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Home » NewsDiamonds are a girl’s best friend
Two Chinese women tourists admiring a deluxe 46.17 gram white gold necklace with 13 blue sapphires and 317 diamonds. The necklace priced at US$ 120,000 (Rs. 19.3 million) was offered for sale at a gem and jewellery show in Colombo. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara .
Wildlife officials to be armed with AK 47 rifles
Wildlife officials will be armed with Russian-made Kalashnikov AK 47 assault rifles under a Rs. 42 million project to protect elephants from poachers and to save human lives in the human-elephant conflict, the Cabinet has decided. These weapons, more sophisticated than the standard issue of Chinese-made T-56 assault rifles, are to be bought on a [...]
Multi-party delegation for talks in India
India has invited a multi-party Sri Lankan delegation to visit New Delhi for a familiarisation tour where bilateral matters will be discussed. The ten member team for the tour from September 9 to 14 will be led by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and include Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, House Leader Lakshman Kiriella, Minister Nimal Sripala De [...]
Slash in prices of ten expensive cancer drugs, 13 other medicines
The Government has introduced regulations to control prices of ten high cost medicines used in cancer treatment. Under an amendment to a gazette notification issued on December 14 last year, the Government has fixed maximum tender prices for selected high cost cancer drugs commonly used on patients. Accordingly, price restrictions have been imposed on cancer [...]
PM invited for McCain’s funeral, but couldn’t go
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had to turn down a request from the widow of US Senator John McCain to attend his funeral yesterday in Washington DC, citing the absence of President Maithripala Sirisena from the country on state business and the requirement for him to be at home. The late US Senator, considered a national [...]
Prices of bread, bakery products going up
Bakery products will go up in price, after the flour price was increased by five rupees a kilo from yesterday. Bakers met yesterday night to determine the new prices of bread and other bakery products and will have another meeting tomorrow. All Ceylon Bakery Owners Association President N.K Jayawardena said that besides the flour price, [...]
Dual citizenship: Many Lankan families trapped in legal vacuum
Each time seven-year-old Shanara arrives at the Bandaranaike International Airport, she is the only one in her family of six who must show a visa to enter the country of her parents’ birth. Like many other children in her predicament, the girl was born during a four-year period when the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration had stopped [...]
Ceiling on private hospital charges: Health Minister to hold more talks with stakeholders
The proposed ceiling on rates charged by private hospitals was discussed at length by Minister Rajitha Senaratne and high-level medical specialists, including surgeons and physicians, on Friday evening, the Sunday Times learns. The proposal refers to the maximum charges that private hospitals can levy on in-patient and out-patient procedures, including surgeries. Friday’s two-hour discussion was [...]
Bus driver and conductor arrested for alleged sexual abuse of schoolgirl
A bus driver and a conductor have been arrested over the alleged sexual abuse of a 15-year-old schoolgirl in Nuwara Eliya. The conductor was reportedly an accomplice to the crime as he had prevented the girl from alighting from the bus in Pussellawa. According to police, on Thursday, the student’s father had asked her to [...]
WP Governor wants report on luxury chairs
Western Province Governor Hemakumara Nanayakkara has asked for a report on the decision by the Western Provincial Council (WPC) to import over 100 luxury chairs at the cost of Rs 86m. “Once I get the report I will hold an inquiry and my decision will be made known to the public,” Governor Nanayakkara told the [...]
Aussie police probing how well loved Lankan Uni student became radicalised
Friends, colleagues stunned that the cherubic-faced Mohamed Kamer Nizamdeen is charged with planning bloody atrocities Police say the PhD student is affiliated with the IS but are not charging him with being a member of the terrorist organisation He acted as a lone wolf, allegedly using his campus activities as a cover Counter-terrorism police in [...]
CoA refuses Gnanasara Thera’s appeal against Contempt of Court conviction
A 2-member Bench of the Court of Appeal (CoA) comprising its President Justice Preethi Padman Surasena and Judge Shiran Gunaratne, on Friday, refused Ven. Galagodatthe Gnanasara‘s application for leave to proceed with the appeal against the sentence handed down to him in a Contempt of Court (CoC) case, saying there were no substantive facts to [...]
Kerawalapitiya full, garbage will go to Aruwakkalu by road from next month
The proposed plan to transport garbage to a landfill in the Puttalam District is to take place ahead of schedule as the Kerwalapitiya site is running short of space, a senior official said. Accordingly, from the Western Province, more than 600 tons of garbage will be transported by road daily to Puttalam from next month [...]
