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Home » NewsPresident warns of foreign plot to destabilise Sri Lanka
For four years after the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas, “external forces” have resorted to various ways to destabilise Sri Lanka, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told Sri Lankans yesterday. He was addressing the nation after yesterday’s Victory Parade to mark the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009. The parade was [...]
Toxic chemicals in imported white sugar
Ministry says further tests being conducted, other imported food also being checked Harmful substances have been found in white sugar imported to Sri Lanka, Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has disclosed. Random tests on samples of Brazilian sugar had revealed a high level of toxic cadmium, the Minister told the Sunday Times. He said the [...]
Norway tells Lanka: Respect Vienna Convention
Norway has asked Sri Lanka to comply with “well established international rules on diplomatic immunity” after a Colombo Court ruled that the former Norwegian Ambassador and three officials did not have immunity in a huge transaction involving an NGO. Norway’s Ambassador Grete Lochen said yesterday that her government had held the position that the Vienna Convention [...]
Rajapaksa going to China again
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to visit China from May 22 to 26 — his sixth since he took office. The visit is yet to be announced officially. In April, Chinese Ambassador Wu Jianghao said President Rajapaksa was among the first six heads of State that Chinese President Xi Jinping had spoken to by telephone since [...]
Unions split on general strike
The call for a general strike on Tuesday over increased electricity tariffs has been met with mixed reactions from trade unions with some of them extending their support and others saying they will only support the protest campaign. However the Sri Lanka Central Transport Board (SLCTB) cancelled leave of all employees as trade unions prepared to [...]
Maldives says it saved Lanka from CMAG trauma
The Maldives was among countries that thwarted moves for a venue shift of the Commonwealth summit on the grounds that the Sri Lankan Government violated the 54-nation grouping’s principles. “Some other countries tried to raise this issue,” Maldives Foreign Minister Abdul Samad Abdulla told the Sunday Times. Dr. Abdulla who was in Sri Lanka on a [...]
CSC regains MV Lanka Mahapola only to sell it for scrap
Sale of sole survivor MV Lanka Muditha in limbo as prospective buyer advances 10% and retreats The Colombo Shipping Corporation (CSC) has repossessed its debt-ridden MV Lanka Mahapola vessel which was stranded in the Port of Mombasa in Kenya. But, instead of sailing the dilapidated ship back to Sri Lanka, the Corporation will sell it [...]
Navy sailor missing as patrol craft capsizes off Wellawatte
A Sri Lanka Navy boat patrolling the sea off Wellawatte, while Victory Day celebrations were on at Galle Face Green, capsized, leaving one sailor missing. Two others were rescued and rushed to the National Hospital in Colombo, while the search for the missing sailor was in progress until last night, Police and Navy said. The [...]
Raids to detect outdated drugs continue
The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) will carry on a series of ad-hoc raids on private hospitals after the recent seizure of expired medicinal drugs from private hospitals, pharmacies and private medical centres. Following a complaint from a patient’s mother about her son being administered expired saline at a private hospital in Kurunegala, the CAA had conducted [...]
SC rejects petition of Royal College student
The fundamental rights petition filed by the 13-year-old son of a former middle school deputy principal of Royal College, was dismissed by the Supreme Court when the matter came up before a Bench of three judges on Thursday. The Bench comprised Justices Shiranee Tilakawardane, Priyasath Dep PC and Rohini Marasinghe. The petitioner claimed that the school [...]
Varsity student leaders remain under State threat: IUSF Convener
Threats to university students continue, said the Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF) Convener, Sanjeewa Bandara. According to the student leader, more students and their parents have been threatened by ‘security personnel’ demanding they stop all union activities within the universities. Last Thursday (16), persons claiming to be from the CID, had visited the homes of Ruhuna [...]
SriLankan to formulate ‘totally new process’ to recruit trainee pilots: Management
No further recruitment until new process comes into effect, while last batch of trainee pilots must reapply SriLankan Airlines will formulate a “totally new process” for recruitment of trainee pilots, its management said last week. “Any cadet pilot recruitment would be in accordance with this new process,” said SriLankan Chief Marketing Officer G.T. Jeyaseelan. “We [...]
Another company applies for whirlybird operation
A private company has applied for certification to the Director General of Civil Aviation to engage in domestic, private and charter services. If certified, it would be the country’s eighth such business in operation. Lakwin Aviation (Pvt) Limited applied for certification earlier this year, a gazette notification published on Friday said. The company is headquartered [...]
10,000 rally against new tariff hikes
More than 10,000 unionists, opposition party supporters and members of the public took part in a march on Wednesday against the newly imposed electricity tariffs. The protest started from Campbell Park, Borella, and proceeded to the Fort. At the beginning of the protest, senior police officers requested protesters to refrain from marching to the Fort [...]
The price for round the clock power is high: CEB chairman
Sri Lanka is the only country in the SAARC grouping that provides electricity round the clock. Hence the recent upward revision of tariffs is a necessity, says Ceylon Electricity Board Chairman W.B. Ganegala. “People pay more for mobile phones,” he told the Sunday Times in an interview. He also claimed half of Sri Lanka’s population has [...]
Middle income earners to pay a third more for electricity
Middle-income earners using between 61 and 300 energy units will see their power bills shoot up by more than a third with the new tariffs, the Public Utilities Commission (PUCSL) says. Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Chairman W.P.Ganegala defended the new price structure, saying the increase over all sectors amounted to 20 per cent and that the [...]
