Aug 4 (FT) Asian Law Students Association (ALSA) will kick off its annual week-long conference for 2018 in Colombo on Sunday, drawing over 200 law students and alumni members from 16 countries in Asia for a series of academic and non-academic activities. It will be the first time Sri Lanka hosts the Asian Law Students Forum, though ALSA Sri Lanka (ALSA SL) previously hosted an ALSA Annual Conference in 2015 and ALSA International Moot Court Competition (AIMCC) in 2016. more..

Aug 4 (PTI) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe today wished ailing 94-year-old DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi a speedy recovery. After offering prayers at the Lord Venkateswara temple near here, he had a brief chat with reporters outside the shrine. "The ailing Karunanidhi will soon recover and I wish him a speedy recovery." He said he had spoken to DMK working president M K Stalin yesterday about his fathers health condition. Replying to a query on the problem TN fishermen face in the waters more..

Aug 4 (CT) The Court of Appeal yesterday rejected an appeal by Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, who sought to be acquitted of charges preferred against him in relation to resettling Muslim people in the Wilpattu area after having cleared the jungle area adjacent to the National Park. When the case was called yesterday, the Minister had through an affidavit requested that he be acquitted, but the two-Judge Bench, comprising more..

Aug 4 (FT) The Thurunu Diriya loan scheme, implemented by the Bank of Ceylon (BOC) with the assistance of the Policy Development Office (PDO) of the Prime Minister’s Office, has granted loans worth around Rs. 21 million for 47 potential young entrepreneurs. This was revealed by the progress report of this loan scheme issued by BOC recently, the PM’s Office said in a statement yesterday. Young entrepreneurs, who are engaging in small and medium businesses, not only in more..

Aug 4 (DM) Gale-force winds have damaged more than 75 houses in the Ampara District last Thursday. DMC Spokseman Pradeep Kodiplly said the winds had affected three grama niladari areas - Nawagamuwa, Karangawa and Samanthuri. He said arrangements had been made to make an initial distress-relief payment of Rs.10,000 to those who were affected. An assessment of the damage caused is being carried out. Those who affected have been requested to dial 117 to get details more..

Aug 4 (DM) SAITM Student Action Committee (SSAC) yesterday sought the immediate intervention of President Maithripala Sirisena with regard to the cancellation of students’ scholarships granted by the SAITM. While thanking the President for the decision he took to absorb SAITM students to the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU), the students had also sought the President’s attention over more..

Aug 4 (Island) Although the import duties on small cars have been hiked, electric vehicle taxes have not been increased, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said. He was addressing the media on Thursday. The increases amounted to Rs. 1.5 million. He said quite categorically that the Go – Green policy of this govt was intact. Expanding on this decision he said some 500 electric buses have also been imported, relating to eventual phasing out of fuel driven vehicles. more..

Aug 4 (DN) Sri Lanka should promote more intra-Commonwealth trade and investment as there are growing opportunities in this area, said Commonwealth Secretary-General Rt. Patricia Scotland QC. Secretary General, who paid a courtesy call on Minister Malik Samarawickrama, discussed the opportunities for growing and encouraging more trade between member countries. She also invited Sri Lanka to showcase innovative SL entrepreneurs on the new Innovation Hub more..

Aug 4 (FT) Former Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) Chairman Prof. Colvin Gooneratne called for sweeping legal reforms to protect patients against doctors committing malpractice, insisting existing regulations fail to hold doctors accountable as they are dominated by the medical practitioners themselves. Prof. Goonaratne, speaking to reporters after stepping down as SLMC Chairman following a controversial 9-month more..

Aug 4 (Hindu) Members of the All India Fishermen Congress (AIFC), the fishermen wing of the Indian National Congress (INC) party, staged a demonstration in Rameswaram urging the Centre and State governments to protect the livelihood of fishermen and secure the release of trawlers, confiscated by the Sri Lankan navy. AIFC leaders T. N. Pradapan and S. Armstrong Fernando, who led the protest, urged the State govt to provide compensation to the fishermen who had lost more..

Aug 4 (Island) Former Chairman of the Sri Lanka Medical Council Prof Colvin Gunaratne yesterday said that he had resigned from his post as he had not been able to function independently. He said that there were some legal obstacles in the Sri Lanka Medical Council service minute which hindered its chairman from acting independently. He said he had assumed duties as the Chairman of Sri Lanka Medical Council on a request by Health Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne in October 2017 and more..

Aug 4 (Island) Hospitals were paralysed throughout the country yesterday owing to a countrywide 24-hour token strike launched by the GMOA in protest against the proposed Free Trade Agreement with Singapore and nine other issues. Only emergency services were maintained at the state-run hospitals. GMOA demands that the govt formulate a national trade policy to ensure safety of service sectors of the country before signing more..

Aug 4 (DM) The health service began as a vocation like the priesthood. Top priority was given to the welfare and well being of patients. Medical doctors when they pass out still take the Hippocratic Oath which says in part : “I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant: I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow. I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, more..

