Jan 20 (DM) The death of Shalitha Shehan Dasum shattered the hopes of his parents. The demise of Shehan came as a shock to his parents. He was just 19 years old when he died. The reason for this death was sudden heart failure. The parents to date are distraught over this death. Shehan was the son of Krishantha Perera and Lasantha Ranaweera. He had a younger sister named Nethmi. Shehan was an obedient and more..

Jan 20 (CT) Chairman of the Committee to Consider and Propose Reforms to the Muslim Matrimonial Law and the upgrading of the Qazi Courts in SL, retired SC Judge, Justice Saleem Marsoof informed that the Committee's Report is ready and that they were awaiting a meeting with Justice Minister to hand over the Report. It is expected that appointment will be after Parliament convenes as scheduled on Tuesday. more..

Jan 20 (ST) As a boy, Ayingaran Thevathasan helped his parents earn a living by distributing milk from a cow they bought with a bank loan. Later, when they acquired some chickens, he also delivered eggs to the shops: twice a day, before and after school. Before the cow and chickens, they lived on wartime rations distributed by the Govt to conflict-affected families in the North and East. Ayingaran’s father, Moothathamby Thevathasan, was more..

Jan 20 (AD) Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has launched an investigation into the incident involving the Chief Minister of the Uva Province who allegedly made a principal from a school in Badulla kneel at his feet. HRCSL will compile a comprehensive report on the incident and submit their findings to their authoritative body. Female principal of a Tamil girls’ school in Badulla, who was allegedly summoned to CM’s house more..

Jan 20 (CT) The seeming rift between UPFA/SLFP leader and President Maithripala Sirisena and the UNP is politics, targeting next month's LG poll. The Treasury (T) Bond scandal, where the UNF/ UNP leader and Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe's appointee, former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran is at the centre of this controversy, is overtly being used at least by the UPFA/SLFP, led by its leader Maithripala Sirisena, to gain political mileage in respect of LG elections. more..

Jan 20 (FT) When I think of my uncle, or Baappi as my sister and I called him, my first image is of him pirouetting and saying “I’m a ballerina!” This was in response to me asking him why he had such a special affinity for pink, because the last three times I had seen him, he was always wearing pale pink. To me, that memory best sums up Baappi’s spirit – irrepressible, charming, mischievous. There are other images too. Images of him asking What’s for dinner? while poking his fingers into more..

Jan 20 (ST) A stretch of road constructed hurriedly by the Thimbirigasyaya Divisional Secretariat (TDS) has residents of Andarawatte Road complaining that the road has been constructed without attending to a longstanding drainage problem in the road. The residents point out the dilapidated drainage system has waste water seeping out onto the newly constructed stretch, worsening the situation. Repeated reminders to the CMC in the past years has not yielded results. more..

Jan 20 (AD) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe stated that the current legal system within Sri Lanka is undergoing radical change to enable the justice system to become more efficient and prevent the delay of justice. He further stated that a maximum period of three years will be granted for the completion of any trial disallowing legal personnel from manipulating the system. The Premier expressed these sentiments at an event in Homagama yesterday (19). more..

Jan 20 (FT) With Sri Lanka becoming a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty (MBT) as the 163rd country, Sri Lankan armed forces gave an assurance to the world that they no longer possess or use landmines and anti-personnel mines and will not do so in the future, Sri Lanka Campaign to Ban Landmines (SLCBL) Coordinator and Sri Lanka Landmine and Cluster Munitions Monitor Country Researcher Vidya Abhayagunawardena said. more..

Jan 20 (CI) Expectations of this Sri Lanka team were not high. They had spent much of 2017 losing lavishly in all corners of the world, dropping catches, batting like dolts, and bowling with little venom. Yet, even by those standards, this has been a dire start to the new year. They are yet to win a match in a tri-series featuring the sixth and tenth-ranked sides. If they lose this next game, they will have crashed out. Incredibly - and unthinkably only eight months ago - - it is Zimbabwe who are more..

Jan 20 (AD) The bodies of a 75-year-old male and his 65-year-old sister, who were hacked to death in their residence, were recovered earlier this morning (20), said Police Media Spokesman. The assassination has taken place earlier this morning (20) according to Police Media Spokesman’s Office. The reason for the murder has not yet been revealed. Further investigations into the incident are being carried out by Podaala Police. more..

Jan 20 (ST) More motorcyclists and pillion riders were killed on the roads last year. Weaving in and out of traffic, many riders are speeding to their deaths while destroying the lives of others and wrecking public property. As road traffic deaths rise, so is the number of bikes being registered. The National Council for Road Safety said that last year 1,185 motorcyclists including 187 pillion riders were killed out of 3,078 deaths more..

