Jan 30 (DM) The number of people infected by the novel Coronavirus 2019 (nCoV) outbreak has risen to nearly 6000 while claiming the lives of 132 people in China as at yesterday (29). As such countries around the world are taking precautionary steps to ensure that all citizens are safe. Airports, ports, hotels and other places frequented by visitors, mainly Chinese nationals are kept under close scrutiny. At the onset of the outbreak, more..

Jan 30 (EN) UNP called for the removal or resignation of former CB Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal from his current post of senior advisor to the prime minister. UNP MP Ajith P Perera said that Cabraal should either resign or be sacked from his key position in the current govt in light of revelations made in the forensic audit report on the alleged CB bond scam. Perera was critical of recent remarks made by the former governor more..

Jan 30 (AD) UNP MPs Ajith P. Perera and Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka have not been included in the newly appointed Working Committee of the UNP. UNP sources said that this decision has been taken against the two MPs on charges of violating the party’s collective discipline. Accordingly, the 2 parliamentarians will not be allowed to attend the Working Committee meeting which is scheduled for this evening (30). more..

Jan 30 (AD) Thirty-five members of the UNP Working Committee have decided to boycott the Committee meeting set to be held today. UNP is expected to reach a final decision regarding the party leadership later this evening, after the previous meeting held on January 16 ended without a decision. Accordingly, 35 members of the UNP Working Committee including Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa will not be attending the meeting. more..

Jan 30 (CT) In the words of US President Donald Trump, the people objecting to all forms of Middle East Peace Plans between the Palestinians and Israelis have been going on with objections for eternity. Most observers are at a variance on the score because Israel is seen to base all of its geographical, social and political history on its holy biblical fact, while other countries take counter to Israeli claims on many non-biblical factors. Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu has perhaps more..

Jan 30 (FT) There are three distinct positions on the issue of the executive presidency: abolition (the neoliberal position), full restoration by rolling back 19A (the neo-conservative position) and moderate reform, rebalancing the system, making for separation of powers and checks-and-balances as in the USA (the progressive democratic position). 19A permits and facilitates such a rebalance, but needs refinement and an upgrade through corrective laser surgery. more..

Jan 30 (DM) PM Mahinda Rajapaksa and his predecessor UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had a discussion with regard to Coronavirus crisis where the latter had said his party will support the government to resolve it. Sources close to Mr. Wickremesinghe said he had advised UNP MP (Dr.) Kavinda Jayawardene to work with the govt in getting face masks from India. Also Mr. Wickremesinghe discussed with the Indian High Commission officials in Sri Lanka more..

Jan 30 (EN) Central bank will extend the deadline for a loan moratorium and new credit program for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to Feb 10. Deputy Governor H.A. Karunaratne said the deadline was extended from Jan 31, and a fresh circular will be issued soon. He said SME loans make up 12-13% of the 8 trillion rupee total credit extended. The CB, following directions from the president and PM, is asking banks to extend a one year loan moratorium for both performing more..

Jan 30 (AD) The UNP’s Working Committee has decided to name Sajith Premadasa as the Leader of the UNP-led alliance and the Prime Ministerial candidate, MP Lakshman Kiriella said. Meanwhile former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe has been elected to continue as the Leader of the UNP, he said. Accordingly MP Sajith Premadasa will lead the election campaign of the UNP-led alliance at the upcoming General Election. more..

Jan 30 (AD) The bodies of a married couple have been discovered inside a business place in Nawinna, Maharagama, stated the Police Media Division. It is alleged that the deaths of the husband and the wife had occurred approximately 5 days ago, according to the Police. The police have discovered a body on a tip-off received through the police emergency hotline. Accordingly, the bodies have been found on the upper floor of a business place at Sri Devananda Road, Nawinna. more..

Jan 30 (EN) Manjula de Silva has been appointed as the Chief Executive and Secretary General of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, a statement said. The veteran accountant will succeed Dhara Wijayatilake, who is retiring, on Feb 1, a statement from the chamber said. De Silva currently serves as a director of the brush maker BPPL Holdings Plc and the John Keells Group subsidiary Tea Smallholder Factories Plc. He has previously served as the chairperson of National Insurance Trust more..

Jan 30 (AD) Attorney General has filed the amended indictments on the Avant-Garde floating armory case before the Permanent High Court-at-Bar. According to the Coordinating Officer to the AG, the AG has filed 882 indictment charges on the case. Further, the case has been set to be heard on the 10th of Feb. Previously, AG’s Dept had filed a case over the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition inside the M.V. Avant Garde more..

Jan 30 (EN) All commercial banks operating in Sri Lanka had complied with ceiling rates set by the central bank for a Dec 2019 within a week of the deadline, Deputy Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said. “All banks complied within a week,” Weerasinghe said. “As a result, we did not impose strict penalties.” He said publishing their names had prompted the banks to action. SL’s central bank slapped the controversial price controls both on deposits and lending rates raising concerns. more..

