Feb 8 (Island) A story of a 93-year-old mother of four having sat the Thripitaka Dharma and Pali language examination on Saturday is reported from Kandy. Eslin Dharmaratne, 93, sat the examination conducted by the Sri Sumangala Memorial Board of the Vidyodaya Examination Branch at the examination centre set up at D.S. Senanayake College in Kandy. Born in 1928, Eslin, a great-grandmother, hopes to secure entrance to the BA course conducted by the Uni of Kelaniya. more..

Feb 8 (FT) The Govt is preparing to amend legislation and formulate an agreement with India to allow EPF access to an estimated 10,000 Sri Lankan workers employed in India. Currently, most SL workers have their pension funds transferred to Indian retirement schemes and can only withdraw them when they are 58 years of age. However, Indian workers employed in Sri Lanka can have their retirement funds deposited to the EPF, which can be withdrawn at the point they return home, more..

Feb 8 (PMD) Prez Rajapaksa has emphasized that going to the grassroots level, in order to give swift solutions to public grievances, is neither political gimmick nor media hype. �The next Prez Election is almost four years away. We travel to the villages to fulfill the respective duties that should be performed while in power. No other President has ever gone among the people living in rural areas to give them a hearing and relieve them of more..

Feb 8 (AD) The Ceylon Motor Traders Association (CMTA), Sri Lanka�s leading automotive association with a 100-year history raises its concerns over the heavily persistent fraudulent acts associated with Sri Lanka�s used-vehicle market. The association states that the vehicle customers fall prey to a number of frauds including odometer frauds, vehicles restored with counterfeit spare parts and vehicles with forged documents. Due to the ban of the brand new and re-conditioned vehicles, more..

Feb 8 (AD) It has been decided to retain COVID-19 patients at treatment centers only for a period of 10 days, when the virus is considered to be contagious, says Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera. The patients are to remain at home during the remaining 04 days, he added. Chief Epidemiologist mentioned this speaking at a press conference held today (7). He said, �It has been scientifically proven that an infected person has very little chance of spreading disease to another after 10 days. more..

Feb 8 (TM) The cyber attack faced by the .lk domain on Saturday (6) morning where many addresses were affected by a malicious redirection, including search engine giant Google, was not due to outdated tech. LK Domain Registry Domain Registrar Prof. Gihan Dias claimed that the technology used by the registry is the latest and that the attack exposed vulnerabilities that could always be exploited in technology. more..

Feb 8 (FT) Five COVID-19 deaths were confirmed by health authorities yesterday, bringing the country�s COVID-19 death toll to 356. An individual from Pamunugama died of COVID pneumonia and the worsening of a wound on Saturday while receiving treatment at the Colombo East Base Hospital. The 75-year-old individual was transferred from the National Hospital of SL after testing positive for covid. 84-yr-old individual from Dummalasuriya also passed away on Saturday. more..

Feb 8 (DN) Mass Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said the govt will hold an internal inquiry to probe whether any illegal activity had occurred during the humanitarian operation that led to the end of the 30-year war. He said that although two inquiries were held during PM Mahinda Rajapaksa�s Presidency they ceased to function with his defeat at the 2015 Prez Election. Minister Rambukwella was speaking at a media briefing held at the Galagedara Electorate Council meeting more..

Feb 8 (Island) An Opposition political grouping has accused the SLPP govt of planning to deprive civic rights of several members of parliament and ex-MPs. Opposition activists former Dy Minister Karu Paranavithana, Attorney-at-Law Crishmal Warnasuriya, Attorney-at-Law Shiral Lakthilaka and Ananda Lanarolle alleged the govt targeted UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, SJB MPs Champika Ranawaka, more..

Feb 8 (FT) President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fondly called Gota, in his address to the nation at the 73rd anniversary celebration of independence made a very important appeal. He appealed to Sri Lankans to develop a positive mindset shedding the negative one being harboured by many across a wide spectrum of society. His appeal is timely because he wants to resuscitate the failing economy which he had inherited and worsened by the unexpected attack of the COVID-19 pandemic. more..

