Jun 7 (TM) Department of Railways has incurred a loss of Rs. 47 billion over 25 years due to pending lease rent payments on the lands owned by the Department. Accordingly, a vast amount of land along with the railway line owned by the Dept had been leased out and some lands have been encroached by illegal occupants, an official said. Dept had not received payments for several such lands for over 25 years, and the due amount is now estimated at Rs. 47 billion. more..

Jun 7 (SLA) President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces with the concurrence of the Ministry of Defence and recommendations of the Chief of Defence Staff, Commander of the Army and the Head of the National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO), Lt Gen Shavendra Silva has promoted a total of 98 officers of the SL Army Volunteer Force (SLAVF) to their next ranks, Military Secretariat announced on Saturday. more..

Jun 7 (Island) Dismissing speculation that she is to be given the marching orders as Colombo’s Mayor, Mrs. Rosy Senanayake stood her ground last week saying nobody can remove me. "It is a diabolical lie", she insisted. "I am an elected representative of the people. Nobody can remove me as and when they want", she stressed. She said that under the law, she will cease to hold the Mayoralty only if she opts to resign or in case the budget of CMC more..

Jun 7 (TM) Election Commission (EC) member Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole pointed out that it was critical the necessary number of people take part in the trial run of the upcoming parliamentary election to be held by the EC today (7). “At least 1,000 people would have to take part for it to be a meaningful exercise,” said Prof. Hoole. EC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said that the mock election was to ascertain variables such as how long voters would take at a polling booth. more..

Jun 7 (TM) Around 40,000 Sri Lankans living overseas are expected to be repatriated. Chief Epidemiologist at the Ministry of Health Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said the process would be staggered. “I believe some 40,000-odd Sri Lankans are to be brought back in the coming months. However, they would not all be brought down at once due to the Covid-19 regulations,” he said. He stated that the Sri Lankans would be repatriated according to the quarantine capacity available in the country. more..

Jun 7 (ST) A feature that went unnoticed on May 21, near the Jumma Mosque in Maligawatte, was noteworthy. It was the 27th day of the holy month of Ramadan. As he did every year, a Muslim businessman was distributing Zakat or alms — one of five pillars of Islam, along with prayer, fasting, Hajj pilgrimage and belief in Allah and his messenger Prophet Mohamed. When word spread, large crowds gathered outside his gate. more..

Jun 8 (ST) As the US erupts in outrage at the killing of George Floyd, the question posed by multi-racial protestors on the streets is simple. Why are there two Americas, one for the whites who do not fear death, deprivation or insults when stopped by the police and another for communities of colour whose lived realities are entirely different? That same question is very relevant in the rest of the world. In Australia for example, demonstrators in Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane & Melbourne raise their more..

Jun 8 (CT) Whether the Supreme Court’s refusal to allow the seven fundamental rights applications to proceed to a full hearing will turn out to be a gift horse or a trojan horse for the government, has nothing to do with the ruling itself. It has everything to do with what the government chooses to do, or not do, in the unfolding aftermath of the ruling. For now, the govt appears to be taking the ruling in its stride. The President is busy launching one Task Force after another, more..

Jun 8 (ST) Former Prez Maithripala Sirisena’s claim that he placed 21,000 signatures on files to secure the extradition of fugitive former CB Governor Arjuna Mahendran from Singapore has raised many an eyebrow. Former Prez said he had to personally placed his signatures on the files prepared by the Attorney General’s Department, as the Singaporean authorities refused to accept the Presidential seal alone. more..

Jun 8 (CT) Hope springs eternal in the human breast; otherwise everyone has to throw in the towel and give up. However, we must have realism to deal with reality, by which I mean that we must look global reality in the eye and take its measure, or else we will be planning in the void and writing on water. Simply put, what transpires in the global economy will be the most important factor influencing what becomes of Sri Lanka and millions around the world. Covid-19 will go, maybe within a year more..

Jun 8 (CT) The highly irresponsible nature of a US Embassy diplomat was recently displayed at the BIA when he refused to undergo the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test on his arrival. The US diplomat was clearly refusing to comply with the quarantine process and preventive measures in place to control the contamination by COVID-19 in the Island by not adhering to the measures advised by the health authority of the country and endangering the lives of the citizens of Sri Lanka. more..

Jun 8 (CT) Within the last few weeks, a number of areas in Sri Lanka have fallen victim to a locust infestation that has harmed several cultivation lands. While authorities claim that the situation is being brought under control, the frequency at which these locusts are spreading from within the North Western Province to the Northern and Western Provinces makes these claims doubtful. During the month of January, a massive locust outbreak more..

June 8 (Island) Some historical records reveal that, during the colonial time, part of Colombo’s municipal waste was dumped in the Beira Lake for crocodiles to feed on, by way of garbage disposal. Today, Beira does not receive garbage as such, but some suburbs are stinking due to unsanitary landfills overflowing with raw waste. Garbage also pollutes Colombo’s seafront. Environmentalists and the police have been struggling to remove tons of plastic waste washed ashore, in Mount Lavinia, more..

