sri Lanka this year the main May Day rallies will be held on Monday May 7 more..

Apr 27 (DM) The Joint Opposition, the Mahinda Rajapaksa loyalists in the Parliament, seems to aim currently at three main positions in and outside of the Parliament. One is the Opposition Leader post, a position that they have been eying from the day this Parliament met for the first time after the last General Elections and the others being the General Secretary posts of two parties led by President Maithripala Sirisena - the UPFA and its main constituent party, the SLFP. more..

Apr 27 (DM) A fortnight ago a video clip went viral on social media that left the whole of the Judiciary, the prosecuting agencies and the legal profession stark naked. It was a personal narrative by a young female lawyer, Sughandika Fernando that exposed the whole justice system from top to bottom, with names, dates and places and her own involvement in each of the cases and incidents she mentioned. more..

Apr 27 (DM) Mirissa made headlines for an unpleasant incident earlier this month and the authorities immediately reacted to it by taking actions like suspending the activities of the restaurant and removing unauthorised establishments along the Mirissa coastal belt. Hence, work is in progress to safeguard the tourism industry in the country, with special focus on the South. Having been in the tourism industry for six years, more..

Apr 27 (Roar) Sri Lanka boasts a variety of distinct musical instruments like the ravanahatha, an ancient violin, which, according to folklore, was created by King Ravana and several other musical instruments like the conch or hakgediya, the tambourine like pantheruwa and different types of drums. Speaking to Roar Media, Professor Karunaratna Bandara, Director of the Police Cultural Division and more..

Apr 27 (DN) The FCID conducting investigations against five suspects including Hambantota district MP Namal Rajapaksa for their alleged involvement in money laundering amounting to Rs.15 million in a company owned by Namal Rajapaksa, yesterday informed Court that they were yet to receive the Attorney General’s (AG) advice regarding the future course of legal action against the suspects. more..

Apr 27 (Island) Chairman of the National Election Commission (NEC) Mahinda Deshapriya said that stringent measures were now in place to prevent foreign nationals from holding positions in registered political parties. He asserted that the Election Department could have been deceived if an applicant had a Sinhala name. Deshapriya said so when The Island sought his explanation as to the acceptance of British more..

Apr 27 (DM) The GMOA launched a 24-hour-token strike at Karapitiya Teaching Hospital this morning against the British doctor who was performing heart surgeries at the hospital. Temporary ban imposed on the British surgeon preventing him from conducting surgeries, was lifted last week on a recommendation made by the SLMC when the GMOA claimed that the British doctor did not have a licence to practice in the UK as more..

Apr 27 (DM) SL was ranked 131st in the World Press Freedom Index-2018, going up 10 notches from last year, the index compiled by Reporters Without Borders or Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) said. SL was in 131st place in terms of press freedom this year with a score of 41.37, this was out of a total of 180 countries. In 2017, SL was ranked 141 with a score of 44. 34. Lesser the score, the higher the press freedom of a country. more..

Apr 27 (LBO) World Bank Board of Executive Directors on Thursday approved a US$ 100 million credit to support Sri Lanka’s efforts to strengthen and modernize its education system. General Education Modernization Project (GEM) will modernize and diversify the curriculum of general education in keeping with the transformation taking place in SL’s society and economy. Greater emphasis will be on strategic subjects more..

Apr 27 (AD) State Minister Sujeewa Senasinghe says he opposes the new appointments made in the UNP, which is undergoing reforms. He stated that party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had promised him that a change would happen, but he strongly believed that change will not happen. Senasinghe stated that they have been given many promises over that past several years and that most of the time the only thing more..

Apr 27 (AD) The 16 SLFP MPs who quit the govt requested parliament secretary General to allocate them seats on Opposition side. The letter bearing the signatures of all 16 SLFP MPs has been handed over to parliament secretary General Dhammika Dissanayake this morning said SLFP MP Sudarshani Fernandopulle while addressing media after handing over the letter. She said the restructure of the party will take place from more..

Apr 27 (CT) On 22 April, the world celebrated itself; meaning that it commemorated Earth Day, where we pondered on energy conservation, sustainable development, protection and conservation of flora and fauna, adoption of alternate energies and moving away from fossil fuel and embracing that climate change is more real than the intelligence quota of all politicians, which is nonexistent, who claim that it is in fact a myth. We, well a majority of us (we hope) commemorated the limited more..

Apr 27 (FT) The root cause of most ethnic conflicts is the lack of integration. We are all born innocent. Thereon our families, our schools and the wider society shapes our values, our thinking, that then drives our actions. Early on in life if we learn to appreciate diversity and if we learn to respect each other’s religions and cultures, peaceful cohabitation is possible. Our schooling environment plays a major role in shaping us and builds lifelong friendships. more..

