Oct 20 (CI) The sameness to a Virat Kohli innings in a middling chase is no criticism of his batting. The beauty of it lies in the repetitive nature of it, a mark of his hunger to make every start count. On Thursday, it helped deliver ODI century No. 48, which takes him that much closer to the man who he hoisted on his shoulders on that famous April night in 2011, before delivering an epic line that made a country of more than a billion shed happy tears. Kohli's knock, which turned more..

Oct 20 (FT) Former Director of the CID SSP Shani Abeysekara has sent a letter of demand to four top cops including the current IGP C.D Wickramaratne and Western Province SDIG Deshabandu Tennekoon for falsely arresting and prosecuting him in connection with the Mohamed Shiyam murder case. The letter of demand has also been sent to two other police officers, namely, Colombo Crimes Division (CCD) Unit 01 OIC IP Jagath Nishantha and CCD Acting Director ASP Neville Silva. more..

Oct 20 (FT) President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday in Beijing held bilateral talks with China’s Vice PM Ding Xuexiang. During the meeting Xuexiang expressed profound gratitude for Sri Lanka’s enduring support through the historic Rubber-Rice Agreement with the People’s Republic of China. He emphasised that the Chinese people will always remember this gesture of goodwill and assured that China remains committed to extending its supportive hand to Sri Lanka. more..

Oct 20 (Island) The highly anticipated Havelock City Mall built at a cost of US$ 130 million, spanning over 200,000 square feet was officially opened for business yesterday. This international standard shopping mall promises to deliver an unparalleled shopping and entertainment experience, creating an ideal destination for the local community right in the heart of Colombo. Pravir Samarasinghe, Group CEO/Director of more..

Oct 20 (DN) Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Minister Dr. Wijayadasa Rajapakshe told Parliament that it is the need of the hour to establish an independent Education Commission to replace the University Grants Commission (UGC). The Minister said that the necessary reports for the establishment of an independent education commission have been submitted to the parliament and by establishing this commission both public and pvt universities more..

Oct 20 (EN) Though mining permits have been given to three firms it is unlikely that permission will be given to dig deeper than 4.2 meters for mineral sands, Ramesh Pathirana, Minister for industries said. Mining permits have been given by the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB). However they may not get an environmental clearance to mine up to 10 meters, he said. “Even a state institute cannot get it so it might not happen,” Minister Pathirana told parliament. more..

Oct 20 (TM) The title itself might provoke many fans of Shanaka, but it is what it is. There is no more sugar coating. There are no more excuses. Facts are on the wall and Shanaka could have played his final game as the captain of the national side. To understand the situation in the best possible way, we need to go back to the 2019 Pakistan tour. T20I skipper Lasith Malinga and ODI skipper Dimuth Karunaratne, along with former captains more..

Oct 20 (Island) Former SL captain Angelo Mathews was called up to India as a desperate measure to address the national cricket team’s batting woes in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup. Along with Mathews, fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera was also called up and the pair were expected to reach north Indian city of Lucknow this morning. The two players have been called up only as travelling reserves. While Chameera could be drafted into the World Cup squad immediately, more..

Oct 20 (Island) Royal College legend Summa Nawaratnam who passed away at the age of 98 was once Asia’s fastest man. A former national champion in the 100 metres, 100 yards and the 220 yards, Nawaratnam held the national record of the 100 metre from 1951 to 1959. “Though there was no official document of the athletics meet held in Madras, there were newspaper articles and other documents to prove that Nawaratnam had clocked a blistering time of 10.4 s in the 100 m in 1953,” more..

Oct 20 (DN) A 14-year-old female student of the Panagoda Parakrama Vidyalaya in Athurugiriya has died due to a sudden illness. The school girl studying in Grade nine was pronounced dead after being admitted to Oruwala District Hospital. The deceased girl has been identified as a 14-year-old resident of the Mullegama area in Homagama. Based on the preliminary investigations that have been carried out on the incident by the Police, it has been revealed that the girl had informed more..

Oct 20 (DM) With the prevailing rainy conditions, SL is witnessing an uptick in dengue cases as compared to the previous month. The tally of Dengue cases reported for 2023 has surpassed the 66,000 mark. As of October 18, 66,368 cases had been reported in 2023, with the highest number of cases from the Colombo district, which stood at 13,900. The Western Province has recorded over 31,900 cases, the highest province-wise. Month of Oct has also logged 1,885 Dengue cases. more..

