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Flood victims risk lives on overturned bridge

In the Southern area of Morawaka, badly affected by the floods, this Porupitiya bridge was overturned by the raging currents of the river. But the area’s people, left with no option, are seen risking their lives by using the overturned bridge to cross the river. Pic by Pradeep Pathirana

House of Justice at new site

High Courts, District and Magistrate’s Courts to be shifted from Hulftsdorp; Chinese company may get contract By Anthony David All Hulftsdorp courts, barring the Superior Courts complex, are to be shifted to a “House of Justice” to be constructed on six acres of land. It will be located at Meeraniya Street, a kilometre away from [...]

NCPA Deputy Director sacked for undermining Lanka

By Ranjith Padmasiri A senior National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) official has been removed on a directive of President Maithriapala Sirisena over allegations that the officer provided an affidavit to a foreign court with an adverse report about protection of children in Sri Lanka. NCPA Deputy Chairman Sajeeva Samaranayake had allegedly submitted a sworn affidavit [...]

TNA, Wigneswaran in battle for North

By Chris Kamalendran Key Tamil politicians continued to lock horns yesterday as their respective supporters launched protests, creating a tense political situation in the North. At the centre of the controversy is Northern Province’s Chief Minister C. V. Wigneswaran. After a probe into the conduct of four ministers of the Northern Province, two who were [...]

Dengue national disaster: 200 deaths, 63,987 cases this year

The number of dengue deaths has risen to 200 within six months, with the number of cases rising to 63,987 by yesterday, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said. He told a news conference yesterday that the dengue epidemic had become a national disaster and with the recent floods in the island the number was likely to [...]

Emergency evacuation plans for 150,000 Lankans in Qatar

By Sandun Jayawardana The Government has begun preparing emergency travel documents for thousands of Sri Lankan workers in Qatar to facilitate their evacuation if the latest Gulf crisis worsens. Sri Lanka’s Ambassador A.S.P. Liyanage told the Sunday Times that while chances of the diplomatic spat escalating into a conflict was highly unlikely, the Government had [...]

Minister pitches for ArcelorMittal’s steel prefab houses

Resettlement Ministry Progress Review Meeting The Resettlement Ministry this week summoned District and Divisional Secretaries and Directors of Planning of the North and East, for a Progress Review meeting in Colombo–and used the event to promote the controversial ArcelorMittal prefabricated (prefab) housing project. The meeting chaired by Resettlement Minister D.M. Swaminathan, took place on [...]

President Maithripala Sirisena joined yoga enthusiasts at Independence Square in Colombo yesterday to celebrate International Day of Yoga 2017. Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu also took part in the event that was organised by the Indian Cultural Centre in collaboration with leading yoga institutions in Sri Lanka. Pic by Indika Handuwala

Govt. to change route of Central Expressway project due to mountainous terrain

By Damith Wickremasekara The Government has decided to alter its plans on the proposed Central Expressway project by changing the route due to the difficult terrain and issues over the tender, Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella told the Sunday Times. The proposed expressway that was to be diverted from Pothuhera to Galagedara via Rambukkana will now [...]

Indo-Lanka talks lead to release of 42 Indian vessels

The Fisheries Ministry this week has decided to release 42 of the 140 Indian bottom trawlers, as the first phase of releasing vessels from Sri Lankan custody following ongoing discussions at joint India-Sri Lanka committee meetings, a senior official said. “We have taken this decision following the talks at the joint committee meetings held in [...]

46.6% of convicts in 2015 from Colombo District

The majority of the 24,086 convicts directly admitted to Sri Lanka’s jails in 2015 were married men between 30 and 40 years, who had passed Grade 8, and with no previous convictions, while just 759 of them were women. The largest percentage of direct admissions (46.6%) was from the Colombo District, according to the latest [...]

Sri Lanka’s latest export to Hong Kong – deadly dengue, duty free

From Kapila Bandara in Hong Kong Sri Lanka, which has been unable to collar the runaway dengue epidemic, is even exporting infected people to Hong Kong. Hong Kong has remained free from the killer mosquito-borne virus because of a highly systematic, efficient and effective monitoring system by public health authorities. Among the 41 cases reported [...]

Maternity hospital Helmut Kohl helped build to be named after him

The former chancellor provided funds for the 600-bed maternity hospital being built in Karapitiya, Galle As a mark of respect for his services to Sri Lanka, the Government will name a maternity hospital under construction in Karapitiya in memory of former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who passed away on Friday. Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne told [...]

The iconic, oldest tusker in the Yala National Park, Thilak, was killed in a tussle with another elephant named Kabila (Thani Dalaya) in Sithulpawwa last Wednesday. As the largest tusker among some 120 tuskers in Sri Lanka, the 60-year-old Thilak was the centre of attraction for tourists who visited Yala. His massive tusks curved inwards [...]

Auditor General says PM’s word not the law

By Manopriya Gunasekara and Ranjan Katugampola Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe has strongly defended his special report on the losses caused to the country over the issuance of 30-year Treasury Bonds. He has insisted that whatever the accusations of bias levelled by anyone, he, as the AG, had prepared his report based on detailed analysis of [...]