Crackdown on shops selling drugs to schoolchildren
The government is to conduct island-wide educational programmes on narcotics and similar substances sold near schools a senior official said. National Dangerous Drugs Control Board (NDDCB) Chairman, Saman Abeysinghe said the NDDCB have learned that school children are being tempted into using drugs. He explained that shops near schools are targeted by the drug mafia [...]
Japan keen to help Sri Lanka strengthen maritime security
“Japan would like to achieve a free, open and prosperous Indian Ocean, and to achieve that goal we have promoted cooperation with Sri Lanka in the area of maritime security,” the Japanese State Minister for Foreign Affairs said addressing a vessel commissioning ceremony at the Colombo Port last Wednesday. The statement comes against the backdrop [...]
Stuck in the mud, five elephants die in Mahaweli marshes
Five elephants were found dead in a Polonnaruwa marshy land along one of the main tributaries of the Mahaweli River, wildlife officials said yesterday. Residents said they saw the carcass of an elephant calf in the same area a few days ago. The wildlife officials said that the elephants had strayed into the marsh and [...]
Two SriLankan pilots remain grounded over Cochin mishap in May
Two SriLankan Airlines pilots are still grounded over an incident in which the A330-300 aircraft they were piloting veered towards the edge of the runway and damaged some ground lights in May this year. “This is considered a serious incident and a formal inquiry is being conducted by the authorities in India where the incident [...]
Traditional cash crops under threat from palm oil, warns environmental regulator
The Central Environment Authority is warning of a possible threat to Sri Lanka’s traditional cash crops as palm oil cultivation expands. “A threat has been posed by palm oil cultivations on all existing traditional plantation crops like tea, rubber and coconut and if the current trend continues, the remaining rubber plantations will be converted into [...]
Liberal International’s Acting Secretary General to deliver Dudley Senanayake Memorial Oration
The Dudley Senanayake Memorial Oration this year will be delivered by Gordon Mackay, the Acting Secretary General of Liberal International and a former member of the South African Parliament. The lecture organised by the Dudley Senanayake Foundation and Friedrich Naumann Stiftung will be held on September 14, at 5.15 p.m. at the BCIS Hall of [...]
Evaluation Bill will enable scrutiny of new and current projects: Mayantha
The Government will present a bill in Parliament to subject future projects to careful analysis and evaluation before they are begun, a government parliamentarian said yesterday. Kandy District United National Party MP Mayantha Dissanayake, member of the Committee on Public Finance, told the Sunday Times the Evaluation Bill would give legal effect to the Government’s [...]
Sick and coaled: Kalpitiya villagers hit out at Lakvijaya apathy
Coal dust causes respiratory problems and other health hazards to people near power plant Agreement signed after FR petition, but residents say CEB fails to abide by it Plant official dismisses the allegations and says measures are being taken to mitigate the problems Dilani Dissanayake frets over the health of her one-month-old infant. [...]
Cabinet not informed of cancellation of 4 Airbus leases- Cabinet Secretary
Secretary to the Cabinet of Ministers, Sumith Abeysinghe testifying before the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) appointed to investigate alleged irregularities within SriLankan Airlines Ltd (SriLankan), SriLankan Catering Ltd (SL Catering) and Mihin Lanka (Pvt) Ltd (Mihin), from January 1, 2006 to January 31, 2018, on Thursday, said the previous management did not inform the Cabinet [...]
House to debate payments to OMP members
Parliament will, on Tuesday, debate a motion for the payment of emoluments to the 7 members of the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) including its Chairman. Payments to the Chairman will include a monthly allowance of Rs 100,000, a monthly telephone allowance of Rs 10,000 and an official vehicle with a monthly quota of 225 [...]
Rangers at continual threat of harm by law-breaking villagers
As long as illegal activities continue within wildlife park boundaries, clashes between wildlife officials and villagers cannot be avoided, Wildlife Department Director-General Chandana Sooriyabandara said. He said the recent violence at the Minneriya National Park, where clashes erupted between villagers and a group of forest rangers, began when a fisherman had been taken into custody [...]
Young Jaffna entrepreneur’s dreams come true with Thurunu Diriya boost
A young Jaffna entrepreneur who patiently built up a business despite early setbacks says a shot in the arm from a Rs. 500,000 Bank of Ceylon Thurunu Diriya loan will allow him to expand and also bring employment to others in the area. The story of 27-year-old Shanmugam Saruthan, who comes from a family of [...]
