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Made in China: Two Chinese take a ride on a Chinese-built electric motorcycle around the city. Pic by Indika Handuwala Siesta: A man takes a nap on a bench in Vihara Maha Devi Park. Pic by MA Pushpa Kumara Roadblock: Three wheelers make way for four donkeys. Pic by Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe Hard at work: [...]
Rotten fruits even for the deities
With the contamination of food reaching its worst levels, even these fruits taken to be offered at the well-known Kande Viharaya were found to be rotten. Public Health Inspectors are seen checking these and traders who sold the rotten fruits to the devotees are to be produced in courts. Pic by Sarath Siriwardene
Another dengue epidemic in Colombo
Colombo city is experiencing another outbreak of deadly dengue fever with four deaths — three of them children below 5 — and another 376 victims last month while the Colombo district recorded 1091 cases. The Colombo Municipality’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Pradeep Kariyawasam, told the Sunday Times this was a 30 per cent increase compared to [...]
Talks fail: Navy will arrest poaching Indians
The Sri Lanka Navy warned yesterday that it would continue to detain Indian fishermen intruding into the country’s territorial waters after high level-talks between the two sides failed to resolve the issue of poaching. Navy Commander Jayanatha Colombage said that even after the recent talks, Indian fishermen continue to poach in the seas off Pesalai, Delft [...]
Milk powder prices go up
Prices of powdered milk were increased yesterday, ending a three-month long battle between milk powder companies and the Consumer Affairs Authority. A spokesman for the Ministry of Co-operatives and Internal Trade said the price of a 400g packet of milk powder packet was increased by Rs 61 from midnight yesterday and the one kilogram pack [...]
Mattala: Planes come, nobody gets in or gets out
Questions are being asked why certain SriLankan Airlines flights continue to stop at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) when there are no passengers embarking or disembarking. For instance, a Colombo-bound flight from Kuala Lumpur made a scheduled stop at MRIA on Thursday morning. Writing to the Sunday Times, a passenger on that aircraft said there [...]
Two detained containers released without checks
Amid continuing controversy over the detection of a container carrying about 260 kg of heroin, two containers were released on Friday without any inspection, Customs sources said yesterday. The two 20-foot containers declared as containing sanitaryware had been detained by the Customs for more than two weeks for investigations after they arrived from China. The containers [...]
Children’s safety at school: Who is responsible?
Despite the recent accident at Ananda College where a student was killed when he was pinned against a wall by a turf roller, school authorities still do not seem to take the safety of students in their care seriously. The Sunday Times captured a few incidents where children were in situations where they appeared to [...]
Largest day gecko the first on 2014 endemic new species list
A gecko has become the first creature in 2014 to join the impressive list of endemic species of Sri Lanka. The new species, discovered in Rammalakanda forest, has been named Rammale day gecko (Rammale diva huna), classified scientifically as Cnemaspis rammalensis. Unlike the common house gecko that is found hunting insects near lamps in most [...]
Tony the chimp bites the hand that fed him
A chimp raised by zoo caretakers since its birth in 1999, after its mother refused to feed it, caused an upset this week when it bit off a finger of its beloved foster-father, Thilak Pushpakumara. Tony the chimp had become greatly attached to Pushpakumara over the years. An entertainer from his young days doing a “chimp show”, [...]
Bus accidents on the rise; authorities plan to leash bad drivers
Bus accidents continue to rise, with 20 people suffering injuries rushed to the Warakapola Base Hospital and Kegalle Teaching Hospital on Friday after a bus collided with a lorry in Warakapola on the Colombo-Kandy road. On Wednesday, 15 passengers were admitted to the Eheliyagoda Hospital after their bus suffered brake failure and, veering off the road, [...]
Gunmen open fire on OIC’s home
Gunmen opened fire on the official residence of the Officer-In-Charge (OIC) Crimes Division of the Embilipitiya police station shortly before midnight on Friday, Police Spokesperson Senior Superintendent (SSP) Ajith Rohana said. The incident occurred at around 11.30 p.m. while the OIC, his wife and three children were at home. No one was injured, he said. [...]
SC orders status quo be maintained
The Supreme Court Bench comprising Justices Chandra Ekanayake, Sathiya Hettige and Rohini Marasinghe ordered the existing management system of the eight Pradeshiya Sabhas (PSs) whose budget proposals for the year 2014 were defeated, be maintained without removing the respective Chairmen. Homagama PS Chairman A.D. Kumarasiri previously obtained a status quo (existing state of affairs) order [...]
Our daily deadly diet
Officials say 400,000 tons of contaminated dhal found in a warehouse raid this week were to be sold to the public after coating with food colouring and oil to give false colour and gloss. Gunnies full of imported dhal, some of it black and discoloured, some covered with fungi and some contaminated with pigeon droppings [...]
Pending nominations, election law violations set the tone for the PC polls
The nomination process of candidates to contest the Western and Southern Provincial Council (PC) elections, has inundated Election Monitoring organizations with complaints pertaining to election law violations. Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFe) Executive Director Keerthi Tennakoon said that, since they started election monitoring activities on January 15, their main focus is on issues [...]
Ceylonese World War II veterans will not ‘just fade away’
“Old soldiers never die; they just fade away,” is the famous adage. While this may be true, the services rendered by old soldiers are often forgotten and they get neglected by society-at-large. One set of such soldiers numbering over 500 are Sri Lankans (Ceylonese then) who served alongside British troops during World War (WW) II, [...]
Rape of Aussie student: Police probe love affair with suspect
Police are conducting further investigations into the alleged rape of a 20-year-old Australian student in Ambalangoda following reports that the suspect had a brief love affair with her. The suspect, an 18 year-old youth from Hirewatta in Ambalangoda, surrendered to police on Friday after evading arrest for four days. He was produced in court and [...]
