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Home » NewsReconsider impeachment: BASL
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka at a special general meeting yesterday passed a resolution calling on President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa to reconsider the impeachment motion against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. Pandemonium reigned at the meeting attended by more than 1,000 lawyers from various parts of the country as views were exchanged [...]
War veteran to make final Sri Lanka journey
An 87-year-old World War II veteran is to make a final trip to Sri Lanka to recall his wartime role there. George Davies, from Monmouth, will make the poignant trip in January with the help of the Big Lottery Fund’s Heroes Return 2 programme. He is one of several Welsh veterans who have returned to [...]
19th Amendment for new devolution package
The Government is working out a 19th Amendment to the Constitution to incorporate a new devolution package to address Tamil grievances and replace the existing Provincial Council system. A draft of this amendment is to be presented to a Parliamentary Select Committee which the Government wants to appoint. “It is up to the Tamil National [...]
HRCSL starts unannounced checks on police abuses
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has commenced unscheduled visits and checks on police stations to determine cases of unlawful detentions and allegations of torture. HRCSL Commissioner T. Anandaraja told the Sunday Times this was after a series of complaints received about illegal detentions and cases of torture taking place in police stations. [...]
Saliya in intensive care after alleged suicide bid
Central Provincial Council chairman Saliya Dissanayake is in the intensive care unit of the Kandy General Hospital after what sources said was a failed suicide attempt. Doctors said last night that his condition was stable. According to family sources, Mr. Dissanayake had first tried to hang himself and later swallowed poison.
Rain till November end
Five provinces will receive heavy evening showers in the next few days, Metereology Department Director S.H. Kariyawasam said last night. He said the rains could be accompanied by thunder and lightning in the Western, Northern, Uva, North-Central and North-Western provinces. He added that the adverse conditions would continue until the end of this month.
UNP wants PSC probe on riots
The UNP yesterday handed over a motion to Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa seeking the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate the Welikada prison riots.
Mannar Church to protest against Indian nuke plant
The Catholic clergy in the Mannar Diocese are to lead public protests against the commissioning of the Kudankulam Nuclear Facility in South India saying the people in the region will be the worst affected in the event of a fallout. “We have written to the Indian High Commission but we are not satisfied with the [...]
Riot affects Order Paper in Parliament
Yesterday’s Order Paper of Parliament could not be printed due to the riots at the Welikada Prison as work at the Government Printer’s Department which is located adjacent to the Prison was disrupted. Instead photo copies of the Order Paper were distributed among MPs and journalists to enable them to follow the day’s proceedings.
Lanka to buy oil from S’pore spot market
Spot purchases in the Singapore market are among options the Government is looking at to ensure continued fuel supplies, Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha said yesterday. He said that with the disruption of supplies from Iran due to problems in opening Letters of Credit through banks, the CPC was also seeking Cabinet approval to make [...]
Welikada war: 27 killed, 59 injured, as four teams probe bloody mayhem
Four different investigations have been launched into Friday’s bloody mayhem at the Welikada jail where 27 people were killed and 59 injured, in one of Sri Lanka’s worse ever prisoner riots, officials said yesterday. They said the probes were to be conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the Colombo Crime Division, the Prisons Department [...]
Prisoners at war
It all began on Friday (9) afternoon, with heavily armed Special Task Force (STF) personnel in search of banned items such as mobile phones, tobacco, alcohol, narcotics, etc among prisoners serving life and long sentences at Welikada jail. The search operation involving more than 200 STF personnel started around 2.00 pm from Ward ‘L’ which [...]
Krrish has paid only 10 % of lease for prime Fort property, admits Govt.
The Government on Friday conceded that M/s Krrish Group India has only made an initial deposit of Rs. 499.5 million or 10 per cent of the total lease premium for the Transworks House property in Colombo Fort. Nimal Siripala de Silva, Leader of the House in response to a question raised by Opposition Leader Ranil [...]
Govt. mum over billions owed in hedging deal gone wrong
Authorities are tight-lipped as the Government tries to renegotiate billions of rupees in fines owed to foreign banks over the ‘illegal’ hedging deal. “Why do we have to pay, we don’t have to pay a cent, we are appealing the case,” Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha told the Sunday Times regarding billions of rupees owed to [...]
Bishops gravely concerned over threat to judiciary
The Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Sri Lanka (CBCSL) yesterday expressed grave concern over the threat to the independent and fair functioning of the Judiciary. The Bishops in a statement called upon the Executive and the Legislative stake holders to address this issue and ensure the freedom for the Judiciary to function. In the statement the [...]
