May 19 (CT) Asian title winning National Netball Coach Thilaka Jinadasa is aiming for another miraculous performance at the forthcoming World Cup as the Sri Lanka team leave for the world�s 18th ranked Botswana tomorrow for a friendly series which Jinadasa hopes will help players to boost their skills ahead of the World Championship. �I�m satisfied with my team and the selections, and I�m very thankful to the Sports Ministry for organising a friendly tournament ahead of the World Cup. more..

May 19 (ST) At the end of the first day�s play against Australia during the second Test in Canberra, Avishka Gunawardene, SL�s stop-gap batting coach, was in the team hotel when two ICC anti-corruption officers walked in and asked for his mobile phones. They said they were following instructions from headquarters. He did not hesitate. He led them to his room, and after telephoning his wife in SL, he handed over both phones. more..

May 19 (SO) The Observer-Mobitel Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year produced its first ever Cambrian who won the top award in Sahan Wijeratne who sported the crown in 2002 some 24 years after the inauguration of the event. The promising cricketer from Prince of Wales became the Observer Schoolboy Cricketer of the Year in 2002, the third in the new millennium after Kaushalya Weeraratne of Trinity College, Kandy in 2000 and Kaushal Lokuarachchi more..

May 19 (Island) Easter Sunday terror attacks have caused a serious setback to SL�s economy. The country is floundering with public life and professional organizations still seeking normalcy to function within their usual routines, says Saman Warusavithana, President-elect of the Organization of Professional Associations (OPA). The pervading atmosphere of gloom has badly affected the economy because of the uncertainty enveloping the country, he told a news conference more..

May 19 (ST) International Olympic Committee (IOC) has warned the Sports Minister not to exercise his powers under the existing Sports Law until it is revised as it goes against the basic principle of 'responsible autonomy� of the Olympic Movement. The warning comes in the wake of Sports Minister�s decision to appoint interim committees to a number of National Federations including the Archery and Judo Federations more..

May 19 (Reuters) Buddhist Sri Lankans marked the festival of Vesak in low key celebrations on Saturday amid heightened religious tensions in the Indian Ocean nation following the deadly Easter Sunday attacks that killed more than 250 people. Vesak, a festival that commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Lord Buddha, is celebrated on a full moon day in May, with the festivities extending for at least a week. But the typical colorful lanterns and brightly-lit shelters with more..

May 19 (AD) Hemas Hospitals has again been victimized as a result of fake news being circulated among the public. Over the past few years, certain individuals with disruptive intentions have circulated a fictitious leaflet alleging that Hemas Hospitals is providing discounts for patients of a specific race or faith. Hemas Hospitals would like to state that this is not true. This fake news is a result of a bogus leaflet which was circulated in the Thalawathugoda area in 2015. more..

May 19 (ST) As a crippling effect of the recent bombings and racial attacks, Chinese companies involved in as much as 40 per cent of construction in the country, have recalled some of their key staff while most other blue collar workers don�t turn up for work, industry officials say. Supervisors and top management including engineers, etc were immediately recalled by the main Chinese companies after bomb attacks more..

May 19 (Island) Sri Lanka chased down a historic series win in Port Elizabeth in February, Kusal Mendis batted like Roy Dias. Those straight drives off Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada with stunning wrist work made people to marvel his batting. In the absence of the team�s two senior most batters � Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal � Mendis took it upon himself to finish the job. His unbeaten 84 won him the Man of the Match award as SL became the first Asian nation to win a series more..

May 19 (ST) The first ODI between touring Sri Lanka and hosts Scotland was abandoned after torrential rain washed out hopes of beginning the match at Edinburgh yesterday. The match was scheduled to begin at 11.00am local time (3.30pm SL time) but rain continued up until 12.30pm, when the cutoff of number of overs begin. Match officials inspected the ground more than once and finally decided to abandone the game, after going through a final check at 8.00pm SL time. more..

May 19 (ST) The last lot in the official list of disgruntled depositors of Golden Key Credit Card Co Ltd (GK) will be getting their 41% repayment of their security deposits soon signalling the end of an over 10-year saga tainted with sorrowful memories, deception, back-stabbing and political interfering. The Treasury will release Rs.500 million to make repayment for 64 security deposit holders remaining to be paid from the financial allocation made more..

May 19 (AD) President Maithripala Sirisena has granted presidential pardon to 762 inmates detained over minor offences today (18), in view of the Vesak Poya Day. The ceremony granting pardon for the prisoners was held at the Welikada Prison Grounds this morning. 736 male detainees and 28 female detainees from 30 prisons across the country, including 117 inmates of the Welikada Prison, 62 inmates from the Pallekele Open Prison, 55 from the Mahara Prison, 50 from A'pura Prison, more..

May 19 (AFP) The active ingredient in Monsanto�s weedkiller Roundup is glyphosate, one of the world�s most widely used herbicides that has become highly controversial because of claims of its links to cancer. A San Francisco court this week ordered Bayer-owned Monsanto to pay more than $2 billion in damages to a couple who claimed the product caused their cancer, in the third such ruling since August 2018. The World Health Organization�s International Agency for Research on Cancer more..

