Dec 30 (FT) The COVID-19 clusters that emerged from Divulapitiya, Peliyagoda and Prisons yesterday increased to 38,343 patients with the detection of 460 COVID-19 positive persons. 418 associates of the Peliyagoda COVID-19 cluster, 35 persons linked to the Prisons cluster, and seven overseas arrivals yesterday tested positive for the virus. The total number of COVID-19 patients detected in the island to date is 42,056. more..

Dec 30 (FT) She was a senior finance professional. Recently she was promoted to a higher position to oversee a whole division. As it happens to most such persons, she too struggled in managing time. This transition from a functional specialty position to an overall divisional responsibility does not happen automatically just because you are promoted with a fancy designation and a wider number of new direct reports. In such situations the first step should be to understand what the key deliverables more..

Dec 30 (FT) In 300 BC, Mahinda Thera, bringer of Buddhism to Lanka and son of the Great Emperor Ashoka, said to king Devanampiyatissa of Sri Lanka: “Remember that you are only the guardian of this land for all the people and animals that reside here, not the owner of it.” Sitting in my grandparents’ old house, I contemplate the days when one could see the sea from the back window. Now the land is worth Rs. 15 million a perch. The 90-year-old art nouveau house has been split in two. more..

Dec 30 (Island) The body of a Muslim who died of COVID-19 has been lying in the Kalubowila Hospital morgue for over a month as his family has refused to identnfy the deceased. The patient died at the Kalubowila Hospital on 29 Nov. A PCR test was conducted on him revealed that he had been afflicted with COVID-19. The family members of the victim said they would not claim the body unless they were allowed to bury it. They had not even identified the body, the inquirer into deaths more..

Dec 30 (Island) Continuing to help individuals and businesses earn greater returns on their foreign currency savings, Sampath Bank is offering an additional bonus interest of 33% on its Sampath FC Prime accounts. With the account already offering an attractive base interest rate of 3% p.a., accountholders will be able to earn an effective rate (AER) of 4.05% p.a. This rate of return is considerably higher than the average market interest rates for foreign currency savings accounts. more..

Dec 30 (AD) Prof. Lalith Gamage has been appointed as the new Chairman of the Information & Communication Technology Agency (ICTA). He takes over from Jayantha De Silva, who will be leaving as the Secretary to the newly created Ministry of Technology. Prof. Gamage is scheduled to assume office on Jan 1, 2021. Professor Lalith Gamage was the chief architect in establishing the SLIIT in 1999 and more..

Dec 30 (AD) Two suspects including former MP Abdullah Maharoof, who were arrested over the misuse of vehicles belonging to Lanka Sathosa during the 2015-2019 period, have been further remanded until the 06th of January 2021. The order was delivered by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court when the case was taken up earlier today. During previous proceedings, CID informed the court that, according to the information which came to light during investigations, former MP Maharoof more..

Dec 30 (NR) Ministry of Environment has named two geologists to the expert committee appointed to look into the conduct of final rites of COVID-19 victims. Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said they are vested with the responsibility of explaining what would happen to groundwater if the remains of COVID-19 victims are buried. Minister Amaraweera said he instructed the Secretary to the Ministry Dr. Anil Jasinghe to name two geologists attached to the Ministry to the committee. more..

Dec 30 (TM) Sri Lanka Prosperity Index (SLPI) recorded 0.802 in 2019, compared to 0.811 in 2018. Subindices for Economy and Business Climate and Socioeconomic Infrastructure saw declines – of 0.107 and 0.055, respectively – whereas Wellbeing of the People rose by 0.134. Dept of Census & Statistics (DCS) attributes the decline of the Economy and Business Climate sub-index to the spillover effects of 2 key events; more..

