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The visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and Buddhist Affairs Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe reverently taking part in Pansil at a historic ceremony to mark the international celebration of Vesak in Sri Lanka. The Pansil took place during the inauguration of a three-day international conference attended [...]
Cabinet reshuffle after PM returns from China
President rejects move by some SLFP ministers to sit as independent MPs after August By Our Political Editor President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe decided on Friday night that the much-talked-of Cabinet reshuffle will take place upon the latter’s return from China. The meeting came just ahead of the Premier travelling to the [...]
MPs’ attendance register now open to the public
By Chandani Kirinde More than two thirds of parliamentarians attended sittings on May 3rd — from which date their attendance register was made public. Of the 224 parliamentarians, excluding the Speaker, 173 MPs had attended sittings on the day, according to the attendance register. The move to make the MPs attendance register public was [...]
GSP Plus facility: Lanka’s final hurdle tomorrow
If all the paperwork is in order and no other questions pending, the European Commission under the signature of the Trade Commissioner will direct a request to publish the restoring of GSP Plus trade preferences to Sri Lanka. The cutoff date has been set for May 15. The publication will be in the Journal of [...]
Long-term visas to attract expat Lankans, foreign investors and students
By Damith Wickremasekara Regulations are likely to be relaxed in the issue of visas to Sri Lankans currently holding foreign citizenship, investors, students and others, a Cabinet Minister said. Internal Affairs Minister S.B. Nawinna told the Sunday Times the proposals, if approved by the Cabinet, would enable the Government to provide visas ranging from two [...]
Capitalising on Buddhist cultural tourism
With more Westerners attracted to Buddhism and an increasing number of retirees capable and willing to travel, this could be the right time to promote religious tourism in the country, panel speakers point out on second day of symposium The potential for Buddhist countries to promote cultural tourism at a time when Asia is fast [...]
Laser pandals and creative decorations draw large crowds to Vesak zones
Laser-illuminated pandals at the Galle Face Green and the Diyawannawa Vesak zone were the key attractions of this year’s Vesak celebrations which continue in most places today as well. The Diyawannawa Vesak Zone set up by the Megapolis and Western Development Ministry and the Speaker’s office came alive with a number of creative items, including [...]
The Macron miracle
By Dominique Moisi PARIS – Before the just-concluded French presidential election, the United States’ National Public Radio (NPR) requested that I give an interview about the outcome. But there was a catch: the interview would take place only if the far-right National Front’s Marine Le Pen won. It seems that good news, like Le Pen’s [...]
CMC on alert to nab errant dansal organisers
The Public Health Inspectors (PHI) Union president Upul Rohana, said that during the Vesak weekend over 6,800 dansalas were checked to verify whether hygienic standards were being observed. According to Mr. Rohana 107 dansalas were found to be not observing basic hygienic conditions. He added his inspectors were also forced to close down five dansalas [...]
Moves to hire teachers from Tamil Nadu refugee camps
Education State Minister V. Radhakrishnan has sought the Indian Government’s help to recruit graduate maths and science teachers from Sri Lankan refugee camps in Tamil Nadu to fill the vacancies in upcountry Tamil schools. He said a severe shortage of graduate maths and science teachers in upcountry Tamil schools prompted them to request India to [...]
SLMC emergency meeting on Wednesday following grenade attack on headquarters
Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday to decide on seeking security following Friday night’s grenade attack on its head office at Norris Canal Road, Maradana, said a senior SLMC officer. The grenade flung into the SLMC premises, didn’t explode, though its pin had been removed. SLMC Registrar- Dr Terence [...]
Drug traffickers hit back as raids intensify: Police
The recent killing of a Policeman in an ambush at Piliyandala, came as Police began to step up raids on narcotics dealers and smugglers, a senior police official said yesterday. DIG Narcotics- Kamal Silva said that, within the past week, over 200 kg of heroin have been detected by the Police, as part of a [...]
Nepalese President Bhandari here to conclude UN Vesak Day celebrations
Nepalese President Bidya Devi Bhandari arrived in the country yesterday to participate in the closing ceremony of the 14th UN International Vesak Day conference which will be held in Kandy this evening. She was received on arrival at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) by Minister of Buddha Sasana and Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe. Ms. Bhandari will [...]
UDA to sue CMC over Meethotamulla tragedy
The Urban Development Authority (UDA) is to seek damages from the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) over destruction caused to its land in Meethotamulla, used as a garbage dump. Megapolis & Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka told the Sunday Times that land belonging to the UDA, which the CMC had used as a garbage dump, [...]
Indian aid to expand ambulance service islandwide
India will grant US$20 million to expand the free ambulance service islandwide within an year. The money will cover the cost of a new fleet of 215 ambulances as well as the salaries of 1,500 people who will be employed for the service, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Harsha De Silva said. Indian Prime Minister [...]
293 dengue victims every day, failing health officials overwhelmed
Not unexpectedly, the dengue peak season has arrived this month to coincide with the Southwest monsoon, which lasts until September, and the 92 deaths so far this year is set to surpass 97 people who perished last year. Every day 293 Sri Lankans were infected with dengue from January to May. Many who die are [...]
