Jun 16 (PMD) “We cannot let the health crisis develop into an economic crisis. What we are facing is a global crisis. Central Bank and the Treasury are entrusted with the responsibility of formulating right monetary and fiscal policies that are instrumental in economic revival. Many tools have been introduced by the Central Banks in the countries around the world. We have not received such a positive response from our CB. more..

Jun 16 (AD) Ministry of Education says the final decision on the dates of A/L Exam will be taken following the recommencement of schools on the 06th of July. The decision will be arrived at after taking into account the suggestions and opinions of the students who are to face the exam this year, their teachers and principals, the Ministry said further. Accordingly, the dates for the exam will be announced during the second weekend of July. This was mentioned in a statement issued by more..

Jun 16 (NR) Eight individuals tested positive for the virus today. Among the eight are three Iranians who arrived in the island yesterday as part of the crew of technicians to engage in work on the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development project. The five others have been identified as Navy personnel who were housed at the Kandakadu quarantine centre. Coronavirus recoveries in SL increased to 1,371 after 29 persons who contracted the novel coronavirus were released from hospitals more..

Jun 16 (AD) Interpol has informed Sri Lanka that former Central Bank (CBSL) Governor Arjuna Mahendran, who is currently wanted over the Bond Scam, has changed his name. Accordingly, Mahendran has changed his name to Harjan Alexander. The Attorney General has informed this to the Special High Court, when the Bond Scam case was taken up before Justices Sampath Wijayakoon, Sampath Wijayaratne, more..

Jun 17 (CT) There is a prominent vacancy in Lanka’s political terrain; all previous occupants have absconded. The vacant lot is called liberal-democracy and its traditional occupants were called the UNP and the SLFP in a game of musical chairs. For a while it was usurped by a neoliberal authoritarian called JR and after 2012 though Ali Baba and his forty thieves occupied centre stage the state itself remained largely liberal-democratic. There was gentleman-liberal (Dudley), more..

Jun 17 (DM) Children are devastatingly honest and innocent though sometimes naughty. That is why we have been warned that if a serious physical or mental harm is caused to a child the guilty person should be thrown into the deepest ocean with a millstone tied around his neck. The story is told of how a child went with his parents to see an ailing relative nearby. At the child’s home, there were two bunches of king coconut and the father told the mother to keep the bigger bunch and more..

Jun 17 (MB) SL researchers have described the first ever species of jumping spiders from the genus Synagelides that are native to the Indian Ocean island, identifying not one but four of the arachnids. In a paper published in the journal Zootaxa, they name the new species Synagelides hortonensis, S. lakmalii, S. rosalindae and S. orlandoi — latter two named after the lovers in William Shakespeare’s popular comedy more..

Jun 17 (CT) I write with reference to the above matter. Initially I wish to make the following observations. 1. Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic, multi lingual, multi religious, multi-cultural pluralistic society. 2. SL comprises of Nine (9) province of which the Eastern Province is one. 3. Eastern Province has been a multi ethnic province though the majority has always been predominantly Tamil speaking. 4. In its composition the Task Force is Pan Sinhala. more..

Jun 17 (Island) Former CB Governor Arjuna Mahendran, who is wanted here to face trial over the Treasury bond scams, has changed his name and now goes as Harjan Alexander, in Singapore, according to Interpol. James Bond would have been a better name for him. One may recall that in 2015, the then PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, aggressively defending his friend, Mahendran, declared, in Parliament, that the Opposition MPs who were raising questions about the bond scams more..

Jun 17 (DM) Defence Secretary Maj. Gen (Retired) Kamal Gunaratne, in an interview, spelled out the mission of his office in containing COVID-19, the present status of the country and also responded to allegations regarding militarisation. Q: Govt has contained the spread of COVID-19 at community level. What is next? A: Now the Govt should be able to open up the country and its economy to outsiders. For the country to function, people should more..

