Jan 26 (TM) Speculation was rife on Friday in market circles that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director General Vajira Wijegunawardane would be replaced shortly with the current SEC Director � Litigation Chinthaka Mendis. Wijegunawardane was appointed DG in Apr 2015 and was an investment analyst and fund manager for 10 years before joining the SEC. Mendis has been an Attorney-at-Law for over 20 years while being involved in regulatory affairs, more..

Jan 26 (ST) Most respondents to a Business Times (BT) poll this week, assessing the new govt�s performance so far, gave a mixed response while on the topic of the cost of living the majority view was that the administration had failed to bring down prices. The survey which posed four questions and requested a Yes (Y), No (N) or Unsure (U) answer, sought responses on the performance, economic policies, more..

Jan 26 (ST) The Yachting Associationof Sri Lanka (YASL), the National sports body for the sport of Sailing held the its Nationals 2019 on December 28 and 29 at the Crow Island Sea Front. Vice Admiral Piyal de Silva, Commander of the SL Navy, was the chief guest at this significant annual event. The Sri Lanka Navy not only participated with great success, winning multiple events, but also facilitated in all organisational aspects. This year saw and welcomed a record number of 86 sailors more..

Jan 26 (AD) President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has directed the Secretary to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and SriLankan Airlines to take necessary steps to repatriate all Sri Lankan students in Wuhan, China, says the President�s Media Division. The cost of flight tickets of these students will be borne by the government, the President has said. Meanwhile, the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing is providing the necessary advice to the Sri Lankan students in Wuhan to protect themselves from infection. more..

Jan 26 (AD) Former IGP Pujith Jayasundara, testifying before the PCoI probing the Easter Sunday terror attacks, stated that the politicians exert their influence police matters to push their agendas. Escorted by prison officers, IGP arrived at Prez Commission premises at around 10 am this morning (25) to record a statement with the panel for the first time. The panel has asked Jayasundara if he verbally instructed the CID more..

Jan 26 (TM) Colombo Chamber of Commerce (CCC) has requested Prez Rajapaksa to extend the moratorium provided to local SMEs from loans obtained from licensed banks to finance companies as well. �The upper limit cap should be restricted to Rs. 3 million to ensure that the finance companies are not overexposed in supporting the lower tier of SMEs,� said CCC President Saranga Wijeyarathne. The lower tier of the SMEs has obtained loans from finance companies as the scheduled banks more..

Jan 26 (ST) With the govt determining that the wage hike of estate workers is to be effective from March 1, the plantation companies were in discussion this week on a new model. Should the companies come up with a methodology of a means of earning more, it would amount to a win-win situation for both parties, observers note. New wage hike though made mandatory for those covered under the Collective Agreement, however, industry opines this could have a ripple effect on other sectors more..

Jan 26 (TM) Airport and Aviation Services (SL) Ltd. (AASL) has suspended the awarding of a tender to a French company which has a dubious record internationally. AASL Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) had been considering the awarding of a planned radar system in Piduruthalagala to a French company called Thales Group, despite its chequered history, until the intervention of AASL Chair G.A. Chandrasiri. more..

Jan 26 (ST) A special team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be arriving in Sri Lanka in March to reach a staff level understanding on the seventh and final review on the US$1.5 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF), official sources said. They will meet with PM and Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and various stakeholders and be appraised of Sri Lanka�s ongoing efforts to bring the economic reform programme back on track following the Presidential election 2019. more..

Jan 26 (CT) The outbreak of the novel Coronavirus has resulted in the cancellation of some major sporting events due to take place in China, while placing a doubt on several other scheduled events, including the Asian Athletics Indoor Championship, where 7 SL Athletes were named to compete. The Asian Indoor Athletics Championship 2020 is to be held in two weeks' time (Feb 12-13) in Hangzhou, China which is 700 km away from Wuhan, ground zero for Coronavirus outbreak. more..

