Sep 8 (CT) A senior economist, discussing issues pertaining to the prevailing labour shortage in the country, said that SL had opened its exit doors, but keeps its entrance doors closed to professionals and skilled labour, causing the issues at hand. Addressing a round table discussion, Professor of Economics Sirimal Abeyratne pointed out that Sri Lanka had its labour force stuck in the wrong places, hampering their contribution towards economic development. more..

Sep 8 (Island) On Wednesday, as I left my house at around 2.30 pm to see how the Joint Opposition’s protest was working out, the streets of Colombo had about the same amount of traffic as one would see on holidays. Yet Wednesday was a normal working day with workplaces and schools all functioning. The mere announcement that the JO was planning a protest was enough to shut down the entire city. Workplaces in Colombo’s central business district, Fort, Union Place, Nawam Mawatha etc. more..

Sep 8 (Island) There is a new interest in the Death Penalty. It comes from President Sirisena himself. Speaking at the parliament premises this week, he said the Death Penalty should be the punishment to those who misused public funds and properties. He was obviously upset that his call for the Death Penalty on those convicted of drug-related crimes, who continue such crimes from the prisons, was not implemented despite more..

Sep 8 (DN) The deciding match between SL and Maldives in the South Asian Football Championship played at Banghabandhu Stadium Stadium yesterday ended in a goalless draw. Sri Lanka kicked off the first half, yet it was Maldives who got the first real opportunity when a cross turned into a chance but the ball was palmed away by goalkeeper Sujan Perera. Maldives seemed the more dominant side in the opening 10 minutes. Throughout the game goal keeper Sujan Perera produced more..

Sep 8 (CT) The unbeaten Sri Lanka team will take on Hong Kong once again in the semi-finals of the Asian Netball Championship to be held at 12.30pm SL time in the OCBC arena Indoor Stadium, Singapore. Sri Lanka who last won the Asian Championship in 2009 finished runner up three time since then but their confidence is boosted to take away the trophy this year as they beat two of the toughest competitors in the tournament, Singapore and Malaysia already in the group stage. more..

Sep 8 (Island) Former captain Kumar Sangakkara was called up to give a pep talk to the Sri Lankan cricket team on Thursday ahead of their training session at RPS. Sangakkara (40) was invited by Head Coach Chandika Hathurusingha and the veteran spoke on a variety of subjects. The national cricket team is currently conducting training at RPS as preparation for the six nation Asia Cup that gets underway next week in UAE. more..

Sep 8 (Island) Yohan Peiris, one of an exclusive few number of persons who mounted the peak of Mount Everest, was also part of an 'ODEL Fitness Week' panel discussion recently that extolled the virtues of exercise and correct eating habits. He said that he was humbled by the beauty of this world on reaching the peak. Peiris said to achieve his feat he had to maintain a training regime for five years continuously before he could consider himself fit to climb the peak. more..

Sep 8 (Island) The govt has reportedly decided against hiring out the Temple Trees (TT) banquet hall hereafter following a controversy over MP Chathura Senaratne’s recent wedding there. This decision has left one baffled. The public, we believe, was not aware that the TT banquet hall could be hired as a magul maduwa (MM) for wedding receptions. However, in a country where state assets such as ports and airports are leased to foreigners for 99 years with provision for more..

Sep 8 (FT) New UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Sri Lanka Hanaa Singer has assumed duties as the new UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Representative in Sri Lanka. She presented her credentials to President Maithripala Sirisena as the new UN Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Program Resident Representative, at his residence on Wednesday. more..

Sep 8 (CT) The 85th President of The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Steven Swientozielskyj FCMA, CGMA, will be in Sri Lanka from 8 to 14 Sept. During his visit he is scheduled to meet the President Maithripala Sirisena, PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and other top officials. He will be attending the Most Admired Companies of SL Awards Ceremony on 9 at the Shangri-La as the Guest of Honour. more..

Sep 8 (DN) The CID arrested notorious elephant racketeer Niraj Roshan alias Ali Roshan, yesterday. He was arrested for the illegal possession of an elephant using a fake licence. He was taken into custody by the CID at his residence in Gemunu Mawatha, Pelenwatte Road, Pannipitiya. Roshan is notorious for capturing elephant calves from jungles and selling them to various persons. “The elephant that was confiscated has been sent to the Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage,” Police said. more..

Sep 8 (Island) Auditor General’s Department ought to recruit experts to avoid errors in conclusions and to strengthen the Audit Service in the country, State Minister Ajith P. Perera said. Opening the debate on the determination moved by Minister Lakshman Kiriella, to increase the salary and allowances paid to the Auditor General, State Minister said that 98% of the officers attached to the AG’s Dept were qualified accountants. more..

Sep 8 (FT) A supplementary allocation of a total of Rs. 12.4 billion was presented to the Parliament yesterday seeking House approval of the expenses incurred during 1 July to 15 Aug, provisioning 13 different programs and purposes. The key allocations, which were looking for House approval includes the additional allocation of Rs. 11.4 billion for Agriculture Ministry for the expenditure of the fertiliser subsidy, Rs. 6.31 million to shoulder the expenditure of post-harvest management and more..

