Aug 5 (Island) A special PM�s Sports Fund with an initial allocation of Rs. 50 million has been created and the funds will be presented to the National Olympic Committee of SL next Tuesday (7). It will target high-performance athletes who have a realistic chance of winning medals at international Games for the country. PM will present the cheque to Suresh Subramaniam, president of the NOC of SL, at a ceremony at Temple Trees to meet the 184-strong athletic contingent (29 sports) more..

Aug 5 (ST) Sri Lanka is looking at the bigger picture rather than worrying on short term gains before the third and decisive ODI against South Africa, to be played at Pallekele Int'l Cricket Stadium today. Skipper Angelo Matthew said SL needs to change its way of thinking to keep SL a better prepared unit for the World Cup, starting 10 months from here, in England. �We have got to start playing on good wickets.� more..

Aug 5 (NR) Minister Sajith Premadasa says Joint Opposition MPs who complained against the salary hike to the public agreed to the proposal during the Parliamentary meeting. Speaking at an event held in Mullaitivu, Minister said the JO is taking political advantage at its best. Minister said when everyone in the parliament were collectively debating over the salary hike, Mahinda Rajapaksa�s party comes out and says yes there definitely needs to be a salary hike. more..

Aug 5 (AD) Minister of Higher Education and Cultural Affairs Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe says that the establishing of any cable car project will not be permitted at the Sigiriya Rock Fortress. The minister�s stated this when inquired by Ada Derana regarding reports that the Central Cultural Fund and a team from a Chinese firm of had secretly carried out a feasibility study recently for the establishing of a cable car project for visitors arriving at the ancient rock fortress. more..

Aug 5 (CT) Junior Star Aruna Darshana lived up to expectations, as he turned tables on the seniors to win the National title in the 400m, at the 96th National Athletics Championship at Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday. After many years this was a jaw dropping 400m final that took place in SL, with six athletes who had broken the 47 second barrier taking part. Race which was worked off at 9.20 had reasonable number of more..

Aug 5 (DM) Public Enterprise Development Minister and House Leader Lakshman Kiriella said there was no objection from anyone at the July 17 party leaders meeting to the proposed pay hike of parliamentarians in line with the salary scales of judicial officers. He said the salary of an MP is linked to that of a High Court Judge, the salary of a deputy minister to that of an Appeal Court judged and a Cabinet minister's salary equated to a Supreme Court Judge. more..

Aug 5 (DM) Communist Party of China (CPC) is said to be hoping to strengthen relations with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) by having further exchange programmes. Vice Minister of Int'l Department of the CPC Central Committee, Guo Yezhou met former president Rajapaksa and SLPP Chairman G.L. Peiris yesterday. Prof. Peiris said CPC official commended the efforts taken by the former government to foster ties between SL and China, while the CPC expressed its desire to more..

Aug 5 (ST) A galloping US dollar against the rupee has severely hurt the bottom lines of pharmaceutical companies to the extent of an exchange loss of around Rs. 3.2 billion in 2017/2018 in addition to lower revenues arising out of the govt�s drug pricing policy. Well-informed industry sources said the first quarter 2018/2019 (April-June) loss to two major (manufacturers and importers) alone is around Rs. 1 billion after the dollar surged to more..

Aug 5 (CT) A group of 14 Police Chief Inspectors (CIs) on Friday filed action in the Court of Appeal citing wrongful delays in their scheduled promotions although it had already been approved by the National Police Commission (NPC). The 14 CIs are a part of a larger group of 33 whose promotions have remained in limbo even though the NPC, which is the deciding body on the issue, had already endorsed their due promotions. The remaining 19 officers were unable to seek redress more..

Aug 5 (Hindu) National tragedy. That is how Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera described the problem of prevalent household indebtedness in Sri Lanka, when he recently announced the govt�s decision to write off debt of LKR 1 lakh or less, incurred by 75,000 women in 12 drought-affected districts across the country. The move, aimed at providing relief to those caught in a debt trap created by microfinance companies charging exorbitant interest rates, was inevitable. more..

Aug 5 (CT) No audit has ever been carried out on the massive purchases of power that the CEB has been doing from independent power producers (IPPs). Annual purchases average from Rs 160 billion to Rs 200 billion and there is no documented record of how the decisions were taken to make the purchases. This is despite the PUCSL insisting on the need of an auditing mechanism, at the level of power dispatching (procurement), more..

Aug 5 (AD) A Sri Lankan girl has been named among nineteen young activists who are recipients of 2018 International Young Eco-Hero Awards for their impactful environmental projects addressing climate change, energy conservation, wildlife protection, landfill waste, and water pollution. Ranging from age 8 to 16, and hailing from around the U.S. as well as Australia, Canada, Columbia, Peru, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, and the UAE, these youth are being recognized by more..

Aug 5 (ST) Sri Lanka Cricket says the T20 League, which will run from August 21 to Sept 2 in pure an exercise to preserve the ICC window opened with a view to launch the tournament in the same style as the IPL � with a multinational flavour. Ashley de Silva Chief Executive Sri Lanka Cricket explained to the Sunday Times �What is valuable here is the time slot window that we have got allocated. By holding this year�s T-20 we are only showing that we are intent in preserving this slot. more..

