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Judge says sexual bribes corrupting society

A management assistant attached to the Medical Superintendent’s office in Wellawaya was sentenced this week to 20 years Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) for demanding a sexual bribe from a female minor employee to approve a transfer. Colombo High Court Judge Wimal Nambuwasam delivering the verdict said offering and accepting sexual bribes have resulted in the society [...]

Jayalalithaa derails Tamil Nadu-Lanka fisher folk meet with Dr. Senaratne

A Tamil Nadu based fisheries group due in Sri Lanka for talks with Fisheries Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne and fishermen societies in Sri Lanka, yesterday said they were yet to get permission from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa to travel for the meeting. The delegation was earlier due in Sri Lanka in July, on [...]

Kelaniya University students yesterday vowed to continue their two-week old protest after talks they held with authorities failed to win their main demand – better hostel facilities. These pictures show students living in the make shift hostel, which is also the university’s canteen.

Army’s 37 regimental flags blessed inside Sri Dalada Maligawa’s inner shrine room

In a solemn ceremony, the flags of the Sri Lanka Army’s 37 regiment were blessed in the inner shrine room facing the Golden Karanduwa where the Sacred Tooth Relic is reposed. The flags carried with great respect and decorum, were brought into the Sri Dalada Maligawa in procession led by the Army Band, through the [...]

The flags of Sri Lanka Army’s 37 regiment were brought in a solemn procession yesterday to the Sri Dalada Maligawa for special blessings.

TNA wants President in Jaffna for CM oaths

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which swept the Northern Provincial Council polls last week has held out an olive branch to President Mahinda Rajapaksa by inviting him to Jaffna to swear in Chief Minister designate C.V. Wigneswaran and other councillors. “We are now waiting for the President’s return from the United States,” TNA leader Rajavarothayam [...]

Indians throw away 30 % of their catch

As much as one-third or more than 30 per cent of the fish caught by Indian poachers in Sri Lankan waters is dumped back into the sea as ‘waste fish’ as the fishermen engage in internationally banned IUU (Illegal, Unregulated, Unreported) fishing practices. Bottom trawling is banned both in India and Sri Lanka, but Indian [...]

Mammoth delegation, Twitter fiasco, infighting mar President’s UN visit

President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in New York this week for the annual UN General Assembly sessions with his customary mammoth delegation from Sri Lanka and elsewhere. They included Ministers G.L. Peiris, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Athauda Seneviratne, Dulles Allahapperuma, Monitor Sajin Vaas Gunawardene, MP Lohan Ratwatte, several Presidential aides, Deepa Wijesinghe, Sepala and Anoma Lafir, [...]

Cabinet gives green card to Packer; tax jackpot

Australian casino tycoon James Packer has moved one step closer towards opening his integrated resort in Colombo, with the Cabinet endorsing a series of tax exemptions for the project. It now remains for Parliament to approve the project for it to go into operation. In the unlikely event that Parliament rejects the project, it will be [...]

Southern UNPers want Sajith as chief ministerial candidate

The United National Party’s Matara District organisations unanimously resolved yesterday to ask the leadership to nominate former Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa as Chief Ministerial candidate when polls are held for the Southern Provincial Council (SPC). The decision came at a meeting chaired by UNP Matara District MP and communications chief Mangala Samaraweera. The proposal was [...]

A huge and colourful billboard with flags of 54 Commonwealth countries welcoming the leaders and delegates for the summit was put up this week at the Kelanitissa Junction in Colombo while workers are seen renovating the road that connects to the new airport highway. Pic by Mangala Weerasekera

20 min to BIA: Katunayake highway ready next month

The 26-km-long Colombo-Katunayake expressway will be declared open next month, the Government announced. According to Road Development Authority officials, workers are now engaged in fixing signboards and planting trees alongside the expressway, while giving the final touches to the project. The expressway will have three lanes on each side from Colombo to Peliyagoda, and two lanes [...]

41 Tamil Nadu fishermen released on AG’s instructions

Forty one Indian fishermen who were apprehended by the Sri Lanka Navy in June and July, were released on the instructions of the Attorney General (AG), by Mannar Magistrate Aanththi Kanakaratnam. They were released while their trial was ongoing for poaching in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters. The men had not pleaded guilty, but the AG’s Dept [...]

Missing 7-year-old girl found dead in ditch

The body of a seven-year-old girl was discovered in a ditch in a wooded area in Nuwara-Eliya, a day after she went missing while playing with neighbourhood friends on Thursday evening, police said yesterday. The victim, a Grade 2 student of St. Anthony’s School, Nuwara Eliya, was living at a line room abode on Pedro Estate [...]