Jun 8 (DM) Since May 29, the worst civil unrest in decades erupted in cities across the USA, sparked by anger at the death of a black American man killed by a white policeman in Minneapolis. George Floyd an Afro-American who was seated in his car, was suddenly pulled out the vehicle by four white policemen, handcuffed and thrown to the ground by an officer who knelt on his neck suffocating the man. Floyd kept pleading that he was finding it impossible to breathe, but the policeman kept kneeling more..

Jun 8 (ST) After a marathon ten day hearing into the Election Date case which had dominated public interest and had swept the COVID crisis to the backstreets of memory, Supreme Court on Tuesday ended the mounting speculation with a downright damper. They had seen enough of the trailer to decide the full movie would not be the stuff of Oscars, meriting their further viewing pleasure. A five-judge Supreme Court bench headed by CJ Jayantha Jayasuriya unanimously held more..

June 8 (ST) Sri Lanka Rugby’s (SLR) attempt to rush through a key constitutional amendment to give clubs direct voting rights ahead of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held in August has run into opposition from the Western Province Rugby Football Union (WPRFU) which represents seven of the eight ‘A’ division clubs. It is also not clear whether SLR could go ahead with the Special General Meeting (SGM) as planned on June 20 following a Sports Ministry directive on Thurs more..

June 8 (TM) Small and medium-scale rice mill owners have expressed their concerns over paddy purchasing prices and the controlled price of rice imposed by the Govt. They point out that it is impossible for them to sell rice at the Govt-stipulated price due to huge production costs they incur with the increase in paddy prices requested by large-scale rice mill owners. Speaking about the rice crisis, more..

June 8 (DM) The Daily Mirror front page story, titled, I placed signature 21,000 times to extradite Mahendran from Singapore: MS, it further stated, ‘how he placed his signature 21,000 times, over a period of three days, on documents compiled by the Attorney General in order to prepare for the extradition of the former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran from Singapore.’ It has raised many an eye brow, apart from its hilarious back-splash. The former Prez has said that more..

June 8 (Island) Dialog Axiata PLC, together with Huawei and Simsyn, has further extended its support for the education sector by way of teleconference solutions for schools across the country, selected by Ministry of Education. This is an extension of the Nenasa 1377 distance learning initiative launched in March 2020. Contrary to most of the online teaching solutions practised by schools due to the COVID-19 crisis, this distance learning solution is freely accessible across more..

June 8 (SO) President’s Counsel Ali Sabry said, the verdict of the Supreme Court (SC) on parliamentary elections and dissolution of Parliament is clear and, therefore, the Election Commission (EC) should complete the task by holding elections as soon as possible. “Four of the five judges except the Chief Justice, were part of the Bench which ruled the dissolution of Parliament in Dec 2018 by Prez Sirisena null and void,” more..

June 8 (Island) A fracas is currently taking place at the Foreign Ministry. It involves medical claims of Saroja Sirisena, current High Commissioner to the Court of St. James in the UK. Saroja Sirisena, a career Foreign Service Officer, assumed duties as Ambassador to Austria on July 1, 2019. She is known to suffer from a persistently serious eye condition. Within 5 weeks of assuming duties in Vienna, she requested and received approval from Foreign Secretary on Aug 8, 2019, more..

June 8 (Island) Shipwrecks shrouded in mystery, tragedy and at times romance, are a lasting reminder of human pathos lying in the deep ocean. As the Oceans Day falls on June 8, Technical Diving Specialist and underwater explorer, Dharshana Jayawardena shares with the Sunday Island another diving exploit of his in the Indian Ocean. The wrecks of the SS British Sergeant lying in the east coast of Kayankerni off Batticaloa and the SS British Loyalty in Addu Atoll in the Maldives explored by more..

June 8 (EN) Ex-finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera has warned that Sri Lanka needs a credible fiscal plan to avert an economic crisis. “We became closed, insular and uncompetitive,” he said. “For a while, the returns of past reforms still flowed. And when they were exhausted, we took on more and more debt to fuel a consumption and white-elephant construction boom. “Much of this debt was toxic dollar-denominated, more..

June 8 (Island) The members of the national cricket team who are undergoing a residential training camp under strict quarantine guidelines have intensified training leading up to the second week of their camp. Head Coach Mickey Arthur had picked the team's bowlers plus players recovering from injury and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne in the first set to begin training since lockdown. During the residential camp, the players stay at ShangriLa in Colombo and practice at CCC grounds more..

June 8 (EN) Sri Lanka’s tea prices continued ease lower across grades and elevations in the first auction in June, but May national sale average have hit record, helped by low grown teas, brokers said. Sri Lanka sold 6 million kilograms of Ceylon tea with 0.9 million kilograms of Ex-Estate tea and 2.6 million kilograms of Low Grown (Leafy/Tippy) teas at the first auction in June. At the previous auction on May 26 and 27 Sri Lanka sold 5.3 million kilograms of tea. more..

June 8 (TM) After several weeks of discussions, Central Bank last week granted a request by the banking sector to allow them to charge interest from lenders who are under the Covid-19 moratorium. The moratorium that was announced in March after the local spread of the coronavirus pandemic, had waived off interest rate payments, depriving interest income earned by banks, thereby leading to cash flow issues. more..

