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Home » NewsPresident’s car also stuck in the mud
With heavy rain and mudslides in various parts of the country, even President Maithripala Sirisena was not spared. He was the chief guest at a ceremony at the Police Training College in Kalutara on Friday evening. When he arrived, his official car got stuck in the mud. The President was escorted away by his security [...]
Urgent bid to save tea industry
The Ministry of Plantation Industries is to ask the Government to infuse Rs. 800 million to provide a guaranteed price to tea producers until global prices stabilise. This is to prevent a collapse of the tea industry due to low prices. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will chair a criss meeting in this regard on Tuesday. “Our [...]
Maldives in political maelstrom; Vice President arrested over plot to kill President
MALE, Maldives, Oct 24, (AFP) – Maldivian authorities today said they had arrested the nation’s Vice President Ahmed Adeeb over an alleged plot to assassinate President Abdulla Yameen, who escaped death after his boat was hit by a bomb last month. “VP Adheeb under arrest and held in Dhoonidhoo Detention (prison island),” Home Minister Umar [...]
Increase in liquor licences last year despite
Mathata ThithaThe Excise Department issued 83 new liquor licences last year and obtained Rs. 69,123 million as excise revenue despite a Government initiated programme to control the consumption of liquor and cigarettes. The Department said the issue of new liquor licences last year was limited to institutions approved by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. The [...]
Legal action to recover loans from local councils
Legal action is to be taken against local bodies which have failed to repay their loans, Local Government Minister Faiszer Musthapha said. At present 18 local bodies owe Rs. 659 million to the ministry. These funds were channeled through the Local Government Loans for Development Fund (LLDF), he said. The minister said he had directed officials [...]
Heavy fines coming for Indian poachers: Amendments soon
Amendments to the Fisheries Act will be introduced soon to impose severe penalties of up to Rs 150 million on foreign fishing vessels poaching in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, Fisheries Director General M. C. L. Fernando said yesterday. He said existing laws against poaching were not strong enough. Last week, Cabinet approved a proposal to impose [...]
Red Cross case in Police Chief’s hands
The case against the Red Cross official accused of soliciting sexual favours from a woman who came to receive tsunami housing aid now rests with the Police Chief, although the official has been cleared by an internal investigation. Law and Order Ministry Secretary Jagath Wijeweera said the documents relating to the complaint against the Sri Lanka [...]
More rains to come, warns Met. Department
Showers and thundershowers will occur round the country and rainfall could reach up to 100 mm in some parts of the country including the drought-affected North, North Western, Southern and Sabaragamuwa provinces, the Department of Meteorology said. The Department also warned people of ‘temporary localised strong winds’ during these thundershowers. Thundershowers are to be expected around [...]
Two more Customs officials under investigation for soliciting a Rs. 125 mn bribe
Two more Customs officials allegedly involved in soliciting a Rs 125 million bribe from a vehicle spare parts importer are being investigated by the Commission to Investigate Allegation of Bribery or Corruption, officials said. These two officials were not present when three other officials, a Customs Superintendent, Deputy Customs Superintendent and Assistant Customs Superintendent were arrested [...]
Motorcyclists told only SLSI approved helmets from next year
From next year, motorbike riders will have to wear helmets that conform to Sri Lanka Standards (SLS) specifications, Police Traffic Chief Amarasiri Senaratne said. Regulations to this effect have already been gazetted in terms of the Consumer Affairs Act. Deputy Inspector General Senaratne said the regulations, recommended by the National Council for Road Safety and the [...]
Mobitel hierarchy at loggerheads within
There’s trouble brewing at Mobitel with differences breaking out among some of its Board members. Unresolved disputes have pitted a group led by Mobitel Chairman P.G. Kumarasinghe against another which has been protesting against the continued presence of certain officials in senior positions. The problems started several months ago, after the Presidential election, when objections [...]
UN’s role in SL ensures better living standards for its citizens: MS
President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday said Sri Lanka as a whole, is satisfied with the role played in the past by the United Nations (UN) body, as a development and humanitarian partner to address social, economic and cultural challenges, so that all citizens can enjoy a better standard of living. “Our youths, especially schoolchildren should be [...]
Late Minister Gamini Dissanayake dedicated his life, political career for this country: MS
Late Minister Gamini Dissanayake dedicated his life and political career for the improvement and betterment of the lives of the people of this country, while showcasing immense talent to discuss and answer questions that arose in Parliament, cordial nature, intelligence and knowledge, said President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday. He made these remarks addressing the gathering at [...]
Call to appoint Special Commissioner to run KMC
The Organisation for the Protection of Public Property, in a letter to President Maithripala Sirisena has requested him to appoint a Presidential Commission to inquire into the workings of the Kandy Municipal Council. They allege over the past few years large-scale corruption has taken place and demand the appointment of a Special Commissioner. The organization [...]
Robert Blake pushed for US resolution against Lanka at UNHRC
Many in the United States administration had resisted the proposal for a resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council but Robert O. Blake, former US Ambassador in Colombo, pushed it after he was promoted to Assistant Secretary of State, an international rights advocate said this week. The US might even have given [...]
