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The Railway Control Room said additional train services will function until January 7 to accommodate crowds returning from holiday destinations.

Railway Additional General Manager Wijaya Samarasinghe said that an additional train service to Badulla and Bandarawela would also function until January 7.

Source: Daily News

A Code of ethics for web-based media and journalists will be launched at the Professional Web Journalist Association (WJA) annual general meeting tomorrow. (29)

The event which is to be held at the JAIC Hilton will be held under the auspices of President Maithripala Sirisena. Minister of Finance and Media, Mangala Samaraweera, and other government dignitaries will be in attendance as well.

According to the WJA, the new code of ethics will ensure responsible journalism from web journalists and media organisations.

The wife of the Eastern province governor Rohitha Bogollagama, Deepthi Bogollagama is said to have threatened a group of Tamil devotees while visiting a religious site in Trincomalee. The incident had occurred during a visit to the site which is currently under dispute regarding its heritage. Her disruptive behaviour before the Police and government officers is said to have angered the villagers of Sampur.

Deepthi Bogollagama was seen on tape walking over ‘Kolam’ drawn at the religious site while wearing shoes and threatening the people present. She was recorded in the act at the Skanda Kumara Kovil on the Maddalama hill in Sudaikudah village belonging to the Muttur District Secretariat.

As the women called out to their deities Mrs Bologgalagama is seen threatening the group saying “You will all be dealt with”.

She was later led away by the Police with the villagers calling out for her to be removed from the site.

The governor was at the time visiting the site to inquire into the claims by two Buddhist monks that the religious site has Buddhist archaeological value who had then gone on to coerce the Kovil administration to stop digging a well in the premises.

According to the Kovil’s Hindu priest Rasaiah Padmanathan, the site has long been a religious site where Gods Skanda, Kaali and Bahirawa were worshipped by devotees.

However, after claims were made the site is a Buddhist archaeological site the Governor has ordered the Trincomalee GA to look into the registration of the Kovil and to mark the boundaries of the area.

He has also ordered to stop the digging of the well in the Kovil premises while promising to provide water through a browser.

The Kovil has now been provided with special protection the Police said.

Source : radiogagana

The Sri Lankan government has successfully negotiated a long-term credit package of 200 million U.S. dollars with the Credit Suisse Bank in order to keep its debt-ridden national airline afloat, local media reported Wednesday.

The cabinet which met earlier this week has approved to obtain the funds. State Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeyardena said that out of the 200 million dollars, 50 million dollars was obtained as a short term loan facility.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said last year that Sri Lanka's national carrier, Sri Lankan Airlines, had been facing a massive debt of 3 billion dollars and was a "landmine" for the country's economy.

Wickremesinghe blamed the previous administration for mismanaging the national airline which led to colossal losses.

He said the government was in search of an international investor to manage the airline on a Public and Private partnership.

However, with this loan, Yapa said, it was expected to strengthen the government's guarantee for the ongoing discussions with several investors to run SriLankan Airlines.

Yapa said the government did not intend to liquidate the national carrier under any circumstances but the massive debts stood as an obstacle to the successful conclusion of negotiations with private investors.

The Sri Lankan government, led by President Maithripala Sirisena after being elected to office in 2015, ordered a criminal investigation into alleged corruption at the national airline during the previous regime, saying it involved "billions of dollars".

As a result of its mounting debts, Sri Lankan Airlines suspended its flights to Paris and Frankfurt from October and November last year, stating that the government had made it clear that it will no longer fund continuing losses.

The United States’ Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program for Sri Lanka and other countries expires on December 31, 2017. The United States Congress has not re-authorized GSP before adjourning for the year.

The immediate effect of GSP expiration is GSP eligible imports to the United States from Sri Lanka and other GSP beneficiary countries and territories will be subject to non-preferential duties beginning January 1, 2018, the US Embassy in Colombo said today.

The United States says it is proud to serve as the top export market for Sri Lanka. According to the Global Trade Atlas, in 2016, the United States imported $2.8 billion of Sri Lankan goods.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s web site has a page dedicated to GSP program information with detailed information on importation procedures during a program lapse.

Source : Colombo Gazette

President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed MP Piyasena Gamage as the State Minister of Law & Order and Southern Development.

Gamage is said to have been sworn in before the President today (28).

Speaking to ISIS news the stalwart of the SLFP said the new appointment comes at a time where the President has been unhappy with the conduct of the current Minister of Law & Order and Southern Development, Sagala Ratnayake. “He intends to now control the Police through Piyasena Gamage,” the source said.

