Jun 27 (AD) Twenty more patients, who had tested positive for the COVID-19, recovered from the disease today (27), says the Ministry of Health. The latest recoveries were reported from the Infectious Disease Hospital (01), Welikanda Base Hospital (04), Iranawila Hospital (06), Kattankudy Base Hospital (05), Hambantota District General Hospital (01), Theldeniya Base Hospital (02), Panagoda Army Hospital (01). This brings Sri Lanka’s recoveries count to 1,639. more..

Jun 27 (MoD) Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne reiterated that punitive actions would be initiated without delay against prison, law enforcement and other officials, who found abusing official powers vested through corrupt practices, abetting and collaborating with underworld criminals and drug traffickers. He said the law enforcement authorities had already taken all measures to identifying those more..

Jun 27 (AD) Assistant Superintendent of Negombo Prison has been interdicted until the completion of inquiries into the allegations of providing phones and other items to inmates, says the Department of Prisons. It was recently revealed that a suspect named ‘Austin’ remanded over the possession of 30 kg of narcotic drugs had used a refrigerator at the Negombo Prison while an Indian who also remanded over the 100 kg of narcotic drugs had used a microwave oven. more..

Jun 27 (EN) The UNP is demanding that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa tell the nation what his stance is on the Millennium Challenge Compact, the controversial agreement that the President’s party bitterly opposed during the last election. Former Deputy Minister Ruwan Wijewardene in a statement released today, said that without accusing the Opposition of wrongdoing the President should tell the people what he believes is the right course of action the country should take on this matter. more..

Jun 27 (AP) SL’s Telugu community, whose nomadic lifestyle has increasingly clashed with the modern world, is facing another threat that could hasten its decline: the COVID-19 pandemic. Members of the smallest ethnic community in the country who speak Telugu language of South Indian origin did not have permanent addresses until 1981, when the govt built them villages from where they traveled to make money by staging snake more..

Jun 27 (EN) Sri Lanka is starting a program to provide subsidized fertilizer for fruit and vegetable farmers through private distributors with shortages developing as cultivations begins in the current season, Minister Ramesh Pathirana said. “We accept that there was a shortage of fertilizers in the Maha season,” he told reporters in Colombo on June 25, “We discussed the reasons for that in the cabinet several times as well.” Pathirana said. It will not apply to paddy farming. more..

Jun 27 (DN) Prez Rajapaksa and PM Mahinda Rajapaksa congratulated Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson on her appointment as Group CEO of Hemas Holdings, becoming the first female CEO of a conglomerate in Sri Lanka. “It is important to have more women at all leadership levels in SL and this appt will surely inspire more women to reach new heights,” Prez Tweeted. “I wish you the best. May you inspire youngsters, particularly women to follow in your footsteps,” PM Tweeted. more..

Jun 27 (ST) Roads and Highways Ministry is bending backwards to award the elevated expressway from Athurugiriya to New Kelani Bridge via Rajagiriya to China Habour Engineering Company (CHEC), despite there being at least five other proposals on the cards. Talks between CHEC and handpicked Ministry officials continued even during the all-day curfews in the Colombo District, Ministry officials said, more..

Jun 27 (ORF) Sri Lanka will hold its Parliamentary election on 5 August. The efficient leadership of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was demonstrated in managing the recent Covid-19 pandemic crisis. It is a proven leadership which will be a significant factor to ensure a landslide victory in the upcoming election for the Rajapaksa front. There are two other factors which will determine a Rajapaksa victory. First, the fracturing of the main opposition party the UNP. more..

Jun 27 (AD) The inmates of Boossa Prison have called off their hunger strike today following a discussion held with the prison officers. Hunger strike was staged by several inmates at the Boossa Prison, including the two notorious drug dealer and organized criminal – Kanjipani Imran and Wele Suda. They had demanded the prison officers to extend the time period inmates are allowed outside their cells. The prison officers, during the discussion with the inmates last evening, more..

Jun 27 (DM) As a popular tourist attraction in the country, Mannar boasts of a rich cultural heritage dating back to the Portuguese, Dutch and British periods. Dotted with palmyra trees and a scenic stretch of the Northern coastal belt, it is a popular destination for nature lovers as well. During the flamingo season, the pink, red or orange feathered visitors frequent Mannar’s wetlands till the end of March. more..

Jun 27 (MoD) Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne awarded cash prizes and commendation certificates to four Police officers and a civilian today (25) for their excellent performance in line of duty. The cash prizes were awarded at a ceremony held at the Defence Ministry’s main auditorium this evening. Officer-In-Charge of the Thalawakele Police Station Chief Inspector (CI), Ruwan Fernando and Police Constable (PC) Selvaraj Kandaruban attached to the same more..

Jun 27 (NR) 19 COVID-19 patients have been identified in the country today. Accordingly, the total number of coronavirus cases confirmed in Sri Lanka has increased to 2,033. All 19 new cases have been identified as recent arrivals from Dhaka, Bangladesh. Accordingly, 743 persons who recently arrived from various countries have tested positive for COVID-19 in the country while 904 Navy personnel have also contracted the novel coronavirus in SL. more..

