ICC suspends former Sri Lanka player Jayananda Warnaweera

Sri Lankan pitch curator Jayananda Warnaweera has been suspended for three years by the International Cricket Council after he failed to take part in an anti-corruption investigation.

Warnaweera, who played international cricket for Sri Lanka 16 times between 1986 and 1994 and latterly worked at Galle International Stadium, was asked to co-operate with the ICC anti-corruption unit (ACU) in an ongoing probe.

The 55-year-old failed to attend two interviews with the ACU scheduled in September and October and did not disclose documents when requested, the ICC said in a statement.

Warnaweera was charged with "failing, without compelling justification, to co-operate with any reasonable investigation carried out by the ACU in relation to possible breaches of the anti-corruption code, including failure to provide information and/or documentation requested by the ACU that may be relevant to such investigation" under article 2.4.6 of the ICC anti-corruption code.

The ICC, which has not revealed full details of its investigation, said Warnaweera failed to respond to the charge and was "deemed to have admitted that he committed the offence" and "waived his right to a hearing, and to have acceded to the imposition of a sanction within the range specific in the notice of charge".

ACU chairman Sir Ronnie Flanagan said: "The ICC takes no pleasure in imposing a suspension, but this decision clearly illustrates what the code means to the ICC and how seriously we take matters that relate to corruption.

"It should also act as a reminder to participants of the need to comply with their obligations under the code. The ICC has a zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and it will not hesitate in taking such decisions in its endeavour to eliminate this menace from the sport."

(News Agencies)

New Rates for calls, SMSs from February

Sri Lanka’s telecom regulator, Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) has issued instructions to telcos to scrap the existing two rate structure for on-net and off-net voice calls and replace it with a new common floor rate with effect from February 01, 2016.

While the new floor rates have been set below the existing floor rates for voice calls taken outside the network, the voice rates within the network and the SMS rates have been raised. (See table for the new and existing rates) The TRC said the floor rate revision was made in response to submissions made by the telcos and would only be applicable for new connections issued from the effective date.

New floor rates could be a move by the telcos to minimize the impact of declining margins amid the substitution of traditional voice/text services by low margin data services.

It may have also been prompted by the thumping one-off taxes slapped on telcos by the Interim Budget in January 2015.

However, the new floor rates are unlikely to have a significant impact on their margins as the voice market is long saturated in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, the letter sent to the chief executives of telcos by the newly appointed TRC Director General, Sunil S. Sirisena on January 5, 2016 read,  “…the Commission has decided to appoint a committee to study the Commission approved tariff plans which were below the  determined common floor rates and make recommendations as to whether such tariff plans should be revised in line with the common floor rates or allow to continue as it is”.


The TRC in 2010 brought in floor rates for the first time to safeguard the industry when its viability was threatened by the intense price war among service providers, which led to price undercutting to grab market share from each other in a largely saturated mobile telephony market.

However, this measure only temporarily improved telco fortunes as the rapid take off of cheap data services subsequently began to eat into their margins.

Sri Lanka’s telco market is one of the most     overcrowded markets in the world with five operators serving a 21 million population. Fitch Ratings this week revised the outlook on the Lankan telcos to ‘Stable’ from ‘Negative’ due to scrapping of recurring taxes imposed on them from the Interim Budget in 2015, which could have diluted the industry Earnings Before Interest Tax Depreciation and Amortization margin by 6 – 7 percent.

Fitch Ratings in March 2015 revised down the outlook to ‘Negative’ from ‘Stable’ due to a host of hostile, one-off and retrospective taxes imposed on the telcos.

However, Fitch Ratings in November 2014 said the outlook on the Lankan telcos could be revised to ‘Positive’ (from ‘Stable’), either if industry consolidation results in improvement in profitability or the regulator’s introduction of a data tariff floor, easing the pressure on profitability.

Probe On Facebook scam in Sri Lanka

Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya yesterday ordered the CID to launch a probe into an organized gang which is alleged to be earning millions of rupees in hush money through a Facebook scam whereby nude photographs and videos of selected men have been taken prior to them being threatened with 'exposure' on Facebook if the demanded sum was not paid.

The head of the computer division of the CID, Chief Inspector S.K. Senaratne told Court that the police probe into this racket had begun after it came to light that an Army Officer had paid a sum of Rs 210,000 as hush money.

The Army Officer had received a Facebook invitation from a 'Friend' on Facebook and the unsuspecting Army Officer had continued to chat with the person who had posed off as a woman.

By and by they had continued to forge a close relationship through their respective Facebook accounts until the woman had one day asked him for nude photographs and videos of himself..

Afterwards the complainant had trusted the person with whom he had continued to chat on his Facebook account and had sent nude photos and videos of himself through the Whatsapp facility on his cell phone.

