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Bird strikes skyrocket at BIA

The number of bird strikes at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) increased by 88 per cent last year to one bird strike per 1,667 flights —something the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (CAASL) said requires immediate attention. “There were 49 bird strikes with aircraft reported either within Sri Lanka airspace or overseas in respect [...]

Rumble in African jungle, what about our elephants?

With the Yala wildlife area still boiling in the drought, the once proud and majestic elephants are being reduced to skeletal animals desperately searching for water and food. President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday told a New York meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative that Sri Lanka would support the organisation’s Elephant Action Network that works [...]

CEB, CPC at odds over higher rainfall, less fuel imports

Higher rainfall received last year drastically reduced the quantity of fuel oil required for power generation, resulting in a considerable decrease in fuel imports, says the 2013 Annual Performance Report of the Ministry of Petroleum Industries. This drop in fuel imports yielded “high economic benefits” to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC), it reveals. Despite this [...]

Rajapaksa meets Modi in NY, says13 A not discussed

President Mahinda Rajapaksa held talks with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New York yesterday with the two leaders discussing key issues, including bilateral and regional, media reports said. This was the second meeting between the two leaders after Mr. Modi was sworn-in as India’ Prime Minister in May this year. “The meeting was cordial [...]

A busy schedule for president in New York

President Mahinda Rajapaksa met a number of foreign leaders including Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani and Plalestinian President Mohamoud Abbas, on the sidelines of the 69th United Nations General Assembly in New York City. President Rajapaksa officially handed over Sri Lanka’s donation of US$ 1 million as [...]

Ven. Wirathu at BBS Sangha Council today

Ven. Ashin Wirathu from Myanmar will participate in the Bodu Bala Sena’s Maha Sangha Council meeting at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium at 1.00 p.m. today. The monk who arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday (26) night is to remain in the country for four days. This is first time the monk has visited a foreign [...]

Chinese craft break fishing rules; Lanka faces EU ban

Sri Lanka has been given a further three-month extension to fulfil obligations imposed by the European Union to prevent Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing practices or face a ban on fish exports to EU countries, officials said yesterday. The move comes in the wake of reports that Chinese craft among the vessels operating under the [...]

Jayalalithaa jailed, stripped of chief minister’s post

Court finds her guilty of massive corruption; 28 kilos of gold, 750 pairs of shoes, more than 10,000 saris and scores of illegal companies A Special Court in Bangalore yesterday convicted and sentenced Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa to four years in prison and a fine of about one billion rupees, in the disproportionate [...]

EAM officials axed over anti-Vass email

A Sri Lankan diplomat posted to the SAARC Secretariat and the Director General of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of External Affairs have been relieved of their responsibilities. The move follows instructions sent to the ministry from New York by Sajin de Vass Gunawardena, Monitoring MP for the External Affairs Ministry. He is accompanying President Mahinda [...]

25% electricity tariff reduction not for big consumers

The Government has decided to limit the promised 25 per cent reduction on electricity bills only to those who use less than 300 units a month, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Chairman W.B. Ganegala said yesterday. He said the decision to limit the rebate to those using less than 300 units was taken to provide [...]

Ex-police sergeant dies after hitting his head on rock while diving

A retired police sergeant died after striking his head on a rock while diving in the sea at Negombo, a coroner’s court was told. The deceased, Sgt Balasooriya Jayatissa, 62, a resident of Galewatte, Ekala, was a former Crimes Unit officer of the Ekala Police. Giving evidence at the inquest held at the Colombo National Hospital, a [...]

President to meet the Pope next week

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will visit the Vatican next week for an audience with Pope Francis, his office said. The President is expected to return today after attending the UN General Assembly sessions in New York. He will then travel to the Vatican and call on Pope Francis to discuss his visit to Sri Lanka in January. [...]

Uva has spoken: Who and what tipped the scales?

The Uva Provincial Council elections are now over, but the aftershocks still remain in some areas. Residents in several areas are still recovering from the cut-throat polls campaign and the post election violence that took place during the last few weeks. The atmosphere in the Hali Ela area in Badulla was thick with tension following [...]

Was judge denied promotion due to adverse order given in CJ 43 case, asks BASL chief

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) President yesterday asked why a senior Court of Appeal judge had been consistently overlooked for promotion — and whether it was because he was part of the Bench that gave an order adverse to the Parliamentary Select Committee that recommended the impeachment of Chief Justice 43 Shirani Bandaranayake. [...]

