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Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake, Commander of the Army announcing arrangements in place for conduct of the Army’s forthcoming flagship event, ‘Colombo Defence Seminar - 2018’ during August 30 - 31 at BMICH opined that this interactive sessions would provide an effective forum for all stakeholders attending the Seminar to understand that no Army in the world could single-handedly find any solutions unlike before since conflicts themselves are connected to a vast sphere of unprecedented nature.

He made these observations during the inaugural Media briefing on ‘Colombo Defence Seminar - 2018’, held on Tuesday (7) afternoon at Hotel Galadari, attended by Major General Dampath Fernando, Chief of Staff, Major General Ajith Wijesinghe, Military Secretary, Major General Aruna Wanniarachchi, Director General Training and Brigadier Sumith Atapattu, Director Media at Army Headquarters.

“Our message to this effect has gone worldwide attracting defence partners, strategists, policy-makers, security experts and analysts to this annual forum who are capable of collectively evaluating fast-changing global concerns and exploring ways and means of challenging such issues. We segmented the sessions in such a way that different groups at the end of the second day would have the chance of producing their own findings through syndicate presentations. We expect about 100 foreign experts for this year’s sessions,” he added.
 
Lieutenant General Senanayake also in reply to a Media query told the gathering that Asia Pacific region, being very much prone to natural disasters, would pave way for a collective understanding on issues confronting all nations in the region and the world at large. “Threats are always changing and different capacities are needed to face them. That is why the Sri Lanka Army, moving away from the conventional, is trying to make it a capacity-based one,” he elaborated.
 
This year’s ‘Colombo Defence Seminar’, organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Defence is set to shed light on a wide spectrum of global and regional concerns and would mark a turning point in this sphere. Final arrangements of the Seminar are now underway under the supervision of the Commander of the Army and executed by a special committee, headed by the Director General, Directorate of Training at the Army Headquarters.

Sri Lanka Navy has intercepted a trawler and arrested 40 illegal migrants in the deep seas last night (05).

According to the Navy spokesman, the trawler was spotted in the deep sea 117 nautical miles from Colombo and intercepted by two Dvora craft. The arrested migrants are between 17 and 41 years of age and include 19 males and 21 females.

The migrants and the vessel have been brought to the Colombo harbour this morning. The Navy has provided treatment to some of the arrested people and handed them over to the Colombo Ports Police for further investigations.

Four railway officials have been interdicted in connection with yesterday’s train accident at Pannaliya off Polgahawela, Spokesman for the Civil Aviation and Transport Ministry said.

Over 20 people were injured when a train travelling along the Colombo, Kandy main railway line collided with a stalled train near the Polgahawela Station, around 75 kilometers from capital Colombo on Monday evening.

The stalled train had been travelling from Colombo to the central hills of Kandy when it broke down on Monday afternoon.

Police said the other passenger train which was also travelling to Kandy had collided with the stalled train leading to certain compartments being damaged resulting in injuries.

Search and rescue efforts are ongoing and those injured have been rushed to the Polgahawela Hospital.

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna member, Maharagama Urban Council Chairman Tiraj Lakruwan Piyaratne has announced that he should be addressed as ‘Sir’ going forward. He has displayed the announcement in his office. 

It reads “As the first citizen in the city, and as the Chief executive of the council, all staff and members of the public should address as Sir”. The notice has now gone viral and been earning the wrath of the public. According to sources, Tiraj who contested under Independent Group 2, with a group from Badalgama in Gampaha going on to win and become the UC Chairman according to him is a close confidant of the Dinesh Gunawardena and Rajapaksa families. 

Sources say the notice was displayed on the advice of a political stalwart in the area due to an ongoing grudge with Kanthi Kodikara and several others. They also say Tiraj has been very insecure since being appointed claiming that there is a conspiracy against him and that no one treats him well. 

The public in the area says the Maharagama UC has been declining since Tiraj’s appointment while regretting voting for those with a mentality such as that of Tiraj.

A resident of Gunnepana, Sirimalwatta in Mathugama is said to have sent a cheque valued at Rs. 3000 to the Elpitiya SLTB after travelling free illegally for seven years. According to a letter which accompanied the cheque, between the years of 1986 - 1993 the individual had regularly travelled between Avittawa and Ambalangoda and had often not paid the bus conductor the due fee thereby travelling free of charge on most occasions illegally. 

Explaining further he claimed he understood his mistake 25 years on and was sending the cheque to rectify the wrong committed. “It is incorrect to misuse public property and services in such a manner” he had further written. The Manager of the depot said they could not trace the man and the cheque was cashed in and funds accepted to the Elpitiya depot.

