May 30 (NR) Several cyber attacks are reported to have been carried out on official govt websites. These include the official websites of the Bureau of Foreign Employment, Ministry of Public Administration and the Ministry of Health. While the website of the Ministry of Health has been returned to normal, the websites of the Foreign Employment Bureau and the Ministry of Public Administration are yet to be restored. The group identified as the Tamil Eelam Cyber Force are reported to have more..

May 30 (ST) Central Province schools have been instructed to form health committees to maintain cleanliness and high health standards when they reopen. Education Ministry Secretary N.H.M. Chitrananda told a conference of CP educational officials that together with school authorities, they should take the initiative to sanitise and clean up school premises before reopening the schools that were closed in March with the detection of the first Sri Lankan Covid-19 victim. more..

May 30 (EN) The Sajith Premadasa-led Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) is pouring scorn on UNP�s announcement that all those who were nominated from their alliance for the upcoming elections have been sacked from the Grand Old Party. Imtiaz Bakeer Markar, a National List candidate from SJB said that this is like some comedy show. He accused the UNP leadership of planting �disinformation in the media to scare more..

May 30 (AD) Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Thailand Samantha K. Jayasuriya has called on Ambassador of Cambodia to Thailand Ouk Sorphorn on May 28, to mark the 68th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Cambodia. She has conveyed a message of felicitations from Sri Lanka�s Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha to his counterpart Ouch Borith, Cambodia�s Secretary of State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. more..

May 30 (AD) A Satyagraha campaign has been staged at the Viharamahadevi Park in Colombo, demanding that former Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne be released. The campaign was organized to coincide with Senaratne�s birthday yesterday. Joining the event, former Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and former MP Champika Ranawaka stressed that Senaratne should be released without delay. The former Minister, arrested over the controversial white van more..

May 30 (DM) The Land Settlement Department yesterday requested their district Bim Saviya offices to report all their issues arising surveying lands and when issuing title registrations under the Bim Saviya survey programme. Additional Surveyor General (Title Registration) of the Survey Department Ranjith Palihakkara said few incidents in this regard had been reported but most of them were reported to be stuck at district offices. more..

May 30 (AD) Three more persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, raising the total count of cases reported in the country to 1,566. With the three new cases, SL has reported 08 fresh cases of COVID-19 infections within the day (30). The number of actives cases currently under medical stands at 775. In the meantime, 27 coronavirus patients were discharged from Colombo East Base Hospital, Navy Hospital, Minuwangoda Base Hospital, Homagama Base Hospital more..

May 30 (NR) The Information Technology Society of SL says it has identified several state and private-owned websites that could come under cyber-attacks in the near future. The ITSSL in a statement said several websites have not been upgraded with new safety features for more than five years. It added some govt-owned websites have not been updated since 2015. It added due to negligence of authorities, websites have become vulnerable to attacks by parties with vested interests. more..

May 30 (MoD) Defence Secretary Maj.Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne said the STF has a major role to play in countering extremism and organised crimes, including drug mafia. Addressing the STF troops during his maiden visit to STF headquarters since he assumed duties as the Defence Secretary, Maj. Gen. Gunaratne commended the contribution given by the STF in maintain national security, he said more..

May 30 (Island) Colombo Additional Magistrate Priyantha Liyanage, yesterday, ordered three telecom service providers to hand over to the CID detailed records of mobile phones used by suspects in the controversial White Van Press Conference case��former Minister Rajitha Senaratne, former chairman of the State Pharmaceutical Corporation Rumy Mohamed and others. Additional Magistrate also ordered the mobile phone companies to provide records of phone calls made by the suspects more..

May 30 (ST) Blood donors can now use a blood bank SMS as a curfew pass to travel to and from the blood bank, a senior official said. National Blood Transfusion Service (blood bank) Director Lakshman Edirisinghe said Defence Ministry approval had been obtained to implement the SMS pass system for donors as there was concern over the drop in the number of donors due to the curfew. �Our main source of donation is the mobile camp. With the present pandemic situation and curfew more..

May 30 (HT) Muttiah Muralitharan is regarded as a legend of spin bowling. The former Sri Lanka right-arm bowler retired from Test cricket with 800 wickets to his name. The story behind his final Test showcases how confident the bowler was about his abilities, and how much he backed himself against the best of oppositions. Sri Lanka were hosting a three-match Test series against India in 2010, and more..

May 31 (CT) Covid-19 was spreading in Wuhan china from late Dec 2019 and on Feb 2020 the first batch of 33 (mainly students) were evacuated to SL and kept in 14-day Quarantine in an army facility. Since early March returnees from selected countries were required to undergo mandatory quarantine in various camps. After, Covid-19 was made pandemic by WHO on Mar 11, our int'l airport was closed on mar 19 for all incoming passengers, though kept open for outgoing passenger�s for a brief more..

