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The last two remaining elephants of the Sinharaja forest reserve are to remain on the orders of President Maithripala Sirisena. The animals were to be moved to the Horowpothana elephant holding facility on the orders of the Minister of Wildlife, Sarath Fonseka after villagers had requested Deputy Minister of Wildlife, Palitha Thewarapperuma to remove the animals from the area. The decision by the Ministers was seen as a merely political decision taken without an understanding of the subject.

Environmentalists had vehemently opposed the move as the dry zone habitat was seen as unsuitable for the wet zone elephants while questions were also raised regarding the holding facility where many elephants have reportedly gone missing from.The move had also threatened the forest reserves UNESCO heritage status. 

The decision timely by the President came as wildlife officials were in the process of capturing elephants in order to remove them from the forest area. He has also instructed that the construction of the elephant fence to be expedited in order to protect villagers in the area.

A mega Chinese cultural exhibition titled "Silk Road Memory - NICE Choice Exhibition of Chinese Creative Cultural Products" kicked off in Sri Lankan capital Colombo on Tuesday, displaying China's popular culture such as Kung Fu.

The exhibition was jointly organized by China Cultural Center in Sri Lanka and the Network of International Culturalink Entities of China.

China's Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Cheng Xueyuan, said at the launch of the event that such exhibitions would provide an opportunity for the Sri Lankan people to learn about the development of China's cultural industry development and also provide a platform for professionals from both countries to learn from each other.


Local students visit the "Silk Road Memory - NICE Choice Exhibition of Chinese Creative Cultural Products" exhibition in Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 12, 2018. (Xinhua/Ajith Perera) 

"The cultural industry or the cultural creative industry has become a new growth force of the world economy and will lead the economic development in the future," Cheng said.

The Ambassador added that the exhibition taking Silk Road as its theme reflects the close bond between China and Sri Lanka as the Ancient Silk Road linked the two peoples.

"The 21st century Maritime Silk Road will promote the common development of our two countries," the ambassador said.

The exhibition which last till June 16, displayed products in six thematic sections, namely Rhythm of Porcelain, Legend of Chinese Kung Fu, Beautiful Life, Festival Gifts, Dreaming about Dunhuang, and Digital China.


(Xinhua)

Spokesperson for the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Dilan Perera stated that the SLFP will not nominate candidates for the upcoming provincial council elections. 

Speaking at a media conference held today (14), he stated that since the SLFP’s chances of winning the upcoming election is very slim, they will be looking to bring all anti-UNP forces together to make a broad coalition under which they will nominate candidates and contest.  

Meanwhile, political sources say that the provincial council elections are due to be held in December.

Sri Lanka’s first permanent High Court Trial-at-Bar , set up to expedite the high profile corruption cases against the former government, will start hearing cases related to money laundering, graft and financial crimes from July 4, the Cabinet spokesman said today.

Last month, Parliament had passed the Judicature (Amendment) Act, brought by the government to pave way for setting up of special high courts to expedite hearing of corruption cases against former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration, his family members and their associates.

“The first high court will become operational in July, while two others in September,” Cabinet spokesperson Minister Rajitha Senaratne said.

Many Rajapaksa family members and their associates were tried for alleged corruption following the change of the regime in 2015. But there has been considerable public dissatisfaction over the inordinate delay in trials as the accused, who were arrested, had been released on bail.
Also, the court procedures were taking months to set trial dates, even after three years of the Rajapaksa presidency.

There are accusations that leaders of the current government are having political deals with the Rajapaksa’s to go slow in legal procedures.
Following the defeat of the ruling coalition in the local polls in February, the government sprung into action to expedite graft cases.

“This government is keen to follow the law by the book, that was why the delay in the cases. Following setting up of new courts, all cases would be heard to a finish without any delay,” the spokesman for the ruling UNP and Minister Harin Fernando said.

Source : Ada Derana

Former Minister Basil Rajapaksa said that he did not hold any discussions with the SLFP’s Group of 16. Furthermore, he said that they are not ready to accept such groups.

Rajapaksa made theses remarks to media after attending function in Colombo today (14).

He went on to say that if there isn’t any legal impediment for Mahinda Rajapaksa to contest in the upcoming Presidential elections, he would be the candidate as that is the wish of the people.

However, if he’s unable to contest, we would support any candidate that is named by the former President, he added.

He also said that the people of this country will make a decision in the future regarding those who have placed themselves on both sides of the political divide.

Financial Market analysts claim that doctors will not be charged 24% taxes for work done in goverment hospitals. According to them the Association of Specialist Doctors are making unfair demands by misconstruing the newly proposed Inland Revenue Act.  

