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Jaffna University officials agree to reopen campus
Classes will soon resume at the University of Jaffna, which was closed for three weeks after a clash between students and the Army and the Police. On Friday a Jaffna University delegation, led by Vice-Chancellor Vasanthi Arasaratnam, met Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and other education officials to discuss the university’s problems and other issues. The [...]
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Fatal accidents, drink driving: Speedy way to lose your licence
Motorist involved in fatal accidents or drunken driving will be given half of the 24 points at which stage their driving licences will be cancelled, Motor Traffic Commissioner General S.H. Harishchandra said yesterday. He said this would be the first step in the point system for drivers and would come into effect from January one [...]
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Appropriation Bill: Supremacy of Parliament overriden
Government has disregarded a Supreme Court (SC) ruling that the 2013 Appropriation Bill should be amended to make Parliamentary approval necessary for securing loans. Accordingly, the President could continue to raise loans—up to Rs 1,295 billion in 2013—without revealing to Parliament, the terms and conditions under which such credit is to be obtained. The third [...]
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It remains to be seen and probed
The more human skeletons they unearth, the more the mystery deepens. Archaeology experts, Police officers and those from the Government Analyst’s Dept, shielded by canopies, are digging a patch of grassy land, a few hundred metres away from Matale’s main base hospital. As I watched last Friday, the count was 53 skeletal remains of men, women [...]
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Bribery Commission probes complaint against CJ
The Commission to Investigate Bribery or Corruption has started an inquiry into the assets acquired by Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake whilst a foreign travel ban has been imposed at its request on her husband Pradeepa Kariyawasam, who was the former Chairman of the National Savings Bank (NSB). “We have received a complaint against the Chief [...]
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BASL calls on President to reconsider impeachment, seeks fair trial
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) at a Special General Meeting yesterday resolved unanimously to request President Mahinda Rajapaksa to reconsider the impeachment process against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. The request was made in one of the three resolutions adopted at the sessions where 2,500 members from all over the country took part. The [...]
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China tightens rules for loans and funding of projects in Lanka
A Chinese loan of more than US$ 69 million or about Rs 8.9 billion for a hydro power project is on hold until Sri Lanka pays up a fee of more than Rs. 627 million to China’s state owned insurance company. The demand for this fee is notwithstanding sovereign guarantees the Sri Lanka Government has [...]
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CPC losses fuel petrol price hike
Recurring losses by the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) were the cause for the increase in the price of litre of petrol from Rs. 149 to Rs. 159, Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha claimed yesterday. “We are unable to continue with the losses as the CPC is in debt to state banks and has been [...]
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New Year birth for Divineguma Bill
The controversial Devineguma Bill is set to be passed on January 8 when Parliament meets in the New Year. Deputy Economic Development Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said several amendments would be introduced to the bill in keeping with a Supreme Court determination. The debate on the bill began on November 6 and was adjourned after [...]
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Meteorite falls on Walasmulla garden and sets jak tree on fire
A flaming object that fell out of the night sky over Walasmulla on Thursday, December 14, setting a jak tree on fire, has for now been identified as a meteorite until investigations are completed. The incident occurred in the village of Kapuwankandegedara, in Walasmulla South, in the Hambantota District. On Thursday night, December 14, at [...]
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Catholic church to protest removal of chapel within Magazine Prison
The Catholic church is to lodge a strong protest about a move to remove a chapel from inside the New Magazine prison in Welikada, Borella, depriving the inmates of a place for prayers. Rev Hillary Peiris, the parish priest of All Saints Church, Borella, told the Sunday Times that he had been informed by inmates, [...]
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Australia pledges A$ 34m in educational aid
Australia will give a total of Australian dollars 34 million (about Rs. 4,610 million) over a period of four years to support education in Sri Lanka. The money will be disbursed as education grants. Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Bob Carr, who is visiting the country, made the announcement yesterday when he visited St. Anthony’s Balika [...]
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D-day for planet earth: Everyone’s talking about it
In villages and cities alike, the “end of the world” is a topic of discussion. Radio, television and print media have dedicated airtime and many column inches to the calamitous event which, it is said, will take place on Friday. “Everyone in our village is talking about it,” said a retired school teacher in Horana, [...]
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Minister seeks Cabinet approval to allegedly repay unqualified recruits
A Cabinet Note was submitted recently by Postal Services Minister Jeevan Kumaratunga to allegedly repay allowances to four officers who participated in a Post Offices Network Improvement Project, despite an audit query finding that three of them were unqualified to do so. Consequent to which, they were asked to return related payments earlier made to [...]
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Tremors in Ampara leave villagers shaken and officials guessing
One early morning in November, Wadinagala resident Dimuthu Thushara was sound asleep when his bed suddenly started to shake. He could hear the utensils in the kitchen rattling too. For a couple of seconds, he felt a thundering sound reverberating through the earth and moving towards the sky. Several earth tremors experienced in Ampara district’s [...]
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Kahawatte: Fear is the key
Despite the killing of a man, believed to be the main suspect in the spate of murders in Kahawatte, a fear psychosis still grips the residents. Ukwattage Abhaya Priyantha, 32, was found stabbed or chopped to death on December 7. According to Police, he was one of the main suspects in the 15 unresolved murders [...]
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Big or small, no animal is spared on Yala ‘killer-road’
The ‘Road of Death’ running through the Yala National Park has claimed yet another victim – this time a baby elephant. Many have been the ‘road kills’ in this National Park including a bear and a pregnant she-leopard, by speeding vehicles along the Sella Kataragama-Buttala Road and environmentalists are insistent in their calls for action to [...]
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Road races flagged off amidst groans, cheers
The second edition of the Colombo Night Races during the weekend was an electrifying event that drew massive crowds. Although some people welcomed the excitement to the city, the closure of roads caused a lot of inconvenience too. The routes that were blocked off from 6 p.m. onwards on Friday and Saturday included Chaitya Road [...]
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Mining dries out livelihood
Villagers living in the Tharana area in Madampe are up in arms against the illegal mining of silica soil They charge that the ground water levels in the area have depleted since the digging began and is affecting their cashew nut plantations. Mining in the area begun in 2010 but after complaints to the Central [...]
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Stop this barbaric act!
Corporal punishment, a colonial form of instilling discipline in schools by inflicting pain on offenders albeit banned is still practised here even for minor offences, with reports of students being admitted to hospital after sustaining injury. With another school year just ending, the most recent incidents were reported during the last term where students were [...]
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Answers to Appeal Court queries will be sent in due course, says SC
Concluding the hearing of the seven references on constitutional questions referred to the Supreme Court by the Court of Appeal, regarding impeachment of Superior Court Judges, the Supreme Court noted that answers to the questions will be sent to the Court of Appeal in due course. The Bench comprising Justices Nimal Gamini Amaratunga, K. Sripavan [...]