Jun 27 (CT) Several political Party candidates contesting the 5 August General Election have expressed their strong opposition to the Election Commission’s (EC) decision to prohibit the display of preferential numbers at political offices maintained by them. Sources said, during a meeting between EC officials and General Secretaries of Parties contesting the upcoming Poll, political Party representatives had expressed their more..

Jun 27 (NR) SL Police has issued new directives on wearing face masks in the country in a bid to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Accordingly, all individuals must wear a face mask in public. Police said any individuals who are found not wearing a mask a second time, will be directed to a quarantine centre for 14 days. First-time offenders will be issued a warning. Any persons found to be flouting health regulations in place will be dealt with according the Quarantine Ordinance. more..

Jun 27 (MS) The outgoing World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka, Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough speaks about the highlights of her four years in Colombo. She also shares her thoughts on the opportunities she sees for Sri Lanka and wishes the people of the country the very best as they contend with the impacts of the global pandemic. Q: What are the highlights of your four years in Sri Lanka? A: First, it's the Sri Lankan people and their resilience. more..

Jun 27 (AD) The budget will provide relief to the local film industry in view of the current economic situation in the country, PM Mahinda Rajapaksa has said. This was mentioned during a discussion held between the Premier and the film industry professionals at Temple Trees today, regarding the current issues endured in the film industry due to COVID-19 pandemic. It was noted that although the outbreak of more..

Jun 27 (CT) The National Bhikku Collective (NBC) has urged President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to create the necessary framework to prove to the United Nations (UN) that based on the recent statement attributed to former LTTE militant Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman, war crimes had been confirmed as having been committed by the LTTE. Karuna claimed that he had murdered close to 2,000-3,000 soldiers during the Elephant Pass battle. more..

Jun 27 (ST) Two President’s Counsel, Saliya Peiris and Kuvera de Zoysa, have declared their candidature for the Presidency of the Bar Association of SL (BASL) in 2021. Elections for the next office-bearers of the association of members of the country’s legal fraternity is expected to be held in February or March next year. Mr. Pieris, PC was Deputy President of the BASL from 2015-2017. Over a period of time he chaired several standing Committees of the Bar Association including more..

Jun 27 (ST) Several thousand operators of SL’s school transport services have been told they can only carry students according to the number of seats in a vehicle when schools reopen next month. This is part of guidelines given to them on Tuesday to help prevent overcrowding and to stem the highly infectious coronavirus from spreading. Students and drivers must wear face masks, and the vehicles must be disinfected more..

Jun 27 (DN) SL Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (SLEME) troops of the Army, adding a milestone to the annals of Army inventions, handed over the SLEME-produced 9 modernized Unibuffels (improved version of Unicorns), one recovery vehicle and three containers to the shippers for the use of Sri Lankan Combat Convoy troops serving United Nations Peacekeeping missions in Mali. Army Commander Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva after formal receipt of those vehicles and accessories more..

Jun 27 (NR) Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jasinghe says he has observed a lax attitude from the public towards health guidelines following the decline in coronavirus cases in the country. Speaking during a media briefing, Dr. Jasinghe said the public should continue to follow health guidelines especially with the government deciding to re-open the country to foreign visitors. He said since the 25 of April, no new cases of coronavirus were detected in the community. more..

Jun 27 (AD) Attorneys representing Rifkhan Bathiudeen have written to the PCoI probing the Easter Sunday attacks to allow his client to record a statement regarding the allegations levelled against him on mainstream media and news websites, says his brother, former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen. In a media release issued on Friday (26), said, “during a morning breakfast show which aired on Tuesday (23) on a TV channel, more..

June 28 (SO) With the General Election just one month away, political parties and candidates, of whom there are more than 7,000 in the fray, are ramping up their propaganda activities. They are no doubt constrained in reaching out to the voter by the health regulations imposed in the wake of the pandemic. However, these have been imposed on the instructions of the Director General of Health Services, who knows best. As Prez Rajapaksa tweeted last week, one cannot be complacent more..

June 28 (ST) The overworked, underpaid Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) have taken advantage of the limelight they find themselves in since the outbreak of COVID-19 to fight for their rights. Unlike those in many other vocations, they are not asking for pay hikes or objecting to private universities, rather they are lobbying to activate the Government to regularise the onerous assignment entrusted to them to combat the spread of the deadly virus. Without a Parliament to pass laws, more..

June 28 (CT) Recent drug-related arrests made by defence forces and the Police show that pharmaceutical drugs – normally prescribed by doctors for various illnesses – are being heavily abused by poly-drug users. The Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) confirmed that there are over 24,211 people in SL abusing pharmaceutical drugs, which can prove to be highly addictive. 6,590 trafficked Tramadol tablets were apprehended more..

June 28 (SO) Apparently there is a recipe for economic resurgence. When Small Business has been strangulated, when the labour class is prone and crawling under the weight of jobless numbers and when the whole world is collectively gasping for breath to save itself from Covid induced economic peril, the former Minister of Finance M. Samaraweera wants to strangle the suffocating hordes some more. He wants to smother them into oblivion — to Kingdom Come. more..

