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Home » NewsHuman kindness is not drowned
Amid the misery and desperation of the flood havoc, deeply humanitarian scenes like this give a ray of hope. In this Kelani River area, under about five feet of water, this courageous man is seen rescuing a pregnant cow. Pic by M.A. Puhspa Kumara
State condominiums: Approval for illegal constructions
The Government is to give legal approval for condominium houses constructed before 2009 by state institutions even if the floor areas have been extended by the owners in violation of regulations. To give legal effect to the proposal, the Government is to introduce the Apartment Ownership (Special Provisions) Bill. The bill seeks to remove the [...]
Historic impeachment motion not recorded in Parliament
The impeachment motion initiated to remove President Ranasinghe Premadasa from office in August 1991 and became the subject of much controversy over allegations that some signatures on it were forged is not in the possession of Parliament, the response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by the Sunday Times has revealed. Parliament Standing [...]
US to indict Lanka’s former ambassador
The US Department of Justice is moving to indict former Sri Lankan Ambassador Jaliya Wickremesuriya on money laundering charges, an authoritative source said. “There is a move based on a probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and approved by a grand jury to indict Jaliya Wickramasuriya,” he said. Diplomatic immunity granted to Mr Wickramasuriya [...]
SriLankan says neo flights restricted because of engine problems
SriLankan Airlines (SLA) is flying all but one of its Airbus ‘neo’ fleet within an hour’s range of airports suitable for emergency landings as its Engineering Department has noticed a deterioration in “engine gas temperature” margins of certain engines and is working with the manufacturer to rectify the problem, the company said. “These decisions are [...]
RDA stuck in Rs. 100 billion roadblock
The Treasury has turned down a request from the Highways Ministry to allocate an additional Rs 100 billion for the completion of road network projects before the end of the year. A senior Treasury official said the request, if agreed upon, would force the Treasury to slash funds of other ministries. “We may have to [...]
Drugs and docs at a touch of your phone, e-consultations on the way
The introduction of e-consultation in Sri Lanka, a popular method enabling patients to access general practitioners (GPs) through their mobile phones is being studied by the National Medicinal Regulatory Authority (NMRA) to ensure the system is not hijacked by quacks. The NMRA Chief Executive Officer Dr. Kamal Jayasinghe said that proper regulations need to be [...]
21 die, 150,000 affected by flood havoc
The death toll in floods and landslides increased to 21 yesterday with the disaster affecting more than 150,000 people in 19 districts across the country. Two more people were missing after they were swept away in flood waters in the Biyagama and Chilaw areas. According to the Disaster Management Centre, by yesterday, about 105 houses [...]
Chinese company given nod to build 40,000 eco-friendly houses for war-affected people
The Resettlement Ministry which, since 2015, promoted an unpopular project to build 65,000 prefabricated steel houses for the war-affected in the North and East this week secured Cabinet approval for a new Chinese initiative to construct 40,000 concrete houses for the same people. ArcelorMittal, the international steel giant behind the Resettlement Ministry’s original proposal to [...]
Kaduwela bridge contractor ignored repeated warnings: Irrigation Dept.
The contractor tasked with building the new Kaduwela-Biyagama bridge has repeatedly ignored orders from the Irrigation Department to remove a temporary jetty that now threatens to impede the flow of the Kelaniya River which is swelling with incessant rains. The Irrigation Department has issued several directives to KD Ebert & Sons Holdings to take down [...]
Aloysius’ W.M. Mendis back in business with new investor
W.M. Mendis & Co, whose accounts were frozen as part of Central Bank action against companies in the Perpetual Group of Companies, is back in operation again, reportedly with the assistance of an unnamed investor. The liquor manufacturer is among 24 Perpetual Group companies whose bank accounts were frozen earlier this year by the Central [...]
Sitting SC Judge gives evidence before brother judges
For the first time in the country’s history, a sitting Supreme Court (SC) Judge gave evidence as a witness and was crossed examined by the Defence, during an inquiry held last week, before a 3-Judge Bench of the SC, comprising Justices Sisira de Abrew, Nalin Perera and Prasanna Jayawardena. The momentous occasion was when SC [...]