Jan 20 (Island) The Epidemiology Unit yesterday said there was a 70 to 80 per cent vaccination coverage in administering the Human Papiloma Virus (HPV) vaccine against cervical cancer in 2017. Consultant Epidemiologist, Dr. Deepa Gamage. said yesterday that although the HPV vaccine was launched in July last year, the Health Ministry had been able to get the programme officially underway only by late October to administer the HPV vaccine to the girl child in Grade 6. more..

Jan 20 (SL) SL's former Ambassador to Russia, Udayanga Weeratunga insists property owned by him in Sri Lanka had been legally purchased. The Fort Magistrate had on Friday issued an order against the sale or transfer of any land belonging to Weeratunga. He said the property had been purchased using funds he had collected legally and saved in bank accounts in Sri Lanka. He said that in 2015 the Central Bank had frozen his accounts in SL without any valid reasons or prior notification. more..

Jan 20 (AM) Principal of the Badulla Tamil school admitted that she was forced to kneel down before the Uva Provincial Council Chief Minister Chamara Sampath Dissanayake. Dissanayake, a member of the SLFP, was appointed as the Chief Minister by President Maithripala Sirisena. The Principal had been asked to kneel down when she refused to carry out an order given by the Chief Minister. Chief Minister had also threatened to transfer the Principal to a remote area. more..

Jan 20 (AD) Parts of a submarine believed to be of LTTE were found in Mullivaikal in Mullaitivu, by the Security forces today. Investigations have been launched into the discovery with the assistance of Navy. Security forces believe that the submarine had been manufactured by the LTTE during the latter part of war; however it was not likely to have been used. Mullivaikal was among the areas where the LTTE fought its final battle before eventually losing to Sri Lanka Army in May 2009. more..

Jan 20 (NR) President Sirisena says the country has gained international recognition by changing a leadership which was detrimental to the country. Speaking at a UPFA rally he said the int'l community has acknowledged the country’s progress following the leadership of the previous regime. Prez questioned if people were murdered or harassed, Newspaper Editors were killed or media organisations were burned down more..

Jan 20 (LT) At the proceedings of PCoI into Treasury Bond Issuance that investigated the fraudulent bond issue in CB when Arjun Mahendran was the Governor, various politicians were revealed as being involved in the scam while Mr Ravi Karunanayaka had to resign from his ministerial portfolio. Names of PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and MPs Malik Samarawickreme, Ravi Karunanayaka, Ajith P. Perera, Sujeewa Senasinghe, Hector more..

Jan 20 (CT) Police seek public assistance in identifying a group of suspects who had abducted a person, for a ransom of Rs 2.5 million, in Trincomalee. Police said that the victim was kidnapped on 5 Jan from Trincomalee, by three unidentified people. It was also reported that the suspects had released the abducted person, two days after, as the relatives of the victim had paid the ransom of Rs 2.5 million. Police had located closed circuit camera television footage of more..

Jan 20 (Island) Finance and Media Minister Mangala Samaraweera says all those having smart phones could function as journalists today as the public has lost faith in the mainstream media. Samaraweera alleges that the mainstream media has lost credibility due to biased reporting and manufactured news. Samaraweera said so, addressing a workshop organised for teachers at Pearl Cliff hotel, Matara yesterday more..

Jan 20 (CB) Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has been ruled out of the ongoing tri-series in Bangladesh owing to a right hamstring injury. Mathews had been troubled by the injury since Jan 2017 and it flared up again during Sri Lanka's 12-run defeat to Zimbabwe in their first game of the series. The problem kept him out of Sri Lanka's game against Bangladesh - which they lost too - and it has now been confirmed that he will not take any further part in the competition. more..

Jan 20 (DM) PM of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong would visit Sri Lanka on Jan 22 on a 3-day official visit, at the invitation of President Maithripala Sirisena. The Singaporean Premier will be received at the Presidential Secretariat on Tuesday morning with an official guard of honour and gun salute that will be followed by official bilateral discussions with President Sirisena. A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Sri Lanka and Singapore will be signed following bilateral talks. more..

Jan 20 (EN) A PCoI said most of the said most foot notes written by a minority of members of COPE were factually correct. Nine out of 25 members of the COPE representing UNP while agreeing to the main recommendations of the report disagreed with some of the passages in the main report including some statements and calculations made by the Auditor General. A controversy was fired over the footnotes more..

Jan 20 (TD) Last month, SL govt formally handed over control of the port of Hambantota to Chinese interests on a 99-year lease. The price was over one billion dollars, but this came mostly in the form of a reduction in the enormous debt burden to Beijing that is crippling the island nation’s economy. Strategists warn that by giving up control of the port, a strategic asset straddling Indian Ocean shipping lanes, Sri Lanka is sacrificing its sovereignty and succumbing to what one Indian analyst has more..

