Oct 7 (FT) A few weeks back in Sri Lanka, a Russian pilot was purportedly COVID positive. This was down south. I was told while in Kandy, that the nature reserve in which we were hiking would shut down early, at 1 p.m., to protect against COVID. Leave aside the plausibility of the actual motivation, I could not fathom, what relevance an infection of some days back, in the south of the island, would have, in terms of danger in the outdoors, in a nature reserve in Kandy. more..

Oct 7 (FT) Recently (28 Sept) I read an article that appeared in this esteemed paper written by W.A. Wijewardana, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) who has contributed more than 500 valuable articles to this paper alone, which has raised the question should the Credit Information Bureau of Sri Lanka, commonly known as CRIB be killed? The parents who gave birth to the CRIB {eminent Central Bankers, Dr. H.N.S. Karunathilaka more..

Oct 7 (Island) The govt would halt the cultivation of oil palm in the country an extent of 10,579 hectares of land already planted with oil palm would be used to grow coconut and rubber, Parliament was told yesterday. Answering a question from Kandy District SJB MP Velu Kumar, Plantations Minister Ramesh Pathirana said there were few cases pending before courts with regard to palm oil industry, preventing the govt from stopping oil palm cultivation identified as a threat to the environment. more..

Oct 7 (DN) Prabhakaran was a terrorist leader clad in a uniform and issuing orders to his men, his wife was heading the supplies division, his older son was a Colonel in the terror outfit, his daughter was a female Major in the terror outfit and even his youngest son was a commanding officer of the LTTE baby brigade. Hence, don’t think that there were any innocent members in Prabhakaran’s family, said SJB-MP Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka. He was speaking in response to a statement made by more..

Oct 7 (FT) Kovilage Vijaya Anthony Kumaratunga, known to the world as Vijaya Kumaratunga, was born in Seeduwa on 9 October 1945. Vijaya was an endearing personality with an enduring vision whom I liked, admired and respected very much. He was a man who envisaged the transformation of Sri Lanka into an inclusive, multi-ethnic, egalitarian and plural nation. A much-loved man of the masses who may have more..

Oct 7 (DN) Court of Appeal yesterday concluded oral submissions pertaining to the appeal petitions filed by former Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunge and former TRC Director General Anusha Palpita, challenging Colombo High Court’s judgement to convict them regarding the Sil Redi distribution case.Court of Appeal 2-judge-bench comprising Justice Kumuduni Wickremasinghe and Justice Devika Abeyratne directed the parties to file their written submissions more..

Oct 7 (AD) Royal Colombo Golf Club (RCGC) has been temporarily closed after a family member of one of its workers tested positive for Covid-19. An RCGC gardener’s daughter employed at the Brandix apparel factory in Minuwangoda where a new Covid-19 cluster emerged recently, has contracted the virus, the RCGC said in a notice issued to its members. The employee in question and his family will be taken for testing, the RCGC added. The notice further read that the gardener more..

Oct 7 (AP) A proposed amendment to SL’s Constitution that would consolidate power in the president’s hands has raised concerns about the independence of the country’s institutions and the impact on ethnic minorities who fear their rights could be undermined by a nationalistic Sinhala Buddhist parliamentary majority. If passed, the amendment will bring Parliament under the control of Prez Rajapaksa, who will have the power more..

Oct 7 (FT) Commercial Bank of Ceylon yesterday announced the completion of all formalities relating to the private placement of shares with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the receipt of $ 50 million (Rs 9.215 b) from the latter for 115,197,186 ordinary voting shares in the bank. This is the first foreign equity placement by Commercial Bank, the first post-pandemic equity placement by the IFC and is one of the largest foreign investments into SL since the start of the COVID-19 more..

Oct 7 (Island) Sri Lanka’s English Tea Shop which markets premium organic tea to 50 countries won the prestigious Great Game of Business All Star Award 2020 – International Champion having demonstrated a sustainable continuity in its business model showcasing profitability even through COVID-19. The company inculcates the best practices of open-book management (OBM) which encourages a shared value culture of employees thinking and acting like owners. more..

Oct 7 (AD) Our organisation, Brandix, continues to face the challenge of navigating a COVID-19 crisis at our facility in Minuwangoda. Throughout this process, we will continue to keep you updated and clarify any concerns raised by the public, with the aim of being transparent. We understand that there have been concerns with regards to foreign nationals working at our facility in Minuwangoda and would like to more..

Oct 7 (BBC) The elephants pictured are rummaging for food near a wildlife sanctuary in Ampara District. The authorities have recently banned the dumping of rubbish near these protected sites where elephants have been known to fall ill and die from eating the waste. Tharmapalan's photo was chosen by judges for addressing the competition theme of "Our Changing World", winning him £1,000 in prize money. Winner of the RSB's Young Photographer of the Year was Ashwin Geerthan, 14, also from more..

Oct 7 (DM) The 62-year-old male COVID-19 patient, who escaped from the Colombo North Teaching Hospital in Ragama this morning, was found near the hospital by this afternoon, Hospital Director Dr Shelton Perera said. Speaking to Daily Mirror, he said the patient had escaped from the hospital while the result of the PCR test carried out on him was brought to him. “We have no details of his whereabouts at the moment and therefore, his movements will be traced,” Dr. Perera said. more..