Feb 8 (FT) I have again watched the cricket match which Sri Lanka played against Australia in Sydney in the year 2006 (15 years back) in which Master Blaster Sanath Jayasuriya scored 114 runs off 96 balls with four sixes and ten fours. Tony Greig considered this as a Magnificent performance from a wonderful cricketer. We had such an era in cricket in Sri Lanka those days. Now as Sri Lankans we do not have any live cricket as we need to browse the web and recall the history. more..

Feb 8 (AD) The vaccination of school teachers against the COVID-19 pandemic is due to commence by the end of February or the beginning of March. Minister of Education Prof. G. L. Peiris mentioned this speaking to journalists in the Anuradhapura area today. He added that the matter has already been discussed with the health sector. Prof. Peiris said, �I have proposed that the teachers should also receive the vaccination as they are at risk when dealing with a lot of people daily. more..

Feb 8 (EN) A troop of STF officers guarding TNA MP M A Sumanthiran have been withdrawn, the MP told reporters today. �The STF guards who have been there since 2013 were removed last night,� he said. �I have not been given a reason for the withdrawal,� he added. The guards had been removed around the time the P2P march by Tamil and Muslim Civil Society activists staged a rally in Polikandy. Commandos have been replaced with two Constables, he said. more..

Feb 8 (Island) The SLPP govt has reconstituted the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) in the run-up to the 46th session of the Geneva-based UNHRC. The ONUR, established in line with the prrevious Yahapalana govt post-war reconciliation strategy, was headed by former President Chandrika Kumaratunga. The former Prez quit ONUR immediately after Gotabaya Rajapaksa�s victory at the Nov 2019 presidential poll. more..

Feb 8 (Island) The unit cost of a regasified liquefied natural gas (R-LNG) power plant will be Rs. 19 at the current exchange rate (Rs. 200 per dollar) and will further increase as the rupee depreciates, energy expert Vidhura Ralapanawe said. However, according to the CEB, the average selling price of a unit of electricity is around Rs.16.88. Ralapanawe said that some experts were arguing for natural gas for electricity generation in Sri Lanka as a low-cost option. more..

Feb 8 (EN) SL has welcomed 1,635 tourists in Jan 2021 after airports were re-opened and post-Coronavirus tourism resumed under a bio-bubble concept of limiting contact with the resident population, data from the state tourism promotion office said. SL received 228,434 tourists in Jan 2020, before airports were closed in March 2020. However, in comparison to the numbers received in the same period last year, it is very minute. In 2020 Sri Lanka welcomed 507,704 tourists with more..

Feb 8 (Island) Thousands of Lankan migrant workers were stranded in West Asian countries amidst the COVID-19 pandemic after losing their jobs while the govt continues to make statements promising to bring them all home, says the JVP-led Progressive Women�s Collective (PWC). Addressing the media yesterday MP Dr Harini Amarasuriya said the situation of the stranded migrant workers was deteriorating day by day more..

Feb 8 (EN) Sri Lanka should take extra care at borders as a new study suggested that an Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine being rolled out was only 10 percent effective against a Coronavirus variant found in South Africa, a health expert has warned. �Big warning to us,� Ravi Rannan-Eliya, head of Insitute of Health Policy, an independent research body said in a twitter.com message. �We need to tighten borders to keep these variants out.� South Africa had halted the rollout of AstraZeneca more..

Feb 8 (CT) The Health Ministry should also consider including pre-intern medical graduates, medical students and retired medical practitioners among frontline workers in the preliminary vaccination round to safeguard these three categories also from COVID-19, GMOA appealed. GMOA Secretary, Dr. Senal Fernando said, according to the Progress Report on the COVID -19 Immunisation drive, utilising Oxford AstraZeneca Covishield vaccination by Saturday, 160,148 health workers, more..