Touchwood in another dodgy move, appoints new chairman

In another bizarre turn of events, troubled Touchwood Investments Ltd late on Friday announced that Lanka Wijendra Kiwlegedera has been appointed chairman, barely 24 hours after the Annual General Meeting (AGM). In an announcement to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), the company said that founder chairman Ross Maloney stepped down as chairman effective Thursday, September 26 [...]

Unprecedented voter-buying strategies observed at PC polls: CaFFE report

New voter-buying strategies in the Central and North Western Provinces (NWP) and an emergence of a new political class that ended the domination of a Jaffna Tamil elite in the North, were some of the observations found in the final report of the polls monitoring group Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE). The report [...]

Japanese tourist (31) found dead on an apparent alcohol overdose

A Japanese drug addict died following an overdose of alcohol which he opted for to fight a painful withdrawal syndrome, after his drug ration had dried up during his stay in the country, police and medical officials said yesterday. They said the body of Tommo Taka, 31, was found inside a wooded area in Naramwala in [...]

CCTV security for four more cities: Police Chief

Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) systems are to be installed in four more district cities to detect crime and traffic offences, Police Chief N.K. Illangakoon said yesterday. He said plans were being made to instal the CCTV system in Kegalle, Anuradhapura, Kandy and Galle early next year. Police and Moratuwa University technology experts had visited the cities [...]

Massive transfers of MOs may endanger crucial heart operations

Crucial heart surgeries at the premier National Hospital in Colombo will be cut drastically due to the lack of experienced Medical Officers (MOs), following a massive transfer scheme implemented by the Health Ministry. Only about 15 cardiothoracic surgeries will be performed every week from Monday (September 30) onwards, as against the usual 30 operations, raising the [...]

Restraining order on three businessmen from functioning as directors

The Commercial High Court of Colombo restrained Don Gamini Chandrathilake Netthicumara, Wasantha Kumara Galagoda and Nipuna Devindra Samarawickrama from acting as directors of Serene Pavilions (Private) Limited with immediate effect, in a case filed by one of the directors Sumith Guruge against the illegal manner in which the management of the company was being conducted. [...]

Residents of Godakawela in the Ratnapura district have been left with a bitter taste in the mouth. It has been discovered the sugar they had been purchasing from local shops over the past few weeks were in fact unsuitable for human consumption.Residents said Public Health officials to whom they complained regarding the poor quality of [...]

Cyber-crime, Electronic Evidence Workshop to help implement its legal framework

Council of Europe Convention on Cyber-crime and the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) will host a capacity building workshop on Cyber-crime and Electronic Evidence, specifically for law-enforcement officials, prosecutors and judges, on October 4 and 5. ICTA Legal Advisor Jayantha Fernando said South Asian countries such as Sri Lanka and India have adopted a [...]

A senior US Embassy officer said that Sri Lankans applying for the Diversity Visa (DV) Lottery (Green Card) should be aware of scams involving persons or companies that claim affiliation with the US Government, or those who promise they can help you, for a fee, to improve your chances. “The online application is completely free. [...]

Fisheries DG says Tamil Nadu and EU playing politics

Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Department Director General N.D.Hettiarachchi said, Sri Lanka was pushing for an early meeting of the Joint Working Group with India to resolve fishing issues between the two countries, but the response has been poor.Mr. Gunawardena said although the Indian Central government had shown interest in resolving the issue, the Tamil Nadu [...]

Down to earth in soil fertility with bio-fertilisers

The harmful impact of misuse and overuse of agrochemicals have been highlighted in articles published in the Sunday Times in the past few weeks. As an alternative, use of bio-fertilisers which is a method of directly applying living microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi to fertilise the soil is becoming popular among farmers, even though [...]

41 Tamil Nadu fishermen released on AG’s instructions

TN CM Jayalalithaa derails TN-SL fisher folk meet with Dr. Senaratne

We have read about bottom trawling fishing in the media: EU

The European Union yesterday said they were aware that Indian fishermen were engaged in Illegal Unregulated Unreported (IUU) fshing practices, but the delegation had not been formally informed by relevant authorities that the illegal catch was reaching EU approved factories. Following are responses to questions sent by the Sunday Times to the EU delegation office [...]

Recovering a missing cellphone is almost a lost cause

A lady residing at Wellawatte was devastated after she realised that her phone she left on a table while her car was being washed, was missing. After lodging a complaint at the police station Indira Abeyratne was told to rush to the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) office and make a complaint giving the International Mobile [...]

Ends don’t justify the means as veggie farmers see red

Farmers around the country complain they find it difficult to sell their produce, for the third consecutive week. Farmers from Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Bandarawela and Jaffna have produced an excess of vegetables, but the demand for them has lessened. Pettah Manning Market Secretary Gamini Handunge said that the market finds it difficult to sell the [...]

