Sep 4 (CT) As of 21 April 2019, more than 951 mosques had been identified as operating without being registered with the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs, said the Department’s Director, Adam Bawa Mohamed Ashroff. He was testifying before the PCoI, and the PCoI questioned him on a number of matters pertaining to mosques as the registration of mosques and appointment of their trustees more..

Sep 4 (AD) The Parliament is scheduled to convene from 8th to 11th of Sept. This was decided at the meeting held by the Committee on Parliamentary Business, chaired by Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, last morning (03). The annual report of the Central Bank, the performance report of the Ministry of Finance and the mid-year fiscal report will be taken up for debate as an adjournment debate on the 8th of Sept as per the proposals made by the Govt during the meeting. more..

Sep 4 (TW) Rajapaksa family’s recent resounding electoral successes appear at first sight to mark a decisive break in SL’s post-war politics. Led by Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, former president and now PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, the family rode to victory on a platform castigating the previous administration’s economic failures, evident in mounting debt and the rising cost of living, and attacking as treasonous its somewhat feeble attempts to address the Tamil question via more..

Sep 4 (AD) Court of Appeal announced that its decision on whether an interim order will be issued permitting MP-elect Premalal Jayasekara to attend parliamentary sessions will be delivered on Monday (7). The attorneys representing Jayasekara, who was sentenced to death in July, had filed a writ application before the Court of Appeal requesting to grant him permission to attend parliamentary sessions. more..

Sep 4 (DM) The draft of the 20th Amendment has proposed key amendments such as replacing the Constitutional Council (CC) with the Parliamentary Council, enabling the President to hold Cabinet portfolios and enabling the President to appoint Cabinet of Ministers. According to the draft gazetted, the CC will be replaced with the Parliamentary Council which comprised of the PM, the Speaker, Leader of the Opposition, a nominee of the PM and a nominee of the Leader of the Opposition. more..

Sep 4 (DM) The Goods Receiving Officer at the Parliament Supply and Service unit, who was arrested yesterday by the Bribery Commission officials at Kaduwela while soliciting a bribe of Rs.60,000 from a food supplier, was remanded till Sept 18. The bribe has been given to prevent the Goods Receiving Officer from rejecting a stock of foods supplied daily by the supplier, on the basis that they are not suitable for consumption. Goods Receiving Officer has allegedly damaged more..

Sep 4 (NR) JVP has rejected the draft 20 Amendment claiming it is undemocratic, destructive and not people friendly. Party leader MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake said through the 20 Amendment the present govt is seeking to revert to an era where the Executive, Legislature and Judicial powers are vested only with the leader. MP Dissanayake said during prehistoric times rules were formulated by tribal leaders, more..

Sep 4 (NR) The SJB says the govt has no authority to violate the democratic rights of the public at the outset of acquiring a majority in Parliament. PM Harsha de Silva said abolishment of the 19 Amendment to the Constitution and preparations to pass the draft 20 Amendment results in the polarisation of power. MP de Silva said democracy is not the tyranny of the majority adding that with the govt acquiring a majority, the public’s democratic rights cannot be exploited. more..

Sep 4 (AD) The total number of positive cases confirmed in the country reached 3,115 as two new COVID-19 patients were detected today. The latest cases include 02 arrivals from India, 01 Filipino seaman and 01 arrival from Israel. As per statistic, only 196 active cases are currently receiving medical care at hospitals. In the meantime, the number of recoveries from the disease in Sri Lanka moved up to 2,907 as 18 patients were discharged from hospitals earlier today. more..

Sep 4 (DM) Govt is still studying the possibility of reopening SL airports, Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi said. She said the matter was deeply discussed in the Cabinet and added it was proposed that more time should be given to study the entire Covid-19 scenario and risk factors. “Ensuring the safety of people living in SL is my priority. I can’t risk people living in the country by letting the airports open for others," more..