Jan 30 (Island) The new govt had put a mega development drive in motion and there would be no turning back without achieving its goal of making the country on par with developed nations, Colombo District Organizer of the Viyath Maga organisation and Colombo District Urban Development Organiser Anura Fernando said. Addressing a ceremony held at Kotahena on Monday where he declared open an operational office, Fernando said: "When the rest of the world was standing against us we won more..

Jan 30 (AD) Department of Communication of the Parliament today confirmed that the Central Bank has submitted the five complete Forensic Audit report on the CBSL Bond Issue along with annexures and exhibits to Parliament. It has been submitted on the request in writing by the Secretary General of Parliament to the Governor of the Central Bank Prof. W.D Lakshman as per the instruction given by the Speaker more..

Jan 30 (NR) The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Jean Asselborn will arrive in Sri Lanka today for bilateral discussions with Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. This is the first that a high level visit from Luxembourg to Sri Lanka is taking place since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1972. Asselborn is the Dean of the European Foreign Minister’s Corps, being the longest continuously serving Foreign Minister in Europe. more..

Jan 30 (NR) NewsRadio obtained a voice clip of a Sri Lankan student in Wuhan who said he faced immense difficulties in obtaining water, food and medicine. The student said all Lankan students in Wuhan are facing a crisis as the city has been sealed for nearly a week. The students have been instructed to remain in the university hostels. However the student noted an appropriate programme has not been implemented to provide them basic facilities. more..

Jan 30 (AD) Cabinet has approved a proposal to present a supplementary estimate of Rs 130 billion to the Parliament in order to pay back the arrears of the previous govt. Minister Bandula Gunawardena said that until today the Parliament, which has full authority over state finances, works and spends funds according to the Vote on Account. He said that the Treasury has no legal right bear a single cent more than more..

Jan 30 (Island) Some local communities in the Central Province, particularly areas close to Sri Pada Forest Reserve, were disturbed by the news of the existence of black leopard, a researcher said. The Department of Wildlife is taking all precautions to save the biggest cat here. Researcher Rajika Gamage said that a cheap chemical used as fertilizer -a kilo less than Rs. 1,000 was one of the major causes for leopard deaths. The animals were either poisoned or killed after being trapped. more..

Jan 30 (DM) Three persons including two females were arrested with 192 kgs of heroin, 10 pistols and 10 magazines, Police Spokesman SP Jaliya Senaratne said. He said two suspects were initially arrested with 15kgs of heroin by the Peliyagoda Special Investigation Unit Officers this morning on the Southern Expressway. Following the further questioning of the suspects, the Police recovered another 177 kgs of heroin, 10 pistols and 10 magazines from Bandaragama. more..

Jan 30 (TM) The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) is ready to help 94% of depositors of The Finance Company, if its licence is cancelled. CBSL added that no new investor had come forward to bail out the company. CBSL officials said that the CBSL was not in a position to pump fresh capital either. “The total number of depositors at ‘The Finance Company’ is 145,000 out of which 135, 000 have funds less than Rs. 600,000.” more..

Jan 30 (SLN) The Sri Lanka Navy apprehended 04 Indian nationals with a stock of gold being smuggled via sea, during a patrol conducted in the sea area off Kudiramalai on 29th January 2020. A naval craft patrolling in the sea area of Kudiramalai managed to find 41 gold biscuits being concealed , after inspecting a suspicious fishing dhow in the above sea area. Along with these gold biscuits weighing 04kg and 200g, 04 Indian nationals were also apprehended by the Navy. more..

Jan 30 (EN) The 43-year-old Chinese tourist infected with the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is recovering well and can be discharged from the IDH in the next few days. The Chinese woman who arrived in Sri Lanka from Hubei, China, was tested positive for the novel coronavirus, making her the first confirmed case reported from Sri Lanka. Around 16 patients were receiving treatment at IDH for probable novel coronavirus infection as of this morning. “We have yet to receive the tests more..

Jan 30 (AD) Kotagala Health Superintendent’s Office has informed the Sripada National College of Education to temporarily shut down the faculty due to an outbreak of viral fever. Accordingly, today, the Dean of the Faculty has been instructed to close off the College until the 5th of Feb. Reportedly, nearly 75 students of the College had received treatment for fever and respiratory illness from Kotagala Regional Hospital, more..

Jan 30 (EN) Sri Lanka should sign free trade deals with China and the Association of East Asian Nations to boost exports to Asia, newly appointed head of Export Development Board Prabhash Subasinghe said. Sri Lanka has been negotiating a free trade deal with China for several years, and efforts must be made to complete it, he said. The bulk of Sri Lanka’s exports were going to the West. “We should sign a trade agreement with ASEAN region to get duty free access to Asia,” more..

Jan 30 (TM) The govt today said that it is unable to pass on the benefit of international oil prices due to heavy losses faced by the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC). Minister Bandula Gunawardana today said that the CPC had incurred a loss of Rs. 12 b as a result of the govt’s decision to maintain fuel prices at the same rate. According Gunawardana, CPC suffers a loss of Rs.9 per litre of petrol, a loss of 12 per litre of diesel and a loss of Rs. 5 per litre of super diesel. more..