May 31 (CT) Whilst the debacle on environment calamities in SL attest to a list of administrative failures in protecting the environment, the story of possibly the largest mangrove forest in SL is now in line. Situated in the Northwestern coast of the island, Wedithalathive adjoins the Vankalai Sanctuary in Mannar District. The reserve encloses an ecosystem of mangroves, tidal or mud flats, salt marshes, sea grass beds as well as coral reefs which provides habitats to a mammoth of plants & animal more..

May 31 (CT) WHO Representative for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Dr Razia Pendse, spoke on the COVID-19, the efforts taken by the Govt of Sri Lanka to mitigate its spread, and how to cope with the pandemic. Around 100 countries, including the US, have pointed the finger at China for its initial mishandling of the crisis and the spread of the virus, and called for an independent investigation by the WHO. more..

May 31 (Island) With the curfew and lock down restrictions enforced since March 20 considerably relaxed last week, the country is hopefully returning to a new normal. It is obviously impossible to return to normal as we knew it pre-pandemic. While there has been a lot of laudatory comment about how well the country, under the leadership of Prez Rajapaksa, handled the Emergency, there is no room yet for self-congratulation. The crisis is far from over and many hurdles lie ahead to be cleared. more..

May 31 (ST) Govt has run into some turbulence over the way it has handled the marooned SL migrant workers, especially those in the Gulf countries. The sheer logistical nightmare of bringing back tens of thousands of those working abroad would have been mind-boggling given the limited resources at the Govt�s command. Additionally, it faced criticism for allowing those from Italy to return in the early days of the pandemic�s spread and letting them loose because they kept the country open more..

May 31 (SO) Co-Cabinet Spokesman and Minister Dr. Ramesh Pathirana said it is evident that the Opposition doesn�t want to go ahead with the election due to the fact that the party is divided into two factions. They also know that their popularity is at a very low ebb and the Govt�s popularity is relatively at a much higher level due to initiatives taken by the President to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. more..

May 31 (SO) Indian PM Narendra Modi took two very important telephone calls over the course of last week. Both were to SL � one to Prez Rajapaksa and the other, to PM Rajapaksa. The call to the Prez was primarily on the two countries� Covid-19 situation while the call to the PM was mainly to congratulate him on completing 50 years of Parliamentary politics. But the essence of both calls was the same � cooperation to eradicate the threat of the devastating Coronavirus pandemic and more..

May 31 (ST) My Dear Green Man, I thought of writing to you because everyone seems to have forgotten you these days, what with curfews and the coronavirus taking up all the headlines. It is only people like Gota maama, Mahinda maama, Police spokesman and Dr Jasinghe that we get to hear or see because of this virus! For most of the past 25 years, we knew you as the Leader of the Opposition. That appeared to be your job for life. An entire generation has grown up knowing you � more..

May 31 (Island) A headline in a newspaper of May 23rd quoted the PM as having said, "Prez and Cabinet can efficiently manage the country without parliament" (Daily Mirror, May 23). The President has stated, and has been quoted many times in the media, as saying that he will not in any circumstances re-summon the dissolved old Parliament. Both the Prez and the PM have indicated that they await the general elections 2020, and the summoning of the new Parliament. more..

May 31 (ST) Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) saw a large number of new accounts opening from the day it resumed trading (May 11) after the 51-day closure. CSE data show that from May 11 to May 27 local investors opened 705 Central Depository System (CDS) accounts while foreign investors had opened 10. For the entire year so far, from January this year to May 27, local investors opened 4,070 accounts with foreigners opening 75. Comparatively from Jan 1, 2019 to December of that year more..

May 31 (CT) "I was deeply shocked and saddened to learn about the untimely demise of Arumugam Thondaman, Leader of CWC and the Minister of Community Empowerment and Estate Infrastructure Development who served the best interests of the downtrodden plantation workers belonging to all the communities. "He carried forward the mission pioneered by his illustrious grandfather Saumyamoorthy Thondaman more..

May 31 (Island) The two most vulnerable groups to the coronavirus are the elderly and people of all age groups with pre-existing medical conditions, i.e. the so-called life-cycle illnesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems, liver complications, lung disease etc. In both instances, the virus exploits the compromised immune systems of its hosts. That has been the general story in countries with large numbers of Covid-19 cases and fatalities. Italy has high life expectancy among more..

May 31 (SO) Indika Dissanayake, Commonwealth Games silver medal winner in 2018 is once again working hard for Olympic qualification and very keen to start his regular pool practices next week. Dissanayake said he went through a tough period of lockdown but never gave up practices to maintain his fitness. �I have a dream to go to the next Olympics and want to work hard to get that qualification first and foremost,� he said. �On some occasions I got down some gym equipment more..

May 31 (Island) The proposal for a multi-million-dollar cricket stadium in Homagama, proposed by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), was temporarily shelved by a PM directive. It all began when Minister Bandula Gunawardane made a public announcement. Homagama being his electorate, he probably considered the project a useful vote-catching gimmick for the forthcoming parliamentary election. more..