Aug 4 (DM) The role of the Govt as a catalyst for social and economic modernisation of the state is as old as any notion of the Govt. Though the academic interest in it was reawakened in the mid 80s with the publication of Bring the State back in, the real go-getter states existed much before. And interestingly, the majority of them were authoritarian or quasi authoritarian. The founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, rebuilt the disintegrated Ottoman empire into a modernist secular state, more..

Aug 4 (ST) Drowning incidents in Sri Lanka are on the rise. Just last week there were 9 instances with 11 deaths reported. Two 11-year-old schoolgirls bathing in the sea off Calido Beach, Kalutara, drowned last Saturday (21). On July 23, two students, both aged 16, drowned while bathing in the Dee Ella Oya at Veyangoda. They had skipped tuition classes and gone swimming with a group of friends. On the same day, more..

Aug 4 (CT) Chairperson of the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR), former President Chandrika Kumaratunga said that the Govt has designed a multi-pronged strategy, as a short-term economic activity, in order to avoid short-term loan consumption booms through artificial fiscal and monetary stimulus. The ONUR is currently engaged in uplifting the North under the Enterprise Sri Lanka Loan Scheme and the rapid rural more..

Aug 4 (ST) Are the CEB agreements with private power companies structured to earn independent power producers (IPPs) towering profits? And are we, the electricity consumers, footing the bill? ACE Power Embilipitiya Ltd, a 100 megawatt thermal power station running on heavy fuel oil, recently invoiced the CEB Rs 840mn for generating a month’s worth of emergency power. Of this, Rs 140 million was capital recovery cost. more..

Aug 4 (DM) A group of Golden Key depositors said the govt had ignored the undertaking given to the the Supreme Court in August 2015 by failing to pay the depositors within a year 41% of the funds deposited with the company. On Aug 4, 2015, the court case filed by Golden Key depositors in the Supreme Court was concluded after six years, based on an undertaking given by the CB Monetary Board, Treasury Secretary, more..

Aug 4 (CI) Try as they might, Sri Lanka can't seem to put together a competent ODI performance against South Africa. In the first ODI of the series, the batsmen failed spectacularly. In the second, they hauled themselves to a competitive score, only for fielders to drop near-undroppable catches early in South Africa's chase, in addition to producing several other acts of fielding slapstick. The moment Sri Lanka put out one fire, more..

Aug 4 (ST) An electric three-wheeler with a Lankan heart and a Japanese soul is planning to make travelling eco-friendly A plan to manufacture an electric three-wheeler in Sri Lanka was revealed this week, with its prototype showcased in Colombo for the first time. The Samurai three-wheeler, built with Japanese technology and currently being tested in SL, could be launched in 2020. Vehicle is powered by two batteries. more..

Aug 4 (DM) President Maithripala Sirisena and PM Ranil Wickremesinghe will never permit any salary increases to ministers and MPs, Deputy Minister Ajith Mannaperuma said. “I am telling you with responsibility that neither the President nor the PM will not allow the proposed salary increase to MPs and ministers,” he said. “I can confirm that those who have opposed the move are the very same people who had proposed more..

Aug 4 (EN) Sri Lanka is targeting US$ 9 billion in foreign reserves by end 2018 helped by borrowings and import interventions, CB Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy said, down from 10 billion forecast earlier in the years. He said that reserves went up to nearly US$ 10 billion following the sale of a sovereign bond earlier in the year, but fell down to US$ 8.4 billion by end-July. "We think we will finish the year with around US$ 9 billion as far as more..

Aug 4 (GDI) Govt plans to spend Rs. 4.9 billion to purchase the paddy harvest of the 2018 Yala season from the farmers. The Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) will commence the purchasing of the Yala Season paddy harvest today at 10 am in the village of Kohombana in Uhana in the Ampara District. Paddy harvesting in the Yala season of 2018 has already commenced from the Eastern Province and accordingly, PMB has more..

Aug 4 (Island) Leader of the Opposition and TNA R. Sampanthan has informed the visiting Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland that the progress shown by the incumbent govt on delivering the promises it had made locally and internationally was slow and inadequate. He made those observations when the visiting Commonwealth Secretary-General met with him at the office of the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament more..

Aug 5 (SO) The country’s balance of payments inched upward and the rupee value began to stabilise despite the instability of the trade-war-hit global economy, even as some of Sri Lanka’s recent initiatives in the rural heartland too began to bear fruit. Over the weekend, the President and PM will officiate in numerous project launches in the Polonnaruwa district. At the same time, the govt’s countrywide rural upliftment programme Gamperaliya, is well under way. more..

Aug 5 (CT) Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) on its website, under the title Powers of the SLMC says, “The general duty of the Council is to protect the public and uphold the reputation of the profession. The Council does this by maintaining and publishing registers of qualified persons in different categories to practice each discipline, by prescribing the standard of education and standard of medical education, providing advice on professional conduct and medical ethics and more..

