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Home » NewsRaid on brothel operating as spa in 5-star hotel nets 6 Thais
Nine persons arrested when the Walana Police anti-vice squad raided a brothel operating under the guise of a spa at a five-star hotel in Colombo 3, were this week remanded till September 25, Three suspects and six Thai sex workers were arrested in the raid. The police also took into custody Rs 218,300, and an [...]
Xi came with a mountain of deals
With a mountain of deals, China’s President Xi Jinping came to Sri Lanka on Tuesday. He is seen being given a warm and colourful welcome by President Mahinda Rajapaksa with cultural troupes and children waving Sri Lankan and Chinese flags at the Bandaranaike International Airport. Pic by Indika Handuwela
Violation of election laws to be legalised
Polls laws are to be amended ahead of next year’s presidential election and possibly a general election — with the limited objective of relaxing provisions related to campaigning. Draft amendments are now being formulated, Minister Basil Rajapaksa, National Organiser of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, told a meeting of leaders who are partners of the UPFA [...]
Four soldiers buried alive in earthslip
Four soldiers were buried alive and at least another injured after an earthslip at teh Army’s Sinha Regiment headquarters in Ambepussa yesterday afternoon. The soldiers were clearing an earth bund around the camp when the earth gave way, burying them underneath. Four bodies were recovered after backhoes were used to dig up the area, Army [...]
How did ‘terrorists’ become ‘militants’?
A reported change of the word “terrorists” to “militants” in a law that will allow land and property owners in the once war-ravaged north and east to reclaim ownership has triggered a controversy. Minister Douglas Devananda, leader of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), raised issue at Thursday’s weekly ministerial meeting. He alleged that the [...]
Uva polls: Modest voter turnout, no major incidents
Around 65 per cent of the nearly one million registered voters in the Uva Province cast their votes yesterday amidst sporadic incidents. As polling closed Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya said there were some incidents of violence reported to the commission and he would examine if they had an impact on the outcome of the poll. [...]
Port City project: Sweeping tax concessions to China
A gazette notification containing tax concessions to Chinese firms building the Colombo Port City artificial island has been cancelled and a new one granting even broader terms has been issued. This includes a complete, eight-year waiver of corporate income tax for China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd. (CHEC), which is the contractor for engineering, procurement and construction [...]
27 official deals with China, unspecified number on the sidelines
A large, unspecified number of other agreements were signed this week between China and Sri Lanka in addition to the 27 accords that were entered into in the presence of the Presidents of the two countries, authoritative government sources said.“There was another list of agreements that were concluded on the sidelines of the visit,” said [...]
Widow fulfils husband’s unspoken wish
When her husband died in 2011, the Nagoda hospital staff asked Champa Amarasena if she would consent to donate her husband’s cornea. Mrs. Amarasena, a self-employed tailor from Katukurunda, Kalutara, still reeling from the shock of her husband’s death, said ‘yes’. ”To tell the truth, giving someone the ability to see is a weighty contribution,” she [...]
BASL tells President to go for integrity, seniority and merit in appointing judges
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has put forward to President Mahinda Rajapaksa a set of criteria and processes to be followed when appointing Judges to the Apex Courts following a string of recent appointments that have overlooked both, merit and seniority. Highlighting the need to establish a formal process after the 17th Amendment [...]
Two children fall to their deaths at Koneswaram temple
Two children were killed last afternoon when they fell from the Swami Rock, on which the Koneswaram temple in Trincomalee is built, police said. Their mother, who also fell was injured and has been hospitalised. The 34-year-old woman was rescued by Army and Navy personnel. The victims have been identified as Salomi Priyamary de Silva [...]
China’s SL interest part of its global strategy, bilateral relations are secondary: DEW
To the dustbins of history have been kicked the old ideological differences that once existed between the supporters of the Moscow and Peking (Beijing) wings of the Communist Party (CP) of Sri Lanka, with new global political and economic realities burying past differences, said, stalwart of left politics and CP General Secretary, D.E.W. Gunasekera. “There [...]
ICAPP ends meeting with Colombo declaration on enhanced cooperation
The eighth general assembly sessions of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) concluded yesterday with a declaration aimed at promoting regional security, economic integration and mutual trust. This year’s theme ‘Building an Asian Community’ focused on the role of political parties in strengthening coordination and cooperation between countries in the region. About 200 [...]
