Oct 25 (AD) The official polling cards printed for the Prez Election 2019 are to be handed over to the Postal Dept today. Election Commission said the Postal Department will commence distributing the polling cards for the voters starting from tomorrow. The special date for distributing polling cards will fall on Nov 3 and the distribution will end on Nov 9. Voters who did not receive their polling cards before Nov 9 can obtain them through the post office linked to the address registered in more..

Oct 25 (DN) Unlike during the previous regime, elections are now held on the days fixed by the Chairman of Election Commission and not by the Prez as guided by his astrologers, PM Ranil Wickremesinghe noted. He was speaking after opening a Colombo district election operating office of the NDF at Thotalanga. “This situation can be considered as a win for Democracy and moreover, strengthening of that democracy. more..

Oct 25 (AD) Fifty-two members of the Inter-University Students’ Federation, who were arrested last evening (24) during the protest carried out at the Lotus Road, have been released on bail. They were produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court today. The magistrate had imposed a personal bail of Rs. 100,000 on 52 of the arrested students. However, one student was ordered to be remanded until November 08th as there is another ongoing court case pertaining to him. more..

Oct 25 (AD) All Tamil medium schools, except Muslim schools, have been granted a holiday on Monday (28). As the Deepavali festival falls on Sunday (27), Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam has instructed to grant a holiday for every Tamil medium schools, however, this will not be in effect for the Tamil Medium schools. Secretary to the Education Ministry, M.N. Ranasinghe has informed the relevant schools to conduct the lessons on a suitable day instead of the holiday given on Monday. more..

Oct 25 (NR) Presidential candidate of the NDF Minister Sajith Premadasa says the country’s people need to witness a significant change. Speaking at a rally in Kamburupitiya Minister Premadasa said he is running for President in order to serve the people. Pointing at the Opposition, Minister Premadasa noted that they held the post of Presidency twice adding that the time has come to make a change, a positive more..

Oct 25 (EN) Tea Smallholder Factories, which makes black tea from leaves bought from SL small farmers, said losses narrowed to 20.4 million rupees in the Sept 2019 quarter from 31.8 million rupees a year ago. Quarterly sales rose 6% to 543 million rupees, according to interim accounts. The company, in which John Keells Holdings has a 37.62% stake, reported a loss per share of 18 cents in the September quarter from continuing operations and 50 cents from discontinued operations. more..

Oct 25 (DM) JVP propaganda secretary Vijitha Herath said they were hopeful of several candidates contesting the upcoming prez election extending their support to NPP candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake. He told a news conference that a discussion was in progress with candidates Mahesh Senanayake and Rohan Pallewatte in a bid to obtain their support. He said Mr. Senanayake's policy was to fight against the current political culture and that NPP was totally agreeable to his policy. more..

Oct 25 (CT) Five foreigners were apprehended by the Kotawila Police on 15 October on charges of obtaining confidential details of accountholders and their bank details after having inserted a device into Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). They were produced before the Matara Chief Magistrate and were ordered to be remanded. When the five suspects were produced in Court yesterday, they were ordered to be more..

Oct 25 (AD) Board of Investment of SL signed a supplementary agreement with Moody’s Analytics Knowledge Services Lanka (Pvt) Ltd to expand their IT enabled Services. The project will provide IT enabled research and analysis services for export, provide editorial, desktop processing and compliance services, financial training, research, research and analysis services in respect of overseas and local securities and companies. The agreement was signed by Mangala Yapa, more..

Oct 25 (UNE) At a time when the world grapples with the menace of air pollution killing 7 million people prematurely every year, Sri Lanka, with support from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), convened a two-day event at which member states came together to adopt what is being called the Colombo Declaration with an ambition to halve nitrogen waste by 2030. While a critical element for building structures of living organisms and an essential element for the survival of all living things, more..

Oct 25 (NR) Prez candidate of the NPP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake has accused the Rajapaksa regime of violating the law and inciting racism in the past, claiming they will continue to do so if re-elected. Speaking at a rally in Akkaraipattu urged the people to vote for an individual who understands the issues faced by the masses. MP pointed out that, in order to prevent the Rajapaksa’s coming into power, it does not mean people more..

Oct 25 (LBO) The Finance Company (TFC) is currently working with a company that has expressed its interest to invest at TFC as a shareholder through a private placement, the company today said in a stock exchange filing. “The investor is pursuing his actions to provide the proof of funds and also TFC is working with the investor to make his investment a reality,” the company said. “We will inform of further communications on the above matters at the appropriate time.” more..

Oct 25 (AD) Kankesanturai Police has arrested a suspect along with 80kg of Kerala Cannabis. The officers of the traffic division of Kankesanturai Police had inspected a suspicious vehicle and uncovered the haul hidden inside. The Kerala Cannabis haul, which is estimated to be worth over Rs 10 million, had been smuggled into the country from South India via sea routes. One suspect had fled when the police officers had made the arrest. The arrested suspect is a 36-year-old from Kilinochchi area more..

