Jul 24 (CT) Sri Lanka was introduced as the Most Beautiful Country which the explorer Marco Polo had ever seen during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games yesterday. Sri Lanka were led by Judoka Chamara Dharmawardana, despite him failing to qualify for the Olympics - securing only a wild card entry - together with Gymnast Milka de Silva, who is the country’s first gymnast to qualify for the Olympics. more..

Jul 24 (Island) Mothers and Daughters of Lanka says it is shocked by the reports that a minor girl, employed in domestic work at the residence of a MP, was abused for eight months. The civil society organisation issued the following statement: “This tragedy, is further aggravated by her hospitalisation with burns and her subsequent death days later. Mothers and Daughters of Lanka supports the demand made by Tamil people of upcountry that a proper investigation be conducted into more..

Jul 24 (CT) The Health Ministry will decide on the next best course of action with regard to those who received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and are awaiting the second dose, Deputy Director General, Dr. Hemantha Herath said. He said on Friday (23) the Ministry was informed that it would receive more doses of the vaccine by Monday (19). However, there were delays in vaccine arrivals causing further delay in administering the second dose, he noted. more..

Jul 24 (MoD) 90% of the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence Univ (KDU) lecturers are civilians, and therefore, new Act broached for Kotelawala National Defence University (KNDU) won’t cause any hindrance to the country’s free education, said the Defence Secretary Gen. Kamal Gunaratne (Retd). The motive behind this is to keep on higher education for brilliant students who marginally deprive the facility after A/L Exam, more..

Jul 24 (CT) JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said if Makandure Madhush had not died, it would have been possible for his black money to be made white through Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s new Finance Bill. The first Bill submitted by Minister Basil Rajapaksa, as the Minister of Finance, is to set up a law to turn black money into white, the JVP leader alleged adding that it is a fact that all should realise. He said such wealth that has been earned through illegal means is possessed by politicians more..

Jul 24 (Island) The customary handover of service of the Sacred Tooth Relic (Thewawa of the Sacred Tooth Relic ) to the Malwatta Temple from the Asgiriya Chapter will take place today. The service (Thewawa) of the Sacred Tooth Relic at the Sri Dalada Maligawa is transferred annually from one temple to the other on the day after the Esala (August) full moon. Accordingly, the Most Venerable Mahanayake Thera of Asgiriya will hand over keys of the shrine rooms of Sri Dalada Maligawa more..

Jul 24 (Island) Former General Secretary of the Communist Party Dew Gunasekera says the incumbent govt should never have considered tax amnesty as part of overall measures to mitigate the growing financial crisis. Since the 1960s, about dozen tax amnesties had been offered, but they failed to produce the desired results. He was responding to the ruling SLPP declaration that it was ready to offer tax amnesty. more..

Jul 24 (DM) As much as 86 percent of the govt’s revenue had been spent for the payment of salaries and remunerations in 2020 triggering public finance concerns for the country, and therefore this was not an appropriate time to grant a pay hike for teachers, trade Minister Bandula Gunawardana said. The Minister said he was fully agreeable for 100% pay hike for school teachers, but it was something impossible given the depth of the economic crisis induced by the pandemic. more..

Jul 24 (Island) The JVP youth wing, Socialist Youth Union (SYU) said action should be taken against the officers of the Borella police who did nothing for 12 days after being informed of the alleged self-immolation of the 16-year-old girl who succumbed to her burn injuries while working as a servant at the residence of MP Rishad Bathiudeen. SYU national organiser Eranga Gunasekera said J. Ishalini, a 16-year-old girl, was hospitalised with burn injuries on July 3 while working as a housemaid at more..

Jul 24 (DM) Sri Lanka’s health system has been exhausted as almost all hospitals have run out of beds to treat the rising number of patients infected with the Delta variant of the COVID-19. Hospitals are functioning at maximum capacity while the need for oxygen has also risen considerably, leading to fears if the continuous demand of oxygen can be met. According to sources, some of the big national hospitals more..

Jul 24 (FT) The current crisis in Sri Lanka appears to have two salient features. First is the ongoing corona pandemic and the resulting economic consequences. Second is the teacher protests and political mobilisations by the Opposition utilising the economic uncertainties. The two are linked, but the second does not appear to be justified by the first. On the contrary, it appears that the street protests, whether peaceful or not, are unethical given the pandemic conditions. more..

Jul 24 (DM) Seven persons have been arrested for operating an illegal slaughterhouse at Tambala in Pulathisipura by the STF along with 68 cattle. STF said it also confiscated 599 kg of beef, limbs of some seven cows and some tools used for slaughtering cattle. The suspects were handed over to the Pulathisipura Police to be produced in court. Accordingly, Polonnaruwa Magistrate ordered the confiscated beef to be destroyed in the presence of the Pulasthispira OIC, while the cattle to be more..

