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Home » NewsAll set for Victory Day
Rehearsals taking place yesterday for the huge military parade to be held in Matara today to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the victory over the LTTE. President Mahinda Rajapaksa will preside at the spectacular Victory Day show in the heart of the south. Pic by Amila Gamage.
French oil giant to explore N-E seas
A French multinational oil and gas consortium is to jointly explore with Sri Lanka for petroleum resources in the strategic seas east of Jaffna extending southwards through Trincomalee and Batticaloa. For this purpose, the Petroleum Resources Development Committee (PRDC) which functions under President Mahinda Rajapaksa, wants to enter into a Joint Study Agreement with Total E [...]
Era of coalitions ends with Modified India
NEW DELHI, May 17 (Reuters) – Hundreds of Indians thronged the leafy streets of New Delhi today to greet Narendra Modi’s triumphant march into the capital after he decimated the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and the ruling Congress party in the biggest election victory the country has seen in 30 years. Modi leaned far out of his [...]
Expressway bus permits: Committee to decide
Permits to operate private buses on expressways will be given by a high-level committee instead of by open tenders, the Cabinet has decided. Private Transport Minister C.B. Ratnayake said the decision was taken because of shortcomings in the open tender procedure. He said the committee would comprise the Transport Minister, the Treasury Secretary, the Sri Lanka Transport [...]
President hopes for closer ties with Modi
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to send a special message to India‘s Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi, expressing hope for improved relations between the two countries, an External Affairs Ministry official said yesterday. The formal letter will be dispatched once the date for the swearing in of Mr. Modi as the new Prime Minister of India is confirmed. [...]
Memorials, blood donation banned in North-East
Security measures have been stepped up in the Northern and Eastern Provinces after some groups vowed to defy a ban on public commemorative events coinciding with today’s fifth anniversary of the end of the war. Jaffna’s Senior Police Superintendent W. Wimalasena said no public events would be allowed to commemorate those who died as the Government [...]
CID makes breakthrough in abduction and murder of policeman
A special team of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) took into custody two ex-army personnel, an officer in the air force and a civilian on Friday (16) in connection with the abduction of two police constables and the murder of one of them. CID investigations revealed the gang involved in the abduction and murder had been [...]
CMC radiologists seek CA intervention for restoration of payments
The Court of Appeal this week served notice on the Respondents in the case filed by the Colombo Municipal Council’s (CMC) Microbiology and City Analyst Laboratory employees, over the stopping of the special payment made in lieu of private tests conducted by them. The 24 Petitioners, who are all attached to the CMC, have cited [...]
Tourists, locals arriving here with communicable diseases under scrutiny
Tourists arriving in Sri Lanka with communicable diseases such as the MERS respiratory virus now spreading in Saudi Arabia will be put on observation under a scheme to be put into effect this week by the Government. The move came as health authorities in Saudi Arabia have reported three more fatalities from the MERS respiratory [...]
From paddy fields to grazing grounds
Farmers in one of the main paddy cultivating districts in the country –Polonnaruwa– have been hit by the severe drought forcing them to abandon over 100,000 acres of land. Cattle can be seen grazing in what were once the fertile paddy lands of Elahera, Grithale, Kawudulla and Minneriya. Irrigation officials claim they are unable to [...]
ILS certificate not essential to carry out microscopic agglutination test (MAT): Dr. Lilani Karunanayake
The Medical Research Institute (MRI) has sent a second response to the reply of Dr. Suneth Agampodi following its first response titled, ‘Research on leptospirosis was carried out as early as 1971: MRI’ in the Sunday Times of May 11. MRI’s Head, Reference Laboratory for the Diagnosis of Leptospirosis ,and Consultant Clinical Microbiologist, Dr. Lilani [...]
14-month-old female infant dies after falling from the 3rd floor
A 14-month-old female infant died of a fall from the 3rd floor of a house in Maligawatta. The infant, Mariam Mohammad, daughter of a Muslim clergyman, passed away in the early hours of last Thursday, after receiving treatment for two weeks at the National Hospital’s Accident Ward. Giving evidence at the Coroner’s court, Malaigawatte Police [...]
Enter babul, beeda and mawa into the classroom
To most school-going children, babul, beeda and mawa may sound like names from their science text books. However they are not. These substances have begun to infiltrate the classrooms causing concern among school authorities, police and parents. This week, in Matale, Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) officials raided several places in the heart of the town [...]