Jun 17 (ST) Police action during the protests that took place near the US Embassy in Colombo where Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) members were to stage a demonstration in solidarity with the protests in the US, following the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police has caused an uproar on several fronts. The Police armed with a court order broke up the protests and unceremoniously bundled a number of protestors into Police Jeeps and took them into custody. more..

Jun 17 (ST) Trade and balance of payments outcome this year are critical for the country’s external financial stability. Although it is difficult to predict the balance of payments (BOP) outcome at the end of 2020, it is fairly certain the BOP deficit would increase from that of last year and make a dent in the foreign reserves. A balance of payments deficit of less than US$ 2 billion this year would be acceptable in the current global economic context. However, even with such a deficit the Govt more..

Jun 17 (DM) The lockdowns and barriers imposed in countries across the globe following the outbreak of COVID-19 have crippled economies. But COVID or no COVID, countries are now constrained to open up to give back to the people their livelihoods. Therefore, it is time govts geared themselves up to meet the challenges of the post-COVID-19 world. The disruptions brought about by COVID-19 call for fresh thinking on many things hitherto taken for granted. more..

Jun 17 (Island) Yellow spotted locust Aularches spp ((Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae) is a South Asian insect species, distributed across much of India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, the Malay Peninsula, Thailand, Union of Myanmar, and Java, and parts of Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal, and China. There are about 500 Species of grasshoppers belonging to this family. This locust has been detected in Kurunegala, Kegalle & Matara districts, but this insect is perhaps endemic to SL. more..

Jun 17 (FT) Junius Richard Jayewardene’s reign as Executive President which began in 1978 came to an end in 1988. Even at the tail-end of his tenure, the grandmaster of political chess did toy with the idea of contesting for a third term by amending the Constitution again. Fortunately, for all concerned, such an eventuality did not occur. JR was dissuaded from taking the extreme step of contesting a third time. He was 82 and more..

Jun 17 (Island) Finally, Supreme Court paved the way for parliamentary polls, on Aug 5, 2020. The ruling was given by a seven-judge-bench, on the afternoon of June 9 in respect of over half a dozen petitions filed, with a divided and beleaguered Elections Commission (EC) further highlighting its differences. The SC suspended the then Prez Sirisena’s gazette notification, calling nominations, from Nov 19 to 26. President Sirisena, in his first televised address to the nation, after more..

Jun 17 (TM) Govt is currently evaluating tenders it received for the planned global tourism promotional campaign with plans of launching a post-pandemic campaign within the next 3 months. Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation Secretary S. Hettiarachchi said that the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) is currently reviewing the bids, after which it will be submitted to the Cabinet-appointed Procurement Committee. “Once the TEC submits their recommendation to Procurement Committee, more..

Jun 17 (DN) SL’s first underwater museum was opened by Navy Commander Vice Admiral Piyal De Silva off the shores of Galle on April 5. This underwater museum was built off the Galle shores under the close supervision of the Navy Commander, upon a proposal by PM Mahinda Rajapaksa. The initial plan was to utilise unusable train compartments and construct an underwater museum. However, due to the lack of such more..

Jun 17 (DN) Football Federation of SL (FFSL) has appointed Head Coach and expert Amir Alagic as their new Technical Director (T.D) for the men’s National team. This was confirmed by President Anura de Silva on Tuesday. “We have confirmed the appointment of Amir Alagic as the Technical Director. We are confident he will guide us in the desired direction,” FFSL President said. Alagic is also the current Head Coach of the Men’s National team and is expected to commence work in his new more..

Jun 17 (DN) Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has already shown interest on hosting the Indian Premier league (IPL) tournament and is awaiting the response of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said Secretary of SLC Mohan de Silva. I saw media reports that Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar has proposed Sri Lanka to host this IPL which was postponed several times due to coronavirus epidemic all over the world. Anyway we have to await ICC decision about the possibility to more..