Sep 5 (CT) We are living in times of constitutional upheaval. Whereas the draft 20th Amendment to the Constitution has been gazetted in the interim, a nine-member expert committee has already been appointed to draft a brand new Constitution to replace the beleaguered 1978 Constitution. The question in the minds of many now is whether the new Constitution will retain the highly contentious Provincial Council system, or will it get rid of the PCs and strengthen the Local Govt system. more..

Sep 5 (CT) Children can be amazingly smart. They often surprise their teachers and parents with generating insights in the most unexpected of ways, much earlier than you might expect them to. Take the anecdote my drinking partner, the SL Tamil fellow Sivapuranam Thevaram, told me about his son, Samanthiram. Once when the young fellow was about seven years old the father and son had gone shopping at a Bridgetown department store. An employee approached them with polite more..

Sep 5 (CT) Someone asked me; Justice Wigneswaran! you have been a Supreme Court Judge. You have been a Chief Minister. You were much respected during the time you held these offices. After becoming a Member of Parliament you have suddenly become provocative. Why? Are you getting ready for the Provincial Council Election? My answer was; I am amused! How have I provoked anyone? I simply made a statement which more..

Sep 5 (DM) In 1978 the then President J.R. Jayawardene used or abused the ruling UNP’s 5/6th majority in parliament to impose the Executive Presidential System on the people of SL. He took his oaths on Feb 4, 1978 as the first Executive President and what happened after that was abuse after abuse which eventually led to the 30-year ethnic war, the reign of terror from 1987 to 1989. Widely regarded as the leader with authoritarian tendencies Mr. Jayawardene also used more..

Sep 5 (DM) Weeks after MV Wakashio, a Japanese-owned bulk carrier, ran aground a coral reef in Mauritius, a crude oil carrier MT New Diamond caught fire around 38 nautical miles East of Sangamankanda Point in the East Coast of SL on Sept 3. Carrying 270,000 metric tones of cargo the tanker had departed Mina Al Ahmadi in Kuwait and was expected to arrive at Paradip Port, India on Sept 5. The vessel is over 20 years old and is currently sailing under the Panamanian Flag. more..

Sep 5 (CT) Another one of Prez Rajapaksa’s buddies from Los Angeles, California will be the recipient of a coveted diplomatic posting at Sri Lankan state expense, as the President’s Office politely requested citizens to stop questioning his appointments. Sajiv Gunasekara, a real estate broker from LA has been appointed as SL’s Ambassador to Japan. Gunasekera has no qualifications to be the SL Envoy in Tokyo, more..

Sep 5 (CT) This is more a plea than a polemic. What the young Trotsky termed (in 1905) the intellectual democrats have been operating with a paradigm that has accumulated so many anomalies and contrary results, that it should be abandoned at least on the cusp of a constitutional change (and a change of Constitution) that may be the most dangerously retrogressive we have experienced. And yet, there is no sign of such a paradigm shift that is so necessary to resist, survive and eventually more..

Sep 5 (CT) Amartya Sen in his 1972 article, Control Areas and Accounting Prices: An Approach to Economic Evaluation advanced for the first time in my knowledge the concept of control areas that were constituted by the national economy. What has happened with the advent of neo-liberal reforms in 1977 was the gradual weakening of those control areas. All kind of State intervention and economic planning came under the purview of those control areas and may fall within a wide spectrum of more..

Sep 5 (Island) You look around and see face masked people. But that seems to be enough of an effort to prevent being infected with the virulent virus and passing on infection. Social distancing appears to be too much effort to maintain. We are a nation of queue ignorers and breakers. All Cass’ readers will agree with her on this observation. It seems to be an achievement to break a queue and position oneself in a gap in an already formed line. This is more so with queues of now necessitating more..

