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Home » NewsWar against mosquito goes hi-tech
With the deadly dengue epidemic affecting 15,000 people during the past five months; health authorities have brought down modern equipment to spray Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis) bacteria, widely used as a bioinsecticide to destroy mosquito larvae. The equipment can spray up to 120 feet. Colombo Municipal Council workers are seen spraying the Bti bacteria in [...]
US$ 4b heavy industry zone in Sampur
Singapore-registered company gets 819 acres for huge projects A strategic development project to create a special zone for heavy industries at Sampur in Trincomalee at a cost of US$ 4 billion or more than Rs. 500 billion has been given the green light by the Government. The first phase will see the construction of a [...]
Lankan firms exposed for offshore accounts
Thirty Sri Lankan companies are maintaining accounts in ten offshore jurisdictions, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has revealed. The Consortium has laid bare their names in a website offshoreleaks.icij.org/ which allows readers to explore the relationships between clients, offshore entities and the lawyers, accountants, banks and other intermediaries who help to keep these [...]
Man who allegedly assaulted meter reader gets bail
A consumer who assaulted a meter reader in protest over the increase in his electricity bill, in Weeragula, Gampaha, was granted bail by Attanagalle Additional Magistrate and Additional District Judge this week. The incident occurred when a meter reader went on his monthly rounds to compute electricity tariffs. The consumer on seeing his increased bill, had [...]
Lankan firms exposed for offshore accounts
Thirty Sri Lankan companies are maintaining accounts in ten offshore jurisdictions, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has revealed. The Consortium has laid bare their names in a website offshoreleaks.icij.org/ which allows readers to explore the relationships between clients, offshore entities and the lawyers, accountants, banks and other intermediaries who help to keep these [...]
Chinese vessels to fish under Lankan flag
A Chinese company has been granted permission to engage in fishing under the Sri Lankan flag beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Sri Lanka. The company has entered into an agreement with the Board of Investment to carry out fishing in the international waters, according to an official of the Ministry of Investment Promotion. Under [...]
More exchange controls to be relaxed
The Government is considering further relaxation of foreign exchange controls to boost investor confidence, Exchange Controller P.H.O. Chandrawansa said. “We have changed some regulations and we want to change some more in the future,” he told the Sunday Times. He declined to reveal in which areas additional amendments would be made, saying they were still [...]
UPFA politico orders lady teacher to kneel in class
NWP Provincial Councillor remanded; more cases of lawlessness by ruling party members A UPFA Provincial Councillor who allegedly ordered a teacher to kneel because she admonished his daughter for wearing short dresses has been remanded. North Western Provincial Councillor Ananda Sarath Kumar was arrested in Anamaduwa, produced before Puttalam’s Acting Magistrate Mohammed Iqbal and remanded till [...]
Misery confronts orphans of the storm
Grieving families in stunned fishing viallges wait on empty shores for men who won’t come home, while minister says Met Dept. warning too little, too late. Thirty-two-year-old Renuka Peiris stares at the ocean as she ponders an uncertain future with four children and an unborn child following the death of her fisherman husband whose boat [...]
CMU Gen. Sec. says more than 7 private companies struck on May 21
Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial and General Workers United (CMU) General Secretary Bala Tampoe said that more than seven private sector companies participated in the general strike on May 21, protesting the increase in electricity rates. Mr Tampoe said he did not claim that a number of private companies had participated in the strike, but was merely [...]
Justice Wimalachandra denies investigating CJ 43
Former Court of Appeal Judge and now a Commissioner of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery Corruption Justice L.K. Wimalachandra said he was not one of those investigating Chief Justice 43 Shirani Bandaranayake. He was commenting on The Sunday Times report of May 26, which said he was not taking part in the inquiry. “It [...]
Seasoned battlefield leader for new army chief
Major-General Daya Ratnayake will take over as the 20th Commander of the Sri Lanka Army on August 1. Currently Chief-of-Staff of the Sri Lanka Army, Gen. Ratnayake will also be promoted to Lieutenant-General effective from the same date. The current army commander, Jagath Jayasuriya has been promoted from Lieutenant-General to the rank of four-star General and [...]
Choose a friend, President tells Northern voters
President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday urged the people of the North to make the right choice at the forthcoming elections to the Northern Provincial Council (NPC). “Re watunu wale dawal wattenna epa. (Do not fall into the same trap you already fell into before). You have been misled and kept blindfolded by certain forces and they are [...]
Col., Cpl. killed, Major seriously injured in road accident
A senior Army officer and a soldier were killed when their jeep overturned and hit a lamppost in Thabbowa, in the Puttalam district, yesterday morning, Police said. Col. H.T.R. Handunpathirana, 42, of the Commando Regiment and Cpl Sanjeewa Kumara were killed in the accident at 5.30 a.m. Maj. J.M. Jayasundara (35) was seriously injured. Police [...]
Land, tax concessions for foreign investors
Foreigners investing in local projects or expanding their existing businesses will be given additional tax concessions in a fresh bid to attract more investment, Minister of Investment Promotion Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told The Sunday Times. Under the scheme, foreign companies that have operated for 10 years with a clean track record and generated employment for [...]