Oct 25 (EN) SL Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management (SLITHM), a state-run hotel school, is looking to establish a branch in the northern district of Jaffna, country’s tourism regulator said. SLTDA statement said that with the opening of the Jaffna Int'l Airport, the region will attract more tourists, and discussions were held to set up a hotel school to increase the number of trained tourism professionals in the northern districts. more..

Oct 25 (IPD) The Easter Sunday bombings by radical Islamists in Sri Lanka were considered revenge for the white supremacist’s mass shooting of Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand, according to the initial response made by the SL govt on the terrorist attacks. “We believe [the massacre] was carried out by an extreme Islamist group as a reprisal to the Christchurch mosque massacre in NZ,” said Ruwan Wijewardene, SL’s State Minister for Defense in his speech to Parliament. more..

Oct 25 (DM) Employers should grant leave to both public and private sector employees for the purpose of voting at presidential election on the basis of special full pay leave, Election Commission said. “In terms of the provision of Section 110 of Act No.15 of 1981 on the granting of leave to employees to enable them to cast their vote at the prez election, the period of leave so permitted should be considered as special full pay leave in the case of all employees including more..

Oct 25 (FT) SLFP MP Dr. Sarath Amunugama yesterday said that SLPP prez candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa has the capacity to competently deal with minority issues, due to his practical approach to governance. He said Rajapaksa’s policies to promote a technology-based economy will also encompass the ability to address the country’s long-standing issues based on ethnic and religious differences. more..

Oct 25 (CI) England will play a Test at Colombo's R Premadasa stadium for the first time when they tour in March. Galle and Colombo will be the host cities for the two-Test series, with points going towards the World Test Championship. Although there had been some concerns about the security situation in the country, following a series of bombings over Easter earlier this year, NZ toured SL in August and former Test captain Kumar Sangakkara said that the situation had improved dramatically. more..

Oct 25 (CT) SLFP Organiser for the Colombo District, Sujith Pushpakumara claimed that the NDF was buying the allegiance of the Party's organisers and supporters. Addressing the Media in Colombo, he alleged that a Secretary of the NDF was paying as much as Rs 25,000 to Rs 100,000 to Local Govt Councillors and Members who had contested from the SLFP, District and Provincial Organisers to support the DNF Prez Candidate, Minister Sajith Premadasa at the election. more..

Oct 25 (NR) The AG’s Department has informed the Parliament Sectoral Oversight Committee on Anti-Corruption and Media that a total of 10,000 indictments will be filed on charges of corruption, fraud and other crimes by the 31st of Dec this year. Issuing a statement, Dept of Communication of Parliament said the Dept also informed the committee that they have filed 7,800 indictments within the first 8 months of 2019. more..

Oct 26 (CT) On 26th Oct 2018, a great bolt hits us from an unexpected void. Things changed in giddying succession in a humbling reminder that saints can turn villain in lightning speed. This essay is about remembering not to forget what Maithripala Sirisena did in Oct 2018 and what Ranil Wickremesinghe has forgotten in Oct 2019. It is one year since our civic nation came alive to defend the basic law of the land. The insane platitude, speaking truth to power suddenly acquired more..

Oct 26 (CT) My greetings to Sivarajah, or Chivan as we called him, the brain behind this Simon Ranaweera Sivarajah Institute of Tamil teaching Tami to Sinhalese Let me start my story with Nallammah. According to an uncle of mine, well before I was born, she was a beautiful widow with a year-old infant. Of the Vellala caste and a strict Hindu, it was the end of the road for her, as by Hindu law few would willingly marry her. Then along came Simon Ranaweera from Matale. more..

Oct 26 (Island) It was a moment of civility in a season of vitriol. All major presidential contenders met on one stage on Oct 5 to present their ideas and answer questions. All but one; current frontrunner Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised to attend but didn’t. At Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s inaugural media conference, a journalist asked why. His response was characteristic of both the man and of the president he will be if his resistible rise is more..

Oct 28 (CT) The next Prez Election is scheduled for 16 Nov as announced by the Elections Commission. This article attempts to examine matters relevant to the electoral process itself. Of the five types of elections that are held in Sri Lanka the Prez Election is governed by Prez Elections Act No. 15 of 1981. There are other laws governing other elections that are held. They are-Parliamentary (Parliamentary Elections Act No. 1 of 1981), Provincial Councils (PC Elections Act No. 2 of 1988) more..

Oct 28 (CT) It was exactly 32 years ago Indo-Lanka Accord was signed adding 13th Amendment. Though the Accord was meant to strengthen the unity and integrity of Sri Lanka with greater devolution to the to the N&E Provinces, the Accord had further aggravated the ethnic question allowing the separatist war to continue for three decades until it came to an end in 2009. So, with Jaffna Teaching Hospital staff, a few days ago, commemorating 32nd anniversary of IPKF soldiers massacring more..

Oct 28 (ST) For a country that has long sung the praises of its golden beaches, the reality can be somewhat depressing. Polluted beaches are more the norm than the exception. It was this that led a group of dynamic young people to take matters into their own hands and launch a sustained effort to keep at least one beach clean. This initiative Save the Blue has just won them global recognition: first place in more..