Oct 20 (DM) Asserting that the most potential reason for the unusual sound heard by people as originating from the ground in the Hedunuwewa areas in the Nuwara Eliya District could be due to pressure in the underground water table, a geological expert said the exact reason could be ascertained only after a proper geological investigation or research under available methods. Prof. Ranjith Premasiri said that more..

Oct 20 (DN) SJB MP Eran Wickremaratne said the country’s income can be increased if fraud and corruption can be reduced. The MP said that one person needs 16,000 rupees per month to live and the govt lost revenue because the previous govt cut taxes without any scientific basis yesterday. The MP said this while joining the debate on orders under the Finance Act. The MP also said that he would like to ask the question whether the people of the country are living happily. more..

Oct 20 (DM) While claiming that they have not resorted to any industrial actions, the Airline Pilots' Guild of Sri Lanka (ALPGSL) stressed in a statement that they actively engage with the management and the relevant authorities, including the Minister, to seek solutions to the matters affecting the airline throughout this entire time. The statement was made due to the disappointment of the ALPGSL and to clarify the comments to the media by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. more..

Oct 20 (FT) SJB Gampaha District MP Ajith Mannapperuma says Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena should have suspended the Minister of Public Security, Tiran Alles, instead of him, as Alles disregarded the Speaker’s directive to respond the question posed by Mannapperuma during the allocated Question time. SJB MP accused the Speaker of biased behaviour by not taking any action against the Minister but suspending him for four weeks for merely touching the Mace. more..

Oct 20 (DM) Following the Supreme Court ruling that led to the loss of the parliamentary seat of former Minister Naseer Ahmad, some SLPP MPs who joined hands with the opposition have pleaded with the party hierarchy not to proceed with disciplinary action against them lest they will lose their seats in the House. Mr. Ahmad lost his seat after the SC affirmed his expulsion from his party SLMC over his decision to vote for the 2021 budget along with the govt contrary to the party’s official position. more..

Oct 20 (EN) IMF has reached Staff Level Agreement with the SL authorities on economic policies to conclude the first review of the 48-month Extended Fund Facility-supported program, the global lender said. The conclusion of the review would allow SL to access to about US$330 million worth second tranche of the $3 billion deal in financing once the review is approved by IMF Management and IMF Executive Board. more..

Oct 20 (CT) Two containers of beedi leaves that had been declared as Coriander seeds have been taken into custody by the SL Customs. According to State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, who inspected the two containers which contained the beedi leaves at the Orugodawatta Rank Container Terminal, only a tax of around Rs 300,000 has been charged due to the shipment being falsely labelled as coriander, when in fact the shipment should have been charged a tax amount of Rs 70 million. more..

Oct 20 (FT) U.S. Ambassador Julie Chung met with NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the JVP head office in Pelawatta yesterday. Chung said the parties discussed the current political and economic issues in Sri Lanka. “It is important to listen to diverse perspectives and engage with various political parties in a democracy,” she noted. The NPP said its party leader articulated the party’s position that the economic difficulties encountered by the people of Sri Lanka have intensified more..

Oct 20 (EN) Sri Lanka power regulator has approved power tariff hikes by about 18% for domestic consumers taking the energy charge for users above 180 units to 89 rupees while hotels and industry rates have been hiked by around 11%. Market pricing energy is required under an IMF program to stop the CEB from borrowing from state banks. Borrowings drive up interest rates and when money is printed to maintain central bank’s more..

Oct 21 (FT) Last week, there was a suggestion made that the State of Politics (SOP) in SL today shared uncanny similarities with the condition in which Colombo’s English-language Theatre (ELT) finds itself these days. For one, that SOP and ELT both cater to small elites rather than tailoring their fare to meet the needs of a greater common good. For another, that their respective fan bases entertain no bigger picture than the passing needs of these shrewdly limited stakeholders, and more..

Oct 21 (CT) Since only the tough gets going when the going gets tough, the public, over the course of the last few years, have been lowering their standards, and compromising their needs to survive a pandemic and then an economic crisis. Long before the President made it official, the public have been tightening their belts, not in acceptance of the hardships brought upon them by short-sighted policy makers but purely out of the need for survival to fight another day. more..

Oct 21 (CT) Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe spent the entire afternoon before his visit to China at the Presidential Secretariat. This was due to a few discussions that he had planned beforehand. On Sunday afternoon two separate groups of reps from the FUTA and the GMOA arrived to meet him for talks. These reps submitted their grievances to the Leader. After the FUTA reps had submitted their concerns the Prez consented to grant more..