Sep 5 (Island) The 20th Amendment (20A) bill is now in the public domain. Attorney General is of the view that it requires only a two-thirds majority in Parliament for enactment. The govt has 150 MPs on its side, and the passage of 20A is only a matter of time. Reflected in this constitutional amendment is the strategic thinking of the present dispensation. It was thought, before last month’s general election, that 20A would be a slightly amended version of 19A as there was a need to help more..

Sep 5 (Island) Thinking Out of the Box is the catchline of President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. He gave this advice to the banking sector in May this year, and to the MPs in his opening address last month. The need for new ways of thinking to overcome local and global challenges and revive the economy – out of the box thinking – is the declared stuff of his reasoning. The new ministerial structure was also with such thinking. more..

Sep 5 (Island) One of the rising stars in domestic cricket Duvindu Tillakaratne has been picked in a 23- member Test pool to take on Bangladesh in the up coming Test series. Duvindu is the son of former Test captain Hashan Tillakaratne, the first Sri Lankan to score a Test hundred in South Africa. Like father, Duvindu has a reputation of working extremely hard on his game. He was born in the year SL won the Cricket World Cup. His twin brother Ravindu also played First Class cricket. more..

Sep 5 (CT) Former SL player Chamara Kapugedera has been appointed as the head coach of Moors SC, replacing Gayan Wijekoon. One of the most destructive SL batsmen of the last decade, Kapugedera made his ODI debut in 2006 against Australia and was a permanent member of the squad till 2010. He has played 8 Tests, 102 ODIs and 43 T20Is for his country. One of the cleanest six hitters of the ball, Kapugedera, however, couldn’t justify his immense talent and eventually more..

Sep 5 (ST) Fitness is one of the major requirements for a sportsperson. Unfortunately it has been an area where SL has been lagging behind. The incidents that took place after the national cricket team’s premature exit from the 2017 Champions Trophy, where then sports minister Dayasiri Jayasekera criticised the fitness levels of the players, could be considered a prime example for this prolonged problematic situation more..

Sep 5 (CT) Colombo FC has reached the proverbial mountain top of SL Soccer, winning the 2020 Vantage FFSL President’s Cup final on Wednesday by trouncing Blue Eagle 4-0. Head coach Roomy Hassan must take much of the credit for providing a calming influence and shrewd guidance. The tactician’s stock has enjoyed a meteoric rise since being handed the reins at CFC 10 years before. Roomy Hassan has excelled as a head coach at Colombo FC where many believed more..

Sep 5 (CT) Sri Lanka’s tour of South Africa for a two-match Test series that counts towards the Test Championship is in doubt after considerable active cases of covid-19 were detected in South Africa yesterday, a high ranking official at SLC revealed to Ceylon Today. Sri Lanka was scheduled to take wing to South Africa on 12 December, and the first Test was to start on 18 December, but due to the rise in covid-19 cases the officials are in talks regarding the tour. more..

Sep 5 (CT) The GMOA has warned that serious steps need to be taken to make the public understand that the COVID-19 threat has not yet completely dissipated from the country. GMOA Editor, Dr. Haritha Aluthge said people continue to conduct their day-to-day activities oblivious to the danger posed by the fatal virus. He charged that preventive measures that had been previously announced with the onset of the pandemic, more..

Sep 5 (DN) The Sri Lanka Badminton (SLB) was quite magnanimous in giving a helping hand to national badminton player Oshadie Kuruppu who has been diagnosed with leukaemia. But what is heartening to know is that all her colleagues and past students of Visakha Vidyalaya living here and abroad have come to her aid by collecting the much needed funds to help her family to transfer Oshadie from the Apeksha Hospital at Maharagama to the Manipal Hospital in Bangalore for an urgent more..

Sep 5 (DN) Following the President’s visit to the Lankagama-Neluwa village on Aug 29, where he stated that he will direct the SLT Group to provide a solution to establish high-speed broadband and voice facilities in the Lankagama village. SLT–Mobitel, immediately took on the task of digitizing the Lankagama Village with high-speed connectivity solutions. Following the instructions of the Prez, the Engineers from SLT-Mobitel visited the village on the same day to assess and more..

