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Muslims meeting and greeting each other after Eid festival prayers at the Galle Face Green yesterday to mark the end of the Ramadan fast. Pic by Amila Gamage
Polls campaign: Code of conduct to be gazetted
Candidates contesting the upcoming parliamentary elections will be required to refrain from inviting voters or public officials as groups to their residence to entertain them and not make false allegations about rival parties and their activities according to a code of conduct to be gazetted next week. Additional Elections Commissioner R.M.A.L. Ratnayake told the Sunday [...]
Cannabis in CM’s police vehicle Mahipala Herath claims the jeep was stolen
A surprise Excise raid on an official vehicle of Sabaragamuwa Chief Minister Mahipala Herath at Polgahawela yesterday revealed that it was transporting cannabis or Kerala Ganja. But the Chief Minister told the Kegalle Police three hours later that the jeep was stolen, Police and Excise officials said. The vehicle belonging to the inner security detail [...]
Police use video evidence to prosecute election law offenders
Police are to file 37 cases, some of them backed by video evidence, against those who allegedly violated election laws after handing over nominations, a senior police officer said.Deputy Inspector General Roshan Dias said the cases would include charges of conducting processions soon after the nominations, pasting posters, putting up cutouts and election-related violence. This [...]
New York property: CBSL violating monetary laws
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has been violating the Monetary Law Act by renting out a property in New York to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a monthly payment of US$ 68,000 or Rs. 9 million since 2012. The Monetary Board granted approval on January 10, 2011, for the CBSL to buy [...]
Pumped-up field of heavyweights and tyros Notable contests by district
The stage is set for a hotly contested election next month with some 500 parties and groups vying for 196 seats through an interesting mix of seasoned politicians and novices.In the Colombo District, which will return 19 MPs, the competition is stiff, with political heavyweights from all sides listed on the ballot paper. Those contesting [...]
National List of main political parties a hotchpotch of sorts
The National List nominees of the main political parties contesting the August 17 poll include former Parliamentarians, academics as well as members of the clergy. The UPFA National List includes several former legislators including A.H.M. Fowzie, G.L. Peiris, Tissa Attanayake Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Dilan Perera, Reginold Cooray, Jeewan Kumaratunga, Tiran Alles, Faizer Mustapha, J. Sri Ranga, [...]
Cleanskins hope to take a new broom through parliamentBy Aanya Wipulasena
It is time to restructure the governing system and make it fair for everyone rather than a few, said civil rights activist Navin Gooneratne who is contesting the election from Colombo as part of the Campaign for Clean and Competent Candidates (CCCC), whose candidates were drawn directly from public choice. Mr. Gooneratne, who is convener [...]
Social media gives savvy candidates an edge
Social media-savvy candidates are off to a running start in the election, overcoming the handicap imposed by strict observance of restrictions on posters and cutouts, and “digital agents” are making good money from candidates. Technically, campaigning for the August 17 parliamentary elections started at noon on Monday(13 August) but the younger politicians, well-versed with the [...]
Deputy CMO reinstated; withdraws case against Colombo Mayor, officials
The Court of Appeal (CoA) ordered to restore Colombo’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Anna Kariyawasam to her former status, after she agreed to withdraw her case against the Mayor and senior officials of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC). The CoA also granted permission for Dr. Kariyawasam to continue her work under the provisions [...]
It’s a feel-good election for the moment Police prepare to tackle posters
Election observers are happy about a fairly orderly start to the election campaign and urged all stakeholders, including the general public, to help maintain this atmosphere. Unlike in previous elections, posters and cutouts are not tolerated with the police taking these down as fast as they are being put up, in keeping with strict guidelines. [...]
Rajapaksa’s sky jack of Sri Lankan flights : Rs 785M for three years
Former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, spent more than Rs. 785 million within three years to charter SriLankan Airlines aircraft for his visits abroad, documents obtained by the Sunday Times show. The airbuses would often remain idle in various airports until Mr Rajapaksa finished his tours. SriLankan has billed his office a total of Rs 785,079,185 for [...]
Yahapalanaya’s political diplomats
After taking over as Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera pledged that seventy percent of Sri Lanka’s missions abroad will be headed by career diplomats. Six months later, he has fallen well short of that target. Some stations that have long been manned by senior Foreign Service officers — such as Beijing and Vienna — are now to [...]
