Jan 15 (AD) All 15 MPs who were referred to PCR tests on Wednesday (13), have tested negative for COVID-19. A total of 463 individuals at the Parliament Complex, including Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena and 15 lawmakers, were subject to PCR tests on Wednesday. Three MPs � Dayasiri Jayasekara, Rauff Hakeem and Vasudeva Nanayakkara � have tested positive for COVID-19 so far. more..

Jan 16 (DM) In Sri Lanka and the world over the vital sector of education was one of the worst-affected by the ongoing second wave or new strain of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope that when the pandemic is brought under control, children will have a new desire and attitude towards education. It will not only be a question of having tuition till late at night and passing examinations but the young people will have an inquiring mind to search for the truth to find out what happens and why. more..

Jan 16 (DM) Sri Lanka is often spoken of as one of the worst affected countries economically from the COVID-19 pandemic. Fitch Ratings last November made it look worse. COVID-19 did affect the economy no doubt with lockdowns and isolations over almost nine months last year and still continuing. But we were no better even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Pre-pandemic SL is one major fact that is not brought into discussion when getting back to normalcy is spoken about. more..

Jan 16 (CT) COVID-19 is viewed as an existential crisis that will not end soon and neither does it have a defined ending, hence, BIA and MIA are gearing to open their gates for tourists, on 21 Jan 2021, following strict health guidelines, travelling in a bio bubble environment, having in mind the prevalence of the pandemic in the country. The preparation for this has been hectic for the tourist sector amidst the uncertainty, but more..

Jan 16 (GV) For nine months Muslims in SL have been begging the govt to allow them to bury relatives who have died of COVID-19. Their plea has been supported by some non-Muslim civil society and religious leaders and international organisations on the grounds that the govt�s policy violates human rights and causes tremendous suffering to the families whose relatives were cremated against their wishes. A majority within the govt, including the Health Minister, have held firmly to more..

Jan 16 (CT) For the first time in the 232-year history of the US Presidency, the House of Representatives voted to impeach a President for the second time during a single term in office. With just a handful of days left until President-elect Joe Biden takes oaths as the 46th President of the United States, the incumbent, Donald Trump is charged with inciting an insurrection. The events of 6 January marked a black day in US history and shook the foundations of its democracy to the core, more..

Jan 16 (CT) With the increasing number of COVID-19 infections and deaths worldwide, there has been an equivalent increase in the demand for the vaccines that are produced and tested in several countries. Sri Lanka, which is immensely impacted by the Pandemic, has been constantly looking into the possibilities of obtaining the vaccines and has decided to obtain the vaccines between mid and end Feb 2021. more..

Jan 16 (DN) SJB MP Ranjan Ramanayake, who was sentenced to four-years Rigorous Imprisonment on Tuesday, will lose his Parliamentary seat, just four months after getting re-elected. Since the democratic system of electing people�s representatives through adult franchise was established in 1931, scores of members of State Council and Parliament were unseated due to reasons ranging from corruption, malpractices during elections, election expenses more..

Jan 16 (GV) We watched the film, Funny Boy, directed by Deepa Mehta and adapted from Shyam Selvadurai�s 1994 novel, twice. We were surrounded by the numerous debates and controversies about the film. The first time we watched it was with my daughter, aged 14 and the second time on Jan 1 with a small group of friends in Batticaloa, all of whom had lived through the war and worked tirelessly as peace activists. Both times the film took us to our own memories of the late 1970s more..

Jan 16 (DM) In the wake of more people testing positive for COVID-19, the govt has taken steps to provide the necessary facilities in the best interest of the public such as paid Intermediate Care Centre facilities for those who do not want to be quarantined at govt quarantine facilities. However, medical experts are of the view that self-quarantining at home should also be an option and that the private sector should also be involved to ease the burden on the public health system. more..

Jan 16 (DN) Top order batsman Kusal Mendis on Thursday became the first SL top order batsman and the third player to get out for four consecutive ducks in test cricket. He holds this dubious record when playing against England in the first test at Galle Int'l stadium. The test players who achieved this feat of four Consecutive ducks in test cricket for SL are wicket keeper Guy De Alwis in 1986-88, fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep in 2015 and 2017 and top order batsman Kusal Mendis in 2020-21. more..

Jan 16 (CI) English cricket occasionally seems so insular as to be self-defeating. From the outside, it seems its own self-contained weather system, sustained by internally-generated cold fronts, heat waves that never seem to last as long as they ought to, cyclonic events every few years, and although always moving from place to place across the cricketing map, rarely taking in the local air; frequently indifferent to the rest of more..

Jan 16 (ST) Once while teaching in a class, I posed a question to the students: �How many of you think that you are poor?� The students gave me a surprised look at this unexpected question. I made my question clear and asked again, convincing them that what they heard was what I asked: �My question is that how many of you think that you are poor as you are from a poor family? Let me see your hands, if you think so.� Surprisingly, this time I saw everyone raising their hand! more..

