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Home » NewsChristmas: The cattleshed and the crib
With the birth of Jesus Christ in a Bethlehem cattle shed being the spiritual centerpiece of Christmas, this scene is portrayed in big or small ways in thousands of churches and homes. A Dehiwala crib seller yesterday had plenty of sales while a buyer is seen admiring a beautiful crib.
Huge fuel bill mars President’s Iran visit
Ahead of a proposed visit to Iran by President Maithripala Sirisena, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has been told to pay a fuel import bill of more than Rs. 37 billion it owes to that country. CPC officials were called to the Foreign Ministry on Thursday and were told to pay the long overdue [...]
Alleged corruption leaves 1,300 multi-day boats without vital equipment
Funds meant to buy equipment to be fixed on fishing vessels have been returned to the Treasury as officials responsible for the purchase allegedly demanded commissions from sellers, an official meeting was told this week. Accordingly Rs. 2.3 billion had been returned by the Fisheries Ministry to the Treasury as the officials failed to award [...]
Festival hampers or other gifts are bribes, state employees warned
Giving seasonal gifts to state employees could amount to an act of corruption. The Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) has given this warning to the Ministry of Public Administration and Management and seven business chambers. In its directives, the CIABOC has said it is aware of instances where public servants are [...]
President joins Polonnaruwa farmers in praying for rain
With the drought situation likely to worsen in the New Year, the Government is seeking divine intervention for rain. President Maithripala Sirisena himself took part in several religious observances in his native Polonnaruwa yesterday to ask the rain gods to be merciful to Sri Lanka. A ‘Deva Pooja’ was held last morning under the patronage [...]
Alleged Indian embezzler wanted to open bank in Lanka
Alleged Indian embezzler Abishek Joshi who cheated a cooperative bank of INR 160 million (LKR 353 million), had been planning to start a financial institution in Sri Lanka and had even met President Maithripala Sirisena, Indian media said. This came to light in an investigation by the special operation group (SOG) of Rajasthan police, reports [...]
Drug stocks replenished to combat dengue
The Ministry of Health has ordered more supplies of the intravenous solution Dextran from a Thai supplier to treat a growing number of patients suffering from dengue haemorrhagic fever, which is known to cause a state of shock, bleeding from the skin and nose, and can be fatal. The ministry’s epidemiology unit said overall dengue [...]
Photo focus: Horiwila -a new world heritage site for Lanka
The ancient village of Horiwila, situated in Palugaswewa, Anuradhapura, is to be declared as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. The village is due to be listed a World Heritage Site because of its rich agricultural traditions and inhabitants who continue to use traditional farming methods. The area is home to a unique [...]
PMB stocks to be released to private mills
The Paddy Marketing Board has started issuing paddy stocks to the private millers in a bid to overcome rice shortages and keep prices under control. PMB chairman H.B.Dissanayaka said they will start selling stocks in most of the districts next week.
Ads for prefabricated houses but opposition continues
The Resettlement Ministry has called for applications from the public via newspaper advertisements for its ArcelorMittal prefabricated houses, amidst continued grassroots opposition to the project. The Kilinochchi District Coordination Committee (DCC) passed a unanimous resolution yesterday stating that no prefabricated houses should be given to the people of the district. Earlier, the Jaffna DCC had [...]
SriLankan Airlines: No decision yet on who gets the deal
The five-member committee appointed to evaluate bids for SriLankan Airlines has held a series of meetings with the shortlisted parties but has not reached a decision on who should be recommended for the deal, an authoritative source said. The parties are Super Group Partners, Peace Air and Texas Pacific Group or TPG. Super Group is [...]
Motion to probe Central Bank purchase of overseas offices
A group of MPs have handed over a Motion to Speaker Karu Jayasuirya to set up a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to investigate and report on the expenses incurred by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), for the purchase of Offices for the Sri Lanka Embassy in Brazil and for Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative [...]
Norway extends support for SLPI activities
The Royal Norwegian Government signed an agreement with the Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) recently to grant a further NOK 600,000 (Rs 10.5 million) for the Institute’s activities over the next two years. The agreement was signed by the Norwegian Ambassador in Sri Lanka Thorbjorn Gaustadsaether and SLPI Chairman Kumar Nadesan recently in Colombo, in [...]
An artificial or natural tree? That is the question
Natural Christmas trees are gradually being replaced with plastic and metal-made trees. An artificial tree or a natural Christmas tree? This is probably a debate which occurs among families who decorate their homes for Christmas. The Christmas tree, a prominent symbol of the festive season, is caught up in the debate between natural, plastic or [...]
Unforeseen events but organisers say world’s tallest Christmas tree up
Workers who braved the chilly weather at night and the mid-day heat achieved the target yesterday to erect the world’s tallest artificial Christmas tree, organisers claimed. They claimed their tree had broken the record set up by a company in Guangdong, China last year for the tallest artificial Christmas tree. The lighting ceremony was due [...]
