Apr 25 (SO) The 142nd Battle of the Blues launch between Royal College and S. Thomas� College took place with none of their captains or coaches present at the BMICH this week which made it an absurd affair. It marked the first time in the history of the 142-year-old series that the big match between the two schools had none of the team�s officials or at least important figures of the team. When the Sunday Observer raised the question the organisers said players, coaches and team officials more..

Apr 25 (ST) Sri Lanka Athletics (SLA) has drawn up a four-year plan (2021-2024) for athletes to shine on the international stage with the help of State and private sector sponsorship, top officials of SLA President Maj. Gen. (rtd) Palitha Fernando and general secretary Prema Pinnawela stated after being elected uncontested at their annual general meeting yesterday. Olympian Damayanthi Darsha was elected as one of the eight vice presidents from among 14 candidates at the election of more..

Apr 25 (CI) Of the 25 occasions no wicket has fallen in an entire day of Test cricket, six instances belong to Sri Lanka. ESPNcricinfo relives those partnerships. Arjuna Ranatunga and Asanka Gurusinha Day 5 vs Pakistan, P Sara Oval, 1986: Not a lot was riding on this one. Sri Lanka had conceded a first-innings lead of 37 in a rain-affected match. Arjuna Ranatunga and Asanka Gurusinha came together late on day four and put on an unbroken partnership worth 240. more..

Apr 25 (CT) Softlogic Brands Pvt. Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of Softlogic Holdings PLC, extended its reach in the Luxury Watch space in the country by successfully opening the doors to Sri Lanka�s first ever exclusive RADO flagship store at Level 1, One Galle Face Mall, Colombo 02, on 5 April 2021. Spanning over 43 square metres with easy access from the main atrium, it offers the widest range of world renown Rado timepieces in Sri Lanka from the Swiss Luxury Watchmaker. more..

Apr 25 (TM) State Minister D.B. Herath summed up the challenges that weigh down the production of milk in the local dairy industry parallel to the solutions that the Dairy Entrepreneurs� Society can provide to overcome these obstacles. Herath highlighted the importance of bringing all dairy entrepreneur societies together to register as a common society operating under one legal framework at the regional, district, provincial more..

Apr 25 (ST) Labour Ministry has directed companies to pay the full salaries to its workers for April 2020 and that proper payments need to be made to obtain additional labour hours for the loss of hours of work in that month due to Covid-19 lockdown imposed in the country last year. Labour Ministry Secretary Mapa Pathirana in a letter addressed to the Ethical Trading Initiative South Asia Regional Director Rana Alok Singh stated that employers in SL have to pay full wages for the month of Apr 2020. more..

Apr 25 (SLE) The Sri Lankan community across the USA came together last Sunday (18) to celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year, through a Program initiated by the Embassy of SL in Washington DC. Particularly intended to help children living in the US appreciate the rich traditions and cultural practices of SL, the program was held in collaboration with the recently constituted Overseas Sri Lankans Network (OSL) in the USA, and included music/dance items from cities in 15 States across the US. more..

Apr 25 (ST) Govt is promoting vehicle assembly units using imported used spare parts amidst import restrictions but questions are being raised over this facility. Ministry of Industry in collaboration with Sri Lanka Automotive Component Manufacturers� Association will be seeking a substantial level of investment in the domestically value-added automobile manufacturing/assembly industry. more..

Apr 25 (AD) Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Sri Lanka crossed the grim milestone of 100,000, as 826 more persons were tested positive for the virus today (24). Data showed that total novel coronavirus infections detected on the island since the outbreak of the pandemic now stand at 100,517. In the meantime, the recoveries from the virus infection reached 94,155 earlier today. According to statistics 5,724 active cases are still under medical care at designated hospitals and treatment centres. more..

Apr 25 (ST) Youth reaching the age of 18 will be able to include their names in the electoral register as soon as they reach the eligible age for voting as the register will be updated thrice a year instead of once a year. A Bill to this effect has already been submitted by PM to Parliament. Accordingly, more people will be eligible to vote in future elections. The bill, which seeks to amend the Registration of Electors Act No 44 of 1980 will enable any person who reaches the age of 18 more..

Apr 25 (ST) Govt has announced plans to proceed with around 25 mega projects in major cities like Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Trincomalee, Kurunegala & Ratnapura by gazetting them under the Land Acquisition Act to acquire private lands and pay compensation for thousands of people who will be affected. The new regulations have been issued under Chapter 460 of the Land Acquisition Act as part of an amendment more..

Apr 25 (SO) As part of its long-term strategy, SLB is to benefit from its Regional Development Committees (RDC) that has embarked on the establishment of Regional Development District Pools that will identify and develop 20 young men and women in each district as a feeder to the Junior National Pool. This ambitious program is directed by the RDC in collaboration with the Provincial Associations who overlook District Activities. Accordingly, coaches, assistant coaches and more..

