Aug 5 (DM) SL has become an unsafe place for children. Even with a National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), Women’s & Children’s Affairs Ministry and a Child Protection Unit at the AG’s Dept the number of child abuse cases reported for 2020 has exceeded 5000. Statistically speaking 142 incidents of rape, 42 incidents of serious sexual abuse and 54 cases of child abuse were reported during the first 15 days of 2020. more..

Aug 5 (DM) The US’ legendary president Abraham Lincoln is admired worldwide as the godfather of democracy. From his wisdom, working knowledge and experience he has said “Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.” With the present US president Donald Trump—widely described by political analysts as being dangerously unpredictable and a pathological liar—threatening to plunge more..

Aug 5 (CT) Over 16 million Sri Lankans are scheduled to cast their vote today (5), to form a 225-member Parliament for a 5-year term, amid concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. SL’s national election body, the Election Commission, earlier said that it had estimated that General Election 2020 being held today would cost a staggering sum of around Rs 10 billion. Over 7,000 candidates are contesting the Election representing major and small political parties as well as more..

Aug 5 (DM) With just hours to go before the 2020 Parliamentary Election, Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya spoke to the Daily Mirror online on the preparations for the polls, concerns and his future plans. Q: Take us through the preparations made for the Parliamentary Election. A: We have assigned the health sector staff for each polling booth. There will be at least one officer for each polling booth. more..

Aug 5 (DM) The General Election 2020 to elect representatives of the people to the Parliament was delayed due to the onset of the COVID 19 pandemic. But finally, the people have the opportunity to send to the legislature their representatives, to make policies that will ultimately have an impact on their lives. From the model of direct democracy of the Greeks where each and every citizen took part in the law making, representative democracy has come more..

Aug 5 (FT) First JVP insurrection was in April 1971 under a leftist-leaned Govt. The second insurrection was in 1988. With the killing of its leader Rohana Wijeweera, the members were brought in to mainstream politics through pardons and amnesties. After 50 long years and in spite of very good ideas, well-articulated by its Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, mustering the support of many at political rallies and May Day rallies, why is it that they have not been able to dislodge the corrupt more..

Aug 5 (FT) Lankem Ceylon PLC announced the appointment of Suren Goonewardene as Managing Director for its operations. The appointment is a strategic move to build in agility, create a robust governance structure, transform and steer the Company into the next tier of growth. Lankem is a well-diversified conglomerate reputed for its market dominance in the areas of agriculture, consumer products, hotels, industrial chemicals, industrial flooring, food and feed ingredients, more..

Aug 5 (MFA) Today 04), Ambassador Ahmed Ali Al Mualla of the UAE paid his farewell call on Minister of Foreign Relations Dinesh Gunawardena. Minister Gunawardena highly appreciated the services rendered by Ambassador Al Mualla in strengthening the long-standing friendly relations between Sri Lanka and the UAE. The outgoing Ambassador conveyed UAE’s strong commitment for furthering of existing co-operation in the fields of investment, economy and trade with Sri Lanka. more..

Aug 5 (Island) Four time national champion Sachini Ranasinghe won the women’s title at the Inaugural SL Women’s Chess Grand Prix 2020 as school chess players Tharushi Niklesha and Ashvini Pavalchandran warmed up for the forthcoming FIDE World Online Chess Olympiad at the event concluded on Sunday. WIM Sachini Ranasinghe (Nf3 Chess Club) was crowned the champion as she accumulated 9 ½ points more..

Aug 5 (DN) With the outbreak of the Covid-19 several coaches involved in various sports had to run to from pillar to post to find solutions for their issues mainly for their monthly wages in the last four months, where neither their respective clubs nor the schools came into their rescue, until the Ministry of Education (MOE) had to intervene to rescue them with a circular issued to their 24th June to all stakeholders to grant their salaries without any reduction. more..

Aug 5 (Island) Sri Lanka goes to the polls, today, to elect a new Parliament. It is for the first time in the country’s electoral history that an election is held amidst a national health emergency. All polling and counting centres will be free from coronavirus, the Election Commission (EC) Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya has said. Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Anil Jasinghe has also given a similar assurance. The EC has, with the help of the health authorities, taken necessary precautions, more..

Aug 5 (CT) Imagine watching this scene unfold: a heavily pregnant woman sips a glass of milk alone at night, during a raging thunderstorm. Suddenly, she feels the pangs of labour, and grabs a phone to dial a hotline number, prompting an ambulance to rush to her residence. Immediately afterwards, you see a candidate’s name and number appear, reminding you of the politician that claimed to have founded and implemented the service. more..

Aug 5 (ST) Susal de Silva of Nalanda College took a giant leap towards achieving his dream of becoming Chess Grand Master when he emerged champion at the 7th SL Men’s Chess Grand Prix 2020 at the Chess Federation Hq in Nugegoda last Sunday. His journey began when he received a chess board as a birthday gift and the 14-year-old seems destined for greatness in the world of chess as he secured the crown convincingly scoring nine points out of possible 11 games and drew the final game more..