Feb 8 (EN) The organizers of the so-called P2P March are calling it a huge success and that the protest united the minority communities in the country as they travelled from Pothuvil in the Eastern Province through Mannar to Polikandi in the Northern Peninsula. Batticaloa ITAK MP Rasamanickam Shanakyan, one of the leaders of the march said that the crowd exceeded our expectations. He said that minority leaders more..

Feb 8 (AD) Two accomplices of drug trafficker Roshane alias Soba have been arrested in Mount Lavinia yesterday. The arrest has been made by the officials of the Organized Crime Prevention Division (OCPD) at the De Seram Road in Mt. Lavinia last night. Reportedly, a stash of various narcotic drugs including 90 grams of ICE (Methamphetamine) and 35 grams of Hashish has been found on the suspects. Interrogations of the arrested suspects have revealed that they had engaged in drug more..

Feb 8 (DM) Leader of SL�s indigenous Vedda community, Wannila Aththo filed a writ petition in the Court of Appeal against the massive environmental destruction taking place at the Galwalayaya forest reservation adjacent to Pollebedda-Maha Oya in the Ampara District. The Vedda chief alleged that hundreds of acres of forest land were destructed by foreign companies, using dozers and heavy machinery. He alleged that many of their generations had lived in the mountain ranges of more..

Feb 8 (AD) It is expected to vaccinate the workforce between the ages 30 and 60 years against the COVID-19 pandemic from March this year, says State Minister Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopulle. The State Minister said that 4,000 centers have been planned to be utilized for this task. She added that these centers will administer a total of 300 vaccinations each, with 2,000 centers in operation per day. more..

Feb 8 (EN) Sri Lanka should consider an agreement with the International Monetary Fund and pre-emptive extensions of capital and interest maturities on debt, to stabilize the economy, Pathfinder, a Colombo-based think tank has said. �Sri Lanka�s external debt dynamics are extremely challenging over the next six months and urgent action is needed to address them and mitigate collateral damage which can have wide-ranging social and political ramifications,� the think tank said. more..

Feb 8 (NR) The UNP says the govt has failed in conducting a stringent COVID-19 vaccination programme. Former MP Ashu Marasinghe commended the govt�s plan to vaccinate 600,000 persons daily adding the country needs such a plan. He added the country has received around 500,000 vaccines at present and the govt prepared to inoculate 17,000 persons in a single day. Marasinghe however said less than 2,000 persons were administered the vaccine yesterday. more..

Feb 8 (DM) Former Sports Minister Harin Fernando is among the outspoken members of the SJB in Parliament. However, Fernando has also been criticized for, at times, being unable to control his temper in Parliament. Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Mr. Fernando spoke about his future plans in politics as well as of the SJB. He also recalls what he attempted to do when in govt and reveals where things went wrong. more..

Feb 8 (Island) Presidential Task Force Chairman Basil Rajapaksa had given the green light for the provision of drinking water and electricity free of charge to 10,000 destitute families in the Hambantota District. Environment Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said that he had raised the matter at a recent meeting under the chairmanship of Basil Rajapaksa at Temple Trees. �As far as I know, there are about 10,000 families in the Hambantota district alone without proper sanitary facilities. more..

Feb 8 (DM) Neither the govt nor the Health Ministry has reduced administering COVID-19 vaccine, but some frontline workers have refused to be vaccinated with Covishield vaccine, Deputy Director-General of Health Services Dr. Hemantha Herath said. He said more than 160,000 frontline health workers have ben jabbed with the Covishield vaccine since Jan 29. He said the vaccination process is being continued at the moment. �We were told that the number of vaccinations more..

Feb 8 (Island) SL�s Ambassador to the US Ravinatha Aryasinha has called on stakeholders in the US not to be misled by efforts of certain groups to vilify Sri Lanka and its leadership, and to pay heed to the facts and recognize the difficult tasks the Govt has embarked upon in a short time notwithstanding grappling with a global pandemic that has crippled most of the world. Ambassador made this observations when he addressed more..