Jan 16 (CT) Yashita de Silva and defending champion Shamal Dissanayake overcame Chathurya Nilaweera (7/6(6), 6/3) and Sanka Athukorala (7/6 (3), 6/3), to book their slots in the final of the men�s open category at the ongoing Tennis Nationals 2020. It was a heated clash between Yasitha and Chathurya, where the experienced Yasitha dominated from the get go to complete victory in two straight sets to march into the finals. Earlier, in the first semi-final, more..

Jan 16 (ST) As the world battles to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic for the past 12 months, developing countries have been pushed to the corner with economies struggling to stay afloat. Sri Lanka is one of them, though all looked for a smooth sail about a year ago. With no positive breakthrough in sight, most Sri Lankans of all walks of lives, have been forced to survive on a meagre income. In general the whole network of trades more..

Jan 16 (DN) Dinesh Chandimal registered 4000 runs in Test cricket in his 59th test match and in his 106th innings. Chandimal achieved the feat on day one of the first Test against England at Galle. With this feat, he has become the 12th SL batsman to register 4000 runs in Test cricket. Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Sanath Jayasuriya, Aravinda de Silva, Angelo Mathews, Marvan Atapattu, Tilakaratne Dilshan, Thilan Samaraweera, Arjuna Ranatunga, Dimuth Karunaratne & Hashan more..

Jan 16 (DM) The Australian govt-funded Market Development Facility (MDF) has partnered with bio-resources dev. company Biomass Supplies (subsidiary of Biomass Group) to promote a sustainable agro-energy model to protect SL�s forests, support clean energy generation and improve the livelihoods of rural women and farming communities. The partnership will support Biomass Supplies to expand its network of farmers by over 13,000, supported by 300 female village more..

Jan 16 (ST) An archaeological site at Galkiriyagama in Anuradhapura district has been bulldozed by unidentified persons, according to a complaint lodged with the police. The site, known as Mahahurullewa is gazetted under the Department of Archaeology. Stone pillars, a moonstone, an ancient stupa and other buildings now lie scattered in pieces. Officers from the Galkiriyagama Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) were the first to be alerted about the destruction. more..

Jan 16 (FT) Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) returned to positive growth in December after two months as economic activity recovered somewhat from the second COVID-19 wave with Manufacturing also normalising, CB said yesterday. Benefitting from the gradual normalising of economic activities in the country, the Manufacturing PMI continued to increase in Dec 2020, on a month-on-month basis, recording an index value of 61.2. This was mainly attributable to the increases more..

Jan 16 (FT) Hit by a downturn in economic activity due to the second COVID-19 wave Sri Lanka�s trade deficit in November shrank by $ 198 million while overall it recorded a reduction of $ 1.79 billion for the first 11 months of 2020, latest data from the Central Bank showed. The deficit in the trade account narrowed in Nov 2020 by $ 198 million to $ 565 million, from $ 762 million recorded in Nov 2019, due to a larger decline in imports, more..

Jan 16 (FT) Economic sentiment continues to shrink with 44% (versus 29% in the previous month) of respondents to the latest LMD-Nielsen Business Confidence Index (BCI) survey saying conditions will remain the same in the next 12 months. In the December survey, a mere 19% said the economy will improve (down from 23% in November) while 37% of those consulted by the pollsters expect conditions to deteriorate during this period. As for business prospects, the outlook for both more..

Jan 16 (FT) SL Chamber of Small and Medium Industries (SLCSMI) in a statement said it welcomed the initiative of Prez Rajapaksa in appointing an 18-member Deregulation Commission for the simplification of the existing laws and regulations in the interest of the people. The members of the commission are eminent professionals such as lawyers, chartered accountants, engineers and renowned businessmen in various fields. SLCSMI President Prof Rohan De Silva said that more..

Jan 16 (PMD) Prez Rajapaksa says a new education system that will protect the dignity of labour and aimed at creating a skilled society will be introduced in the new normal environment. A National Education Policy has already been formulated to achieve rapid development as well as to meet expected economic goals in a short period of time, Prez further said. Prez made these remarks participating at the official inauguration more..

Jan 16 (ST) Mahinda Vallipuram, a Malaysian entrepreneur with SL roots, has been re-elected as an Associate Member Director of the International Cricket Council (ICC), along with Imran Khwaja and Neil Speight. Vallipuram also holds the top position of the Malaysian Cricket Association (MCA) and is also a vice president of the Olympic Council of Malaysia. He was born in Malaysia but his parents were born and bred in Kokuvil, Jaffna before moving to S'pore in 1934, then to Malaysia in 1945. more..

Jan 16 (SLN) Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Rear Admiral Sumith Weerasinghe as the Chief of Staff of the SL Navy. Accordingly, Commander of the Navy, Vice Admiral Nishantha Ulugetenne, officially handed over the letter of appointment to Rear Admiral Weerasinghe today (15) and expressed his best wishes to carry out entrusted duties in the new appointment. Rear Admiral Sumith Weerasinghe who is a distinguished old boy of Badulla Central College joined the SL Navy in 1985 more..