AHS undergraduate activists assaulted in police custody and hospitalised
Of the 17 student activists arrested on Friday, four were admitted to the Accident Ward in the National Hospital yesterday, after sustaining injuries while in police custody. However, the activists claim that two of the more seriously injured students have not been hospitalised despite pleas, a claim denied by the police. The Student Unions claim [...]
FUTA threatens union action if Govt. fails to implement 2012 proposals
The Federation of University Teachers Association has threatened to resume its trade union action as the Government has failed to implement the proposals agreed to in 2012. In a letter addressed to Higher Education Ministry Secretary Dr. S. J. Nawaratne, FUTA has demanded that using political influence in university matters and suppressing students be immediately [...]
No-faith motion against Govt: Debate on Tuesday, Wednesday
A no confidence motion against the Government over its inability to tackle the increasing proliferation of dangerous drugs into the country will be debated in Parliament on Tuesday and Wednesday. The motion has been signed by 26 UNP MPs and comes at a time of rumblings within the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) with [...]
Vesak joy lights up country from north to south
While Vesak celebrations were held islandwide on a grand note, health and municipal authorities put in place stringent measures to ensure that dansalas held around the country met hygiene standards. The Secretary of the Sri Lanka Public Health Inspectors Union Senarath Bandara informed the Sunday Times that through awareness campaigns dansala organisers were instructed to [...]
Faulty signals continue to derail commuter safety as trains ‘go slow’
More incidents involving faulty signals on main railway lines have been reported this week, causing concern among engine drivers, a trade unionist claimed. The latest incident took place on Monday, close to Ambanpola, on the northern railway line, when the signals indicated that a train was due on the same line on which a train [...]
Striking union wants all teachers and principals to join action
The Teachers and Principals Trade Union Joint Committee is calling other teachers’ and principals’ unions to join them in industrial action next month. Lanka Teacher Services Union General Secretary, Mahinda Jayasinghe, said other education representative bodies such as the Private Teachers Services Union and the Independent Ceylon Teachers’ Union have been asked for support in [...]
Military parade in Matara to mark victory over terrorism
The Victory parade will begin at 7 a.m. today in Matara town with the participation of over 7,000 soldiers along with another 600 officers belonging to the tri-forces. The parade held in celebration of the National War Heroes Commemoration Month with the contribution of the tri-services, Police and Civil Security Department, will also include close [...]
Snakes and daggers in macabre crimes stun authorities
Macabre and bold crimes this week ranging from a faceless body in a cemetery to a man tied up in a barrel with a angry cobra, a ruling party politician killed in a hail of bullets, a policeman stabbed to death and a body in a fertiliser bag had the authorities scrambling for answers. In [...]
Emotional abuse by teachers can scar students for life
Cases of emotional abuse of students by teachers are on the rise even though the Education Ministry has banned corporal punishment. Last week, two teachers dragged a Grade Six student of Vavinna Junior school in Wattegama into a room in front of her friends and cut her hair short claiming it was untidy. The humiliated [...]
Injuries on Russian woman could have proved fatal: JMO
A female Judicial Medical Officer this week told a High Court inquiry into the killing of British national Khuram Shaikh, that during the attack in Tangalle, his Russian girl friend (Victoria) had suffered injuries which could have been fatal. The trial was taken up before Colombo High Court Judge Rohini Walgama this week. The incident took [...]
CJ 43 refuses to plead as bank account data required not given to her
Chief Justice 43 – Shirani Bandaranayake this week refused to plead guilty or not guilty on the alleged bribery and corruption charges levelled against her as the National Development Bank had refused to hand over data of her bank accounts which was pertinent for the hearing. Attorney Nalin Ladduwahetty P.C., for Ms. Bandaranayake said that [...]
Foreign spouses, mixed marriage children face uncertain future
The Government has suspended the granting of citizenship to foreign spouses of Sri Lankans along with the dual nationality facility on which no finality has yet been reached. A senior Immigration official said this week that both issues were recently discussed at a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa. However, a decision had been deferred. The [...]
AIDS on the rise among boys and young men
A growing problem of HIV/AIDS being reported among young boys between the ages of 15 and 29 comes as an alert of unprotected same sex acts and young boys used as sex workers, Health Ministry’s National STD/AIDS Control Programme (NSACP) Director Dr. Sisira Liyanage said. Thirty seven boys under the age of nine, seven boys [...]