Dec 30 (DM) Three Ukrainians, who were among the first tourist group arrived in the country, have been infected with Covid-19. The first group arrived at the Mattala Airport on Dec 28 and the airport authorities and the SL Health Authorities took steps to subject them to PCR testing. Accordingly, they have been identified as infected with Covid-19 and referred to the quarantine process in accordance with the Health Guidelines issued by Director General of Health Services for foreign nationals. more..

Dec 30 (Island) National Joint Committee (NJC) has urged the govt not to lease the East Container Terminal (ECT) to India or any other country. NJC warned the project would jeopardize national security, independence and political-economic sovereignty. The NJC said that despicable practice of alienating strategic national assets could not be adopted by the incumbent administration because Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his Govt were elected on an over-whelming patriotic mandate to more..

Dec 30 (AD) SL health officials are urging people to avoid gatherings such as festivals and parties in celebration of the New Year. The public is requested to continue to follow health guidelines amidst the spread of Covid-19 as there is an increased tendency for the emergence of new coronavirus clusters. Chief Epidemiologist Dr Sudath Samaraweera stated that the next few days are usually when various celebrations are held more..

Dec 30 (FT) Decathlon, the world’s largest sporting goods retailer, recently celebrated the opening of their second biggest sports store in the heart of Colombo City, continuing their commitment to convert people to adopt healthy lifestyles through fitness and sports. The new branch offers an extensive array of high quality products spread across 500 square metres and is located at 323 Union Place, Colombo 2. Demonstrating its passion for sports, Decathlon offers a unique more..

Dec 30 (AD) Lanka Sathosa Limited, the country’s largest retail network business, registered a profit of around Rs.100 million for the month of Oct 2020. Speaking about this outstanding achievement, Lanka Sathosa Limited Chairman Dr. Nushad Perera noted that the retailer organization had managed to grow its revenue during a challenging year while continuing to offer the lowest prices to consumers. He stated that this was made possible by the visionary leadership of Lanka Sathosa’s more..

Dec 30 (FT) CIMA together with ICC Sri Lanka and Daily FT are proud to unveil the winners of Sri Lanka’s Most Admired Companies 2020 Awards competition. The top 10 companies in alphabetical order are: Bank of Ceylon; Cargills Ceylon PLC; CBL Investments; Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC; Dilmah Ceylon Tea Company PLC; Hatton National Bank PLC; LOLC Holdings PLC; NDB Bank PLC; People’s Bank; Sri Lanka Telecom PLC more..

Dec 30 (Island) Ministry of Education did not spend 27.75% of the money allocated to it in the budgets between 2016 and 2019, says Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU), citing a report by the Auditor General (AG). CTU General Secretary Joseph Stalin said: “On 29 Oct 2020, the AG sent its report on the sector to the Speaker. Ministry had not spent over Rs. 90 billion allocated for education in those years.” National Education Commission had submitted recommendations on a national education more..

Dec 30 (Island) The Year 2021 will certainly be challenging, yet it will also be a year where we can exhibit our resilience and innovative spirit in the face of adversity by rebounding faster and stronger,” GM/ CEO of National Savings Bank, Ajith Peiris told The Island Financial Review yesterday. Speaking further he said: “2020 has been a difficult year not only for the financial industry but the entire country due to the lasting effects of the global pandemic with which all sectors had to grapple with. more..

Dec 30 (EN) SL’s decision to indefinitely postpone Provincial Council (PC) elections controversially was made due to sustained pressure from Sinhala Nationalist organisations who argue that the govt had pledged to do away with the PCs during the election campaign. On Tuesday, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said the leaders of the political parties in governing SLNPP had decided to put off more..

Dec 30 (DM) The Committee on Parliamentary Business today decided that the first sitting of the 9th Parliament for the year 2021 will convene from the 5th of January to the 8th of January, Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake said. Committee on Parliamentary Business which was chaired by Deputy Chairperson of Committees Angajan Ramanathan also decided to permit media to enter the Parliament premises for the purpose of covering Parliamentary proceedings. more..

