Oct 6 (AD) Irrigation Dept has issued a Red warning for the low-lying areas of the Nilwala River valley due to the possibility of a major flood situation. Advisory issued this evening, said there is a high risk of flood protection bunds overtopping at some locations as the river is already at a considerably high flood level. Accordingly, residents of and motorists passing through Matara, Malimbada, Kamburupitiya, Thihagoda, Athuraliya & Akurassa DSs have been urged to be vigilant. more..

Oct 6 (AD) The driver responsible for the death of a Police Constable after running him over with an SUV on Thursday (5), has been remanded until 10 Oct. 27-year-old SUV driver was remanded on orders of the Colombo Magistrate Court No.07 (Traffic Court) this afternoon. Manoj Priyankara, a 25-year-old Police Constable, succumbed to his injuries this morning, while receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital after an errant driver ran him over last evening. more..

Oct 6 (TM) The largest trade union (TU) in the SriLankan Airlines, the SL Nidhahas Sewaka Sangamaya (SLNSS) blamed the Aircraft Engineers’ TUs for taking union action without any prior notice, thus causing inconvenience to the passengers. In the wake of the SriLankan Airlines TUs being blamed by its management for the recent delays in SriLankan flights, the SLNSS claimed that while the TUs affiliated with the SLNSS more..

Oct 6 (DM) Over 1,500 requests have been received from people asking to pay their electricity bills after he was quoted in a statement that he was prepared to pay their bills, Water Supply State Minister Sanath Nishantha said. However, he said he had never made any such statements over settling anyone’s electricity bills. "I did not request for any electricity bills of low-income families of the SLPP or anyone else's for me to pay," State Minister said. "This is a conspiracy by the JVP," added. more..

Oct 6 (DM) CID Sub Inspector Sugath Mendis who had been arrested and interdicted along with former CID Director Shani Abeysekera, was today awarded a Rs. one million compensation by the Supreme Court. Sub-inspector Mendis was arrested and remanded for 11 months in connection with allegations that his superior officer SSP Shani Abeysekara had planted weapons in certain premises to frame former DIG Vaas-Gunawardena who was convicted along with his son and more..

Oct 7 (CT) Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe by his own admission during an interview with a journalist in Germany said that politics is a game for him. He boasted that he knows it well. With his vision comes his governance. Desperate Sri Lankans experience it on daily basis. Quite contrary to his cheap vision, IMF insists throughout its Governance Diagnostic Assessment report issued in the end of Sept, 2023 that politics and governance is not a cheap game but a process that supports for more..

Oct 7 (FT) At the height of the COVID hysteria, several times I encountered variations of the meme, It’s not a pandemic; it’s an IQ test. It was also a credulity test, a fact checking test, a discernment test, a cost-benefit test, and so much more…and less. In any case, that meme really misses the point. The essential problem has never been about IQ. Many credentialed and purportedly intelligent people (at least in an academic sense) swallowed a very dubious narrative, more..

Oct 7 (GV) As guaranteed by the Constitution, every citizen shall have the right of access to any information as provided for by the law, being information which is required for the exercise or protection of a citizen’s right, held by a public authority. It is to give effect to this right that the Right to Information (RTI) Act, No. 12 of 2016 was introduced. However, to what extent the public can truly obtain information about – and from – more..

Oct 7 (ST) Kandy is going green! Municipal Commissioner Ishan Wijetilake’s aim is to make the hill capital a Green Heritage City where people will have a shade for the head, fresh air for the lungs and a cool environment to enjoy the beauty of the city. A few years ago, the former Municipal Commissioner at a meeting with the Kandy Municipal Council (KMC) officials discussed the worsening air pollution in the city and following this, in 2018, a tree planting project was begun. more..

Oct 7 (GV) On Sept 18, govt gazetted a Bill titled Online Safety to establish the Online Safety Commission and to regulate certain contents from the online spaces. Amid the heightened attention, discourse and criticism on the Bill, it was tabled in parliament on Oct 3. At this juncture it is pertinent to compare and contrast the essence and purpose of the SL Bill with the Online Safety Billof the UK passed by their parliament last month and at the moment awaiting the royal assent. more..

Oct 7 (TM) Billions of rupees have been wasted annually due to a range of misappropriations, irregularities, and mismanagement within the country’s healthcare institutions, including the Ministry of Health, during the procurement of medicines and medical equipment, National Audit Office (NAO) has revealed in a recent report. Over the course of several years, audit reports have consistently underscored numerous incidents more..

Oct 7 (CT) There is no denying that incumbent Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe’s stock is slipping quickly and fast compared to this time last year, when he alone was seen as the nation’s saviour, starting with the economy. At this rate, for him hoping to win the Prez Polls next year on the strength of his management of the economic crisis may be a pipe dream. Rather, he or anyone in his place would require a more current issue, especially in response to his govt’s IMF-dictated tax and economic reforms, more..