Govt. gazettes al-Qaeda, Taliban associates to impose UNSC sanctions
The Government has issued a gazette containing a list of individuals, entities, groups and undertakings associated with al-Qaeda and Taliban, in pursuant of its obligations under a United Nations Security Council resolution adopted in 1999, and subsequently modified and strengthened through several other resolutions. The list includes names of over 250 individuals, along with their [...]
Massive manhunt in Matale for gang that robbed businessman
Four police teams were deployed yesterday in and around the Matale area after a gang robbed a gem merchant of his jewellery, gems and cash amounting to Rs. 15 million. The gang had posed off as a team of police officers looking for a criminal. Laggala Officer In Charge, Priyantha Gunasekara told the Sunday Times they [...]
Businessman arrested for pirating and selling GPS software
A businessman who allegedly copied a software used for a Global Positioning System (GPS) installed in vehicles, and sold it to customers, has been arrested by the Cyber Crimes Division of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), a senior police officer said. The arrest came after a number of customers complained to the original company which [...]
Attempted assault on Ranil, attack on UNP councillors under investigation
Two separate investigations are under way over the attempted assault on Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and the attack on two UNP local council members this week as they prepared to visit families whose members had been killed by last Saturday’s storm. Investigations into the attempted assault on the Opposition leader on Tuesday in Balapitiya town [...]
Hate speech will be a punishable crime: Vasu
National Languages and Social Integration Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara said that the incorporation of provisions into the Penal Code that would make hate speech and other means of provoking hatred against certain communities, a punishable offence, would fill a lacuna that exists within the country’s normal law at present. Such provisions are part of the Prevention [...]
Judge out on bail: Bribery Comm says evidence strong
Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya last Monday released former Homagama District Judge (DJ) Sunil Abeysinghe who had been remanded for allegedly soliciting a bribe of Rs 300,000. However, Police Constable Mahinda Kithsiri who provided security to the former Judge, was further remanded till June 24. Court noted that no compelling or exceptional reasons were given on [...]
Indians here to help Lankan donkeys
A group of conservationists from India were here last week to look into the welfare of donkeys in Mannar. The group consisting of veterinary surgeons from the Donkey Sanctuary India – an international charitable organisation devoted to the welfare of donkeys–treated some sick donkeys found roaming in Mannar town.The programme was conducted in collaboration with the [...]
Casinos: Where wheels of fortune chip away at the gamblers
It’s win-win for gaming centres as free flowing liquor, food and expat women numb clients into a world of make believe. Namini Wijedasa reports on a thriving business as controversy rages over a govt. move to go ahead with the 50,000 sq. ft. Crown casino in the heart of Colombo On a weeknight at an [...]
Development out of step with conservation in Hambantota
Non- implementation of The Managed Elephant Range (MER) puts wildlife in general and elephants in particular in peril Grand are the plans for Hambantota, including Mattala as a ‘showpiece’ where development and conservation work together well, but ground-level reality is a far cry from what it should be. The Managed Elephant Range (MER) was very much [...]
Trail of death from DIG’s own house
Vas Gunawardena’s son joined cop death squad to allegedly kill businessman Tamils ‘faced extortion’ by DIG to avoid terrorism charges Hours before businessman Mohamed Shiyam, 35 was murdered he was taken to the residence of Deputy Inspector General of Police (Western Province-North) Vass Gunawardena in Dehiwala, investigations into the abduction and murder of the businessman [...]
Ekneligoda’s wife asks court to call Arundika as witness
New claims on missing journalist renews international media rights organisations’ interest The wife of missing cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda is to request court to allow UPFA Puttlam District parliamentarian Arundika Fernando to be called as a witness when the Habeas Corpus case filed by her is taken up at the Homagama Magistrate’s court on Wednesday. [...]
Big MCs need more money to fight dengue: Kesarralal
The woes of the local government bodies in their Herculean task of dengue prevention came to the fore this week as rains lashed the country and the public continued to nurture mosquito breeding sites. Trapped in the lowest rung of the three-tiered structure of central government, provincial councils (PCs) and local-government bodies, the flow of funds [...]
How much is that doggie in the window? The one that is lying there, dead
Last month, as Colombo was filled with bright lights and happy faces celebrating Vesak, a group of Pomeranian puppies huddled together in darkness inside a pet shop on Galle Road, Mt Lavinia. According to the Animal Welfare and Protection Association (AWPA), the shop had remained closed for days because of Vesak Poya, with sparrows, parrots, hens, [...]
Probe into why 10-year-old child was sent to court for stealing a toy
The case of a 10-year-old child who was referred to a probation home following accusations of house-breaking and theft will be taken up at the Nochchiyagama Magistrates Court on Tuesday (June 18). The child was referred to a probation house after his mother and uncle refused to take care of him. A complaint was made at [...]
New CA judge hits out at delays in dispensing justice
The newly appointed Court of Appeal judge, Malini Gunaratne has called on judges, who are paid by the public, to dispense justice without undue delay to the people who seek it. She made this appeal on Friday when addressing a Court-of-Appeal ceremony to welcome her on Friday. Pointing out that certain cases were pending in courts [...]
Villagers take to the trees
Marauding elephants have forced many farmers and villagers in the Dambulla district to live on tree tops. The worst affected are elderly men , women and young children who have to climb bamboo ladders at nightfall and come down at dawn. At dawn most farmers often find their crops damaged. I.G. Anagi, a 76 year-old [...]
