Sep 24 (AFP) Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has declared victory in the Maldives' presidential election Sunday, following a controversial campaign observers said was rigged in favour of strongman President Abdulla Yameen. Solih had the backing of a united opposition trying to oust Yameen but struggled for visibility with the electorate, with local media fearful of falling afoul of heavy-handed decrees and reporting restrictions. "I call on Yameen to respect the will of the people and more..

Sep 24 (Island) Public interest litigation activist Nagananda Kodituwakku has moved the Supreme Court against the CIABOC, its Chairperson (T.B. Weerasuriya) and two Commissioners (Lal Silva and Chandranath Guruge), Director General (Sarath Jayamanne) and the Attorney General (Jayantha Jayasuriya) for their failure to act on the presidential treasury bond probe commission findings. more..

Sep 24 (DM) Archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith today said that the human rights had become the religion among the Western nations. He said so attending the morning service of the St. Matthew�s Roman Catholic Church in Ekala. He said that the human rights were introduced recently but Sri Lankans inclined its through religion for centuries. �Human rights was found recently. If we can live in a correct manner there is no need for human rights. Those who do not practice religion are more..

Sep 24 (DN) The currency depreciation in the face of the US Dollar is not a phenomenon particular to Sri Lanka, but common in many countries in South and East Asia. Therefore, it is very unfair to interpret this tendency as a fault of the Govt, Minister Rauff Hakeem said. He said the currency depreciation rate is much higher in countries such as, India and Indonesia than in Sri Lanka. He said so after participating in a ceremony held at the Badi-ud-Din Mahamud Vidyalaya more..

Sep 24 (PMD) President Maithripala Sirisena arrived at the John F Kennedy International Airport in New York this morning (23) to attend the 73rd Session of UNGA and other important events. He was received by Permanent Representative to the UN, Dr Rohan Perera and officials of the Mission. The President, who arrived in an Emirates flight, was ceremoniously driven to the Lowes Regency Hotel in New York. more..

Sep 24 (DN) SL govt is to ratify the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol this week at the UNGA in New York. President Sirisena, who will be declaring the official consent, left for USA to participate in the UNGA last Saturday. Kigali Amendment was brought into effect in 2016 to substantially reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases or hydro-fluorocarbons (HFCs) by 2030. The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol is legally binding & will come into force from Jan 1, more..

Sep 24 (Island) UPFA General Secretary and Minister Mahinda Amaraweera, called for the arrest of DIG Nalaka de Silva, who is alleged to have conspired to assassinate Prez Sirisena & former Defence Sec Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Amaraweera, a trusted confidant of Prez Sirisena, said that if an ordinary person had been accused of conspiring to kill the Prez, he would have been arrested and thrown behind bars pending an investigation, but the DIG concerned was treated differently. more..

Sep 24 (DM) Constitutional Council (CC), which makes recommendations for the appointments of Independent Commissions and key appointments in the State sector, remain defunct virtually as six out of seven slots reserved for nominated members have not been filled at the moment, it is learnt. The CC is a body that consists of ten members. Seven are nominated members. more..

Sep 24 (DM) The CID has arrested an Indian who visited last Thursday the house of Namal Kumara - operation Director of the Anti Corruption Movement who revealed a conspiracy assassinate President Maithripala Sirisena and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He has been taken into custody following information Namal Kumara gave to the police. Namal has said this Indian national was not known to him. After conspiracy was disclosed in the media, this person had come to see him more..

Sep 24 (Island) Public interest litigation lawyer Nagananda Kodituwakku yesterday told The Island the institutions which had suffered losses due to the bond scams should have moved the Supreme Court against the culprits. Unfortunately, none of them had sought legal redress, Kodituwakku said, pointing out that the JVP and all those political parties and group which represent the interests of the workers owed an explanation why they had not sought SC intervention against the CIABOC. more..

Sep 24 (Island) PM Ranil Wickremesinghe over the weekend claimed that disputes involving the US and other major powers had caused severe difficulties to smaller economies, including Sri Lanka. He attributed the rapid depreciation of the SL rupees to external factors while former President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared that the crisis was due to mismanagement and incompetence. more..

Sep 25 (CT) Prez Sirisena�s recent public statement that he will make a special request to the UNGA and the UNHRC to drop war crimes charges against his troops to settle the issue of accountability is outrageous and must be censured. It is also feared that Prez Sirisena�s calculated plan is to link the release of the long-held Tamil political prisoners who are yet to be charged, to a general amnesty for all including those from the military responsible for brutality, mass killings and war crimes. more..

Sep 25 (ST) Restraining non-essential imports are imperative to reduce the massive trade deficit that is heading to over US$ 10 billion this year. Taming the growth of non-essential imports, such as gold and vehicles, is crucial to reduce the trade deficit to a manageable level. Increased imports have more than counterbalanced the gains in export growth and expanded the trade deficit to huge proportions in 2017 and in the first half of this year. Despite an impressive growth in exports this year, more..

