Jul 1 (Island) BMICH � Sri Lanka�s iconic landmark recommenced its operations on June 23 after the Covid-19 lockdown with a corporate event for CEOs. The event organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) under it�s Restart Sri Lanka initiative, a national programme to reengineer businesses facilitated by the globally renowned Omar Khan as guest speaker, was held at the Jasmine Hall accommodating 100 SLIM invitee CEOs from the corporate sector. more..

Jul 1 (AD) Former MP Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka says that then-PM, UNF Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, was aware of the Bond Scam. Ex-Army Chief further says that then-Finance Minister had also been aware of the deal. Fonseka says that the statements of certain UNP members were the cause of the defeat at the election. Meanwhile, former JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti said that many former MPs would not have been able to contest the upcoming general election if the law was more..

Jul 1 (AD) Veteran author and illustrator of children�s books Sybil Wettasinghe, fondly known as Sybil Nanda in Sri Lanka, has passed away at the age of 93. She had been receiving medical treatment at a private hospital in Colombo for the past 4 days and had passed away at around 11 p.m. last night. Kala Keerthi Sybil Wettasinghe, the doyen of children�s literature in Sri Lanka, has been writing and illustrating stories for over 70 years. more..

Jul 1 (FT) Last Saturday was the UN World Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Day, and in light of that, focus should be given to Sri Lanka�s small businesses and the challenges they face. SL micro and small enterprises form a substantial part of our economy. Sole proprietorships account for 63.1% of all businesses in the country,1 and account for 27.1% of national employment.2 However, they face a myriad of challenges, and this focus on improving their business environment is welcome. more..

Jul 1 (DN) The GMOA warned that will not hesitate to name politicians who use tobacco and alcohol for their election campaigns as �unsuitable� to represent the people. The Election Commission and the Health authorities should take stern action against all such politicians, newly appointed GMOA Secretary Dr. Senal Fernando said. Addressing a press conference yesterday he said that the GMOA will not hesitate to name such politicians as `unsuitable� to represent people. more..

Jul 1 (Island) Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said that the country was in political turmoil due to incompatible electoral systems pulling the country in different directions. He said that instability would continue until the parliament took remedial measures. How could we survive unless current chaotic electoral systems were done away with, the down to earth politician asked? The minister underscored the crisis caused by more..

Jul 1 (DN) High Commissioner of Canada to SL David McKinnon sending a message on the Canada Day (July 1) said that the day this year is dedicated to celebrate diversity, inclusion and hope. �COVID-19 knows no borders, and its impact on the health systems, economies and lives have been devastating � particularly for seniors, the marginalised and the most vulnerable. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of working together to respond to the crisis and more..

Jul 1 (DM) Elections Commission has directed relevant authorities to seize over five vehicles used by former minister in election campaign in violation of election laws. EC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said the former ministers were required to hand over vehicles once the election was declared in early March. �In March, we said Rs.100, 000 will have to pay for each extra vehicle they use. Some of them used vehicles even without paying and then in May we reminded that State Ministers no longer more..

Jul 1 (EN) Attempts may be under way to prevent Sri Lanka Cricket captain Kumar Sangakkara from being appointed the next chairman of the ICC, former MP Ajith P Perera said. There is reason to suspect that the controversial remarks by Former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage about the 2011 Cricket World Cup could be an attempt to prevent Sangakkara from securing the ICC chairmanship, Perera told reporters. more..

Jul 1 (DM) Luxury restrooms with a capacity to accommodate a total of 25 long-distance bus drivers and conductors were declared opened today by Minister Mahinda Amaraweera at the premises of the Pettah Private Bus Station. He said ten conductors and drivers could sleep, change their clothes and can have a shower while having the capability of having rest for another 15 drivers and conductors until their bus turn starts. These restrooms were built by the National Transport Commission (NTC) more..

Jul 1 (Island) Billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya wants to build his Social Capital firm into a tech-focused successor to Warren Buffett's $400 billion conglomerate. "My ambition is to build our generation's Berkshire Hathaway," the Virgin Galactic chairman said during a recent interview with the Fortune magazine. Palihapitiya said he ultimately expects to take Social Capital public, and doesn't envision it as a venture-capital firm. Buffett's Berkshire owns dozens of businesses more..

Jul 1 (FT) A wide spectrum of key stakeholders, in a ground-breaking engagement yesterday, discussed the way forward to build a more resilient tourism sector in SL. Tourism and Aviation Ministry, SL Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) co-convened this meeting with development partners. It engaged key decision-makers from key ministries, other UN agencies such as more..

Jul 1 (EN) The Fort Magistrate has ordered an investigation as to how evidence given to him in-camera by two children last week made its way into the following morning�s newspaper. Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake this morning July 1 ordered the DIG of the Western Province to investigate the incident and report to him. Dissanayake told the court that only he and the Court Mudliyar were present in his chambers when the children gave evidence. The Magistrate said that more..

