Oct 24 (FT) Finance Ministry acknowledged that they were still awaiting a decision by the Central Bank to allow PayPal accounts to be activated in Sri Lanka, allowing locals to receive money. Despite the Finance Ministry enabling SL companies to have direct e-commerce transactions on Monday, the effort cannot be practically implemented without the Central Bank allowing locals to receive money via PayPal. “We are still in discussions with the CB and have called on them to expedite more..

Oct 24 (EN) Sri Lanka, faced with a falling currency due to monetary instability, which has undermined its free trade agenda, is planning host a summit of so-called Group of 24 countries among which are the worst central banks in the world. The falling currency had forced the finance ministry partially suspend market pricing of oil, and also stop some imports, hurting tax revenues and also undermining a case for free trade. more..

Oct 24 (CT) Sri Lanka had scored 219/9 wickets on day one of the second Youth Test at Marians Ground Katunayake yesterday. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat. Skipper Nipun Dhananjaya was the first to go for a duck with the scoreboard reading 7. Opener Navod Paranavitahana and No. 3 Kamil Mishara made put on a 115 runs stand for the second wicket to steady the inning. Navod scored 79 runs in 153 balls with 9 boundaries & Kamil Mishara 52 runs in 96 balls with 7 boundaries. more..

Oct 24 (Island) Newspapers and social media in SL are replete with anecdotes of doctors being arrogant; arrogant to patients who seek their help during illness as well as to even to others they come into social contact with. The instances have been increasing in recent years. The conduct of the GMOA has not helped mitigate the resentment and anger against doctors it has generated among the general public. As an observer of social media where many doctors express their views on more..

Oct 24 (CI) He had gone 24 innings without a fifty, His four most recent innings featured three ducks and a score of 5. But it was the intensity that Kusal Mendis brought to his fielding that tipped the team management off that a good innings might be around the corner. That was the reason why they refused to drop him for the fifth ODI. This was what captain Dinesh Chandimal revealed following SL's 219-run DLS victory more..

Oct 24 (Island) On completion of tenure as the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the Republic of Korea, Ambassador Manisha Gunasekera paid farewell calls on high level dignitaries of the Korean Government prior to her departure from Seoul, said the SL Embassy in Seoul. Ambassador paid a farewell call on the first Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun at the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday (12). During the meeting, Ambassador extended her deep appreciation more..

Oct 24 (CT) Investing in people is a must for Sri Lanka to generate wealth, World Bank Country Director for SL and the Maldives, Idah Pswarayi-Riddihough said on Monday. “Unlike investments in physical infrastructure, investments in people take a longer time to translate into real improvements in people’s lives,” she elaborated in Colombo. Addressing the launching event of the World Bank-funded General Education Modernization Project, (GEM), she congratulated the SL Govt and more..

Oct 24 (ST) Sri Lanka is gearing up to set off world’s 4th industrial revolution in Malabe and Homagama areas changing the way people live, work and communicate, transforming the island nation unlike anything it has experienced ever before. The master plan of Ministry of Megapolis & Western Development will integrate and involve all stakeholders both locally & internationally, from the public and private sectors to academia and more..

Oct 24 (DN) The announcement by SLC that Rangana Herath will be retiring from Test cricket at the end of the first cricket Test between Sri Lanka and England at the Galle Int'l Stadium next month brings to an end an era when the country produced international cricketers of such quality that they gave even the best cricketing nations a run for their money. Herath belongs to an era when Sri Lanka’s cricket was beginning to bloom as a Test nation after they had won the Cricket World Cup more..

Oct 24 (DM) President Maithripala Sirisena’s decision to replace the Board of Directors of the Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank and the BOI shows that these institutions are corrupt similar to the Central Bank in the past, joint opposition (JO) MP Bandula Gunawardana said yesterday. He said all these institutions were functioning in a manner that favoured certain individuals. “We are shocked to see the deplorable state of affairs in these State banks and the BOI. more..

Oct 24 (DM) There were practices above the law; no matter what laws are created practices are higher. Whether it is a violation of a law at some points a minister has to take that decision because it was the practice at that time, former Civil Aviation Minister Priyankara Jayaratne said. He informed the PCoI that although he was the line minister who had to handle the aviation sector in the country, more..

Oct 24 (DN) Fintechnology Asia Pacific Lanka (FINAP) recently signed a MoU with Bartleet Electronics (a part of Bartleet Innovative Technologies) with the purpose of developing a strategic partnership to market the FINAP Micro Banking Platform to banks and other financial institutions. The Executive Director of FINAP, Kutila Pinto and the Director/CEO of Bartleet Electronics, Omar Lebbé represented their respective companies at the signing of the MoU. more..

Oct 24 (Island) Minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara, yesterday, said that if there were four Cabinet ministers with RAW links, they were certainly not from the UNP. The Minister told The Island that he was certain that no minister representing his party had informed the RAW of President Maithripala Sirisena’s statement on RAW planning to kill him. The Minister said that anyone could level charges against anyone else but the hard part would be to prove the alleged charges. more..