Minister Sagala Ratnayake was earlier accused of supporting the Rajapaksa’s by various individuals.

The signing of a collective agreement between the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna and the other parties in the JO have been postponed due to a internal conflict between Basil Rajapaksa and other leaders of the JO according to state intelligence services who have reported the current situation to the President.

According to the report while the agreement was to be signed at the BMICH however it was later planned to be held at the Kingsbury Hotel owned by businessman Dhammika Perera.

During a discussion regarding this agreement leader of the National Freedom Front Wimal Weerawansa is said to have exchanged heated words with MP Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Weerawansa is then said to have left during the argument and attempts to contact him by Rajapaksa loyalists is said to have failed.

While Basil Rajapaksa had then left to meet Dinesh Gunawardena in Avissawella however no favourable solution had been arrived at. As a result the agreement is said to now be indefinitely postponed.

However when asked secretary to the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Sagara Kariyawasam said the agreement will be signed in due time.

South Africa is the latest country to have slapped taxes on sugar-sweetened drinks in a bid to reduce consumption and slow an increase in health epidemics such as diabetes and obesity.

The South African government said last week that it will start to collect a levy of 2.1 cents per gram of sugar on drinks where sugar content is above 4 grams per 100 milliliters from April 2018.

The Sri Lankan government’s 2018 budget presented to parliament last month by Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera proposed to introduce an excise duty of 50 cents per gram of sugar contained in beverages. Though many here in Sri Lanka opposed the tax, this bold move by the Minister is sure to discourage unhealthy diets and offset the growing economic costs of obesity as well as diabetes.

Sri Lanka Army troops in the Kilinochchi carried out a programme to distribute plant saplings among deserving families in the region. According to Army media, troops of the Security Force Headquarters - Kilinochchi (SFHQ-KLN) had initiated this programme with a view to uplift the economic standards of the people in the region.

About 2000 plants of economic value such as Jackfruit, Breadfruit, Coconut and Mango were distributed among selected families in the Ampakamam area in Kilinochchi region, during a simple ceremony held last week. 50 families were presented with plant saplings during the ceremony.

In September, Army troops also distributed 2000 plant saplings among the civilians in Kilinochchi. This was carried out under an ambitious campaign to plant 135,000 plants in the region in keeping with the 'Wana Ropa' National Tree Planting Programme.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono will visit Sri Lanka from January 4 to 6, 2018, a statement from the Japanese embassy here said yesterday.

This is the first time in fifteen years that a Japanese Foreign Minister will be visiting Sri Lanka.

The statement said, “This visit is aimed at further consolidating the “Comprehensive Partnership” between Japan and Sri Lanka based on previous visits by Sri Lankan leaders by President Maithripala Sirisena in May 2016, and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in April 2017".

"Strengthening cooperation and collaboration with Sri Lanka is important for the realization of a free and open Indo-Pacific area based on the rule of law,”

During his visit, Kono will pay courtesy calls to the President and the Prime Minister, as well as have a meeting with Tilak Marapana, Minister for Foreign Affairs in order to discuss bilateral relations, regional and international matters.

Following concerns raised by media activists in the North, a special committee is to be set up to investigate disappearances and deaths of journalists in the region. The Secretary to the President is to head the committee which will also probe into various issues faced by regional journalists and make recommendations to rectify them.

The committee will also include the Director General of the Government Information Department, Additional Secretary to the Ministry of Media, and the Commissioner General of the Department of Labour.

The committee is expected to report back to the President in three months time.

Expressing his concerns at the meeting Northern journalist Kandasamy Selvakumar said no action had been taken previously despite concerns being raised regarding these journalists.

According to them legal action had only been taken regarding two out of 44 journalists named as dead or missing in a report handed over to the government two years ago.

The Sri Lankan courts in Jaffna and Vavunia today ordered the release of 69 Tamil Nadu fishermen lodged in prisons there, an official in the district courts said.

The fishermen, arrested on various occasions on charges of crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) by the Sri Lankan Navy, would be brought back here after completing necessary formalities, Manikandan, Assistant Director of Fisheries Department said.
A Sri Lankan court had yesterday (28) released 20 fishermen, arrested on January and February this year on charges of poaching into the island nation's waters, and they were handed over to the Indian Coast Guard at the IMBL by the Lankan authorities.