News
Home » NewsNews
Two senior journalists no more
Two senior journalists, Hemachandra Nanayakkara (80) and M. C. A. Hassan (81) passed away this week. Mr. Nanayakkara who died on Tuesday after a brief illness received his education at the Jaffna Sinhala Maha Vidyalaya while living with his businessman uncle in the northern capital. He was trilingual and began his professional career in 1955 as [...]
News
Night vigil against CEB’s daylight robbery
Facing the nightmare of electricity rate hikes of more than 60 per cent — a move that might force people to live in darkness – brought hundreds of people for a candle-light protest rally near a popular place of worship in Colombo to demand that the power tariffs be reduced or scrapped. Pic by Indika Handuwala
News
25 injured in bus-train collision at unprotected crossing
At least 25 people, including women and children, were injured, many critically, as an express train rammed into a packed bus at an unprotected railway crossing in Beruwala around 7.30 last night, police said. They said the accident took place at the Rockland Junction and at least four people were being treated at the Intensive [...]
News
Hurried Gazette to allow high-powered motorbikes
They were at outer-harbour when notification was issued; nominal duty By Damith Wickremesekera Special laws have been promulgated to help owners of motorcycles with engine capacity up to as much as 1000cc to retain their bikes for what is termed “sports purposes.” A Government Gazette under the Transport Minister’s name was rushed to print this week [...]
News
Astrologer will set northern polls date: President
President Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday that elections to the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) would be held in September this year but the date of the poll would be decided based on the advice of his astrologer. “My astrologer gives me a winning time and I will decide on the basis on what he says,” the [...]
News
Boston: ‘The terror is over, justice is done’
BOSTON, Massachusetts, April 20, 2013 (AFP) – US police on Friday captured an ethnic Chechen teenager suspected of staging the Boston Marathon bombings after a desperate manhunt that paralyzed the city and its suburbs. Responding to a tip from a local resident, police found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, hiding in a boat in a suburban backyard in [...]
News
Three-month foreign travel ban on CJ 43
By Wasantha Ramanayake The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption has said Chief Justice 43 Shirani Bandaranayake is trying to leave the country to evade the inquiry into allegations regarding the non-declaration of assets. On this basis, the Commission has asked the Immigration and Emigration Controller Chulananda Perera to suspend foreign travel by Dr. [...]
News
Ringing in good news and bad
The increase in the number of mobile connections will bridge the divide between urban and rural societies but younger generation must be guided, say experts By Nadia Fazlulhaq The increase in mobile phone connections to 20.3 million in a country of 20.8 million people will have a significant impact on the economy on one hand [...]
News
B’desh Foreign Secretary arrives for FO consultation
Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Ambassador Mohammed Shahidul Haque arrives in Colombo today leading a six member delegation to hold the second Foreign Office Consultation with his Sri Lankan counterparts. The visit is a routine one, but has added significance because Bangladesh is Chairman of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) which meets in London next Friday. [...]
News
Lanka in or out: Crucial CMAG meeting on Friday
Secretariat gearing up for Colombo summit despite venue-shift call The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) meets on Friday (April 26) in London to discuss issues related to the CHOGM summit in Sri Lanka in November. Though a venue change is not an item on the agenda, diplomatic sources in London say there was nothing to [...]
News
Asylum seekers continue to make waves despite deportation
By Leon Berenger Barely a day after the Australian authorities forcibly repatriated a group of 39 Sri Lankan boat-people, another group of 101 persons, including women and children, were apprehended by the navy and police on Friday this week, while attempting a similar crossing, officials said yesterday. On Thursday, the Australian authorities defied human rights [...]
News
Police hunt for woman in double slaying
Police were yesterday on the lookout for a woman who is alleged to have hacked to death a middle-aged couple in the village of Mahasenpura-Pulmodai on late Friday night. The suspect woman is alleged to have used a sharp instrument in the attack. The victims succumbed to their injuries while being treated at the Pulmodai [...]