Aug 5 (ST) The National Olympic Committee (NOC) of SL in conjunction with the Ministry of Sports has launched an initiative to ensure women have a bigger voice in sports administration. The two authorities are in agreement that women should play a greater role when it comes to making decisions in sports and discussions are ongoing to introduce legislation to this effect early next year. “We have a sustainable development programme. Aligning with the NOC, we were also thinking as more..

Aug 5 (ST) Amongst all the things the pandemic has done to make this world crazy, it showed that nations are over-reliant on China for everything from coriander to Chrysler. While US firms are said to be re-thinking their dependence on the country with some having already left China, the Japanese govt is jumping on the bandwagon of a mass exodus from China. Japan gave US $ 2.3 billion to reform supply chains — including money – to aid firms in bringing production back to Japan or moving more..

Aug 5 (ST) Viber, the messaging app with 1 billion users in 190 countries, is continuously growing in Sri Lanka with an increase of 118 per cent in community views and 39 per cent higher in daily activations, officials say. “In terms of messages sent in 1:1 conversations, it has risen to 37% higher while messages sent to groups have drastically increased by 91%. We intend to further strengthen our presence and contribute to the tech industry through our diverse partnerships with more..

Aug 5 (ST) Sri Lanka’s largest social security scheme, the EPF's listed equity investments are not generating expected growth due to prevailing market conditions, financial analysts say. Market values of investments made by the fund are not increasing proportionate to purchased cost of shares in listed equities and it will affect the rate of return of its member balances for the current fiscal year, they warned. more..

Aug 5 (FT) Dialog Axiata PLC said yesterday that COVID-19 concessions had an extended impact on its revenue in the first half of 2020, but cost control measures helped to sustain profitability. The Company said the concluded June quarter faced the brunt of the COVID-19 outbreak, which began unfolding from mid-March 2020. It said the estimated revenue impact stemming from concessions offered to customers and other COVID-19 associated challenges was Rs. 2.9 billion for 1H 2020. more..

Aug 5 (DN) The Sri Lanka Volleyball Federation (SLVB) is hoping to conduct the National Beach Volleyball Championship in December with the aim of preparing for the Asian Beach Games next year. Asian Beach Games was scheduled to be held from 28th November to 6th December in Sanya, China. They decided to postpone it to next year due to Coronavirus pandemic. The Olympic Council of Asia and Chinese Olympic Committee took this decision due to the present situation. more..

Aug 5 (FT) Sri Lanka or Ceylon as it was known earlier has faced many challenges and problems since Independence from Britain in 1948. We have had military coup attempts, communal riots, pogroms, armed revolts, external military intervention, assassinations of heads of State, terrorist violence and above all a long secessionist war that threatened to tear apart the country. What SL can be proud of as Asia’s oldest more..

Aug 5 (FT) WSO2, a software company that began in Sri Lanka in 2005, marks 15 years of business operations today. Starting with just 10 employees, WSO2 now has over 650 employees spread across offices in SL, USA, UK, Germany, Brazil, and Australia. Headquartered in Sri Lanka, nearly 90% of WSO2’s employees are based here. WSO2 sells technology that enterprises use to digitally transform themselves. WSO2 has products for integration, API management & digital identity management. more..

Aug 5 (Island) Havelock City mixed-use development marked the completion up to the roof slab of its highly anticipated 50 storey office tower at a topping out ceremony held onsite. The LEED Gold certified office tower was designed by the Singapore based Palmer & Turner Group and construction work was done by the globally renowned China Harbour Engineering Company. Ever since pre-leasing of the office tower was announced in 2019, there has been keen interest in the property. more..

Aug 5 (CT) The loss of tourism and remittances receipts is expected to shave off between 3.8% and 4.3% of GDP in SL’s current account in the balance of payments (BoP) this year because of COVID-19, data on an IMF report showed. Hardest hit would be tourism where its impact on the current account in the BoP is envisaged to be between 2% to 2.5%, while that of remittances are expected to hit the current account in the BoP more..

Aug 5 (Island) The National Coordinator of the CMEV Manjula Gajanayake said that the cost of electing a single MP amounted to approximately Rs 77 million. Gajanayake said that while the govt spent Rs 85 billion on the election, the estimated campaign expenditure incurred by political parties and contestants was over Rs. 1.59 billion. “The cost incurred by the government per voter in 2004 was only Rs. 67 and it has escalated to Rs. 523 per voter today,” he added. more..

Aug 5 (DN) Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) has deployed six assessment team members to the Kurunegala, Polonnaruwa, Jaffna, Trinco & Nuwara Eliya Districts to monitor polling and counting. ANFREL will be conducting an assessment of the Elections through an innovative methodology. The assessment report to be released at August end will cover SL’s experience in holding a General Election amidst a pandemic, and identify lessons to be learned from it. more..