Aug 5 (AD) President Maitripala Sirisena says that he will not approve any increase in the salary for MPs. President stated that he will not allow to increase of the salary of MPs even by 5 cents. Certain reports published in newspapers and websites had claimed that the salary of MPs was to be increased by 215% and that the relevant proposal has been submitted to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. more..

Aug 5 (SO) Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has appointed a Delimitation Review Committee, under the chairmanship of PM Ranil Wickremesinghe, fulfilling a crucial requirement to hold the Provincial Council elections. The move comes amidst allegations by Opposition parties that the Govt is deliberately delaying the PC elections with the connivance of the Speaker. A top parliamentary official said the review committee had already had two meetings. Terms of 3 PCs, North Central, Sabaragamuwa and more..

Aug 5 (CT) Sri Lanka emitted 35.94 million metric tons (mts) of poisonous greenhouse gases (GHGs) led by Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in 2015 of which the largest generator was households led by biomass or firewood energy with a share of 34.8 per cent or the emission 12.52 million mts of GHGs, Energy Consultant Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya said on Friday. He said that the next largest GHG emitter was the transport sector which includes buses and cars with a 21.4% or 7.71 million mt share, more..

Aug 5 (ST) Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe says he is in the dark about a feasibility study by a Chinese company to launch a cable car service to the Sigiriya rock fortress. The minister said he had ordered an inquiry into who authorised the company to conduct the feasibility study. He said he had spoken to Central Cultural Fund (CCF) Director General Prishantha Gunawardana who also claimed he was unaware of who authorised more..

Aug 5 (ST) SL�s long-awaited digital advertising campaign has run into objections from two key bidders from India and China. The digital advertising campaign is set to get stalled by two more weeks as bidders from India and China have objected to the selection of the bid. Minister John Amaratunga said that the govt had received objections from an Indian and a Chinese bidder. This would delay the campaign by two weeks but the minister was confident it would get on the air by mid Aug. more..

Aug 5 (ST) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe is spearheading a task force that is considering granting visa-free entry to certain countries that patronise the destination as tourists. �There is some thinking to make it (Sri Lanka) visa-free entry to certain countries,� Minister John Amaratunga said. Some of the countries under consideration are India, China, Europe and West Asia, he said. The task force also comprises some of the officials involved in the digital advertising campaign committee. more..

Aug 5 (ST) Meka kondey pana nethi duruwala aanduwak or this is a weak, backboneless govt, or so the Sri Lankans would think. Those words were not from a fiery opposition politician waxing eloquent at a public rally. It came from a senior member of the ruling coalition � Minister Mangala Samaraweera. He made the criticism at last Tuesday�s weekly Cabinet meeting. These remarks underscored the reality that more..

Aug 5 (Island) Not quite, pace Luke, if not the Lord, for when it comes to selling and profiting from real estate the Church of God can be as shrewd as America�s Trump. In The Island last week (July 31), there was a lament, by the Architect Nishan Rasanga Wijetunge, for the Jesuit Chapel at Clifford Place, in Bambalapitiya, which apparently is being sold for its land value and will soon be visited upon by the wrecking ball and the bulldozer to make room for yet another high-rise in Colombo. more..

Aug 5 (Island) People�s minds are agog these days about, bribery, narcotics, politics and death sentence. Bribery is a cancer that has eaten into the social fabric of our country. Little wonder when we see it emanating from the highest levels of those in governance�details are too well known that I do not need to elaborate here. The spate of detections of highly placed officials recently of course deserves a bouquet to Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC). more..

Aug 5 (ST) As the Police struggle to maintain law and order in the North amidst increasing incidents of sword gangs terrorising the region, Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran has proposed that if the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) is given police powers, he can bring the situation under control within two months. Responding to media queries on the current situation in the North, CM claimed that if adequate Tamil speaking personnel were more..

Aug 5 (EN) The govt is expected to further tighten vehicle imports after sharply raising customs duty on small hybrid cars that fuelled a widening trade deficit and mounted pressure on the exchange rate, officials said. Minister Mangala Samaraweera announced the higher taxes on the smallest car segment of cars which has seen a huge jump after his green, clean policy of encouraging hybrid/electric vehicles in his budget for 2018. more..

Aug 5 (ST) The Attorney General has referred 2 high profile cases to the Chief Justice, seeking a direction on whether criminal proceedings in respect of them should be instituted in the newly set up Permanent High Court-at-Bar. One of these cases involves former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the other involves former Magistrate Tilina Gamage. Case against Mr. Rajapaksa and 5 others concern the allocation of almost more..

Aug 5 (EN) Sri Lanka has to open factor markets and look for innovation led inspirational based on output-led expansion as the ability to engage in rapid catch up growth is rapidly dimining, a top economist has said. The first stage of growth involves a poor country catching up with more advanced economies, using inputs like cheap labour and land, or perspiration. "Once you become middle-income, especially upper middle income more..

