Sep 16 (ST) My dear Green Man, I thought I would write to you because of what you recently said about the Greens, and also what Maithri appears to have said about you. I felt that they were both extremely important statements, and many people are concerned about them � so I thought I should let you know what people think. Firstly, we heard you tell your party faithful that you have groomed a second tier of leaders for the Greens who will take over the party. more..

Sep 16 (ST) Kussi Amma Sera had walked into the OPD of a private Colombo hospital and was slapped with a near 2500-rupee bill for consultation and hospital charges. The drugs from the hospital pharmacy cost another 3,000 rupees. Buddu Ammo was her gut response, when describing her recent experience to her friend, Serapina, as they sat in the garden this Thursday morning. Her experience is a common one. Everyone complains about the cost of drugs and if you have to get admitted to more..

Sep 16 (Island) Last week, a special cabinet meeting was held to discuss among other things the move by the CID to arrest the highest ranking military officer in the land and 24 hours later, a political activist made public, recordings of a senior police officer plotting the murder of the incumbent President and a possible Presidential candidate. The unbridled power that was given to the police to do just as they pleased with the government becoming increasingly dependent on the police for more..

Sep 16 (Island) Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was a piece of legislation introduced in 1979 by the then UNP govt at the very incipient stages of what turned out to be a civil war that shook the entire world. It provided a part of the legal framework necessary to fight terrorism to a finish. Hence it earned the ire of those who did not want to see Sri Lanka winning the war. It would not be incorrect to say that the PTA is by far most reviled piece of legislation on Sri Lanka�s law books more..

Sep 16 (CT) The United States (US) earlier last week launched a blistering verbal attack against the International Criminal Court (ICC) and threatened sanctions against its Judges if they proceed with a probe into alleged war crimes by Americans in Afghanistan. Prez Donald Trump�s National Security Adviser, John Bolton made the announcement in a speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative group, in Washington, DC, on 10 Sept. more..

Sep 16 (ST) Despite being hampered by injuries to three players in Adeesha Weeratunga (head), Gayan Weeraratne (hamstring) and Kavindu Perera (shoulder) during the game itself, a compact Sri Lanka crushed Philippines by 40 points (six tries, five conversions) to 12 (2tries, 1 conversion) here in Happy Valley, Hong Kong yesterday to claim third place in the first leg of the Asian Sevens Series 2018. Japan defeated Hong Kong 12- nil in the Cup final. more..

Sep 16 (SO) Just when almost everything appeared to be brought under control and SL�s cricketing stables on the threshold of a hyped-up change, the seemingly relative peace was shattered when the Chief Financial Officer of Sri Lanka Cricket directed its commercial partner Sony Television to deposit US$ 5.5 million to a bank in Hong Kong in what some analysts say was the widest ball ever bowled. The money, totalling nearly Rs.900 million in Sri Lanka currency which is enough to more..

Sep 16 (Island) Some diligent officials employed by Sri Lanka Cricket, who have been loyal servants of the board for well over a decade, earlier this week saved the sport from financial bankruptcy when they averted a major scam that would have been a killer blow to the game. The game of cricket in the country survives thanks to the multimillion dollar television deals SLC has entered into with international television companies. more..

Sep 16 (CT) Long Jumper Janaka Wimalasiri (8.07m) and quarter miler Nadeesha Ramanayaka were adjudged best athletes for their impressive performances at the Defence Services Athletics Championship concluded at Sugathadasa Stadium yesterday. Army dominated the three-day event as they won 34 Gold medals, while Air Force finished second with seven Gold medals. Navy only managed five Gold medals. Army collected 158 points, while Air Force (40) and Navy (28) more..

Sep 16 (SO) Beleaguered Sports Minister Faiszer Mushtapha may be having his plate full or bitten off more than he can chew, but it seems he�s got a huge appetite for problem solving with his latest episode trying to upset the apple cart at Sri Lanka Rugby. Early this week he met representatives from two clubs Kandy SC and CH and FC who wanted him to intervene and persuade SL Rugby to change a policy decision taken to have a foreign player in four lower rung clubs for upcoming season. more..