Oct 7 (DM) Sri Lanka has demanded Rs.1,695 million as damage and compensation from the British company that dispatched 263 containers of solid waste in 2017 and 2018 in violation of the Basel Convention, the Environment Ministry said. Ministry Secretary Dr. Anil Jasinghe said 133 out of 263 containers of hazardous or unhygienic solid waste have been dumped at a container yard at the Colombo Port and more..

Oct 7 (TM) Govt is working closely with the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of SL (TRCSL) to stop the social media circulation of personal details of the COVID-19 patients, stated Minister Keheliya Rambukwella. This was stated as a response to the earlier request by the Information Technology Society of SL (ITSSL). “There are several methodologies being implemented in order to discover those who have been circulating this list and we will request them to stop circulation,” more..

Oct 7 (AD) Police has issued another quarantine order on employees of the Brandix apparel factory in Minuwangoda, who are residents of or are currently residing in specified 12 police areas. These employees are thereby advised to report to the following rendezvous points before 6 pm this evening (7). Further, employees of Minuwangoda Brandix apparel factory, who are residents or currently residing in other areas have been urged to report to their closest police stations. more..

Oct 7 (EN) The GCE A/L exams and Grade 5 Scholarship exams will be held as planned despite the Covid scare the Education Minister has said. Grade 05 scholarships exams are scheduled for October 14, while the GCE AL’s will be held from October 12 to November 06, 2020. “More than 300,000 students are sitting for the grade 05 scholarship exam this year in 2936 exams centres islandwide” Minister Prof G.L. Pieris said. more..

Oct 7 (Island) Dept of Immigration and Emigration did not stringently enforce the law on blacklisted persons, former Minister of Law and Order Sagala Ratnayaka said yesterday, at the PCoI. “They had an excuse for this. They said that most of these people had common names and that they were stopping wrong people all the time.” Ratnayaka said there had been an instance where a Maldivian arrived in Sri Lanka and committed a murder. It was later found that the person was blacklisted, more..

Oct 7 (Island) A decision by the yahaplana regime to remove a cess on importing plastics had resulted in local markets being flooded with two billion kilos of plastics worth around Rs. 549 billion during the past five years, Parliament was told yesterday. Responding to a question, State Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal said that between 2015 and 2019 a total of 2,102,262,948 kilos of plastics had been imported into the country at a cost of Rs 549,991,640,147 from 47 countries. more..

Oct 7 (DM) Transmission of the virus from recent Minuwangoda Covid-19 patients to others is extremely high, as the virus is highly infectious than in previous cases, Chief Epidemiologist Dr Sudath Samaraweera said. He said the behavioral pattern changes of the virus may have led to this type of scenario, which means that the possibility of others easily being infected with the virus is high. “The situation at present seems to be serious more..

Oct 7 (CT) A statement made by All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) MP Selvarajah Gajendran concerning the death of LTTE Leader Prabhakaran’s son, Balachandran, sparked angry remarks in the Parliament Chamber yesterday (6). During the debate on the Finance (Amendment) Act, Gajendran alleged the SL Army killed Balachandran. After his speech, SLPP MP Major Sudharshana Denipitiya raised a Point of Order and requested to expunge Gajendran’s statement from the Hansard. more..

Oct 7 (TM) Among 14 national banking systems in Asia Pacific (APAC), Sri Lanka will see the worst core capital decline due to the severity of economic shocks to the country, its banks’ weaker starting solvency metrics, and historically weak underwriting, Moody’s Investors Service said. TCE (tangible common equity) ratios at the majority of rated banks in SL will plunge by more than 200 basis points by 2022, while in other economies, except India and Thailand, proportion of such weak performers more..

Oct 7 (DM) When asked whether any other marine species were found having similar behavioural changes, he said other species like whales, dolphins were seen but no abnormal behaviour was observed. Meanwhile, the Dept of Wildlife Conservation launched an investigation to find the cause of at least ten dead turtles that washed ashore on the Colombo beaches during the weekend. Public vigilance increased after more..

Oct 7 (NIA) Like many other post-colonial States, modern Sri Lanka is a divided country where ethnic entities and religious groups are pitted against each in bitter rivalry fostered by politicians indulging in competitive mass mobilization to capture and retain power. But during monarchic rule when power was entirely in the hands of a King, and the King was powerful and fair-minded, ethnic and religious harmony, tolerance of differences, and even a celebration of diversity prevailed. more..

Oct 7 (AD) Another 190 individuals from the apparel factory in Minuwangoda tested positive for novel coronavirus today. Total number of positive cases detected from the Minuwangoda cluster thereby shot up to a staggering 1,022. This new development has brought the coronavirus infections confirmed in Sri Lanka to 4,442. The recoveries reported in the country meanwhile reached 3,274 this morning as 08 more patients were discharged upon returning to health. more..