Rs 1,340 billion debt ceiling for Appropriation Bill 2015

The Ministry of Local Governmental and Provincial Councils has been allocated an additional Rs 100 billion for 2015, compared with the allocations for 2014, according to the estimates in the Appropriation Bill for 2015 presented to Parliament on Friday. For next year, the Ministry will get over Rs 234.7 billion, of which, more than Rs [...]

UPC post-polls violence targets area journalists

At least three area journalists were targeted for attack inside 48 hours at the start of this week, in separate incidents that took place in the post- polls Uva Province and in Kilinochchi in the north, prompting media rights groups to urge the Government to provide more protection for media personnel. In Badulla, the private [...]

A national survey of beggars is being planned as mendicants remain on the streets despite receiving government financial assistance and help through welfare centres. The city’s beggars disappear when international conferences are hosted in Colombo or on the arrival of heads of state or VVIPs but afterwards the familiar figures reappear, hands outstretched at traffic [...]

Stream flowing with milk: No miracle, but curse

We have heard of water being turned into wine and the Holy Land described as a land flowing with milk and honey. But there are no such miracles when Hatton Oya’s water turns into milk. Instead it is a curse for residents downstream. They allege that milk that failed quality tests at collecting centres is [...]

Despite a recent Court order prohibiting the slaughter of animals for religious purposes, certain temple authorities are circumventing the law to continue the practice The recent festival at the Sri Badrakali Amman Kovil in Uduppuwa was one such example. It is reported that goats were slaughtered and sacrificed to the Gods and the meat cooked [...]

SriLankan requalifying for ‘Usually Late’ tag

More than a quarter of SriLankan Airlines flights were delayed in August amidst reports that the national carrier is slipping up on its punctuality. A majority of delays are listed in official reports as being beyond the control of the company. But industry sources were doubtful, saying that some of the problems cited by the [...]

No way, say industry groups to passing on fuel cuts benefits

Consumers will be denied the benefit of the government’s decision to reduce fuel prices as industry groups ranging from bus owners to bakers lined up to declare that deeper cuts were needed to lower their charges. Lanka Private Bus Owners’ Association (LPBOA) President Gemunu Wijeratne said the association would not reduce bus fares despite the [...]

Amidst bad weather the 15th SriLankan Airlines Golf Classic Championship continued on its third round at the Victoria Golf and Country Resort in Digana, Kandy yesterday. The proceedings of the third day was severely hampered by heavy downpours which occurred soon after lunch but the weather conditions had already affected the championship’s smooth run, forcing [...]

Every individual has right to defence counsel: BASL President

Sixteen suspects including the father of the four-year-old boy, Dinidu Yashen, who was abducted in July, were remanded till September 30 on Friday after they were produced in courts on charges of attacking and damaging vehicles of lawyers representing the suspect kidnappers. The suspects were produced before the Galgamuwa Magistrate Ruwan Dammika Dissanayake after a [...]

The situation at the Yala sanctuary, a world famous tourist destination where around 15,000 visitors arrive daily, has gone from bad to worse in unrelenting drought conditions. The 97,000-hectare reserve which is home to some 250 elephants, 40 calves, spotted deer, sambhur, jackals, leopards and other fauna endemic to the country, is under threat of [...]

Outrage prods broadening of Moneragala handout

Amid growing complaints from other districts over the distribution of Rs. 2,500 for families in Moneragala district during campaigning for the Uva provincial elections the government has earmarked Rs. 20 million in drought relief to people in eight districts. The severe hardship being suffered in some areas will continue until the end of the year, [...]

Simple precautions can keep dengue at bay: Expert

Get busy and make your own vaccine, urged Prof. Scott B. Halstead, considered the ‘Father’ nay ‘Grandfather’ of dengue research, giving an insight into the race for a vaccine in other parts of the world. Tackling the complex subject of ‘Dengue vaccines: Where are we now’ before members of the Ceylon College of Physicians at [...]

Saddened by Lankan “underappreciation” of Indian aid: High Commissioner Sinha

Indian High Commissioner Y.K.Sinha said this week that his country was saddened by the fact that Sri Lanka has “underappreciated” the Indian Government’s economic assistance to this country. High Commissioner Sinha, who was the chief guest at a symposium to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Anagarika Dharmapala at the Colombo University on Wednesday said [...]

Dharmapala’s mission was to re-establish Buddhism in its birthplace: Prof. Dissanayake

The symposium to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Anagarika Dharmapala, ‘Anagarika Dharmapala and India-Sri Lanka Relations’ was held at the Senate Hall of the University of Colombo on Wednesday(24). Indian High Commissioner Y.K.Sinha was the chief guest at the symposium organised by the Centre for Contemporary Indian Studies (CCIS) of the University. Addressing the [...]