Apr 25 (Island) Today (25), is World Malaria Day, and as many countries in the tropical world are laboring to control malaria and others racing towards the finish line to eliminate the disease, we in SL are enjoying the prestige of being malaria-free. More importantly our people, possibly unknown to many of them, are benefiting from being free of a scourge, which destroyed lives and livelihoods, which took away most of our health budgets for insecticides, which stifled the cognitive development of more..

Apr 25 (TM) Govt of SL is scheduled to make a formal response to the decision by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to not have any GoSL representation in its dedicated investigative and monitoring team of int'l professionals based in Geneva, Switzerland, which is tasked with monitoring SL�s human rights situation and implementing UNHRC Resolution against SL. more..

Apr 25 (AD) Sri Lanka�s COVID-related death toll climbed to 642 on Saturday (24) as four more persons fell victim to the virus, the Director-General of Health Services confirmed. Two foreign nationals who were living in Colombo are also among the latest coronavirus victims. The first victim was identified as a 46-year-old foreign national who was residing in Colombo 02. He was transferred from a private hospital in Colombo to Kandy National Hospital after testing positive for the virus. more..

Apr 25 (ST) Govt has decided to continue the bubble concept for travel between India and SL, despite the massive surge in the number of COVID-19 cases in India, officials said. The only revision will be that the quarantine period for those travelling from India to SL has been increased from the existing seven days to two weeks. Under the travel bubble concept, people or groups travelling for tourism, business purposes, pilgrimages and functions were allowed to travel between the two countries. more..

Apr 25 (TM) Govt is yet to figure out how it is to administer the limited available stocks of the second dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covishield anti Covid-19 vaccine to almost half a million Sri Lankans who received the first dose of the same vaccine, as prevailing stocks are only sufficient to cater to 350,000 individuals. A total of 925,242 persons have been vaccinated with the Oxford AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine as of now, more..

Apr 25 (Island) Those who flay the govt while remaining within its fold can quit, go outside and continue their tirade against present regime, PM Rajapaksa said. �The door is always open for them to go�, premier said, when asked about the criticism leveled against the govt by some of those within it. Anybody has the democratic right to criticize the govt. However, if those within its fold want to flay the very regime they are part of, they are free to quit and do it to their heart�s content, more..

Apr 25 (SO) State Minister Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle said the Govt has not taken a decision to go for a lockdown but called upon the public to strictly adhere to new health guidelines and restrict their movements. Right now, there is no indication to go for a total lockdown but it would be more appropriate at least to restrict all parties, meetings and other social gatherings as the number of Covid-19 cases is increasing rapidly. According to the current epidemiological situation after more..

Apr 25 (ST) A cavalcade of political controversies climaxed together in just a week to rock the ruling SLPNS and bring to the fore many an internecine issue afflicting it. Just three days after the devastating resolution on SL at the UNHRC, Prez Rajapaksa signed the Economic Commission Bill 2021. The controversial legislation is to govern the Chinese-backed Colombo Port City, the man-made promontory just a few hundred more..

Apr 26 (CT) The ship, M.V. BBC Naples, sailing under the flag of Antigua and Barbados, entered Hambantota Port on 20 April at 9:00 p.m. en route to China from Rotterdam, Netherlands. The ship made an emergency call at the port for some urgent repairs. However, the vessel�s agents in Sri Lanka, Wilhelmsen Meridian Navigation, failed to declare to Port Authorities, prior to it entering Hambantota, that there was dangerous cargo on board. Wilhelmsen Meridian Navigation, located in Colombo 3, more..

Apr 26 (TM) PickMe, Sri Lanka�s largest domestic ride-hailing service, expects to announce its Initial Public Offering (IPO) at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) in the near future. Speaking to us, PickMe Founder/CEO Zulfer Jiffry said that PickMe is planning to go public, but has not yet finalised the details, as it is still in the planning stage. �We will announce it later to the public, it is not yet finalised to be acted upon,� Jiffry said. Jiffry refused to divulge further details when more..

Apr 26 (DM) ACMC leader and ex-Cabinet Minister Rishad Bathiudeen is a prominent Sri Lanka politician, who is very often in the news for the wrong reasons. 48-year-old Bathiudeen hailing from Dharapuram in the Mannar District is an engineer by training. Known widely as Rishad, he was first elected to Parliament from Northern Vanni district in Dec 2001. He has been consistently elected as Vanni MP since then more..

Apr 26 (ST) It is the height of rather superb irony that the Abeyratne Commission of Inquiry tasked to look into allegations of political victimisation of public officers, employees of public corporations and members of the armed forces and the police during 2015 to 2019 and ascertain if any person or persons had unlawfully intervened into certain investigations, itself stands accused with good reason, of unlawfully intervening into Sri Lanka�s judicial process. To be blunt, the creation of this Commission, more..

Apr 26 (TM) The holding of the delayed provincial council (PC) elections is likely to see a further delay due to the obstacles faced in finalising the draft PCs Amendment Bill that was presented to the Cabinet of Ministers last month. Given the manner in which the amendments to PC elections are being dragged out, it is likely that the elections will not be held this year. Reaching a consensus on the amendments, approval by the Cabinet, parliamentary approval, finalising the delimitation, and more..

