Oct 30 (ST) Sydney Cricket Ground is a very special place. Obviously, there�s lot of history associated with the game and it�s one of world�s most beautiful grounds. Over the years, Sydney has suited Sri Lankans more than any other cricket ground in Australia. For me, personally, it�s been a venue with nostalgic memories. I remember, in 2006, I was out of the side due to injury. With the team not doing so well in Australia, I was called up even before I was hundred percent fit. I landed in Sydney on more..

Oct 30 (CI) SL captain Dasun Shanaka has backed his young team to again show their fighting qualities and push for a semi-final place at the T20 World Cup despite the heavy defeat against New Zealand at the SCG. Shanaka admitted that their fielding effort had been a deciding factor - Glenn Phillips was dropped twice, including once by the captain himself - although added that the top order had not adjusted to the moving ball against Tim Southee and Trent Boult as they crashed to 8 for 4. more..

Oct 30 (TM) The temporary drop in vehicle prices witnessed in the past few weeks is mainly due to increased interest rates and soaring inflation, Ceylon Motor Traders� Association (CMTA) Chairman Charaka Perera said. He stated that although various reports had been circulating regarding a decline in vehicle prices, the actual reason was that people�s disposable income had taken a hit and owners of leased vehicles were finding it difficult to continue their payments. more..

Oct 30 (TM) Sri Lanka is required to pay around Rs. 2 billion per month to Japan�s Taisei Corporation as a result of the suspension of the BIA Terminal II project, according to the contractual agreement it had entered into with Taisei, the project�s contractor. AASL Chairman G.A. Chandrasiri said that the contract with Taisei would be reviewed in six months to determine whether it should be terminated, if SL was unable to more..

Oct 30 (Island) US Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu visited Sri Lanka last Wednesday (19). He is reported to have arrived early morning. Having briefed US Embassy staff, he then presided over a civil society roundtable, after which he paid a visit to Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Sabry. Given that civil society does not see the president eye-to-eye, there�s little doubt that these two sessions yielded two completely different pictures of Sri Lanka�s situation. more..

Oct 30 (Island) After a painful rebuilding process that dragged on for years, SL cricket team is showing signs of turning things around. Their brilliant show in the Asia Cup in UAE was proof that the team has turned things around. The World Cup should have been the next big step forward but injuries to six players has made SL less effective. Former captain Mahela Jayawardene is with the team as Consultant Coach and he is confident that the process that�s in place will bring the team the desired results. more..

Oct 30 (CI) SL had New Zealand 15 for 3 in the powerplay. But then they dropped Glenn Phillips, and it was all new Zealand from there. Phillips bashed 104 off 64 deliveries to almost single-handedly carry NZ to 167 for 7 (the next-highest score in the team was 22), before Trent Boult and Tim Southee put on a powerplay showcase, taking 4 wickets between them while the fielding restrictions were still on in SL's chase. more..

Oct 30 (Island) There are few players who always made runs against Sri Lanka. There was Martin Crowe in 1980s, and then there was Mohammad Azharuddin in 1990s followed by Brian Lara in the next decade. In the last decade it was Virat Kohli and now Glenn Maxwell has taken on that baton. Maxi as the Sri Lankan players call him loves our spin bowlers. Maxwell�s initial movements will get fielders going in one direction and then at the blink of an eye, he would have changed the shot. more..

Oct 30 (SO) The total market turnover of CSE during the first nine months of this year has been recorded at Rs. 567 billion, said Chairman of the CSE Dilshan Wirasekara. He said that the average daily turnover was Rs. 3.3 billion which he believes is satisfactory given the local and global economic conditions. He said that most markets globally have also recorded year to date declines for 2022 and in SL too ASPI declined by 18.8% by the end of the first nine months of the year. more..

Oct 30 (CT) A team of entomologists affiliated to the Medical Research Institute (MRI) recently detected two more new mosquito species viz. Culex cincetellus and Culex near infula, through cattle baited net trap collection. National Convenor for the Association of Health Entomologists (AHE), Disnaka Dissanayake, said the Cattle- baited Net (CBT) collection takes place from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following morning. A cow is tied within the confines of a net. more..

Oct 30 (TM) More than half of the rupee earnings of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) over the first eight months of 2022 have been used to service debt. This is even as the State-owned petroleum supplier has finally managed to make a profit over the last two months, following a fuel price revision. According to the CPC, Rs. 513 billion in earnings over the first eight months of this year were used to settle foreign currency loans, their interest, and short-term rupee loans. more..

Oct 30 (ST) The aroma of a cup of coffee is stirring a new brand for SL�s plantations that are now diversifying into cultivating the cocoa seeds that once ruled the estates. With the increasing popularity among millennial to consume coffee as opposed to tea, the world is drinking more of this beverage and SL is no different from that either. Regional Plantation Companies (RPCs) that are entering this segment are using this more..