Oct 7 (NIA) China on Tuesday asked the United States to quit the habit of lecturing other countries about safeguarding sovereignty when it is violating it by nakedly interfering in other countries, breaking WTO rules and imposing unilateral sanctions. Responding to the US Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz’s interview to Daily Mirror recently, in which she had asked Sri Lanka to be mindful of its sovereignty in dealing with China, more..

Oct 8 (DM) Much effort is taken by the present regime to put the country’s shaky economy in order. Commencing from the targets given to state institutions and the efforts taken to instill discipline on the roads we see that someone is trying to do something for a country which has enough natural resources to stand tall in terms of economic growth. That someone is President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. What is his policy? Economists state that Gotabaya wishes to reduce imports and more..

Oct 8 (DM) In the wake of the harrowing months-long coronavirus-related lock-downs and curfews still lingering in our minds came a news report which caused panic in Matara after it was found that a Russian staying at a boutique hotel in Polhena, Matara tested positive for Covid-19. He was one of a 15-member aircrew of a Russian cargo flight, which landed at the Mattala Airport during the last week of September. Investigations have revealed that an administrative lapse or an oversight resulted more..

Oct 8 (DN) Excerpts from the recent interview the Daily News conducted with Pharmaceutical Production, Supply and Regulation State Minister Prof. Channa Jayasumana. Q: What is the current situation of local drug production? A: Sri Lanka imports drugs worth Rs. 130 billion annually. It is about 85 percent of the total annual drug requirement of the country. At the moment, local state and private sectors produce only 15% more..

Oct 8 (DN) Defensive measures against COVID-19 have been reinforced in the wake of fresh fears of a resurgence of the virus after a Minuwangoda apparel factory worker tested positive for COVID-19. Security Forces together with health authorities have once again begun the strenuous and exhaustive process of contact tracing, quarantining and testing. As the country switched back to safe mode, the Govt drew its full attention to take swift decisions in consultation with the relevant authorities to more..

Oct 8 (CT) Young adult fiction is a category written mainly for teenagers. Although the genre is targeted for adolescents, approximately half of the readers are adults. The subject matter and genre of young adult fiction correlate with the age and experience of the protagonist. The genres available for teenagers are expansive and include most of the material found in adult fiction. Common themes of the stories include friendship, first love, relationships and identity. more..

Oct 8 (DM) A baby born on Sept 21 at the Wathupitiwala Base Hospital in Gampaha has suffered a gash on her face, which her parents claim, is a result of medical negligence. First time parents Mr. Ishara Udayanga and his wife were shocked to find a plaster covering a cut on their baby girl’s face, after doctors had accidentally slashed the baby’s cheek with a scalpel during an emergency C-section surgery. more..

Oct 8 (CT) The number of COVID-19 patients which was a low of 124 as at 10 a.m. on Saturday (3), has, within the short space of two days increased to over 1,000. This was after the discovery of a new COVID-19 cluster at a renowned garment export factory operating in the Gampaha District on Saturday. Garments, after remittances, are SL’s second largest foreign exchange (FX) earner. In fact, COVID-19 has impacted SL’s FX earnings right down the line, not least tourism, SL’s third largest FX earner. more..

Oct 8 (DM) It is not hard to understand US Ambassador Alaina B Teplitz’ angst. China, along with Japan, owns the debt of her country, the United States of America. China, according to the US narrative, has re-colonized Africa without a single shot being fired. China, again according to pro-USA narrators, created the deadly COVID-19 and controlled it while the USA was being strangled by it. The USA was essentially sleeping while China laid out its Belt and Road Initiative. more..

Oct 8 (Island) Cabinet, at its meeting held on 29.09.2020, decided to cancel the proposed light rail transit (LRT) project for which Cabinet approval had been granted previously, both on environmental and financial grounds. The project was initiated by Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development of the previous regime and the Cabinet approval for the project was granted in 2017. An Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) study prepared jointly by a Japanese and a SL company was completed more..

Oct 8 (Island) SL’s Animal Welfare Activists commemorated World Animal Day by recognizing and felicitating Animal Welfare Activists who over the years have worked tirelessly for the betterment and upliftment of Community animals. The felicitation ceremony which was held at Park Street Mews Restaurant. Sagarica Rajakarunanayake who was felicitated has walked the corridors of power for animal welfare, picketed on streets, and continues to feed & nurture her own & community animals. more..

Oct 8 (TM) Small and Medium Scale Rice Mill Owners’ Association has raised concerns over large-scale rice mill owners attempting to set larger profit margins in the upcoming inter-cultivation season and has called for streamlining the process of paddy stock purchasing and storing. Association President B.K. Ranjith said that large-scale rice mill owners are once again getting ready to set a big profit margin during the upcoming more..

Oct 8 (MFA) Handover Ceremony of the donation of 1 million Livinguard face masks (worth USD 20 mil) from Temasek Foundation in Singapore was held at the Main Conference Hall of the Foreign Ministry on 07 Oct. State Minister Tharaka Balasuriya, Foreign Secretary Jayanath Colombage, Additional Secretary of Medical Supply Division of the Ministry of Health Dr. Sunil De Alwis, Hony. Consul General of Singapore representing Singapore Govt Jayantha Dharmadasa graced the ceremony. more..