Demarcation headache brings in new committee
A second committee will now look into the findings of the Delimitation Committee’s report into the demarcation of electoral boundaries in local government wards with time slipping away before final arrangements are due for next year’s elections. Decisions to be made from the report are already behind schedule. A Cabinet sub-committee has already been looking [...]
Suspected dengue patients in hospitals must have nets to prevent spread of disease
A circular has been issued to state hospitals, in the Colombo city limit, urging them to strictly enforce the of use mosquito nets for suspected dengue patients, Colombo’s Chief medical officer, Dr. Ruwan Wijayamuni said. The decision follows reports that nearly 13 dengue cases were reported from around the vicinity of the National Hospital in [...]
Conclusions raise more questions on killings than answer their ‘whodunit’
Seven reports compiled by the Udalagama Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCI) appointed in November 2007 by then President Mahinda Rajapaksa, to investigate and inquire into 16 alleged serious violations of human rights, were presented to Parliament, more than six years after they were completed and handed over to then President Rajapaksa. The eight-member Commission headed [...]
LTTE principally responsible for civilian deaths in final phase of war
The Paranagama Commission appointed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to inquire into complaints of abductions and disappearances, found the “LTTE principally responsible for the loss of civilian life during the final phase of the armed conflict”, but accepted that, “shelling by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), undoubtedly, led to a significant number of civilian deaths.” [...]
Action plan to combat COPD an urgent need
Are Sri Lankans gasping for breath? A red star on Sri Lanka in the world map is giving out a strong signal that the country is in the “high prevalence” category for asthma, allergies and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). More than 28% of Sri Lankan children, or 1 in 3, “alarmingly” fall into the [...]
EU recommendations fulfilled, lifting fisheries ban awaited
The Fisheries Ministry has implemented almost all the recommendations outlined by the European Union (EU) early this year and is awaiting the EU technical team to arrive and determine whether the ban on Sri Lankan fisheries products could be lifted. Fisheries Department Director General M. C. L. Fernando told the Sunday Times that a technical [...]
Walk for healthy living
A walk “empowering schoolchildren to champion healthy living and become change agents in society” was held last morning from Green Path to Royal College with the participation of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Pic by Amila Gamage.
Fatalities mount in road accidents
A collision between a Polonnaruwa-Colombo passenger bus and a cement-laden lorry yesterday left 30 people injured, 25 of them needing hospital care. The accident, which occurred around 3 a.m. in the Inamaluwa area near Dambulla, added to the road traffic toll around the country, with a rise in fatalities. Police reports show that from Wednesday [...]
Trade deficit widens perilously as Chinese loans, vote-buying handouts take their toll
Faced with a perilous fiscal situation, debts and inability to fund populist grandiose pork barrel projects, Sri Lanka has laid the blame on China for its indebtedness, while making an embarrassing plea for help, yet again. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake acknowledged to a newspaper in Hong Kong the “pathetic finances’’ he is overseeing, and implored the [...]
Off with unauthorised structures as battle to reclaim beaches begins
In a new drive to protect beaches around the country, the Coast Conservation and Costal Resources Management Department will remove unauthorised structures, declare as sensitive zones areas where construction would be prohibited and introduce ‘green beaches’ by planting trees. The move follows the submission of a report, by the Department regarding the destruction of beaches [...]
President’s tree-planting programme hopes to avoid mistakes of past
President Maithripala Sirisena’s wish to increase Sri Lanka’s forest cover to 32 per cent from the current 29 per cent has been welcomed by environmentalists who point out that Sri Lanka has been steadily losing its forest cover. Next week sees the end of National Tree Planting Month declared by the Ministry of the Environment, [...]
Medicines sans storage
The Puttalam Base Hospital ministers to some 650,000 patients annually. It is an important medical institution catering to members of the public, workers in the salterns’, factories, the Norochcholai coal power plant as well as armed forces personnel stationed in the area. However patients visiting the hospital are treated to the sight of hundreds of [...]
Expressway contract default claims denied
The threat of a landslide at the 114th milepost on the southern highway between Imaduwa and Kothalmaduwa and several recent closures of the road are raising doubts about the viability of the $US741.1 million Southern Expressway project. Doubts are being cast on the engineering methods and procedures adopted in constructing roads in the mountainous terrain. [...]
Pera and Costa Rica Universities join to set up reptile anti-venom plant
Peradeniya University and the University of Costa Rica are to team up with two international institutes to set up a reptile anti-venom plant costing over a billion rupees in Sri Lanka. Peradeniya University Vice Chancellor Professor Upul Dissanayake said this project is in collaboration with the Institute Clodomiro Picado of the Universtiy of Costa Rica [...]
Remember the past and correct the future
Any political party, when it comes to office, will talk about putting the country in order. It will spell out various policies for this. But we are yet to see a party getting about this task properly. If we are to put the country in order, we will have to put the people in order [...]