Jan 26 (ST) The assets of Rienzie Mahesh Kumara Edwards and his wife, Punya Priyanji Menike Edwards, two suspects in an international money laundering case, were frozen on Friday by the Financial Crimes Investigation Unit (FCIU) of the CID, police confirmed. The order pertains to bank accounts and properties. Mr Edwards and his wife are now prevented from withdrawing the monies or making financial gain from their properties, more..

Jan 26 (DM) The two factions of the United National Party (UNP) are reportedly in a tussle to get control of the party�s Working Committee, which is the main decision-making body. The members of the working committee are appointed every year buth the party is yet to appoint members for the current year. In the outgoing Working Committee, there were 69 members and according to the party constitution, party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has the discretion to nominate 20 members. more..

Jan 26 (DM) Parliamentary High Post Committee (HPC) is reported to have cleared former Supreme Court Judge Eva Wanasundara as the SL ambassador to France and Dr. Nalin de Silva as the envoy to Myanmar. Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa handpicked them as ambassadors earlier. The Committee, chaired by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and represented by MPs from the govt and the opposition, interviewed them on Wednesday with the Foreign Ministry now having to refer more..

Jan 26 (AD) Two women have been admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) on suspicion of being infected with the wide-spreading coronavirus. However, health officials stressed that it is yet to be confirmed that these two women are indeed contaminated by the deadly virus, which originated in the city of Wuhan in China and already killed 41. Director of IDH, Dr. Asitha Attanayake stated that a SL medical student more..

Jan 26 (ST) Govt is planning to remove a vital clause in the Electricity Act which requires the declaration of the lowest cost on long term generation plans in a bid to go through two controversial coal power plant projects. Any exclusion of a declaration of the lowest cost could impact on the cost of the project and have a knock-on effect on the unit price of electricity. The plan to amend the Electricity Act has been made on the grounds that the law as it stands today is more..

Jan 26 (ST) During the Presidency of Maithripala Sirisena from Jan 8, 2015 to Nov 16, 2019, Rs 25.293 billion was used for various development projects in his Polonnaruwa district as direct govt expenditure through various state agencies besides foreign funded projects. This information was obtained by the Sunday Times through a RTI query. According to the information provided by the Presidential Secretariat, a 5-year long ambitious programme called Pibidemu Polonnaruwa more..

Jan 26 (TM) Forensic Audit (FA) reports on the CB Treasury Bond Scam, tabled in Parliament last week, states that there was no evidence to prove any collusion between former CB Governor Arjuna Mahendran and Perpetual Treasuries Ltd. (PTL) Head Arjun Aloysius. The fourth FA report � Investigation on Issuance of Treasury Bonds and Remittance of Funds to the General Treasury During 1 Feb 2015 to 31 March 2016 � states that more..

Jan 26 (TM) The TNA, which has a strong vote base among the Tamils in the North and East, is now considering contesting the upcoming election in Colombo. Last week, the party had held a meeting in Colombo chaired by TNA Leader R. Sampanthan & ITAK Leader Mavai Senathirajah. Meeting mainly focused on the ITAK and matters related to the parliamentary election scheduled to be held around April or May. The TNA has not taken a final decision on contesting in Colombo, but if it does, more..

Jan 26 (ST) Central Bank will forward the complete forensic audits on the Treasury bond issue to Parliament together with annexures and exhibits, Governor W.D. Lakshman said. He said that in line with a request made by Parliament, the CB�s Monetary Board had approved releasing the complete forensic audits to Parliament. The decision to forward the complete forensic audit reports to Parliament comes after MPs from both the Govt and Opposition raised issue this week that more..

Jan 26 (ST) On the verge of a split down the middle, rival leaders of the UNP, which leads a depleted main opposition now, are locked in intense discussions to remain one entity. Yet another meeting on the issue is set for tomorrow (Monday). Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is not going anywhere yet and will remain the leader of the party. He contends that he had made many concessions to the rival faction promoting Sajith Premadasa more..