They made this statement in response to the President of the Association of Specialist Doctors, Dr Sunil Wijesinghe who claimed they will take strict action if the government does now revoke the direct tax imposed which covers doctors as well. 

According to Wijesinghe the government has imposed a 24% tax on their services and discussions were held to get this reduced to 12%. However he claims authorities refused to reduce it. 

They had also claimed they will stawy away from consultation services in protest. However they have failed to take such action. 

But analysts say doctors are not expected to pay 24% and only expected to pay 12% which is the maximum they can be taxed. 

However the 24% tax would only apply if doctors are engaged in channeling services privately thereby gaining immense profits. This appears to be the current issue of contention.

Newly published private travel diaries of Albert Einstein by the Princeton University Press, The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein: The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922-1923, have exposed Einstein's racist and xenophobic views.

Written between October 1922 and March 1923, the diaries track his experiences in Asia and the Middle East.

Einstein travelled from Spain to the Middle East and via Sri Lanka, then called Ceylon, on to China and Japan. 

He describes his time in Colombo in Ceylon, writing of the people: "They live in great filth and considerable stench down on the ground, do little, and need little." 

The physicist describes arriving in Port Said in Egypt and facing "Levantines of every shade... as if spewed from hell" who come aboard their ship to sell their goods. 

But the famous physicist reserves his most cutting comments for Chinese people.

According to a piece in the Guardian about the diaries, he describes Chinese children as "spiritless and obtuse", and calls it "a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races".

In other entries he calls China "a peculiar herd-like nation," and "more like automatons than people", before claiming there is "little difference" between Chinese men and women, and questioning how the men are "incapable of defending themselves" from female "fatal attraction".

However, Einstein would later in life advocate for civil rights in the US, calling racism "a disease of white people".

The U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Managing Director for Europe, Asia, Pacific, and Latin America Caroline Nguyen visited Sri Lanka from June 11 to 13 to advance the development of the proposed MCC compact – a large-scale five-year grant program.  

This compact is being developed by the U.S government in partnership with the government of Sri Lanka for the specific purpose of reducing poverty and promoting economic opportunity for Sri Lankans.

During the visit, MD Nguyen joined U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Hilton at the Ministry of Finance to sign an agreement to provide an additional 413 million rupees ($2.6 million USD) grant to finalize compact development.  

This amount supplements the 1.2 billion rupees ($7.4 million USD grant) that MCC provided last July to support feasibility studies needed to develop a high-quality, evidence-based and sustainable program and is in addition to the final grant amount that MCC will provide for the compact. 

“We are pleased to partner with Sri Lanka on a program that will reduce poverty through economic growth and improve lives in the country,” Managing Director Nguyen said. 

“This additional funding will support the final stage of compact development and help ensure that the program will have the transformative impact that MCC and the government collectively seek", she added.

The proposed MCC compact is in the final stages of development and is expected to be presented to MCC’s Board of Directors for approval by late 2018.

The General Secretary of the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), the venerable Galaboda Aththe Gnanasara Thero, who was found guilty of threatening the wife of missing journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda, Sandya Eknaligoda, inside the premises of the Homagama Magistrate Court, has been sentenced to jail today.

The Homagama Magistrate sentenced him to a one year jail term which was subsequently reduced to six months. A fine of LKR 3000 was also imposed and was ordered to pay LKR 50,000 as compensation to Sandya Eknaligoda.

The ‘Gramashakthiyen – Gama Hadana Gamana’ programme was launched today (13) in the Puttalam district under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena. 

This programme aims to provide immediate solutions to the developmental problems of the villagers and will run parallel to the Grama Shakthi People’s Movement, the Presidents Media Unit said.

A concept of President Sirisena, the Grama Shakthi People’s Movement was launched in 2017 with the objective of eradicating poverty in Sri Lanka.

The Cabinet of Ministers granted approval yesterday to establish an Office for Reparation to provide reparations in a transparent manner to individuals affected by conflict, political, civil disobedience or enforced disappearances. 

Co-cabinet spokesperson, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said that the proposal has been put to the Cabinet by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe with the request for it to be sent to the Legal Draftsman and the subsequent bill be gazetted and presented to Parliament. 

Senaratne further stated that all those who have been affected from the conflict will be able to seek reparations. 

“Those in the South, who were affected by bomb blasts and other terrorist acts, will also be compensated through the process", the Minister added.

He also said that the government will come up with a proper mechanism to identify individuals who are eligible for compensation.

Parliamentarian Udaya Gammanpila stated that discussions are underway within the Joint Opposition with regard to the next Presidential candidate of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramanua.

Accordingly, MPs Dinesh Gunawardena, Chamal Rajapaksa, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa have been nominated as potential candidates from the SLPP.