Feb 15 (AD) A woman sustained critical injuries in a shooting incident at Melwatte area in Kotahena last night (14). The police had identified the injured woman as Asha Faari alias Kudu Chuti, who had been involved in drug dealing. More information was subsequently uncovered that Asha Faari alias Kudu Chuti is the mistress of Kanjipani Imran who was recently arrested in Dubai along with drug kingpin Makandure Madush, more..

Feb 15 (FT) UPFA lawmaker Thilanga Sumathipala called on the Govt to commence a pilot project to assess the practicality of providing tablet PCs for A/L students. The proposal, which has been in the works for some time, was given Cabinet approval recently. The project is expected to cost about Rs. 5 billion, and has been criticised as a waste of Govt resources by education experts, who have pointed out the funds could be used for more..

Feb 15 (FT) SL’s growth is expected to recover moderately to 3.5% in 2019, up from 3.1% last year, the World Bank said yesterday, but warned the country will face stiff headwinds from high debt repayments, difficult global environment, and possible political instability due to elections at home. Releasing the latest Sri Lanka Development Update 2019, World Bank said the economy is expected to rebound from a low base more..

Feb 15 (CT) Sri Lanka boasts about universal free healthcare services, but the reality is different. Free Health doesn’t mean being able to see a doctor free of charge, generally, after spending hours at a State hospital queue, only. It also means recourse to free medicines, in-house medicare and surgeries, if needed. Though a patient may obtain free consultancy services at a Govt hospital, there, however is no guarantee, that such services will also be complemented with free medicines, more..

Feb 15 (FT) Now, economically, Sri Lanka is in a state of virtual bankruptcy, which cannot be controlled. Politically too, it is on the verge of anarchy. Fluctuations of political crisis affect the economic crisis while those of economic crisis affect the political crisis. Viewed from whatever angle, Sri Lanka is now in a situation of imminent fall into a great crisis. But it does not seem to have received the attention of the political leaders and the intelligentsia of the country. more..

Feb 15 (CT) The Govt Medical Officer’s Association (GMOA) in a letter addressed to the Secretary to the Ministry of Health, Wasantha Perera urged her to initiate a full scale investigation in to the allegations of massive financial frauds carried out by the sacked ex fake director of Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital (SJGH) Susitha Senaratne. The GMOA has also urged the Secretary to remove Senaratne from his position at the Sri Lanka Medical Council as a ministerial appointee. more..

Feb 15 (NR) MP and Special Advisor to Japan PM Kentaro Sonoura is due to arrive in Sri Lanka today. He will hold meetings with the Lankan govt to further promote the bilateral relationship between the two countries, including cooperation for realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific region. Sonoura will also attend the closing ceremony of the Oil Spill Incident Management Training of the SL Coast Guard under the Grant Aid of the govt of Japan, to be held today at the Colombo Port. more..

Feb 15 (USE) From Feb 11 through 13, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) conducted port security capacity building at the Port of Colombo with more than 25 Sri Lankan port officials. The event strengthened the port’s security capabilities through drills that improved agency coordination and the implementation of the port’s security plan. SL’s improved maritime security will not only provide greater protection against terrorism and more..

Feb 15 (GDI) Embassy of Sri Lanka in Manila with the support of the SL Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) for the second consecutive year participated at the 26th Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) Travel and Tour Expo 2019 from 08 to 10 Feb 2019 at the SMX Convention Center, Manila. The said Expo is the biggest annual exhibition to promote inbound and outbound tourism market in the Philippines. This year's Expo awarded Sri Lanka destination booth So Sri Lanka as more..

Feb 15 (NR) Catholic Bishops’ Conference in SL has condemned the decision to re-impose the Death Penalty. Full statement: We the Members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in SL wish to make the following statement with regard to the issue of the Death Penalty. The supreme Pontiff Holy Father Francis has approved a new revision of number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We wish to reiterate the following teaching given by the Universal Shepherd on this matter. more..

Feb 15 (DM) Two private sector tourism leaders, who had been caught up in a legal battle for over two years initiated by the FCID, called for law enforcement agencies to act responsibly and with great scrutiny as their short-sighted actions carry massive consequences. Tourism industry veterans Nilmin Nanayakkara and Mervyn Fernandopulle, who represented the private sector on the SL Tourism Promotion Bureau more..

Feb 15 (CT) UPFA MP Dullas Alahapperuma stated that the Govt will not be able to postpone the 2020 Presidential Poll based on Article 30(3) of the Constitution. MP stated that though the Govt had intentionally delayed the staging of the LG Poll and the Parliamentary Poll, they will struggle to delay the Presidential Poll as it would entail a direct violation of the Constitution. He made these remarks during an event held to inaugurate a weekly fair in Kekanadura in Matara on 13 Feb. more..

Feb 15 (CT) The Apeksha Hospital for Cancer Patients, while noting that is compelled to divert their patients to private sector hospitals, to carry out certain laboratory tests, due to the unavailability of such facilities in the Govt health sector yesterday, insisted that such bills are reimbursed once provided with the receipt. Acting Director of Apeksha, Dr. B.I. Kurukulasuriya, responding to the story in Ceylon Today on 14 Feb titled Cancer patients in a quandary, wrote that more..