Oct 28 (DN) The writ petition was filed in the Court of Appeal challenging the authority of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to hold office as Prime Minister, after a No-Confidence Motion (NCM) was passed against him in Parliament. On Nov 26, 2018 - UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and 121 other parliamentarians had filed a writ petition seeking an order in the nature of Quo Warranto declaring that Mahinda Rajapaksa is not entitled to hold the office of Prime Minister. more..

Oct 26 (Island) We are not short of knights in shining armour on a mission to eliminate the evil of corruption. We have had many of them during the last several decades. Govts and Prezs have come and gone, but corruption continues to thrive. Grand promises political leaders, both past and present, made in their campaign speeches to root out bribery and corruption have turned out to be mere lip service. SLPP prez candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa has reportedly said he will use technology to more..

Oct 28 (DN) Oct 26: Presidential Secretariat issued an Extraordinary Gazette for the removal of PM Ranil Wickremesinghe with immediate effect and the dissolution of the Cabinet of Ministers. Oct 26: Former Prez Rajapaksa took oaths as PM in front of Prez Sirisena. Oct 26: State-owned Media Institutions, namely, Lake House, ITN and Rupavahini, were taken over by SLPP unions. Oct 27: Presidential Secretariat published an Extraordinary Gazette to prorogue Parliament more..

Oct 26 (CT) Way, way back in the 1960s, so we are told authoritatively on Google, that the exceptionally beautiful actress Liz Taylor had the most arresting pale violet shaded eyes ever had by a human: None before, none after. Something like the Mattala Airport as we are wont to quip these days as PM Ranil Wickremesinghe seems deliriously fond of repeating on and on and on! This time around, it was the PCoI that goaded the fast-paling but never-say-die PM into taking us back to Liz Taylor's case. more..

Oct 26 (FT) Govt moved several Bills in Parliament this week, amending Excise, Value Added Tax, and Nation Building Tax to be in line with tax policies proposed in Budget 2019. The changes of Section 35 and 52 Excise Ordinance by moving Excise (Amendment) Bill has authorised the police officers to take legal action on matters pertaining to illicit liquor. Amendments will fill in the vacuum in the provisions of the Ordinance where police officers are more..

Oct 26 (CT) A group of senior journalists have urged two private newspapers to apologise to Ahimsa Wickrematunge, daughter of slain Sunday Leader Editor Lasantha Wickrematunge, after they published a manipulated image featuring her holding a portrait of her later father. The editors and journalists said they condemned in the strongest possible terms the coordinated decision by two newspapers to use a manipulated photograph of a victim of crime in their reporting of a matter more..

Oct 26 (TM) It has certainly been a challenging period for Sri Lanka and the banking sector. At a macro level, GDP growth and loan growth have been sluggish. Adverse weather conditions experienced for over four seasons, delays in settlement encountered in the construction sector, high interest rates that prevailed, as well as the overall stressed market conditions have led to higher sector-wide NPAs for our industry. Heavy taxation exacerbated by the introduction of more..

Oct 26 (CT) High Jumper Ushan Thiwanka and Long Jumper Anjani Pulwansa took early leads on the Best Athlete's title at the National Sports Festival (NSF) with impressive performances, considering the unfavourable ground conditions at the Vincent Dias Stadium, Badulla yesterday. Thiwanka, National Champion for the High Jump event competed for the first time at the NSF and cleared 2.12m, which is equal to 1019 points in more..

Oct 26 (Island) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will for the first time in its history, launch a Round Table Discussion with Auditors and other Capital Market Stakeholders on Thursday (31) from 2.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. at Hilton Colombo. In a letter of invitation addressed to multidisciplinary Institutions and professionals, chairman of the SEC, Ranel Wijesinha states that "The purpose of the forum is to emphasize SEC’s concerns about and expectations of feeders and more..

Oct 26 (CT) Colombo High Court Judge Shashi Mahendran yesterday, adjourned till 26 Nov, the case against three accused, including former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Sri Lanka, Nalaka Godahewa, for allegedly misusing five million rupees granted for the Thaarunyata Hetak organisation. Godahewa, Deputy Director of SEC, Dhammika Perera, and Director of Sports at Thaarunyata Hetak, Ronnie Ebrahim were named as accused in the case. more..

Oct 26 (CT) Javelin Thrower Nadeeka Lakmali won SL's third medal at the World Military Games when she won the bronze medal of her event in China yesterday. Lakmali the 2008 Olympian and National record holder managed to throw only 52.73m but that was enough for her to win the bronze behind gold medallist China's Zhang Li (63.06M) and silver medallist Ferrer Laila (56.02M). In the other events of the day Triple Jumper Vidusha Lakshani managed to jump only 12.64m and finished 5th out of more..

Oct 26 (DN) People the world over celebrate their victories by holding various celebrations to rejoice triumphs, elation and freedom achieved by human society, defeating sufferings through self determination. Accordingly, I am very pleased to send this message of greetings on the occasion of the festival of Deepavali celebrated by the Hindus throughout the world by lighting lamps, symbolizing the victory of peace, harmony and love over hatred, selfishness, jealousy & anger, states Prez. more..