Jul 1 (AD) All patients who had been receiving treatments at the COVID-19 Treatment Unit of the Hambantota General Hospital have been discharged as of today. With the increase of coronavirus-positive cases in the country, Hambantota District General Hospital (Old) established a separate unit to treat COVID-19 infections. A group of COVID-19 infected persons including 108 females at the Trincomalee quarantine center who had returned from Kuwait, were admitted for treatment at the Unit. more..

Jul 1 (FT) Police Department yesterday requested the Police Commission to authorise the transfer of DIG Sanjeewa Medawatta, who is in-charge of the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB), possibly to the Police Welfare division. The move came after four PNB personnel, including a Sub-Inspector were interdicted on Monday for alleged links to narcotic traffickers. CID arrested the four PNB personnel last week & began an investigation more..

Jul 1 (DM) It was advised to be alert on a new type of swine flu spreading in China, which has the potentiality to develop into a future pandemic, Chief Epidemiologist of Epidemiology Unit, Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said. He said according to the Chinese researchers, virus which is descended from the H1N1 swine flu, had been confirmed to have infected some people working in the farms. �The new flu which has been identified in China is similar to 2009 swine flu, but with some changes,� more..

Jul 1 (EN) Securities and Exchange Commission said it had approved changing listing rules to allow start ups and small firms to raise capital and also make it easier to tap in to a mult-currency board. Moving away from profit requirement, SL would allow firms with revenues and strong cashflows to be considered for listing. �These eligibility criteria will facilitate companies who do not have a large asset base but have substantial revenue and cash flows (such as companies in the IT sector) more..

Jul 1 (AD) Former SL cricket captain Kumar Sangakkara has been summoned to appear before the Special Investigations Unit of the Sports Ministry. He has been summoned by the unit to provide a statement regarding the match-fixing allegations leveled by former Sports Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage pertaining to the final of the 2011 ICC World Cup. Sangakkara, who captained the SL national cricket team more..

Jul 1 (WB) Chiyo Kanda is the World Bank�s new Country Manager for Sri Lanka. She will oversee a total portfolio of around $2.3 billion and the development of a new country partnership framework. Chiyo Kanda will be based in Colombo. Faris Hadad-Zervos is taking up the position of Country Director for Maldives, Nepal and SL, based in Nepal. Kanda�s appointment comes at a time when the Govt of SL is working to address both the immediate and longer-term health and more..

Jul 1 (EN) China�s CMPorts said a Fujian-based logistics group will take an indirect stake to join the development of Hambantota port, in a move that will bring in new industries from the province to SL and reduce its debt. Fujian Provincial Communication Transportation Group Co., Ltd (FJCT), will take a 23% stake in Gainpro Resources Ltd, British Virgin Islands company that holds CM Ports� 85% stake of Hambantota Port Int'l Group, the operating company of the port. more..

Jul 1 (MFA) Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha has observed that despite its immediate gloom, the present situation has been an eye opener in many respects that could help correct structural, procedural and human interface incongruities in Sri Lanka�s labour migration. It also presents an opportunity for Sri Lanka to re-orient foreign employment in a post-Covid-19 world, sensitive to the ground realities in both more..

Jul 1 (CT) Attorney General has informed the Organised Crimes Division (OCD) that was prosecuting former Northern Provincial Councilor M.K. Sivajilingam, on charges of issuing statements aimed at harming national reconciliation efforts, that there was insufficient evidence to further sustain the case. Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratna yesterday (30) concluded the legal proceedings pertaining to this case filed against Sivajilingam. When the case was taken up, more..

Jul 1 (EN) The following is the second in a series of interviews with academics and public intellectuals on the way forward for Sri Lanka in a post-COVID-19 world. Prof Nalin Abeysekera (Professor in Management Studies) at the Open University of Sri Lanka believes COVID-19 is a strategic window that has been opened for Sri Lanka to exploit to the country�s advantage. He calls for a philosophical approach in order to not miss the bus (again). Excerpts follow. more..

Jul 1 (Xinhua) Early fiscal and monetary policy interventions have ensured that Sri Lanka's economy repositions itself to generate value in the post-COVID-19 new normal, a report by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has said. Despite a curfew imposed to contain COVID-19 on March 20, which was fully lifted on June 28, SL's economy did not come to a complete standstill due to continued provision of essential services, more..

Jul 1 (NR) Grade 1 and 2 classes and all pre-schools in the country that were closed since March due to the COVID-19 crisis will re-open on the 10 of August. Ministry of Education in a statement said, following lengthy discussions with all stakeholders, the decision to re-open pre-schools was taken. The Ministry said guidelines issued by the Director General of Health Services must be followed when recommencing classes. All premises must be disinfected before the re-opening and more..

Jul 1 (AD) Thirty-seven more patients who were infected with Covid-19 have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospital, the Ministry of Health confirmed. This brings the total number of recoveries in SL to 1,748. 288 patients infected with the virus are currently under medical care at hospitals. The tally of confirmed cases of Coronavirus reported in the country so far increased to 2,047 following the detection of 05 new cases, returnees from Oman, last evening. more..