Sep 25 (SO) A father who struggled for three long years to get his only son released from a high security prison in Maldives, today lies paralysed on a bed. In his mind he is nothing but a failure. The unspoken and long contained grief that welled up for so long finally, gave way rupturing one of the veins on his head and reducing him to a mere invalid who couldn�t even help himself. Being the only man in the family who could speak in more..

Sep 25 (CT) The parliamentary committee headed by PM Ranil Wickremesinghe that was established to look into the provincial delimitation report has requested that they be given a further two months to submit their recommendations for electoral reform. The PM had assured that steps would be taken to avoid loop holes that might delay provincial elections further. These assurances are a repeat of what has been promised for the past several months since provincial elections were first postponed. more..

Sep 25 (ST) As though the unending teledramas played on our small-screens fail to provide enough tragic-comedies to titillate a jaded public, our Foreign Ministry has been quietly but surely making its own farcical contribution to SL�s theatrical tradition. It is not often that a ministry which once enjoyed a healthy reputation at home and abroad for its intellectual input to international affairs, the capabilities and professional competence of its diplomats is reduced to what Maxim Gorky more..

Sep 25 (Roar) SL has about 19.5 million credit and debit cards in use in the country, according to Visa SL Country Manager Anthony Watson. That�s a lot of cards for a population of 21 million. This makes Sri Lanka possibly one of the largest cashless countries in South Asia. This is a good thing in that it positions SL as ready to move into a cashless economy, with growth in sectors like tourism, apparel, and even ICT & software, more..

Sep 25 (Island) So, the brilliant minds in the cricket administration and the yahapalana govt have identified what caused the recent Asian Cup debacle. They are of the considered view that it was Angelo Mathew�s captaincy! Mathews has been asked to resign as the skipper, taking the full responsibility for the trouncing. Mathews got it right when he said he had been made a scapegoat. True, the sins of all others have been laid on him, but he is lucky that unlike the proverbial scapegoat more..

Sep 25 (CT) Salary of a Colombo Municipal Councillor to be increased by Rs 20,000 and the Salaries of MPs to be increased are two news items that have gotten a lot of traction from people. Politicians are paid by the public, through taxes, and thus increase of their salary means that more of our taxes will go to maintain them. I doubt that many would mind giving them a salary hike, if they are doing their job well. Essentially an elected representative has to look after more..

Sep 25 (GV) The Sri Lankan rupee has depreciated against the US dollar on several occasions this year first on June 11 and then on June 20, when its value stood at Rs. 161.17. Reports that the value of the rupee was falling again began the week of September 17, when it was at Rs. 165.34, and continued till the 21st, where it now stands at Rs. 170.56 against the dollar. In the past few months, the media has reported continuing currency depreciation. more..

Sep 25 (CT) CH third row forward Sudarshana Muthuthanthri has been reappointed to lead the National Seven-a-side rugby team for the second leg of the Asian Sevens Series to be held in South Korea on 29 and 30 September. Muthuthanthri missed the first leg of the Series held last week in Hong Kong due to a fractured wrist that he sustained at the Asian Games, and in his absence the team was led by Srinath Sooriyabandara. Sri Lanka ended-up in third place. more..

Sep 25 (Island) Central Bank records show that in 1950, the average Rupee value of a US Dolllar was Rs. 4.76 and that it was retained at that rate for over one and a half decades till 1966. With the foreign exchange crunch that hit Sri Lanka in the decade of the 1960s, the average price of a US Dollar rose by ten cents to Rs. 4.86 in 1967 and a decade later by 1977, it had risen to Rs. 8.87. With the opening up of the economy, more..

Sep 25 (NR) Sri Lanka Customs says a quarantine certificate from respective countries of purchase should be presented at the airport to allow plants, vegetables, fruits, animals and meat items to be brought into the country. All such items or animals that are brought into the country without a quarantine certificate will be directed to the quarantine officers to be confiscated and destroyed. The measure was implemented to prevent the possibility of the spread of certain diseases more..

Sep 25 (Island) Politics and administration are different arms of govt. In Sri Lanka today, the focus on a day-to-day basis is on politics. Administration is a neglected subject. The dominance of politics has made politicians infiltrate the administrative machinery of govt. In other words, after 1972/77, administration has been politicized and it continues to this day. Administrative tasks, like the supervision of project implementation, are now handled by politicians and they are paid for it. more..

Sep 25 (Island) SLPP Chairman Prof. G.L. Peiris, said that post-war Sri Lanka�s economic woes couldn�t be blamed on the revival of the US economy, the imposition of US sanctions on Russia and Iran as well as trade war between the US and China and US and Canada. Prof. Peiris was responding to PM�s declaration, that the rapid depreciation of rupee was due to investors returning to the US. more..

Sep 25 (EN) Maldives opposition leader Ibrahim Solih beat China-backed strongman Abdulla Yameen, who had jailed opposition leaders and SC judges, in a surprise victory amid SL-style debt distress fears. Under Yameen, relations deteriorated with India, a country which it had good relations since independence, amid greater Chinese involvement in the Maldives. There have been fears that easy debt taken from China to build infrastructure may de-stabilize state finances, more..