One killed, 5 injured by lightning; public warned

One person was killed and five others, including four primary students were injured after being struck by lightning since the start of this week even as the authorities repeatedly cautioned the general public to take extra precautions against such activity in order to minimise damage to life and property. On Thursday a 61-year-old woman was [...]

SC refuses (to grant) leave to proceed in Greece Bonds Case against Central Bank

The Supreme Court has dismissed a fundamental rights application filed by UNP Parliamentarian Sujeewa Senasinghe against the Monetary Board complaining that the Central Bank, in purchasing Greece Government Bonds, had acted in an unlawful, irresponsible and an arbitrary manner. In a judgment issued on September 18, the Court held that the investment in Greece Bonds [...]

Budget allocation comparison 2014-2015

Frightened and starving jungle giants turn on their predator

Irangani Siriyalatha, 54, a mother of three, was among hundreds who gathered in the village of Polpithigama in Kurunegala to watch the rescue of a wild elephant that had fallen into an irrigation tank. She little knew that she would fall victim to the same elephant half an hour later. Villagers had gathered at the [...]

Soaring paddy prices and shortages have pushed many of the small and medium size rice mill owners to take up alternative businesses like pepper cultivation. The continuing drought condition in paddy- growing districts has aggravated the situation. Here pepper is being dried in the premises of what was once a mill. Pic by Karunaratne Gamage

Govt. rejects Cuba’s offer of hi-tech organic agriculture

The Cuban government has offered to transfer modern technology for organic or natural agriculture in Sri Lanka but the Government is not keen to accept it, apparently because of the influence of powerful transnational agrochemical companies, the Government Medical Officers Association has charged. Dr. Chinthaka Wijewardene, a member of the GMOA’s subcommittee on national health [...]

Why don’t women MPs make their presence felt in the House?

A previous Manthri.lk analysis revealed that women MPs face a double problem in Parliament. The first is that women constitute a very small percentage within Parliament (5.8%). The second is that their total contribution in Parliament, at 2.6%, is much less than their weight. Is this because women limit themselves to just a few topics, [...]

Upgrading WP pilot schools under National school supervision

The Education Ministry has introduced a new concept to upgrade schools in the Western Province (WP), Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena told Education Times. Accordingly, RoyalCollege, Ananda College, Nalanda College, Visakha Vidyalaya, Sirimavo Bandaranaike Vidyalaya, Hindu College, Bambalapitiya, and Muslim Ladies College will be appointed as supervisory schools of seven WP schools to upgrade them as [...]

UNICEF promotes Children’s Rights on CRC’s 25th anniversary

As part of a campaign launched to commemorate the 25th anniversary of ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UNICEF Sri Lanka, together with its partners, have organised a children’s hackathon and a photo exhibition to enable school children become stakeholders in promoting child rights in Sri Lanka. At a recent press [...]

Harsha highlights hardships in UP schools

Several schools in the Uva Province face hardships due to lack of facilities, alleged UNP Parliamentarian Dr Harsha De Silva. Dr De Silva said, “Our reports indicate that approximately 29% of schools in the Halgamulla area in Badulla, function with only one or two teachers. Further, 25% of the schools in Lunugalla, Badulla, are also [...]

Training for State, private bus drivers, conductors transporting school children

Private and State bus drivers and conductors involved in transporting schoolchildren, are to be trained on its finer points, National Transport Commission Chairman, Renuka Perera told Education Times. He said that the first of the training programmes was schedule to commence yesterday for drivers and conductors from the Western, Southern and Sabaragamuwa Provinces, with the [...]

Students, parents protest against road across school playground

Students of Elwala Vidyalaya, Matale and their parents this week protested the use of their playground for a roadway. They claimed that the land for the playground was donated by a philanthropist, but recently, a relative of his had started cutting a road, which would deprive the children of this school of a playground. Matale [...]

Cabinet approves funds for uplift of State Universities

Cabinet this week approved several proposals by Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayaka to improve facilities in higher education institutions in the country. These include a proposal to procure new Medical equipment for the Medical Faculties of Rajarata and Eastern Universities and the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences of Peradeniya University. These faculties were newly established [...]

10,000 hike in University admissions for 2015: SB

Though 25,000 students were admitted to State universities this year, plans are afoot to enroll 35,000 students next year, said Higher Education Minister S.B. Dissanayake. Addressing a leadership training camp for university entrants in Diyatalawa, the Minister said that more Faculty buildings and hostels are being set up to cater to this increased intake in [...]

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