Sep 16 (AM) Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), in its latest report, has forecasted that the party backed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa will win the next Presidential and Parliamentary election. The country report on Sri Lanka, generated as premium content by the London based international research outfit on Sept 10, forecasts on a wide range of subjects in political and economic sectors. more..

Sep 16 (CI) They came in huge numbers with the Lasith Malinga wig, only to find out the long locks had been chopped shorter. And while the disappointment of Sri Lanka's hiding left the fans sour, they went back with some consolation - of having watched their dear Slinga take flight again. The kiss of the ball as he ran in - check. The late movement - check. The roar and fist pump after a wicket - check. Two wickets in an over - check. The slow, dipping yorker - check. more..

Sep 16 (ST) Sri Lanka crushed Hong Kong by 3 sets to nil in the First Asian Men�s Volleyball Challenge Cup Tournament at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium yesterday. The Asian Volleyball Confederation is conducting the tournament. This is the first time that a senior volleyball tournament is being held in Sri Lanka. Eight teams are taking part in this tournament. They are: Iraq, Bangladesh, Mongolia, UAE, Hong Kong, Malaysia , Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and Sri Lanka. more..

Sep 16 (CI) Mushfiqur Rahim's sublime 144 hauled Bangladesh kicking and screaming to 261, then a fired-up Mashrafe Mortaza set in motion a Sri Lanka collapse, and the first match of the Asia Cup soon turned into a thrashing - Bangladesh claiming victory by 137 runs, after Sri Lanka crashed to 69 for 7, then 124 all out. A third Bangladesh senior had also played an impressive role in the victory. more..

Sep 16 (ST) United Professional�s Movement (UPM), a group representing SL professionals and which is opposed to bilateral agreements, is set to secure its future as a mainstream political party. Aimed at drafting policy through the establishment of clusters of the different professionals, the new political movement also hopes to become a think tank. UPM will establish a political party and put forward candidates representing the views of the professionals that would guide more..

Sep 16 (DM) The agricultural ministry had signed an agreement with China in 2016 to export more than 10,000 tons of bananas but it had failed to export at least a kilo of bananas after two years, former Agricultural Ministry Additional Secretary Dr. Subaheenkenda said yesterday. He said that according to the agreement, the agricultural ministry was to send a list of 150 banana cultivators to the Chinese govt and added that however, it had failed to prepare a list as yet. more..

Sep 16 (ST) SL�s subsidy bill will balloon in the run-up to crucial elections next year at the risk of over shooting the 2019 budget deficit targets, sources revealed. Treasury officials were preparing a populist budget with huge subsidy expenditure amidst falling govt revenue, mounting public debt and severe balance of payments difficulties. Tax options in the 2019 budget include removing remaining VAT exemptions and more..

Sep 16 (Island) With entrepreneurs being identified as an essential pillar to solve unemployment and help strengthen economic development in a country, the CA Sri Lanka Business Plan Competition, will kick off season 3 next month, in an effort to nurture entrepreneurial skills among the country�s student population. Business Plan Competition - 2019 organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka), for the third consecutive year, is calling for applications more..

Sep 16 (AD) Chief Prelate of the Asgiri Chapter Most Ven. Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thero says that there is a doubt on if there is a need to protect Buddhism from Maha Sangha itself. The Thero made this statement participating at the 2018 Buddhist Literature Festival in Colombo. Thero said that a great calamity has come upon the religion which had been protected for thousands of years. Today there is a problem of whether Buddhism should be safeguarded from our Maha more..

