Sep 22 (NR) Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya says a special program will be implemented to save electricity from the household level by using 10 million LED bulbs. Speaking at an event today, he said the LED bulbs will be provided by meter readers to consumers who use less than 90 units of electricity. Minister said the introduction of the LED bulbs will largely reduce the total electricity consumption in households. more..

Sep 22 (EN) Sri Lanka's nationwide inflation slowed to 2.5% in the 12-months to August 2018 from 3.4% a month earlier. Consumer Prices during the month fell 0.9% to with the National Consumer Price Index falling from 126.6 points to 125.4%. Sri Lanka stated operating a price formula for fuel from May, market pricing petrol and diesel. Market pricing fuel tends to help reduce demand for non-oil goods, keeping both consumer prices more..

Sep 22 (Island) Minister Ranjith Madduma Bandara and his deputy Nalin Bandara yesterday strongly defended IGP Pujith Jayasundera’s recent conduct and the overall performance of the police under the current dispensation. The UNPers assured Jayasundera’s conduct would be probed by a team of officers of the Public Administration and Management and Law and Order Ministry whereas TID Chief DIG Nalaka more..

Sep 22 (Island) The JVP charged in Parliament that there was a surreptitious move to hand over the Trincomalee oil tanks to India. Leader of the JVP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said that the oil tanks in Trincomalee were to be shared between SL and India. "The 15 tanks in the lower system have been given to the Indian Oil company while the 85 tanks in the upper tank system have been split between Indian Oil Company and more..

Sep 22 (Island) Higher Education and Cultural Affairs State Minister Mohan Lal Grero, told Parliament that the allegation that an archaeological monument had been demolished by officials of the Karachchi PS in the Kilinochchi district was false. In answer to a question by MP Dinesh Gunawardena, State Minister Grero said that no such archeological monument had been destroyed in the said area. more..

Sep 22 (PMD) President Maithripala Sirisena will leave for New York today to address to the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday (25). This will be his fourth consecutive annual address to the world body. This year’s theme of the UNGA Session is, Making the United Nations Relevant to All People: Global Leadership and Shared responsibilities for Peaceful, Equitable & Sustainable Societies. more..

Sep 22 (AD) Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa today said that the govt should resign if it is unable to prevent the depreciation of the Sri Lankan Rupee. Speaking during a press conference held in Colombo with regard to the present economic condition in the country, he alleged that the main reason for Sri Lanka’s economic woes was due to the absence of proper leadership in the incumbent govt. more..

Sep 23 (SO) Is the Sri Lanka Police at a crossroads: either forward, toward a newly disciplined and diligently administered force or backward, toward a condition of decay and failure of duty? None other than the Inspector General of Police is in the centre of controversy today over the proper administration of the force and the enforcement of law and order in compliance with the Constitution and the Police Ordinance. While there are numerous allegations against the current IGP, more..

Sep 23 (CT) On Friday, Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment, possibly leading to the sanctioning of private local degrees in general, by affirming the validity of medical degrees awarded by SAITM, a local, private, medical degree awarding institution. SAITM degrees are recognized by the UGC, regulator of the country’s tertiary education system. Nonetheless, Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC), Institute which regulates physicians, had declared that SAITM degrees are invalid, more..

Sep 23 (SO) Mannar District JMO Dr Saminda Rajapaksha labours using miniscule tools to excavate skeletal remains discovered under the CWE Sathosa building in the town of Mannar earlier this year. He is joined by Forensic Archaeologist Prof. Raj Somadeva, who is busy observing small bones and meticulously recording notes and diagrams about each new piece of the large puzzle. Both Dr Rajapaksha and Prof Somadeva have been more..

Sep 21 (ST) The humble SL rupee is taking a nose-dive these days and questions are being asked from the Central Bank, whose duty it is to maintain some stability of the local currency – and the Govt, whose duty it is to ensure that the cost of living does not shoot upwards, what on earth is going on. Both the Finance Minister and the Central Bank Governor are at pains to say that what is happening is beyond their control. The rupee has crashed from Rs. 163 to Rs. 170 a US dollar in one week. more..

Sep 21 (Island) President Maithripala Sirisena left for New York yesterday to attend the UN General Assembly sessions which customarily attracts leaders from small and big countries all over the world without any major developments in the explosive story published some days ago about an alleged attempt by a senior police officer heading the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) to assassinate both the president and former Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. more..

Sep 21 (CT) The book Tamil Tigress authored by a former woman cadre of the LTTE under the pen name Niromi De Soyza was published in Australia. The former child soldier is a University teacher in Australia and joined the LTTE as a girl of 17 just as it started recruiting women. The following interview first appeared in our sister paper the Mawbima. Sinhala readers of the Tamil Tigress would love to get to know things regarding more..

Sep 21 (ST) My dear Angie and the SL cricket team, I thought I must write to you because everyone is talking about you and blaming you for your recent defeats in the desert where you lost to Bangladesh and even to Afghanistan. This must be an awful time for you, but you must be thankful that no one has set your houses on fire, like they do in India! I am writing to tell you that you need not despair. We in Paradise are a very forgiving nation. While people will blame you for a couple of months at most, more..

