Jul 14 (DN) Rumours being spread that Covid-19 infected persons of the Kandakadu cluster have been reported from various parts of the island are baseless, Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe said. He said that if an infected person is actually reported from anywhere in the country, it will be announced by the authorities without any delay. Dr. Jasinghe was speaking to the media at the NOCPCO. more..

Jul 14 (FT) In terms of the issues at stake, the 5 August General Election poses the same challenges as the Presidential Election of November 2019 and more. Not necessarily because of the intervening hiatus of the coronavirus either. Nov 2019 was about electing someone who in the widest public perception would get a job done in sharp contrast to the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe regime that preceded it and also the front person for the Jathika Chinthanaya based ideology of more..

Jul 14 (DN) Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Kandy District candidate Lakshman Kiriella says that the govt should make it clear as to why the SLPP ruling party has temporarily suspended all election rallies. He said that the govt owes the people of this country a clarification over their decision. He questioned if their decision was taken in light of a second wave of the virus or if the govt was now having second thoughts over the holding of the General Election. Kiriella made these statements more..

Jul 14 (FT) The 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (hereinafter referred to as the 19th Amendment) has given rise to a lot of controversies which led to the calls for its abrogation even from the founders of this amendment, especially from former Prez Maithripala Sirisena whose main election promise was to adopt the 19th Amendment within 100 days should he become the president of SL during the Presidential Election held in 2015. more..

Jul 14 (AD) A group of nearly 285 Sri Lankans, who were stranded in Jordan following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, have been repatriated to the island. They were brought back from Amman – the capital of Jordan – in a flight belonging to the national carrier SriLankan Airlines. The flight, UL-1506, touched down at the BIA at around 4.00 am this morning. These returnees, who were employed in Jordan, have been directed to PCR testing, upon their arrival at the airport. more..

Jul 14 (AD) SL has confirmed a total of 2,646 positive cases of COVID-19 as of last night following the detection of 29 fresh cases. The new cluster that sprung from Kandakadu has thus far identified a total of 519 new coronavirus patients after an inmate who was transferred to the Welikada Prison from Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre – East in Kandakadu tested positive. 440 of these infections are inmates of the rehabilitation more..

Jul 14 (AD) Commercial Bank of Ceylon recently provided the 135-year old Sri Nagarukkarama Temple in Kotikawatte, Angoda with water and sanitation facilities. Following a request from the custodian of the temple, the Bank constructed a 50-foot water tank storage tower with the capacity to hold 20,000 litres of water and accommodate four washrooms. The donation will benefit worshippers and students who frequent the temple which has hitherto received water supply only at nights, more..

Jul 14 (Island) The JVP, flayed the govt and the police for not probing its complaint against former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamge, who it said had made false allegations as regards 2011 World Cup final. JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said: "Minister Aluthgamage levelled a very serious allegation. There was an investigation and his claim was found to be baseless. However, as per the provisions of the Sports Act the former Minister has committed serious offences by more..

Jul 14 (AD) Tipper truck, which knocked down and killed a police officer and injured two others, has been found. It was discovered by the police abandoned at a compound of a house in Kattakaduwa, Hungama. The driver of the said tipper truck ran over the police officers at Kongama checkpoint last night, killing a Constable and two Sergeants on duty. At around 11 pm, the police officers on vehicle inspection duty in Kirinda more..

Jul 14 (EN) SL’s Opposition is heaping the blame on the govt for the apparent second wave of COVID 19 cases saying wrong moves by the state has allowed the pandemic to spread. Former Minister Rajitha Senaratne, an opposition SJB candidate told reporters today COVID-19 entered the country because the government kept inviting tourists in. Speaking this morning, he said that it is hard for any virus to enter Sri Lanka as there is only one way of getting inside the country which the airport. more..

Jul 14 (Island) Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Sri Lanka (AHK SL) and Würth Lanka signed an agreement last week to train 100 local craftsmen and award them with German standards certification, upon successful completion of the training programme. Chief Delegate of German Industry and Commerce in SL Andreas Hergenroether and Country Manager of Würth Lanka Rohan Amirthiah signed the agreement in the presence of Ambassador of Germany more..

Jul 14 (DN) Making a significant progress from its preceding ranking, in the 2020 UN E-Govt Development Index (EGDI), Sri Lanka has advanced its position to the 85th from 94th in 2018. While this wasn’t the highest position Sri Lanka has achieved over the twenty years of survey period, it can be seen a substantial advancement as country position has been sliding over the last few years. In sub components, Sri Lanka has achieved more..

Jul 14 (DM) Aitken Spence Hotels is gearing to reopen its hotel properties, offering guests to experience unique hospitality and exemplary cuisine. Resuming operations after the lockdown hiatus, the hotel chain, known for its iconic properties and celebrated cuisine, is set to open its doors to guests to enjoy a hassle-free holiday, assured of heightened safety and health precautions. Company’s premier brand Heritance will open its popular resorts, more..