News
180 die in road accidents in March
Hundred and eighty fatalities were reported from a total of 168 accidents during the course of last month, police said. They claimed pedestrians were the cause of many of the accidents. Senior Police Superintendent (SSP) Chula de Silva of the City Traffic Division said yesterday pedestrians tended to ignore basic road rules and this often led [...]
News
Script writer sues Saudi Prince for failure to produce film
A petition filed in the Commercial High Court by a producer and script writer against a Saudi Arabian Prince for failure to produce a film based on the script writer’s story, was postponed till June 18. The petitioner M.Z.M. Rafik in his application cited Royal Highness Prince Ai Waleed, Rotana Audio Visual and Rotana Holding Company [...]
News
Motor vehicle registration drops in first two months this year
By Damith Wickramasekera A near 40 per cent drop in the registration of new motor cars has been recorded during the first two months of this year when compared with the corresponding period last year. Motor Traffic Commissioner General S. H. Harischandra told the Sunday Times the registration of motor cars both petrol and diesel [...]
News
Sexual harassment of tourists in the south continues unabated
By Nadia Fazlulhaq Police are recording frequent complaints of sexual harassment of tourists in the South, with the latest report of sexual harassment of an Israeli female tourist by a local. On Sinhala and Tamil New Year’s day, a 32-year-old Israeli tourist was sexually harassed while on the beach, when her husband had gone to [...]
News
A power unto itself CEB strictured by PUCSL
Electricity generation an absolute monopoly operating sans efficiency, transparency and reason Sri Lanka’s electricity regulator has ordered the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to check the efficiency of all thermal power plants, private and government-owned, before it asks for any more tariff increases. The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has also instructed the CEB [...]
News
Post-war scrap metal business goes great guns and then backfires
Namini Wijedasa visits a Madampe yard and unearths the story behind this week’s detection of a massive haul of weapon parts The discovery of more than 300 weapon parts at a scrap metal dealership in Madampe has raised suspicions of a growing trade in firearms smuggled out from former war zones. The haul includes reusable [...]
News
Sitting on a lonely shore, a woman fights to keep her family from starvation
It takes courage for 52-year-old Sumana Dissanayake to face a single day – sometimes just a couple of tiny lake fish caught from the Parakrama Samudra are all that keep her family from destitution. Mrs Dissanayaka’s first husband died of snake-bite 20 years ago, and her second husband left the family. Her eldest daughter’s husband died [...]
News
Sri Lanka captive to global warming, say experts
By Hansani Bandara The almost unbearable heat signals a new trend of climatic change caused by global warming, experts say, with the Department of Meteorology forecasting the hot and humid weather conditions continuing until the second week of May. Sri Lanka has never experienced such weather conditions in the past five to 10 years, the head [...]
News
Sacred site to be marred by overhead line
Archaeology chief backtracks on assurance. Wasantha Ramanayake reports A new above-ground electricity line would run right through part of the Polonnaruwa World Heritage Site and not merely along its border, the Archaeological Department’s Director General, Dr. Senerath Dissanayake has admitted, contradicting his statement to the Sunday Times last week. The struggling Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), [...]
News
Dial M for murder – violent films fuel teenage killers’ bloodlust
By Deva Achuthan Styling themselves as the young heroes of vigilante justice-type Tamil blockbusters such as “Kuruvi” and “Ayon”, two teenage lovers ruthlessly planned the wickedest of crimes – the murder of parents. Their tempers had reached boiling-point after 47-year-old Sivaguru Raghu had caught them in a bedroom at night. Raghu’s 16-year-old daughter had been known [...]
News
Well known public figure passes away
Dr. Dudley Gunasekera The death occurred this week of a well known public figure of yesteryear, Dr. Dudley Gunasekera, onetime President of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress, former Chairman of the Paranthan Chemicals Corporation, former Chairman of the Northern Regional Transport Board, an Assistant Commissioner of Labour and former General Manager and Director of the [...]