250,000 unborn children killed in Sri Lanka every year
Today has been declared as the day of the Unborn Child and all religions will come together in a joint campaign to prevent any attempt to legalize abortion in Sri Lanka. According to investigations, at least 700 illegal abortions take place every day, meaning more than 20,000 a month and a horrifying 250,000 every year, [...]
10-year RI sentence upheld
A sentence of 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment handed down to a director of education, the accused in a rape case, was upheld by High Court Judge S. S. C. Lekamwasam. The accused, Karuppiah Nadaraja, was indicted by the Attorney-General on a charge of rape on an under-aged girl at Nattaranpotha, Kandy, on March 4, 2001. [...]
IGP’s help desk gets up to 100 calls every Friday
The recently set up Inspector General’s Help Desk receives an average 100 phone calls from the public every Friday, says SP Gaston Stanislaus, duty officer in charge. The IG’s Help Desk was set up to receive information and act on complaints with regard to Police Department services. Complaints against the Police range from bribe-taking and harassment [...]
Killings unlimited in Galle’s gang rivalry tit-for-tat
A longstanding feud between two groups in the Galle area, has left 12 persons brutally killed and many others disabled without limbs, and even eyes. The Dangedera area in Galle was predominantly Buddhists, with little less than an equal number of Muslims. The Seneviratne family maintained the peace between the two feuding parties, and would [...]
Budget 2013: Sops for middle and working classes; farmers, fishermen get little relief
If it was good news for flashy racing car drivers and bare footed children who trudge to school through rocky roads, last Thursday’s budget was bad news for most others. President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced that racing cars will be allowed into the country without duty and school children in rural areas will receive free footwear. [...]
Motorists left to manage without Police to direct traffic
Since Monday, no traffic police officers have been on duty at traffic light intersections in Colombo city; motorists are expected to obey the traffic lights. Traffic police were withdrawn after motorists had complained that road congestion had only got worse with police officers directing traffic, SSP K. Arasaratnam, Director, Traffic Administration and Road Safety, told [...]
Lanka rejects 100 rights recommendations
Sri Lanka turned down almost half of the recommendations made by UNHRC member states on improving human rights, but agreed to submit details of voluntary meausres the country is taking in the next two weeks. Sri Lanka rejected, among other proposals, calls to enact a freedom of information act, ratify the Rome Statute that would [...]
Striking while the iron is hot
Names such as Mullivaikal, Puthumathalan and Ampalavan Pokkanai would be unknown to most but for the fact that they were scenes of battle in 2009, during the last phase of the war. The three villages are in the northern district of Mullaitivu. When the war ended, the residents of these villages were taken to government [...]
Cutoff from livelihood, shut out by insurance company
Forty-two year old Sarath Nandana, a coconut dealer, obtained a life insurance policy from a leading company for Rs. 200,000. It covered among other things, permanent disability due to accidents. Today, Nandana is a distraught man-after he lost is right hand in an accident. He has no insurance although he has a valid policy and he [...]
Strict rules for operating school transport vehicles
Regulations and amendments to the National Transport Policy will soon come into effect following discussions between transport officials and private vehicle associations. Statistics from the National Transport Commission suggest that the increase in the number of road accidents and traffic offences could be attributed to the growing volume of vehicles on the roads. Minister of Private [...]
Edgy villagers declare ‘31’ a deadly number for folk in Warapitiya
The person, or persons, responsible for the serial killings of 15 women in a village in the Ratnapura district continues to evade arrest. The Police have still not found the killer, or killers, and the residents of Kahawatta Kotakethana, in Warapitiya, live in fear, day and night. Warapitiya is under heavy guard. The three roads [...]
The sorry state of the Dehiwela Zoo
Facilities offered to the hundreds of thousands visiting the Zoological Gardens in Dehiwala are as wretched as the living conditions of animals and other species in its precints. Despite authorities making millions in revenue from entrance tickets, facilities offered to visitors borders on zero. Visitors to the zoo have no proper eating outlet. Other essential facilities [...]
Crackdown on over-bright vehicle headlamps
Vehicle headlamps and high beams will be subject to Traffic Police scrutiny once regulations to standardise vehicle lights come into effect. A new act on vehicle rules and regulations is being drafted. A proposal to standardise high beams on vehicles was made by the Motor Traffic Department of the Ministry of Transport. Bright vehicle lights [...]
