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Home » NewsOne killed, 42 injured in bus mishap
One passenger was killed and 42 were injured when a bus skidded and overturned at Galagedara in Kandy last evening, Police said. The bus was carrying pilgrims from Kandy to Kurunegala when the incident happened.
Maliban challenges ITI test result, offers one million reward
An Australian milk powder supplier has warned of diplomatic consequences if its product is proved to contain any farm chemical while its Sri Lankan buyer offered a one million rupee reward if anyone could identify such substance. The warning and the offer of a reward come in the wake of the state-run Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) [...]
CMC file pyre: Commissioner comes under fire
Among Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) files secretly set ablaze at the Borella Cemetery last Saturday were vital documents related to recent irregular recruitments and assets of the Municipal Secretary’s Department, an internal audit said. The files were burnt in an area reserved for funeral pyres. Four CMC officials oversaw the incineration on the written instructions of [...]
Fishermen out of their depth as the catch goes abegging
An estimated 20 tons of fish caught daily in the Negombo region, are dumped back into the lagoon, for want of a proper market, say fisherman. The catch includes fish such as salayo and yaksalayo. Sebastian Fernando (51) says that, once the nets are cast, with this being the season for salayo, they are found in [...]
Huge pleasure garden, pleasure park in Colombo
The Government will set up a “pleasure garden” alongside a “pleasure park” now under construction in the City of Colombo to enable foreign and local tourists to “spend their day leisurely.” It will have a parking complex “for at least 2,000 motor vehicles, ten buses, 500 motorcycles, and three-wheelers,” the Cabinet has decided. It follows a [...]
Housebreak at scribe’s home leaves one dead and 4 cops hospitalised
A break-in to a journalist’s home at Lester James Peiris Mawatha (formerly Dickman’s Road) Colombo 5, by a gang of five robbers, which left one of them dead, paved the way for the arrest of the other four early yesterday. “One of them placed a sharp knife at my throat and forced me to show where [...]
Chinese lightning expresses on Indian tracks in Lanka
The Government wants to run Chinese built ‘rolling stock’ — engines cum carriages — on the northern railway line now under construction with Indian assistance and due for completion next year. Transport Minister Kumara Welgama has told his ministerial colleagues that the Sri Lanka Railways (SLR) wants to initially operate train services from Colombo to Kankesanthurai [...]
Shiyam murder: Ex-DIG’s wife grilled again
The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) yesterday recorded another statement from the wife of ex- DIG Vaas Gunawardena after she was questioned for six hours, detectives said. They said Sharmalee Perera Gunawardena was questioned on a SIM card that was in her possession but had been registered under the name of a person from Galle. She was [...]
Tough austerity measures, more taxes and cuts on subsidies
The Government, faced with a worsening budget deficit crisis, is to go in for deeper austerity measures and for the first time consider resorting to twin measures of cutting subsidies and increasing taxes to rein in rising costs. The all-round austerity measures also include further curbing public expenditure while increasing taxes and reducing subsidies or doing [...]
Hikkaduwa PS chairman cleared of corruption charges
Hikkaduwa Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Vinnie Kariyawasam was this week discharged from corruption charges by a Colombo court. Mr. Kariyawasam was accused of not fulfilling tender procedures when issuing a contract for the installation of 50 aluminum lamp posts in the tourist belt of Hikkaduwa in the Galle District. Colombo’s Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya discharged Mr. [...]
Special housing loans for troops, state employees
The Government wants to introduce a special loan scheme for members of the armed forces, employees of statutory boards, corporations and state banks to buy houses. Ministers have decided that an official committee will examine how this scheme should be worked out under the Government’s “Nilsevana Housing Project.” The committee will comprise a representative of the [...]
National Heritage Ministry gazettes 170 ancient monuments
The Government has gazetted as ancient monuments 83 archaeological buildings and remains in the North, with many of them being ruins of Buddhist temples. These were among 170 monuments countrywide that were gazetted by the Ministry of National Heritage last week. It is the largest listing of archaeological monuments from the Northern Province since the end [...]
Guidelines issued to achieve uniformity in performing stomach operations
It is one of the commonest surgeries performed in Sri Lanka – the opening and closing of the abdomen. This is what the College of Surgeons of Sri Lanka wants performed “in uniformity”, be it in Colombo, Anuradhapura, Jaffna, Batticaloa, Puttalam, Galle or Hambantota. To achieve uniformity in the closure of the abdominal wall, in [...]
