Jul 12 (ST) The proposed multi-million dollar high altitude training centre in Nuwara Eliya could be another white elephant in the making as experts have said the selected location is unsuitable to the project�s intended purpose. The Govt is currently negotiating the venture with project partner France-based Ellipse Projects SAS to reduce the cost of Euro 75.5 mil (Rs. 15 bil) by 20%. But the Athletics Association of SL says more..

Jul 12 (SO) What SL�s hardcore senior rugby players have been struggling to do for more than 40 years, its schoolboy juniors are to be put on course to achieve by challenging the top force in Asia and World Cup contender Japan, over the next three years. SL Rugby�s president-in-waiting Rizly Illyas has already taken credit for financially revolutionizing schools rugby that was able to launch into a higher platform early this year with the entry of Dialog as the new godfather. more..

Jul 12 (TM) Know Your Customer (KYC) and Client Due Diligence (CDD) policies are not being compromised in getting depositors on board for the recently announced no-questions-asked Special Deposit Account (SDA) scheme, according to the banking industry of SL. Senior officials from the banking sector who wished to remain unnamed told The Sunday Morning Business that despite the statements made by certain politicians when announcing the SDA, banks ensure more..

Jul 12 (TM) The construction work of the long-delayed Terminal II at BIA is finally set to commence at the end of August after being held up for four years due to tender-related issues. Airport and Aviation Services (SL) Ltd. (AASL) Chairman G.A. Chandrasiri said that a final discussion between the construction company and SL authorities will be held tomorrow and that the foundation for the terminal will be laid at the end of next month. more..

Jul 12 (TM) As gold prices increased last week, the gold reserves of the Central Bank (CB) have dropped by almost $ 600 million this year. On 31 Dec 2019, there was $ 954.88 million worth of gold reserves held by SL. By 29 May 2020, gold reserves had plummeted to $ 372.7 million, a reduction of $ 582 million in a span of six months. Last week saw a hike in gold prices with the price of a 24 karat gold sovereign at Rs. 100,000, while the price of a 22 karat gold sovereign was recorded Rs.80,000 more..

Jul 12 (SO) The Athletic Association of SL (AASL) has drawn up plans to conduct the 98th National Athletic Championship at the Mahinda Rajapaksa Stadium in Diyagama in December with only the top ranked athletes as the qualification time frame to qualify for the Olympic Games also starts from the same month. Athletes who are in line for qualification are already going through training under national coach YK Kularatne. AASL also plans to conduct trials for junior and senior athletes in Oct more..

Jul 12 (Hindu) With the campaign for SL�s August general election heating up, India and its role in resolving the lingering national question have begun figuring prominently in the election discourse, especially in the Tamil-majority north and east. Addressing a recent public meeting, TNA's former MP S. Shritharan said: �India is watching us closely, pointing to inadequacies in our campaign, they tell us you should be a formidable force, and more..

Jul 12 (ST) Panasian Power PLC (PAP), a renewable energy firm, saw strong trading activity on Thursday, fuelling speculation of a takeover of the company. PAP has 625 million shares in issue with no single controlling shareholder and in the past it was a lucrative firm to control. The main shareholder (24%) and Director, D. Jinadasa bought 1.89 billion shares in the market and so did another PAP Director, Dr. T. Senthilverl (who owns 19.44%) with 37 million shares � on Thur and Wed, more..

Jul 12 (ST) Commercial banks will be allowed to charge additional interest on differed installments after the moratorium ends on interest and capital payments of loans to businesses affected by COVID-19. This decision was recently taken by the Central Bank (CB) and conveyed to banks through a circular after banks raised concerns on interest cost relating to deposit/borrowing liabilities during the corresponding debt moratorium period. Under an earlier announcement, payment of more..

Jul 12 (ST) For the first time in Sri Lanka�s history, a national budget is not being presented in a financial year. The Govt is presenting its third vote on account (VOA) for the fourth quarter of the 2020 year managing the country without a national budget passed in Parliament, official sources said. The Parliamentary election has been postponed to August 5 from the scheduled date of Apr 25 owing to COVID-19 pandemic which has delayed more..

Jul 12 (TM) The Family Health Bureau recently said that a staggering 80,000 births have gone unregistered, owing to the lockdown imposed at the peak of the Covid-19 outbreak. Between the months of March and May, the Registrar General�s Department was unable to record these births in order to issue birth certificates to these newborns, placing the new parents in an inconvenient situation. �Ideally, a new birth needs to be entered into the registry within 42 days of the child�s birth. more..

Jul 12 (ST) As SL�s apparel industry faces its toughest times ahead for some of the largest firms, Hirdaramani will be closing a few of its factories owing to order cancellations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Official from the company said that �this is a decision we have taken because of the orders that have got cancelled and this is a direction given by the govt for a temporary closure.� Official stated that during this temporary closure of a few factories workers are being compensated. more..

Jul 12 (TM) A trio of chairpersons from three women�s chambers termed the proposed new working hours of 9.45 a.m. to 6.45 p.m. set for the private sector impractical for working women in SL. Women�s Chamber of Industry and Commerce (WCIC) SL Chairperson Chathuri Ranasinghe, Women in Management (WIM) Founder and Chairperson Dr. Sulochana Segera, and Women in Logistics & Transport (WiLAT) Chairperson more..