Aug 5 (CT) An international animal rights group has urged tourists visiting Sri Lanka to refuse to ride elephants, avoid visiting any attraction that offers or endorses elephant rides, and also to steer clear of festivals in which elephants are paraded. The UK website of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in an article published on Thursday titled Sri Lanka�s Shameful Elephant Abuse condemned the use of elephants for more..

Aug 5 (CT) Millions of rupees in cash, had been handed out to all political parties during the past elections, by a number of entities, including foreign investors, local businessmen and others. Donations have been made to charitable organizations run by the spouses of leading politicians, such as the wife of former Minister Basil Rajapaksa. Several MPs have admitted to accepting cheques from Perpetual Treasuries owner Arjun Aloysius for their more..

Aug 5 (SO) Revelations in open court by the head of the CID about how a high ranking official in the Attorney General�s Department had interfered in a probe led by his men into the abductions of 11 Tamil youth in 2008, allegedly by Sri Lanka Navy personnel, sent shock-waves through the legal community this week. In open court last Tuesday, CID Director SSP Shani Abeysekera alleged that the lawyer now appearing for more..

Aug 5 (CI) South Africa sealed a second successive ODI series win in Sri Lanka and 11th consecutive victory over their opponents, dating back to July 2014, after scoring the highest total on the island and dismissing the hosts inside 46 overs. South Africa now hold an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series and, in complete contrast to the Tests that preceded this, are becoming more dominant with each performance. more..

Aug 5 (Island) Minister Champika Ranawaka says the govt has allocated Rs. 50 billion for the development of Kataragama sacred city. No other govt has undertaken a development program of this magnitude in the past. Minister was speaking at a meeting in the Vedasiti Kanda area after inspecting the construction work of a proposed recreation center and park at sylvan shrine in Sellakataragama. Continuing, he noted that more..

Aug 5 (SO) The Office of Missing Persons has decided to step in to fund the excavations of a suspected mass grave site in Mannar as long as necessary, in the first major step by the permanent office to investigate and trace disappeared people in Sri Lanka in accordance with its mandate. The grave site currently under forensic excavation under the Sathosa building in Mannar has so far revealed the skeletal remains of more..

Aug 6 (CT) When Pay-packets of MPs became a news headline, the uproar was immediate, disgust vast and anger boundless. The speaker has said that no final decision has been reached on the matter. The proposal is for an upward revision of what we pay the elected representatives in the sovereign, august temple of our democracy, which is subject to running repairs since 2015 by a govt that promised good governance. The key phrase is no final decision. more..

Aug 6 (CT) Last week, I was invited to a wedding in Bridgetown. My regular drinking partner, the Sri Lankan Tamil fellow Sivapuranam Thevaram�s son Samaanthiram was getting married. Thinking it was going to be a Hindu wedding, where rituals are performed around a fire, I turned up with a portable fire extinguisher. Such is the level of health and safety training I have been given in my day job. Welcoming the guests and congratulating the bride and groom, Thevaram said more..

Aug 6 (CT) Govt MP Vijayakala Maheswaran on Friday charged that the South was responsible for supplying drugs to the North and that the menace had increased with the end of the separatist conflict in 2009. She alleged that narcotics were moving freely from the South of the country to the North with the massive support of errant lawmakers. She was speaking at the launch of a new trophy for a soccer tournament more..

Aug 6 (SO) The relationship between SL�s military politics is a topic that gets occasional media attention. However, there is hardly any serious scholarly work on the subject, despite the fact that maintaining a framework of balance in civil-military relations during and after the civil war has surely been a major policy preoccupation among the country�s civilian political leaders. This essay attempts to map out some key features of the recent dynamics in SL�s civil-military relations. more..

Aug 6 (SO) Mahinda Deshapriya is an outspoken man. The former Commissioner of Elections and now head of the National Elections Commission (NEC) has declared that Parliament has to sort out the mess it has got itself into over the Provincial Council elections and that he cannot do anything about it. His declaration has got the JO and its political proxy, the SSLPP in a huff. Its nominal Chairman, former Minister & Prof of Law, G.L. Peiris who is now acting as His Master�s Voice more..

Aug 6 (SO) MP Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera, a militant campaigner who was in the forefront to oust the Rajapaksa regime said that it is totally out of the question for him to promote the incumbent President or to bring Rajapaksa back to power. Ven. Rathana Thera said if it is the same old Mahinda Rajapaksa or Gotabaya Rajapaksa to be voted to power, it has no political significance at all as far as the country is concerned. more..

Aug 6 (Island) Under the proposed draft constitution, there will be no executive presidency and no more presidential elections. Hence the system of electing MPs to parliament becomes all important. Furthermore, changing the system of electing MPs to Parliament so as to ensure stable govts was the main precondition for abolishing the executive presidency because the present proportional representation system in 30 years of operation and seven parliamentary elections, had allowed more..

Aug 6 (ST) If this scarcely believable nugget of information, buried deep in paragraph 41 of the recently released Sri Lanka report of UN Special Rapportuer on Countering Terrorism, Ben Emmerson, that only three indictments have been filed against torture perpetrators under the Convention Against Torture Act (CAT Act, 1994) since 2010, is actually true, we should hang our heads in shame. This was a law that had promised to turn Sri Lanka�s sluggish (to put it mildly) more..