Dec 30 (Island) Moves were under way to cultivate 20 million new tea plants next year with a view to increasing the national tea production, which had been hampered during the last few years, Company Estate Reforms, Tea and Rubber Estates Related Crops Cultivation and Factories Modernization and Tea and Rubber Export Promotion State Minister Kanaka Herath said on Monday in Kandy. He said that it was to increase the national tea output with the aim of uplifting that industry since more..

Dec 30 (EN) Activists fear that unknown persons are attempting to stoke ethnic tensions in Mawanella similar to the incident in Dec 2018 by linking stolen explosives from a quarry to stones pelted at a glass enclosure of a Buddha statue in the area earlier this week. Hilmy Ahamed, Vice President of the Muslim Council of SL said that when media carries such reports, there will be pressure on both the Sinhala and Muslim community more..

Dec 30 (AD) Wattala Magistrate today ordered the cremation of another four Covid-19 positive inmates who died during the recent unrest at the Mahara Prison. The report of the experts’ committee on the post-mortems of these inmates was submitted to the Wattala Magistrate’s Court on Dec 23. Director-General of Health Services meanwhile informed the magistrate that the govt’s stance on cremation of the country’s Covid-19 victims remains unchanged. A total of 11 inmates were killed in prison riot more..

Dec 30 (TM) Sri Lanka and Oman reviewed the progress in the streamlining of recruitment process of the Sri Lankan female domestic workers to Oman as well as preventing human trafficking, SL Embassy in Muscat said today. This was discussed at the 4th Technical Committee Meeting under the MoU in the Field of Labour and Training between Sri Lanka and the Sultanate of Oman which was held on December 23 via video conferencing. The 4th Joint Technical Committee Meeting reviewed the decisions more..

Dec 30 (AD) The committee appointed to investigate the Mahara Prison riot handed over its final report to Justice Minister Ali Sabry. The chair of the committee, retired High Court judge Sarojini Kusala Weerawardena, handed over the report to the minister at the ministry premises today in the presence of fellow committee members. Chief Legal advisor to the Ministry of Justice U. R. De Silva, Additional Secretary of the Justice Ministry more..

Dec 30 (EN) Sri Lanka has failed to sell 48% of Treasuries offered at an auction despite a pre-announced ceiling rate being raised 2 basis points, data from the state debt office showed. The debt office sold 510 million rupees of 3-month bills after offering 10 billion rupees at the pre-announced ceiling rate of 4.69%, up 2 basis points from a week earlier. 9.7 billion rupees of 6-month bills were sold after offering 11.0 billion at the ceiling rate of 4.8%, which is the pre-determined ceiling rate. more..

Dec 30 (Island) Senior lawyer Senaka Perera said that the govt owed an explanation as regards deaths in police custody. Perera said that the latest killing in police custody had taken place in the Veyangoda police area in the early hours of Monday (28). Perera, who heads the Committee for Protecting Rights of Prisoners said that the police couldn’t justify the killing of 37-year-old Nishantha Kumarasiri of Bandagagoda Road, Veyangoda at Halgampitiya, Veyangoda in the early hours of Monday. more..

Dec 30 (AD) The Ethical Committee of Uni of Rajarata has granted the approval to anti-Coronavirus herbal syrup manufactured by Dhammika Bandara from Kegalle. Secretary to the Ministry of Indigenous Medicine announced this today (30). Last week, Minister Ramesh Pathirana announced that the pharmacology unit of the Department of Ayurveda had given approval to the anti-Coronavirus syrup produced by Dhammika Bandara. more..

Dec 30 (DM) The WHO assured that a qualified vaccine could be made available for SL by March, next year, and the SL health authorities have stepped in accordingly to improve cold chain requirements for the storage of doses ahead of inoculation. Top level meeting took place on Tuesday between the Govt officials and the WHO representatives on cooperation under COVAX which is the global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines for all countries. more..