Jul 12 (Island) Cargo Boat Development Company PLC (CBD) - an associate company of the Renuka Hotels Group - has completed the refurbishment of its landmark building in Fort. The 38-year-old edifice underwent a Rs.609 million renovation over a period of one and a half years, and is now ready for occupancy by companies looking for contemporary office space in the heart of Colombo�s business district at a very reasonable rent. A CBD news release said. more..

Jul 12 (Island) CEAT Kelani Holdings recently donated Rs. 2 million towards the cost of construction of a new 106-bed Army Hospital at Pallakele in Kandy. The donation was in addition to numerous initiatives already undertaken by SL�s top tyre manufacturer to support communities and stakeholders affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The cheque was presented by CEAT Kelani Managing Director, Ravi Dadlani to Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva, Commander of SL Army more..

Jul 12 (ST) Sri Lanka�s relief measures including payment of compensation and proposed social security scheme is set to expand unemployment benefits for thousands of private sector employees who lose their jobs due to the COVID-19 contagion. At least 500,000 private sector employees are faced with the prospect of losing their jobs due to the collapse of Sri Lankan businesses following the coronavirus blow, more..

Jul 12 (Island) Talks are underway on Sri Lanka�s request to India for a moratorium on debt repayment, it was announced in New Delhi on Friday. "The matter has progressed and technical level discussions are presently underway," Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said. Sri Lanka is reeling under a major economic crisis and has requested several countries and int'l donors, including India to provide debt relief. Asked about reports of Chinese envoy to more..

Jul 12 (ST) For the first time during an election, state sector officials, those in the military and police have come under a microscope for airing their views on the social media including Facebook. �The Election Commission�s legal division will monitor the social media and any partisan views expressed by them will make them liable for action,� EC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said. �This way, we will know who is acting with political bias. Such conduct will be brought to the attention of more..

Jul 12 (ST) There is a strange paradox to the Aug 5 parliamentary elections over the unseen but deadly virus that is dictating all events. It continues to batter the economy and causes vast unemployment. Adding to it are more returnees from jobs abroad. The date for the polls, the most important event for Sri Lankans this year, has been pushed back at least twice. Amidst this, crowds at meetings are mingling shoulder to more..

Jul 13 (CT) As usual, several new political parties have made their appearance in the 2020 Parliamentary elections. There are many independent candidates too; in Colombo district alone there are 16 political parties and 26 independent groups. Politics seem to have reached every nook and cranny of the people lives. As a result, despite the covid-19 health threat, a large turnout at the polling stations can be expected and on the night of 6th August, more..

Jul 13 (ST) The die was cast many moons ago. And what we have witnessed in recent times has been the sorry spectacle of the march of events that had inexorably led to the breakup of the Grand Old Party of SL politics � UNP. Attendant as the midwife at the birth of the nation�s independence and assisting in the smooth transition of power from colonial hands to the sons of the soil, whose leaders� minds were still shaped by western thought and whose appearances were draped in western attire, more..

Jul 13 (CT) Chairman Elections Commission Mahinda Deshapriya�s concocted plan with the Samagi Jana Balawegaya to help contest the upcoming General Elections has now raised serious concerns and in fact jeopardizes the democratic voting privileges of voters, Colombo Telegraph can reveal. Multiple groups are now considering to file cases against the SJB and its candidates� legitimacy in contesting the General Elections in more..

Jul 13 (ST) From a photojournalist being frogmarched by a suspect cop implicated in 2012 Welikada prison massacre in the very premises of the High Court this Friday as aghast bystanders scuttled out of the way to lawyers being obstructed by members of STF from conducting confidential consultations with their clients when visiting prisons, the signs are becoming quite unmistakable. This is a return of the big, bad wolf with a hideously familiar politico-police-military nexus, perhaps with more..

Jul 13 (CT) If with good agricultural productivity and efficiency in milling and transport, it costs Rs 95 to get a kilo of rice to market, and if govt decrees that rice be sold at Rs 85 per kg and if annual consumption is ten million tonnes (10 billion kg), somebody somewhere has to bear a loss of Rs 100 billion. Not all the Task Forces in Gota�s world can change that and soon enough the President and his band of merry men will back down. They did. If the cost of electricity at the point of delivery more..

Jul 13 (ST) A onetime LTTE intelligence cadre planned to explode a bomb in a public area to drive fear and prevent voters from going to polling stations on August 5 � but it exploded prematurely at his house and killed him. A TID investigation, now underway, has revealed details of the plot. A guerrilla cadre who used the nom de guerre Mani Arasan, now operating from France, had given instructions to Menon, who died. more..

Jul 13 (TM) It is in the best interest of Sri Lanka to wrap up the Covid-19 situation as a limited-over cricket match rather than letting it morph into a lengthy Test match as a result of letting down our guard. There is every possibility of such a scenario unfolding, given the situation in remote Kandakadu as of Friday (10) and what�s happening in other parts of the world. The beleaguered rehabilitation centre, which has now been turned into a hospital to treat over 250 individuals who were detected more..