Lanka escapes global Cyber attack for now, CERT on alert
In the wake of a global cyber attack on Friday (12), Sri Lanka has taken precautionary steps to protect Govt. agencies and systems, said a senior official at the National Agency of Information Security. Senior Information Security Engineer at CERT|CC (Computer Emergency Readiness Team|Co-ordination Center) told the Sunday Times that the cyber attack known as [...]
Bambara attacks on the rise: Removing nests not the answer
A number of bambara bees (the Giant Honeybee of Asia) attacks have been reported recently from various parts of the country — and an expert has warned that short sighted clearing up operations could be harmful ecologically. The latest incident was reported from Mundalama, in Puttalam on Wednesday, Vesak Poya Day, while some 70 people [...]
Schoolboy hit by train as he runs across rail track to witness accident
In a tragic twist, a schoolboy who ran onto a rail track to get a closer look at an accident was himself killed by an oncoming train, a coroner’s court was told. Fourteen year-old Liyanapathiranage Prabath from Wanawasala Kelaniya was talking to a friend standing alongside a double track railway line after school last Tuesday [...]
The friendship between India and Sri Lanka is etched in time by the “Great Master”- Premier Modi
Praises Anagarika Dharmapala for his contribution to the revival of Buddhism both in Sri Lanka and India President Maithripala Sirisena pays tribute to the Late Lakshman Kadirgamar for making UN Vesak Day a realityBy Chandani Kirinde Centuries old relations between India and Sri Lanka held together by the common bond of Buddhism took center stage [...]
Modi addresses a delighted, cheering crowd of 30,000 in Hatton
“India beats in your hearts,” visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared to jubilant Sri Lankans at the Norwood grounds on Friday, moments after declaring open a multi-specialty hospital in Dickoya built with Indian funds. Alluding to them as “Indian-origin diaspora”, Mr Modi told the estimated 30,000-strong crowd that their progress was India’s pride. “We take [...]
Playing football with Colombo’s garbage
The “stupidest” solution to the Meethotamulla garbage disaster is to move this mountain of muck, as suggested by some politicians, warn experts. Colombo seems unable to handle its day-to-day waste, so how will the Meethotamulla solid waste mountain be moved, asked many sources, warning that the consequences of such an attempt will be another fiasco. [...]
Anti-Filariasis campaign suffers as ISIS rumour swells on social media
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is yet to make any arrests regarding a complaint lodged by the Health Ministry over a recent social media canard which linked a health ministry blood test campaign to the global terrorist group ISIS. The widely shared social media posts have severely inconvenienced Health Ministry officials engaged in a campaign [...]
Tinny tunes of mobile bakeries won’t be turned down soon
Modified “choon paan’’ three-wheelers conveying “kimbula banis’’ and “seeni sambal’’ buns that weave in and out of by-lanes in the quiet hours of the morning and during languid afternoons playing a tinny tune continuously on a loop are not a welcome sight for everyone. While some rush out to meet the call of the mobile [...]
Sleepy drivers dicing with death
Exhausted drivers who nod off at the wheel have emerged as a significant danger on the roads of Sri Lanka, alongside speeding divers. An academic says speeding and fatigue account for the majority of deadly injuries in road traffic accidents. About 60 per cent of fatal and grievous injuries are caused by speed combined with [...]
Limits on ground water use viewed with suspicion
Local authorities have been asked to strictly enforce new regulations to prevent over extraction of ground water amid fears that water levels are declining. But farmers suspect this is an attempt to tax water resources through regulation in the long-term. The latest regulation which has been gazetted will be implemented island-wide to protect ground water, [...]
PNB officers lured into ambush by informant: Police
Investigators suspect that, the Police Narcotics Bureau (PNB) team ambushed on Tuesday (9) night in Piliyandala, had been lured into a trap by one of their own informants. Last Tuesday’s PNB operation had been planned for a month, with input from the informant, according to PNB sources. Detectives had been on the trail of a [...]
Govt to rid Metropolis of stray cattle, dogs and of beggars
The Govt intends to rid the Metropolis of roaming cattle, stray dogs and beggars. The Megapolis Ministry, starting mid-June, will launch a massive programme to round up all the cattle, dogs and beggars on the roads and transport them to shelters in distant areas. This step is taken in view of several road accidents [...]
IUU fishing by Tamil Nadu trawlers: Lankan fishermen cast net on Modi
Northern fishermen used Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka to reiterate their long standing demand for an immediate end to illegal, unreported, unregulated (IUU) fishing by Tamil Nadu trawlers in Sri Lanka waters. In a petition to the Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the past and present presidents of fishermen’s cooperatives [...]
Tackling jumbo problem: DWC holds interactive session with scientists, conservationists
Interactive was the session when the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC) invited scientists and conservationists to focus on the precious wild elephants of Sri Lanka. The DWC, on Monday, moved away from ‘official’ tradition where government departments are not only reluctant but also hesitant to seek the views and opinions of scientists and those working [...]
Photo focus: A city sans a civic conscience
In the wake of the Meethotamulla tragedy and no allocated space to dispose of the city’s garbage; mounds of garbage have begun piling up in public places as authorities struggle to find alternative space to dispose of garbage. Garbage collection is now infrequent at best and people have taken to piling garbage in any space [...]