Jan 16 (ST) The CID resumed their investigations to ascertain whether the hotel where the Ukrainian airline crew were staying was responsible for originating the second wave of the pandemic. The probe was reactivated a day after COVID-19 Control State Minister Sudharshani Fenandopulle�s statement in Parliament. Ramada Hotel, Seeduwa, General Manager Asoka Jayamanne said State Minister�s statement more..

Jan 16 (CT) Former Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan believes Ravichandran Ashwin can take 800 wickets in the longer format of the game, and Nathan Lyon is not good enough to achieve the feat. Currently, Lyon has 396 wickets in Test cricket while Ashwin has 377. Ashwin has taken his wickets at an average of 25.33 while Lyon does so at an average of 31.98. �Ashwin has a chance because he is a great bowler. Other than that, I don�t think any younger bowler coming in will go to 800. more..

Jan 16 (DN) SLT-MOBITEL, the national ICT solutions provider, celebrated the Thai Pongal festival on Jan 13 at the Talawakelle Great Western Sri Muthu Mari Amman Temple, with a special donation of dry rations to 200 families in Talawakelle. Initiative, a part of the company CSR programme, ensured the distribution of essential items to families in the area facing economic challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. SLT-MOBITEL works closely with the communities it operates in, more..

Jan 16 (CI) England's management have insisted they are not concerned despite two members of staff at their hotel in Galle testing positive for Covid-19. England camp were notified on Friday morning that two staff members, both of whom work in the kitchen of the hotel, had tested positive for the virus in tests conducted on Thursday. Neither is understood to have been in direct contact with the players and, in the latest round of tests more..

Jan 16 (FT) Workers� remittances recorded a notable increase in November 2020, rising 18.7% to $ 612 million and increasing the total for the first 11 months to $ 6.2 billion. Central Bank said workers� remittances grew by 18.7% in Nov 2020 year-on-year to $ 612 million. This increase led cumulative workers� remittances to record a growth of 3.9%, year-on-year, increasing to $ 6,291 million during the period from Jan to Nov 2020, in comparison to the corresponding period of 2019. more..

Jan 16 (FT) Cabinet this week gave approval for two State Ministries to ink a MoU to take forward a Govt project to link selected Export Production Villages (EPVs) with international markets. Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the proposal tabled by Foreign Affairs Minister Dinesh Gunawardena to enter into a MoU between the State Ministry of Samurdhi, Home Economy, Micro Finance, Self-Employment and Business Development and the State Ministry of Regional Cooperation. more..

Jan 16 (FT) Four patients succumbed to COVID-19 yesterday as health authorities urged the public not to fear the PCR and antigen testing processes to detect infected persons and renewed denials of community spread. Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera told reporters that medical authorities have noted some members of the public are fearful of being subjected to the COVID-19 testing process. more..

Jan 16 (FOX) Micky Arthur thought his SL team copped a DRS shocker on Day 2 against England when Joe Root survived an on-field decision, and the subsequent review. After reaching his century, the England star was caught after bottom-edging the ball into the ground, before it jumped up onto his glove and a diving Sri Lanka fielder took a one-handed catch. Sri Lankans appealed to no avail, before reviewing the decision. The third umpire watched on as the ball hit the ground, more..

Jan 16 (EN) Sri Lanka has increased the number of hospital beds available for Covid 19 patients to 12,500 with the opening of a new unit with 286 beds in Ampara today, officials said. Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Health Dr Sunil de Alwis said that the newly upgraded hospital has 3 ICU and 5 High Dependency Units (HDUs) for critically ill patients. Both sets of units have the same equipment but HDUs usually have one nurse for two patients while ICUs have one on one nursing care. more..

Jan 16 (AD) The first phase of the Park & Ride bus service was inaugurated at the Makumbura Multimodal Transport Center, Kottawa today (15) in the presence of Prez Rajapaksa, as a solution to the heavy traffic congestion surrounding Colombo city limits. The Park & Ride aims to minimize the number of automobiles travelling to and from Colombo and suburbs by providing a comfortable, more..

Jan 16 (Island) The govt has chosen to grasp the nettle after weeks of dilly-dallying and prevarication; it has admitted that there will be a joint venture between the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and India�s Adani Group to run the East Container Terminal (ECT). According to the MoC (Memorandum of Corporation) SL signed with India and Japan, in May 2019, on the ECT, the SLPA was to retain the ownership of the terminal and own 51% of the operating company with India and more..

Jan 16 (FT) The Govt, before Christmas, gave a powerful signal as to the direction it would be taking regarding foreign digital platforms operating in SL. There is a plan to register foreign digital operators as these �digital multinational conglomerates are overwhelming and alienating our local businesses by data colonisation,� it said in a statement on 21 Dec. Media Minister in a subsequent interview noted that the monopoly enjoyed by these multinational giants hurts Sri Lankan businesses, more..