Jul 14 (DM) PM Mahinda Rajapaksa is expected to assume the role of SLFP after the general election in the wake of the current SLFP leader, former prez Maithripala Sirisena being expected to step down from the post after the polls, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said today. He told party supporters at pocket meeting at Angunakolapelessa that PM Rajapaksa was the undisputed and most suitable politician to be reappointed to the post of SLFP leader to revive it into a strong political party. more..

Jul 14 (CT) Members of the PCoI probing the bombings on Easter Sunday, visited the Eastern Province on 10 and 11 July and in particular a number of places connected to the bombings. They visited the house in Sainthamaruthu where Rilwan Hashim, brother of the National Thawheed Jamath (NTJ) Leader Zaharan Hashim, his father and some other persons had exploded a bomb on 26 April 2019. On that day, the security forces more..

Jul 14 (Island) Excise Department has contributed more than Rs. 80 million to the state coffers by way of fines from their raids on illicit liquor and narcotic dens during the last six months. It was in addition to the value of items and equipment (Rs. 100 million) sized during raids, Deputy Excise Commissioner Kapila Kumarasinghe has said, adding that the Excise Dept officials carried out 20,682 successful raids from Jan 1 to June 30 this year countrywide. They nabbed 20,625 suspects during those more..

Jul 14 (DM) Mobitel Office at the W.A.D Ramanayake Mawatha has been closed after a person, who had contacts with a Covid-19 patient had visited the office, its Management said. "As suspicion arose of a person who has associated with another person who in turn had exposure to a COVID 19 patient (third circle) had visited the Mobitel Office at W.A.D Ramanayake Mawatha branch, Colombo 2, the Mobitel has temporarily closed the branch for complete disinfection more..

Jul 14 (EN) State-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation lost 45.1 billion rupees in the four months to April 2020, as the rupee collapsed and triggering losses on its unhedged dollar loans, official data showed. Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (Ceypetco) lost had lost 11.8 billion rupees in 2019 as the rupee remained stable after a collapse in 2018. In 2018 the CPC lost 106 billion rupees including an Rs. 80b loss from forex losses. more..

Jul 14 (AD) The driver of the tipper truck which knocked down and killed a police constable and injured two others has been arrested. The arrest has been made at Hungama earlier today (14), said Police Media Spokesman SSP Jaliya Senaratne. Previously today, the tipper truck in question was found abandoned at a compound of a house in Kattakaduwa, Hungama. A tipper truck ran over the police officers at Kongama checkpoint last night, killing a Constable and 2 Sergeants on duty. more..

Jul 14 (Island) The Supreme Court yesterday fixed for November 3, the hearing of the fundamental rights violation petition filed against the Sri Lanka- Singapore Free Trade Agreement entered into during the time of Prez Sirisena. Among the petitioners are the GMOA, Mawbima Lanka, which is a Civil Rights Society, Bar Association of SL, and several others. The petitioners have complained that the trade agreement is more favourable to Singapore than Sri Lanka. more..

Jul 14 (AD) Postal voting of the General Election 2020 is continuing for the second consecutive day today. The process kicked off on Monday (13) with the staff members at the offices of Medical Officers of Health (MOH) casting their absentee votes from 9 am to 4 pm. The election monitoring organization, PAFFREL said the postal voting was in general carried out peacefully. Marking postal votes for the General Election 2020 more..

Jul 14 (EN) Police are investigating whether the prisoner who fell to his death from the 8th floor of the Negombo hospital committed suicide. The 36-year-old man from North Kaduruwana who was imprisoned over drug charges is being described as a heroin addict and was admitted to Negombo hospital on Sunday for a PCR test. The man had shown symptoms of COVID 19. Police said that they are awaiting the post-mortem report to know the exact cause of death and find out whether more..

Jul 14 (PMD) Prez Rajapaksa says that the heads of both govt and private entities are accountable for adhering to health guidelines in their organizations in the wake of current spike in COVID 19 cases. COVID 19 virus is prone to spread among groups until adequate and satisfactory containment. Kandakadu Rehabilitation Center is an unfortunate example. Therefore the President emphasizes the necessity of continuing easily accessible tests related to clusters of people immediately. more..

Jul 14 (PMD) Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa has declared 2021-2030 the Decade of Skills Development in Sri Lanka. The move is expected to herald a transformational phase of educational reform and skills development for the nation in line with the govt’s national policy framework, Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour. The Decade of Skills Development builds on the success of Sri Lanka spearheading the adoption of World Youth more..

Jul 14 (Island) GMOA Secretary Dr. Senal Fernando yesterday urged health authorities to do extensive contact tracing, using both MOH network and military intelligence, to prevent a Second Wave of COVID-19. In a letter addressed to Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Fernando said that the outbreak of COVID-19 cases at Kandakadu Rehabilitation and Treatment Centre has created a severe risk of a second wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Sri Lanka. more..