India, Sri Lanka issue stamp in honour
For the first time, India and Sri Lanka have agreed to issue stamps commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala. 1.5 million stamps have been printed in Sri Lanka and will be issued throughout the year, a senior official at the Philatelic Bureau of the Posts Department said. Designed by Isuru Chaturanga, the [...]
Registering boats, recording catch a must: Fisheries Dept.
The Fisheries Department issued two gazette notifications concerning deep sea fishing by Sri Lankan fishermen which makes it compulsory to register all boats and maintain log records of the catch on each fishing trip. The two gazette notifications were issued to comply with a requirements set out by the European Union if Sri Lanka was [...]
He taught the Sinhalese one community should not be uplifted by suppressing another: President
President Mahinda Rajapaksa this week said that Anagarika Dharmapala taught the Sinhalese that a community should be uplifted not by suppressing another community, but by strengthening their own community. President Rajapaksa was addressing the national celebrations to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Anagarika Dharmapala, the nationalist leader who was born in 1864 and died [...]
Minister turned away as Parliament Identity Card not valid for voting
Sugar Industry Development Minister Lakshman Seneviratne was turned away at the polling booth when he produced his Parliamentary identity card to cast his vote in Mahiyanganaya last morning. The election official on duty at the booth had pointed out that the Parliamentary IC was not one of the accepted identifications for voting by the Commissioner [...]
“Cheers to Mathata Thitha”, says Govt. and the people drink to that
P.M. Piyadasa says he began drinking when he was about 17. Today, at 63, he is unable to stop his descent into alcoholism. He had grown up in a home where he and his two brothers witnessed the daily ritual of their father coming home drunk in the evening, quarrelling with their mother and verbally [...]
Hambantota Port Phase II: China to get four of the seven berths
The Sri Lanka Ports Authority has agreed to hand over four out of seven berths from the second phase of the Hambantota Port development to a Chinese joint venture that includes a company that is also getting vast tracts of prime property on the Colombo Port City artificial island. Authoritative sources said negotiations on the [...]
Winged migrants back on their round-the-world ticket
The Uva Provincial Council election was held yesterday, giving election monitors a tough time, and some international observers were getting a bird’s-eye view of the political goings-on – the annual great bird migratory season has begun over Sri Lanka. Marking the onset of the season, the distinctive blue-topped barn swallows from the northern hemisphere that [...]
Struggling mother-earner families vulnerable to child predators
The government said it was working to increase the security of vulnerable children in women-headed households following three atrocities in which little girls were abducted and used as sex objects, and two of them killed. The eight-year-old victims from Akmeemana and Kattankudy respectively experienced death at the hands of heartless rapists while four-year-old Thamara from [...]
‘Undernourished’ state unis. no match for private unis. in attracting academics
While authorities steamrolled towards the establishment of new private universities, to make Sri Lanka the ‘Education Hub of Asia’ with ‘world class education’, medical Faculties of state-run universities are receiving little attention and lacking resources. This week, the Health Ministry agreed to make state hospitals available to the medical students of a fee-levying private medical [...]
Rights activists welcome SC decision on animal sacrifices
Animal rights activists have enthusiastically welcomed the recent Supreme Court decision to uphold the Court of Appeal judgment preventing ritual animal sacrifices at the Sri Bhadrakali Amman Kovil in Muneswaram, if it violated the Butchers’ Ordinance or the Cruelty to Animals Ordinance. The judgment delivered earlier this week, issued by Chief Justice Mohan Pieris with [...]
A growing menace
Touts and vendors are a growing menace to the booming tourist industry with almost all cultural, scenic and tourist areas flooded with vendors forcing their products on annoyed foreign tourists. Whether it is in the Southern towns of Galle Fort and Hikkaduwa, the city of Anuradhapura, the rock fortress at Sigiriya, touts follow tourists unaware [...]
Water, water everywhere but think before you drink!
Every day in offices and hospitals people stroll up to a public water dispenser and pour themselves what they think is a cup of purified clean water – the cooler labels carry that assurance – but investigators have turned up a racket of dirty water substituted for clean cooler water. Public Health Inspectors Union President [...]
