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Home » NewsSasara wasana thuru – his songs will be sung for a thousand years
Despite heavy rain, thousands of people gathered at Independence Square yesterday evening to say farewell to Pandit W.D. Amaradeva, one of the most respected Sri Lankan musicians of all time. Pandit Amaradeva was given unprecedented honour of being cremated at Independence Square with full state honours and a military gun salute. Our picture shows the [...]
Summons to China’s envoy: Govt. displeased over his remarks
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera will summon China’s Ambassador Xi Xiangliang to lodge the Government’s ‘deep displeasure’ over his remarks at a news conference to a handpicked group of journalists this week. A high ranking Foreign Ministry source said yesterday the meeting will take place in the coming week after Minister Samaraweera returns to Colombo from [...]
Judicial mechanism to probe bond issues over the past ten years: President to ST
A “judicial mechanism” to probe the February 27, 2015 bond issue by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) will also cover similar issues in the past ten years, President Maithripala Sirisena told the Sunday Times. In an exclusive interview with this newspaper, he said there was a need to take the investigation out of [...]
Poaching: Lanka rejects request for grace period
Sri Lanka has rejected an Indian proposal for a three-year period to phase out illegal fishing practices (bottom trawling) in the Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar by Tamil Nadu fishermen, a request to release the confiscated boats and to grant 80 days of fishing in Sri Lankan waters, Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said [...]
Flexible working hours from next month
By Damith Wickremasekara Flexible working hours are to be offered to thousands of public servants serving in Colombo and the outskirts in a fresh bid to reduce traffic congestion at peak hours, a top official said yesterday. Megapolis and Western Development Ministry Secretary Nihal Rupasinghe told the Sunday Times that the proposal would be implemented [...]
Perpetual group owns 7 million shares in NDB
By Namini Wijedasa The Perpetual Group now owns around seven percent of National Development Bank’s share portfolio, authoritative sources said this week, adding that the firm’s objective might be to gradually raise this stake up to ten percent. Perpetual Treasuries, the controversial primary dealer at the centre of the Central Bank bond issue, holds around [...]
Flags flutter in protest
Fishermen in Hambantota displaying black flags to protest against the use of illegal nets which they say are affecting the industry – Pic by Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi.
BIA duty free shops: Tender delays cause concern and confusion
Tenders for two new duty free operators for the Bandaranaike International Airport have still not been awarded, despite bids having been lodged more than three months ago. Instead, the Airport and Aviation Services Ltd (AASL) has extended the contracts of existing operators Flemingo and World Duty Free (WDF) till next month. Both contracts expired in [...]
Malaysia may ban group which attacked our envoy
The Malaysian Government is considering a ban on the group that attacked Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner Ibrahim Ansar at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in September, authorities there informed a visiting senior official of Sri Lanka’s Attorney Generals’ Department. Senior Additional Solicitor General Dappula de Livera was told by the Malaysian authorities that the group [...]
Budget to be presented on Thursday
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake will present the second Budget of the National Unity Government in Parliament at 2 p.m. on Thursday, November 10. The debate on the Appropriation Bill which was presented to Parliament last month will commence on November 11 and continue till December 10. Government expenditure for 2017 has been estimated at around [...]
Lankan woman fined $3 m, gets 5 years jail for fraud
TORONTO – It sounded too good to be true for a simple reason: It was a hoax. Toronto fraudster Jayawathe “Janake” Perera, who promised dozens of investors up to 60% in annual returns, has been sentenced to five years in jail. She was also slapped with a $3-million restitution order. From 2004 until 2014, Perera, [...]
Lankan domestic need not clean high-tower windows in HK
Sri Lankan domestic helpers in Hong Kong and those arriving in the city to begin working in households will be spared the death-defying window-cleaning task in the skyscraper flats of their employers. A few foreign helpers have plunged to their deaths trying to clean windows in tower blocks that millions of Hong Kong people call [...]
Experts query SriLankan’s departure from Europe
Travel industry experts are questioning the national carrier’s move to stop flights to European destinations, a decision it started implementing last month. “In my view, SriLankan Airlines has to explain a fundamental issue,” said Rohan J. Abeywickrama, an expert in transport and aviation. “That is, how can Middle Eastern airlines like Emirates, Qatar Airways and [...]