Jul 24 (AD) Ambassador Dr. Palitha Kohona visited Wuhan University in Hubei Province, on 19 July 2021, on the invitation of the Vice President of the Uni and the China Great Wall Industrial Corporation to further explore the details of establishing a modern agriculture and high tech University in SL. The interdisciplinary university team led by the Vice President Yeqin Xu expressed their full support for the initiative and later at a formal meeting with the Governor of Hubei Province received more..

Jul 24 (FT) Presidential pardons in Sri Lanka seem to have conferred a constitutional privilege for some citizens to be more equal than others, even for those convicted of murder by the highest court in the country, the Supreme Court. Another feature associated with these pardons is that politicians from the major parties do not make much noise over these compared to other comparatively less important issues for which they protest, march the streets and go berserk on social media. more..

Jul 24 (DM) July 24, 1983 was the day on which a destructive spree of anti-Tamil violence commenced in Jaffna in the early hours of the morning and began spreading to Colombo in the later hours of the evening on the same day. It continued to other parts of the Island in the following days. The 38th anniversary of those dark days - etched in history as Black July revives bad memories among most Tamils who lived in SL more..

Jul 24 (EN) Sri Lanka firms with foreign investment or demanding global customers learns to raise standards and compete while protected firms may be left behind, participants of an online seminar said. “The inconvenient truth is that if you look at SL, all the firms that have developed very professional practices whether it’sproduct, service, employee, value proposition, have three factors in common,” Chanakya Dissanayake, Global Head of Investment Research, Acuity Knowledge Partners told more..

Jul 24 (DM) Emirates on Friday extended its suspension of flights from four countries — Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and SL — to Dubai till July 28 in line with directives from the UAE govt. In a statement, the airline said that passengers who had connected through any of the four countries in the last 14 days would not be permitted to travel from any point to the UAE. "UAE Nationals, holders of UAE Golden Visas and members of diplomatic missions who comply with updated more..

Jul 24 (CI) A minor technical change and a more sophisticated approach through the middle overs helped Avishka Fernando finish as highest run-scorer in the series against India. This is what the Player of the third ODI said, after his 76 off 98 balls helped set up Sri Lanka's second ODI win of the year, as they achieved a target of 227 with three wickets and eight overs to spare. Fernando had begun aggressively, as he often does, more..

Jul 24 (CT) The Health Ministry will decide on the next best course of action with regard to those who received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and are awaiting the second dose, Deputy Director General, Dr. Hemantha Herath said. He said on Friday (23) the Ministry was informed that it would receive more doses of the vaccine by Monday (19). However, there were delays in vaccine arrivals causing further delay in administering the second dose, he noted. more..

Jul 24 (CT) Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said arrangements are underway to remove SL from the COVID-19 red list countries. This is due to be done subsequent to discussions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the upcoming weeks. Kuwait, UAE, Laos, Qatar, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Philippines, England, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Australia, Norway, Bahrain, Nepal, Japan, Vietnam, France and New Zealand are included in the Red List and people from here are banned from more..

Jul 24 (PTI) SL head coach Mickey Arthur on Saturday said his team is improving fast but needs to have depth in batting as they gear up for the Twenty20 series against India. SL lost the ODI series 1-2 to India but the win in the final ODI gave confidence to Arthur. "We are creating depths across all the departments now. We just have to get that little bit of consistency and that same depth into our batting," Arthur said at a virtual pre-match more..

Jul 24 (ST) No breakthrough has been made in the investigations into incidents where shrines had been damaged in Mannar, police said. Three of the damaged shrines were in front of churches while the other three were statues at junctions. St Sebestian’s parish priest S. Gnanapragasam said he believed these attacks were aimed at provoking the Catholic community of the area. He said although police had offered additional security to churches, they had declined extra security as it could lead to more..

Jul 24 (DM) TN Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday directed the officials concerned to improve the basic amenities for the SL Tamils given shelter in refugee camps and that steps should be taken to form a steering committee for resolving the grievances of Lankan Tamils. The allocation of funds to SL Tamil refugees for buying utensils and clothes should be hiked. Besides, gas connection and skill development training should be given to them. Chief Minister said this while reviewing more..

Jul 24 (CT) In the first half of 2021, the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) has recorded 72 cybercrimes, which technically could reach around 144 cases by the year end, Chairman of the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), Prof. Muditha Widanapathirana said. He also said most of the cybercrimes registered are from the areas of Sri J'pura and Homagama. “I don’t understand why, but most of the cases more..

Jul 24 (DM) Tehani Egodawela finished 49th out of 50 shooters in the Women's 10m Air Rifle event at the Asaka Shooting Range this morning at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Egodawela shot a total of 611.5, and was classified between Kanykei Kubanychbekova of Kyrgyzstan, 48th with 612.8 points, and Luna Solomon of the Refugee Olympic Team, who came 50th with 605.9. The event was won by Qian Yang of China, who set a new Olympic Record in the event with scores of 628.7 in the qualification round more..