Sep 21 (Island) Central Bank records show that in 1950, the average Rupee value of a US Dolllar was Rs. 4.76 and that it was retained at that rate for over one and a half decades till 1966. With the foreign exchange crunch that hit SL in the decade of the 1960s, the average price of a US Dollar rose by ten cents to Rs. 4.86 in 1967 and a decade later by 1977, it had risen to Rs. 8.87. With the opening up of the economy, the exchange rate nearly doubled overnight as free market forces came into more..

Sep 23 (DM) Residents of Thellapilli in the Jaffna District have been asked to fund the inauguration ceremony of the presidential mobile service (Janadipathi Nila Mehewara), which was attended by President Sirusena, EPDP MP Douglas Devananda said. He said a notice has been sent by the divisional secretariat asking the people in the area to fund the event. “They are agitated by this notice. The govt should spend for its functions instead of asking the people to fund for them” more..

Sep 23 (Island) It took a mere three days for five times former Asia Cup champions, Sri Lanka, to make an ignominious exit lock, stock and barrel including the highly paid support staff, to return home. First it was Bangladesh, with practically ten men (injured star batsman opener Tamim Iqbal batted with one hand – as last man!) outplayed Sri Lanka by a record margin of 137 runs while the war-hit team from Afghanistan overwhelmed Angelo Mathews and his listless men most comfortably by 91 runs. more..

Sep 23 (CT) Prez Sirisena appointed nine new SLFP electorate organizers on Friday. Accordingly, Faiszer Musthapha was appointed as the organizer of Colombo Central while Western Provincial Councillor Hector Bethmage and former Kaduwela Mayor G.H. Buddhadasa were appointed as co-organizers for Kaduwela. MP Dayasiri Jayasekara was appointed as the SLFP Kurunegala District Leader and Co-Chairman of District Coordinating Committee as well as more..

Sep 23 (CT) The iconic the late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran, who was popularly known as MGR with the abbreviation of his name, was born in Kandy and his 102nd birth anniversary was celebrated with the participation of India’s Tamil Nadu State Education Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan in Kandy, last week. MGR was born to a Malayalam-origin family in 1916 in Kandy and later migrated to South India where he entered the cinema industry and later entering politics more..

Sep 23 (ST) An intriguing email/note was doing the rounds on whatsapp this week criticising the President, the PM and the immediate former President for dealing with trivial matters in the public domain when there are larger issues at stake. “This nation loves to talk but is slow to deliver. Our President talks all about trivial matters whilst the PM travels from city to city and country to country talking about his ever-expanding vision for the country. The ex-President is in a league of his own more..

Sep 23 (ST) Are national limited overs Captain Angelo Mathews’ days numbered? With his falling personal standards, can Angelo Mathews hold on to his position as captain in a broader sense? Right now his bowling is almost a thing of the past. He is playing as a specialist batsman and he is faltering at that point. Even in his catching, the sharpness has dropped and in the overall act as a captain, he's also uninspiring. more..

Sep 23 (SO) Heads turned the moment Roshan Mahanama pushed open the glass door and walked into a crowded SSC hall. It was not his club, but the former World Cup champion batsman was at home and quick to recognize old faces. Few of Mahanama’s multitude of fans had seen him in public after he quit cricket in 1999, chronicled a book Retired Hurt and took up a job at the ICC as a match referee putting to best use his clean-guy image that made him one of the most cultured cricketers more..

Sep 23 (SO) A 15-member squad has been named to contest the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals in SL from Sept 23 to 29 at the SSC and NCC grounds. The six previous years of the competition have served as a stepping stone for int'l cricket stars such as Niroshan Dickwella, KL Rahul, Lungi Ngidi and UAE’s Chirag Suri. Campus teams from India, Pakistan, SL, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and the UAE will contest the matches. Teams have qualified for the event by winning inter-campus more..

Sep 23 (ST) Fresh amendments to the sports regulations is to be gazetted soon and it will have a major impact on the election processes of National Sports Associations as appointment of members to the Election Committee will be based on the grade to which they belong (there are three classifications). Regulations will allow the Ministry of Sports to group the sports bodies into three grades–A, B & C–based on their annual turnover and membership. more..

Sep 23 (CT) Being a hard core cricket nation that has virtually everyone stopping work if a game is on, it’s no surprise that the fans have reacted adversely and expressed their disappointment in the manner they did after the early exit of SL from the Asia Cup. There are a few bitter pills that everyone has struggled to swallow. Some of them being the manner and the margins SL caved in to Bangladesh, who are not very hot on the world stage of cricket and of course to the minnows Afghanistan. more..

Sep 23 (CT) As a result of the US dollar strengthening and the value of currency units of other countries also increasing, the Motor Vehicle Importers’ Association points out that the prices of imported cars will increase between Rs 250,000 to Rs 800,000. The value of currency units of countries such as Japan, England and Thailand have also increased against the rupee, that is the reason for the price increase in vehicles, Association’s Secretary Keerthi Gunawardena pointed out. more..