Sep 25 (EN) State and private banks have approved 49.17 billion rupees of subsidieze credit to 22,957 persons under an Enterprise Sri Lanka branded program where tax payers pay part of the interest, the finance ministry said. There were 16 programs including three financed from foreign lenders. The ADB is financing an 8 billion rupee program for rooftop solar. There have been 6,022 loans under Ran Aswenna scheme for farming where 5 to 750 million rupees of credit is given. more..

Sep 25 (Island) JO MP and SLPP spokesman Rohitha Abeygunawardena, maintained that lawmakers had been entitled to perks and privileges since the time of the first executive President JR Jayewardene. He claimed that such privileges had been bestowed by the Constitution. He recalled Jayewardene govt importing cars and jeeps from Japan for lawmakers. We sought an explanation from Abeygunawardena more..

Sep 25 (FT) Representatives from nine countries will be attending an international conference from 27 to 30 Sept to mark the 20th anniversary of the Colombo Declaration on Media Freedom and Social Responsibility organised by Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) in partnership with its constituent partners, UNESCO and the Royal Norwegian Embassy. The conference will also coincide with the UN designated International Day for the Universal Access to Information (IDUAI). more..

Sep 25 (TT) There are places with a story, and there are places that tell a story. Sigiriya in Sri Lanka is a bit of both, and you might as well have a hard time choosing between the two. Some believe it to be the site of a former, prominent Buddhist monastery while some legends say that this is where Ravana, from the famous epic Ramayana, had his palace! The place, as it stands today, is a humongous, rock plateau that is often referred to as the eighth wonder of the world. more..

Sep 25 (CT) Charges have been mounted against Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Selection Committee Chairman, Graeme Labrooy, for turning his attention towards being a match referee in another international cricket tournament while Sri Lanka was participating in the all important Asian Cup cricket tournament, which is considered as the most prestigious cricket tournament in the Asian zone. While SL was being knocked out from more..

Sep 25 (DM) State Minister Ruwan Wijewardene rejected allegations made by the opposition that the govt was undermining the security forces and said the present govt, unlike any other previous govt, had done more for the welfare of the security forces personnel. He said at the function to mark the opening of D S. Senanayake Gama in Hambantota. �We have resolved 70% of the pension issues which the security forces have. Together with Housing Ministry, we have built houses for them. more..

Sep 25 (FT) With over 700 innovations on display, Spark �18, an innovation and invention exhibition organised by Royal College, will take centre stage from 25 to 28 Sept at the Royal College premises. Dubbed as the largest innovation exhibition to take place in SL, Spark �18 will have a variety of innovations and inventions conceptualised by school children from the ages of eight to 18, with the aim of inculcating an innovative culture amongst them. The exhibition will not only showcase innovations more..

Sep 25 (DM) If a sniper rifle belonging to the Police Department has gone missing it is a serious matter, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa told the media. "If such weapons go missing from institutions such as the Police it causes much concern because nobody knows against whom will be used. It is a dangerous situation when one hears the news that the Prez and former defense secretary are to be assassinated. more..

Sep 25 (NR) The govt has congratulated Common Opposition candidate Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on securing victory following the Presidential election in the Maldives. Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Sri Lanka commend the Maldivian govt and the people of the Maldives for the conduct of a successful election process that was free, fair, and peaceful. The Foreign Ministry added that the govt is looking forward to working closely with the President-elect and the people of the Maldives more..

Sep 25 (CI) 18-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues reeled off her second consecutive half-century, with allrounder Anuja Patil also hitting her maiden fifty in the format at the other end, as India breezed to a target of 135 with seven wickets in hand, in the fourth T20I against Sri Lanka, in Colombo. In a match shortened to 17 overs due to a wet outfield, Sri Lanka had batted fearlessly, with Shashikala Siriwardene and Chamari Atapattu propelling the hosts with a 52-run third-wicket stand more..

Sep 25 (DM) IGP Pujith Jayasundara, who is facing an investigation over allegations levelled against him, is scheduled to leave for the UK to undergo a training programme under the Scotland Yard, Law and Order Deputy Minister Nalin Bandara said. Deputy Minister Bandara, Ministry Secretary Padmasiri Jayamanne, Senior Assistant Secretary M. Sooriyapperuma and DIG Mahesh Senaratne are scheduled to go along with IGP on Sept 30. more..

Sep 25 (CT) Heavy rain falls can be expected in the Polonnaruwa District during the evenings while showers are also expected in the Uva, Sabaragamuwa, Southern and Central Provinces. These showers will continue for four to five days or more, the Department of Meteorology said. �Light rain with thundershowers can be expected over most parts of the island, including in the Colombo, Kalutara, Galle and Matara Districts particularly in the afternoon or evening,� more..

Sep 25 (TG) Sri Lanka police on Friday filed an injunction in an attempt to prevent an event commemorating Lt Col Thileepan's fast unto death. The event is currently being planned for Sept 26 to take place in Nallur, Jaffna. The police allege the event is for a member of a 'terrorist organisation banned in Sri Lanka and many countries' and have also sought a court order to remove red and yellow banners and a photograph of Thileepan placed at his memorial site in Nallur. more..