Oct 24 (Island) Chairman of the SLPP Prof. G.L. Peiris urged the current dispensation to review its position as regards the accountability issue in the wake of UN admission that fresh evidence pertaining to SL’s war against the LTTE was open for scrutiny. Prof. Peiris pointed out that the UN had called for immediate repatriation of SL commander of a military contingent deployed in Mali on the basis of what a UN spokesperson more..

Oct 24 (CT) Agriculture Ministry will stop the issuance of licences for certain imported crops from 2019 to encourage domestic production. Agriculture Minister, Mahinda Amaraweera informed cereal importers that he would not allow them to import food crops that could be easily cultivated in the country, such as maize, undu (black gram), soya, green gram, sesame, finger millet, and groundnuts. Accordingly, cereal importers have been invited to support farmers to cultivate such crops in more..

Oct 24 (DM) The govt’s priority at the moment was debt repayment and not countering currency depreciation as it was a common phenomenon experienced by many emerging and frontier economies, Minister Managala Samaraweera said. He said the govt was more concerned about repaying the debt pile it inherited rather than being anxious about the rupee depreciation. “Some groups raise the point that rupee depreciation has led to a serious economic quandary in the country. more..

Oct 24 (CT) While responding to President Maithripala Sirisena`s comments regarding the UNP straying from the policies of former Prime Ministers D.S. Senanayake and Dudley Senanayake, Minister Sarath Fonseka said if one attempted to compare politics of that era to the present day, such a person was likely to be mentally retarded. He added that “Before 1948, elites of the likes of D.S. Senanayake set up the UNP and more..

Oct 24 (DN) CB Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy said eventhough Sri Lanka faces difficulties with the bunching up of debt payments, the country had never missed a payment and was not in economic danger. “The situation can be managed,” he said. The Governor was delivering the keynote address to a group of mid-career capital based diplomats representing over 23 countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Australasia who are in Sri Lanka now, more..

Oct 24 (CT) There are no adequate regional monitoring bodies to ensure the sustainable harvesting of Indian Ocean resources, said the Commander of Bangladesh Naval Fleet, Rear Admiral Ashraful Haq. He was addressing the Int'l Maritime Conference of the Galle Dialogue 2018. He highlighted that there were many challenges and opportunities within the blue economy concept of sustainable development of ocean resources, which required regional level cooperation. more..

Oct 24 (CT) Merceline Thomas, Indian national held by CID, on a Detention Order, in connection with a telephone conversation regarding an alleged plot to assassinate Prez and Former Defence Secretary, yesterday, in open Court claimed that the CID is working together with the Indian Govt, which had attempted to kill him on four occasions. He further alleged that the CID had already questioned and obtained statements more..

Oct 24 (DM) The recent advertisement on the university teachers, who defaulted after having received huge amounts of money from the Govt as loans for further education in various countries, is the manifestation of an appalling mentality in many people of the country. Further reports on the advertisement say that majority of these university teachers had not at least returned to the country. The number of university teachers – including those holding Doctorates and Professorships more..

Oct 24 (DM) Two dozen years have gone by after the assassination of one of the greatest men who towered over the political life in Sri Lanka in the second half of the Twentieth Century. Gamini Dissanayake, as I knew him from the year he first entered Parliament in 1970, never ran out of steam. When the average line Minister or Parliamentarian at the time was most preoccupied with mundane duties in his or her electorate, Gamini tackled big things. His vision knew no horizon. more..

Oct 24 (Island) The CID yesterday informed the Fort Chief Magistrate that 123 voice cuts out of 124 had been identified as those of interdicted DIG Nalaka de Silva and civil society activist Namal Kumara. The CID obtained court permission to send Namal Kumara's mobile phone to the manufacturer in Hong Kong to recover deleted sections of the recordings. The CID said the two CDs given to the CID by Namal Kumara more..

Oct 24 (ST) The Attorney General’s (AG) Dept this week insisted that the Defence Counsel representing former MP Tiran Alles and the other accused in the case of misappropriation of funds at the Reconstruction & Development Agency (RADA), should cease postponing the case without justifiable reasons. Mr Alles and three others are charged with criminal misappropriation of Rs 200 million. more..

Oct 24 (ST) Northern Province Chief Minister (CM) C.V. Wigneswaran criticized the Govt saying that under the banner of Good Governance it had deceived the people in the North and the East and had the support of MPs elected from the two Provinces, who failed to fulfill the pledges highlighted in their election manifestos. As the 5-year term of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) which was established in October of 2013 more..

Oct 24 (DM) Most Venerable Tirikunamale Ananda Mahanayaka Thera said the proposed new Constitution was flawed and detrimental to the nation and that it was a threat to the national reconciliation. Thera said this at a ceremony to launch the book Sri Lanka Orumitta Nadu compiled by the Jathika Ekabadda Committee. He said it was doubtful why the new Constitution was brought in amidst public protest and added that more..

Oct 24 (DM) Not a single essential medicinal drug has been removed from the market other than to replace those that have remained for long periods on pharmacy shelves with new and better drugs, Minister Rajitha Senaratne said. He said the global drug trade was changing rapidly with new and better drugs replacing older versions. "When a new drug arrives in the market it is natural for older drug to lose its demand and therefore has to be more..

