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International animal rights group PETA is urging tourists visiting Sri Lanka to refuse to ride elephants, avoid visiting any attraction that offers or endorses elephant rides, and also to steer clear of festivals in which elephants are paraded.
 
The UK website of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) published an article on Thursday titled ‘Sri Lanka’s Shameful Elephant Abuse’ condemned the used of elephants for tourist rides and other similar activities while urging tourists visiting the island nation to boycott them.
 
It said that Sri Lanka is a fast-growing holiday hotspot, thanks to its stunning beaches, surf spots, and national parks, but for the country’s captive elephants, this rapid increase in tourism means only more suffering.
 
“Elephants used for tourist rides – which are widely advertised across the country – are typically kept tightly chained and isolated from other elephants. Forced up and down the same busy roads day after day, they’re often worked to exhaustion in the sweltering heat – as soon as one group of tourists gets off, the next one gets on.”
 
“Humans sit atop elephants in a howdah, a type of metal seat, which is strapped to the animals’ delicate backs. Elephants have sharp, bony protrusions that extend upwards from their spine, so the combined weight of the howdah, the tourists, and the mahout (handler) can cause them permanent, agonising spinal damage,” the article said.
 
PETA said that these elephants live in constant fear of the mahout, who controls them using a bullhook– a spear-like instrument with a sharp hook that’s commonly used to strike and injure them.
 
Elephant “attractions” that chain the animals, use bullhooks, and offer elephant rides often describe themselves as “sanctuaries” or “orphanages” in order to dupe tourists into believing that they’re ethical, the animal rights group charged.
 
It said that until tourists stop paying to ride them, elephants will continue to face exploitation and abuse.“If you’re visiting Sri Lanka, please refuse to ride elephants, avoid visiting any attraction that offers or endorses elephant rides, and steer clear of festivals in which elephants are paraded. This includes the Pinnawala Elephant “Orphanage”, Dehiwala Zoo, and Kandy Esala Perahera festival,” it said.

Party leaders are said to have agreed to hold the provincial council elections during the month of January. According to reports, the decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe. 

Minister Mano Ganesan following the meeting revealed that all party leaders other than of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) agreed to hold the election according to the former electoral method. However, the leaders of the Joint Opposition had not attended the meeting while JO parliamentary group leader, Dinesh Gunawardena says they have expressed their stance regarding the elections in writing and therefore did not attend.

The recently resigned President of the Sri Lanka Medical Council Prof. Colvin Gunaratne says strikes by Doctors are illegal and therefore he is vehemently against it. 

Resigning he claimed the reason was the failure to amend th 80 year old Sri Lanka Medical Council Act and therefore there is no political or personal reason for his resignation. 

He also mentioned that the Sri Lanka Medical Council has legal provisions to protect patients under the Medical Ordinance however currently only Doctors enjoy its protection and benefits. Prof. Colvin Gunaratne made these comments at a press briefing held yesterday to explain the reasons for his resignation.

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) has brought to the attention of the Minister of Sports Faiszer Mustapha, a potential incident of abuse of power. According to TISL a complaint had been received regarding the selections process for the tennis squad for the Asian Games 2018. However, they say media reports published on July 30, 2018 announcing the selection of the squad appear to confirm that no preventative action has been taken in this matter.  

“Key among the many questions regarding the selection process is the inclusion in the final squad, of a player who did not participate in the trials” the communique read. 

TISL says In a letter dated June 15, 2018 after the trials were conducted, the Sri Lanka Tennis Association (SLTA), had informed the competent authorities of the selections made by SLTA's Selection Committee. The selection committee had itself confirmed in writing that the player in question "did not show up for her matches and is deemed to have given a walkover". Despite this, media reporting has confirmed that the individual in question has been selected to the squad, at the expense of an individual who had been selected through the trials. “This raises several questions regarding the integrity of the selection process” TISL says.  

Speaking on the matter, TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeyesekere said "It is crucial for the development of sports in the country that the integrity of sport and the spirit of sportsmanship are upheld. We call on the relevant authorities once again, to ensure fair play in the selection process and to be mindful of the damaging effects to budding sportspersons caused by such alleged interference". 