Death Certificates for missing persons extended for 2 more years
The provisions of Registration of Death (Temporary Provision) Act enacted in 2010 to register the deaths of persons reported missing as a result of terrorist or subversive activity or civil commotion, will be extended for two more years. Initially, The Bill was enacted for a period of two years, but Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister [...]
Journalism night on MTV
MTV will screen a half hour documentary at 10.15 p.m. today (Sunday, August 25) on the annual Journalism for Excellence programme organised by The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka in partnership with the Sri Lanka Press Institute. The 14th edition of the ‘Awards Night’ was held recently at the Empire Room of the Mount Lavinia [...]
Prisons Dept. provides manpower for Govt. projects
The Prisons Department has accelerated its work release programme which sees prisoners all over the country perform labour for Government departments. There are 55 prisoners working in Colombo alone, said Gamini Kulatunga, Prison Spokesman. Twenty-five of them are “contracted” to the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC). They can be seen laying paving stones on Horton Place [...]
Bathiudeen meets President over police raids on his residences
Industries and Commerce Minister Rishad Bathiudeen has asked President Mahinda Rajapaksa to carry out an investigation into police raids carried out on two of his residences and a circuit bungalow. Mr. Bathiudeen had met the president personally to make the request. Two weeks ago police teams had searched for weapons at the minister’s residences in Mannar and [...]
Fonterra to answer contempt of court charges, while enjoining order is lifted
The enjoining order preventing Fonterra Brands Lanka (Pvt) Limited from advertising, selling and distributing its products either directly or through agents which was enforced for 14 days, was lifted by Gampaha Additional District Court Judge Indika Kalinga Upawansa on Friday. The order was lifted two weeks after the Gampaha District Court issued the enjoining order [...]
No clear answer from Govt. to murky milk issue
Is there DCD (dicyandiamide) in milk or isn’t there? This is the simple question that the people are still grappling with, as they were bombarded by scientific data and technical detail, with still no clear statement from the Government. Even the seven-member Cabinet sub-committee, which Cabinet spokesperson Minister Keheliya Rambukwella promised would come up with [...]
Blaring horns to be silenced with fines as per recent regulations
The increasing number of complaints from guests of tourist hotels against loud vehicle horns have forced authorities to take prompt action against users of such horns under the Motor Traffic (Vehicle Horn) Regulations gazetted recently. Environment Minister Susil Premjayantha told the Sunday Times, that the Central Environment Authority (CEA), the Motor Traffic Dept (MTD), the [...]
Intra party violence takes the lead in polls race
Election law violations and misuse of state resources are on the rise, say polls monitoring groups with three weeks more to go for elections to the Central Province, North Western Province and Northern Province. The complaints are mainly related to intra party clashes among UPFA supporters in the Central Province and North Western Province. Last Monday [...]
Normality slowly returning to Noori Estate: Police
A senior police officer in the Deraniyagala police division said a portion of the lands encroached by outsiders had been returned to the Noori Estate management this week. He said of the nearly 250 acres of land encroached, around 50 to 70 acres belonging to the estate had been voluntarily vacated by the encroachers. A survey [...]
Politicos turn child rapists: NE Deputy Mayor on the run
Nuwara Eliya Deputy Mayor Tissa Seneviratne is on the run after Court issued an arrest warrant against him. Police have still not been able to track him down. Nuwara Eliya Magistrate Sampath Hewawasam issued an open warrant on August 19 following a request by the Children and Women Bureau after a woman had complained that her [...]
Navi Pillay here today on week-long official visit
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay will begin a week-long (August 25 to 31, 2013) official visit to Sri Lanka today, at the invitation of the Government of Sri Lanka. While here, she is scheduled to call on President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and meet government ministers and officials. She will also hold [...]
16 shops damaged in Mutur town
At least 16 shops were damaged in Mutur on Wednesday night when an unidentified group attacked them, police said. All the shops were located in Mutur town. Among the shops were grocery stores and jewellery shops. Police said investigations were underway.