Oct 30 (ST) Council for Start-ups (CFS) is awaiting a positive response from state authorities to a proposal to allow local start-ups to incorporate holding companies in Singapore specifically to raise capital. Current restrictions on raising capital have stalled the start-up ecosystem already affected by the current economic crunch. This can be done by share swaps which are essentially allowing the shareholders of local start-ups to swap their shares in such local entities for the shares of more..

Oct 30 (ST) Power and Energy Ministry has devised a new system of providing fee-based on-shore storage facilities owned by the state to fuel importers, with the fuel sold to the state as and when required. The aim is to prevent the delay in clearing oil shipments at the port for several weeks due to the inability of making the payments for spot purchase owing to the dollar scarcity as well as to avoid incurring massive demurrage costs from such tankers, a senior Ministry official divulged. more..

Oct 30 (Island) The CEB expects to collect revenue between Rs 32 and 35 billion in October, up from a monthly Rs. 20 billion earlier. Though a 75% tariff increase was enforced in August, CEB was able to collect only Rs. 29.5 b in September. This is due to variation in the billing process, a top CEB official said. CEB Finance Manager Tissa Liyanage said that before the price revision they were collecting nearly Rs. 20 billion monthly. �Now total income would be between Rs. 32 and 35 billion.� more..

Oct 30 (TM) The Land Reform Commission (LRC) is expected to hand over a comprehensive report to the parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) by the second week of November, following the discovery of an alleged long-term malpractice by the State institution through an audit report. LRC has, over a period of 30 years, failed to recover nearly Rs. 2.1 billion from eight public institutions, the latest audit report published by the National Audit Office (NAO) states. more..

Oct 30 (ST) Project management unit (PMU) of Road Development Authority (RDA) has been summoned by Bribery Commission to provide a statement on the controversial tender for the proposed elevated highway from New Kelani Bridge to Athurugiriya. Commission recently took over several files related to the bid. Its Investigation Division this week notified PMU head K. Selvanathan to send a suitable official to its office more..

Oct 30 (ST) A close relative of Minister Mahinda Amaraweera was yesterday arrested and produced before Tissamaharama Magistrate over last week�s incident of driving off-track in Yala Park in violation of Wildlife laws. Suspect was identified as Dulitha Amaraweera (29), son of Minister Amaraweera�s brother. The suspect was released on two surety bails of Rs 500,000 each. The suspect was arrested for being a party to violating the wildlife park laws, though he was not driving a vehicle. more..

Oct 30 (ST) State Engineering Corporation has estimated that the repairs to the Prez�s House which was damaged during the Aragalaya protests in July would cost Rs. 364.8 million. The expenses include repairs to the building. However, the report does not include damage to the furniture, historic paintings, fitness centre equipment, and vehicles. The SEC report refers to two stages of repairs. Under the first stage, restoration work will ensure that state functions and other special events more..

Oct 30 (ST) Diwali, the festival of lights widely observed by Hindus the world over, turned out to be an unexpected tribute to Anthonipillai Emmanuel Manoharan, the SL pop singer and composer of the Baila hit Suranganita Maalu Genaava. Indian PM, Narendra Modi, flew to what is one of the world�s elevated battlegrounds to celebrate the religious festival with Indian troops (Jawans). He dipped into a small plastic box & fed sweets more..

Oct 31 (DM) As the world watched in fascination, five days ago - on October 30 to be exact, Rishi Sunak of Indian extraction, became Britain�s first PM of colour - a former colonial, has now become the PM of the coloniser. He has however, the somewhat dubious distinction of being Britain�s third PM within two months and the fifth in six years. Until last year Sunak was also, surprise, surprise, a US green card holder despite being the Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) of the UK. more..

Oct 31 (DM) Living in a hamlet surrounded by five temples, a catholic church and a mosque, I am inundated with multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious m�lange of highly amplified loudspeaker sounds, that include Buddhist Sutta chanting in Pali from five of our temples, Sinhala Christian hymns from the church, and the five times call to prayer in Arabic from the mosque [the least agonizing]. They take turns in providing the residents with free non-stop entertainment through earsplitting more..

Oct 31 (TM) The celebrations over the passage of the 22nd Amendment Bill in Parliament was a short one, with the realities posed by the ongoing economic crisis and the focus of the int'l community on Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Govt�s plans on addressing key issues taking centre stage once again. Wickremesinghe is also focusing on climate change and climate financing as a new area of development for SL that would also help more..

Oct 31 (CT) According to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka�s external debt stands at US$ 48.7 billion which is around 70% of the country�s GDP. Although it sounds like a huge amount, Sri Lanka is not doing that bad when compared with other nations that are in debt, at least on paper. USA is the country with the highest debt (US$ 24 trillion) while Japan�s US$ 4.36 trillion external debt has the world�s highest debt-to-GDP ratio of a whopping 236%. more..