Sep 16 (ST) In a significant move, the Central Bank is to be relieved of its traditional role of raising money to finance govt debt � an issue that came to the fore with the tainted 2015 Treasury bond saga. Henceforth the Treasury will be assigned this role of raising funds for the Govt, without asking the CB to act as its agent, as it does now. In other significant amendments proposed to the Monetary Law Act (MLA), provision is to be made more..

Sep 16 (HCI) In a special ceremony held on Sept 14, 2018, at Batticaloa District, High Commissioner of India H.E. Mr. Taranjit Singh Sandhu dedicated houses built under the Indian Housing Project in Batticaloa for possession by beneficiaries. Govt of India has committed a total of 4000 houses in the Eastern Province. This is in addition to 42000 houses built under grants by Govt of India in the North and 14000 currently constructing also under grants in the Upcountry. more..

Sep 16 (GT) Qatar and SL have witnessed a surge in diplomatic relations in the last three years, Doha Bank CEO Dr R Seetharaman has said during knowledge-sharing session titled 2018 Qatar-SL Bilateral Opportunities held in Doha recently. During the forum, Seetharaman said SL has enjoyed close ties with Qatar, with over 140,000 Sri Lankans in Qatar. �Sri Lanka can support Qatar in food. SL companies are looking to take part in Qatari projects & establish joint ventures in various sectors. more..

Sep 16 (AFP) Prez Sirisena recalled his top envoy to Austria and five other embassy staff for failing to answer his long-distance telephone calls, officials said Saturday. Ambassador Priyanee Wijesekera was given her marching orders after calls made by Sirisena to the embassy in Vienna last week went unanswered for several hours, an official source said. The source declined comment on why Sirisena needed to contact the embassy more..

Sep 16 (DC) Douglas Devananda, 61, is the leader of the Eelam People�s Democratic Party (EPDP) and a MP representing Jaffna. He was a Minister in the Cabinets of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and later Mahinda Rajapaksa. In this interview on the sidelines of his participation in the meetings of the parliamentary delegation from his country in New Delhi, he spoke to Deccan Chronicle on various issues dogging the Tamil people in the Island Nation. more..

Sep 16 (DM) At least 62,528 people from 18,836 families in six divisional secretariat areas have been affected by the prevailing drought in the Puttalam District, Disaster Relief Centre of the Puttalam DS said. It said most of the water holes in the area had dried up resulting in extensive damage to cultivation. Mahakumbukkadawala was the worst affected in the district. The district Disaster Relief Centre said 22,694 people from 7,197 families in Mahakumbukkadawala DC more..

Sep 16 (ST) The Sunday Times is in possession of a copy of the controversial letter which was alleged to have been forwarded to Sony Pictures Networks India requesting an initial payment of US$ 5,564,404.50 for the TV rights of the forthcoming SL vs England series which will take place from Oc 5 to Nov 27. The inside story goes to say � initially when the request letter was received, the first to sound the alarm bells was more..

Sep 16 (ST) Central Bank (CB) took out an unusual newspaper advertisement on Friday seeking public information on the assets and properties owned by directors at the crisis-hit ETI/Swarnavahini Group. The notice by the CB�s Director of Non-Bank Financial Institutions, sought information on monies, properties or other assets owned by Jeewaka Edirisinghe, Nalaka Edirisinghe, Ms. Anjalee Edirisinghe and Asanka Edirisinghe or properties held by a relative of these four parties. more..

Sep 16 (SO) Aides to President Maithripala Sirisena and Foreign Ministry officials sought to clarify reports that SL�s Ambassador to Vienna, Priyani Wijesekera and several embassy staffers had been recalled for failing to answer a call from the President, saying those who were serving on extended terms had just been asked to return. �The Ambassador and several other staff members who were on extended terms have been asked to conclude their tour of duty and return � that�s all,� more..

Sep 16 (ST) A 90-minute emergency Cabinet meeting Thursday appears to have muddied the waters for the coalition, just days ahead of President Sirisena�s New York visit to address the UN General Assembly. As is well known, for the UN, a major focus on SL has been through one of its key agencies, Geneva based UNHRC. A US backed resolution in Sept 2015 over alleged violations of int'l humanitarian law & war crimes, more..