News
Child’s death in locked car mars Avurudu celebrations
By Aanya Wipulasena and Mirudhula Thambiah A four-year-old boy from Kochchikade, Negombo died after being left in a vehicle without any ventilation as his parents were busy preparing for the New Year celebrations in the worst of more than 50 accidents involving children during the festive period, hospital authorities reported last week. The Avurudu also [...]
News
Court orders should be respected, obeyed by Council: Councillor
By L.B. Senaratne A senior Central Provincial Council (CPC) member Anura Fernando told a Council meeting held at Pallekelle that the Council should respect judgments handed down by the Judiciary. The Councillor made these observations when Chief Minister (CM) Sarath Ekanayake informed the Council that he and the Cabinet of Provincial Ministers have agreed to [...]
News
Govt. downplays damage, denies involvement | Attack on Uthayan newspaper
Round the clock police guard since 2006 attack found sleeping on the job, literally By Chris Kamalendran There was excitement in the air as Sathkunanathan Vijayachandran, 39, chief machine operator at the Uthayan newspaper in Jaffna, was busy preparing the final bundles of the newly printed paper for dispatch around 4.45 a.m. last Saturday. Everyone was [...]
News
Sis-bro defraud millions on bogus computer purchases
By Damith Wickramasekera A woman executive at a private firm and her brother were taken into custody after they allegedly defrauded five leading companies of an estimated Rs 28 million in bogus computer purchases, a senior officer with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) said yesterday. The suspects are alleged to have used the credit facility [...]
News
CMC cadre issue to be decided on Monday
The Western Provincial Council (WPC) will hold a special meeting on Monday to take a decision on the controversial cadre requirement at the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC). WPC Chief Secretary Jayanthi Wijetunge told the Sunday Times that officials of the Department of Management Services (DMS) which is under the Finance Ministry as well as officials [...]
News
Broken promises
Story and pix by Krishan Jeewaka Jayaruk The Matara railway station and the central bus halt are packed with tired and disgruntled passengers -both local and foreign- waiting to return to Colombo after the Sinhala and Hindu New Year holiday. Commuters standing in queues for many an hour complained that despite announcing special rail services, these [...]
News
Of foreign policy failures, Geneva, double standards and other excuses
By Tissa Jayatilaka Reminiscences of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy triumphs spearheaded by the late lamented Lakshman Kadirgamar are fresh in my mind given that it was only the other day (12 April) that we marked the former foreign minister’s 81st birth anniversary. It is, therefore, doubly sad to reflect on the fact that Sri Lanka’s [...]
News
Long wait to get to destination
The lack of adequate ticketing counters at the Colombo Fort Railway Station has led to commuters having to wait in long queues on a regular basis to purchase a ticket. Commuters complain that on somedays they miss the train because the queue at the ticket counter is so long. The counters were built during the [...]
News
Reminiscing Thatcher’s narrow escape in Brighton
By Prof. Ravindra Fernando The Grand Hotel in Brighton in the south coast of England was built in 1864 for members of the upper classes visiting Brighton. One of the most expensive hotels in the town, it has 201 rooms and conference facilities for up to 800 guests in the Empress Suite. During the weekend [...]
News
Law of the jungle in Lanka’s premier wildlife park
As visitors swell and revenue rises, rules are ignored for a rare sighting of a leopard, report Mihiri Wikramanayake and Tharuka Dissanaike Yala, known as Sri Lanka’s most popular national park for leopard and bear sightings, was packed as expected during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year weekend. Despite many misgivings, we decided to go [...]
News
Athulathmudali’s vision: Its relevance today
April 23 marks the 20th Anniversary of the death of Lalith Athulathmudali By S.V.D Kesarralal Gunasekara People keep asking me why I continue to write about the Late Lalith Athulathmudali two decades after his unfortunate and untimely demise. The necessity to write invariably follows as a result of what is happening (or not happening) in [...]