May 19 (ST) Sri Lanka will be taking austerity measures to strengthen financial sector stability in the wake of economic instability inflicted in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday terror. Treasury has already tightened fiscal policy controlling govt expenditure while diverting the cash flow towards meeting out defence expenses. A sum of around Rs.4.12 billion has been set apart for current defence spending in addition to Rs.393 b more..

May 19 (AD) A commemoration was held at Vellamullivaikal today (18), in memory of the Tamil civilians who were killed in the war. Vellamullivaikal was used as a human shield by the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran during the final battle of the war. The commemoration, organized by the TNA and the student union of the University of Jaffna, was held at Vellamullivaikkal beach. Police officers had been deployed to the event to beef up the security at the site. more..

May 19 (SO) Lasith Malinga finished the 2019 IPL by conceding a whopping 438 runs from 12 matches while taking 16 wickets and conceding an economy rate of 9.76 runs per over in the tournament which is the highest conceded by any bowler in the top 25 rankings at the end of the League. Playing for the Mumbai Indians Malinga conceded 20 runs in his third over or 16th over of the innings in the final against Chennai Super Kings that Jasprit Bumrah had to overcome in the following 17th over more..

May 19 (ST) Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana raised concerns of the Sri Lanka Govt � during his visit to Washington DC this week � with his US counterpart, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, on the proposed Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the two countries. SOFA is another controversial agreement the US was proposing to Acquisition and Cross Services Agreement (ACSA) signed first in 2007 & renewed in 2017. more..

May 19 (DM) Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekara visited the Colombo DIG�s Office yesterday morning (18), to record a statement in connection with the recent unrest in the North-Western Province. Jayasekara, who arrived at the DIG�s Office at 9.30 a.m. left three hours later, after his statement was recorded. The SLFP General Secretary has been alleged of bailing out six suspects who had been arrested following the communal riots in Kurunegala. more..

May 19 (DM) A decade of peace, which was an occasion worthy of celebration, has been marred by the resurgence of terrorism in Sri Lanka which has impacted all of us once again, former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said. In a message on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the victory over terrorism, Mr. Rajapaksa said several events which were planned to commemorate the anniversary had been postponed due to the terror attacks. �While we had planned several more..

May 19 (CT) Deputy Leader of the UNP, Minister Sajith Premadasa, dropped a bombshell by demanding the Govt to push democracy and human rights concerns aside for at least a little while, and give priority to defeating terrorism and ensuring national security in the face of a global terrorist threat. In the face of this growing threat, he said the Govt must scrap the Counter Terrorism Act (CTA), and retain the PTA, more..

May 19 (SO) Three disciplines connected with the National Sports Festival are scheduled to be worked off from May 23 to 26 in Anuradhapura. The three disciplines to be worked off during these days are cycling (men and women), marathon and race walking for men and women. On the first day the men�s racing cycle will start off at 9.00 am while the women�s racing event is to take place at 3.00 p.m. Both events are to commence opposite Walisinghe Harischandra stadium and more..

May 19 (ST) Sri Lankans are taking time out during the Vesak weekend and taking up on the highly discounted hotel rates on offer in some parts of the country. In the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings, occupancy in most hotels sank to zero and are found to be turning to SL travellers with prices slashed by 60-80% for this weekend. Most Lankans are found to have booked rooms in locations like the beach front in the South or the cultural triangle but reservations for locations more..

May 19 (ST) When elephants fight, an African proverb says, it is the ants that get crushed. In essence that encapsulates how the small and weak become dangerously vulnerable when big powers fight for dominance and even hegemony. That is Sri Lanka now. President Maithripala Sirisena returned from China on Thursday after adding another explosive chapter to this big nation power play. Abbas was asked three times by more..

May 20 (CT) Abbas Ahmadi, an IT specialist, was rather high in the Afghan provincial civil service. He is of Hazara ethnicity and persecuted by the majority Pashtuns who ironically dominate the ruling faction as well as the rebelling Taliban. The Hazaras are in part the descendants of Genghis Khan and therefore are regarded as Asiatic. Says Abbas that they, the Hazaras, have suffered a lot more than the Tamils of Sri Lanka, having lost 80% of their fertile lands. Abbas was asked three times by more..

May 20 (CT) In May 2009, a bloody war of more than a quarter-century for Tamil Eelam, fought by the LTTE, one of the world�s most ruthless militant movements, reached its bitter end. Mahinda Rajapaksa (MR) thereby achieved what none of his predecessors managed before: to rout the Tigers, who controlled nearly a fourth of the island, and destroy their ranks as a conventional army. While previous govts were playing for a draw, MR govt was playing for a win. more..

May 20 (SO) Three weeks after the April 26 attacks mobs rampaged through the towns of Minuwangoda and Kuliyapitiya attacking Muslim owned houses and businesses. Violence eventually left one person dead. Despite the Easter Sunday attacks the country had till then been relatively calm except for some isolated incidents casting a shadow of doubt on the possibility of sudden occurrences of mob violence in the areas. more..