Oct 21 (FT) According to the IMF the most popular and the simplest definition of bribery and corruption is the one used by the World Bank abuse of public power for private benefits. This does not mean that bribery and corruption cannot exist outside the public sector. According to Transparency International, bribery and corruption can happen anywhere, in the open or in the shadows, involve anyone and evolve in response to changes in rules, legislation and even technology. more..

Oct 21 (DM) On Oct 13, the Kumbukgete Police Station had received a complaint with regards to an incident of grave sexual abuse. The victim is a 15-year old girl. She had become the victim in this unfortunate incident; somewhere along the Nikagolla Road while traveling in a bus heading towards Kumbukgate. The three perpetrators, accused of the incident, have been remanded till October 23. The bus driver and conductor were arrested for aiding and abetting the crime. more..

Oct 21 (CT) Road traffic accidents have become an even bigger calamity than the 30-year war in SL. If corrective action isn’t taken, the number of deaths as a result of road traffic accidents will exceed 60,000 before the end of next year. National Council for Road Safety (NCRS) plays a pivotal role in preventing or minimising accidents. So far, it has implemented many road safety programmes while planning to implement more..

Oct 21 (TM) It has already been over a month since the completion of Domestic Debt Optimisation (DDO), where 12 Treasury bonds owned by the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) were exchanged for bonds with extended maturities and lower yields. Nevertheless, concerned parties have raised questions on the real impact on the EPF and why the banking sector was left out of the restructuring. CB Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said that the main reason for the banks to be excluded more..

Oct 21 (Island) It is usually the MPs who are accused of threatening others. Parliament has been home to various lawbreakers under successive govts, and the propensity of these characters for violence becomes evident during stormy parliamentary sessions, where they trade fisticuffs liberally. State Minister Diana Gamage has complained that an Opposition MP assaulted her outside the Chamber yesterday. A probe into her allegation is underway, we are told. more..

Oct 21 (FT) International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) President Asmaa Resmouki was in Sri Lanka recently to officiate the CMA Sri Lanka Integrated Report Awards. Founded in 1977, IFAC is the global organisation for the accountancy profession with 180 members and associates in 135 jurisdictions, representing over 3 million accountants in public practice, education, govt service, industry, and commerce. Here are excerpts from Resmouki's article in CMA SL Magazine. more..

Oct 21 (CI) When these two sides met a little over three months ago, the picture could not have been more dissimilar. SL had just racked up a clean sweep of the World Cup Qualifier and dispatched the Dutch twice over the course of the tournament. While the first was an edgy affair, the second - a final, though with nothing really riding on it - was as one-sided as most SL-Netherlands games have tended to be. In all, these sides have squared off five times in ODIs with SL winning all those more..

Oct 21 (FT) The CoPF Chairman Harsha de Silva yesterday said having a representative from the Attorney General’s Dept present during meetings of the CoPA and CoPE would facilitate the utilisation of the evidence uncovered in court proceedings. The MP noted in Parliament that despite the CoPE and CoPA with the backing of the Auditor General, revealing numerous irregularities, there have been public grievances about more..

Oct 21 (CI) Australia may have drawn level with Pakistan today, but really, they were one step ahead all evening. A game that briefly threatened to break into a thriller ultimately had Australia clinching a routine win, the havoc unleashed by centuries from David Warner and Mitchell Marsh too much for Pakistan to overcome in the end. Pakistan fought back to contain - to the extent that word can be used for a team that posts 367 - Pat Cummins' side, and gave the chase a good go. more..

Oct 21 (Island) It’s so hurtful to watch TV news on the Gaza strip and all-out war in the region. Netanyahu seems determined to obliterate this little land of two million people and wipe its Palestinians off the face of the earth. The UN has declared it impossible for the Gazans to heed the Israeli command to quit within 24 hours or be annihilated. In the first place how can a people vacate for all time their permanent homes and country within one day? In a close second place – where to go? more..

Oct 21 (DN) We have an experienced batting line up and most of them have played more than 40 ODI matches and want to come back hard said SL middle-order batsman Charith Asalanka in an exclusive interview before the Netherlands game which will begin today at Ekana Stadium in Lucknow commencing at 10 a.m. We batted really well in first two games while last Australia game we had good start and later struggled, which was disappointing. No one can say we have a young team and more..

Oct 21 (DN) SL Netball team, led by Dulangi Wannitilleka, departed for Singapore yesterday to participate in the Nation Cup Netball tournament, scheduled from Oct 22 to 28 at the OCBC Arena in the Singapore Sports Hub. Head Coach P.D.N Prasadi expressed confidence, stating, “We are well-prepared to take on this challenge. Thournament provides a great opportunity for our team to get more international exposure, and we have been in rigorous training for the past month, more..