Dec 30 (AF) U.S. Air Force active duty and civilian Airmen pose for a photo alongside Sri Lanka Air Force Airmen during the first virtual and fourth annual Airmen-to-Airmen Talk, or A2AT, hosted from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Dec. 15. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this year’s A2AT did not take place in the routine face-to-face format. The meeting included subject matter experts from each country in logistics, flight safety, risk management, crisis response, cyber security and more..

Dec 30 (PTI) SL's powerful Rajapaksa dynasty consolidated its grip over power, with Prez Rajapaksa's elder brother Mahinda becoming the PM in 2020 - a year which witnessed strengthening of Colombo's ties with New Delhi and revival of a key trilateral maritime dialogue involving India after a gap of six years. The high hopes of an economic revival that accompanied the Rajapaksas' return to power turned into despair soon after more..

Dec 31 (ST) If you think of travelling from London to Paris or any other European city, perhaps, the most enjoyable 8-hour journey would be by an international bus. The bus would take you to the port of Dover in England, enter a ferry anchored at the port, and park on a vehicle-parking deck along with many other vehicles – buses, trucks, vans, and motors cars. Passengers can leave the bus and enjoy a one and half hour cruise tour by ferry. Once the ferry reaches the port of Calais in France, more..

Dec 31 (CT) Year 2020 will be remembered more for the horrendous culling of the minks and the consequent environmental damage than COVID-19. Vivid images of Denmark’s 17 million minks squealing in terror and agony while being electrocuted and gassed to death overshadow the masked faces of COVID-19. Minks, foxes, sables, chinchillas and racoons expend their whole life piled one on top of the other in wire mesh cages packed to the full with about four animals in a cage. more..

Dec 31 (CT) The world is in the grip of a health crisis. It has affected lives, livelihoods, education activities, economies and placed an unprecedented burden on healthcare workers around the world. SL too has been grappling with the threat of being consumed by this debilitating coronavirus. Timely action to close borders and stringent measures to impose curfew, quarantine suspected persons and to isolate identified more..

Dec 31 (CT) Sunday Times BT reported about the engagement of a Local Audit Firm by the SEC to get to the bottom of MTD accounts. This action is pursued in the context of defaulting payments on the type B Debentures issued by this Company and several other irregularities committed there. Non submission of the Annual Reports for 2018/2019, Interim financials after 30th June 2019 and alleged sale of assets associated with siphoning out of Funds without proper internal controls. more..

Dec 31 (CT) The rhetoric against the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the resultant Provincial Councils, by the Govt Ministers’ seems to be waning away. The reason or reasons for the calls for the abolition of the Constitutional amendment by ministers and various Sinhalese nationalist groups not being heard for about two weeks so far. Also the Govt’s stance on the 13th Amendment and Provincial Councils even seems to be softening. If it is not an illusion, more..

Dec 31 (TM) Concerns have been raised over the confusion created by Ministry of Finance while amending the Special Commodity Levy imposed on imported coconut oil. It is alleged that the Govt had created the confusion in order to give benefits to a private company importing coconut oil into the country, while causing a huge loss to the Govt. Earlier, allegations had also been levelled against the Govt for letting a pvt company, more..

Dec 31 (DM) No. Not THAT elephant, nor the one which turned itself into a telephone. Neither are in the room. The compass is not in the room either and there’s palpable evidence that even the lotus bud has got displaced. That’s if people constitute the room. These days, the proverbial elephant in the room is the Coronavirus. The room is enormous and constitutes almost the entire landmass of the earth or rather those parts inhabited by humans. Today we are told that the virus is going to hang more..

Dec 31 (DM) As the world heralds New Year 2021 tomorrow, who would have, even in their wildest dreams, ever imagined that their wishes for good health, peace and prosperity conveyed to family members, friends and colleagues at the dawn of 2020 would be metaphorically turned upside down during the unfolding year, and that instead it would be filled with misery, pain and tragedy. The pandemic, which devastated most countries across the globe, left in its wake a trail of death, more..