Therefore TISL has now called on the authorities concerned to take into consideration the fact that this matter involves juveniles and to, therefore, treat the case with the appropriate sensitivity.

“Thurunu Diriya” loan scheme, implemented by the Bank of Ceylon (BOC) with the assistance of the Policy Development Office (PDO) of the Prime Minister’s Office, has granted loans worth around 21 million for 47 potential young entrepreneurs up to date. This was revealed by the progress report of this loan scheme issued by the Bank of Ceylon recently.
 
Young entrepreneurs, who are engaging in small and medium businesses, not only in fields such as textile, beauty-culture, technology and mechanics, but also in various field such as photography, have qualified to receive loans under the above scheme. 

Small Enterprises Development Divisions have already prepared about 330 Business Plans for the loan applicants. Out of all the provinces, the highest number of applications have been received by Sabaragamuwa, Southern and Northern provinces.
 
“Thurunu Diriya” BOC loan scheme grants loans without a guarantor and collateral or with lenient guarantor conditions, for small scale entrepreneurs who possess a degree or a recognized vocational training certificate.This loan scheme is implementing by Small Enterprises Development Divisions and District and Divisional Secretariats island-wide, under the supervision of the Policy Development Office of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Immigration New Zealand staff are manually checking nearly 900 applications from Sri Lankan students which used a finance company now at the centre of a student visa scam,  Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says.

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) is investigating the fraud involving Sri Lankan student applications.

INZ officials advised Lees-Galloway in March that fraudulent behaviour had been found in 88 pending applications, and 83 were declined, with a finance company at the centre of the fraud.


Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says a finance company is at the centre of visa fraud. Photo / NZ Herald

"Immigration NZ are going to manually review the 895 applications that came from Sri Lankan students through the Mumbai office in 2017. They're going to see which of those involved this particular finance company," Lees-Galloway. 

Those that had would be flagged and if the visa-holder sought to have their visa extended, their case would be more closely scrutinised.
INZ had looked back at earlier applications but Lees-Galloway said the information confirming they had sufficient finances to support their application came from the finance company, which meant going back to the fraudulent finance company for the information.

"It's a pointless exercise and what INZ has done instead is to refuse applications that involve that finance company. They are blacklisted, they can no longer be involved in applications for visas, and to identify how many people are currently in New Zealand on visas that involved an application through that company."

National's immigration spokesman Michael Woodhouse said there could be thousands of applications approved where fraudulent documentation was supplied.

"Surely it is in the public interest to know how widespread the fraud is. Our immigration system relies in part on the honesty of the applicants, but also on targeting and eliminating fraud when it occurs," he said.

Lees-Galloway said he would have a better idea of how widespread the problem was when INZ had completed its review.


Source: New Zealand Herald

German authorities have arrested a Sri Lankan man suspected of involvement in killing captured government soldiers as a member of the Tamil Tigers rebel group a decade ago, The Associated Press reported.

Federal prosecutors said a judge ordered Thursday the 36-year-old, identified only as Sivatheeban B. because of German privacy rules, detained pending a potential indictment. He was arrested Wednesday in the Duesseldorf area, suspected of committing war crimes and membership in a foreign terrorist organization.

Prosecutors say he belonged to the Tamil Tigers from 2006-2009. They allege that, in 2008, he tied up 16 soldiers and guarded them as they were driven to a site where they were shot.

Sri Lanka's civil war ended in 2009 when government forces defeated the rebels, who fought to create a separate state for ethnic minority Tamils.

Source : Sunday Times

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who is in Sri Lanka on an official visit, met with President Maithripala Sirisena on Tuesday after arriving in Colombo.

During the meeting, Maithripala Sirisena referred to the old history of bilateral and friendly relations between Iran and Sri Lanka and revived the memory of his ‘beneficial and constructive’ visit to Iran earlier in May where he met with Iranian senior officials on expanding bilateral cooperation, especially in areas of energy.

“There is no barrier obstructing the expansion and deepening of bilateral relations between Iran and Sri Lanka,” he asserted after voicing his country’s willingness for further bolstering and developing of bilateral cooperation and alignment at international communities.