Feb 15 (CT) The All Ceylon Peasants’ Federation (ACPF) lodged a complaint, with the Human Rights Commission of SL, against the Polpithigama Divisional Secretary, for allegedly not giving compensation to farmers who were affected by the drought in 2018. Convener for ACPF, Namal Karunaratne claimed that Polpithigama DS has not given compensation during the period of the political Crisis of 26 Oct 2018. more..

Feb 15 (FT) SLPP National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa said the party would focus on formulating and giving popularity to their policies as they believe policies would attract voters more than a candidate. “There is no other country like Sri Lanka which had to learn a hard lesson from working toward the victory of a particular individual. Therefore we think that policies should be given focus as they have the power to attract voters as much or more than the candidate,” he added. more..

Feb 15 (GDI) Prez Maithripala Sirisena and PM Ranil Wickremesinghe have condemned the Pulwama terrorist attack and offered their condolences to Indian PM Narendra Modi. At least 37 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district. “I strongly condemn the brutal terrorist attack in more..

Feb 15 (CT) The Uni of Ruhuna has revealed that dispensing antibiotics without a prescription is a common practice in local pharmacies and that in most instances, pharmacy staff neither inquired after patient’s history nor requested the patient to obtain the advice of a doctor. The simulated client study (described as a study, which involves sending people to a particular area, not revealing their identity to anyone nor providing their more..

Feb 15 (AD) A presidential candidate, selected in agreement with President Sirisena and former Prez Rajapaksa, will be put forward for the upcoming election, says the General Secretary of UPFA Mahinda Amaraweera. He stated this speaking to the media in Lunugamvehera yesterday. Commenting on the alleged ties between former DIG Nalaka de Silva and Makandure Madush, MP said that Nalaka de Silva’s named was also mentioned in the VIP assassination plot as well. more..

Feb 15 (CT) Veyangoda Police, having searched the Veyangoda house of the SL Ports Authority worker, who was apprehended for having possessed a stock of Kerala ganja, along with a Sub Inspector (SI) attached to the Presidential Security Division (PSD), at Nochchiyagama, on the night of 13 Feb, have also arrested Ports worker’s mother-in-law, who had also possessed three kilos of Kerala ganja. The arrested woman is aged 63. The raid had been led by the OIC of the Heedogama Police Station, more..

Feb 15 (Island) The law did not allow the Central Bank (CB) to issue Treasury bonds to raise funds for institutions, member of the Presidential Commission on SriLankan, Court of Appeal Judge Gamini Rohan Amarasekara said. He asked Deputy Governor of the Central Bank S.R. Attygalle who would be held responsible if such funds were misappropriated. Attygalle told the PCoI that he was in not in a position to answer that question. more..

Feb 15 (DN) A woman from Kamburupitiya had died due to an acid attack carried out by two persons while she and her daughter were asleep at their home. The mother and daughter had been asleep in their home at Amalka Niwasa, Bolagewatte, Rathkekulawa, Kamburupitiya around 10.30 pm when two persons had entered the house, attacked them with acid and fled. The victims were admitted to the Kamburupitiya, Aandapana Hospital and the mother was later transferred to the Matara more..

Feb 15 (DM) Dept of Examinations announced Feb 25 as the deadline for accepting applications for the GCE A/L exam for 2019. Examinations Dept Commissioner said late submissions would be rejected and that the applications should reach the department on or before March 1. Applications had already been sent to schools to hold the exam under the new and old syllabi. Applications for private candidates had been published on Dinamina, Daily News and Thinakaran on Feb 13. more..

Feb 15 (AD) UPFA MP D.V. Chanaka expressed his views in response to State Minister Ranjan Ramanayake’s recent remarks alleging that there are some politicians and athletes in Sri Lanka who consume cocaine. MP said that while he appreciates Ramanayake’s disclosure about the ministers he does not believe the allegations made about the country’s athletes. The reason for this, he explained was due to the fact that more..

Feb 15 (NR) 54 second year students of the Agriculture Faculty of the University of Sabaragamuwa have been suspended for one week. The suspension comes into effect from today and was imposed on charges including ragging new students within the University premises. Dean of the Faculty Dr. Manjula Magamage said the suspension was a minor punishment. The students were reportedly suspended over an incident reported on the 12th of February. more..

Feb 15 (APP) Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Zafar Abbasi and Chief of Defence Staff SL Armed Forces Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne Thursday held a meeting here and discussed maritime security dynamics. During the meeting, matters of mutual interest including defence related collaborations and maritime security dynamics came under discussion. Naval chief highlighted Pakistan Navy’s (PN) efforts for ensuring maritime security and peace in the region through Regional Maritime Security more..

Feb 15 (CI) Sri Lanka were buoyed by Lasith Embuldeniya's debut five-for that rattled South Africa before tea, but hope dissipated soon after as they lost a clutch of wickets to give the hosts total control of the Durban Test. South Africa rode on Quinton de Kock's second fifty of the match and Faf du Plessis' 90 to inch closer to 300 before losing 5 for 8 to set Sri Lanka 304. Then their quicks dug in after a solid second-innings beginning more..