Mahipala Herath claims the jeep was stolen
A surprise Excise raid on an official vehicle of Sabaragamuwa Chief Minister Mahipala Herath at Polgahawela yesterday revealed that it was transporting cannabis or Kerala Ganja. But the Chief Minister told the Kegalle Police three hours later that the jeep was stolen, Police and Excise officials said. The vehicle belonging to the inner security detail [...]
Press Complaints Commission received 291 complaints in 2014
The Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka (PCCSL) received 291 complaints last year, hosted an International Conference on ‘Self Regulation and Ethical Reporting’ and reviewed the Editors’ Code of Professional Practice with inputs from the public, journalists, editors, publishers and academics, PCCSL Chief Executive Officer said in his annual report for 2014. The report was [...]
Labourer (52) at construction site electrocuted to death
A 52-year-old man died of electrocution due to an electric leak from a water removing machine, while working at a construction site in Narahenpita this week, a Coroner’s court heard. The deceased, W.A. Abeyratne Banda from Anuradhapura, was attempting to remove water from a hole at the construction site when the incident took place. According [...]
Estate workers back to work as salary negotiations fail
With salary negotiations ending in a deadlock estate workers have had no option but to return to work following the ‘go slow’ action launched by trade unions. Meanwhile regional plantation companies have incurred a loss of over Rs. 850 million in production alone, the Sunday Times learns. The Planter’s Association says the full impact of [...]
Onerous task while weighed by a paperwork load
It is while the Sunday Times is on the premises that Negombo Hospital’s Medical Superintendent Dr. Champa Aluthweera does her “rounds” not of wards but of the construction site. This is amidst her heavy administrative workload exacerbated by the stringent pile of paperwork that has come about due to evacuations, equipment movement and also new [...]
An engineering marvel rising up to house the heart of Negombo Hospital
A bare area a month ago and now frenetic construction activity with two steel-framed buildings seemingly rising from scratch within the Negombo General Hospital premises. Being described as an ‘engineering marvel’, these two of four buildings are due to be opened on Thursday (July 23) by President Maithripala Sirisena after which the very heart of the [...]
Saudi urges more control on pregnant Lankan maids coming for employment
The Saudi authorities have urged the Sri Lanka Government to stop sending pregnant women as domestics to the Kingdom since it had created a social issue while at the same time the local sponsors are forced to bear heavy financial losses as a resullt. The matter was raised in a face-off meeting between the Saudi [...]
We are eating and drinking poison daily: Experts
A leading agriculturist and environment specialist has warned that mother earth is facing its worst ever catastrophe unless immediate steps are taken by governments religions, other groups and individuals to cure the epidemic of pollution. Ranjith Seveviratne who worked for more than two decades as a specialist in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation [...]
On the verge of extinction
Today, we have reached a critical stage where man and elephant can no longer share the land. Once respected and admired as a ‘noble’ animal, the pachyderm is now considered a nuisance by the men living closest to him. But it is man himself who robbed the elephant of its territory, and man himself who [...]
Residents hope for miracle from candidates who talk ‘rubbish’
The accumulating heaps of garbage in Meethotamulla, a major dumping site for the Western Province, has reached a point where people in the vicinity struggle to live a normal life while officials point fingers at each another, more than a decade after the crisis was predicted. Colombo City has being struggling to dispose of its [...]
World Brain Day focuses on seizures
It is to jog the collective memory of Sri Lankans on the importance of that wonder organ, the brain, that many an activity will be undertaken to celebrate the day dedicated to it across the world. World Brain Day with its focus on ‘Epilepsy…..is more than Seizures’ declared by the World Federation of Neurology on Wednesday [...]
The leaders have spoken and the battle lines have been drawn
UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe: “On January 8, as we requested, the people elected Maithripala Sirisena as President. We defeated the Rajapaksa regime. That was a revolution. Even though we were a minority in parliament we still managed to grant the people’s wishes. We brought freedom to the country, stopped theft, and created unity between the [...]
Some suggestions to the President
Since January 8, Maithripala Sirisena has been the President of Sri Lanka and he will continue for five years. First of all, let all blessings be upon him for him to serve all Sri Lankans equally. Before all else the people must be in good health. Hand in hand with the development of medical facilities, a [...]