Oct 31 (TM) Amidst heated political debates about the MPs)l holding dual citizenship status, MP Dr. Charitha Herath tweeted that it is good that the Immigration & Emigration Dept is investigating to find out the MPs who have obtained dual citizenship, and that clearing this matter will prevent certain groups from deliberately spreading misinformation as part of their mudslinging activities. MP�s statement comes in a context where a considerable segment of the population is waiting to know more..

Oct 31 (TM) SLPP is not split despite members taking different decisions, especially when faced with the 22nd Amendment Bill vote, asserted General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam. �Constitutional change is a critical thing which has serious impacts, so we decided that the party would not tell anyone how to vote and that they should take a decision in line with their conscience,� he revealed. Kariyawasam said he did not more..

Oct 31 (ST) We put our untouchables into jail, a senior Malaysian advocate told me proudly in Kuala Lumpur last week. His reference was to jail sentences of respectively twelve and ten years, handed down by Malaysian courts on former Malaysian PM Najib Razak and his wife. Long considered as Malaysia�s untouchables due to the immense political power and influence that they wielded, Najib�s conviction of multiple counts of graft and corruption, was upheld by highest court more..

Oct 31 (ST) History was made in Britain on Tuesday, when Defender of the Christian Faith, King Charles the III asked an Indian Hindu to form His Majesty�s Govt, becoming the first British monarch to do so in nation�s thousand-year history. Unprecedented act came only seven weeks after Queen Elizabeth had, two days before her death, asked Liz Truss to form Her Majesty�s Govt, perhaps, the last time, for years to come, before a white native Brit would be bequeathed that honour again. more..

Oct 31 (Island) A serendipitous meeting! It demonstrated to me the skilful intelligence of one young man with his innovative and highly helpful project; which skills and innovation could very well be indicative of most SL youth. It also brought to focus the dire need to encourage such persons, first with publicity and then with assistance to have their projects materialize. I proposed I make wider known his brilliant concept and ways of achieving the project by writing about it to Sunday Island. more..

Oct 31 (CI) Mosaddek Hossain held his nerve, twice in the space of one legal delivery in a chaotic finish, for Bangladesh to earn a 3-run win against Zimbabwe, whose semi-final hopes have now been dented. Zimbabwe needed 16 from the final over, and after Mosaddek got rid of Brad Evans, Richard Ngarava got a leg-bye four and slammed a huge six over fine-leg to give them a chance. With five required in two balls, Mosaddek had a charging Ngarava stumped, bringing more..

Oct 31 (USE) In a celebration of more than 70 years of US-SL friendship, partnership, and bilateral ties, Prez Ranil Wickremesinghe, US Ambassador to SL Julie Chung, and US Dept of State�s Under Secretary for Management John Bass officially opened the new U.S. Embassy on Galle Road in a festive event that included officials and private citizens from both countries. �It was a great honor to celebrate our new Embassy more..

Oct 31 (CI) Pakistan's fast bowlers proved too hot for Netherlands on a bouncy surface in Perth, giving them a comfortable six-wicket win and their first points of the T20 World Cup. Overwhelmed by the Pakistan bowling attack, Netherlands could post only 91 for 9 after choosing to bat and eventually lost their third game in a row in the Super 12s. Netherlands' batters were tested by short balls, with Bas de Leede copping a bouncer on the grille which forced him to retire hurt. more..

Oct 31 (CI) South Africa moved to the top of the group 2 points table and boosted their chances of making the semi-finals after recovering from 24 for 3 to successfully chase 134 against India. Aiden Markram and David Miller were the architects of South Africa's triumph, scoring half-centuries each and sharing a 76-run fourth-wicket stand. On a pacy pitch, South Africa's quicks set the tone with hard lengths and plenty of speed. They reduced India to 49 for 5 in the ninth over before Suryakumar more..

Oct 31 (ST) The Govt is considering a proposal to continue the stalled Bandaranaike International Airport expansion project with funds from the Airport and Aviation Services Limited (AASL) to avoid paying hefty monthly penalties to the Japanese contractor. The Aviation Ministry, meanwhile, has observed that it will be far cheaper to terminate the contract awarded to Japan�s Taisei Corporation for the project and look for alternatives if it remains suspended for a lengthy period. more..

Oct 31 (GT) While privatisation of SriLankan is high on the agenda of the new govt in the island nation, airline�s CEO says there is a strong future for the country�s national carrier supporting the growth of the SL economy in general and tourism in particular. �We are open to the proposal for privatisation from the govt,� Richard Nuttall, CEO, SriLankan Airlines said. Prez Wickremesinghe earlier proposed to privatise SriLankan Airlines as part of reforms aimed at solving SL�s worst ever financial crisis, more..