Sep 8 (DM) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe had decided not to allow anybody to hold wedding receptions at Temple Trees in future. This decision comes after the controversy that arose with regards to a report that a sum exceeding rupees two million had been spent by MP Chathura Senaratne to hold a wedding reception at the venue recent. The sentiments expressed by the UNP MPs at its parliamentary group meeting had prompted Premier Wickremesinghe to take such a drastic more..

Sep 8 (Reuters) Central bank will intervene in the foreign exchange markets if its rupee currency moves for any reasons other than global trends, Nandalal Weerasinghe, bank’s senior deputy governor, said on Friday. Currency dealers have said the central bank had not intervened much to defend the currency, which has dropped 5.6% this year, even after it hit record lows for 13 straight sessions through Thursday. more..

Sep 8 (Island) A Cabinet paper has been presented to hand over the issuance of motor vehicle examiner’s report to a joint venture by the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) and the Automobile Association of Ceylon (AAC), Transport and Civil Aviation Deputy Minister Asoka Abeysinghe said. He was responding to a question by JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti who queried as to whether there was a move to privatize motor vehicle examinations carried out by the Motor Traffic Department. more..

Sep 8 (CT) UPFA Colombo District Parliamentarian Udaya Gammanpila yesterday (7), filed a petition in the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the Draft Bill of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, which was submitted to the Parliament on 5 September by JVP as a Private Member Bill. The Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Leader has claimed in his application that the Draft Bill presented by the JVP was in direct violation of the Constitution contravening Articles 3, 4 and 30(2). more..

Sep 8 (CT) Constitutional Council yesterday, gave the National Police Commission (NPC) and the IGP Pujith Jayasundara 14 days to solve all disputes between them. The Council met with Speaker Karu Jayasuriya presiding at the Parliament Complex to discuss the reports submitted by the independent commissions and the administrative problems of the commissions. One of the key issues taken up for the discussion more..

Sep 8 (FT) The Most Admired Companies of SL have been selected and will be unveiled at the Awards Ceremony on Sunday at Shangri-La, Colombo. The Awards are organised in partnership by the Int'l Chamber of Commerce, SL (ICCSL) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). Event will be attended by PM as the Chief Guest with CIMA President Steven Swientozielskyj, FCMA CGMA and ICC India President Jawahar Vadivelu as the Guests of Honour. more..

Sep 8 (CT) The govt has signed contracts with five companies to remove coal dust accumulated by the Lakwijaya Coal Power Plant, Norochcholai for manufacturing concrete blocks, State Minister of Power and Renewable Energy Ajith P. Perera yesterday, said in the Parliament. One of such companies will be purchasing 360 tonnes of coal dust from September. Another company has signed agreements with the Government to purchase 650 tonnes of coal dust from Dec, Perera said. more..

Sep 8 (FT) US Senate has confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee Alaina B. Teplitz as Ambassador to SL. Teplitz, a member of the Senior Foreign Service, Class of Minister-Counselor, has been confirmed by the Senate to be Ambassador to SL, and to serve concurrently as Ambassador to the Republic of Maldives. Teplitz currently serves as the Ambassador to Nepal. She has been posted to Bangladesh and more..

Sep 8 (DM) Twenty four schools including Ananda College in Colombo will be closed from Sept 11 to 24 for the second phase of the 2018 GCE A/L paper evaluation, the Examinations Department said. Commissioner General of Examinations, B. Sanath Pujitha said four of the schools would be completely closed during this period while the others would be partly closed. “The schools to be completely closed are: Ananda College in Colombo, Gurulugomi Maha Vidyalaya in Kalutara, Sudharma Vidyalaya more..

Sep 8 (DM) Parliament was the scene of heated arguments today when joint opposition MP Wimal Weerawansa claimed that some UNP organizers in Colombo had distributed contaminated packets of milk to those who participated in Wednesday's janabalaya kolambata protest. He said some substance had been injected into the packets before distribution. “Those who consumed the milk in these packets suffered from loose motions,” the MP said. UNP MP Mujibur Rahaman who responded more..

Sep 8 (DN) Former Child Affairs State Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran is to be indicted before the Court of Appeal under Article 157/A 3 for alleged violation of the provisions of the Constitution. According to section 157A (1) of the Constitution, no person shall, directly or indirectly in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate State within the territory of SL. more..

Sep 8 (DM) Sri Lanka’s leadership of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) could serve as a catalyst for and inspire other countries to appreciate the value of peace building, SL’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva A.L.A. Azeez said. Delivering a speech on the assumption of Presidency of the 9th Meeting of the States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions on Wednesday, Ambassador Azeez said. He said SL’s Presidency of the next meeting of the more..