Jul 1 (CT) Former MP Champika Ranawaka, following a meeting held during the tenure of former UNF-led Govt, urged that action be taken against incumbent Prez Rajapaksa and Chairman of Avant Garde, Nissanka Senadhipathi, in relation to the Avant Garde case, said former Solicitor General Suhada Gamlath (PC). He told the PCoI, that Ranawaka also questioned him on why Senadhipathi had been granted his passport more..

Jul 1 (AD) PM Mahinda Rajapaksa says that a final decision has not been taken to give the Eastern Terminal of the Colombo Port to India. President Rajapaksa had last week given the go ahead to Shipping Minister Johnston Fernando to start talks on changing the agreement signed by the previous administration on building a container terminal in Colombo port. Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) had signed agreements with India and Japan to run the partially built East Terminal after more..

Jul 1 (EN) SL Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT), a fee levying tech campus said nearly 10,000 students sat for exams online during a Coronavirus lockdown. Over 95% of students from the faculties of Computing, Engineering, Business, Humanities & Sciences, Graduate Studies & Research, School of Architecture, School of Law, School of Hospitality and Culinary had sat for the online exams. �It is unprecedented in SL�s higher education system, for such a large number to more..

Jul 1 (CT) Around 500,000 hectares of forest land coming under the purview of the Department of Forest Conservation (DFC) will be destroyed, if Circular 5/2001 is removed, claimed Executive Director of the Centre for Environmental Justice, Hemantha Withanage. Circular was issued by the Ministry of Environment on 10 Aug 2001 in order to protect small forest patches previously managed by Divisional Secretariats, more..

Jul 2 (DM) US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo (Mike Pompeo) contacted Foreign Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardane over the phone, the two highest diplomats discussed a broad range of matters covering bilateral relations. The call came in the wake of the new political debate on the proposed compact agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). MCC agreement, as it is called, has been a controversial topic since before the Nov 16 Presidential Elections. more..

Jul 2 (CT) History may or may not repeat. But there is no doubt that history can instruct. Over the millennia people have welcomed tyrannical, authoritarian leaders. They have willingly and enthusiastically participated in their own oppression by willingly electing authoritarian leaders. Why do people idolize, venerate and elect authoritarian leaders? How do we explain the mob psychology of shameless anti-reason that is immune to counter argument? more..

Jul 2 (SO) Former State Minister speaks about how the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) is running their campaign in the Kegalle district, promoting a peaceful election environment. In an interview with the Sunday Observer, Tharaka Balasuriya, the son of former Minister Jagath Balasuriya, expressed his preference for establishing independent institutions instead of independent commissions in the long run. more..

>Jul 2 (CT) It�s a daily experience in our lives to see people either changing their ways of thinking or deliberately continuing old ways of thinking as well as of their actions by recycling their experiences. The latter can be either needed in a morally deficient state of society while the former will be perhaps more defined in a state of political objectivity when society demands immediacy in compensatory action instead of a long harangued lecture on morals. Some call this being politically correct. more..

Jul 2 (GV) Last month (May) a Magistrate in Jaffna had withdrawn quarantine orders against the organizers of end of war commemorations, based on appeals by lawyers. At least three lawyers have faced reprisals in the days afterwards. Attorney-at-Law Mr. Roy Dilaksan�s house was reported to have been attacked by unknown persons. Another lawyer who had appeared for the same case, saw a suspicious person hovering around his law office. Yet another lawyer who had appeared for more..

Jul 2 (SO) The Jaffna district SLFP team leader Angajan Ramanathan, in an interview said, �Due to the intense political struggle in the Northern Province, our community not only lost valuable lives and property, but have gradually lost out in competency levels. The Northern people have sadly given up on education. People�s Representatives so far have not done anything to ensure the people�s existence in the region, and have only more..

Jul 2 (DM) The controversy surrounding the public boast by V Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman alias Colonel Karuna, at a political rally held in Ampara, of having killed up to 3,000 soldiers in a single night at Elephant Pass and several more at Kilinochchi, seems to have cast a shadow over the ruling SLPP. It was during its previous incarnation as the UPFA led by Mahinda Rajapaksa that Karuna Amman entered Parliament through its National List and sworn in as Minister of National Integration. more..

Jul 2 (Island) Defence Secretary Major General (retd) Kamal Gunaratne has got tough with the police. He went ballistic at a recent meeting with the police top brass, tearing into them as he did, for their failure to fight crime effectively. He, however, praised the efficient police officers while accusing others of being a disgrace to their profession. His consternation is understandable. The underworld has emerged stronger than ever. The police reportedly netted about 46,600 suspects more..

Jul 2 (CT) Taking part in a television show, Dr Seetha Kumari Arambepola (Dr SKA), an ENT surgeon, Executive Committee member of the lobbying group Viyathmaga, former governor of the Western Province, high-profile confidante of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa regime, and SLPP National List nominee at the 2020 general election, made a number of remarks that can only be described as a celebration of an extremely violent and patriarchal set of societal norms, attitudes, and more..