Jul 13 (TM) The 2020 general election is likely to become a historic poll for several reasons starting from the manner in which low-key campaigns are being carried out by the political parties to the list of candidates vying for a slot in the ninth Parliament. The Election Commission (EC) has been militant about restricting cutouts, vehicle stickers, posters, and most other campaign paraphernalia the country has grown accustomed to over the last several decades. more..

Jul 13 (Island) PM Mahinda Rajapaksa has lately been blossoming into a political writer of sorts. An article under his name appears practically every week in the print and electronic media, including Colombo Telegraph which despite its name shares no love with the Colombo establishment. Mr. Rajapaksa�s latest missive took direct aim at Sajith Premadasa and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), calling the latter a cat�s paw of communalistic political parties. more..

Jul 13 (Island) Some countries did not take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously. They pooh-poohed expert health warnings and expected herd immunity to defeated the virus. They are now in deep trouble with waves of infections pummelling them, carrying off hundreds of thousands of citizens. Their health systems are overwhelmed. The US, the UK, Brazil are examples. These nations could have contained the virus and saved many precious lives if their leaders had acted wisely. more..

Jul 13 (CT) �I want to reveal this. CID officers tried to show pictures. I had to order them to leave the chamber.� That was Fort magistrate Ranga Dissanayake speaking in open court, on June 24th 2020. The pictures the CID officials wanted to show possible witnesses just before an identity parade were of lawyer Hejaaz Hisbullah, detained under the PTA since April. Mr. Hisbullah is yet to be charged with even a single wrongdoing, but more..

Jul 13 (ST) Attorney General�s (AG) Dept has asked the Sports Ministry to provide all statements made by complainants and defendants to study the case before giving an opinion on the alleged 2011 World Cup match-fixing scandal. The request is yet to be acceded. Following a half-baked inquiry, the police Special Investigation Unit (SIU) set up to investigate sports-related corruption submitted a six-page report to the AG�s Department through the line ministry for an opinion. more..

Jul 13 (DN) The SL Archery Association (SLAA) would explore the chances of obtaining a wildcard entry for South Asian Games (SAG) Silver Medallist Sajeev De Silva in an attempt to compete in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games. �Sajeev De Silva is eligible to participate in the Olympics considering the fact that he has achieved the minimum qualifying standard,� a reliable source from the SLAA said. The wildcards are selected for each sport by the Tokyo Olympic Games Organising Committee more..

Jul 13 (TM) Sometimes, even though your mind may be elsewhere, physically being present at office and sitting in a chair for eight hours, just to ensure your employer doesn�t cut your pay or think you�re slacking off, does the trick. Often, work is merely measured by the number of hours spent in the office, while, in fact, workers should be ranked based on productivity. The West is increasingly moving away from rigid work hours, more..

Jul 13 (CT) Fisheries Ministry has launched a programme to uplift the inland fishery industry in the Northern Province where about 2,500 families are engaged in freshwater fishing for a living. Under the programme, which is aimed to uplift the living standards of fisher people, equipment will be provided to them and fish fingerlings will be released in the main reservoirs in the region. To kick off the programme boats were handed over to fishermen in the Vavuniya District yesterday more..

Jul 13 (TM) In order to win in today�s highly competitive business environment, companies need to arm themselves and their employees with tools and skills that help them stand out. To accomplish this, many companies turn to professional training companies and coaches. However, corporate training programmes are often stigmatised as having little to no impact on a company�s bottom line. Luminary Learning, a local soft skills training solutions provider, has found a way to more..

Jul 13 (FT) Crucial working capital at concessionary rate of interest for COVID-hit enterprises and individuals has gathered pace with over Rs. 60 billion approved and half of it disbursed to thousands of customers of banks. Central Bank said it had approved 22,306 loans amounting to Rs. 60.25 billion under the Saubagya COVID-19 renaissance facility as of 10 July. Just last week approval was given for 2,066 new loans, more..

Jul 13 (EN) A contract to build Faculty of Computing and Technology at Uni of Kelaniya for three billion rupees has been awarded to Maga-ICC joint venture, the state information office said. The cabinet of minister had approved the award of the building contract for 3,032.7 million rupees without tax. The faculty is part of an ADB funded program to upgrade science and technology human resources in the country. SL is trying to improve the quality and employability of state university graduates. more..

Jul 13 (EN) SLPP of Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa had cancelled several election rallies over a new Coronavirus cluster that expanded out of drug rehabilitation centres in the North Central area of the island, a party official said. Rallies in Anuradhapura and Puttalam planned for the next three days by the SLPP had been cancelled, the official said. Sri Lanka is heading for election on Aug 5, but authorities have found confirmed patients linked to staff from two drug rehabilitation centers. more..

Jul 13 (PMD) Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa emphasized the requirement of a proper procedure to preserve our unique and indigenous medical systems. Prez highlighted the capability of attracting tourists by promoting traditional medicinal practices. Prez Rajapaksa made these remarks when an indigenous physician presented him with a set of proposals during the second day of the election campaign tour more..