Sep 8 (DM) The controversial 18th Amendment to the Constitution will be debated in Parliament today, and it will be put to the vote at 7.00 pm. The ruling coalition is now likely to muster the support of more than 160 MPs to pass the Bill – inclusive of six UNP MPs and eight SLMC MPs. Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne presented the Bill in Parliament yesterday on behalf of the government shortly after Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa communicated more..

Sep 8 (DM) DNA Leader Sarath Fonseka MP asked in Parliament yesterday what had happened to the hundreds of kilograms of gold items that had been recovered from the LTTE during the last stages of the war. Mr. Fonseka said that he had seized 200 kilograms of gold from Vellamullavaikkal alone, when he was the army commander. “There were many such collections of gold found in LTTE-held areas. more..

Sep 8 (BBC) Sri Lankan MPs are to vote on proposals to let President Mahinda Rajapaksa seek a third term, in a move critics say could lead to dictatorship. As well as abolishing the current two-term limit, the constitutional amendments would hugely increase the president's powers. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court cleared a draft bill, ruling the changes could be voted in by a two-thirds MPs' majority. The government is expected easily to secure the margin required. more..

Sep 8 (AFP) Sri Lanka's parliament votes Wednesday on constitutional reforms enabling President Mahinda Rajapakse to seek a third term, in changes critics say point to the country's slide into autocracy. Under the proposed amendment, the two-term limit will be scrapped, allowing the populist Rajapakse, who was resoundingly re-elected for the second time in January, to stand at the next polls, scheduled for 2016. more..

Sep 8 (BN) Sri Lanka’s interest-rate cuts in July and August are “sufficient for the time being” to support economic growth, central bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said before next week’s monetary policy announcement. “We are confident of a faster upturn in credit growth in the next few months,” Cabraal said in a telephone interview late yesterday from the capital Colombo. more..

Sep 8 (SL) The opposition UNP’s Rosy Senanayake says that many of the opposition MP’s were bought over to side with government with promises of wealth. Speaking a short while ago at the United National Party Headquarters Sirikotha, Senanayake said that she too had been indirectly bribed with offers of a Ministry and money, but said that she had declined. more..

Sep 8 (Island) The government yesterday assured all UNP Parliamentarians, who would vote for the 18th Amendment in Parliament today, that they would be given total protection. Minister Maithripala Sirisena, when asked whether the government would provide legal and other assistance to those UNP MPs if they got into trouble for supporting the government, said the government would never let them down. more..

Sep 8 (SL) The Bar Association of Sri Lanka is perturbed by the move of the Government to introduce the 18th Amendment to the constitution as an “urgent bill”. As early as June this year, the bar Council resolved that constitutional Amendments should not be presented as “Urgent Bills” and urged the Government to desist from proposing Constitutional Amendments in the form of “Urgent Bills”. more..

Sep 8 (Island) A pilot project carried out at the State Engineering Corporation’s Pre-Cast Yard in Peliyagoda, to test the effectiveness of the locally cultured and produced Bacillus Thuriengiensis Israelensis (Bakto), to destry mosquito larvae, had been proved hundred percent successful, the Health Ministry said yesterday. more..

Sep 8 (Island) The Naval Intelligence recently recovered four US-built inboard engines acquired by the Sea Tigers to power attack craft, which posed a formidable threat to the Navy. Authoritative sources say the engines, Mercruisers, recovered from Vellamullivaikkal, Mullativu are in top condition. During the eelam war IV, the LTTE may have acquired over 100 Mercruisers, more..

Sep 8 (Island) Even if the 18th Amendment Bill is passed in Parliament, the UNP would not allow it become the law of the country, UNP and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday. Addressing a press conference at the Parliamentary complex, Wickremesinghe said the Bill was against democracy and the mandate the government received at the last general election. more..

Sep 8 (DM) With the last semblance of hope for democracy, a protest vote by the traditional left within the government now being dashed, fragmenting the left parties also into pieces, the avalanche effect engineered by the SLMC continues to rampage Sri Lankan polity. It has been now revealed that other than the left parties, a couple of government MPs too had been contemplating on abstaining from voting had the left opted to do so. more..