Jun 17 (ST) Despite winning 40 gold, 83 silver and 128 bronze medals, the tally of 251 medals comes at a colossal expenditure of nearly Rs 130 million and an equal amount of consequences according to the report compiled by South Asian Games (SAG) Review Committee. The 4-member SAG Review Committee, headed by Gregory de Silva, handed over the report to Minister Dullas Alahapperuma on Feb 27, but silence more..

Jun 17 (Island) One of the best female cricket scorers in SL, Poojani Liyanage passed away after meeting with an accident at Katupotha, Kurunegala, SL Cricket Scorers Association announced. She was 33. Colts Cricket Club women’s cricketer, Poojani took to cricket scoring in 2010 after resigning from the SL women’s cricket pool that year. She was among the pioneer women’s cricket scorers and in 2016 was awarded the Best Female Cricket Scorer prize at the colours awards ceremony more..

Jun 17 (TM) HCL Technologies (HCL), an Indian multinational information technology (IT) service and consulting company that is currently in the Forbes Global 2000 list, has become Sri Lanka’s first FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) since the COVID-19 outbreak in the country in March. According to the Corporate Vice President of HCL, Srimathi Shivashankar, the company is set to invest USD 10 million in the coming years as a capital expenditure, limiting its use towards IT equipment, more..

Jun 17 (FT) The SLFP on behalf of Sri Lanka Nidahas Podujana Sandanaya (SLNPS) invited all political parties and candidates to conduct campaigns free of plastic as it could lead to a new political culture that meets modern standards. SLFP General Secretary and former MP Dayasiri Jayasekara said that they had successfully introduced a new political culture through a plastic-free election campaign at the Prez Election. more..

Jun 17 (DN) Athletics Association of SL (AASL) will conduct a series of events to mark their Centenary Anniversary which falls on January 18, 2022. The AASL was formed on Jan 18, 1922 as the Amateur Athletic Association of Ceylon. “I have already appointed a committee to organise the Centenary event on a grand scale,” Major Gen (Retired) Palitha Fernando said. “I hope to step down as President of the AASL after this event but I will never give up my passion for athletics,” he said. more..

Jun 17 (FT) Pan Asia Bank has become the proud recipient of a $ 7.75 million (approximately Rs. 1.5 billion) Green Bond launched by the Switzerland-based Symbiotics, the leading market access platform for impact investing. This is the first green bond issuance by Symbiotics and Pan Asia Bank with the intention of deploying the funds for green financing for its clientele. The Green Bond proceeds are in the form of a four-year, senior unsecured, local currency loan to Pan Asia Bank, and more..

Jun 17 (Island) All the materials needed to process and produce urea nitrate, a fertilizer-based high explosive used in the Easter Sunday attacks, had been found at the Jihadist training camp at Wanathawilluwa raided by the CID in Jan 2019, PCoI was informed yesterday. Retired Govt Analyst A. Waliyange described how urea nitrate was produced, and the AG’s Dept representative leading the evidence, pointed out that more..

Jun 17 (Island) For the 12th consecutive year Bank of Ceylon has emerged as the No.1 Banking Brand in the country, says Brand Finance Lanka in its 12th publication of The Brand Annual published by Media Services (Pvt) Limited. Being the Banker’s to the Nation in its true essence BOC derives its sustainable growth from incorporating its vision together with the socio-economic growth objectives of Sri Lanka. It has again and again proved itself to be worthy of calling itself the No.1 Bank more..

Jun 17 (EN) Central Bank said it will issue more new money to banks at 1.0 percent to give loans under credit schemes which will take the total up to 150 billion rupees, while also cutting a reserve ratio releasing another 115 billion rupees to the credit system. The CB said 27.5 billion rupees had already been given by banks from a 50 billion rupee re-finance facility introduced earlier. More funding will be provided to banks against a broad spectrum of collateral, on the condition that LCBs more..

