Mar 7 (DM) Govt moves to liberalise higher education through setting up free education zones and charter universities have sparked concern among academics who fear State universities could succumb to market demands and harm free education overall. Concerned by these free-market trends, uni academics of Forum for Free Education recently held a panel discussion at the Colombo Uni to review the govt’s new higher education policies based on the contents of 3 Cabinet papers more..

Mar 7 (CT) Who made thee a judge over us? makes discerning Sri Lankans rethink and wonder as to how to ensure that the judges appointed are truly impartial and independent, going beyond maintaining the outlook or the outer decorum and dignity of the judiciary and the justice system at large. Corrupt Court of Appeal President Justice Abdul Hameed Dileep Nawaz who was promoted recently by Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa is heading for a roller-coaster judicial career with Rajapaksa more..

Mar 7 (Island) We are surrounded by the Covid-19 coronavirus, surrounded not really and truly (thank goodness and the Lord and the gods too!) but surrounded by announcements and news over TV and radio. Cass shuns social media so she does not know whether the virus or news about it is tweeted and Face-booked and all that. But switch on any TV station - all local channels except the religious; BBC, CNN and others and they are on about this pestilence virus. more..

Mar 7 (Island) What has the UAE to do with the electoral politics in SL? Does Dubai, that is part of the UAE, have any special places of religious worship and miracle response, that is of special interest to politicians, like the Hindu shrines in India? These questions come with the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s sudden visit to Dubai, just as the polls campaign here gets under way with the dissolution of parliament. more..

Mar 7 (ST) Greenpath (Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha) was a sea of colour last Sunday as the 27th edition of Kala Pola took place attracting art lovers all day long. From veteran artists who have been using this open art fair as a platform to exhibit their skills to new young talents showcasing their works, Kala Pola continues to be one of the most anticipated cultural events of the year. Art has an uncanny ability to bring out people’s innermost thoughts, feelings and expressions — more..

Mar 7 (ST) When the finals of the Southeast Asian Mathematical Olympiad (SEAMO) was held in Australia on January 18, this year, 11-year-old Praveen Athauda-arachchi was ranked 1st while his younger brother, Pavan, just eight years old was ranked 23rd globally in their respective age-groups (10-11 and 8-9 ) at the competition. The first round was held in Sri Lanka and both brothers secured 1st place in the island among 500 candidates. Praveen managed to secure the same place more..

Mar 7 (CI) Sri Lanka limped their way to 155 for 6 on a good track in Pallekele, as West Indies put in a strong collective bowling effort. The target was no match for West Indies' batting might, as the visitors flew at over 10 an over in the Powerplay, before the middle order kept the score ticking, and Andre Russell then finished the game in a hail of sixes. They needed only 17 overs to complete the chase; complete 2-0 whitewash more..

Mar 7 (Island) Nalanda fans have been yearning a Battle of the Maroons victory for more than six decades now. Today when the team skippered by Avishka Perera take the field to meet their arch rivals Ananda at the 91st edition, Nalanda fans have reasons to believe that history could be made at the SSC ground. The team inclusive of Sri Lanka Under-19 players have just concluded one of their best first-round performances. Their only blemish this season was at the hands of Trinity. more..

Mar 7 (DN) The opening day of the 86th Battle of the Saints Josephian-Peterite big match, starred a mix of appalling run-outs, butter-fingered fielding and a delightful 100 not out from Dineth Jayakody, propelling them to the driver’s seat at stumps at the P. Sara Oval yesterday. In fact, the Jayakody-Sadeesh Jayawardena duo, sharing a record 148-run stand for the fifth-wicket, paused the procession and firmly anchored their innings. The latter, seizing the opportunity, notched his maiden more..

Mar 7 (CT) Former State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vasantha Senanayake alleged during the previous regime, the US Embassy in Colombo was consulted on many matters related to Sri Lanka. Adding the Turkish Govt had on several occasions, warned about some people being involved in the Gulen Movement referred to as the FETO organisation, a terrorist organization operating in Turkey, were in Sri Lanka, more..

Mar 7 (FT) For the fifth consecutive year, IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, partnered with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) yesterday to ring the opening bell for trading in celebration of International Women’s Day 2020. An annual global gender initiative, Ring the Bell encourages the private sector to expand opportunities for women as leaders, employees, entrepreneurs, and consumers to promote sustainable development. While progress has been achieved in educational more..

Mar 7 (FT) National Peace Council (NPC) yesterday called on the Government to encourage provincial bodies to allow non-governmental organisations to continue conducting soft skills programs as they are an essential element of services provided to communities. A set of guidelines issued by the Mullaitivu District Secretariat to all NGOs working in the district has notified them that their work should be focused on infrastructure development and not on soft skills training. more..

Mar 7 (Island) Fitting the purpose of his talk to the audience and the occasion, Lakshman Bandaranayake, judge at SLT ZERO One Awards said Wednesday that businesses and the public sector today have an immeasurable amount of data, and therefore, Sri Lanka's digital entrepreneurs should seek ways to use it to benefit the people and processes, going beyond legacy IT products. more..