Aug 5 (EN) SL is going to the polls to elect a new parliament with Coronavirus health rules with the authorities saying the epidemic is largely contained but the economy under a trade lockdown after an unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus de-stabilized a currency peg. Prez Rajapaksa’s SLPP is highlighting the success so far in containing the spread of the Coronavirus in the country which began in January 2020 more..

Aug 5 (Island) Election monitoring organization People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) says it has received 940 complaints about unlawful propaganda on social media in the nine hours after Election campaign ended at midnight on Sunday (02) until 9 am Monday (03). PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi told the media yesterday that 140 such posts had already been removed as per the notifications issued by the EC to the relevant institutions. more..

Aug 5 (FT) Police dept yesterday arrested 22 candidates for violating election regulations after the deadline for campaigning ended at midnight on Sunday (2). The 48 hours prior to the elections is considered the silent period, as election regulations prohibit any form of campaigning by candidates or their supporters. “We have not received any criminal complaints as of now (Tuesday afternoon), but have received 19 complaints regarding breaches to election regulations, more..

Aug 5 (FT) Millions of Sri Lankans will go to the polls today to elect members to SL’s Ninth Parliament, after an election campaign eclipsed by the outbreak of COVID-19. Polls will open at 7 a.m. with strict health guidelines in place to minimise the risk of the spread of COVID-19 on Election Day. Poll will close at 5 p.m., an hour later than usual on voting days, allowing people more time to vote, while complying with health rules such as more..

Aug 5 (GM) Voters in the island nation of Sri Lanka, located in the Indian Ocean just off the coast of India, head to the polls today in a legislative election that could not only reshape the country's democracy, but affect the geopolitical balance of power in Asia. The election is a family affair. The vote is an opportunity for a party controlled by the Rajapaksa family, a powerful political dynasty that ran the country with a strong hand from 2005 to 2015, to cement their rule over the country again. more..

Aug 5 (CT) Prez’s Additional Secretary on Foreign Affairs, Admiral Jayanath Colombage, said of the 19,000 Sri Lankans expatriated due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some 16,000 will get the opportunity to exercise their franchise at today’s (5) General Election. He said, govt brought down the group of Lankan students who were studying in Wuhan, China on 1 Feb, due to the spread of COVID-19. He added, following a decision taken later, migrant workers were also brought down on 19 Mar. more..

Aug 5 (AD) Voting for the General Election 2020 to pick 225 legislators for the 9th Parliament commenced at 7 am on today. The process is scheduled to come to an end in the evening at 5 pm. Polling will be carried out at 12,985 polling stations across the island under beefed-up security provided by more than 5,000 Police and civil defence personnel. Executive Director of PAFFREL meanwhile said close to 5,000 individuals more..

Aug 5 (FT) Of late, despite flashes of social media mania, there has been heartening focus here in Lanka from policy makers on evidence based COVID responses, localised interventions where needed, encouraging prudent social distancing and hygiene measures. This deserves to be supported. While I could wish for greater clarity and coherence on the tourism front (of increasing urgency to the industry and the foreign currency fortunes of the country), overall, there is some economic more..

Aug 5 (DM) Police personnel have been allowed to use their firearms during the election period should the need arise such as a tense situation, SSP Jaliya Senaratne said. “Police officers are able to use their weapons and action can be taken in line with the provisions under the Criminal Procedure Code and the Penal Code, on the grounds of personal safety. In the case of a theft for instance, these powers can be used to defend their actions even in the event of a death,” SSP Senaratna said. more..

Aug 5 (FT) The President, hearing from an undergraduate that she is doing Political Science responded saying that she should have selected what has an employment potential in the industry. This triggered many responses but none of them attempted to describe the connotation of what the President may have implied. One of my recent articles concluded stating, The country needs a paradigm shift in every sector and in the education too. Sri Lanka needs skills, not graduates. more..

Aug 5 (DN) Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayarathna yesterday ordered to further remand the two suspects of Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) who were arrested on charges of maintaining links with drug peddlers, till Aug 18. The two PNB officers were identified as Constable Ruwan Pushpakumara and Sergeant Saman Jayasinghe. Deputy Solicitor General (DSG) Dileepa Peiris appearing for the Attorney General informed the Magistrate that transaction details with regard to Rs.24.19m more..

Aug 5 (Island) Human Rights Commission of SL (HRCSL) said Rajaratnam Kavitha, mother of P. Pulasthini (24) wife of Thowheed Jamaat suicide bomber Atchchi Muhammadu Hastun hadn’t informed the HRCSL Office in Batticaloa of Zahran Hashim’s involvement in the disappearance of her daughter. Outgoing HRCSL Chairperson Dr. Deepika Udagama said that there hadn’t been any reference to Zahran when Kavitha visited the Regional more..