Jun 17 (Hindu) Forced to shift to online platforms due to the coronavirus pandemic, SL educators fear that the uneven access to gadgets and internet connection among students might bring new divides in the country’s free education system. Ever since SL reported its first local case of COVID-19 on March 10, public health authorities have been on high alert. With frontline health workers and military leading the fight more..

Jun 17 (DM) All high profile criminals detained in prisons would be identified and sent to the Boossa Prison and several such prisoners have already been transferred to Boossa, Defence Secretary Kamal Gunaratna said. High-tech equipment had been installed at the Boossa Prison to prevent any prisoner from using mobile phones to communicate with outsiders. He said underworld criminal activities, organized crimes, drug trafficking as well as extortion rackets were operated from more..

Jun 17 (AD) Ministry of Defence says the officers of SL Police, including the STF, who have currently received orders of vacation of post, will be reinstated. The Defence Ministry said the Cabinet of Ministers had granted its approval to this on the February 19 this year, with the intention of further strengthening the process of ensuring law and order of the country. The reinstatement process is being carried out taking into account the appeals made by these police officers. more..

Jun 17 (EN) Sri Lanka has cut the statutory reserve ratio (SRR) reducing the share of deposits that banks have keep in the central bank to 2% from 4%, releasing 115 billion rupees into the credit system. The liquidity injection came hours after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa summoned Governor W D Lakshman and top officials to his office to give them a dressing down for not expanding a Zimbabwe style quasi-fiscal more..

Jun 17 (TM) Alan Gemmell OBE has been appointed as the new UK Trade Commissioner for South Asia to bolster trade and investment relations with the UK’s economic partners in the region, including Sri Lanka. He is based in Mumbai and will be a frequent visitor to Sri Lanka. Mr Gemmell is the former CEO of the Commonwealth Enterprise; Investment Council, and former Director of the British Council in India. British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Sarah Hulton OBE said, more..

Jun 17 (Island) Head of the Catholic Church Pope Francis has appointed Monsignor Brian Udaigwe, Titular Archbishop of Suelli as the new Apostolic Nuncio to the Apostolic Nunciature in Sri Lanka. Monsignor Udaigwe succeeds Archbishop Pierre Nguyen Van Tot, Apostolic Nuncio, who completed his term as the Ambassador of the Vatican to Sri Lanka, Catholic National Office for Social Communication said on Monday. The following is the text of the statement: more..

Jun 17 (Island) Zahran Hashim, mastermind behind the Easter Sunday attacks met one of the senior registrars at the Colombo National Hospital, who advised that his brother Rilwan should be admitted to hospital, due to injuries from an explosive device at the latter’s apartment in Colombo in Dec 2018. Senior registrar is a doctor undergoing specialist training. At the request of the Commission we are withholding the name more..

Jun 17 (TM) Govt Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) said they have begun a protest against the Government’s failure to pay certain allowances of employees engaged in health services. GMOA Assistant Secretary Dr. Naveen Soyza said that the Extra Duty Allowance for doctors has not been paid. “The Extra Duty Allowance is part of the monthly salary and that has not been paid. We have taken action by tying black bands on our arms as a sign of protest against the injustice,” he said. more..

Jun 17 (DM) Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said yesterday he was trying his best to keep the costs for the August 5 general election below Rs.10 billion amid the challenges posed by COVID-19. He told Daily Mirror that initially the general election was estimated to cost Rs.7 to Rs.7.5 billion but it had now shot up to Rs.9.5 billion to Rs.10 billion. "The Commission is trying to minimize the costs as much as possible and doing our best to keep it below Rs.10 billion. more..

Jun 17 (CT) Two top officials of the Central Bank were questioned extensively by the CID last evening, on the misappropriation of funds and the collapse of Edirisinghe Trust Investments Finance Ltd. Senior Deputy Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe and Deputy Governor H.A. Karunaratne were called in to be questioned on the matter. They were also being questioned by the CID until late night as to why CBSL had failed more..