Mar 7 (ST) Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) has reconfirmed that Anchor Full Cream Milk Powder meets all SL standards of quality and safety for full cream milk powder, following an extensive surveillance audit conducted in New Zealand in order to inspect the breadth of the manufacturing process. Key findings by the SLSI team concluded that Fonterra NZ, the dairy co-operative behind Anchor, has taken every possible measure to ensure that products exported to Sri Lanka more..

Mar 7 (EN) Sri Lanka is expecting to lose 500 million US dollars of apparel exports from March to June 2020, as an outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID19) has hit input producing countries in East Asia and buyers in Europe and the US, an industry official said. But there are hopes that softer demand from buyers would be temporary, while Chinese production is also re-starting. “Sri Lanka has exported roughly 1.725 billion US dollars in March to June 2019, 30 percent of that is the hit,” said Tuley Cooray, more..

Mar 7 (DM) Security in North and East has been tightened since last Thursday following the arrest of six prominent former LTTE cadres on charges of planning to assassinate a prominent Tamil politician in the North, informed sources said. They said earlier this week, Military intelligence and Terrorist Investigations Dept jointly raided a safe house in the North and found some latest communication equipment and more..

Mar 7 (ST) To overcome problems caused by the shortage of police personnel, the Govt is likely to waive off disciplinary action against police personnel who have committed minor offences and bring back as many as 6,000 to the service. Minister Bandula Gunawardena said the decision had been taken in view of the shortage of policemen for various duties, including traffic control. Those facing disciplinary action will be called before a committee appointed by the IGP and offence committed would be more..

Mar 7 (CT) Women in Sri Lanka form the bedrock of the nation, reaching the helm of many industries that used to be male-dominant in the past. Studies done revealed that women are under-represented in the economic domain. Women's participation in the labour force is as low as 35% in the total official labour force. Out of the total employed population only 34% are females. It was also revealed that women do not have the same level of access to formal finance as men do. more..

Mar 7 (EN) Barely six months after a decisive presidential election, the people of Sri Lanka will go to the polls once again on April 25 to elect their representatives, this time to the ninth parliament since the advent of President J R Jayawardena’s 1978 constitution. Though Sri Lanka is often touted as the oldest democracy in Asia, few have an in-depth understanding of the country’s electoral process. more..

Mar 7 (ST) The Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) in collaboration with the UNESCO New Delhi office held a two-day workshop, Women in Media and Safety with the aim of promoting the safety of women journalists in the country. Held on February 26 and 27 at Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel in Colombo, the workshop was designed to build the capacity of women journalists working in the field while also focusing on other key aspects of safety like harassment in workplace and online safety. more..

Mar 7 (AD) The Kuwaiti govt has cancelled its decision on the requirement of the certificate proving travellers from Sri Lanka and 9 other countries arriving in the Gulf state are not infected with the COVID-19. On March 04, the Kuwait Directorate General for Civil Aviation made the announcement, saying the new measure would cover expat passengers coming from Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Egypt, Syria, Azerbaijan, Turkey, the Philippines, Georgia, and Lebanon. more..

Mar 7 (FT) Provincial Council Elections are likely to follow hot on the heels of the General Election, PM Mahinda Rajapaksa said, paving the way for the Govt to move forward with plans to introduce a new Constitution. Rajapaksa, speaking to senior media personnel at Temple Trees, insisted that the Govt remained focused on removing the 19th Amendment, insisting it creates administrative issues that undermine governance. more..

Mar 7 (GDI) Embassy of Sri Lanka in Bahrain in collaboration with the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities (BACA) organized a “Sri Lanka Cultural Evening” at Bahrain Cultural Hall as part of a continuing series of events marking SL’s 72nd Year of Independence and the 28th anniversary of the establishment of SL – Bahrain relations. This was the first ever mega cultural event organized by the Embassy from its inception in 2013. The diverse cultural show consisted of performances by more..

Mar 7 (ST) The Police Reward Fund held fixed deposits worth Rs 9.6bn at the end of 2018 and has invested more than it should while paying out fewer incentives than prescribed, National Audit Office (NAO) says. The IGP decreed in 2016 that 70% of the Fund must be used annually as normal rewards to incentivise deserving police officers. A further 20% goes towards a category called IGP’s rewards. Only 10% of the Fund must be invested. The average paid out as rewards in the 3 years from 2016 more..

Mar 7 (Island) Governors of the provinces as representatives of the President had no right to engage in any form of campaigning during the election period, said Chairman of the Election Commission Mahinda Deshapriya, addressing a media briefing in Kandy on Tuesday. Deshapriya said that three Governors had been warned to refrain from taking to politics while in office. One of them had been asked to leave the post and two others more..