Oct 7 (Island) The SLPP-UNP govt has earned notoriety for trying to defend the indefensible. It is trying to make light of the mass emigration of educated Sri Lankans, by peddling some ludicrous arguments, one of them being that the human capital flight is a global phenomenon and it has been blown out of proportion here. State Minister of Media Shantha Bandara has said, in Parliament, brain drain is not of recent origin; he heard it the first time when he was in Grade Seven. more..

Oct 7 (DM) Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe during his interview with German broadcaster DW in Berlin on Oct 2 countered the suggestion to hold an international investigation over the claims made by Britain’s Channel 4 Television on Easter Sunday terrorist attacks on Apr 21, 2019, with strong arguments, no doubt. Channel 4, in a documentary on the Easter Sunday carnage, last month alleged through the whistleblower Azad Maulana that the Easter Sunday carnage was engineered by more..

Oct 7 (DN) A ceremony was held yesterday in Hangzhou, China to felicitate gold medalist Tharushi Karunaratne and the Sri Lanka team. This was organized under the China-SL Youth Cultural and Sports Exchange Programme, where Tharushi and other athletes joined a group of school children in Hanjo for several activities. Meanwhile, Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe met the SL sportsmen and women in Hanjo yesterday, and congratulated the team that won medals including Tharushi, more..

Oct 7 (ST) Quack physiotherapists who would do irreparable harm than good to patients are giving major pains to the Sri Lanka Society of Physiotherapy. While like all health sector related fields, physiotherapy an allied health profession, is facing unprecedented challenges brought on by the severe economic crisis, other issues are aggravating matters, Sunday Times learns. “We too have similar but at the same time different issues” more..

Oct 7 (DM) Eleven deaths within 36 hours. That is the alarming rate at which SL’s elephants were killed several weeks ago. On Sept 27, six elephants were killed in two separate train collisions – four elephants died after colliding with a night mail train travelling from Colombo to Kankesanthurai, while another female tusker and a calf succumbed to injuries after colliding with the Meenagaya Train en route from Batticaloa to Colombo. While the numbers themselves are disturbing, more..

Oct 7 (CI) It wasn't the perfect performance but, at the moment, good enough will do for Pakistan, and good enough is exactly what they achieved. In a staccato showing where bursts of inspiration were interspersed with spells of shaky mediocrity, Babar Azam's side eventually eased to an 81-run win over the Netherlands despite Bas de Leede's all-round heroics. The 23-year-old allrounder was at times a one-man bulwark against Pakistan, but thanks to fifties from more..

Oct 7 (Island) SLFP Chairman Maithripala Sirisena recently accused ousted General Secretary of the party, MP Dayasiri Jayasekera, unceremoniously kicked out by him, of seeking to contest the next prez election. The former Prez (2015-2019) claimed that the Kurunegala District lawmaker pursued political ambitions at his expense, regardless of the consequences. Therefore, as the Chairman of the Party he had no option but to thwart the conspiracy hatched by a group of conspirators. more..

Oct 7 (DM) The Monsoon season, as it has been since time immemorial, is with us again. Our country experiences two Monsoon seasons - Southwest Monsoon from June to Sept and the Northeast Monsoon between October and December. During this time we also witness disasters such as flooding and landslides, which trigger displacement and sometimes death and injury. Figures from Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (iDMC) reveal more than 121,000 internal displacements more..

Oct 7 (CI) Sri Lanka will be without Maheesh Theekshana for their World Cup opener against South Africa, head coach Chris Silverwood has confirmed on the eve of the game, with the spinner not yet fully recovered from the hamstring tear he suffered in the Asia Cup. SL, however, will have the services of both Kusal Perera and Dasun Shanaka. "Theekshana is still recovering from a hamstring injury, so he won't be more..

Oct 7 (DM) SL Customs on Friday seized a stock of cannabis variety Kush worth over Rs.122 million from three unaccompanied personal baggage sent from Canada, which was opened and searched at a private freight forwarding company's warehouse in Peliyagoda. Customs officials attached to the Midco cargo warehouse on suspicion searched three tea chests sent to a consignee of a Colombo address and found 16 kg of Kush and one kg of ‘Ice’ concealed in a false bottom. more..

Oct 7 (TM) Last July, when former Prez and incumbent Opposition MP Maithripala Sirisena visited Jaffna, a journalist questioned him about the death of LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and whether a DNA genetic test had been conducted. In fact, Sirisena was the Acting Defence Minister for the last two weeks of the war in May 2009. Sirisena responded to the question saying that he had not been informed, that no matter had been reported to him regarding the death of Prabhakaran, more..

