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Sri Lanka will launch a global marketing campaign starting from next month to attract more and more tourists to the country, an official here said on Thursday.

Speaking to Xinhua, Consultant to the Tourism Promotion Minister, Felix Rodriguez said that Sri Lanka had planned to increase its tourist arrivals up to 4 million by 2020.

"We received only around 2 million last year. If we are to increase it up to 4 million in another couple of years, it will be a challenging task," he said.

He said the digital promotion campaign would be launched next month, targeting tourists from China, India, France, Germany and Britain.

"Afterwards, we will go to the next step of advertising in global media outlets. We need to increase the frequency of our flight operations with various destinations in the region to facilitate increased arrivals," he said.

According to Rodriguez, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has appointed a committee to look into the development of tourism industry in the country.

Tourism is a growing industry in Sri Lanka, with the highest number of arrivals from the countries such as China and India.

The second cabinet reshuffle of the good governance government is set to take place today (21) or tomorrow (22) sources of the Presidential Secretariat said adding that any ministers with corruption allegations will not be given the same portfolios.

As a result the Cabinet reshuffle scheduled to take place might be postponed the source said when asked by isis.lk news.

He also said the revised ministerial portfolios of the UNP have not been sent to the President as of last night yet due to objections raised by certain Ministers of the UNP.

Ineffective Ministers to get same treatment :

The cabinet reshuffle is being done under the full supervision of the President and the Prime Minister th source said. Accordingly Ministers who also have not performed and proved to be ineffective will also not be given the same Ministerial portfolios.

Young Ministers to get powerful posts :

It is reported that the young MPs will be given powerful portfolios for the cabinet reshuffle that will take place tomorrow with several senior ministers are said to be at the risk of losing.

According to 'Divaina,' the changes will take place in Ministries, Law and Order, Highways, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Sports, Science and Technology Ministries.

Minister Counsellor (Defence) attached to the Sri Lankan High Commission in London, Brigadier Priyankara Fernando arrived in Sri Lanka today.

He was recalled for special consultations on the video published on social media capturing him making a ‘throat-slitting’ gesture in response to a Tamil group of protesters outside the Sri Lankan High Commission premises in London.

Brigadier Priyankara Fernando was immediately recalled from his service following the release of the video but was reinstated soon after, with the intervention of President Maithripala Sirisena.

Source : Daily News

Police Media Spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekara said that at least 19 persons have been hospitalised with injuries after a passenger transport bus caught fire in the early hours this morning at Kahagolla in Diyatalawa.

According to reports, the private bus with mostly Army and Air Force soldiers on board, had suddenly caught fire following a minor explosion at around 5.30 a.m. today. The Army Spokesperson notes that 7 among the injured are from the Army while 5 are from the Air force with the rest being civilians.

The condition of two soldiers are critical, the Army spokesman added. The injured passengers have been admitted to the Diyatalawa Hospital.

The People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) will take legal action against candidates who breached the Election law at the recently concluded Local Authorities Elections.

PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi told the Daily News that 15 such candidates have been identified so far in the first round of information gathering.

“The candidates who bribed the voters are among them. All of them are from the main parties. However, we need to collect concrete evidence before filing cases and at times the people hesitate to come out and give evidence,” he said.

Commenting on the list of 80 corrupt candidates in the fray at the previous elections as identified by the PAFFEREL, he said the majority had been defeated, but about 10 such candidates had won while two of them had been nominated as Heads of LG bodies.

“All of them represent the main parties and we decided to write to the General Secretaries of those parties urging not to appoint them as Heads of those respective LG bodies,” he said.

He also regretted that the bill on 'Campaign Finance Upper Limitation for Elections', which the PAFFEREL took the initiation to draft, was handed over to the Government in August last year but did not proceed thereafter.

He said the Election watchdog groups have decided to collectively pressure the Government to adopt the legislation before the forthcoming Provincial Council Elections.

Source : Daily News

Sri Lanka's Opposition Leader R Sampanthan has slammed former president Mahinda Rajapaksa for his remarks during the recent poll campaign that a vote for the ruling UNP or SLFP would be a vote to revive the Tamil Eelam - a separate Tamil state.

Speaking in parliament, Sampanthan yesterday said that during the pre-poll campaign this message was propagated amongst the Sinhalese people in this country.

"They were told, 'this is a referendum for an Eelam.

If you vote for the Government or if you vote for the UNP, it will result in an Eelam being created.

So, do not vote for them'," said Sampanthan, also the leader of the Tamil National Alliance.