Jan 30 (CT) Details have been revealed with regard to an alleged racket, where SL women have been lured into the sex trade on the ruse of providing them with jobs in the Middle East, informed sources said. This racket had been carried out targeting young women and was being operated by several big time job agencies in the country. According to sources, when recruiting young women on tourist visas, they had been told more..

Jan 31 (CT) With the election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the President in Nov 2019, there seems to be much interest and talk on integrating merit and technocracy into the country’s political life and governance system. These discourses are manifested in the slogans of various lobby groups seeking to promote the election of newer, more educated and professionally qualified representatives to Parliament as well as in the various initiatives taken by the President to more..

Jan 31 (CT) Three things of significance transpired at a Central Bank of SL (CBSL) press conference chaired by CBSL Governor Professor (Emeritus) Dr. W.D. Lakshman, yesterday. Those were on growth, alleged Treasury (T) Bond and EPF scams and the presence of an IMF team in Colombo. On growth, CBSL Senior Deputy Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe who also participated said that though CBSL projected growth to accelerate to 4% this year from an 18-year low of 2.6% last year, more..

Jan 31 (Roar) Thursday (30): India confirms first case of novel coronavirus - detected in a student returned from Wuhan, China. The WHO has said, ‘the whole world needs to be on alert now. The whole world needs to take action and be ready for any cases that come from the epicentre or epicentres that are established’. Death toll from the new coronavirus has climbed to 170 from 132 — a rise of 29%, overnight. more..

Jan 31 (DN) The ruling SLPP and SLFP are now gearing themselves for a decisive general election campaign, casting aside their previous differences, even as the main opposition party, the UNP still finds itself in crisis, unable resolve its leadership issue. It will be recalled that in the run up to the Nov 2016 prez election, relations between the SLPP and the SLFP were not all that rosy. This was due to a variety of factors. It is no secret that former Prez Maithripala Sirisena harboured more..

Jan 31 (DN) Former Secretary General of Parliament in the 1980s – 90s, Nihal Seneviratne, recalls the drama and tragedy of the suspected JVP grenade attack inside Parliament on Aug 18, 1987 in which the late Minister Lalith Athulathmudali was injured but narrowly escaped death. President J.R. Jayewardene had only a few days before, on July 29, 1987, signed the very controversial Indo-SL Pact with PM Rajiv Gandhi of India. Most observers take the view that Jayewardene fighting more..

Jan 31 (CT) Recorded phone conversations - SL's most-discussed topic in the past few weeks! Even though the authenticity and source of these recordings remain uncorroborated, a number of these recordings are being circulated through social media platforms like wildfire without being subjected to any form of control whatsoever, and everyone is waiting eagerly for the next recording to surface. Although it is too early to discuss more..

Jan 31 (DM) Engaging in the media business in Sri Lanka is not an easy task given that there is often an aggressive govt to deal with and readers who at times wish to remain drifted away from the truth. All these reasons have made media personnel heroes at times and villains on other occasions when what’s reported contradicts the views of a good number of readers. Readers’ views or feedback is the most essential and can’t be ignored. But there had been occasions during the civil war when more..

Jan 31 (DM) The opposition desperately needs a thoughtful head, and it’s not going to get a thoughtful head with the mess it’s in right now. This leadership tussle was and is probably the worst the UNP has faced. But the stakes are too high. The people want Sajith Premadasa – or at least the populists in the UNP want him – and to reject calls to appoint him as not only the leader of the oppositional alliance but also the leader of the party that heads that alliance would be, in the long-term, futile. more..

Jan 31 (CT) I have just attended a never-to-be-missed function of the Seventieth Anniversary of the Republic Day of India, hosted by the Jaffna Consulate for India at Tilco Hotel on 26 Jan. 2020. It was great! What a Consul does is normally by the country which he represents as Consul. However, the programmes of the Consulate are proposed and driven by the Consul. On that caveat, I say that India’s Consul General, Shri S. Balachandran is owed a big thank you for bringing back more..

Jan 31 (FT) Leading global payments and technology services provider, Mastercard, bestowed Sri Lanka the honour of becoming the first market in South Asia to be added to its prestigious Priceless Cities program. Priceless Cities is a program exclusively available to Mastercard cardholders and provides customers access to unique unforgettable experiences to cardholders and their families. Priceless Cities program was first launched in New York City in 2011, and the privilege has only more..

Jan 31 (CI) A tenth Test fifty from Brendan Taylor, and handy contributions from Sean Williams and Sikandar Raza, had ballooned Zimbabwe's lead to 354 at stumps on a rain-interrupted fourth day in Harare. But despite the hosts dominating the day's proceedings, Sri Lanka will fancy their chances to save the Tests after bad light, followed by rain, brought forced an early close. The rain had earlier washed out more..