May 31 (Island) SL fast bowler Suranga Lakmal has lamented the banning of use of saliva to polish cricket balls by the International Cricket Council. Not the quickest among Sri Lankan bowlers, Lakmal relies heavily on swinging the ball and the ban on use of saliva after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic is expected to affect him severely. "It's a batsman's game and everything is favoured towards the batsmen and the ban of use of saliva will further affect fast bowlers," Lakmal said more..

May 31 (DM) People�s Bank has tied up with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka) to provide a special COVID-19 relief loan scheme to members of CA Sri Lanka whose revenue has been negatively affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A MOU signifying the partnership was signed and exchanged by Bonniface Silva � Acting CEO, People's Bank and Manil Jayesinghe � President, CA Sri Lanka at an event held at the People�s Bank Head Office in Col 2 recently. more..

May 31 (CT) Recently CT exposed how a Rs 700,000 personal air ticket bonanza was given to SL�s current High Commissioner in London, courtesy tax payers by Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha. CT can now reveal that the actual financial gifts to Saroja Sirisena from Aryasinha is in the range of at least 13 million rupees and were billed to the Lankan tax-payer in 2019. CT previously exposed that more..

May 31 (ST) Ministry of Health is currently conducting discussions on the possibility of reopening gymnasiums, following a plea made by the SL Fitness Federation. Last week stakeholders of bodybuilding and fitness sports in SL held a press conference requesting the govt to allow gymnasiums to operate, with recommended safety guidelines. Public gatherings, social events and group activities that involves over 10 individuals, were barred since mid-March, after the outbreak of COVID-19. more..

May 31 (ST) Despite uncertainty surrounding future cricket tours owing to the pandemic, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has generously doled out over Rs. 100million to charity during the last two months. The act is significant as the Board itself faces a bleak future with a number of inbound tours hanging in the balance. It has had to reschedule the England Test tour to SL to January next year while the South Africa series was postponed. India and B'desh tours to SL in June/July remain doubtful. more..

May 31 (Island) National Police Commission (NPC) asserted that it had dismissed a proposal to grant special perks to retired IGPs and Senior DIGs, but on the contrary, the response the NPC, which is appointed by the Constitutional Council, sent to the Acting IGP clearly indicated that it was in absolute favor of the recommendation and fully supported its implementation. When The Sunday Island earlier asked the NPC about more..

May 31 (ST) SL govt is looking at bringing home Sri Lankans stranded overseas before opening up to tourists. In this respect, at the COVID-19 Presidential Task Force meeting on Tuesday, authorities looked at the possibility of opening up the country for tourist arrivals from any country and while adhering to health guidelines will target group travellers initially. Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said they would encourage group tourists to come particularly since those from China, Japan more..

May 31 (MFA) Minister Dinesh Gunawardena has reassured that the repatriation of migrant workers from the Middle East as well as other regions will continue, in a manner sensitive to the vulnerability of these communities, particularly those who have lost legal status and/or employment in their host countries. This will be done in consultation with the COVID Task Force, in view of the considerable strain presently placed on the health sector and quarantine centres following increased number of more..

May 31 (ST) The autopsy on the black leopard rescued from a snare in Nallathanniya earlier this week, and which died on Friday, was carried out at the Uni of Peradeniya. The results were not available at the time of going to press, but officials said it had deep injuries on its neck at the time it was freed from the trap. The fully grown male was found in the snare on Tuesday. A prominent marking on its tail made it highly likely that more..

May 31 (ST) As consumers are likely to shun China post COVID-19, Sri Lankan apparel exporters believe it�s the right time to fast-track the Eravur fabric park in the East and set up polyester fabric mills of at least four confirmed companies. Currently Sri Lanka retains about 60% on average of the value addition within the country and if this park is established this could increase to about 95 per cent and market the product as Made in Sri Lanka. �We are betting on the fabric park and more..

May 31 (EN) SL could have lost around 37,500 overseas jobs up to the end of May due to the Coronavirus pandemic, while many are also trying to return to the country, with domestic job opportunities also reduced, a researcher has said. In April 2019, about 15,000 workers had left for foreign jobs. SL�s Bureau of Foreign Employment has halted the departure of workers employed with them for overseas employment. �Specifically, compared to the approximately 15,000 Sri Lankans who left more..

May 31 (ST) Difficulties in providing collateral and extensive paperwork, and delays in providing the money at the required time have made some of the Govt�s main COVID-19 relief measures less effective than they could have been, business leaders said. Applications had been lodged with banks for debt moratoriums and the two-month working capital loan at 4% a year interest mandated by the Govt. �Initially, we were told 2 months more..

May 31 (Island) Postal services are still in disarray as the timely delivery of letters and parcels continue to be hampered largely due to health safety guidelines in place following COVID-19 outbreak. "It has not been possible to completely restore normal delivery services as we are facing manpower and transport issues", says Post Master General. Employees of Central Mail Exchange (CME) have to work on a rotational basis due to lack of sufficient space to adhere to social distancing rules. more..