Sep 8 (SL) The wife and two brothers of the man commissioned by the UNP initially to print posters for them has been taken into police custody, Protest Coordinater Shiral Lakthilaka said a short while ago whilst at the Party Headquarters. The man had been initially given contract by the United National Party to print posters that had depicted Mahinda Rajapakse as ”a Hitler” holding law, money, cars and even the media in his hands, but had been unable to do so due to a technical failure. more..

Sep 8 (DN) The Department of Registration of Persons has streamlined the issuing of National Identity Cards to citizens above 16 years to ensure a better service to the public under new Commissioner General Jagath P Wijeweera. At present around 3000 NICs are issued per day. In addition another 600 NICs are issue under the one day service, the Commissioner said. Usually there is a demand for NICs from schools when more..

Sep 8 (Island) The 18th Amendment is a fait accompli, whether we like it or not. There is nothing that can prevent its passage in Parliament today. The government should not have been in an indecent hurry to present it to Parliament and there should have been ample time for a public debate. As for its contents, the government should have taken on board views of the Opposition parties and other stakeholders and secured their co-operation, though President Mahinda Rajapaksa says more..

Sep 8 (DN) All the 489 families affected by the Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Project have been resettled in modern housing units. Many of them were living in thin-roofed line rooms with no separate kitchen or bathroom. The Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Project has given a great impetus to raise the living standards and the social status of the people in the Talawakelle area. The infrastructure and housing Development in and around the more..

Sep 8 (LBO) Sri Lanka will increase minimum capital requirements of banks to increase their resilience to shocks and also require unlisted private banks to list on the Colombo bourse, the Central Bank said. Existing commercial banks will have to increase their minimum capital to three billion rupees by end-2011, and further raise it to four billion rupees by end-2013 and five billion rupees by end-2015. more..

Sep 8 (MoD) Minister of Rehabilitation and Prison Reforms D.E.W. Gunasekera said that he had obtained Cabinet approval to grant Micro financing for self employment and housing loans to the lowest segments of the Tamil society in the North and East. He said that loans up to a maximum of Rs 250,000 would be granted through the AGA s and District Secretariats by the Bank of Ceylon at low interest rate of 4 percent per-annum with a repayment period of over 10 years. more..

Sep 8 (DN) All top scholars in State universities extended their strong support for the 18th Amendment yesterday. They pointed out that the 18th Amendment was totally legal and within the framework of the present Constitution. It can only accelerate the country’s development process while ensuring the people’s right to appoint a President according to their wish. Addressing a press briefing held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, yesterday the more..

Sep 8 (DM) Historical writings have included what great men and women in the past had said during their life times. They are numerous and an influence on the people who heard them and read them in later times. Apart from the religious teachers–Confucius, Galileo, Plato, Bertrand Russell, Machiavelli, Freud, Gandhi, Krishnamurti and a host of others made observations and statements which impress people. The opinions of such philosophers, social reformers, humanists, more..

Sep 8 (TS) Two men have pleaded not guilty to nine counts of wrongfully confining and causing hurt to three Sri Lanka nationals in a magistrate’s court here yesterday. Dancer M. Elil Valavan, 30, and auxiliary policeman A. Francis Xavier, 32, from Batu Caves, were also charged with having forced the Sri Lankans to commit gross indecency. Both men were accused with another person still at large of causing hurt to more..

Sep 8 (Guardian) The arrival off the west coast of Canada of a rusty boat containing nearly 500 exhausted Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers has sparked an angry debate about racism that has divided national opinion. The merchant vessel Sun Sea limped, under escort, into Esquimalt naval base in British Columbia on 13 August after a four month voyage from Songkhla in Thailand. The passengers spoke of grim conditions. more..

Sep 8 (Island) One is grateful for small mercies at the hands of government and to Professor G. L. Peiris for his account of the proposed changes to the Constitution in the form of the 18th Amendment. As a common citizen, I have not seen the actual text of the proposed amendment and rest on newspaper accounts and the essay of Minister Peiris in The Island Newspaper on 01 September 2010 as to what it consists of. more..

