News
Home » NewsNews
No CPC credit for state bodies
Minister gives tough warning to CEB and other big consumers By Damith Wickramasekara Soaring fuel costs have prompted the Government to impose tough conditions on supplies to state institutions, Petroleum Industries Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa announced yesterday. “If the bigger consumers in the state sector exceed the annual fuel quota issued to them, the Ceylon Petroleum [...]
News
ASP to probe why police kept minister’s son waiting
Police Chief N.K. Illangakoon has detailed a police team headed by ASP N.A.J. Jayasinghe to probe matters relating to the alleged attack on DIG Ravi Waidyalankara’s son, Asela, by a gang that included Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena’s son, Daham. One of the main aspects of the probe is to determine why Daham and even Minister [...]
News
Police on the lookout for errant match revellers
Special mufti-clad policemen have been deployed in the city and elsewhere to nab errant schoolboys and others who flout road and traffic rules during the ongoing ‘Big Match’ season. Stern action will be taken against such persons irrespective of the schools they are attached to, a senior policeman said yesterday.He added police will not permit schoolboys [...]
News
High tension over fishing: Navy sends patrol craft
By Padma Kumari The Sri Lanka Navy yesterday deployed additional patrol craft off the north-western coast as tension was building up after a string of intrusions by Indian fishermen into Lankan territorial waters. Navy Spokesman Kosala Warnakulasuriya told the Sunday Times that two Dvora craft were rushed to the area following a complaint lodged by [...]
News
33 of 46 Lankan missions headed by political appointees
By Chandani Kirinde Sri Lankans mission overseas are inundated with political appointees with 33 of the 46 High Commissions and embassies abroad headed by non-career personnel, according to documents tabled in Parliament recently. Missions in some of the most important capitals such as Washington, Moscow, Berlin, The Hague, Ankara, Canberra, Tokyo, Manila, Seoul, and Jakarta are [...]
News
Plan to recruit Indian labourers stopped
Due to security issues, the Agriculture Ministry has put off the decision to introduce extended work visas for Indian labourers to work in paddy fields in the North and East. “There were plans to bring down Indians as there is a severe shortage of harvesting machine operators in the North and East but due to [...]
News
Debate over whether mystery kidney disease now in food chain
By Kumudini Hettiarachchi Has the “trigger” of the mysterious chronic kidney disease mainly affecting dry zone farmers got into the food chain? This is what experts are debating and grappling with as “bits and pieces” of the World Health Organisation’s ‘Final Report’ on the ‘Investigation and Evaluation of Chronic Kidney Disease of Uncertain Aetiology in Sri [...]
News
SC dismisses revision application of FR petition against CDL
The Supreme Court (SC) dismissed a revision application filed by a senior custom’s officer against the dismissal of a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition filed against Colombo Dockyard Ltd (CDL) for a default in payment of approximately Rs 619 million due to the State.The petition filed by T.B. Ratnasiri against the CDL, and citing former Attorney [...]
News
SLFP lawyer assaulted at Galle meeting
By Aanya Wipulasena A lawyers’ meeting in Galle ended in blows, and one lawyer was taken to the Karapitiya Hospital with head and eye injuries. The attack took place after an argument about electing new office bearers to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Lawyers Association of Galle. The injured lawyer, Thushara de Silva, told the [...]
News
New regulations for sports elections
By Chandani Kirinde Parliament on Tuesday will debate strict new regulations related to National Sports Associations. In terms of these regulations, those directly or indirectly involved in gaming business and those convicted by a court for any offence and imprisoned for more than six months will be disqualified from holding office in sports bodies. The regulations being [...]
News
Minister Sirisena should go to Geneva and complain, says Ranil
UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe says that Minister Maithreepala Sirisena, the SLFP General Secretary, should go to Geneva and lodge a complaint with the UN Human Rights Council about violations of his rights. “Minister Maithreepala Sirisena says he has been attacked in the media and that his life is under threat,” the UNP Chief said. “He [...]
News
Revised age limit for female labour to West Asia
By Leon Berenger The revised age limit for female domestic workers to Saudi Arabia and other West Asian countries will come into effect from May 1, a senior State official and the industry said yesterday. They said the development comes after the January 9 public beheading of Sri Lanka housemaid Rizana Naffiq in the Saudi capital [...]
News
Dancing to the sounds of music in the North
Jaffna Music Festival 2013 with colourful performances from Sri Lankan and International folk, classical and contemporary music groups ended yesterday. On its second year, this two-day event, a sister event of the Galle Music Festival was held at the Jaffna Municipal grounds. The above picture depicts a local dance item while below schoolchildren are seen [...]
News
Attack on Lankans: New Delhi alerted
By Leon Berenger Sri Lanka’s envoys in New Delhi and Chennai have expressed strong concern to the Indian authorities over mounting anti-Sri Lanka activities taking place mostly in the south of that country, a top official said. External Affairs Ministry Secretary Karunatilleke Amunugama said the envoys had taken up the matter with the authorities in New [...]
News
200% to 500% hike in vehicle registration fee
The registration fee for several categories of motor vehicles has risen by 200%, following a government revision of tariffs last month. Registration fee for cars up to 1,600 engine capacity (CC) and dual purpose vehicles is now Rs 15,000, from Rs. 5,000; for special purpose vehicles it’s Rs 20,000 from Rs 10,000; for lorry trailers [...]
News
Changes to laws outlaw land sales to foreigners
Aimed at safeguarding rights of Lankans while Embassies/High Commissions are exempted By Chandani Kirinde Amendments to several land related laws are being drafted to enforce the recent Cabinet decision taken to prohibit the sale of both State and privately owned lands to foreigners, officials said. Among the existing legislation that would be amended to enforce the [...]