June 28 (CT) Even though SL’s economy has opened up, businesses are still recovering from the dual shock of the locally imposed curfew as well as the global fallback from the coronavirus. A vast majority of SL businesses are in need of support if they are to survive the next few months. The need of the hour is for liquidity support and enhanced access to credit. However, banks are finding this situation to be challenging. They need to be able to finance the loans that are being demanded, more..

June 28 (CT) One of the many good things about the COVID-19 pandemic was that Sri Lankans see and hear less mass political campaigns where lies and half-truths are uttered by politicians. A classic example was when V Muralitharan, former LTTE militant better known as Colonel Karuna Amman, confounded everyone by saying that in one night his group of militants had killed some 3,000 Govt troopes during Elephant Pass battle. more..

June 28 (Island) The hypothesis of this essay is that the current global recession, and the depression which will follow in the middle of the 2020s, arise from the nature of actually existing capitalism in the US and the West; COVID-19 was merely a catalyst. This capitalism, called hegemonic global finance-capital, is not the textbook capitalism of Smith, Ricardo, John Stuart Mill or the amended versions of Keynes and 20th Century economists. All that is called classical economics. more..

June 28 (ST) My dear Karuna, I am writing to you because everyone is talking about you these days after certain remarks you made, saying that you are even more dangerous than the coronavirus because you had killed between 2,000 to 3,000 soldiers in one night in Elephant Pass during the war more than a decade ago. Most people who heard that are horrified because it amounts to a confession of mass murder, but I also wondered whether you were just exaggerating or whether this could be true. more..

Jun 28 (Island) An issue that this writer has been highlighting in this newspaper from time to time for the past several years has now finally come home to roost and how! Today it has become a national issue affecting the candidates of all political parties in the country. This Parliamentary election will have to be fought strictly according to the rules laid down in the Parliamentary Elections Act of 1981. One cartoonist aptly portrayed the situation by depicting the present election as a situation where more..

Jun 28 (TM) Sri Lanka has lost over Rs. 100 billion in foreign exchange in 2020 even before the end of the first half of this year, due to foreign investors pulling out of the country’s govt securities and stocks. According to data, Sri Lanka reported a whopping net foreign outflow of Rs. 101.4 billion from 1 January up to the third week of June this year. Out of this Rs. 101.4 billion, Rs. 83 billion is net outflow from Treasury bills and bonds, as the Central Bank’s indicators revealed, more..

Jun 28 (CT) With his miscalculated boasting of killing 2000 to 3000 soldiers overnight during the war, has unsurprisingly stirred the masses in the country and put Karuna Amman in a politically as well as legally compromising position. In short, irrespective of the context or what led him to declare his atrocities after one-and-a-half decades of defecting from the LTTE, Karuna Amman is in hot water. Within a few hours of his claim, more..

Jun 28 (ST) When former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage claimed his Ministry had not approved the last-minute additions to the 2011 World Cup team to support his explosive charge of a fixed final, he was widely believed. A document in the possession of the Sunday Times proves he may be incorrect when he said no approval was granted. Following injury concerns to all-rounder Angelo Mathews and ace spinner Muttiah Muralidaran, the Aravinda de Silva-headed more..

Jun 28 (ST) The SL women’s cricket team was on its way to gaining the status of a feared side just like their male counterparts, but it looks as if their journey will slow down for some years. One of the reasons was the debatable overall performance of the team at the last ICC Twenty20 World Cup held in Australia, besides the retirement of seasoned campaigner Sashikala Siriwardena. The most worrying aspect is the constant change of the head coach, which is akin to the Sinhala proverb more..

Jun 28 (ST) Int'l organisations are expressing concern over the recent controversial remarks by Karuna (his nom de guerre) the LTTE’s onetime Eastern Commander who now goes by the name Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan. He is contesting the Digamadulla district as a candidate of the Akhila Ilankai Maha Sabha and is at the eye of a political storm after remarks that Tiger guerrillas massacred about 3,000 troops in Elephant Pass & more..

Jun 28 (ER) India’s neighborhood first policy was announced by the National Democratic Alliance which intensified India’s efforts of regional cooperation. PM Narendra Modi’s foreign policy is to engage with the international by revitalizing regional cooperation through SAARC, IORA and lately through sub-regionalism via BIMSTEC. Originally, the BIMSTEC was known to the world as BIST-EC when in 1997 Bangladesh, India, SL & Thailand joined to form an Economic Cooperation. more..

Jun 28 (TM) Concurrent to World Day Against Child Labour on 12 June, approval of the Cabinet was granted to amend the Shop and Office Employees Act, the Employment of Women, Young Persons, and Children Act, Minimum Wages (Indian Labour) Ordinance Amendment Act, the Factories Ordinance, and orders published in the Extraordinary Gazette dated 31 Oct 1958, in accordance with the provisions of the Employee Provident Fund Act, to increase minimum age more..