Jan 26 (CT) Any critical assessment of Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa must take into consideration the salient characteristics that make him stand out from the run-of-the-mill politicians who had occupied the peaks of power. The first notable characteristic is that he is the first head of state to come from the SL diaspora. Initially it was a disadvantage tangled in legalities of citizenship. Later it smoothened out and has been an invaluable asset to him. His existential experiences as an expat in America more..

Jan 27 (CT) The political phone call syndrome is fast leading to a hunt culture that seeks to sweep into hiding the reality of politics and its manipulation of law and order in the SL democracy. The Ranjan Ramanayake situation, arising from the questionable exposure of telephone call recordings, raises many questions on the trend of democracy today, and also in the past, especially in the past four plus decades, in the country that was Asia�s first to vote in a democratic govt in the late 1930s. more..

Jan 27 (ST) Ranjan Ramanayake tapes saga continues to be the hot topic on people�s lips, no matter what other issues exist in the country. The scandal is such that even those who have no connection to it cannot escape its overarching influence. Journalists themselves are starting to find this out the hard way when they try to get stories. Not only their close contacts, but even Govt officials and others who journalists need to speak to more..

Jan 27 (ST) If the croaking of frogs signal imminent rain in the offing, then the occasional rumble of CEB officials followed by attending claps of thunder boomed as warnings by their heavily tutored and house trained minister portend the call for the indispensable need for another coal plant or two to avert power cuts and prevent the age of darkness from settling on the land. Last month when a deluge of rain fell on the land just before the advent of Christmas, an engineer at the CEB brought more..

Jan 27 (ST) Notwithstanding understandable wrath that Sri Lankans may feel over political betrayals of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe coalition during 2015-2019, the way forward does not lie in giving sweeping majorities to any political force in the upcoming General Elections. True, the scorching fury of good governance being replaced by no-governance to the extent that Islamist jihadists were emboldened to strike at hotels and churches on Easter Sunday leaving death and destruction more..

Jan 27 (CT) They were childhood mates from pre-school and thereon and lived in the same village in Badanagoda rural Beruwala. The 28-year-old student, Rosani Kanchana was on the home stretch in her medical studies and was set to pass out as a doctor of Medicine within the next three months. If she had successfully gone beyond the post in her medical endeavours within the next few weeks, 28-year-old Kanchani would more..

Jan 27 (SO) Picking the most valuable player in a cricket tournament may be a tad easier than picking the most effective talent in a political entity, particularly a relatively new one. Or a new governing coalition. But if we put the idea to a test, would there be general agreement on the most valuable player on the side of the new SLPP led political forces? This writer remembers penning an opinion piece around the beginning of the second Mahinda Rajapaksa tenure as President, more..

Jan 27 (Island) The 19th Amendment was introduced to rid the police, etc., of political interference, but nothing of the sort happened. The Constitutional Council (CC) was set up to ensure the independence of the police among other state institutions, but it too served as a rubber stamp for the yahapalana govt. It was packed with members loyal to the UNP-led administration. IGP Pujith Jayasundera, currently on compulsory leave and in remand custody, has told the PCoI probing more..

Jan 27 (CT) Daya Gamage worked at the American Embassy in Colombo, as the Sole Foreign Service National and as a Political Specialist with Dr. Robert Boggs, who in recent times served as Professor of South Asian Studies at the Near East South Asia Centre for Strategic Studies at US National Defence University, from 1989 to 1993. Dr. Boggs was the Foreign Service Political Counsellor while Daya Gamage was the Foreign Service National Political Specialist. more..

Jan 27 (Island) In a hard-hitting editorial, The Island, on 22nd Jan, following a decision taken by the Malaysian government to send back 150 containers of plastic waste to 13 countries, including Sri Lanka, condemned the dumping of the garbage in the developing countries, since China banned the import of plastic waste in 2018. Of the 150 containers, 43 to France, 42 to the UK, 17 to the USA, 11 to Canada, 10 to Spain and the rest to Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Portugal, China, Bangladesh. more..