May 20 (ST) There is much good sense in the assertion by Sri Lanka�s Catholic Church this Friday that despicable communal violence by organised mobs against Muslims in the North Western Province and Minuwangoda a few days earlier was not only politically instigated but also a deliberate attempt to turn public focus away from the shock and horror of the Easter Sunday butchery of worshippers and tourists. And the serious question asked by the Church is repeated by countless more..

May 20 (ST) Morning had broken. The dawn the world and the heavens had for epochs waited to break upon the land, had finally come to pass. And on that Vesak full moon day over 2500 years ago, in the year 623BC, the rising sun sheds its tender early morn light to reveal the scene of a royal litter emerging from the gates of Kapilavasthu, the capital of the Shakyas, in northern India. At the centre of this royal convoy, borne upon a golden palanquin, sits the queen of the domain. more..

May 20 (ST) Before he opted for a career in diplomacy, Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha was a media man. So, he knew that like promoting foreign policy objectives of his country, projecting the real image in a crisis situation is as important. This is why, after the April 21 Easter Sunday carnage, he urged Customs Director General P.S.M. Charles to allow camera crews from reputed international TV channels into SL more..

May 20 (SO) It is a well-worn clich� that, a disaster occurring once may be regarded as a misfortune; when it occurs again, it looks like carelessness. That is quite an apt way to describe the comedy of errors regarding the country�s security situation that is being staged in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bombings that left more than two hundred and fifty persons dead. That the bombings were preventable, if only someone had thought it fit to act on the warnings that were apparently available more..

May 20 (DN) To those of our generation it will appear that Sri Lanka is in a near permanent state of conflict; now hidden, now open, citizen against citizen, brother against brother. There are interruptions to the theme of violence, these breaks are mistaken for peace. In fact, this is the time for feverish preparations, indoctrination, gathering of weapons for the next round of blood-letting. With the passing of years, the challengers change, they age, giving way to younger malcontents; more..

May 20 (Island) Sri Lanka is the fortuitous recipient, even beneficiary, of two enlightenments. The first is bodhi - the Buddha�s awakening, or enlightenment. It is also the much older of the two, divinely pre-ordained to some, and spiritually and ritually cherished by millions of Sri Lankans. The second, European enlightenment, came from the west through colonial conquest and ironically with an admixture of Christianity and secularism. Everything came from elsewhere more..

May 20 (Island) In the aftermath of the IS-linked Easter bomb attacks that left the country riven, Sri Lanka�s govt representatives at the highest level were seen going in different directions � both literally and figuratively speaking. President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday (May 13) suddenly left for Beijing to attend a conference on Asian civilisations. The following day (14) Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana left for Washington DC with another delegation. more..

May 20 (ST) The traumatic incidents of the last few weeks that lashed our nation from that fateful Easter Sunday morning, has grim messages for all sections of our society. By that token, Football is a sport that embraces all races of our nation and has, over the years, united us like few other disciplines have done. From Slave Island in the City, to little Rome in Negombo, to the picturesque cities of Kandy and more..

May 20 (Island) Prez Sirisena�s predilection for making a public display of his compassion is only too well known. Having released 762 prisoners, on May 18, on account of Vesak, he waxed eloquent on the virtues of forgiveness and compassion, recalling that he had even pardoned an LTTE cadre convicted of conspiring to kill him and offered to help the latter with a self-employment project. Some of the television channels which telecast his speech, showed the Prez pardoning more..

May 20 (Island) A decade after the end of the war, Sri Lanka is visibly, and far more than what�s acknowledged or reported openly, reeling from violent conflict. The anti-Muslim riots last week � of a scale, scope and speed of destruction that dwarfed Digana just over a year ago � coupled with the increase of everyday racism and attacks in Negombo, after the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, have kept the country on tenterhooks. The responses are revealing. more..

May 20 (ST) Colombo�s retailers, already suffering in a downbeat market, have experienced a sharp drop in sales in the wake of the April terror attacks, but what happened earlier last week has crippled them even further, adding weight to calls for support for the small businesses and retail shops. The police arrested some people recently after racist mobs attacked Muslim-owned shops in one of the towns where Catholic churches more..

May 20 (Island) Sri Lanka Telecom Group further extended its contribution towards the national development by expanding its services under the Pibidemu Polonnaruwa district development project commenced with the patronage of Prez Sirisena. Several large-scale ICT projects and a large number of other initiatives serving the Polonnaruwa District were vested in the public at an official ceremony held at the Regional Telecom Office & Chandra Manadapaya- Polonnaruwa on 12th May more..

May 20 (SO) The Education Ministry requests parents to send their children to school from Tuesday (21) as the Govt has taken all necessary steps to ensure the security of schools islandwide. At present, the situation in schools is turning out to be normal. The students of a few leading schools in Colombo didn�t attend school during the past few days due to the unnecessary fear created among them, Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam said yesterday. more..