News
Home » NewsAnother election
Once again Elections Commissioner has become the man of the moment. At a news conference yesterday, he said he had new powers under the 19A and would take stern action against public officials or candidates violating election laws. Mr. Deshapriya described himself as a commissioner who has “retired but not retired”. Though he retired [...]
Bonanza for 300,000 pensioners from July
More than 300,000 public sector employees who retired before 2006 will be entitled to a pension increase, ranging from Rs. 3,000 to Rs 10,000 from next month, a senior official said. The circular announcing the increase was signed by Public Administration, Local Government and Democratic Governance Ministry Secretary J. Dadallege hours before the dissolution of Parliament, [...]
New powers under 19A: Polls chief warns public officials, candidates
As political parties begin their campaigns for the general elections on August 17, Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya warned yesterday that any public official who allowed the abuse of state resources at the elections could be jailed for up to three years or fined. Addressing a news conference at his office, the Commissioner pointed out that [...]
Helitours to Jaffna with expired licence
Helitours, the Air Force’s domestic air service, has been ferrying passengers to and from Jaffna in an aircraft with an expired Certificate of Airworthiness on the basis that the passengers are responsible for their own lives, the Sunday Times has found. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) confirmed that the annual Certificate of Airworthiness for the [...]
NRFC fraud through fake emails: Banks lose Rs. 1 b
Fake emails have led to banks holding Non-Resident Foreign Currency (NRFC) accounts suffering losses of more than one billion rupees, a Criminal Investigation Department investigation has revealed. Detectives said they had found that fake emails had been sent to banks by people claiming to be NRFC account holders requesting funds to be transferred to accounts overseas. [...]
Live wire kills 26-year-old, injures 13 while hoisting flag pole
A 26-year-old married man was killed and 13 others were hospitalised after they were electrocuted during a flag-hoisting ceremony to mark a church feast in Grandpass, Police said. The incident took place around 6.30 pm when the flag pole, made of a raw arecanut tree, was being raised, came in contact with a high voltage live [...]
Arrogant Kosgoda developer humbled
A developer who rode roughshod over villagers’ rights by blatantly extending a building site over a long-used roadway, filling in part of a water source and causing flooding by blocking a culvert will face stringent action. The Coast Conservation Department is to issue an order to demolish the construction of a guesthouse on Kosgoda beach, the [...]
Cinnamon Grand says butter; medical experts say toxic fumes likely cause
Fresh questions are emerging about the incident at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel where several people fell ill during a reception to celebrate the Queen’s birthday, with medical sources pointing at the possibility of pest control fumigation gases being the cause. While the hotel in a June 22 statement says that butter served at the function [...]
Mystery corpse at Rajagiriya identified
The mystery behind a corpse discovered in Silva Lane in Rajagiriya has been solved. Investigations carried out by the Department of Forensic Medicine of the Colombo University have revealed that the skeletal remains were that of 55-year-old B. Sugath Kuru, who was residing in the house in which the corpse was discovered, the Welikada police [...]
Govt. inaction to blame for flu deaths, unions charge
With the influenza death toll rising by the day the health sector is blaming the government for doing little to combat the spread of the virus while authorities have other explanations for the figures. Last week the Epidemiology Unit (EU) recorded another eight deaths among patients, including a child, inflicted with the AH1N1 virus. This brings [...]
Maggi noodles promotions stopped but no impact on sales
Despite a major controversy over instant noodles in neighbouring India with an impact on consumption patterns, sales of this fast food in Colombo have been unaffected. Some supermarkets in Colombo confirmed that sales were unaffected, as health authorities this week declared as safe for human consumption, the samples of noodles tested for lead, a heavy metal. [...]
Now in Lanka: Heart Panel the heart disease detector
It is the wonder organ around the size of a fist that keeps us alive and even though sometimes we feel it thudding, its functioning is mostly taken for granted. The ‘amazing’ heart beats about 75 times a minute and moves around 5.5 litres of blood at a given moment around the body. This ultra-efficient ‘pump’, [...]
Round and round with roach legs in lamprais
What are the rights of consumers and who ensures that they are protected and safeguarded? This is what people are asking in the light of a spate of unclean and unsafe food being dished out to consumers not only from small eating houses and star-class hotels but also so-called trusted food manufacturers. It was a [...]
