Nov 4 (FT) The UNP called on all Opposition parties to form a coalition in the face of the 20th Amendment. UNP Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijewardene made the suggestion at a press conference, following comments by SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara that the UNP should appoint Wijewardene as the Party Leader. Bandara extended the olive branch to Wijewardena on Monday, pointing out that more..

Nov 4 (CT) Three Pilot Whales were reported dead while authorities and locals joined to rescue over 100 Pilot Whales stranded off the coast of Panadura on 2 Nov. Marine Biologist Asha De Vos said, the Whales were within the surf zone and since the waves kept breaking, the Whales could not get beyond that, and it was also evident that the animals were weakening. SL Coast Guard (SLCG) personnel attached the Coast Guard Station, Panadura, noticing a stranded pod of Pilot Whales more..

Nov 4 (DM) It would take at least another one month to bring the Minuwangoda-Peliyagoda cluster under control, Dr. Hemantha Herath, Deputy Director General (Public Health) said. He said considering the situation at present, the situation where cases were being reported in hundreds would prevail for another one and half weeks. �Accordingly, the cluster would be completely cleared in another six weeks,� Dr. Herath said. However, he stressed that it is absolutely pivotal to maintain the same more..

Nov 4 (FT) A Govt-appointed committee will meet this week to reconsider a decision taken in March that made it mandatory for bodies of those who succumb to coronavirus (COVID-19) to be cremated, Health Minister Pavitra Wanniarachchi told Parliament yesterday. �The decision to only allow for cremation was based on the advice of medical experts who gave us a scientific analysis of the situation at the time. more..

Nov 4 (DM) Sri Lankans stranded in 150 safe houses in Saudi Arabia would be expatriated within 48 hours, Army Commander Shavendra Silva said. The decision has been reached in the Task Force meeting under the directive of Prez Rajapaksa. �Accordingly, stranded Sri Lankans would be expatriated as early as possible sending at least two flights to Saudi Arabia a day,� he said. �This emergency measure is to be implemented in coordination with all stakeholders because more..

Nov 4 (DN) The District Secretaries and the District Coordinating Committee (DCC) Chairmen have been granted powers to take measures at their fullest capacity to control and contain the COVID-19 pandemic within their districts without affecting the economic development in the country, Economic Revival and Poverty Eradication Presidential Task Force chairman Basil Rajapaksa said yesterday. He also said that govt is taking all possible measures to maintain the economic development more..

Nov 4 (FT) Divulapitiya and Peliyagoda dual cluster exceeded 8,000 cases yesterday, a month since it emerged when an employee of a garment manufacturing facility in Minuwangoda tested positive for COVID-19. The cluster count currently stands at 8,266, with 409 patients identified yesterday. This includes 401 contacts of the Peliyagoda COVID-19 cluster and eight persons from quarantine centres. more..

Nov 4 (FT) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the press conference with Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena called the Chinese Communist Party a predator. Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka tweeted that China was not interested in his Alien vs. Predator game invitation. Secretary Pompeo visited Sri Lanka after the recent visit of a high-powered Chinese delegation, led by senior Chinese leader and top foreign policy official Yang Jiechi, who is a member of the Communist Party of China�s more..

Nov 4 (TM) The Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) has today presented the Stay Safe (Suwen Sitimu) app, which provides digital contact tracing during the current pandemic, to Prez Rajapaksa, and the app will be launched officially on Monday (9). �The most vital necessity during the COVID-19 pandemic is the contact tracing, and recognising which areas are at more risk than others. The Stay Safe app scans QR codes from companies that identify each person�s more..

Nov 4 (FT) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo may not be in the US administration, if the 3 Nov Presidential Election brings into office the more popular Joe Biden, come January 2021. But whoever comes to the world�s most powerful office, US perspectives of policing the globe � including the other side of it � �in defence of the American continent� will not change. From Sri Lanka�s perspectives of its security, territorial integrity and sovereignty over its land, sea and air space, more..

Nov 4 (AD) With another death reported the tally for the coronavirus deaths in Sri Lanka has gone up to 23, the Department of Government Information confirmed. The deceased is a 61-year-old female from Colombo 15. A postmortem PCR examination carried out following her has confirmed that she had been infected with COVID-19. Reportedly, she had died at her home and the cause of death has been determined as a lung infection. This is the second COVID-19 death reported within the day. more..

Nov 4 (EN) GMOA has decided to withdraw from the Ministry of Health�s technical committees citing a delay in GPS mapping of identified COVID-19 cases in SL, a spokesman said. �Why can�t we publish all identified cases on a single map? We have been discussing this for a month now, but nothing has happened,� GMOA spokesman Dr Haritha Aluthge said today. In a letter dated Oct 9, the GMOA wrote to the Ministry of Health more..

Nov 4 (EN) Mentally depressed people have a higher chance of catching infections including Covid 19 says Professor of Psychiatry at Faculty of Health Keele University in the United Kingdom Prof Athula Sumathipala. In a Television interview, Sumathipala said this is because immunity to disease drops along with mental health. Sumathipala who is also the Chairman of National Institute of Fundamental Studies said that fight against COVID-19 is a global war against an invisible virus. more..

