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President Maithripala Sirisena who celebrated his 65th birthday yesterday seen in a happy mood at the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Sri Lanka Police held at the Police Field Force Headquarters. Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara are seen with the President. Pic by Gayan Amarasekera.
SL Army contingent invited for UN Peacekeeping in Mali
Under fire by UNHRC locally; maintaining world peace overseas By Our Political Editor A battalion of officers and men from the Sri Lanka Army have been invited to join the United Nations Peacekeeping Force for operations in the northern areas of the West African nation of Mali. A batch of 500 troops will leave first [...]
Frantic talks at Finance Ministry but issue of mass resignations unresolved
By Bandula Sirimanna Despite two frantic rounds of discussions between the Treasury Secretary and Finance Ministry officials to tackle the problem of the officials’ refusal to sit on dozens of boards of state agencies, the issue remained unresolved at the end of the week. At least 80 officials last week sent in resignation letters en-masse, [...]
Ban’s bombshell compares Lanka with Rwanda and Srebrenica
By Our Diplomatic Editor UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon caused controversy this week by categorising Sri Lanka alongside Rwanda and Srebenica to make a case for increased intervention by the United Nations in internal conflicts. Mr Ban’s comments were a departure from the prepared text of his speech ‘Sustainable Peace and Achieving Sustainable Development Goals’ delivered [...]
UN Chief gives top post to his IPKF son-in-law
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who deemed it fit to sermonize to Sri Lanka during his visit this week, is under fire for appointing his son-in-law, Siddharth Chatterjee, as UN Coordinator for East Africa last week. Mr. Ban is reported to have signed his appointment letter, according to media reports from the UN headquarters in New [...]
Beira project: S’pore firm may get huge contract sans tender
A proposal to hire a Singaporean firm as design consultant for the Beira Lake redevelopment project without a tender has bred fears, the Government will disregard procurement guidelines in the awarding of contracts under the Western Region Megapolis Project. Under the consultancy, the Beira Lake Master Plan–first formulated in 1996–will be updated. A Cabinet paper [...]
Insight: CMC’s slow; men at work at theatre district
The Colombo Municipality’s road construction project around Royal and Thurstan Colleges, the Lionel Wendt Theatre and Women’s International in Colombo 07 has been “progressing” at snail’s-pace for the ninth month with completion a long way off. This is adding to the misery of long suffering residents, motorists, theatre goers and school children. In what is [...]
Keep foreign companies out of the local gem mining industry- President
The Gem and Jewellery Authority has been directed to keep away foreign mining companies attempting to enter the local gem mining industry through local companies. The directive was given by President Maithripala Sirisena after he was alerted that foreign companies were already buying up lands through local companies in the Ratnapura district for potential gem [...]
Bedecked in jewels
The 26th FACETS Gems and Jewellery exhibition is in progress at the BMICH Colombo. In the picture a model at the exhibition poses for a picture wearing Jewellery with gems valued at more than Rs 15 million.
NLB suspends contract of lottery ticket printer found wanting
The National Lotteries Board (NLB) has launched an investigation into an error in printing a Lot of lottery tickets undertaken by a private company that had been involved in it for the past 20 years. NLB Chairperson Shyamila Perera said the said company has been printing five types of lottery tickets and only recently it [...]
Electronic NICs: Individual consent required to share personal data
Under the new electronic National Identity Cards (eNIC) programme, individuals will be asked to give their consent for the Department of Registration of Persons to share their personal information with other state institutions, a senior official said. “The Customs Department, Land Registry, Immigration Department, Department of Motor Traffic, Inland Revenue Department and Banks will be [...]
Crucial SLFP convention today as split looms
With a major split in the making, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party’s 65th annual Convention will be held today at the Maligapitiya Grounds in Kurunegala. The convention will be held under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena who is also the leader of the party but has come under heavy pressure from a group loyal [...]
Sri Lanka should exploit its potential ‘Soft Power’- Foreign Sec.
The potential ‘Soft Power’ that Sri Lanka could wield, considering its critical strategic location in the Indian Ocean region, is yet to be fully exploited, as it relies, to a large extent, on its capacities and capabilities, said Foreign Secretary Esala Weerakoon at the culmination of the two-day ‘Colombo Defence Seminar – 2016’ organized by [...]
Lankans 71 years and above are the most suicidal: Police
Suicides in Sri Lanka are highest among persons of the age of 71 and above, according to data compiled by Police for the past three years. In the age category of 71 and above, 357 people committed suicide in 2013, 324 in 2014 and 307 in 2015, according to data tabled in Parliament by Minister [...]