Mar 7 (Island) Multi-Purpose Development Task Force has requested Election Commission to grant permission to continue with the programme commenced with the objective of lifting 100,000 families out of the depths of poverty since it was launched 3 months ago. Director General of Multi-Purpose Development Task Force, Major Gen (Retd.) Nanda Mallawarachchi has sent a letter to Chairman of EC, explaining the beginning, the objectives and mechanism of the programme. more..

Mar 7 (DN) An Air Quality Monitoring Station (AQMS) to monitor the air quality of Colombo city has been installed jointly by National Building Research Organization (NBRO) and Public Health Department of CMC. AQMS, installed in the CMC premises was opened by Colombo Mayor Rosy Senanayake yesterday morning. The AQMS will gather the data on air quality of Colombo City on a regular basis. Data will be utilized when carrying out development and other activities in Colombo. more..

Mar 7 (Island) Alleging that the Attorney General Department and the CID had unduly interfered in some high profile cases handled by him, former Chief Colombo Magistrate Thilina Gamage told the PCoI inquiring into cases of political victimisation, British High Commission had intervened in the Navy abductions case. Commission consists of retired SC Judge Upali Abeyratne, retired CA Judge Daya Jayatilake more..

Mar 8 (SO) If men and women are truly treated equally at all levels in society, there would be no need to celebrate an International Women’s Day (IWD), which falls today (8). But the stark reality is that in many countries, developed and developing, girls and women face an uphill battle for equality and empowerment. Hence, the need for a day such as IWD to remind the world of the importance of recognising the contribution by women to our societies & stressing the need for their uplift. more..

Mar 8 (CT) Int'l Criminal Court (ICC) last week ruled that an investigation of alleged war crimes by the US and others in the Afghan conflict can go ahead, overturning on appeal a previous decision to block the investigation. Accordingly, action of the US troops, Taliban as well as the Afghan Govt since May 2003 will be closely examined. However, the US rejected the ruling terming it "A truly breathtaking action by an unaccountable, political institution masquerading as a legal body." more..

Mar 8 (SO) Int'l energy specialist, Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya, believes that it is hilarious that the Public Utilities Commission of SL (PUCSL) and the Ministry of Power, who by not fulfilling their legal obligations, have given CEB ample room to give excuses for shutting down power plants and was now asking why power plants were shut down! He is also a Cambridge Uni PhD Holder and a Chartered Engineer, was also more..

Mar 8 (Island) Nominations for the forthcoming parliamentary election open later this week (12) and will continue to be received till March 19. Thereafter the big match will be played on April 25. In recent weeks we have heard Prez Rajapaksa and PM Rajapaksa as well as lessers say many times that they will fight might & main for a 2/3rds majority in the next parliament. We would like to remind the people of two tyrannies of absolute majorities we’ve had in our contemporary history. more..

Mar 8 (TM) As predicted, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, using the first constitutionally provided opportunity, proceeded to dissolve Parliament last Monday (2), paving the way for a general election on 25 April. Nominations for the poll will be accepted from 12 to 19 March which has resulted in a mad scramble among would-be contestants to secure nominations from their respective parties, numbering a record-breaking 150 or so, according to the Election Commission. more..

Mar 8 (SO) Former State Minister Susil Premajayantha said the people hold the opinion that they should allow Prez Rajapaksa to continue for the next 5 years without any obstacle from Parliament. The people in their thousands will vote for the SLPP led Alliance at the upcoming General Election in an environment where the UNP is in total disarray. He said the Prez was given mandate not to repeat what the Yahapalana Govt did. more..

Mar 8 (ST) The world celebrates today another annual International Day dedicated to women. Various women’s organisations from Jaffna to Colombo and beyond are holding programmes to mark the day with themes ranging from gender equality and empowering women to protecting them. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka held a seminar on Friday on technology-based violence against women — an increasing form of violence that occurs via offline and online media. more..

Mar 8 (ST) My dear Dappula, I thought I must write to you after watching you work over the past few months – and especially over the past few days when you ordered the arrest of Bond Ravi and his band of alleged bank robbers. It was a courageous step, no doubt, and a smart one too, considering the current political environment. The citizens of Paradise have long given up on trying to choose a set of honourable men and women to govern them. They had some hope a few years ago when more..

Mar 8 (Island) The present state of the UNP after the presidential election of November 16, 2019 is in many ways reminiscent of the state the SLFP was in the wake of the defeat of 1977, when the latter experienced declining public support and disunity within its ranks. As we pen these words, the UNP is on the verge of a major split, with the possibility that the Ranil Wickremasinghe faction will contest under the elephant symbol and the Sajith faction under a different symbol. more..

Mar 8 (TM) The crisis ridden UNP has failed to resolve its internal crises even after the dissolution of Parliament while the battlelines drawn between UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s faction and Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa’s faction are intensifying each passing day. Yesterday (7) however saw the Wickremesinghe-led UNP drawing a defining line separating the party from the Premadasa-led alliance with UNP General Secretary Akila Viraj Kariyawasam informing EC that more..