Sampanthan said his party in its election manifesto stated that it wants a political solution within the framework of 'undivided, indivisible single country".

"We only talked of a solution that is acceptable to our people, that is reasonable substantial power-sharing within the framework of a united, undivided, indivisible single country.

That was the propaganda we carried out in all our areas and when we did that, how dare president Rajapaksa say that Eelam could bloom after the election," the Tamil leader said.

Sampanthan stressed, "Eelam will bloom, not on account of us, but on account of your 'Lotus Bud'.

Your 'Lotus Bud' will bloom into an Eelam.

That is what will happen.

Therefore, please resist your temptation to achieve cheap political gain by carrying on such false propaganda".

Rajapaksa’s lotus bud party swept the poll in the Sinhala majority parts of the island winning 225 councils or two-thirds of the 340 councils.

The UNP won only 41 councils while the SLFP was a distant third with just 11 in the first electoral test of the unity government headed by Sirisena.

The LTTE, which led the separatist war for a separate Tamil homeland, was crushed by the Lankan military in 2009 with the death of its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran.

(PTI)

Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Amari Wijewardena, has tendered her resignation, according to reports widely circulated in local media.

However, the Ministry in a press release today noted that the reports being circulated in the media attributed to the Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stating that Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the UK, Mrs. Amari Wijewardene, has resigned, are incorrect.

Foreign Ministry in a release further stated that High Commissioner Wijewardene will conclude her contract on her own volition by 31 March 2018.

Amari Wijewardene was appointed as Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland in 2016. Prior to her appointment as High Commissioner, she was the Chairperson and Managing Director of the Swadeshi Group of Companies.

The new Tamil television channel of the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation commenced its telecast today (20) under the auspices of President Maithripala Sirisena.

The channel has been named the ‘Reconciliation Channel’.

SLRC which commenced operations in 1982, first launched a Tamil channel named ‘Channel Eye’ in 1998 which used one frequency to telecast sports, English and Tamil programs.

The new channel has been launched with the aim to encourage reconciliation in the post-war era. President Sirisena is said to have awarded five frequencies to SLRC for the new channels telecast purposes.

According to SLRC sources transmitters are to installed in Colombo, Hanthana, Kokuvil, Jaffna and the Southeast.

The channel is set to cater the 25 per cent tamil speaking population of the country and will air full time. The event was also graced by Minister of Finance & Mass Media, Mangala Samaraweera.

The Sri Lanka Army assured that there isn’t any terrorist involvement in the incident where a passenger bus caught fire after an explosion in Kahagolla, Diyatalawa, this morning.

The Military Spokesman said that 19 individuals were injured by the explosion and were rushed to the Diyatalawa Hospital. Out of the 19 injured, 7 individuals were Army personnel and 5 individuals were Air Force personnel.

The condition of two Army personnel is reportedly critical.

The explosion occurred after the passengers who were heading towards Diyatalawa were transferred to another bus at the Bandarawela town, the Sri Lanka Army media sources said. The Police are conducting further investigations.

The President had decided to keep many subjects under his control, especially those that come under the purview of economic and agricultural sectors, in the upcoming cabinet reshuffle, sources from the Presidential Secretariat said today.

The sources further say that several institutions under the purview of the Ministry of Mass Media are to be brought under the President.

It is reported that the President has come to the conclusion that the reason for their defeat at the local government elections was due to the inadequate management of the economy as well as the inept management of the agricultural sector.

A team of Thai experts arrived in Sri Lanka to look at the possibility of creating artificial rain in severe drought-affected areas of the island country, today.

The group consisting of Thai engineers visited the Castlereagh and Maussakele Reservoirs in the catchment areas of the Central Highlands to seek the possibilities of creating artificial rain as water levels in these reservoirs had seen a drastic drop.

Officials from the Power and Renewable Energy Ministry said that the team also planned to visit the main Victoria, Randenigala and Kotmale reservoirs.

Local media reports said the Thai engineers represent the only company in the world that has the patent to create artificial rain.

The company had created artificial rain when the island country was severely affected by a drought in 1981. Hundreds of families remain affected by months of severe drought due to the lack of rains and delayed monsoonal rains in the central parts of Sri Lanka.

Anunayake of the Ramanna Maha Nikaya, Ven. Girambe Ananda Thera passed away today (20) while receiving treatment at the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital. The Thera was 80 years old at the time of his death.

According to hospital sources, Ananda Thera has been receiving in-house treatment at the hospital for over nine days prior to his demise.

Last rites of the Thera will be held on Saturday (24) at the Anuradhapura Harischandra Walisinghe stadium at 3 pm.