Nov 4 (Island) Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa told Parliament yesterday that the country�s anti-COVID-19 campaign would have been stronger if the govt had not got its priorities mixed up during the recent past. Participating in the debate on two new regulations under the Medical Ordinance, the Opposition Leader said: �The government has not imported ventilators since January. They spent the time to get the 20th Amendment passed. They did not have time to import quality PCR testing more..

Nov 4 (FT) Minister Prasanna Ranatunga has appointed a 11-member Advisory Committee under the provisions of the Tourism Act No. 38 of 2005 section 32 (b) which comprises private sector stakeholders. The members of the advisory committee are Jetwing Symphony Chairman Hiran Cooray (Chairman), Connaissance De Ceylan Chairman Chandra Wickramasinghe, Shangri La Hotel Colombo Vice Prez Timothy Wright, more..

Nov 4 (FT) Cabinet approved a national program to establish Export Production Villages that will include linking up existing agriculture, fisheries and services sectors to export companies. The Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal presented by Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena to implement the Export Production Villages program. This program will have the dual goal of developing rural production within a formal enterprise model and link those with the export supply chain, more..

Nov 4 (AD) Ministry of Education says that the Isurupaya building which was temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 will be reopened from tomorrow (05). Secretary to the Ministry Prof. Kapila Perera said that it was decided to reopen the premises after disinfection of the premises. An official of the State Ministry of Education Reforms at the Isurupaya premises was found to be infected with COVID-19 yesterday. Subsequently, authorities took measures to temporarily close down the premises. more..

Nov 4 (DM) More than two years since stating its intent to conduct a franchise-based T20 tournament, SLC are now close to seeing the Lanka Premier League (LPL) becoming a reality. With three weeks left for the scheduled start of the tournament however, SLC have found themselves pressed for time to complete logistical preparations for the LPL as the Ministry of Health (MoH) have yet to approve the tournament despite more..

Nov 4 (Island) Chief Opposition Whip and Kandy District SJB MP Lakshman Kiriella yesterday accused the govt of changing procedures to appoint SLPP henchmen as Vice Chancellors of universities. �Since this govt came to power, it has changed the method of appointing Vice Chancellors. Earlier the Senates of universities selected the names of the persons suitable for the posts. The Senates would select 3 names and send them to the Prez to pick one of them. That method was abolished. more..

Nov 4 (EN) Opposition legislator Harsha de Silva claimed that the govt was planning to bring in an Indian party to operate a container terminal in Colombo port, despite giving promises to union not to do so in the run to elections in 2019. �They said they will not sell or lease the resources of the country and that they will keep 100% of it under the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) but they had done it anyway,� he said citing foreign media reports. Under the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe more..

Nov 4 (AD) While saying that the behaviour of the people cannot be consistently determined by imposing curfew alone, President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa stressed it was impossible to place the country under lockdown until a feasible solution is found to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. He made these remarks at the launch of the Stay Safe digital project finalized by a group of experts of the information and technology field. more..

Nov 4 (CT) A regulation under the Medical Ordinance to make it mandatory to obtain two credit passes (C) and one ordinary pass (S) in the GCE A/L Biology stream to become a registered doctor under the Medical Council of SL was passed yesterday in Parliament. Another regulation under the Ordinance was passed on the same day amidst objections from the JJB Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who suggested that the Resolution should be added to the Ordinance allowing more..

Nov 4 (DM) Forty-one more officers at the Borella Police Station have been contracted with Covid-19. A total of 56 officers of the Borella Police Station have been diagnosed with the virus as of today. Accordingly, over 200 officers within the Police Dept contracted with Covid-19 as of now. Meanwhile, 14 people at a housing scheme at Mattakkuliya have also been confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus. In addition, 23 more employees of Horana Bodyline apparel factory more..

Nov 4 (AD) The govt has allocated more than Rs.7.3 billion (Rs 7355.53 million) to provide relief to the people in the quarantine process to control the Covid-19 virus outbreak. These funds have been allocated for the above activities up to now after the Covid-19 virus was reported in the Divulapitiya area again. In addition, the Treasury also hopes to allocate further funds as necessary at the request of relevant parties, including Govt Agents. more..

Nov 4 (CT) When COVID-19 was successfully suppressed, the Govt took the credit for it enthusiastically, but when the second wave of COVID-19 went out of hand, they blame the public without any hesitation, said National Intellectuals Organisation (NIO) Member, Attorney Harshana Nanayakkara. �A lie about the success of COVID-19 suppression was socialised by the govt and later the public also accepted that lie. As a result, the risk of COVID-19 was forgotten by the people. more..

Nov 4 (CT) Cabinet approved utilisation of the Eye Channel and Nethra Channel for the continuation of academic activities following the distance learning method. Considering the inconvenience caused to academic activities in schools due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic conditions, the Govt took steps to resume academic activities using telecasting and broadcasting media. Cabinet cited distance learning methodologies need to be applied to continue educational activities when more..