At least 91 people are now known to have died after a powerful earthquake hit the Indonesian island of Lombok. Hundreds of people have been wounded by Sunday's quake, officials say, mostly in the north of the island. The 6.9 magnitude tremor was fairly shallow, occurring only 30km (18 miles) underground. It damaged thousands of buildings and triggered power cuts.

About 1,000 foreign tourists are being evacuated from the nearby Gili islands and at least one person died on Bali. Video footage from Bali, to the west of Lombok, showed people running from their homes screaming.

There have been more than 130 aftershocks since the quake hit on Sunday morning. A tsunami warning was issued but was lifted after a few hours. It comes a week after another quake hit Lombok, popular with tourists who visit its beaches and hiking trails. That quake killed at least 16 people.

Source : BBC

Issuing a statement, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna has condemned the recent attack on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The JVP labelled the attack as an ‘imperialist’ one. 

“Assassination attempts on progressive leaders when they cannot be overthrown democratically, economically, politically, and militarily is the last attempt by imperialist conspirators who would not hesitate to deploy the extreme rightist opposition in the country to carry out their schemes” the communique issued by the party read. 

The JVP declared that it always stands with progressive and left forces and their leaders adding that they condemn all attempts by imperialists and their lackeys to deny the cause of progressive social transformation of its front-runners.

The Euro­pean Council has extended the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorist organisation by another six months in a decision, taken on July 30, under the European Union’s regulation on “specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism.”

The decision was taken after the Sri Lankan Embassy in Brussels had presented evidence from the past years up to the present that the LTTE threat continued to exist.

However with pro LTTE activists expected to challenge the decision the government has decided to brief the relevant parties regarding the LTTE in September and October 2018 to keep the ban in place.

Refuting a claim made by Health Minister Rajitha Seneratne that the 24 percent income tax imposed on medical specialists would be reduced to 15 percent, the Ministry of Finance in a press release said that no such changes have been made. 

"The Ministry of Finance and Media wishes to say that no changes in the tax rate for the calculation of Income Tax or the PAYE tax has been made. The members of the Association of Medical Specialists held a discussion with the Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera where agreement was reached to amend the process of the expenditure calculation for the purpose of income tax payment", Finance Ministry said.

Earlier today, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said that the income tax paid by specialist doctors has been reduced to 15 percent from 24 percent following a discussion with Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera.

North Korea had violated a textile ban and exported goods to Sri Lanka between October 2017 and March 2018, a UN report revealed.
North Korea has not stopped its nuclear and missile programs in violation of United Nations sanctions, according to a confidential UN report seen by Reuters.

The six-month report by independent experts monitoring the implementation of UN sanctions was submitted to the Security Council North Korea sanctions committee late on Friday.

“(North Korea) has not stopped its nuclear and missile programs and continued to defy Security Council resolutions through a massive increase in illicit ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products, as well as through transfers of coal at sea during 2018,” the experts wrote in the 149-page report.

The North Korean mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment on the report.

The UN report said North Korea is cooperating militarily with Syria and has been trying to sell weapons to Yemen’s Houthis.

Pyongyang also violated a textile ban by exporting more than $100 million in goods between October 2017 and March 2018 to China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey and Uruguay, the report said.

The report comes as Russia and China suggest the Security Council discuss easing sanctions after US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met for the first time in June and Kim pledged to work toward denuclearization.

The United States and other council members have said there must be strict enforcement of sanctions until Pyongyang acts.

The UN experts said illicit ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products in international waters had “increased in scope, scale and sophistication.” They said a key North Korean technique was to turn off a ship’s tracking system, but that they were also physically disguising ships and using smaller vessels. (Colombo Gazette)

A person has been arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) for carrying a pistol. According to the Police the arrested is a former Sri Lankan Air Force pilot, now working for a domestic airline in Kenya.

The pistol was found in his luggage, at the final checking area. He was about to board a flight headed to Dubai when the arrest was made.

Police say the reason for him carrying a pistol has not been discovered yet.

SLFP General Secretary Prof. Rohana Lakshman says the party has launched short term and long term plans to field President Maithripala Sirisena as the common candidate at the next Presidential election to avoid a tripartite battle. 

He says if such a battle occurred it will allow a dictatorship to come into power which will negatively affect the peace and democracy in the country.

He also revealed that if the President decides to contest as the common candidate a large number of UNP and JO stalwarts are willing to throw their weight behind him as well.