A simple helmet can save your life
The number of motorcyclists involved in road accident in recent months has been high. According to the Traffic Police one of the main reasons for this state of affairs has been the failure of motorcyclists to follow repeated warnings concerning road safety measures Over the past week ‘The Sunday Times’ captured several pictures of people riding [...]
Pavement vendors have their way while pedestrians, shopkeepers have no say
Road users, mainly pedestrians in the city centre such as Pettah and Fort, will now be forced to share the pavements with hundreds of hawkers who were this week permitted to return to the area after they were evicted some two years ago. Colombo Mayor M. Muzammil gave the green light to these traders for [...]
School kids sucked into addiction through laced ‘soft drinks’
A drink being sold outside schools to students contains a heavy dose of a chemical aimed at drawing the children into hard drugs, and health inspectors have been ordered to seize all stocks and charge the vendors. Reports are coming in from around the country of schoolchildren being lured into the drug habit through drinks and [...]
Sri Lanka can partner in India’s sustainable development: Dr Kalam
Sri Lanka can be a partner in India’s sustainable development which can be spread to Sri Lanka through the model of Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA), said former President of India, Dr Abdul Kalam. He was addressing the inauguration of the International Symposium on Energy Challenges in the Knowledge Economy (ISECKE) held at Hilton, [...]
UNHCR, Govt working out plan to deal with IDP, refugee issues
The Ministry of Resettlement in collaboration with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) is developing a comprehensive strategic plan to manage resettlement and reintegration of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and refugees, said the UNHCR Country Representative, Golam Abbas. The policy would also be useful in managing IDPs and affected persons during disaster situations [...]
Comedy of errors: Govt. muddles its own figures
The Finance Ministry has taken umbrage at last week’s Sunday Times story headlined “Borrowing for four months nears the whole year limit” which reported that the Government had exhausted 96 percent (Rs.1.71 trillion) of its total borrowing limit for 2015 of Rs.1.78 trillion, in the first four months of the year (January to April 2015). [...]
Tony Blair, family due in Sri Lanka
Britain’s former prime minister Tony Blair is due on a two-week visit to Colombo. The Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry has dubbed it “a private holiday.” Mr. Blair and his family including wife Cherie Booth QC are expected to arrive in August but the precise date is yet to be confirmed. On June 17, I inquired from [...]
Iftar at Temple Trees
President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will jointly host an Iftar programme tomorrow at Temple Trees. This will be the first Iftar programme hosted by President Sirisena. The Temple Tree Iftar programme was first hosted by Mr. Wickremesinghe when he was Prime Minister during 2001-2004. Later, President Mahinda Rajapaksa continued the practice.
GCE A/L in 2 segments to accommodate polls
The GCE Advanced Level (A/L) exam will be held in two segments to accommodate the General Election scheduled for August 17, said Education Minister Akila Viraj Kariyawasam yesterday. Following this decision, the A/L exam will commence on August 4 as scheduled and go on till August 13, when it breaks to accommodate the General Elections. The [...]
Why Mattala could not take off: Here’s the plane truth
Since it opened two years ago, much was done to make Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport viable. Little or nothing has worked. Incentives have included rock-bottom handling, landing and parking charges. Businesses were offered exemptions on customs duty, exchange control and import-export regulations to set up shop in surrounding areas. Even liquor was cheaper at the duty [...]
Mayday call told of an aircraft in trouble
Dr Kevin Appleton from Australia, heading for a medical conference in Manchester in England, was among 501 passengers and crew on the Emirates EK412 flight that made an emergency landing at Bandaranaike International Airport on Friday. Nine hours into the flight from Sydney to Dubai, Dr. Appleton suddenly drew attention to an unusual sound in the [...]
Bigger than the bond scandal!
Golden Key Depositors – Is the proposed bail-out by the Government and the Central Bank justified? What is this Government’s extraordinary interest in the biggest financial scam in the history of this country? Can the use of Treasury funds to the tune of Rs.8.2 billion for an unauthorised, unlicensed, illegal deposit taking company be warranted [...]
No one to cough up cash, TB programme suffers
The National Programme for Tuberculosis Control and Chest Diseases (NPTCCD) will have to close some of its microscopy centres or scale down tests as funding dries out. The programme depends on aid from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a public–private partnership that has its secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, to pay salaries of [...]
Ward-based electoral system for local authorities recommended
The final report of the National Delimitation Committee on local government councils has recommended an increase in the number of elected members to the councils by 595. According to the final report the number of members to be elected under a ward-based system will increase to 5,081. An increased of 595 members. Under the new system, [...]