Oct 24 (FT) The Govt’s attempt to promote entrepreneurship has resulted in the disbursement of Rs. 58 billion in Enterprise Sri Lanka loans to nearly 30,000 people, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said, with plans to increase allocations for the program in Budget 2019. Since Enterprise SL was launched in June there has been a significant increase in loans extended to entrepreneurs, with Hambantota leading more..

Oct 24 (DM) Construction work of the proposed light railway system would begin at the end of next year, the Megapolis and Western Development Ministry said yesterday. Ministry Additional Secretary Madhawa Waidyaratna said that seven railway tracks had been identified by the ministry under the proposal. Meanwhile, it was announced that the feasibility study on one railway track had been concluded and more..

Oct 24 (FT) In the wake of elephants being killed in train accidents, Minister Sarath Fonseka said measures would be taken to implement high-tech sensors to prevent collisions between elephants and trains. He said that his ministry had carried out tests to implement sensor systems to alert train drivers and help prevent accidents. Fonseka said that prior to his appointment there were 83 incidents reported more..

Oct 24 (FT) Former Army Commander and Wildlife Minister Sarath Fonseka sought to strike a balanced note on counterterrorism legislation, noting that people engaged in anti-State activities should not be compensated but others may be deserving of help if they had been victimised during the conflict. Responding to questions about whether he agreed with compensating former members of the LTTE, Fonseka said that he believed if more..

Oct 24 (DM) President Maithripala Sirisena is reported to have expressed concerns at yesterday's Cabinet meeting about the UN request for the withdrawal of Lieut. Col. Kalana Amunupura -- Commander of the 200-strong SL military contingent deployed as part of the UN peace keeping mission in Mali. He is said to have also raised concerns about the role played by SL's Human Rights Commission on this matter. more..

Oct 25 (CT) Last week, I conducted a workshop on this subject at the Centre for Continuing and Distance education, Uni of Peradeniya. It was organised by the team managing Social Affairs Journal (whose editor is Mr. Nandana Wijesinghe) as well as by the World University Service (WUS). Participants were students undertaking political science degree at the Uni of Colombo and a few academics from Peradeniya uni. In the first session, we examined how Eurocentrism and more..

Oct 25 (CT) There is wide spread speculation and surmise about a proposed re-constitution of the Boards of major State Banks and the Board of Investment of SL. The issue is rotating round the question as to who has authority to remove the Directors. According to reports the Directors are taking up the position that they have been appointed by the subject Minister and any change also should follow the same protocol order. This appears to be a true replication of what has been going on more..

Oct 25 (CT) Kurunegala District MP Johnston Fernando says investors are now complaining to the Bribery Commission, against Ministers of this Govt who asked them for bribes. A case was filed against MP Fernando in the Kurunegala High Court, in connection with alleged misappropriation of goods at Lak Sathosa. He was acquitted of all charges. The FCID filed the case under Public Property Act No. 12 of 1982. more..

Oct 25 (CT) Ever since assuming office in Jan 2015, PM Ranil Wickremesinghe has said more than once that the US was the elephant in the room as far as the Indian Ocean was concerned. In context, it meant that Sri Lanka and other IOR littorals cannot ignore or overlook the presence and dominance of the US in the Indian Ocean, while planning their strategies on that front. In the immediate Sri Lanka-centric Indian Ocean region, the US has been having a naval armada in these waters, more..

Oct 25 (CT) Though the Peace Secretariat had been closed, I still had no idea that the systems that had been place in the preceding period were to be dismantled, with Basil taking control of all aid programmes. After all we still had a Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, and Mahinda Samarasinghe still continued to be the preferred point of contact for the UN and other aid agencies. And officials at the related Ministry of Disaster Management still deferred to us, more..

Oct 25 (DN) Speech of His Lordship The Chief Justice Nalin Perera at the Ceremonial Sitting held on Oct 22, 2018. It is with humble gratitude that I receive the warm welcome, kind sentiments and expressions of confidence that you have expressed in this august assembly today. I wish to approach this great honour with a full appreciation of the magnitude of responsibility that this office brings with itself. It is with a sincere and passionate more..

Oct 25 (Island) It ought to be quite evident from the most recent controversies in Sri Lanka’s relations with India that the former is continuing to struggle to hit on an appropriate and sensible India policy. Indo-Sri Lanka ties have had their ups and downs over the decades but whether Sri Lanka has ever formulated and practised a far-seeing India policy since 1948 that would protect the legitimate interests of both countries is open to question. The proof of this is the recent discomfiture suffered by more..

Oct 25 (Island) The UNP-SLFP political marriage is on the rocks. They are bashing each other in public. What they are doing to each other may be likened to spousal battery, as it were. Internal problems of the yahapalana coalition have come to a head with the UNP and SLFP leaders clashing at Cabinet meetings. Prez Sirisena has gone to the extent of calling upon the public to elect an honest politician as the next PM. Not to be outdone, the UNP undermines the Prez’s authority at every turn. more..