Feb 16 (CT) Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe (WR) has joined Prez Sirisena’s reckless verbal onslaught on the Constitutional Council (CC) that was set up by the 19th Amendment. I use, verbal onslaught, intentionally since, as in the case of the previous criticism, WR’s own two -cents -worth solo chorus is devoid of any justification in terms of evidence; it is just a lash. One can understand President Sirisena’s frustration since what squashed the latter’s quixotic, mad, manoeuvre to violate our constitution more..

Feb 16 (CT) Lakshman Kadirgamar was assassinated 13 years ago – and a suspect was arrested in Germany, just the other day. Here, by all accounts was a high Profile case. If it took so long to even apprehend a possible suspect, what can an ordinary citizen expect? A partial answer comes from another report that a man is just been sentenced for a murder committed at the end of the last century (1998?). Will the murders of Lasantha Wickrematunge and of Wasim Thajudeen more..

Feb 16 (Roar) Sri Lankans are well-versed in the business of recycling things but not always in ways you’d expect. And this holds true even in the face of growing concern about the pollution that is prevalent across the country. Happily, there are plenty of green initiatives coming up to make waste materials reusable and to rid the land of pollution. However, that is not the kind of recycling that Sri Lanka is notorious for. more..

Feb 16 (SO) What would you do if it was your very last day on earth, and tomorrow you had to die? Jeremy Bolling would have sailed the seas, and as he once said in a newspaper interview conquered his dreams, because that was what life was to him: dreaming big and then going on to achieve those dreams. The rest of his time on earth, he would have spent with his family. Jeremy John Bolling was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a year and a half ago. Last Thursday he passed away more..

Feb 16 (SO) Grade Eight students of Sri J'pura Boys School were introduced to Cloud-Based Smart Classrooms last Thursday. They were seen with only a tab in their hands, ready for the day’s lesson. Class teacher, Indrani Dhammika took them through the introductory video explaining the lesson with the students following her through their tabs. A smart classroom is one of the radical changes in the SL education system. Replacing text books with digital technology is a significant achievement. more..

Feb 16 (FT) The Man Who Would Be King is the title of a long tale written by Rudyard Kipling in 1888. This very popular story was made into a successful film starring Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer by the well-known director John Huston in 1975. The objective of this article however is not to write about the story or film but to focus on a man who always wanted to be king but was unable to mount more..

Feb 16 (Island) US President Donald Trump is in an unenviable position; he is struggling to raise funds for the American version of the Great Wall to be built along the US-Mexico border. Worse, he has had to bow to the inevitable and soften his stand. He was expected to sign a compromise border security measure, on Friday, and it was not known, at the time of writing, whether he had done so. It is not possible for him to back out because there will be a political backlash in case attempts being more..

Feb 16 (DN) There is no business for the govt to be in business, is a formula advocated by many western economic experts. In a way, it makes sense because, Govt bureaucracy is not equipped to run state owned enterprises (SOEs) with profit-driven management style. This is known as principal-agent argument. According to it, since a SOE is by definition run by a group of people who do not own it, they would have no incentive to run it profitable and efficiently. more..

Feb 16 (CT) During the Eelam war and when universities were closed for about two years during the late 1980s uprising of the JVP with their policy of crippling the govt, the Jaffna University admirably continued lectures and exams. Later, when universities in other parts of the country had to be closed, sporadically, due to protest marches et al, mostly against SAITM, in Jaffna the doctors continued to pass out and degrees were conferred. So, its worrying to know that a situation has more..

Feb 16 (Island) The writer was among those who, from 2004 onwards, had opposed in the Courts and the Press, certain unconstitutional acts of Prez Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR). It was in this context, and in view of Venerable Maduluwawe Sobhita Thero’s backing of the little-known Maithripala Sirisena (MS), that the writer voted for MS in Jan 2015. The celebratory speech made by MS on 9 Jan 2015 was so refreshing and sincere-sounding that the writer, like hundreds of thousands of others more..

Feb 16 (Island) The debate about the Indian rope trick described as the world’s greatest illusion continues. But we have now moved to our own Rope Trick age. Prez Sirisena is showing signs of possibly beating all those Indian magicians by making a big performance of his own Rope Trick. He cannot trust a SL rope for his trick, with a possible May Day performance. It has to be imported – guess from where – India or China. more..

Feb 16 (ST) The top four SL Professional Golfers R A Anura Rohana, Mithun Perera, N. Thangaraja and K. Prabagaran, ventured into the new season of PGTI (Professionals Golf Tour of India) 2019, as they participate in the curtain raiser in Hyderabad, at the Golconda Masters 2019, played at the Hyderabad Golf Club, from Feb 6th – 9th. After 3 Rounds M. Dharma led the field at 16 under par, from youngster Karandeep Kochhar, Multiple Winners Rashid Khan, S. Chikkarangappa more..