Oct 7 (ST) Prez Secretariat will coordinate with relevant govt institutions to introduce a regulatory mechanism for spas around the country by the end of this year, a top state official said. Prez Secretariat Public Relations Director Thusith Halloluwa said Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe instructed him to coordinate with the Ministries of Health and Local Govt and the State Ministry of Ayurveda to finalise regulations by December. Secretariat will have meetings starting this week. more..

Oct 7 (FT) People’s Bank proudly celebrated the achievements of outstanding students who secured the top positions in the A/L Exam 2022 across all subject streams. As a token of support for the students’ hard work, the bank presented each of these high-achieving individuals with a brand-new laptop. The award ceremony was held at the People’s Bank Staff Training College in Col 5, presided over by People’s Bank Chairman Sujeewa Rajapakse, and CEO Clive Fonseka. more..

Oct 7 (DN) CMC Commissioner Badhrani Jayawardena said a special discussion, comprising of experts on trees in order to take expedited action regarding dangerous trees which are older than 30 to 35 years, in the Colombo city. Prez’s Chief of Staff Sagala Ratnayake has instructed her on this. Accordingly, a special discussion will be held on Monday (9) and the Municipal Commissioner said more..

Oct 7 (FT) Business magazine LMD reports, in its October edition: “Perceptions about SL’s economic climate continue to be under a cloud.” “Despite the fact that many of SL’s key economic indicators continue to improve – albeit gradually – perceptions in the nation’s corridors of business remain muted at best.” The magazine reports that “the percentage of business executives that believe the national economy will improve in the next 12 months increased by 4% to 17% in Sept. more..

Oct 7 (FT) Supreme Court yesterday delivered its order, allowing Transparency International SL (TISL) application for intervention, considering the totality of the circumstances of the case, and the submissions made. Earlier this year, TISL filed an intervention petition in the SC, seeking permission to intervene in Case No. SC/FR 168/2021, which was filed by the Centre for Environmental Justice seeking fair compensation for the victims of the XPress Pearl disaster. more..

Oct 7 (Island) CEB wants to recover about 32 billion that the institution lost through the year, within the next three months, with a tariff hike, Noel Priyantha, Deputy General Manager said. “On 15 Feb, 2023, we got a tariff increase. So for 45 days in 2023, we only got the 2022 tariffs. In June 2023, we proposed a 3% reduction of the tariff, but the PUCSL recommended a 14% cut. We lost about 32 billion rupees in expected revenue because of more..

Oct 7 (DN) Over 800,000 school students from families with economic difficulties will be issued vouchers to buy shoes by the Education Ministry. Education Minister Dr. Susil Premajayantha said a Rs. 3000 voucher will be awarded to 800,000 school students within a three week period. The minister also said that this allowance will be offered to children with economic difficulties. It has been planned to further increase the amount of the voucher in 2024. more..

Oct 7 (FT) Colombo stock market yesterday ended a dismal week reporting 3% loss amidst lacklustre investor interest fuelled by concerns over the macro situation. The ASPI lost 348.49 points (-3.07%) for the week while the S&P SL20 lost 96.92 points (-3.03%). On the activity front, market turnover averaged Rs. 740 million declining from Rs. 962 million recorded in the previous week. “The indices showcased a downward trend as investors adopted a wait-and-see approach, awaiting cues more..

Oct 7 (DM) Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) is to discuss relocating of cables and pipelines in the Colombo city with relevant institutions, a senior officer from the Municipal Council said today. “We cannot remove the trees by the roads because they are needed to ensure clean air in the city environment. We intend to have a dialogue with Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Water Supply and Drainage Board and Sri Lanka Telecom,” CMC Director Engineering K. Ramesh said. more..

Oct 7 (AD) Chair of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on Energy & Transport, Nalaka Bandara Kottegoa, has requested that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) conduct a probe into the frequent delays in flights observed recently. Kottegoda recommended that the matter be probed in the context of whether there exists an organised scheme, deliberately causing delays in flight in a bid to hamper SL's rising tourist economy. Kottegoda discussed the matter at a meeting of SOC more..

Oct 7 (FT) SL continues to sustain a near $ 1 billion trade deficit as evidenced by August external trade data released this week. By end July cumulative trade deficit was $ 971 million whilst in August it amounted $ 925 million. In the first eight months of this year the cumulative deficit in the trade account narrowed to $2,964 million from $3,889 million recorded over the same period in 2022, due to a larger decline in imports offsetting more..

Oct 7 (DN) SL cricket team led by Dasun Shanaka will go out with confidence when they meet South Africa today at Arun Jaitley Stadium Delhi commencing at 2 pm. Both teams did their final training sessions yesterday at the Delhi stadium and after their training sessions were scheduled to announce the final teams for today’s match. SL team had good news with the recoveries of their injured players. Skipper Dasun Shanaka, Kusal Janith Perera and Maheesh Theekshana more..