Christmas messages
President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe along with Christian religious leaders released Christmas messages of love and peace. President’s wishes for a wonderful Christmas President Maithripala Sirisena extended his greetings for a wonderful Christmas to all Christians who nourish the teachings of universal love, peace, happiness and kindness. “Christmas, which is celebrated by [...]
Dengue crisis: Prevention and control too little, too late
Dengue numbers have sky-rocketed reaching a shockingly high nearly 50,000 cases, dealing death to more than 80 including a young mother who had just given birth to a baby. This year’s dengue case-load has surpassed figures of all time. “Lots of problems in dengue prevention,” is the verdict of dengue expert, Dr. LakKumar Fernando, a [...]
Municipalities dodge public bullets in the fog of dengue war
Scheduled home visits by municipal council workers to help destroy breeding sites of the deadly dengue mosquito are unheard of, several residents of high-risk areas Dehiwala and Mount Lavinia, complain. Municipal council officials, however, shift the responsibility by accusing residents of not allowing workers into premises to spray insecticide and clean drains where water is [...]
No houses, no museum, only an unused cultural centre
A man who survived the 2004 tsunami still regrets his decision to donate a plot of land to the state to build houses for the displaced. Ariyaratne Manawaduge told the Sunday Times that instead of putting up houses in the land the government first planned to put up a tsunami museum, but instead built a [...]
Jobless and hopeless – 100 families turn their backs on Ampara homes
About 100 families have abandoned homes built for them in eastern Sammanthurai in the Ampara district because of joblessness, villagers say. “Out of the 190 families who were given homes in the largely-Muslim town of Sammanthurai, 100 have left because of economic and social difficulties,” resident, M M Rahuman, said. “About 100 families have left [...]
Yala National Park: Where man and animal were united in fear
Exactly twelve years following the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami that wiped out 230,000 lives off the face of the earth on boxing day of 2004, survivors still recall the incidents leading up to the tragedy. In Sri Lanka it was a fateful Poya day and waves that reached as high as 30 metres ravaged the [...]
Family bandyism takes up residence at Galle weekly market, traders say
Hawkers and traders who pitched their goods at the weekly public market in Galle accuse local authorities of cronyism in denying them an opportunity to make a living 12 years after the tsunami. A traders’ group says outsiders have been allocated space for stalls through suspicious arrangements at the market where once 350 people sold [...]
Yapa Abeywardena (Jr.) charged with negligence, no licence, failure to avoid accident
Police have filed charges against Osanda Yapa Abeywardena for negligent driving, driving without a valid licence and with failure to avoid an accident, when a Finance ministry vehicle driven by him collided with a motorcyclist in the Cinnamon Gardens Police area last Sunday. The vehicle was one of those assigned to State Minister of Finance [...]
Unanimous acquittal of all accused in Raviraj murder trial
The five people on trial for the murder of former Jaffna District MP Nadarajah Raviraj were acquitted of all charges in the early hours of yesterday (24) by a Special Jury at the Colombo High Court, after an extraordinary final day. The seven-member jury’s unanimous verdict was conveyed shortly after midnight on Friday. Accordingly, three [...]
Customs seize 1.3 m Chinese fags hidden inside mattresses
The Sri Lanka Customs has started investigations on the shipper and the Chinese national who imported a stock of 1.3 million Chinese cigarettes worth Rs 75 million, which were detected at Colombo this week. Customs Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) officials said they were investigating previous shipments of this shipping company which had been earlier importing [...]
Govt. approves KKS-Nagapattinam ferry service for Hindu pilgrimage
The Government this week granted approval to a Hindu religious group to arrange a ferry service from Kankesanturai (KKS) to Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu, to attend a Hindu pooja in Chidambaram, said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson. “It was decided, in consultation with Northern Province Governor Reginald Cooray, to initiate the process early next year, as [...]
PM presents Draft Bill against Enforced Disappearance to Cabinet
A draft Bill to give effect to the International Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED) has been presented to Cabinet by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. However, the Defence Ministry and the Ministry of Law and Order have proposed amendments that have been sent back to the Prime Minister’s office for [...]
Time ticks by for tragic painted-snipe chicks
Many tragedies that Sri Lanka’s precious wild creatures face do not often make the news, unlike human road traffic fatalities. Heart-warming tales of survival are rarer still. While a road traffic accident last week claimed the lives of 12 innocents, including 10 from the same family in northern Chavakachcheri, two new-born greater painted-snipe chicks became [...]
Aussie expert calls for action plan for Yala following Gemunu’s money gobbling incident
Gemunu, Yala National park’s iconic tusker has a bad habit of stealing food from visitors. What initially started off as begging for food, with time Gemunu became more aggressive– standing in the path of safari jeeps until it was given some food or sticking his trunk inside the jeeps and stealing food. However, things went [...]
Sri Lankan wildlife plunder continues to be driven by the underworld
Pangolin, the world’s most trafficked mammal, is a delicacy in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and in countries where Chinese live. This ant-eating creature’s scales are highly valued by Chinese and Vietnamese. Chinese and Indians are among those arrested for illegal smuggling of pangolins from Sri Lanka over the years. This highly-organised, multi-billion-dollar illegal trade in [...]
