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Home » NewsNight traffic in the Megapolis
With the slashing of fuel prices in January, vehicle imports having doubled during the past seven months and more fatal accidents almost every day, Colombo and its suburbs are seeing some of the worst traffic congestions. Friday’s picture of the jam at the Rajagiriya junction is just one of a host of such traffic [...]
The scandal of the missing millions
Sri Lanka has paid out massive amounts to American lobbyists, legal and public relations companies between 2008 and 2014. The figures disclosed below are based only on records the Sunday Times was able to trace after extensive research. Numerous other payments were made without public oversight, on the instructions of a privileged clique that held [...]
UNHRC report: No names but strong indictments
The biggest international challenge for Sri Lanka will unfold in the coming week as the UN Human Rights Council receives the findings of the probe into alleged war crimes by troops and Tiger guerrillas. A copy of the report, which has already been provided to the Government of Sri Lanka, is being kept a close [...]
CEPA talks during Ranil-Modi summit
The proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Sri Lanka and India — stalled over the years due to protests from Sri Lankan industrialists — is likely to figure in the talks between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe during his three-day official visit to India from tomorrow, officials said. Deputy [...]
Megapolis Authority to be set up
A Megapolis Authority is to be set up under the purview of the newly established Ministry of Megapolis and Western Province Development. Megapolis and Western Province Development Minister Champika Ranawaka told the Sunday Times that the draft to setup the Authority was being prepared and would be submitted to Parliament soon. In the Western Province the Authority [...]
Formula coming, oil price reduction soon: Minister
A new pricing formula taking into consideration the international fuel price reduction is to be submitted to the President soon, Petroleum Minister Chandima Weerakkody said. He said the formula would be discussed with the Finance Ministry before implementation. “The Government will take a decision regarding the reduction of fuel prices with the implementation of a new [...]
Ministry subjects and functions to be worked out within a week
The allocations of subjects and functions to ministers and state ministers will be finalised within a week, a President’s Office source said. Even though 43 Cabinet ministers and 19 state ministers have been appointed, the areas which will come under their purview have not yet been finalised due to last minute hitches in the allocation of [...]
Ministry secretaries: No change in extension policy
The practice of allowing ministry secretaries to continue over the retirement age of 60, on a recommendation of the President, will remain unchanged, officials said. The Sunday Times learns that Foreign Secretary Chithranganee Wagiswara is among those who have been given an opportunity to continue after reaching the retirement age. She turns 60 next week. An [...]
Fences don’t work for elephants, say villagers but minister wants more in short term
None of the three solutions in practice for minimising human-elephant conflict are working, say vulnerable villagers, and the new Minister for Wildlife, Gamini Jayawickrema Perera, has asked for a report from officials of the 11 zones affected by the problem. A committee consisting of government agents, assistant government agents and Grama Sevaka Niladharis have been [...]
Excessive speed, recklessness, disregard for road rules claim 60 lives this month
At least 60 persons have died and some 100 others have been injured, several critically, in motor accidents islandwide, from the start of this month, a senior police official said yesterday. Of them, at least a dozen were killed and some 50 or more injured this week alone, Senior Police Superintendent (SSP) Priysantha Jayakody told the [...]
Truck crashes into van killing three-year-old
A three-year-old boy died in an accident on Wednesday (9) when the vehicle he was traveling in collided with a container truck, a coroner’s court heard. The deceased, the only child of a medical officer from Matale, was travelling from Kataragama with his family when the accident took place in the Kuruwita area in Ratnapura. The [...]
Electrocuted construction worker falls to his death
An unsafe work environment at a construction site in Colombo cost the life of a construction worker on Tuesday (8). The deceased, 29-year-old Chaminda Lakmal from Obeysekerapura in Rajagiriya was killed when he fell from the second floor of the construction site after he was electrocuted. It was found that two unprotected wires of the [...]
The saltie that terrorised Rawatawatte
A resident of Dharmaratne Avenue in Rawatawatte, Moratuwa, was returning home after his night shift around 2 a.m. when his van’s headlights picked out something that looked like a slowly moving log. Disturbed by the sound of the vehicle the “log” came to life, lunging to the side of the road and entering a neighbour’s [...]
Deportees from Kuwait and Saudi on the rise
Nearly a thousand Sri Lankan expatriate workers, mainly women, have been deported from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and the numbers are likely to increase, officials said. The single largest batch of 136 arrived on Friday, officials with the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) stationed at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) told the Sunday Times. [...]
Woman killed in revenge attack, 7 injured in gang war
A woman was shot dead and seven others injured in separate incidents of gang war in Colombo yesterday, police said. They said a lone rider on a motorcycle shot dead a 42-year-old woman in broad daylight outside her home in the busy Jampettah, Kotahena, area around 2.30 p.m. before escaping. Initial investigations revealed that the [...]
Freshers, former Ministers, senior members made State/Deputy Ministers
Four first-time entrants to Parliament were elevated to Deputy Ministers this week, while several senior members who served as ministers under the previous regime were downgraded to State and Deputy ministers, as President Maithripala Sirisena made more appointments to the national unity government of the UNFGG and the SLFP. The first-time MPs appointed Deputy ministers [...]
