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A change in the wind direction over the Indian Ocean, the lack of cloud cover, rising ocean temperatures and the position of the sun directly above Sri Lanka have led to some of the hottest days in the country’s history. The dry weather is likely to change with the onset of the monsoons in mid-May, [...]
VAT price bomb after May Day
Low and middle income groups will be worst hit by the Government’s move to raise Value Added Tax (VAT) to 15 percent from May 2. Set to rise are their telephone, water and electricity bills. This is on top of their having to pay more for consumer items, medical bills and even private education. The [...]
Mittal’s 65,000 steel houses under fire from Lankan experts
The proposed steel houses for the war-affected have inadequate foundations, insufficient roof support, are at risk of corrosion, are poorly ventilated and have no hearth and chimney, Moratuwa Universtiy experts have found after a detailed technical study. The controversial dwellings — erected by the Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal — also have poor or non-existent capacity for extension [...]
Lankan chefs in mid-air soup; SriLankan flight recalled to Singapore
A kitchen blowtorch in the checked-in luggage of a team of Sri Lankan chefs returning after a culinary exhibition in Singapore led to the recall of a SriLankan Airline flight soon after it had taken off from the Changi International Airport on Thursday. The drama unfolded when five Sri Lankan chefs were returning to Colombo [...]
Sri Lanka hopeful of IMF bailout facility within two weeks
Sri Lanka is hopeful of receiving the International Monetary Fund’s economic bailout facility within the next two weeks following ongoing talks between a high-powered Sri Lankan delegation and IMF officials in Washington DC, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said. He told the Sunday Times he was highly optimistic on the outcome of the talks and Sri [...]
World Central Banks devise safety net against hackers
Central Banks of International Monetary Fund (IMF) member countries have agreed to work together in setting up a safety net to prevent money being stolen through bank websites by computer hackers. This follows the recent attempt to transfer more than 100 million US dollars from Bangladesh’s account in the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, [...]
Sampur project powers on despite protests
While the government is stepping up formal arrangements to set up the Sampur coal power plant, residents – including Internally Displaced People (IDPs) who resettled there recently – claim the plant threatens their livelihood and environment for generations to come. Last Thursday, indigenous people living in Santhosapuram, an adjacent forest village near Sampur, staged a [...]
Laggala station weapons: Monk spots guns while taking bath at temple
Three sniffer dogs who were let loose last afternoon from the Wallewala Sandagala Temple premises in Matale to track the culprits who had stolen several police firearms from the Laggala Police Station, had led their handlers to a deserted house close by which Police believe is the point where the vehicle used for the robbery [...]
Alarming rise in diabetes: Act right now to prevent, treat and beat it
Talking the talk and walking the walk, is what the Colombo Office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) is engaging in, to meet head-on the looming spectre of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). With this year’s World Health Day campaign targeting diabetes, the eminent invitees to the function on April 7 at the Kingsbury Hotel were presented [...]
Some crossings to be removed to prevent pedestrian deaths
Pedestrians account for more than 75 per cent of the deaths on roads and so many of them die on pedestrian crossings that the authorities are going to remove some crossings to, they say, prevent further carnage. A Buddhist monk died after being knocked down near dawn on a zebra crossing on the High Level [...]
Taking part in oil anointing ceremony
People of all ages gathered at the Gangaramaya Temple at Hunupitiya in Colombo last morning to participate in the oil anointing ceremony (hisa thel gema) as part of the Avurudu traditions. Here an infant sleeps blissfully as a monk applies the specially prepared herbal oil on the baby’s head.
China urged to closely assess Lanka’s equity-swap proposal
Articles in the Chinese Communist Party-controlled newspaper have urged the Chinese Government to assess Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s proposal to lure Chinese state-owned companies into taking up billions of US dollar debt owed to China in exchange for shares in infrastructure projects and domestic companies. An academic has proposed closer scrutiny of the proposal. A [...]
Probe company where former Ministry advisor was employed, Ranawaka tells FCID
Megapolis and Western Development Minister Champika Ranawaka has requested the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) to investigate whether a company in which a former advisor of the ministry was employed, was involved in any financial irregularities. The request came as Vidya Amarapala, the advisor of the ministry stepped down from his post this week following [...]