Sep 16 (Island) After a tamasha comes the time of reckoning and by this I mean not the day of judgement, but as an accountant would reckon, the balance sheet � the profit, the loss and the balance. First on the plus side, it was big, not massive but not a flop either. The organisers promised 200,000 and ferried in about 75,000 � you think a bit more? Ok I won�t quarrel. My estimate relies on aerial photos on the web and in the newspapers. If I spent an hour dividing photos into 1cmx1cm counting more..

Sep 16 (Island) SL has a falling rupee and an apparently fading presidency. I will not try to connect the two in a single article, and so will leave the presidency alone until all the legal dust over the JVP�s 20th Amendment (Private Member�s) Bill settles in the Supreme Court. I will stay with the rupee for now, not so much as to Ah, take the Cash and let the Credit go in Omar Khayyam style, but dwell a little on the surprising lack of political fallout from a perpetually falling rupee. more..

Sep 16 (ST) More than 1,000 km of electric fences have been erected by Dept of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) in the last three years alone in an effort to mitigate the impact of the human-elephant conflict, statistics obtained by the Sunday Times through a Right to Information application show. From 2015-2018, the length of electric fencing put up around the country to keep elephants out of human habitation is 1001.6km. more..

Sep 16 (ST) The increasing use of medically-used psychoactive drugs by addicts has placed authorities in a quandary, with few options to control the escalating trend unless new laws are introduced. The National Dangerous Drug Control Board (NDDCB) said the new drugs used by addicts need to be listed in drug control legislation. As the current law does not apply to the new substances there are legal challenges when prosecuting more..

Sep 16 (ST) Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who returned to Colombo on Friday after a visit to India, told Opposition confidants that Premier Narendra Modi appeared to be well briefed on developments in Sri Lanka. �I did not have to tell him anything about what is going on,� he told senior members of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP). Rajapaksa is the de facto leader of the SLPP and was in India for a lecture. more..

Sep 16 (ST) The govt and the Kotelawala Defence University authorities are looking into the various grievances of SAITM students, most notably the payment of fees to KDU, and will follow the university�s policies on the matter, a senior govt official said. �Issues relating to fees to SAITM is something that is not under the purview of the Defence Ministry, however we looked into the matter as best we could, because more..

Sep 16 (EN) President Maithripala Sirisena announced plans to compile an official history of the country�s decades-long separatist war saying that books written by some retired officer were works of self-promotion as war heroes. He did not name names, but said books on the 37-year-old war were projecting the author as the sole hero. The books also reflected the rivalries between senior officers. �While there was close cooperation among more..

Sep 16 (SO) At 3.30 am on Sept 10, Admiral Ravindra Wijeguneratne, the country�s highest ranking military official, boarded a Qatar Airways flight bound for Singapore. The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) was travelling overseas to attend the 208th National Day celebrations in Mexico, according to his Office. The trouble was, Sept 10 was also the day Admiral Wijeguneratne was due to report to the CID to record an official statement regarding more..

Sep 16 (Island) Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa�s private visit to New Delhi last week has helped him establish a personal rapport with Indian PM Narendra Modi, his confidant Prof GL Peiris said. At a dinner at Le Meridien Dr Subramanian Swamy, India�s ruling BJP MP, hosted for his guest Rajapaksa and his team on Thursday night, Peiris said: "Mr Rajapaksa and Mr Modi had a one-on-one meeting. It was cordial & friendly. more..

Sep 16 (Island) A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Priyasath Dep, has heard arguments in the Duminda Silva murder conviction case for 13 days since March 26 this year through July 25 and the hearings have now been concluded with no date set for judgment to be pronounced. The Supreme Court bench comprised the CJ and Justices Buvaneka Aluvihare, Priyantha Jayawardene, Nalin Perera and more..