Jan 27 (Island) Former Governor of the Central Bank of SL, Ajith Nivard Cabraal, has issued the following statement in response to the Forensic Audit report bond issuances: "In 2015, I went before the DEW Gunasekera COPE Committee and provided details about my relatives in the Banking Sector. I had also provided a clear explanation about my relatives in the banking sector, through a media statement, in 2007, more..

Jan 27 (ENS) In a shocking case, a 50-year-old man murdered his sister under the influence of alcohol. R Tharageshwari, a SL native, was staying at a rented house in Valasarvakkam with her mother and son. She worked at a photo studio. �Her brother Guha Dasan, who lives in SL, had come to Chennai a few days ago. He was in India to undertake a pilgrimage to Sabarimalai. On Friday, he returned from the temple and consumed alcohol. She hid the alcohol bottle as he started picking up a fight with her more..

Jan 27 (CI) For a side playing their first Test in 14 months, Zimbabwe's defiance was encouraging. Ultimately, however, it was fruitless. They batted 148 overs in the first innings, and 92 overs in the second, but where most batsmen's defence was in order on a docile Harare surface, they were less adept at scoring runs. You could forgive a scoring rate of 2.41 as they made 358 in the first innings. But in the second dig, where run-scoring was a legitimate means of making SL work harder for victory more..

Jan 27 (DM) No one involved in the bond scam would be penalised despite the disclosures in the forensic audit report as Perpetual Treasuries Chief Arjun Aloysius and former CB Governor Arjuna Mahendran were good friends of seniors of the main parties, MP Hirunika Premachandra said today. Ms Premachandra told a press conference that no one involved in the bond scam would be penalised as more..

Jan 27 (EN) Secretary to Sri Lanka�s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will visit Qatar for talks on clean energy, following visit by the minister energy minister of the Gulf State Saad Sherida Al Kaabi to the Indian Ocean island. Qatar is a top global producer and exporter for liquefied natural gas. President nominated his Secretary P B Jayasundara as his representative to visit Qatar for energy talks following an invitation by the visiting minister the President�s office said. more..

Jan 27 (FT) Top in-house professional Ranjith Rubasinghe has been appointed to the Board of Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) as a Director along with three others � Lalith Seneviratne, Mohan Weerakoon PC, and A.K. Seneviratne. Rubasinghe and Seneviratne are Non-Independent Non-Executive Directors, and the other two as Independent Non-Executive Directors. Earlier on, tea industry veteran Rohan Fernando was appointed as Chairman of SLT. Rubasinghe has been with SLC for 18 yrs more..

Jan 27 (Island) Constitutional Council has decided to summon Attorney General (AG) Dappula de Livera to question him on the instructions he has issued to the Police to arrest Judge Gihan Pilapitiya. The CC, which met, on Friday, had decided that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya should summon the AG to inquire into the matter, the Communications Division of Parliament said. "Attorney General Dappula de Livera�s more..

Jan 27 (FT) The Govt has decided not to proceed with a Rs. 250 million SriLankan Airlines flight kitchen expansion project, a top Minister confirmed. The new strategy aims to maximise existing capacity and improve productivity to be competitive pricewise. �We have decided not to go ahead with the SriLankan Airlines Catering flight kitchen expansion after much observations from employees and experts in the field,� Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga told the Daily FT. more..

Jan 27 (AD) A 22-member National Action Committee has been set up by the Ministry of Health to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Sri Lanka. This committee was initiated under the instructions of Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Accordingly, the Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi has appointed a committee comprising of the following, to implement health measures and future programs to prevent the Coronavirus from spreading in SL: 1. Rear Admiral Jayanath Colombage, more..