Sep 23 (ST) In one of the most challenging polls in recent times, Business Times has found that strikes and street protests inconvenience the public, tremendously and the govt needs to deal firmly with the situation. “These protests and strikes are destroying the country and we don’t know where it will end,” one worried respondent said. Whether these protests and strikes were deliberately meant to inconvenience the public – to put pressure more..

Sep 23 (CI) A searing 57 off 40 balls from the 18-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues propelled India to comfortable five-wicket victory in the third T20I in Colombo, as they ran down their target of 132 with eight balls to spare. India's discipline with the ball, and a tight fielding effort, had helped set the vctory up, as even the set Sri Lanka batsmen routinely failed to clear the field with their more expansive strokes. Seamer Arundhati Reddy was particularly impressive for India. more..

Sep 23 (SLA) Showing its presence in the capital, troops rehearsing in the Army-initiated mock Field Training Exercise (FTX), Cormorant Strike - 2018 stormed the Colombo Nelum Pokuna theatre premises today (20) and showcased their daring rescue prowess by freeing a group of civilians taken hostage by enemy forces. Simulated VIP hostage rescue scenario, replete with helicopter rappelling, surveillance tactics of sniffing dogs, manoeuvring approaches and strategies, more..

Sep 23 (CT) In the recent past, the number of so-called monks, clad in saffron robes, claiming to be Bhikkus have emerged in large number in SL. Due to the loopholes in the jurisdiction in the country, such robed persons have been liberally operating, preaching a distorted version of the Buddha’s Dhamma. Nevertheless, this horde of fake monks has been drawn a slew of devotees towards them with their own version of the Dhamma more..

Sep 23 (Island) Dialog Axiata announced the launch of Genie, Sri Lanka’s first Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) certified mobile payment app. Genie transforms a conventional wallet to a truly digital wallet that securely holds credit and debit cards, current and savings accounts (CASA) and eZ Cash account on the mobile phone. Genie enables a seamless payment experience for in-app, Over the Counter (OTC via QR Code), web and remote payments. more..

Sep 23 (EN) A SL delegation headed by Minster of Development Strategies and Int'l Trade is heading for Hamburg Germany to hunt for investor with a team of private business representatives. "The delegation will visit Frankfurt, Hamburg and Berlin and meet with senior German officials, as well as captains of German industry," BoI said. This highly targeted mission will include investment forums where top German and SL companies can share experiences, and presentations by the BOI more..

Sep 23 (SO) The CID may seek a court order to send recordings of an alleged conversation between TID DIG Nalaka Silva and a police informant to Singapore for expert analysis. The police informant, Namal Kumara who calls himself Director Operations of an anti-corruption force, has accused the senior cop of plotting to assassinate the President and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. more..

Sep 23 (ST) Criminal Investigation Department detectives probing the alleged conspiracy to assassinate President Maithripala Sirisena and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa have seized two Light Machine Guns issued to the Terorrist Investigation Division (TID). They are now trying to ascertain whether the weapons were in any way linked to the conspiracy, particularly in the light of the TID not requiring such high calibre arms for its routine duties. more..

Sep 23 (SO) Two members of SL’s Election Commission left to Male to take part in monitoring the Maldives presidential election scheduled to be held today. Election Commission member Dr. Ratnajeevan Hoole and Additional Commissioner Rasika Peiris will join a team of polls monitors by Forum of Election Management Bodies of South Asia (FEMBoSA). All eight SAARC countries were members of FEMBoSA including SL and Maldives and the visit is undertaken in that capacity. more..

Sep 23 (ST) Govt ministers and parliamentarians will be banned from travelling overseas when Parliament sessions are underway, the Cabinet decided on Tuesday. The only exception will be for urgent medical reasons or for a family emergency. The move came on a recommendation by PM. He has been concerned about the mounting number of occasions when Parliament had to be adjourned due to the lack of a quorum. more..

Sep 23 (DS) The 2nd South Asian Youth Summit 2018 will be held from Nov 28 to 30 in Sri Lanka with the theme Creating a Sustainable Future in a Fractured South Asia, according to a press release. International Youth Committee (IYC), an India-based youth organisation, will host the summit. The summit will act as a platform to increase the areas of cooperation in the field of youths for better ties and economic prosperity amongst the SAARC nations, the release added. more..

Sep 23 (ST) Prez Sirisena, who left for New York yesterday to attend the UNGA session, is to make some top level appointments upon his return to Colombo. He is to name Ravinatha Ariyasinha, a career diplomat, to be the new Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His last posting was as SL’s ambassador to UN in Geneva. Mr Ariyasinha will succeed Prasad Kariyawasam who was SL’s Ambassador in Washington DC before moving over to Colombo as Foreign Secretary. more..

Sep 23 (ST) SriLankan Airlines has been instructed to obtain their cashew nuts from the SL Cashew Corporation in the future by the Public Enterprises Development Ministry, a senior official at the ministry informed. Ravindra Hewavitharana, the ministry secretary said that Minister Lakshman Kiriella made this decision following Prez Sirisena’s recent public outrage over substandard cashews served by the carrier, more..