Apr 26 (DM) Tarangee Mutucumarana of HYPE SRI LANKA, in discussion with Shanthi Wijesinghe, on the subject of reforming Sri Lanka�s legal system to better respond to the crisis on violence against women and children. My dwindling spirits finds a refreshing change this week by a young group of dedicated professionals in the task to understand and realise their role, society has burdened upon them. more..

Apr 26 (ST) The deadly coronavirus has become deadlier and maybe winged to boot, local health authorities warned on Friday, as Britain�s internationally respected medical journal, Lancet published claims that solid and consistent evidence suggest COVID maybe airborne. It comes in the week health authorities issued a COVID alert warning that there had been a sudden increase in the number of patients being admitted to hospitals, with Wednesday marking a record high of more..

Apr 26 (TM) China�s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to recreate a modern version of the ancient trade route known as the Silk Route from the East to the West, has been mired in controversy from the minute the plan was unveiled back in 2013. The scope and scale of the project, encompassing half of the planet was and still is, mind boggling, earning both the wrath and envy of a jittery West that has grown suspicious of China�s not-so-secretive ambition to dominate global trade & security. more..

Apr 26 (DM) The coronavirus, this time with multiple varients is back and stalking the world. From Japan to India, to the nations in Europe and America, all are falling like dominos to a second wave of the pandemic. Our giant neighbour India, the largest manufacturer of Covid-19 vaccines worldwide, has been the worst hit. Today India, and its capital New Delhi, has been hard hit. India itself is in search of vaccines to innoculate its own population. It has also run short of stocks of oxygen to keep more..

Apr 26 (Island) The middle-class of this country, a majority of them, appear to follow Jathika Chintanaya. But it�s very clear that they don�t know what Jathika Chintanaya means. Nor do they seem interested in knowing what it is. Gunadasa Amarasekara talks about Jathika Chintanaya. I talk about Chintanaye Jathikathwaya. Those not hailing from the middle-class know what Chintanaye Jathikathwaya is. But they don�t yet know how to articulate it. � Nalin de Silva, more..

Apr 26 (CI) Be patient until you get settled at the crease, then trust yourself to catch up on the scoring rate later. This, essentially, is what Dimuth Karunaratne told himself as he made a start on the innings that produced his highest Test score. Karunaratne's 244 off 437 balls was the highest individual score by a SL batter since 2014, and only their second double century in 6 years. It allowed the hosts to surpass B'desh's 541 for 7 declared more..

Apr 26 (DN) The significance of Bak poya is historical since it marks Buddha�s second visit to Sri Lanka. This is noteworthy, as Bak is a month of national importance as well. According to Mahavamsa, Buddha could foresee an imminent war between two Naga Kings Culodara and Mahodara, uncle and nephew, over a jewel-studded throne that made Him think of visiting Lanka for the second time. Professor Wilhelm Geiger explains the conflict in the translation of Mahavamsa: more..

Apr 26 (Island) The govt is now fully awake, having let the grass grow under its clumsy feet, and running around like a headless chicken in a bid to contain the pandemic, which is spreading fast. The new variant of coronavirus is far more transmissible and dangerous than the one that troubled us previously, according to medical experts. Hospitals are already full, and another wave of infections is likely to destroy many lives. The govt is urging the public to follow the Covid-19 protocol strictly. more..

Apr 26 (ST) Tragic end of a 43-year-old disabled woman from Alangkudawa, Norochcholai who was beaten to death with a rod by her younger brother on Monday, was the latest in a spate of murders reported by police this year. The brother assaulted his elder sister while she was sleeping after being scolded by their mother for coming home late at night. The man was handed over to the police by neighbours. more..

Apr 26 (DM) Mosquito-borne diseases achieved greater attention over the last few decades. It has been reported that mosquitoes are responsible for spreading diseases of Malaria, Dengue virus, Yellow fever virus and Chikungunya virus. Dengue virus causes epidemics in more than 100 tropical and sub-tropical countries and over 2.5 billion people (over 40% of the world�s population) are now at risk of dengue virus infection. In recent years, dengue has become the number one vector-borne more..

Apr 26 (SO) Minister of Fisheries Douglas Devananda who is adamant to prevent the infiltration of Indian fishing vessels into SL�s territorial waters in the North has directed the Navy to apprehend Indian fishing vessels which remain a constant threat to the livelihood of the local fisherfolk. He said that the livelihood of the Northern fisherfolk which was in dire straits for the past several years due to the battle against terrorism in the North will not be allowed to deteriorate further and all measures would more..

Apr 26 (DN) HSBC today announced the rollout of sustainable payment cards made from 85% recycled plastic in SL. The new cards, with a vertical design, will be initially issued to HSBC�s Premier customers in April and subsequently to all other credit/debit card customers, later this year. The rollout is part of a new programme launched by the bank to introduce sustainable payment cards across all its global locations. By the end of 2026, HSBC will eliminate single-use PVC plastic, in favour of more..