140-year-old heritage Castle Hotel victim of US$ 400m township

Archaeology Dept’s about-face clears demolition; no compensation for owners By Namini Wijedasa A heritage building at Slave Island in Colombo has been pulled down to construct a US$ 400 million township by Tata Housing. The Castle Hotel in Masjidul Jamiah Road, Kompanna Veediya, is at least 140 years old. Nothing stands at this address today. [...]

Dried up North and East crying out for water

Inland water sources have dried up, drinking water is scarce and crops have been destroyed in nine provinces where nearly 900,000 Sri Lankans are suffering due to the continuing drought. But disaster management officials say the drought in the nine provinces is not too serious. At least 844,669 people from 242,982 families in the North, [...]

Lives gone in a snap from an epidemic of selfie-obsession

Railway engine driver G G Hemachandra was on a routine run from Colombo Fort to Aluthgama last Sunday. Shortly after he passed the Kollupitiya Railway Station, about 100 meters ahead he noticed two children taking selfies. “I tooted the horn. As the train moved closer I saw a smaller child running away from the track [...]

It’s business as usual in Qatar, say Lankan returnees

Complaints about local banks ‘shortchanging’ their Qatari Riyals By Sandun Jayawardana Fowzil Ameer (40) is excited to be home and reunited with his wife and three children after his return from Qatar. He is eager to make the most of his two-and-a-half month vacation from his job and spend quality time with his family [...]

Lankan doctor’s life-saving intubation invention wins gold

Foreign countries show interest, but Dr. Herath puts patients before patent By Kumudini Hettiarachchi It is not an easy task — and as he assisted many an anaesthetist to ‘intubate’ numerous people, lying on the operating table before an operation or in emergencies, he wondered why it could not be made less challenging. As they [...]

Public anger grows as Colombo continues to stink

The visits by someone from the Colombo Municipal Council or its private contractors, Abans and Carekleen, to collect the garbage from households, flat-dwellers, schools, wet markets, bakeries, restaurants, retailers, groceries, clinics, and industries are becoming more and more rare. As a result, the garbage gets dumped on the streets. Main roads, street corners, byways, and [...]

Dengue epidemic showing “peculiarities”, warns Pera Professor

Many elders affected, leakage of fluid starts early with more ‘leakers’, Platelet count dropping fast, more involvement of the liver in DHF By Kumudini Hettiarachchi As the dengue virus ravages the country like an unstoppable wildfire, sparing no one, a health expert was concerned over certain “peculiarities” he is seeing in this epidemic. Naming this [...]

Robotic arm an asset in urology at J’pura Hospital

Pioneering laparoscopic surgeon, Dr. Niroshan Seneviratne shows how kidney removal is made easier The patient is prepped and under general anaesthesia. The urological surgical team of the Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital, just about to embark on a laparoscopic procedure, is scrubbed up and ready. There, however, is something in the Operating Theatre (OT) that the [...]

Hospitals overwhelmed by patients; staff exhausted

Dengue is on the rise with hospitals being forced to accommodate more patients than they can manage, officials say. According to the Epidemiology Unit the total number of cases reported islandwide is 63,987. The highest,14,189 cases are from the Colombo District. The Dengue Control Unit’s Consultant Community Physician Dr. Prechila Samaraweera told the Sunday Times [...]

New measures to tackle the problem; Defence Ministry warns garbage dumpers will be arrested

The Director of the National Solid Waste Management Support Centre (NSWMSC) of the Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government Athula Illangasinghe told the SundayTimes that as a means of solving the prevailing garbage issue in the country, the Ministry has plans to initiate a series of projects. “One of the main complaints by the [...]

UNP condemns attacks on minorities, slams subversive elements

The United National Party has expressed deep concern over recent attacks on religious places of minorities and alleged some subversive elements are trying to sabotage the reconciliation efforts of the National Unity Government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. “No individual or organisation causing religious tensions should be allowed to escape [...]

Ignoring warning signs and bathing in reservoirs have cost several lives.Pilgrims and visitors to religious sites are among the majority of victims who often stop at rivers, tanks and streams to take a dip. More often than not the victims have no idea of the depth of the water they step into or the undercurrents [...]

DIG says data collection helps combat crime

A form Police issue periodically to collect data on permanent and temporary residents in a police area is useful in the prevention of crime, a senior official said, calling on residents to cooperate. Deputy Inspector General Kamal Silva said the main objective of the exercise was to gather information of temporary residents such as domestic [...]

Over 4,000 flood displaced people still housed in camps

Just over 4,000 persons still remain in camps after being displaced by last month’s floods and landslides. According to the Disaster Management Center’s (DMC) latest statistics released Saturday (17) evening, 4,159 persons from 1,180 families remain displaced, and are being housed in 81 welfare camps in the affected Districts. Ratnapura District, with 2,425 persons from [...]

Prices of sugar-based products continue to rise

Although the wholesale price of sugar has stabilised around Rs. 102 after the Government raised the commodity levy by ten rupees last week, the prices of sugar-based products continue to rise. Retail sugar prices increased by Rs 5 to 6 a kilogram last week, allowing bakers, grocers and tea boutique owners to increase the prices [...]