June 8 (EN) SL is planning price controls for construction sand after weight ceilings slammed on trucks drove up prices, the mining regulator said, in the latest in a spate of restrictions on economic activities. Using a mining law, Geological Survey and Mining Bureau had slammed a weight ceiling on trucks carrying sand limiting a load to 3 cubes. “The practice of fixing wooden slats to increase the capacity is also banned,” GSMB said. New economic controls had pushed up the cost more..

June 8 (CT) The Athletics Association has permitted more National athletes, along with their foreign coaches in some cases, to resume training at Torrington Stadium today. Apart from track and field athletes, a few other selected athletes from other sports such as Wushu and Weight lifting too will resume training today. Accordingly, Kenya's former head coach Dan Muchoki, who is currently in Sri Lanka, will resume training Youth Olympic Bronze medalist Parami Wasanthi Marisstella, more..

June 8 (FT) In an effort to boost confidence levels, Central Bank assured financial system remains resilient and insisted license cancellations of finance companies were done to protect the interests of depositors and should not be construed as sector-wide instability. CB Governor Prof. W.D. Lakshman said cancellation of The Finance Company license had allowed the monetary institution to resolve longstanding more..

June 8 (Island) Moving away from convention, Sampath Bank PLC successfully hosted its 34th Annual General Meeting on a virtual platform, in a bid to ensure the health and safety of its shareholders while also staying in line with national efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As such, the Bank’s AGM was livestreamed smoothly from its Head Office to shareholders without any disruptions, via the Zoom video communications app. This is yet another first from Sampath Bank which has more..

June 8 (KT) A classically correct batsman who named his autobiography Retired Hurt after the unfair treatment he received from the Sri Lankan selectors forced him to retire at the age of 33, Roshan Mahanama went on to become a successful ICC match referee, officiating in the first day and night Test match in history. And the former SL opening batsman spent an hour on Friday morning, baring his soul as he shared his cricketing experience with the students, parents and more..

June 8 (DM) UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe charged that serious problems have arisen regarding the govt's programme to control the spread of Covid-19 especially due to lack of testing. He said the govt has only conducted about 690 PCR tests a day since Feb 18, although he and his opposition have repeatedly called for the govt to increase the number of PCR tests to detect the Coronavirus. more..

June 8 (AD) As the country is gradually returning to normalcy, Archbishop of Colombo, His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith appealed to the govt to permit devotees to observe religious practices at places of worship under strict compliance to health guidelines and quarantine regulations. The Cardinal made this request during the Sunday Mass service held at the St. Mary’s Church in Negombo this morning (07). He said Catholic community supported the govt during the lockdown more..

June 8 (TM) Election Secretariat said the mock poll held yesterday to test the Covid-19 health guidelines for elections and its preparedness for the parliamentary poll, likely to be held between late July and mid-August, was successful. Director General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake said the main objective of the mock poll was to test whether the health guidelines were practical or not. “The mock poll lasted only two hours and it was a success, and health guidelines were practical more..

June 8 (FT) Following the successful containment of COVID-19, Sri Lanka Tourism said it is readying to welcome travellers from across the world, assuring further health safety measures from 1 August though new conditions apply. Apart from multiple PCR tests, all future tourists will be required to apply for visa online, pay a flat fee of $ 100 each (except nationals from countries where there is reciprocal fee-free visa) more..

June 8 (AD) Sri Lanka has detected 14 more positive cases of COVID-19 as of 10.30 pm today (07), says the Ministry of Health. Thereby, the number of confirmed coronavirus infections hiked to 1,835. Total of 21 infections were detected so far within the day – 02 returnees from London undergoing the quarantine procedure, another two from Qatar at Ampara quarantine centre (QC), 01 from Bangladesh at Rantambe QC and 16 from Kuwait (4 at Trinco QC, 12 at Minneriya QC). more..

June 8 (Island) Police yesterday claimed that the gunman responsible for the killing of Dehiwela-Mount Lavinia MC member, Ranjan de Silva, father of national cricketer Dhananjaya, in early 2018, had been killed in a shoot-out with law enforcers, in the Minuwangoda police area. Police said that the 50-year-old suspect lived at Ballapana, in the Divulapitiya area, after returning from abroad. Initial investigations have revealed that the suspect had used a passport under a fictitious name. more..

June 8 (FT) China yesterday confirmed that talks were ongoing towards offering debt relief to SL. A spokesman for the Embassy of China said the two countries are negotiating on relevant financial assistance for post-COVID-19 era. “The two Presidents discussed this during their recent telephone conversation,” he said, adding that yesterday’s announcement by China was part of the G20 special summit outcome. more..

June 8 (CT) The final decision on public transport will be taken after today's discussion with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. A Ministry of Passenger Transport Management communique, noted that the provision of public transport services, particularly on interstate routes, has to be carried out according to the statement issued by the President's Media Division last Friday (05). It said public transport services should be implemented between all districts except Colombo and Gampaha. more..