Nov 4 (CT) JJB Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake proposed a committee to be set up to discuss steps to be taken to prevent the COVID-19 outbreak, rather than debating the matter in Parliament. Participating in the debate on two Regulations of the Medical Ordinance, Dissanayake said by setting up a committee, both the Govt�s and the Opposition�s proposal to prevent the pandemic could be taken into consideration, more..

Nov 4 (FT) Cabinet gave approval for the Power and Energy Ministry to conduct a feasibility study on expanding the Sapugaskanda oil refinery so that it could increase its capacity by over twofold. Cabinet paper was presented by Minister Dallas Allahapperuma who proposed that a new feasibility study should be conducted as a previous study done in 2010 was now outdated. The aim of the Govt is to expand the capacity of the Sapugaskanda Oil Refinery from processing 40,000 barrels of more..

Nov 4 (PO) SL-born Australian physio Dulan Kodikara was recently invited as a speaker in the 1st Virtual Symposium on Cricket & Sports Science, hosted by India�s eminent orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Mandeep Dhillon. �This 1st virtual conference on Cricket & Sports Science is a great concept and well timed with the current COVID global pandemic. The aim of this conference was to share current evidence and best practices in cricket injury prevention among surgeons, doctors, more..

Nov 4 (CT) The Central Environmental Authority (CEA) has set up a special Operations Centre to attend to and investigate environment-related complaints immediately, said Director General of the CEA, Hemantha Jayasinghe. Jayasinghe said the hotline of the new operations centre is 1981 and that the public will receive a 24- hour service from the centre. The Complaints Management Unit and Investigation Unit will work together to more..

Nov 4 (Island) In its continued response efforts to serve the nation during a time of need, Dialog Axiata PLC, with TV Derana to launch the 2nd rendition of the Manusath Derana with Dialog initiative in order to provide relief to affected families in areas under curfew. The entire process of purchasing, packaging and distributing of dry rations are done in accordance with health and safety guidelines mandated by govt health authorities to minimise the risk of spread of the coronavirus. more..

Nov 4 (AD) The inaugural meeting of the Parliamentary Council established under the 20th Amendment was held today under the patronage of the Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena at the Speakers official residence. PM Mahinda Rajapaksa, Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa, PM�s nominee Minister Douglas Devananda and MP Kabir Hashim who was nominated by the Opposition Leader, Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake and Deputy Secretary General more..

Nov 4 (AD) Total Covid-19 cases confirmed in Sri Lanka went past the grim milestone of 12,000 today the Ministry of Health announced. The latest spike in figures came after 274 more persons were tested positive for the virus. Health Ministry�s data revealed that Sri Lanka has confirmed 12,018 novel coronavirus infections to date. All the fresh positive cases have been linked to the Minuwangoda-Peliyagoda cluster, more..

Nov 4 (AD) The Govt Medical Officers� Association (GMOA) says that community samples covering the entire country should be taken for PCR testing. The Editor of the Association, Dr. Haritha Aluthge, says that the country�s PCR test capacity should be increased while identifying possible alternatives. The PCR samples that need to be tested have already accumulated to some extent. Some areas have informed us that there is a 4 to 5 day delay in the results of PCR tests. more..

Nov 4 (NR) Sri Lanka today recorded the 24th COVID-19 related death. The 79-year-old female, a resident of Colombo 13, passed away last evening at her residence. The post-mortem examination conducted today revealed she had contracted COVID-19. The individual suffered from chronic illnesses and was at home for a month due to illnesses. The woman had suffered a heart attack. Meanwhile the Director General of Health Services said a 78-year-old, resident of Col 13, more..

Nov 4 (DM) The human mind survives, even thrives, on an age-old but simple mechanism called complacency. Even when things look pretty bad, it keeps saying, no, it can�t happen to you. Even as sectors of Colombo barely two kilometers away from my home came under lockdown, my mind wasn�t fully prepared for that eventuality � that where I live will come under lockdown. We will be bypassed by Covid-19, more..

Nov 5 (CT) At this moment of writing the presidency is poised on a razor thin edge. The outcome will be decided by the last ballots to be counted in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania which Democrats had expected to flip comfortably but now biting their nails and some still to be counted postal ballots. I find it abhorrent but it is possible that Trump will be declared the winner later tonight. In respect of the popular vote Trump and Biden are neck and neck. more..

Nov 5 (DM) Crisis. This is interestingly a word that at some level warms the cockles of a politician�s heart. Govts can point to calamities and pooh-pooh demands to address issues that have plagued society for a long time. They provide ammunition to the opposition, even one which is weak, clueless and indeed precipitated the issues that are marked Of overriding importance. We saw this during the long decades of the country�s struggle to defeat terrorism. more..

Nov 5 (CT) An organisation named CSC Nation Lanka sparked controversy in social media recently afterphotos posted by its chairman on Facebook showed how he facilitated childless couples to adopt new born children. The chairman, Manjula Ukwatte in a massive social media campaign claimed on the organisation�s Facebook page that he shelters helpless pregnant women until they deliver their babies and later put more..