Garbage in Kolonnawa off to Puttalam in three months
The plan to transfer garbage collected at the Kolonnawa dump to Puttalam will begin in three months under a project costing more than Rs. 15 billion. The day-to-day solid waste collection estimated to be around 700 Mt will be transferred in sealed containers by train twice a day to Puttalam, Megapolis and Western Development Ministry [...]
Himalaya Airlines links Nepal with Sri Lanka
The newly launched Himalaya Airlines took to the skies on Tuesday, on its maiden commercial flight from Kathmandu to Colombo, re-establishing direct air links between Nepal and Sri Lanka. This direct flight was to celebrate the Sri Lanka-Nepal New Year after nearly three decades, with the airline offering irresistible round trip fare of Rs 55,000 [...]
SL meets global challenges on climate change with comprehensive strategy
As Sri Lanka agreed to sign the Paris Agreement on Climate Change (CC) coming Friday at the United Nations headquarters in New York, a comprehensive strategy has been put in place to meet the global challenges on CC. A Blue-Green development strategy was adopted by the Government for the sustainable development of the country including [...]
Photo focus: Pity the cracker maker
No festivity -whether religious, national or private- is complete without the lighting of firecrackers. The Sinhala and Tamil New Year celebration is no exception. Sadly hardly anyone spares a thought for the poor worker engaged in the manufacture of these fire crackers. The fireworks sold in the local market are all locally manufactured. In most [...]
Bill to ratify Lanka’s membership in AIIB
The Government will introduce a Bill in Parliament next month to give effect to its membership in the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), authorise the ratification of the agreement it signed with the AIIB and establish the Bank’s office in Sri Lanka. The Bill titled the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank Agreement (Ratification) Act of [...]
All -round improvement in GCE/OL results
More students who sat the G.C.E. (Ordinary Level) Examination last year qualified to follow the next level – (G.C.E (Advanced Level) – with the number of students who obtained ‘A’s in all nine subjects also showing an increase, while last year a total of 536,152 candidates, both private and school candidates sat the exam. Performances [...]
Keep windows open at your own risk, tell police
Police have cautioned the public to be aware of thieves who may enter houses from windows kept open at nights due to the excessive heat experienced these days. The warning came after a thief entered a Cinnamon Gardens residence through a window kept open at night and removed antique jewellery to the value of more [...]
Drink-driving blitz for Avurudu nets 1,324 culprits
More than half those stopped on the roads by police for being under the influence of liquor during the New Year season were motorcyclists. Police apprehended 1324 drunk motorcyclists and drivers between last Sunday upto yesterday morning. The special operation will continue until next Wednesday. Of the 1,324 pulled over by the police, 713 were [...]
Excise Dept. nabs 23 suspects with liquor for sale
The Excise Dept.’s Special Operations Unit, Kandy, arrested 11 women and 12 men for allegedly attempting to sell liquor on April 13 and 14. Raids conducted by Chief Excise Inspector Tissa Gunaratne under the instructions of Assistant Commissioner Gamini Adikari, in Bandarawella, Nuwara Eliya, Kegalle and Mawanella, netted 51 litres of liquor. The suspects had [...]
Toddlers become ‘collateral damage’ of war on mozzies, rats
Children are dying from the use of coils and sprays used in households to ward off the mosquito menace. Health Ministry statistics shows that children as young as one year have been victims of the indiscriminate use of mosquito coils and sprays. Negligence and careless disposal of the unburnt parts of coils has resulted in [...]
Auspicious Avurudu present: A litha for your health and safety
A ‘litha’ (almanac) with a difference is in circulation this year, containing not only important days and times for Avurudu and information on poya days but also health alerts. Dubbed the ‘Visha Nivarana Litha’, the almanac, while including usual details such as the ‘sanwathsara pathraya and pala-pala’, ‘ritta’, ‘shuba davas’, ‘poya labana, gevana welavan’, ‘kaala [...]
Police take aim at gang warfare
A month after authorities implemented a range of new measures aimed at cracking down on rising incidents of underworld crime in the Western Province, attention is starting to shift to the country’s south, where as many as 10 criminal gangs are believed to be operating. Police claim that their operations in the Western Province [...]
Country’s brightest hopes ruined by ragging
A group of new students at the Institute of Indigenous Medicine (IIM) at Rajagiriya were hauled aside by their seniors for a ragging session at their hostels one night recently. They were told to dress only in bath towels. After a series of acts they were told to recite kavi using obscene language and when [...]