Apr 27 (CT) Reaffirming the close-to-absolute power vested in the position of party leader in the UNP Constitution, Ranil Wickremesinghe brushed aside all objections and persuaded the Working Committee to ratify his all-male choices for key party posts. Moreover, except for one appointee, the rest are all past pupils of Wickremesinghe’s alma mater, Royal College, Colombo. The UNP’s Working Committee, which met today effectively ratified the persons that Wickremesinghe had picked more..

Apr 27 (NR) The owner of the rubber factory in Ballapitiya, Horana where five persons died after inhaling ammonia gas has surrendered to Court. The owner surrendered to the Horana Magistrate’s Court this morning. Senior Laboratory Controller and Manager of the factory who were arrested and remanded over the deaths of five persons will be produced before Court once again today. During the previous hearing Court consented to the factory's request to provide a compensation fee of more..

Apr 27 (Roar) Sri Lankans of old used to be a predominantly agrarian community. Conscious of waste, they made sure that perishable foods were well preserved, and had a number of preservation techniques. Academics note that the methods used to preserve food were relatively simple and uncomplicated. In his paper, SL Traditional Food Cultures and Food Security, Professor Perera highlights how more..

Apr 27 (AD) The Director General of the Mahaweli Authority says that steps are being taken to erect fences along the unprotected area of the Viyana Canal on the Mahiyangana Road, on the instructions of the President. The lack of fences along that stretch of road has led to a number of road accidents where vehicles have veered off the road and plunged into the canal with some of them even resulting in fatalities. The decision comes just hours after another accident was reported more..

Apr 27 (SL) United States (US) has issued a security alert for Sri Lanka over May Day rallies set to be staged in the country. The security alert notes that between 1-7 May, U.S. Embassy in Colombo expects various groups and political parties will hold parades and rallies in conjunction with the annual Labor Day holiday. Known locations include, but are not limited to, Colombo, Jaffna, Galle, and Batticaloa. “We expect these gatherings to be peaceful but people should more..

Apr 27 (DM) Deputy Minister Ranjan Ramanayake yesterday lodged a complaint with the Bribery Commission against former Minister of Sports Dayasiri Jayasekera, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Chairman Thilanga Sumathiapla, SLC CEO Ashley de Silva and other office bearers of the premier governing body of SLC. Actor turned politician Ramanayake said the Bribery Commission accepted the complaint and more..

Apr 27 (DM) JO MP Namal Rajapaksa said he was against the decision taken by the SLPP to support the SLFP in appointing a SLFP mayor to Hambantota Municipal Council. “I am against and deeply concerned regarding the decision taken by the Senior Leadership of the SLPP in Hambantota to support the SLFP in appointing a mayor there,” MP said in a tweet. Beliatta SLFP organizer Eraj Ravindra Fernando, who was involved in the toy pistol case two years ago, more..

Apr 27 (AD) The corruption case filed against former Minister Keheliya Rambukwella and former State Printing Corporation (SPC) Chairman Jayampathi Bandara was taken for hearing before Colombo Magistrate’s Court today. The Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption filed a case against former Minister Keheliya Rambukwella for allegedly causing a loss of Rs. 230,984 to the govt through the payment of former Minister’s personal mobile phone bill by using SPC funds, more..

Apr 27 (CI) Sri Lanka Cricket elections set for May 19 could be postponed after the country's sports ministry claimed the board had violated procedure. In a letter sent to SLC, acting sports minister Faiszer Mustapha pointed out sports law that states an election committee can only be appointed and sanctioned at an Extraordinary General Meeting with the approval of SLC members. As SLC had appointed election committee more..

Apr 27 (PHC) An Extraordinary Meeting of the Executive Committee of Sri Lanka Pakistan Friendship, Trade and Investment Association (SLPFTIA) was held on April 26, 2018 at the High Commission of Pakistan, Colombo. The Meeting was attended by the outgoing Executive Committee of SLPFTIA and the past Presidents/Secretary Generals of the Association. The High Commissioner of Pakistan, Dr. Shahid Ahmad Hashmat chaired the meeting. more..

Apr 27 (EN) Sri Lanka may borrow more than one billion US dollars from a syndicated loan after a better than expected response from investment banks, CB Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy said. He said bids from investment managers for the loan had just closed. "The response has been so good, that the govt is thinking of upscaling it," Coomaraswamy said. Sri Lanka had called banks and investment house to send proposals to raise one billion US dollars for three years or more. more..

Apr 27 (EN) Central bank has called for close monitoring of high end transactions such as luxury car and property sales to fight widespread tax evasion that has led to a fall in direct tax revenue. Recent govt commitment to increase revenue through tax reforms has yielded results, it said. But there is scope to enhance direct tax revenue by strengthening tax administration through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to more..