Lanka fully enforces sanctions against North Korea
Sri Lanka has given full effect to the United Nations sanctions on North Korea with powers to freeze funds, financial assets and economic resources of persons or entities dealing with that country. Defence Secretary Kapila Waidyaratne has been officially declared as the Competent Authority to ensure compliance with the sanctions, in keeping with a requirement [...]
Fertilizer to be gazetted an essential commodity under price control
The Government will impose strict price controls on fertilizer, through a gazette notification expected next week, declaring fertilizer an essential commodity. Under the Government price controls, a 50kg bag of ‘straight fertilizer’ will be sold to paddy farmers at Rs 500, while for those planting other crops it will be Rs 1,500. Straight fertilizers supply [...]
Law student dies in hospital a week after army truck hit his bike
A second year law student who was hit by an army truck died at the Incentive Care Unit of the National Hospital after undergoing treatment for a week, a coroner’s court was told. The student, Ranasinaghe Arrachchilage Don Hasitha Buddila (27) from Ihala Imbulgoda, Gampaha, was returning home on a motorcycle on May 5, after [...]
5 police teams probing shooting of Mt. Lavinia councillor
Five police teams are probing the murder of Dehiwela-Mount. Lavinia Municipal Councillor K. Ranjan Silva in Ratmalana. These include four police teams from the Mount. Lavinia Police and another appointed on instructions of the Inspector General of Police (IGP). Police are examining CCTV footage from homes and businesses close to the scene of the shooting,before [...]
Jean’s The Life of the Poet bags 2017 Gratiaen
The 2017 Gratiaen Prize was awarded to Jean Arasanayagam for The Life of the Poet, her collection of poems, at an event held at the BMICH, Colombo last night. The Gratiaen Prize annually rewards creative writing in English by a Sri Lankan citizen resident in Sri Lanka. The other writers shortlisted this year, which marks [...]
A time to sow, a time to reap
Farmers unload a tractor carrying bags of subsidised fertiliser. With the government resuming the fertiliser subsidy, and the monsoon season on, farmers are seen queueing up to collect quotas in Karuwalagaswewa. Pic by Jayaratne Wickramaratne
FTA with Singapore: Malik rejects allegations as fabricated
Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrema has said that allegations against the free trade agreement with Singapore are baseless and fabricated. In a statement relating to the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore he has described the allegations against it as “absolutely incorrect and is a fabricated lie to mislead the public.” The Minister [...]
Spotlight on voter rights as Elections Commission, monitors set to mark Voters’ Day
The Election Commission will on June 1 launch an array of exhibitions, rallies, workshops and public meetings to raise awareness on the importance of voter registration as part of its National Voters’ Day programmes. Deputy Elections Commissioner M.M. Mohamed told the Sunday Times these programmes, to be held throughout June, were aimed at educating the [...]
Cabinet approves KDU Act for it to enrol SAITM students
Cabinet approved on Tuesday (22), to amend the Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) Act, which will enable it to absorb 982 SAITM students, a senior official said. Higher Education Ministry Secretary J.J. Rathnasiri told the Sunday Times, the draft of the amended KDU Act, now with the Attorney General’s Dept, will be submitted to Parliament in [...]
Southern Province schools to reopen after several child deaths from flu
Primary schools in eight education zones in the Southern Province and preschools closed due to the spread of influenza will reopen on Wednesday and on June 4 respectively, according to the Southern Province Education Ministry. Chandima Rasaputra, the provincial education minister told the Sunday Times that schools had been closed on the advice of a [...]
Drugs and docs at a touch of your phone, but concern over patients’ safety
The introduction of e-consultation in Sri Lanka, a popular method enabling patients to access general practitioners (GP) through their mobile phones is being studied by the National Medicinal Regulatory Authority (NMRA) to ensure the system is not hijacked by quacks. The NMRA Chief Executive Officer Dr. Kamal Jayasinghe said that proper regulations need to be [...]
Garbage separation exposes sanitation workers to disease
Sanitation workers are risking their health trying to separate household waste with their bare hands at garbage dumps. They neither have gloves nor boots. These garbage separation sites have also become an eyesore in the capital, Colombo and pose dangers to public health for which the Colombo Municipal Council is also responsible. Environmentalist of the [...]