You fought bravely, and I know you are ready to fight again to crush terror, President tells troops
10,000 war veterans in Victory Parade President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday paid a glowing tribute to the men and women of the armed forces in the forefront in the fight against terrorism as the country celebrated the fourth anniversary of the defeat of the LTTE. At the main celebrations of Victory Day at the Galle Face Green [...]
Even behind iron bars, the colours of Vesak are glowing vividly
With just a few days for Vesak, people all over the country are busy with preparations for the great day – even the inmates behind the forbidding high walls of the Welikada prison are busy colouring their lives with the spirit of the festival. A 50-foot pandal depicting the Swarna Mayura Jathakaya is taking beautiful [...]
Flood for thought and company as camps fill with displaced
Thundershowers, raging waters and landslides disrupt lives and livelihoods of thousands made homeless Some 2,336 displaced people badly affected by the harsh weather patterns that prevailed early this week, still remain in 23 camps in the Nuwara Eliya District, but widespread damage has been caused in various other parts of the country with reports of [...]
Wholesome questions
Lankan consumers ask how safe are imported milk products Health Ministry’s Food Advisory Committee lacking transparency Many Sri Lankans are questioning the safety of imported milk products amidst concern over New Zealand milk, while a few were unaware about the issues partly due to lack of transparency by State agencies charged with ensuring food safety. While [...]
CID records statements of probable next-of-kin of Matale mass grave victims
6 weeks post discovery Govt. yet to appoint Commission which BASL scorns as eyewash The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) started recording statements from next-of-kin who believe that their family member was killed and buried in the mass grave in Matale. The CID has so far recorded the statements of 13 such persons who claimed that their [...]
Fort Station centre of massive renovation programme
The Government is to renovate all 330 railway stations around the country using a mix of public and private funding, with a massive effort planned to refurbish Colombo Fort station. Fifty stations will be fully renovated by the end of this year, Additional General Manager Department of Railways Nalaka Bandara, said. The Railways Department has set [...]
Killer crossings result of new roads heedlessly built across tracks
Railways Dept disputes onus for providing protection Five-year-old Rasindu Malsara had been in love with trains, and with his nursery situated close to the rail track he used to run to the window at the distant hoot of a train whistle to watch for the approaching locomotives. The little boy would never have imagined that a [...]
Housemaids in Kuwait job racket: Lankan ambassador
If speedy action not taken, country may lose jobs, warn licensed agents While the plight of Sri Lankan housemaids working in Middle Eastern countries continues to be a matter of concern, officials in Kuwait say that many of the women who seek refuge at the Sri Lanka mission there are not always victims of abuse [...]
All victims: No winners, no vanquished
Sri Lanka is paying a heavy cost of the human-elephant conflict which hasclaimed more than 1,500 elephants and around 700 human lives during the past decade. Last year 66 human deaths and 252 elephant deaths were recorded. The past week saw five incidents in which poor farmers and elephants died in this ongoing conflict. The [...]
SOEs the bane of our economy: The darlings of politicos
It is pointless our groaning and moaning about the increases in the electricity tariff that have already taken place, and will continue to do so. We ourselves are indirectly responsible for the present state of affairs. On 4th May, 2013 the Financial Review of the Island newspaper carried an article under the headline “Sri Lanka [...]
The need for common economic and security connectivity
Sri Lanka’s security issues at Strategic Studies Network Meeting in Jordan The Strategic Studies Network is a venture engaging more than 50 government-sponsored and independent research centres across the globe, including Sri Lanka’s Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS). It has set up Working Groups on key issues affecting national and global security aspects. A [...]
15 arrested for allegedly marking Prabha’s death
Fifteen people including former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Selvarajah Kajendran were arrested yesterday in Mannar on allegations that they were planning to commemorate the death anniversary of former LTTE leader Velupillai Prabahakaran. Party members said Mr. Kajendran, now a member of the Tamil National People’s Alliance, and others were commemorating the civilians killed in [...]
Justice Marasinghe: Where have all the career judges gone?
Newly appointed Supreme Court Judge Rohini Marasinghe, speaking at the ceremonial sitting to welcome her to the Bench, questioned as to what had happened to the career judges in the Sri Lanka judiciary. “At present, there is only one career judge in the Supreme Court. What happened to the other career judges?” she asked. She said [...]
NGO case against Norwegian DPLs could proceed, says Judge
Ruling out diplomatic immunity for former Norwegian Ambassador Hilde Haraldstad and Norwegian Foreign Ministry officials in a case where a Colombo based NGO is seeking Rs. 98.5 million, Colombo Additional District Judge Amali Ranaweera, however discharged six Embassy and Norwegian Foreign Ministry officials. The case was filed by the Foundation for Co-existence headed by Kumar [...]
New hostel to ease overcrowding at Eastern University
A permanent hostel for the Eastern University is being constructed at the village of Pillaiyaarady –the site for the proposed new building complex of the Faculty of Health-Care Sciences. The hostel is meant to ease overcrowding at existing hostels. The need for a new hostel became necessary as overcrowding at the present premises at Vantharumoolai [...]
Appeal Court to hear Valigaman North land owners’ opposition to acquisition of their lands
Move to set up the Defence Battalion Headquarters in Jaffna The writ applications filed by 1,474 residents of Kankesanturai Road at Tellippallai, in Valigaman North against a move to acquire land owned by them, to set up the ‘Defence Battalion Headquarters’ in Jaffna, will be taken up for hearing tomorrow by the Court of Appeal. [...]