The Cattle Trust: Transit home for cattle freed from illicit abattoirs
The Maligakanda Magistrate’s court has ordered that 50 head of cattle and over one hundred goats and sheep rescued from an allegedly illicit slaughterhouse operating in the guise of a ‘Charity Farm’ at Orugodawatta in Colombo central, be handed over to a Cattle Protection Trust, for protective custody until the case is concluded. The Cattle [...]
Hidden poison in vegetable – agrochemicals
Reports of dicyandiamide (DCD) and whey protein allegedly found in milk powder have sparked widespread panic among consumers, but little do they know that vegetables they consume are equally if not more contaminated, according to a recent study on the use of agrochemicals by farmers. The report based on an extensive survey in the upcountry [...]
Weliweriya victims recount and relive night of horror at Magisterial inquiry
Victims of last month’s Army shooting and assault in Weliweriya, this week relived their nightlong horror at a Magisterial inquiry. They recounted their nightmare caught up in the crossfire and also the assaults they were subject to when they took refuge inside the Catholic church. The Magisterial inquiry was held by Gampaha Magistrate Tikiri K. [...]
Outliving their shelf-life
Health authorities have commenced an island-wide search for expired goods being sold in supermarkets and grocery stores. The inspections are being carried out at a provincial level with food, beverages as well as pharmaceuticals checked for expiry dates and other labelling requirements. Several city and suburban supermarkets are selling date expired consumer products, in some [...]
Forest fires a burning issue as dry weather continues
More than 150 forest fires have been reported from different parts of the country due to the prevailing drought. The latest fire was reported from Buttala Rahathangala, Lal Sarath Kumara Deputy Director Media, Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said. Last week, it was reported that nearly 600 acres of grassland of the Nonpareil Estate Reserve in Horton [...]
Musharraf: The culture of impunity collapses
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former military ruler Pervez Musharraf did not anticipate the doomed homecoming that exposed him to a string of legal charges ranging from murder to conspiracy to murder and facilitation in murder. He was indicted in the murder case of Benazir Bhutto on August 20, nine days after celebrating his 71st birthday. Now under [...]
Methods to the madness that is Education in Sri Lanka
The Government has unveiled an ambitious set of policies and proposals for general education in the country, which seeks to get more budgetary allocation for the sector, make school education mandatory for children from 5-16, as well as plans to reduce reliance on private tuition. The report, based on proposals presented to the Special Parliamentary [...]
Undeterred and Determined
Twenty-three-year-old W.K. Achala Priyadharshani, student of the Law Faculty of the University of Colombo, whose left hand was amputated due to a medical misadventure, returned home with an artificial hand. Achala, seen with her parents at their residence, said she was determined to pursue her studies to achieve her goals. Pic by Krishan Jeewaka Jayaruk
University Colleges to the rescue of A/L qualified dropouts
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development is set to establish 25 new Technical Education institutions leading to Degree-level qualifications. The programme is jointly funded with the Treasury’s contribution of Rs 1,600 million, and ADB and World Bank loans totaling to US$ 300 million (Rs 3.9 billion).The institutions, called University Colleges will absorb 20,000 Advanced [...]
N,E schools are headless bodies
Principal appointments scheduled for 2012 are yet to be finalized, especially in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, the Ceylon Teachers Unions (CTU) stressed. According to a circular endorsed on October 2, 2000, Principals were appointed for Principal services Grade 2-II, and 1,700 appointees for Grade 3, under Principal services, CTU President Joseph Stalin said. “Most [...]
Tuition class ban before exams has its pros and cons
Parents, students and teachers have expressed mixed feelings over a Government decision to ban tuition classes five days prior to public examinations, including the Year 5 scholarship exam to be held today. A section of the students said they believe the move would enable students prepare for the exams in a relaxed frame of mind, [...]
Crafting creative hands among schoolchildren for a productive outlook
The Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Ministry is to promote handcraft in schools to ensure a positive environment for schoolchildren, said its Deputy Minister Weerakumara Dissanayake. He said this with reference to the Shilpa National Exhibition held at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Memorial Exhibition Center this year, where hundreds of craftsmen showcased their products. “This [...]
The Future Minds exhibition goes South come September
The Future Minds – National higher education and career exhibition organised by the Nalanda Junior Old Boys Association will be held in Galle next week. This exhibition which was already held in Colombo and Kandy earlier this year, will be held at the Galle Town Hall on September 7 and 8 from 8.30 am to [...]