Merchant Shipping Secretariat opens in North to regulate coastal passengers traffic
At the first ever Government Merchant Shipping Secretariat in the North, a new office was declared open this week to develop and regulate coastal passenger transportation services in the Jaffna peninsula. Rs. 50 million has been allocated for further development of this secretariat by Ports and Shipping Minister Arjuna Ranatunga who participated in the event [...]
SLCJ awards its diplomas for 12th successive year
The 12th Diploma Awarding Ceremony for the Batch of 2015 was held at the Sri Lanka College of Journalism (SLCJ) premises on August 24. The chief guest at the ceremony was Knut Nyflott, Charge d’ Affaires of the Norwegian Embassy. Sri Lanka College of Journalism Chairman Dr. P Keshvarajah and the Sri Lanka Press Institute [...]
Riders oppose action against unsafe helmets
Many motorcycle riders are wearing helmets lacking safety certification, a huge risk given the fact that more than 1,000 riders were killed in accidents last year. The Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) says most of the helmets in the market do not have quality certification. The Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) said the sale of helmets [...]
Web hackers’ den Yakadaya hosted and facilitated attackers
Just hours after police launched an investigation into two cyber-attacks on President Maithripala Sirisena’s official website, an online forum called Yakadaya went down. It remained inaccessible at the time of going to press. Yakadaya was an identified meeting point for Sri Lanka’s hacker community. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) notified court earlier this week that [...]
Canny engineer turned moonshine into duty-free scotch
“Scotch whisky” usually selling at more than Rs. 5,000 was being offered to buyers at Rs. 2,000 on the pretext that they were getting it at duty-free prices while in reality they were getting kasippu mixed with essence and colouring. Police nabbed the mastermind while he was busy making more fake whisky to be sold [...]
Fears coffin could open Pandora’s box of deadly virus
A row is brewing over the expediency of opening a sealed coffin of a man who died in Saudi Arabia after contracting the Middle East Respiratory Corono Syndrome (MERCS) virus. The Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) in Negombo is defying a court ruling by the Negombo Magistrate to carry out a postmortem on the body of [...]
Chance find of water plant by Lankan honours Free Education father
It was a chance discovery. Looking for freshwater fish, crabs and shrimps in an icy-cold dola in Sinharaja’s unique mist-mantled Morningside Forest Reserve, what they found was a “different” water plant instead. “This freshwater aquatic plant was different though it was definitely from the kekatiya (Aponogetonaceae) family,” says Anusha de Silva, President of the Wildlife [...]
10 deadly accidents in the past two weeks
Young people have been the main casualties in more than 10 serious accidents around the country in the past fortnight. On Friday morning, four people including a young driver and a child were killed and six others injured when a van transporting people to a church festival in Polonnaruwa was wrecked after hitting an oncoming [...]
Focus on expectant mothers at Asia Pacific Conference in Colombo
With diabetes and high blood pressure on everyone’s minds these days, Sri Lanka will play host to high-level interactions and discussions with the sole focus being a special group – expectant mothers. The ‘two-in-one’ First South Asia and Asia Pacific International Congress on Diabetes, Hypertension & Metabolic Syndrome in Pregnancy will be held from September [...]
Mawanella rail track disaster warning from logging
They say the situation has been aggravated by “mass destruction” to the environment above the railway track. A businessman allegedly using a false property deed was felling trees on the slopes above the track, local politician Amara Sooriapperuma charged at the recent meeting of the Mawanella Divisional Secretariat Co-ordination Committee. “About 60 acres of land [...]
Plastic rubbish highest in north and east
The Eastern Province leads the nine provinces in the use of plastic lunch sheets and food wrappers. A joint survey by the Central Environment Authority (CEA) and the Sri Jayawardenapura University on waste disposal patterns found 96 per cent of the solid waste collected from households in the Eastern Province was composed of plastic food [...]
Four months after floods, Kaduwela victims still languish in tents
Four months on, survivors of the flash floods in the suburbs of Colombo are yet to recover from the calamity. The floods led to many deaths and widespread destruction to property, crops and infrastructure but despite overwhelming support for the victims in the aftermath, their plight has gone largely ignored since then. Kaduwela residence complain [...]
Maternal deaths during pregnancy on the rise: Family Health Bureau
The number of women who die during or soon after pregnancy is on the rise in Sri Lanka, a new survey found. According to Family Health Bureau statistics, 64% or, 113 of all maternal deaths last year were not directly related to conditions brought on by pregnancy. The leading causes of maternal deaths were heart [...]
Photo focus: Drought a blessing in disguise
The Rajarata region is experiencing drought conditions that prevail during this time of the year, until October, unless there are unseasonal rains. As the drought period that began in July nears its end, most water sources, including rivers, streams, tanks and wells either have very little water or, have completely dried up. The drought, however, [...]