2 UNP supporters pasted for putting up posters hospitalised
Two UNP supporters were assaulted by a group while they were putting up posters at Pallebedda in the Ratnapura Division early yesterday, the Party and police said. The victims who sustained serious injuries are presently undergoing treatment at the Embilipitiya Hospital. Embilipitiya Police are conducting investigations but are yet to make any arrests. Meanwhile, Rohana [...]
JVP convention today; new leader likely
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) will hold its seventh national convention at the Sugathadasa Indoor Staduim in Colombo today amidst reports that a new leader is likely to be elected. JVP spokesman Vijitha Herath told the Sunday Times that new office bearers and politburo members would be elected and a new leader would be considered [...]
Coal power chaos: Chinese firm fumes
The Chinese company that built the Lakvijaya Coal Power Plant has hit back at claims that it had sold Sri Lanka a dud generating station, the Sunday Times has exclusively found. In a letter sent to Power and Energy Ministry Secretary M.M.C. Ferdinando in November, Li Chaoyang, Vice President of China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), [...]
Biswal hints at international probe on war crimes
Frustration and scepticism in the United States and international community about Sri Lanka’s lack of progress in investigating the final days of the war have led to increasing calls for an international investigation, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Biswal, said yesterday. She also expressed concern over the “worsening” [...]
Coroner says hotel manager’s negligence led to guest’s death
A hotel manager in the suburbs of Colombo who prevented a seriously ill person being removed to hospital until his relations arrived, was severely warned by Colombo Additional City Coroner, Ashroff Rumi last Friday. He also directed that the hotel which is located on an island in the Bolgoda Lake should have adequate facilities including [...]
Lead mixed paint should be taboo for sprucing up schools
The new academic year has started and with it schools big and small across the country go on a spree of painting not only the classroom walls but also the desks and chairs. Herein may lie a hidden danger, warns a top doctor, reiterating that schools should ensure that the paint being used in classrooms [...]
Clearing the air on vehicle emission tests with greater vigilance
The emission tests conducted on vehicles – a pre-requisite for a revenue licence – is supposed to be a measure to improve air quality, but the exercise could prove futile as the Motor Traffic Dept (MTD) found out recently. A careful study of the emission test data recorded with the MTD revealed that the results [...]
66th Year of Independence to be celebrated in Kegalle
The 66th Independence Day Celebrations will be held in Kegalle on Tuesday under the patronage of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. A tri-forces military parade comprising 1,400 Army Officers, 250 Naval Officers, 250 Air Force Officers, 250 Police Officers, 250 Members of the Civil Defence Force, 325 Cadets of the National Cadets Force and 300 Members of [...]
Impotent fire service can’t enforce safety rules
Neither the poorly-equipped fire service nor any other authority has the power to enforce fire safety regulations in the crowded capital where increasing congestion and the number of old buildings create a major fire hazard. Despite a number of fires reported in Colombo, especially in old public buildings, the city’s fire brigade has no legal [...]
Police sergeant in gun fury arrested
A police sergeant has been grounded after he is alleged to have deserted his duty area and embarked on a shooting spree while at the same time threatening an individual, officials said. The police officer is attached to the Marawila Police Station in the Chilaw Division, they said. According to the officials the shooting took [...]
Democratic Party calls on people to fight growing oppression
The leader of the Democratic Party (DP), former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, led a protest march and rally on Tuesday. Addressing a gathering at the Colombo Fort Railway Station, Mr. Fonseka said a minority –5% of the people in the country- controlled the resources of the country, while 95 per cent lived in fear. He [...]
Opposition spill-gates open against regime considered a law unto itself
A large number of opposition protestors marched to Hyde Park in Colombo on Tuesday, in what was billed the first of joint opposition rallies aimed at toppling the “dictatorial Rajapaksa regime”. Opposition political parties, members of the clergy and civil society are coming together on a common platform, with the objective of toppling the administration [...]
Cultural treasures pillaged every day
An upserge in the number of treasure hunters since the beginning of the year is putting Sri Lanka’s cultural heritage under serious threst, warn archaelogists. There were 27 botched attempts last month despite the threat of punishment by the sites’ guardians, both human and supernatural. They are abandoning crowbars and shovels for mechanised equipment to [...]
Rein in child rage immediately
A brother stabs his younger brother on the head with a pair of scissors. A seven-year-old boy gets into violent rages frequently and beats up his mother or roughly pulls her by the hair. A nine-year-old girl stabs her father in the back with a kitchen knife while he is engrossed in some work, seated [...]
Ban lifted on seeking jobs in South Sudan
The authorities yesterday lifted the employment ban to South Sudan after the situation in that conflict torn country slowly returned to normalcy, a senior official with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLFEB) said. SLFEB Additional General Manager Mangala Randeniya said the ban was imposed late last year after bloody fighting between government forces [...]
Female teacher allegedly slaps schoolgirl seriously injuring her ear
Ahangama police arrested a female school teacher for allegedly assaulting a Grade 11 female student during school hours on Thursday. The 42-year-old dance teacher had reportedly slapped a student for not doing her homework. According to the JMO of Karapitiya Teaching Hospital, Dr V.G.G. Perera, the ear was severely damaged due to the assault. The [...]
Family members of missing people say police misled them
Some family members of missing people have charged that police officers in civvies diverted them to an alternate office while they were waiting at the Kilinochchi Kachcheri to give details to the commission probing the whereabouts of missing people. The civilians complained to the Kilinochchi Government Agent that the policemen had directed them to another [...]