Feb 8 (EN) Royal Fernwood Porcelain Limited, manufacturer of porcelain tableware said it had begun producing engineering components for Rakon, a New Zealand based technology company involved telecom, space and defence applications. �Manufacturing and launching of the heat insulator were a great challenge which was translated into an opportunity and achieved successfully,� Yoshan Fernando, CEO, Royal Fernwood Porcelain said. �Royal Fernwood will continue its quest more..

Feb 8 (DM) COVID-19 positive rate in the country has increased twice the rate of the patients recorded in the previous month, GMOA said. GMOA Editor Dr. Haritha Aluthge said the positive rate was recorded at 3% following 100 PCR tests conducted in the country before January. However, the positive case rate has increased to 6% which shows the country is heading towards a dangerous scenario. "There is an upward trend in the number of positive cases recorded in the past few days and more..

Feb 8 (AD) Wages Board has determined that estate workers must be granted a Rs.900 daily wage including a Rs.100 daily allowance. The decision was reached at a meeting held today with the Labour Commissioner General, estate trade unions and CEOs of estates. Estate representatives had proposed that the basic daily wage of an employee be increased to Rs.565. However, estate trade unions and the govt more..

Feb 8 (CT) President of the SL Station Masters' Union (SLSMU), Sumeda Somaratne said that the current lack of junior staff and station masters in the Railway Dept could lead to a disruption in train services this week. He said, there are about 4,000 vacancies in the junior staff cadre, 250 vacancies for station masters and the Railway Department has not taken steps to fill them. He said, due to this train services could be delayed or disrupted. Somaratne said that although retired officers have been more..

Feb 8 (AD) Parliamentary sittings will be held from the 9th to 12th of February this week as decided by the Committee on Parliamentary Business. The Committee on Parliamentary Business met today under the chairmanship of Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena and decided to convene the Parliament during the next four days. Accordingly, the regulation issued by the Minister of Labor under an Extraordinary Gazette which was presented in the Parliament on Jan 21 under the EPF Act more..

Feb 8 (Island) Peradeniya University scientists are awaiting the Health Ministry�s go-ahead to launch the first locally manufactured anti-serum to treat snakes bites. University�s Head Professor, Faculty of Veterinary Pathobiology, R.P.V.J. Rajapakse, said that half a dose of the locally produced serum was sufficient to treat snake bite victims. �The preclinical tests have been completed and the level of efficacy was excellent," more..

Feb 8 (TM) Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama, Senior Consultant Physician at the IDH, today stated that the private sector cannot separately buy the COVID vaccine as of yet. �We have received many requests from conglomerates for permission to separately purchase the COVID vaccine to provide to their employees. However, that cannot be done as of yet because the COVAX facility as well as other vaccine manufacturers have a priority list due to the large demand,� he said. more..

Feb 8 (EN) Minister Wimal Weerawansa must immediately retract and apologise for a statement he had made to a weekly newspaper regarding the leadership of the ruling SLPP, SLPP Secretary General MP Sagara Kariyawasam said. He claimed that Weerawansa in an interview given to yesterday�s Sunday Lankadeepa had called for the removal of PM Mahinda Rajapaksa from the SLPP�s leadership, suggesting that Prez Rajapaksa be appointed in his place. more..

Feb 8 (AP) A senior Sri Lankan church official has asked President Rajapaksa to give him access to a presidential commission�s report on Easter Sunday bomb attacks in 2019 that killed more than 260 people, including churchgoers. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, has written to Rajapaksa to make the request, his spokesman, the Rev. Camillus Fernando, said Monday. more..

Feb 9 (DM) The Prez has appointed a Special 3-member Presidential Commission to implement recommendations of PCoI on political victimization, under provisions of UNP�s Draconian piece of legislation called Special Presidential CoI Act No. 07 of 1978. The above, most malicious piece of legislation that targeted Ms. Bandaranaike was passed in the parliament after receiving a 5/6 majority in 1977. The Prez, it is believed, has conferred the Commission with powers to more..