Don’t recognise SAITM degree – SLMC
The Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) has urged the Health Ministry not to recognise medical degrees awarded by the South Asian Institute of Technology & Medicine (SAITM), facing accusations of a faulty approval process, saying the private medical faculty has insufficient clinical facilities. The council in a September 4, 2015 letter to Health Minister Dr. [...]
The Hague sentences five Tigers for fundraising
An international human rights campaigner who had defied intimidation to canvass against LTTE child recruitment in Sri Lanka said this week that she felt gratified her work had helped to convict five Tamil Tiger operatives in Europe. The Court of Appeal in The Hague has sentenced the five men for their membership in, and fundraising activities [...]
Ragging makes mockery of free education
It has been more than a week since Sajith was discharged from hospital after being severely beaten up by fellow students from his intake and senior batches but he still dreads the thought of returning to campus. The attack by at least 150 Student Union members of the Institute of Indigenous Medicine (IIM) at Colombo [...]
A Royal toast
On September 9, Queen Elizabeth II became the longest-reigning sovereign in history. To celebrate this momentous event, British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, James Dauris hosted a reception at his residence in Colombo – ‘Westminster House’. Here President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera are seen with [...]
Rat killers, kerosene lead this year in household poisons
Rat-killers and kerosene topped the list for ‘household poisoning’ so far this year, ousting mosquito coils and sprays and toilet cleaners from last year. Strong calls for the prevention of household poisoning were issued by the National Poisons Information Centre as the National Poison Prevention Week begins tomorrow. The top five causing household poisoning this year [...]
Civil Society members of CC up for Parliamentary approval on Sept.22
The names of the three civil society members nominated to the Constitutional Council (CC) will be placed before Parliament for approval when it meets on September 22. The three nominees Dr A.T. Ariyaratne, founder of the Sarvodaya Movement, Dr Radhika Coomaraswamy, a former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Special Representative for Children in Armed [...]
Varsity leadership training exercise cancelled: Kiriella
The University Leadership Training Programme (ULTP) conducted by military personnel for entrants to universities will be cancelled from this year, University Education Minister Lakshman Kiriella said yesterday. Addressing a news conference Mr. Kiriella said that the Programme that was made mandatory for students who gained admission to State-run universities will be discontinued and the universities [...]
Italian police shut down unauthorised Lankan school in Naples
Italian authorities yesterday shut down a school illegally run in Naples and attended by 60 children, aged between five and 11, of Sri Lankan origin, whose immigrant parents paid a fee of about 50 euros a month. The school, “St. Francesco’s College”, was discovered by officers of the Child Protection unit of the Naples Police, [...]
Lanka plays prominent role with war on tobacco high on agenda
Sri Lanka played a prominent role when high-level health policy-makers of the South-East Asian Region (SEAR) met over five days of intensive consultations in Timor-Leste this week. The major outcomes of the deliberations spearheaded by the World Health Organisation (WHO) are the adoption of six resolutions on priority areas and the Dili Declaration pledging [...]
Half-boiled solution, say paddy farmers as PMB ups buying limit
As farmer protests grow countrywide, the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) has said it has upped its paddy-purchasing limit, but farmers say that it may still not be sufficient to solve the current crisis over the bumper Yala harvest. Long queues are still seen at the PMB purchasing centres around the country. PMB Chairman M.B Dissanayake [...]
Killing the Kelani River
The Kelani River has silently endured contamination, soil erosion and illegal sandmining over the past years, turning from a clear, sparkling river into a heavily-browned and polluted body of water. Now, attention is being focused on the ruination of the Kelani and its status as the source of drinking water to a greater part of [...]
Murder of a mermaid
Police are investigating the tragic killing of a dugong, the rare creature possibly believed to be a “mermaid” in olden times, in Mannar after the Navy came across a group of fishermen chopping up the mammal’s flesh on South Bar beach. A local resident, Mohammed Haleem, said the Navy handed over the culprits to police [...]
On the road to extinction
The plight of the Sri Lankan leopard was highlighted after an animal was knocked and killed at the Yala National Park by a vehicle. Only 800 of this species survive in the wild country-wide today and the tragedy helped draw the attention of the authorities to the endangered species. In the wake of the animal’s [...]
Dengue loses its sting; for the moment
The battle against dengue scored a major victory this week with the reported cases being the lowest in the corresponding period for the past five years, Epidemiology Unit statistics have shown. The first week of September this year recorded 271 cases, while last year the same period showed 574 cases. In 2013 for the same [...]
Kandy to go underground to avoid traffic congestion: Minister Kiriella
Underground tunnels will be built in Kandy to avoid traffic congestion, especially opposite the Dalada Maligawa, said newly appointed University Education and Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella. During his visit to Kandy yesterday, after taking oaths to his current position, the minister pledged at the Malwathu Maha Viharaya that he will develop all roads in the Central [...]
The KP mystery: Still no concrete evidence, but not exonerated
His status has become controversial once again. He is Shanmugam Kumaran Tharmalingam alias Kumaran Padmanathan (KP), a former top LTTE leader and chief weapons procurer for the terrorist organisation. He is still wanted in India in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and listed by the Interpol as a wanted person. [...]
AG says he won’t go for show trials
Attorney General Yuvanjan Wijeyatilake, refuting recent criticism of him and his department in relation to major allegations, has pledged he will not give into pressure to go in for show trials without substantial evidence. In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Times, the Attorney General said: Q: You have sent a fresh directive to the [...]