Missing cop found
Two youths who had stolen a life-size dummy of a traffic cop set up by the road side in Puttalam to alert motorists and reduce accidents, were arrested yesterday. The dummy was set up on the Puttalam –Colombo road close to the Palaviya area. Police say the duo were arrested while they were transporting the [...]
Tri-Services exercise ‘Cormorant Strike’ for 9th successive year
The annual Tri-Services exercise ‘Cormorant Strike’, organised by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), will be held for the 9th successive year from September 6-26, with nearly 100 foreign military participants and observers joining over 3,000 Sri Lankan Armed Forces personnel. The exercise is the largest one of its kind in the country. This year, it [...]
SLTB driver gets one year imprisonment for rash driving
The Supreme Court (SC) has upheld a 1-year custodial sentence of imprisonment delivered by the High Court (HC) on a Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) bus driver who caused injury to a school teacher by pulling out of a halt as she was getting off. “The accused-appellant was entrusted with the responsibility of carrying passengers [...]
Sri Lanka-Japan Collaborative Research stresses the importance of research
The Peradeniya University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Upul B Dissanayake, said that there should be an audit undertaken on the research done at the University. He was speaking at the sixth conference of the Sri Lanka-Japan Collaborative Research held at the Post Graduate Institute of Science at the University. The theme this year was ‘Mitigating Global [...]
Scrap metal exporters accused of violating rules
Gross disregard for guidelines regarding the export of scrap metal is having a negative impact on the local metal industry as tons of material that can be refined locally are being sent abroad illegally. The law permits only the export of locally un-refinable scrap on the basis of a certificate issued by one of three [...]
Insurgents are waging losing battles against States, says global terrorism expert Dr Ucko
Dr. David Ucko was among the international and national experts who addressed the ‘Colombo Defence Seminar 2018’, the Sri Lanka Army’s (SLA) annual conference held for the 8th time at the BMICH on August 30-31 A global terrorism expert this week observed that the Islamic State (ISIS) is rapidly facing defeat by conventional forces similar [...]
PM: This is how I will make my country rich by 2025
This is an important moment in Sri Lanka’s development, as the country continues to deliver on its plans for economic development and stands on the cusp of a transition to a knowledge-based economy. Since the country and its people saw a vibrant transition in its political landscape in January 2015, further bolstered by the August [...]
Brutal harvesting of gal siyambala treat leaves sour taste
With the gal siyambala season at its height experts are warning that unsustainable harvesting methods are pushing the fruit tree towards extinction while prices for the product have soared. With its velvet coat and sweetish acidic taste the gal siyambala or velvet tamarind has been a delicacy for generations. The velvet tamarind tree (Dialium ovoideum) [...]
Court order executed after 5 years
A tense situation arose when villagers attempted to prevent a fiscal officer appointed by court from evicting the occupants of a dwelling illegally constructed within the Arachchikattuwa – Manaveriya cemetery. The Divisional Secretary had filed action in the Magistrates Court for the demolition of the building and eviction of W. Neville -a casual worker by [...]
No point trying to make legal lunch sheets, makers say
Despite claims of intensive raids by the Central Environment Authority (CEA) to bar high-density polythene products the use of the ubiquitous shopping bags and lunch sheets is on the rise and manufacturers have decided to abandon production of biodegradable lunch sheets. Container-loads of raw material for biodegradable low-density polythene lunch sheets, imported back in January, [...]
Wanted: A clock and two cannons, as Negombo rebuilds its history
The centuries-old Negombo Fort, which changed hands repeatedly in bloody battles between foreign forces, is to be renovated and careful restoration of other historic sites in the city is under conideration. City authorities have issued a public plea for the return of three valued artefacts so that they might again grace the structures for which [...]
National tributes to Kandy Dalada Perahera performers
President Maithripala Sirisena paid tribute to all the traditional local artistes who performed at the Esala Maha Perahera of the Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy, which concluded last Sunday, saying it can teach the world the essence of Buddhism. “The patience, tolerance and the finer principles of Buddhism are inculcated through such festivals. The Kandy [...]
Pick of the Pix
Pix by M.A.Pushpa Kumara , Amila Gamage , Saman Wijaya Hemmathagama ,Jayarathna Wickramarachchi and M. Munaf
Medicines found abandoned
A large stock of medicines some with dates expired, as well as some whose dates of expiration had not elapsed were found abandoned by the roadside along the Mundalama Madurankuliya Road last week. The Police said the stock of medicines could have been abandoned either by a yet unidentified pharmaceutical firm or by unknown individuals… [...]