Jan 20 (ST) Fishermen in Manpuriya, Puttalam, allege that a large number of their fishing nets were destroyed by a vessel bringing coal to the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant in Norochcholai this week. Fishermen further said this was not the first time a ship transporting coal to the power plant destroyed their nets. Manpuriya beach is the closest beach to the Norochcholai plant that fishermen operate from. According to Nuwan Dinesh Kumara, President of Manpuriya St. Anthony’s Rural Fisheries more..

Jan 20 (EN) President Siriisena said he is taking over the economy from this year, though for 3 years the UNP of PM Rani Wickremesinghe was allowed to manage in the latest escalation of tensions between the two. Three months ago had had appointed a National Economic Council for the purpose, President told an election rally. Prez said he is taking over the responsibility of strengthening the economy and called upon more..

Jan 21 (SO) Accustomed to both large scale corruption as well as empty promises of redress, Sri Lanka’s citizenry today holds its breath at something very new: real action against the big sharks both in the current regime as well as those of the preceding one. Two major corruption reports are now in the public eye, the suspect rogues named and, concrete steps are being taken to prosecute. True, already certain low-rung miscreants of the past regime are undergoing prosecution under the new govt’s more..

Jan 21 (CT) Yesterday this newspaper reported that plans are afoot for 'senior' ministers of the SLFP and the UNP to get together to form an advisory council to thrash out any issues facing the country's two major political parties which comprise the present Yahapalana or Good Governance Govt. This move comes in the backdrop of simmering differences between the UNP and the SLFP, seemingly led by their leaders Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena, more..

Jan 21 (SO) The real challenge for the JVP is to appear as a political party able to rule the country moving away from its rebellious past, said, the Leader of JVP Anura Kumara Dissanayake during a candid interview. According to Dissanayake while the party hopes to make favourable gains in the upcoming elections, he went on to speak about the party’s preparations, challenges and future plans. more..

Jan 21 (Island) Publication of the Bond Commission report last week made the political waves that were clearly expected. Earlier the country saw among the rowdiest scenes ever witnessed in Parliament with the trading of blows and exchange of unseemly epithets - kunuharapa some said. Telecasting of parliamentary proceedings enabled a wide audience to see PM performing like a May Day cheerleader in the chamber asking kavuda hora? for his supporters to respond with a Mahinda hora. more..

Jan 21 (ST) Carrying on from last week where we referred to the annual Thai Pongal harvest festival without the harvest, the plight of the country’s farmers, especially those in Northern Province, is worthy of further mention. Those living in the rest of the country must appreciate their plight, if for nothing else than the fact that they are the consumers of their produce. These farmers were first battered by a long and protracted insurgency, and now, by natural disasters and ministerial incompetence. more..

Jan 21 (CT) Elections Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said his staff has done its utmost to ensure free and fair Local Govt elections on 10 Feb. "The era of vote rigging is long past and we have made all arrangements to have a very peaceful election," he said. Responding to a question, as to whether he maintains the same stance as he did during the previous Presidential and Parliamentary polls, where he told Police more..

Jan 21 (ST) My dear Maithri, I didn’t think that I would be writing to you so soon after congratulating you on your third anniversary in the top job but the events of the past two weeks suggest that I must, especially because we are all quite confused about what is going on between the Blues and the Greens and you and the Green Man. First, you gave another of your address to the nation speeches. You told us that those found fault for tampering with the bonds of the big bank – more..

Jan 21 (ST) It’s that period of the year when script writers are in demand, kavi kola karayas make a killing, and ingenious artists, singers and four to 8-piece bands are laughing all the way to the bank. Not to forget, the stage and platform makers. And the politicians are at your doorstep pleading for your support. Hooray elections are here and who doesn’t love an election, even though your people’s representatives are certainly not doing what they are supposed to do – more..

Jan 21 (Island) In the year 2017 Sri Lanka had lost not less than 23 of the 29 ODIs. Thanks in the main, as most observant cricket fans opined, due to the short-term shenanigans of the selectors, or as still others reckoned was it due to the pressures imposed on the selectors? Be that as it may, Sri Lanka cricket seemed to be at its lowest abyss: almost at a point of no return. Then the administrators, in a desperate move to right the sinking ship, brought in coach Chandika more..

Jan 21 (SO) President Maithripala Sirisena made a strong and hard-hitting statement addressing the Cabinet of Ministers, at the Presidential Secretariat, on Tuesday morning. It was clear that the President was disheartened and disappointed with remarks made by some Ministers and MPs representing the govt. The President, in his statement at the Cabinet meeting, responded to these statements saying he was fully committed to the cause of good governance. more..

Jan 21 (CT) President Maithripala Sirisena stated that he will resign from office after meting out the appropriate punishments to corrupt politicians. Some people ask the question as to when I will resign from the office of the President. I will leave the Presidency after giving the appropriate punishment to the corrupt politicians, he stated. The President was addressing a SLFP public rally held in Seethawaka, Kosgama on 18 Jan. more..