True to his name he will always be immortal
The nation bid adieu yesterday to Pandit W.D. Amaradeva, whose State Funeral was held at Independence Square in front of thousands of mourners. They included a host of dignitaries including the country’s President, Prime Minister, fellow artistes and members of the public. Heavy rains had fallen earlier in the day, though the crowds kept coming. [...]
First the selection, now a ‘showpiece’ tender
The Government will float a two-week tender to allow three pre-selected Japanese companies to bid for construction of Section III of the Central Expressway, making a mockery of what was already a flawed bidding process. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) has instructed the Ministry of Highways to write to the Japanese Embassy in [...]
Multi-pronged war waged against diabetes, NCDs
Hectic is the activity in a room on the ground floor of ‘Wijerama House’ in Colombo 7, the office of the Sri Lanka College of Endocrinologists (SLCE), based at the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA). Stacked high against the walls are drawings, while the tables are piled high with essays and CDs, all from schoolchildren [...]
Keep it simple, expert urges as garbage sorting begins
A top environmental expert has urged the authorities to keep the new countrywide segregated waste plan simple to give it a chance to work. All 23 municipal councils will only collect segregated waste from now on, the Minister for Provincial Councils and Local Government, Faiszer Musthapha, said. People who do not dispose of garbage in [...]
Price control on 48 drugs: Hotlines kept busy
While pharmacies and drug importers scrambled to implement the recently-announced price control on 48 medicinal drugs, the Health Ministry set up two hotlines on Friday for public complaints. On the first day alone there were around 60 calls on the hotlines handled by the ministry’s Disaster Preparedness & Response Division from 8 a.m. to 8 [...]
Secrecy has no place in CB transactions that can affect 20 million people- AG
The Central Bank must shed the cloak of secrecy about how it does business and be more transparent by allowing the public access to information on how it raises funds from bond sales, treasury bills etc., Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe said. “There can be some sensitive information I agree and in cases like bond auctions [...]
Research on brain diseases: Lanka in front
Tiny red and blue-capped containers and several scientific publications in top international journals have placed Sri Lanka in a niche by itself. With the world concentrating on that all-important ‘command centre’ of the central nervous system which governs everything we do, the Sri Jayewardenepura University’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Innovation in Biotechnology & Neuroscience has taken [...]
Duelling buses cause a death every day
Every other day someone dies in a bus accident as the authorities struggle to discipline recklessly competitive bus drivers. “They bet who is the fastest or try to get more passengers in order to earn more money but forget that they are supposed to protect 75 passengers aboard and the people on the roads,” the [...]
CCTV in cells plan under fire from ex-DIGs and rights experts
The Law and Order and Prisons Reform Ministry’s plan to have CCTV cameras installed in police cells to monitor detainees and prevent cell deaths has come under severe criticism by crime experts and human rights lawyers who say the expensive exercise violates the human rights of the suspects. The decision follows the controversy over a [...]
Mixed reception to reform of Muslim marriage laws
The recent announcement by the Government to appoint a Cabinet sub-committee to study the shortcomings of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) and recommend constitutional reforms, met with opposition from a section of the Muslim community. Hundreds of members attached to the Sri Lanka Thawheed Jama’ath (SLTJ) took to the streets on Thursday against [...]
Customs fines importer Rs. 4 million following seizure of rotting canned fish
The Sri Lanka Customs this week imposed a fine of Rs. four million on a fish importer and its manager for importing a large stock of fish unfit for human consumption. Customs also ordered the entire stock be returned to Singapore under its supervision through the same shipper and at the expense of the importer. [...]
Photo focus: Local authorities, biggest polluters
A few short years ago, the Ambuluwawa mountain in Gampola was known for its bio-diversity and was a popular tourist attraction. Today however the area is associated with the huge garbage mountain which has been growing over the years. The effect of this garbage build-up has now begun spilling onto the other side of the [...]
Musaeus blaze: Initial reports say fire started backstage
The fire which destroyed a major part of the auditorium of Musaeus College Colombo, is believed to have sparked off from the backstage, initial observations by fire brigade officers of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) revealed. The Government Analyst Department and police officials were yesterday carrying out investigations while damage to property was being assessed. [...]
Seven vie to build Colombo’s East Container Terminal
Four committees to decide on tenders By Namini Wijedasa No fewer than four committees are evaluating Expressions of Interest (EOI) submitted by five consortia and two single bidders for a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) concession for the Colombo Port’s East Container Terminal. The involvement of so many players is complicating matters, a shipping industry [...]