The CID then informed Court that the complainant had been threatened with exposure of his nude photos and videos and yielded to the demand of depositing Rs 210,000 at various stages.

Following extensive inquiries the CID had then uncovered an organized gang been responsible for the blackmail whereby unsuspecting males have been threatened with the exposure of nude photos and videos on Facebook, if they fail to deposit the demanded ransom money.

The CID was then ordered by Chief Magistrate Pilapitiya to continue with its investigations especially seeking details of money thus deposited by other clients and also to seek further details from ATM machines and through CCTV footage etc.

Sri Lanka eyes U.S. for more tourists

The Sri Lankan government on Tuesday said that it intends to undertake a tourism promotion campaign in the United States in order to attract more western tourists.

In a Foreign Ministry statement released here, quoting Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the U.S. Prasad Kariyawasam, it said that although the U.S. was presently ranked as the ninth source of tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka, with more focused attention to U.S. travelers looking for new and unique destinations, the potential for growth in the U.S. market was immense.

Leading international travel magazines have already ranked Sri Lanka as a top destination for 2016 with many tour companies offering trips to the island nation this year.

The country's tourism industry has become the leading foreign exchange earner and the new government led by President Maithripala Sirisena intends to achieve at least four million tourists' target by 2020.

Statistics recently released by the country's Tourism Development Authority showed that the Sri Lanka had received almost 1.8 million tourists in 2015, up 17.8 percent from the previous year.

The increase was largely due to an increase in the number of Chinese tourists visiting the island nation in the recent years.

World oldest man Yasutaro Koide dies aged 112 in Japan

The world’s oldest man has died at the age of 112 in the Japanese city of Nagoya, local officials say.Yasutaro Koide, who was born on 13 March 1903, was officially named the oldest man by Guinness World Records in August this year.

At the time he was quoted as saying his secret to long life was not smoking or drinking, not to overdo things and to “live with joy”.

Officials said he died of heart failure and pneumonia early on Tuesday.It is not yet clear who succeeds him as the oldest man.

The title of world’s oldest person is held by American woman Susannah Mushatt Jones, who is 116 years old.She took the title last year after the death of Misao Okawa in Japan at the age of 117.

The oldest person who has ever lived according to Guinness was Jeanne Calment of France, who lived 122 years and 164 days. She died in August 1997.

Female MPs can complain to Speaker about Sexual harassment

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has requested female Parliamentarians to inform him if they are subjected to any kind of sexual or other harassment, the Speaker’s office said yesterday.

It said that the Speaker would not hesitate to take tough action against those individuals, found guilty in this regard irrespective of the party or the positions they hold.

However, there were no complaints to the Speaker or any other Parliament officials about this as yet. The statement also said that the Speaker would look into the matter further by himself.

Discussions between Bodu Bala Sena & President Maithri

The closed-door discussions between the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) and President Maithripala Sirisena this evening had been successful, BBS General Secretary Ven. Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera said.

The BBS organisation said it discussed several issues with the President.

“We have explained to the President about the threat of global Islamic extremists to Buddhists and Muslims in Sri Lanka,” he said.

“When discussed about Government’s plan to bring an Act in the Parliament, which can take control of the activities of Buddhist monks, the President said it should be discussed with the Chief Sangha Nayakas and would let the results known to all in the Sangha hierarchy,” he said.

“About 4,500 families in five remote villages in the Bogas Weva region in Vavuniya, who had been resettled by the previous government, have now started to get back to their previous places,” Ven. Gnanasara Thera said.

“The attention given to them by the Government and the influence from several Muslim Ministers and threats from Tamil separatists resulted in the villagers returning to their former places,” he said.

“Those villages have been set up by the help of tri forces. I am pleased to inform that the President had informed the Army Commander to take immediate action regarding the issue. We hope the President will take fruitful decisions in the future,” the Thera added.

“We will conduct an inspection tour to the Bogas Weva villages within the next few days and we hope President will pay more attention to Sinhala people as he paid attention to Muslims and people of other religions,” he said. (Chaturanga Pradeep)

PC Member Grilled For Alleged Groping In Singapore

One of the Central Provincial Council members who had gone on a 10 day study tour to Singapore few days ago had been taken in for questioning by the Singaporean Police for allegedly groping a woman inside a lift at the hotel they had stayed during their visit, reliable sources said.

All other PC members except for the member concerned had returned to the country early Saturday completing their tour, according to the Council sources.

Council Chairman L.D.Nimalasiri who had accompanied the members to Singapore confirmed the incident of groping and the police taking him to the police station. However, he said the incident was accidental and not serious and the police did not take the member into custody but just took him to the police station. He also said that the member had stayed back in Singapore for a personal need.

Council Secretary of the Central Provincial Council T.N.S. Bandara Tennakoon said that he was neither aware of such an incident nor had he an idea whether the member in question had returned to the country or not