Aug 5 (Island) Ever since the inception of the political party system and democratic politics in this country, the North has always been dominated by a single party. Until the mid-1950s, the All Ceylon Tamil Congress held sway, to be replaced by the ITAK which in time transmogrified into the TULF. Then came a period of domannce by the LTTE with the remnants of the TULF acting as their clients in the form of the TNA. more..

Aug 5 (Island) The political class in SL, as in many other countries in the world, is not beloved of those who voted them into office; and they are very well aware of that unpleasant fact. Given that knowledge, it is inconceivable that our MPs including Ministers, State Ministers & Dy Ministers will vote themselves the massive 215% pay increase that is now being talked about. No wonder then that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya’s office is on record saying that there is yet no final decision on this matter. more..

Aug 5 (ST) The GMOA strike action on Friday based on a host of trade union demands is best described by the pithy local saying; viddey pandurata wadune haawata – the arrow was aimed at the bush but it hit the rabbit (in the bush). The Govt cared two hoots for their strike while scores of patients – the poorest of the poor, whom the GMOA is under oath to serve, were made to suffer. Among the GMOA’s many demands is to abrogate the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore. more..

Aug 5 (CT) Though one of the biggest talking points at the moment is the execution of the Death Penalty to those on death row, it will be wise to reflect on the plight of such prisoners who have been wrongly convicted by Court. This is all the more apt when one considers the special appeal petition filed by death row inmate Duminda Silva and three others who have been convicted of the murder of Bharatha Premachandra and three others. more..

Aug 5 (ST) My dear Mahinda maama, I thought of writing to you when I heard that you will be choosing the candidate from the pohottuwa party for the next big election that will be held in two years. It seems as if you have decided to keep us all in suspense, still not informing us who that person will be, although there is a lot of speculation. I know they call our Paradise a land like no other. Although at first I thought that was meant to be a slogan to promote tourism, more..

Aug 5 (ST) Many decades ago, cars which stalled on the road, got the push-start treatment; some passers-by pushed the car, while the driver (in the driving seat) set the gear to first and the car fired after a few stuttering starts. That was the era of the Sri series cars and before. I was reminded of this when Kussi Amma Sera and her friends Serapina and Mabel Rasthiyadu were giggling and shouting Thallu …. Thallu (push … push), watching some young men pushing an old Morris Minor, more..

Aug 5 (DM) The University Grants Commission (UGC) is carrying out a series of advertising campaigns in national newspapers to make students and parents aware of possible methods to mitigate ragging and violence in State universities, sources said. The UGC in a newspaper advertisement on Thursday said it treated all students enrolled in State universities and other higher educational institutes on equal level as guaranteed by the Constitution. It also said more..

Aug 5 (DM) Illegal motor races at night on the Southern Expressway entry road between Devata and Pinnaduwa are continuing unchecked causing much inconvenience to the people. Residents of the area said the deafening noise emanating from motorcycles and trishaws racing along the road between 11.30 p.m. and 2.30 a.m. disturbed their sleep and their children's studies. They pointed out that a group of individuals receiving political patronage was organizing night motor races more..

Aug 5 (CT) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, his wife and other ministers who left Colombo on Thursday night, reached Andhra Pradesh in India. Flanked by other Cabinet Ministers, PM arrived at the Tirupati Temple in Chittoor District on Friday, seeking blessings of Lord Venkateswara for his political career. His last visit to the temple was in 2016. While thanking the Govt of India and the State Govt of Andhra Pradesh for facilitating the visit, Wickremesinghe told more..

Aug 5 (DM) Known to be SL’s largest food, packaging and agriculture expo, the three-day Profood Propack and Agbiz 2018 trade exhibition opened for the 17th consecutive year yesterday at the BMICH, Colombo. The exhibition, organised by the Sri Lanka Food Processors Association together with Lanka Exhibition and Conference Services, was inaugurated by Sri Lanka Food Processors Association President Sarath Alahakoon along with EDB Chairperson Indira Malwatte, more..

Aug 5 (Island) Head Coach Chandika Hathurusingha has to be commended for planning well in advance for next year’s World Cup. Hathurusingha is expected to travel to England soon after the South African series to inspect the facilities his team will be utilizing in England. The Head Coach is also likely to submit papers to Sri Lanka Cricket seeking for approval for the national team to travel to England three weeks prior to the World Cup to get acclimatized to the weather and conditions. more..

Aug 5 (SO) The powerful GMOA trade union conducted a islandwide token strike last Friday (3) making 10 key demands of the Govt. The trade union action was couched in the doctors’ unions’ opposition to the Singapore Free Trade Agreement which they claim will affect the job market in Sri Lanka, but included nine other demands, many of them pertaining to their own allowances, taxation on their (private) earnings, promotions and more..

Aug 5 (SO) He was the one player that all the rival teams feared and perhaps the one player who brought a whole team together and raised the morale of a school, St. Joseph’s College, that had an identity in rugby but struggled to get their act together for many years. He is none other than Gemunu Chetiya, undoubtedly a prized catch for the Joes during the concluded inter-school season where he scored 12 very crucial tries and almost took his team to League & Knock-Out titles more..