Sep 8 (Island) Now that the Supreme Court has concluded its examination of the proposed Bill, it is not inappropriate to refer to some issues raised by the draft 18th Amendment subject to whatever obiter dicta that the SC may have pronounced. The matters to be discussed in this paper are power of appointment vested in the President, mandatory consultations regarding appointments to be made, the PSC, the Election Commission, the Police Commission and the status of the IGP. more..

Sep 8 (NS) The Sammurdhi development officers and agricultural production assistants union expressed their disappointment and displeasure over the conclusion of the disciplinary committee that was appointed by the President to inquire into the scandal of Mervyn Silva tying down a sammurdhi worker to a tree. The disciplinary committee concluded that the former deputy minister is not guilty of any wrong doing due to more..

Sep 8 (NS) Former President JR Jayewardene, the architect of the present constitution, wished that the system of government that he introduced would go on forever. He introduced the executive presidency to remedy some of ills that he thought plagued Sri Lankan politics like the lack of stability and having too many elections. In support of his argument, JRJ cited that from independence up to 1960 there were six elections within a space of 12 years with more..

Sep 8 (LB) We are all inhabitants of structures of power skewed against the average citizen. These structures are moreover characterized by a determining force so strong that they craft the elected into creatures that affirm and strengthen them (the structures). They seem so overarching, robust and beyond dismantling or even slight bending, that there is a manifest tendency to opt out of structure-changing exercises and settle down to putting like-minded or more..

Sep 8 (ST) The continued intrusion of Indian fishermen into Sri Lankan territorial waters has become an impediment to fishermen in the north who are now enjoying unrestricted access to the seas in the area after nearly three decades. S. Thavaratnam, the President of the Jaffna District Fishermen’s Co-operative Society Union’s Federation said deep sea fishing by Indian fishermen using trawlers was depriving locals access to fish stocks in mid sea. more..

Sep 8 (LB) In a startling disclosure its revealed that the minister of education who is in charge of the National Institute of Education(NIE) has upto now not appointed the NIE council thus causing confusion and disarray in the council. The functions of the council include appointing teacher guides, internal administration of the NIE, promotions, transfers and approving relevant training courses for teachers and principals. more..

Sep 8 (ST) The revival of the tourist industry is one of the significant economic advantages of peace. Tourist arrivals have increased sharply up to now this year and there is every expectation that this trend would continue. What must be prevented are government measures that could hamper tourism. One such measure that was envisaged and fortunately dropped, and hopefully never to be implemented was the policy of more..

Sep 8 (ST) A new scene in the tragedy of Wilpattu is being played with environmentalists strongly protesting against moves to parcel off coastal land for the settlement of fishing families while officials are quick to reject such allegations. Something is definitely cooking with regard to the Wilpattu coastal area, the Sunday Times understands, with many meetings being held since June this year and more..

Sep 8 (LB) The current lowering of interest rates helps government to borrow, but, the middle class that depends on interest earned from capital, may be driven to suicide, former Chief Justice Sarath N Silva commented. The government determined current rate of interest on private bank fixed deposits stands at 7 percent per annum. (A year ago, it was 14 percent and up to 18 percent, before). Current state bank interest rates on savings accounts are lower than 7 percent by a few points. more..

Sep 8 (GV) We, the undersigned academics attached to different universities in Sri Lanka, call upon the government to re-consider the proposed 18th Amendment to the Constitution for the reasons set out below. Constitutional reforms, like elections, go to the heart of what it means to be a democracy in the modern-day world. Any changes that are introduced to a country’s constitution should be undertaken after due deliberation and more..

Sep 8 (SO) Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa strongly believes that this is the time to serve the people instead of making them to through nerve-racking experience. With the 18th Amendment to the Constitution coming to the top of the list of current topics and the national development drive on an accelerated pace requiring equal attention, the Minister today tackles an array of high profile issues. more..

Sep 8 (MoD) A leading insurance company in Sri Lanka, Ceylinco Life, offered a co-sponsorship for the "Ranaviru Gee Sara - 03" music event organized by the Defence Ministry's Seva Vanitha Unit. The annual music event- "Virudana Gee Sara" is to be staged for the third time in grand scale at BMICH on 9th October 2010. The event is organized under the directives and supervision of Defence Ministry's Seva Vanitha chairperson Mrs Ioma Rajapaksa. more..