Flying insect stings top 700 for 2014 first half
Nearly 750 people from across the country have sought hospital treatment within the first six months of this year after being stung by bees and wasps, while there is no record of how many stayed home and resorted to other remedies. This is why the Poisons Information Centre is strongly urging that ‘flying-insect stings’ be [...]
With all that ink China leaves behind indelible mark
Sri Lanka did not do anything in halves for visiting Chinese President Xi Jingping. After his office said he liked elephants, 40 of them were brought to Katunayake for his arrival Tuesday. The animals were dressed up and placed in a line so that Mr Xi could gaze at them while rolling by in his [...]
Lanka’s churches to hail their first saint today
The Catholic Bishops Conference, Sri Lanka has requested catholic churches to say a special prayer of thanksgiving at the end of the Holy Masses and soon after to ring the bells of the churches today to mark the canonisation of Blessed Joseph Vaz, the first Saint of Sri Lanka. Earlier this week, Pope Francis advanced [...]
In donor loans Sri Lanka trusts, in life and in debt
Genuine concerns have emerged in Sri Lanka over the national debt and China’s infrastructure undertakings by state entities that have a multitude of subsidiaries and which are bankrolled by Beijing’s state banks such as the Export-Import Bank of China. The Eximbank comes under the State Council, the apex arm of Beijing’s state power. Sri Lankans [...]
Travelling dangerously
The Sri Lanka Railway has launched a fresh campaign to crack down on commuters travelling on footboards, rooftops and between compartments, but passengers claim they are forced to travel like that due to lack of space. Railways Security Superintendent J.M.N. Senaka Jayasena told the Sunday Times that the objective was to create awareness about the [...]
Polling day anything but peaceful with over 100 complaints
Election monitoring groups reported several incidents of election law violations and violence on Polls day. The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) said 103 election related complaints were received on polls day with three serious incidents and three cases of use of firearms. Executive Director of CaFFE, Keerthi Tennakoon told the Sunday Times that the [...]
International Conference on Applied Psychology 2014 to promote Psycho-Social development in SL
The International Conference on Applied Psychology (ICAP) 2014, organised by the Colombo Institute of Research and Psychology (CIRP), will be held from October 22 to 24 at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH). The conference is a forum of enlightenment for psychologists, researchers, educators, organisational and community practitioners, policymakers, students and scholars on recent [...]
A/L Econ. answer scripts marked while HRC probes CTU complaint
The Examinations Dept is going ahead with the marking of the answer scripts of the GCE Advanced Level (A/L) Economics paper which ran into controversy over alleged erroneous questions, but will await a ruling from the Human Rights Commission (HRC). “The marking Board held discussions and the marking is currently under way. We are not [...]
18,913 students attend 620 isolated schools not considered remote or rural: Minister
A total of 18,913 students in the country presently study in 620 isolated schools which are not even considered remote or rural schools, Minister Dinesh Gunewardena, told Parliament last week, on behalf of the Education Services Minister. He said isolated schools are those located in places difficult to reach because of natural obstacles, distant from [...]
Well-equipped hostels of American standard for universities: SB
The Higher Education Ministry has decided to provide undergraduates with well-equipped hostels of American standards, Minister S.B. Dissanayake said at the foundation-stone laying of the proposed hostel building at the Institute of Indigenous Medicine at the University of Colombo in Moragasmulla, Rajagiriya, this Thursday (18). The Minister said that, even though the initial plan was [...]
University of Kelaniya felicitates its alumnus who are Senior Govt. Servants
Last Saturday, the University of Kelaniya felicitated senior government servants who had graduated from the university. Among the 75 recipients of the award of appreciation, were a number of high ranking government officials, including three priests who are Chancellors of universities, heads of Presidential committees and Secretaries of ministries. “This is a rare occasion for [...]
Schools, railway stations, campuses, places of worship breeding mosquitoes: CMC
In a recent inspection, the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) discovered that schools, railway stations, university faculties and religious institutions in the city were breeding dengue mosquitoes on a large scale. “We found mosquito-breeding sites in 12 schools in Colombo, and several international schools with mosquito larvae. Letters to the Education and Higher Education Ministries, Department [...]