News
Skyrocketing CoL drives workers off plantations
Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union General Secretary K. Velayutham said that plantation workers are the worst affected by the cost of living. “Food and transport are the main expenses of plantation workers. Unfortunately, the prices of dry rations have reached an unbearable point,” he said.He said, two years ago, there were approximately 220,000 plantation workers, while [...]
News
SC gives CTC time to implement health warnings on cigarette packs
In a special leave to appeal application, the Supreme Court granted time to Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) Ltd., against the refusal by the Court of Appeal in a writ application filed seeking interim relief against the gazette notice published by the Health Minister that packets of cigarettes should carry the health warning and a pictorial [...]
News
Chennai police arrest Kachchativu-bound TN activists
Barely a week after thousands of Indians were allowed to land at Kachchativu island to participate in a Catholic feast, some 350 persons from Tamil Nadu, who were planning to storm the islet by force, were arrested by the Chennai police yesterday. The group were activists from the Makkal Viduthalai Katchi, led by party founder [...]
News
Hackers are having a field day with State websites
Most Government departments are slow to respond to cyber attack, reports Nadia Fazlulhaq Hacking of Government websites will continue as long as State departments fail to seek assistance from information security professionals, and as long as there are no security audits before a website is launched. Wasantha Deshapriya is the programme director (re-engineering government) of [...]
News
Still made to ‘work’ to get their dues
Pensioners complain of undue delays, official lethargy that have forced them to make many trips to Pensions Department. Mirudhula Thambiah and Aanya Wipulasena report After years of dedicated public service their struggle still continues. Aged and some of them even ailing, these pensioners from different parts of the country flock to the Pensions Dept. to [...]
News
Two fuel hikes in two months: too much to take
The chorus of protests over the rising cost of living, made worse by the recent increase in petrol and diesel prices, gets louder by the day. Nadia Fazlulhaq and Skandha Gunasekara report Increases in the prices of several goods and services have become imperative – the result of last Saturday’s fuel price hike. The Ceylon Petroleum [...]
News
Resettled families plagued by missing documents lost in war years
By Mirudhula Thambiah Thousands displaced by the conflict and now back in their homes in the North and East are having a hard time resuming normal life, especially with such setbacks as missing personal files and documents. When required to produce essential documents for official purposes, these people have nothing to show. During the war, hundreds [...]
News
Sudden death on the tracks
Authorities mull fitness test for athletes prior to indulging in strenuous By Kumudini Hettiarachchi An 18-year-old, in the full bloom of youth, drops dead. While the “probable cause of death” of Hashini Anusha Kumari, a Grade 13 student of Rivisanda Central College, Aranayake on February 26 was issued yesterday, Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena said the relevant [...]
News
Three-year old rivalry led to acid attack, police probe reveals
By Skandha Gunasekara An ayurvedic physician who allegedly gave a contract to a soldier and a fisherman to throw acid on the North Central Province Ayurveda Commissioner Dr. Chandra Kumara Alwis has claimed that a three-year long rivalry between them had prompted him to take this drastic step, a police officer involved in the investigations [...]
News
Spate of brutal murders shocks community
Negative political and media influences could be bucking a trend in serious crime, says former IGP. Chamal Weerakkody reports A string of brutal murders in recent weeks has sent shock waves through the community, with many wondering what the authorities are doing about checking the steadily rising crime rate. On Wednesday, February 27, the bodies [...]
News
Long arm of the law gets twisted
Ironically, it had to be police bail for the alleged attackers of a DIG’s son and two police officers For 27-year-old Asela Waidyalankara, an IT expert, and his wife Prathimi, the long weekend was most welcome for a much awaited getaway. They checked into the Maalu Maalu, one of a string of new resorts that [...]
News
Kachchativu: Uneasy peace in Lanka’s holy waters
Chris Kamalendran in Kachchativu The islet hosts Indo-Lanka fisherfolk’s joint worship at St Anthony’s feast Devananda’s mass sea protest a non-event while SLN ensures plain sailing for the devotees As a four-hour voyage in a passenger ferry, cutting through the choppy waters of the Palk Strait on a bright Sunday nears end, the panorama unfolds.Staring at [...]
News
Navy has a tough job with Indian fishermen
Seminar highlights struggle to stop Indian vessels from poaching in our territorial waters. Malaka Rodrigo reports The Navy has a huge challenge in stopping Indian fishermen from entering the country’s territorial waters and helping themselves to Sri Lanka’s fish stocks, said Navy Commander Vice-Admiral Jayanath Colombage. “Thousands of Indian fishing trawlers are plundering our natural wealth [...]
News
Halal: The ball is in Cabinet Sub-Com court
By Charundi Panagoda The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) will wait for the Cabinet sub-Committee decision following Bodu Bala Sena’s rejection of their proposal to have the Government take over Halal certification, an ACJU member told the Sunday Times.The ACJU said it had exhausted all its alternative suggestions regarding the Halal controversy, therefore now had [...]
News
Death traps: Beware the perils
Story and pix by M.A. Pushpakumara Uncovered manholes and electricity posts in Colombo and suburban areas have turned into virtual death traps and has led to a number of accidents with some leading to unfortunate deaths.Some of these death traps are found on the main roads in areas such as Kiribathgoda, Wellampitiya, Thunmulla and the [...]
News
Spear-fishing threatens Giant Coral Fish
By Malaka Rodrigo Kalpitiya’s unsustainable fishing practices came under the spotlight recently after dozens of dolphins were killed after being trapped in banned fishing nets. Besides the charismatic dolphin, other “endangered” marine creatures are falling victim to illegal fishing methods, including spear fishing. Spear fishing could wipe out the world’s biggest reef fish, the Hump-head [...]