Iranian top diplomat, for his part, delivered ‘the warmest greetings of President Rouhani’ to Sri Lankan president and re-voiced Iran’s resolute will for expanding friendly and intimate relations.

The Iranian diplomatic chief described the areas of cooperation between the two countries as diverse and broad and called for expansion of interactions in areas of energy, agriculture, as well as technical and engineering services.

The both sides continued their dialogue exchanging views on the latest most important regional and international developments.

Maithripala Sirisena visited Iran on May 13, 2018 where he signed a host of MoUs and agreements on economic and cultural cooperation with Iran. Also at a joint presser on the same day, the two presidents called for the establishment of a direct flight between Tehran and Colombo to boost tourism.

President Maithripala Sirisena and President Rouhani had already met on the sidelines of Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) summit in Bangkok in October 2016.

Also on January 15, 2017, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Science, Technology and Research Susil Premajayantha met with Iranian Foreign minister Zarif while he was visiting Tehran at the invitation of Iran’s Vice-President for Science and Technology Sorena Sattari.

The ‘Jana Bala Sena’ anti-government protest and the public rally organized by the Joint Opposition is scheduled to take place today (02).

 The protest will commence from the Lipton Roundabout at 2.00 p.m. today and the rally is scheduled to be conducted at 3.00 p.m. at the Viharamahadevi Open Air Theatre.

The protest and the public rally are organized under the theme, “Let’s dispel the incompetent, traitorous government that destroys and betrays the country.”

The construction work on the last phase of the Colombo Outer Circular Highway (OCH) is expected to be completed by July 2019, the Road development Authority (RDA) said.

The 29.5 kilometer OCH starts from Kerawalapitiya along the Colombo - Katunayake Expressway to link with the Southern Expressway crossing A-4 highway at Kottawa and the main A-1 Colombo-Kandy highway at Kadawatha.

The third and last phase of the OCH (OCH-3) from Kadawatha to Kerawalapitiya extending 9.63 kilometers is currently under construction. The RDA said that about 65% of the construction work has already been completed. 

The second phase of the Outer Circular Highway from Kaduwela to Kadawatha was opened to the public in September 2015 while the first phase from Kottawa to Kaduwela was opened in March 2014.

In the third phase, a new interchange will also be constructed close to the starting point of the proposed Colombo-Kandy Central Expressway. The four-tier interchange will be the highest in the country, according to RDA.

6.3 kilometers of the total distance will also be on long bridges since the expressway runs through the Muthurajawela wetland area and low land areas with paddy fields.
RDA further said that the water drainage plan was prepared after gaining approval from the Central Environment Authority.

Sri Lanka is set to call for fresh bids from expert international petroleum companies for petroleum exploration, development and production activities in the Kaveri Basin in Mannar.
 
The Cabinet of Ministers has accordingly approved the proposal presented by Minister of Petroleum Resources Arjuna Ranatunga to call for bids from international Petroleum Companies to explore, develop and produce petroleum in Mannar. 
 
A natural gas field was found for the first time off the coast of Sri Lanka in the Mannar Basin after the previous government signed an agreement with Cairn India Limited, in 2008 to explore for oil and gas off the country’s north-western coast. Cairn later pulled out after oil prices took a plunge the world over.

Commenting on the recent claim made by the Examinations Department that a project will be launched to disable mobile phone signals within the examination centers at the upcoming G.C.E. Advanced Level examination next month, Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure Minister Harin Fernando said that it would not be possible to jam signals from telecommunication towers since it may disturb the communication of the public.

“How many examinations centers are there island wide? If we are to do this, we have to install jammers at all these locations. At how many areas should we do this signal jamming? This seems rather impractical,” Fernando said. 

“If we jam the signals from telecommunication towers, it will affect everyone in those areas. It will definitely have a negative impact on business interactions and similar other communications. Therefore, it does not seem practical either,” the Minister added.

Fernando said that a discussion should be held with the Examinations Department and other relevant parties before installing signal jammers at examination centres.