Thousands face more misery from deadly flooding and downpours
Torrential rains exceeding 100 millimetres in most areas and heavy flooding are once again causing unnecessary deaths and destruction at the onset of the monsoons in May. The overall danger is not over. The southwest monsoon has yet to set in proper. So far, 20 people are dead and another two persons missing. More than [...]
Killer dengue revival looms after flood destruction
Mosquito breeding grounds will soar following the deaths and destruction from heavy monsoon rains and health officials fear more dengue infections. The Consultant Community Physician of the National Dengue Control Unit Dr. Preshila Samaraweera told the Sunday Times that the health services have been directed through circulars on preventive measures to take at temporary dwellings [...]
Kelaniya residents call for permanent solution
Angered and frustrated by repeated ejection from their homes, the disruption to their lives and personal property damage due to annual flooding in May, residents who live on the Kelaniya river banks say the government should seek permanent solutions to this devastation. For three days now, the residents of Biyagama and Kaduwela have sought refuge [...]
1/3rd of SL’s population affected by disasters in 2017; Govt. spent Rs 5.5b
Nearly 1.5 million families or, about a third of the country’s population, were affected by natural and man-made disasters in 2017, majority were victims of drought, landslides and floods. The largest number of people, close to 4 million persons in 24 districts, were affected by the drought in most parts of the country last year. [...]
Many villages flooded as Thabbowa spill gates opened
The village of Thambapanni in Puttalam was submerged when all 20 spill gates of Thabbowa reservoir were opened. The Divisional Secretary Karuwalagaswewa, Janaka Thushara Balasuriya said, around 65 families who were trapped in the flood waters were safely moved to places of shelter located at the Thabbowa temple and relief items were provided to those [...]
Red light district: Break lights illuminate the dusk
The prevailing torrential rains have worsened the already exisitng traffic congestion situation in Colombo and its suburbs. Here vehicles are seen bumper to bumper even outside rush hours. Pic by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi
As sole beneficiary, Gammanpila forged Power of Attorney document: Witness
An Australian businessman’s wife told the Colombo High Court (CHC) on Friday that, one has to make the assumption that the allegedly fraudulent document executing a Power of Attorney (PoA) to Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) Leader and MP Udaya Gammanpila, had been written by him, as the only person to benefit from such a document [...]
Row over new prawn species: Industry casts doubts on state body’s disease-free claims
A state institution and a prawn industry body are locking horns in a row over the import of a new species of prawns. The National Aquaculture Development Authority (NAQDA), the state body responsible for the import of prawns for farming, said the fears raised by a section of the industry represented by the Sri Lanka [...]
Spoilers’ distortions, exaggerations, inaccuracies plague Reconciliation process
Nine years after the end of the armed conflict, Sri Lanka remains embroiled in distorted dialogues that are retarding the healing and nation-building processes the country sorely needs. After the armed conflict was brought to a successful conclusion on May 18, 2009, the Government of the day failed to take the next steps to forge [...]
Chinese Ambassador, Sri Lankan officials allay fears about Hambantota Port militarisation
The docking of warships is not equal to the militarisation of a port, and Sri Lankan leaders, including the President, Prime Minister and tri-force commanders, recently stated that reports of “so-called militarisation of Hambantota port… are not in accord with the facts,” China’s top diplomat in Colombo said this week. “Certain people speculate or spread [...]
Pick of the Pix
Pix by M.A.Pushpa Kumara Indika Handuwala Sameera Weerasekera Priyantha Wickramarachchi and Hiran Priyankara.
Calls to protect Colombo’s urban wildlife as dead otter discovered near Parliament
World Otter Day falls on Wednesday (May 30); but an unfortunate otter inhabiting the marshes of Kotte, close to Parliament, did not live to see this day. Environmentalists have asked motorists not to speed on the roads adjacent to urban marshland after the carcass of an otter was discovered close to the Parliament vehicle park [...]
From tranquillity to a garbage dump
‘Ape Gama’, formerly known as the Janakala Kendraya in Battaramulla used to be an isle of tranquility. Today it is fast becoming a garbage dumping yard with all manner of garbage, including non-degradable plastic containers from Ape Gama’ itself being dumped in the compound bordering the wetlands abundant with wild life. Situated at the turn-off [...]