Sep 5 (PMD) President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa reviews future stages of the programme to provide clean drinking water to all households for all 24-hours of the day, before the end of 2025. Prez points out the need to expedite the programme while paying special attention to the cleaning and conservation of rivers, streams and catchment areas. Prez made these remarks at a discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat more..

Sep 5 (PMD) Foreign Secretary Admiral Professor Colombage chairing the 21st Session of the Senior Officials’ Meeting (SoM) urged BIMSTEC Member States to embrace the new normal, and adapt fast, at the first virtual meeting held on 2 Sept, in Colombo. In his inaugural remarks, the Foreign Secretary stated that global dynamics will not be the same after COVID-19 pandemic as it has affected all States, in various degrees, as it transformed from a health crisis to an economic more..

Sep 5 (Island) 20th AGM of the Council for Business with Britain (CBB) of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce was conducted on Aug 27. During the course of proceedings, Roshanie Moraes, Executive Vice president, John Keells Holdings became the first woman to be elected as the president of the Council for Business with Britain. “Moving forward our efforts will primarily be focused on enhancing business and trade between the UK and SL as part of wider govt-led efforts to support more..

Sep 5 (FT) The govt has decided to suspend vehicle Imports for a year in a bid to stop cash outflow, Cabinet spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said. He said that an assessment of the vehicle market has shown that there are enough vehicles imported into the country to last a year. He said that due to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, the country is facing a serious foreign currency crisis and hence certain curbs are more..

Sep 5 (FT) Addressing the 35th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC), Minister of Agriculture Mahindananda Aluthgamage underscored the importance of promoting sustainable agriculture through innovation including digital agriculture solutions. He reiterated that the access to and dissemination of latest technologies and innovations was imperative to improve the productivity of the agriculture sector. Building resilient food systems, and more..

Sep 5 (DN) Ataraxia Capital Partners launched My Dentist, latest and one-of-its-kind chain of dental clinics with the aim of advancing dental care with high-tech infrastructure. My Dentist Ltd. is formed with major share-holding company Ataraxia Capital Partners in collaboration with Michel Casselman, CEO of PMV – a Belgian fund and the professional expertise of Dr. Asoka Amunugama and Dr. George Dias. The newest clinic is equipped with the skills to respond to the changing oral health needs more..

Sep 5 (Island) SJB was planning to move the Supreme Court against the 20th Amendment (20A) to safeguard the mechanisms introduced by the 19th Amendment to ensure independence of the judiciary and the public service, Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella said. He said the proposed 20A would deprive the people of their democratic rights and they would to all out to obstruct what he called the govt’s march towards dictatorship. more..

Sep 5 (FT) To celebrate Binara Full Moon Poya day, the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre (SVCC), High Commission of India, organised an online workshop titled Buddhist Heritage Management and Conservation: From Mountains to Oceans on 31 August. Six internationally renowned scholars from SL and India, working in the fields of art, architecture, archaeology, and heritage management delivered participated in the workshop. On the occasion, Consulate General of India in more..

Sep 5 (Island) The administrators of the controversial Batticaloa Campus could reapply for registration with the Ministry of Higher Education although its previous application was rejected on April 5, 2019 as the evaluation committee was not convinced of the institution’s financial viability, PCoI was informed on Thursday. Testifying before the PCoI, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education Kamal Uduwawala said that applicants had not revealed that they had received more..

Sep 5 (ST) The BOI has approved a deal backed by a Saudi Arabian investor who is also the director of a company that bought the Edirisinghe Group businesses — a transaction now being investigated by a PCoI. The reportedly US$ 97.2mn agreement to set up a floating liquefied natural gas storage unit off Hambantota was signed this week between the BOI and Pearl Energy, the project company. Its Director Tania Siegertsz said more..