Elated that the party of their choice had won, a youth group in a Jaffna church asked their pastor for a treat. He gave them money to buy “kottu roti”. At Paranthan, a couple who had been complaining about structural shortcomings in their donated house breaks into smiles when asked if they were happy that [...]

2,000 marked ballot papers surface to mar PC polls’ final outcome

The relative success of the elections to three Provincial Councils (PC) held on September 21, has been tainted by the controversy surrounding the discovery of 2,000 marked ballot papers in three bags, at a counting centre in Puttalam, three days after the poll. The three polythene bags filled with ballot papers were discovered by a worker [...]

With just a month to go for the hosting of the Commonwealth Summit, the beautification of Colombo city is taking place at a rapid pace. Workers are busy paving the streets, equipment used for road repairs stand idly at different points in the city. Huge vehicles used for road construction, parked carelessly along busy streets [...]

Mahara Magistrate Dharshika Wimalasiri last week refusing a request for bail in a case where a teacher had allegedly molested female students, told police they had to be more assertive about child abuse cases and not consider it as a petty crime. The magistrate made these comments when the police failed to provide a follow [...]

“And thus I clothe my naked villainy With odd old ends stol’n out of holy writ; And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.” - William Shakespeare, Richard III My cocker spaniel was named Junius Richard (JR) to commemorate an event that is etched in memory without any adoration or affection: for holding a [...]

Founders Day at Overseas School of Colombo

The Overseas School of Colombo (OSC), a prestigious international school in Colombo since 1957, held its Founders Day on Friday (27). About 30 teachers who have served the school for more than 20 years, were also felicitated for their dedicated service. Head of School Areta Williams welcomed the guests. OSC’s oldest student Armeen Fatima and [...]

Kelaniya Uni. authorities, undergrads hostel dispute goes into 2nd week

A deadlock over a hostel dispute between students and authorities of the Kelaniya University continues for the second consecutive week. The Kannangara boy’s hostel where some 500 students lodged was attacked, which made the students to forcibly occupy the cafeteria of the university, rejecting the ‘solution’ provided by the authorities. “We have provided the students [...]

Teachers’ Union protests Ministry circular on funding training of teachers

A fresh circular issued by the Education Ministry, which compels parents of students to pay for the training of teachers, has prompted a protest by a leading teachers’ union. The Lanka Guru Seva Sangamaya claimed that according to Circular 2013/10, “if further training of teachers is required, the committee set up to improve schools should [...]

University system at odds with needs of modern economy- UNDP Report

There is a need to align the country’s university system with the needs of a modern economy, according to the Sri Lanka Human Development Report on Sri Lanka, compiled by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for 2012. The Report says that there are two issues involved, one being the inadequate capacity of Sri Lanka’s [...]

New criteria for appointment, transfer, promotion of Principals

New principals appointed to State-run schools should be seconded to that school three months before the current principal leaves the school, and where an acting appointment has to be made to such a post, it should not be for more than three months, according to the National Educational Polices and Proposals for General Education in [...]

Buddhist and Pali Uni.’s laity, student monks clash over power sharing

The Buddhist and Pali University in Homagama is the latest to be hit by an internal clash among student monks and laymen, disrupting academic activities. On Thursday, a court directed to lift the suspension on 16 students, who were suspended following a clash between student monks and laity in the university. Several student monks staged [...]

International Day of Peace 2013: Invest in Schools and Teachers

St. John’s Bosco College, Kaluaggala, 35 km from Colombo, became the first School Peace Ambassador with hundreds of students participating at the International Day of Peace event organized by the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), Colombo, together with the Universal Peace Federation. This year’s theme was ‘Education for Peace; invest in schools and teachers who [...]

Applications open for Commonwealth Postgraduate Scholarships

Applications have been invited from those eligible for the award of Postgraduate Scholarships offered under the Commonwealth Scholarship programme, the Ministry of Higher Education has announced. These awards are tenable at Institutions of Higher Learning in the United Kingdom for the academic year commencing September 2013-October 2014. A total of 18 scholarships will be awarded [...]

Conduct of Grade 5 scholarship exam deserves serious rethink

I have just read the interview by the Sunday Times of Mohan Lal Grero, a well respected and popular educationalist, captioned “Grade 5 exam harmful to children”. This should be a thought to be considered seriously for the sake of the mental health of our future generations. Most of us born in the last century, [...]

A necessary evil that is a law unto itself

School vans have become an integral part of attending school itself, but unfortunately, most fail to live up to their responsibilities. The Education Times caught on camera the ordeal faced by students as they wait for their school vans and buses, sometimes as long as an hour, to be picked up from and dropped off [...]

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