Sep 8 (CT) Court of Appeal, ordered Chief Minister of the NPC, C.V. Wigneswaran, and NPC members, Anandi Sasitharan and C. Sivanesan to appear in Court on 18 Sept, in connection with the petition filed by NPC member B. Deniswaran, who had been removed from the post of NPC Fisheries Minister by Wigneswaran. Wigneswaran has already been charged with contempt of Court over his failure to implement an order given by the Court. Petition was considered before Justice Janak de Silva. more..

Sep 8 (Island) Minister Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, acknowledged that there hadn’t been any Cabinet discussion on how Sri Lanka should respond to Geneva allegations of war crimes against the country. Sri Lanka brought the war to a successful conclusion in May 2009. The war-winning Army Chief said that his views in this regard were never sought by anyone since the change of govt in Jan, 2015. more..

Sep 8 (DM) The citizens of this country are utterly disappointed by the govt’s pusillanimous responses to the profusion of unconscionable strikes that are called by various groups that cause immense inconvenience and hardship, loss of time and money, and even deprivation of life and limb of fellow citizens. The timing and nature of most of the strikes that have taken place over the past 3-4 years indicate that the motivation behind them is less the direct self-interest of more..

Sep 8 (DM) Last week, protesters in Mullaitivu demanded the termination of a Mahaweli project, that was officially intended to facilitate the economic development in the war ravaged region. Their main demand as explained in a petition handed over to the govt agent was: “considering the benefits, dis-benefits, challenges and the complication of the Mahaweli project in the North, we are compelled to request you to immediately stop the Mahaweli project in Mullaitivu district and proposed more..

Sep 8 (ST) The centuries-old Negombo Fort, which changed hands repeatedly in bloody battles between foreign forces, is to be renovated and careful restoration of other historic sites in the city is under consideration. City authorities have issued a public plea for the return of three valued artefacts so that they might again grace the structures for which they were designed. “I am sad to say that the two cannon used here,” Subashini more..

Sep 8 (ST) Despite claims of intensive raids by the Central Environment Authority (CEA) to bar high-density polythene products the use of the ubiquitous shopping bags and lunch sheets is on the rise and manufacturers have decided to abandon production of biodegradable lunch sheets. Container-loads of raw material for biodegradable low-density polythene lunch sheets, imported back in January, remain in stock more..

Sep 8 (CT) Parliament yesterday approved a Motion to increase the salary and allowances paid to Auditor General, Gamini Wijesinghe. This followed the Govt withdrawing another Motion, related to the same matter on 23 August. The new Motion was moved by Minister Lakshman Kiriella. Opening the debate, State Minister Ajith P. Perera said many experts in various fields would be recruited to AG’s Dept more..

Sep 8 (GDI) The Govt has promised to present a new Draft Constitution to Parliament by next month. Minister Lakshman Kiriella said, he expects to present the draft of the new Constitution to Parliament soon- probably in October. Kiriella also allayed fears about the position given to Buddhism in the new Constitution. He said once the draft Constitution is presented to Parliament, the public could see for themselves the pride of more..

Sep 8 (TC) Sri Lanka Cricket have confirmed that England fans will be charged the same price as locals for use of some areas of the stadiums on this winter's tour, after an intervention by the Barmy Army. The England supporters' club took umbrage to some of the prices being charged by tour operators for match packages, with a single day's entry costing an average of £50 - including drinks tokens - while Sri Lankans could gain more..

Sep 8 (Island) Minister Sarath Fonseka declared that in spite of objections by some interested parties he was going ahead with a comprehensive plan to solve human-elephant conflict. He said that the project, partly funded by funds currently available with his ministry, would cost approximately Rs 6 bn. Cabinet of ministers recently endorsed the project, Fonseka said, adding that there had never been an action plan to more..

Sep 8 (PMD) President Maithripala Sirisena says that the govt has entered into a sustainable development approach which would eradicate the dependent mentality, enabling our people to build a nation which can stand on its own feet. President Sirisena has pondered on this fact participating in the inaugural event on providing new samurdhi benefits under the samurdhi funds program for one and half lacks of families. more..

Sep 8 (EN) Sri Lanka would face reputational damage and outward flight of investments if it leaves the Singapore free trade agreement (FTA), an Australian trade expert said, urging the govt to communicate benefits to the public more effectively. "Can you roll back an FTA? The damage to Sri Lanka’s reputation would be so bad in international arena," Elizabeth Ward, an Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade official more..

Sep 8 (CT) The Govt has promised to present a new Draft Constitution to Parliament by next month. Minister Lakshman Kiriella said, he expects to present the draft of the new Constitution to Parliament soon- probably in October. Kiriella also allayed fears about the position given to Buddhism in the new Constitution. He said once the draft Constitution is presented to Parliament, the public could see for themselves the pride of more..

Sep 8 (EN) President Maithripala Sirisena, who earlier this year failed to extend his term of office by a year, announced Saturday that he had no intention of calling a snap election and hoped to complete his tenure. Addressing a public rally at Nivithigala, Sirisena discounted speculation of an early presidential election to capitalise on the failure of his rivals to name candidates to contest the next presidential elections. more..