Jul 24 (AD) Trade unions of teachers and principals have decided to withdraw from duties of GCE O/L practical exam which is scheduled to commence on Monday (26). Reportedly, they resorted to this decision as the salary anomaly issue remains unresolved. The trade unions have informed their decision in writing to the Ministry of Education. General Secretary of Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) Joseph Stalin stressed that the trade unions expect a speedy solution for their issue. more..

Jul 24 (ST) Naval operations, especially off the northern seas, have resulted in several large detections of Kerala Cannabis over the past few weeks, again laying bare the sheer scale of the drug smuggling operations and difficulties in dismantling them. During the first two weeks of July alone, the navy detected nearly 550kg of Kerala Cannabis off the northern seas which it estimates to have a combined street value of Rs 163 million. more..

Jul 24 (AD) University Grants Commission (UGC) has decided to give a second opportunity for the students who passed the 2020 G.C.E. A/L Examination but could not apply for the university admission in time. Speaking further on the matter, UGC Chairman Prof. Sampath Amaratunge said, “Accepting applications for university admission of students who took the 2020 A/L Exam ended on the 18th of June. However, at the time, the UGC assured that students who could not submit more..

Jul 24 (DM) Every year, around 800 people die of drowning in SL and it is the second prime cause of death from unintentional accidents. Health Ministry Consultant Community Physician, Non- Communicable Disease Unit, Dr. Samitha Siritunga said the majority of the victims who died of drowning were aged between 21 and 60. The World Drowning Prevention Day was announced during the 75th UN General Assembly Resolution and declared to be held annually on July 25. more..

Jul 24 (ST) A tale of life and hope and a strong underlying message. Seek treatment immediately if diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) and keep to the treatment protocols. This is not just hearsay but comes from a study published in the prestigious journal of the British Society of Haematology about survival rates of SL patients with AML. It is believed to be the only documented study relating to outcomes more..

Jul 24 (CT) State Minister Sisira Jayakody said the attention of the Government is focused on bringing back to Sri Lanka, about 2,000 ola leaf manuscripts, which contain valuable traditional medicinal prescriptions, which were stolen from this country during invasions, as soon as possible and that initial discussions on this have already commenced. He said that it has been reported that items stolen about 200-300 years ago, include ola leaf manuscripts containing valuable traditional medicinal more..

Jul 24 (DM) SL's Aniqah Gaffoor finished second in her heat in the Women's 100m butterfly event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics a short while ago. Taking part in the heat that features the slower swimmers of the event Gaffoor completed her heat in a time of 1:05.33 secs. Mariam Sheikhalizadehkhanghah of Azebaijan won the heat with a time of 1:01.37 seconds with Yusra Mardini of the Refugee Olympic team finishing third with a time of 1:06.78. All three were short of the time that would be more..

Jul 24 (ST) The owners of the sunken X-Press Pearl vessel are said to be pushing back against sustained pressure from SL agencies to start recovery and cleanup operations, claiming the monsoon is blocking them. The wildlife department said on Friday that the bodies of more than 260 turtles, 31 dolphins and six whales have washed ashore after widely believed to have been killed by toxins & oil spilled from the ship, more..

Jul 24 (CT) Women who work as domestic workers will be required to register at the Divisional Secretariat, along with a recommendation by the Grama Niladhari, the Women Development Officer and the Child Rights Officer prior to their employment, State Minister Piyal Nishantha de Silva, said. He said the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) and the Ministry of Women and Child Development have extended their support to the Police and are conducting inquiries into more..

Jul 24 (DM) In the wake of the death of a 16-year old girl at former a minister's house, the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) said that steps will be taken to inspect wealthy households closely in the Colombo area to check whether under-age children are being employed as domestic helpers. NCPA Chairman Prof. Muditha Vidanapathirana said that the authority has received information that under-age children are being employed as domestic aides in some city's wealthy households. more..

Jul 25 (SO) This long weekend has already seen a huge movement of people, even if only within the Provinces. It seems that the majority of people have thrown caution to the winds, forgetting all about Covid-19 and the health practices. The Police have caught hundreds of people who had violated health guidelines, with offences ranging from not wearing face masks to not adhering to social distancing. To all those who seem to be under the illusion that Covid-19 is a spent force, think again. more..

Jul 25 (CT) SL is at the edge of the explosion of severe economic crisis. This is a govt made crisis which might begin with a full-blown banking crisis unless corrective measures are not taken immediately. The obvious sign of this crisis appears from the recent advertisement of the Bank of Ceylon (BOC). The advertisement says that the BOC has three trillion assets. The other sign, as reported by media, was the restriction imposed by the CB preventing commercial banks to declare more..

Jul 25 (SO) Minister Udaya Gammanpila said SJB demonstrated their political immaturity by bringing a No Confidence Motion (NCM) against him. He said the internal dialogue within the Govt was misled by the SJB hoping that there is a split in the Govt so that they can exploit it for their advantage. Minister said that “instead of exposing the Govt’s split, they gave us an opportunity to show how strong the present Govt is. more..