Pix by Indika Handuwala, Amila Gamage, Sameera Weerasekera, Shelton Hettiarachchi and Sunil Thanthiriarachchi

SC rules Matugama police officers violated businessman’s fundamental rights

The Supreme Court has ordered three Matugama police officers to pay a man a total of Rs 75,000 for violating his fundamental rights by, among other things, arresting him on a vague general suspicion. Another respondent, an Ingiriya resident, was separately ordered to pay J.K. Rajitha Prasanna of Colombo 5 compensation of Rs 75,000 for [...]

Dengue in Hong Kong: Sri Lanka-origin cases second largest number

Postal TUs threaten indefinite strike if demands not resolved

Postal Trade Unions (PTU) warn they are determined to launch an indefinite strike from midnight on June 26, with assistance from other trade unions, if the Govt does not resolve their demands. They said discussions were already under way with trade unions in the Railways Dept, the Petroleum Corporation and the Ports Authority, for their [...]

Medical Faculty soon for Moratuwa University- UGC

The University of Moratuwa (UoM) will have a Medical Faculty soon, said Chairman- University Grants Commission (UGC), Prof Mohan de Silva. He said the proposal by the UoM Council has been approved by the UGC. “We have already started on the preliminary work to prepare the required standards for the Medical Faculty.” He said, initially, [...]

N-S UCM Train for Humanity ‘rescues’ Matara school

The United Citizens Movement (UCM) Train for Humanity, initiated by the Presidential Secretariat, arranged a consignment of material assistance to Dudley Senanayake Vidyalaya (DSV), Pitabeddara, Matara, located near the Nilwala River, which was badly affected by the recent floods. The Train has been collecting items from donors in the North, starting from Kankesanthurai (KKS), and [...]

GCE A/L entrants charged ‘donations’ to follow A/L classes- CTU

The Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) said, students who qualify for Advanced Level (A/L) in national schools are being charged exorbitant sums to be admitted to A/L classes. CTU Gen.Sec., Joseph Stalin said school principals are now charging donations to admit students to A/L classes. Mr Stalin said that, not only are they charging from new [...]

Unscheduled teacher transfers in EP disrupts lessons- Teachers’ Union

Unscheduled teacher transfers in the Eastern Province (EP) by Provincial authorities, has disrupted Educational activities in the region, officials said. Under the existing regulations, teachers were expected to make transfer requests in May or June and thereafter, the schedule is sent to the Zonal Educational Directors for a final decision, if there were no objections. [...]

50 Prospective Medical Faculty entrants eligible to enter KDU

Fifty Advanced Level candidates eligible to enter the Medical Faculty will be extended the option of following their course at the Kotelawala Defence University (KDU), under a proposal by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Students will be selected on merit after the University submits the list of students eligible to enter the Medical Faculty, UGC [...]

Rs 450m damage, 25,000 students affected by floods in SP

Around Rs 450 million worth of damage has been caused to schools in the Southern Province (SP) by the recent flood, while affecting more than 25,000 students, said SP Education Minister Chandima Rasaputhra. He said, a report on the estimated damage has been submitted to the Ministry of Education (MoE) for financial aid. Massive damage [...]

International Conference at Eastern University

An International Conference titled “Challenges & Importance of Intangible Cultural Heritage in times of War & Postwar” currently in progress at the Swamy Vipulananda Institute of Aesthetic Studies, Eastern University, Batticaloa, will end today. The 3-day Conference which commenced on Friday (16) had eminent scholars and academics presenting some 120 conventional Research papers and papers [...]

Grade 7 Geography textbook is safe for use- MoE

The Ministry of Education (MoE) claims, the newly introduced Grade 7 Geography textbook has no impact on the students, and has been proven safe for use. The MoE’s response came after the Govt Medical Officer’s Association (GMOA) raised concerns that the book causes health issues as the paper used was harmful. However, the MoE, in [...]

Pragna Pradeepa distributes schoolbooks to flood-affected children

Pragna Pradeepa concept founder and Western Provincial Councilor Jayantha de Silva recently distributed schoolbooks to children affected by the recent floods. They were accompanied by their families, when they called over to collect the assistance distributed at his office in Bawa Place, Borella.

CTU challenges Teacher’s transfer, allegedly for his FaceBook poems

Teachers Unions and the Ministry of Education (MoE) traded charges over allegations that a school teacher from Kurunegala has been transferred from his school on charges of writing poems on social media. The MoE last week had handed over a letter of transfer to teacher Kushal Salika attached to Kuliyapitiya National School (KNS) for publishing [...]

Chinese Language Extension Courses inaugurated

The inauguration ceremony of the Chinese Language Extension Courses was held last Saturday in the Main Library Auditorium, University of Colombo (UoC), with UoC Vice Chancellor Snr Prof Lakshman Dissanayake as Chief Guest. The 4 Courses are on Chinese Language for Beginners, Chinese Language Proficiency for Tour Guides, HSK Intensive Programmes and Spoken Chinese Language.

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