Jul 14 (NR) 16 new COVID-19 patients have been identified in the country thus far today. Number of infections in the country accordingly increases to 2,662. Among today’s coronavirus cases are four inmates at the Senapura Rehabilitation Centre, four returnees from Oman and eight persons who associated infected individuals from the Kandakadu Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre. Meanwhile seven more persons infected by the coronavirus recovered & were discharged from hospitals, more..

Jul 14 (PMD) Prez Rajapaksa assured that the challenge of protecting the people until the COVID-19 pandemic is eradicated from the world will be met by controlling the risk of spread of the virus from time to time within the country. Prez recalled that with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a responsible govt decisive measures were taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus well before many countries more..

Jul 15 (CT) Tariff structure used by the CEB for several years is plain stupid. The design folks must be afflicted with brain fever. I have complained often about invalid principles but neither Chairman, nor Board, nor GM, nor the dozens of DGMs have a clue. Now thanks to corona they are all up shit-creek and a Committee of Inquiry is looking into how the CEB shat on its own doorstep. Don’t worry, nothing will come of it, like every other Task Force. First, before giving you a real-world example more..

Jul 15 (CT) So much has been written on this subject that it is near impossible to add anything that has not already been said. But just to relieve boredom of compulsory confinement by curfew, face masks and guys looking like visitors from other planets, the severity of the prospects are no joke and genuinely forbidding. The health, economic chaos and disruption of freedoms are horrifying. A little introspection is permissible. There is immense improvement in public understanding of more..

Jul 15 (DM) Dr. Ajantha Perera was the first female candidate to contest from a socialist party at the 2019 Prez Election. But this time, she will be contesting the Election under the UNP ticket from Colombo District. If she wins, she pledges to put Colombo in order, both economically and environmentally. Q: You contested the Prez Elections from a socialist party and you even said that the Yahapalana govt which UNP leader more..

Jul 15 (DM) Since Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected as the President in Nov 2019, we often hear most of the Ministers giving credit to the Prez for whatever the new project they start. They say it was initiated with the blessings, or under the instructions of the Prez. These could be matters relating to road development, the environment, the wildlife, economic policy or even cultural and religious activities. Even after parliament was dissolved and parties are campaigning for General elections more..

Jul 15 (Island) One would, normally, open a recital of one’s thoughts on a subject such as that above, by drawing on the well-entrenched fib: a diplomat is one who is sent abroad to lie for his (sic) country. In the present instance one would note that the Ambassador for the USA here, Alaina Teplitz, is a career Foreign Service officer and presumably well-versed in fabricating and delivering lies with a straight face or, as required, with a smile. The use of the frown, though not outlawed, more..

Jul 15 (DM) SJB Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara, in an interview, speaks about the strategy to take control of the UNP and defends his leader Sajith Premadasa’s promise to give Rs.20,000 to people after the elections. He explains as to why SJB was formed. Q: How is your campaigning for the parliamentary elections? A: We carry out a vigorous, organized election campaign. We contest in all 22 electoral districts. more..

Jul 15 (CT) We have it authoritatively from the Health Services Director General Dr. Anil Jasinghe that Suduwella Cluster, wrongly defined as being Wave 2 of the COVID attacks, is a cluster that can be controlled. That assurance from the nation’s top man in health should be acknowledged for what it really is in hard terms of the many attacks on the country’s economy emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. After a lapse of five months we’re nearly a full month into the nation’s revival drive more..

Jul 15 (CT) Unlike anticipated/expected, it is anybody’s guess if the TNA will be able to get 20 seats in the 5 August parliamentary polls, as claimed by octogenarian party boss, R. Sampanthan. There again, the anti-TNA forces are divided among themselves, as two main parties and some fielding candidates as Independent Groups in the North and the East. But unlike in the past, the criticism against the TNA are more valid than in the past, and so are the creeping internal differences within more..

Jul 15 (DM) This was the request that election officials from Kandy received, repeatedly, from a candidate. He is contesting from a new party. But that is not the reason why he wanted the intervention of the election officials. His name has been linked to the riots that engulfed the Central Province in 2018. He even spent some time in remand custody. His Facebook profiles have been blocked by the platform ever since. He told the election officials that his name had been more..

Jul 15 (Island) The Kandakadu Covid-19 cluster continues to expand, and more than 500 infections have already been detected. Cluster tracing is underway, and one can only hope that the virus has not spread to other parts of the country through visitors to the Kandakadu drug rehabilitation centre. If only those who run the facility had taken precautions. The govt and the health authorities have ruled out the possibility of a second wave of Covid-19 due to the Kandakadu cluster. more..

Jul 15 (DM) The normalization of violence in SL is a deep seated social problem, says Ambika Satkunanathan, who is a lawyer and human rights advocate on the TNA National List for the upcoming parliamentary polls. A former member of the Human Rights Commission of SL (HRCSL) and chairperson of the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust, Satkunanathan has campaigned for gender equality, social justice and peace. more..