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With the female work force dropping from 46 percent in 2006 to 36 percent last year, the Government is expected to provide a host of incentives to get more women into the labour force. These facilities are likely to be announced in the 2019 Budget to be presented in Parliament on Tuesday. Our picture shows [...]
Lanka to co-sponsor fresh resolution at UNHRC
Sri Lanka, along with the Britain-led ‘core group’, will co-sponsor a fresh resolution at the UN Human Rights Council on promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in the country, authoritative sources said. The ‘Zero Draft Resolution on Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka’ is already in circulation. Among other things, it envisages [...]
Attractive relief package in Tuesday’s Budget
Economic woes notwithstanding, the United National Front (UNF) Government will offer an attractive relief package in the 2019 Budget – the last before the Presidential election. Such a package will include an allowance for public sector employees, incentives to attract foreign remittance to Sri Lanka, reduction on tariffs on exports, tax concessions on equipment needed [...]
Heroin suspects: Detention likely for 14 days
The Attorney General is considering amendments to empower police to detain heroin-case suspects for 14 days to question them under detention orders. This comes after he had turned down a proposal by the police to detain suspects for 28 days. Under existing laws, police can only obtain a detention order to hold a suspect for [...]
High Court trial-at-bar for former Navy Commander
Former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda and other navy officers are to face a High Court trial-at-bar over the alleged abduction and disappearance of 11 youths, the Attorney General’s Department has decided. The case is to be taken up without a jury in view of the public controversy it has created. In terms of the Criminal [...]
Korean LNG project: Deadline extended again for counter proposals
The deadline has been extended yet again for international bidders to counter a South Korean proposal for an offshore floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), pipeline and liquefied natural gas (LNG). This is the third time the closing date for the controversial Swiss Challenge was changed by the Power and Energy Ministry. The bid was [...]
PM: Maha Sivaratri offers hope of peace and unity
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in a Maha Sivaratri message has said the night celebrated with lights reflects light of unity among all people and the hope of peace. He said in his message: “Mahashivaratri is celebrated by Hindus across the globe to venerate Lord Shiva with great enthusiasm and with a hope for spiritual freedom [...]
NJC urges President to withdraw from UNHRC Resolution
The National Joint Committee (NJC) has written to President Maithripala Sirisena requesting that the Government withdraw from being a co-sponsor of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution 30/1. “The said resolution is being made use of by the treacherous politicians in the government for a witchhunt to not only discredit the security forces [...]
Death certificate remark draws retort from lawyer representing parents of missing youths
A counsel appearing in a habeas corpus case for the parents of three missing youths told the Jaffna High Court this week that the petitioners’ objective was to know the whereabouts of their sons — and not to obtain death certificates from the Government. Counsel K. Guruparan made this remark in response to Deputy Solicitor [...]
Rathgama custodial killings: No show by five cops after transfers to Colombo
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is looking for five Southern Special Crimes Unit (SSCU) members who have not reported for duty after they were transferred to Colombo following the Rathgama custodial killings last month. Police Spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said all ports and airports had been alerted to prevent the officers from leaving the country. “According [...]
Two students killed in rail track tragedy
Two students, one of them said to be using her mobile phone, were killed yesterday after they were hit by a train, while walking on the rail track, Nawalapitiya police said. The victims were identified as Lalanga Harsha Kumara and Piyumi Bhagya. The police said the tragedy occurred when three boys and two girls were [...]
PET scanner brings peace building award for Hilir
The first ever Award for Volunteering for Peace Building was presented to Hilir Mohamed for his efforts in creating racial harmony through the initiative of raising funds to donate a PET scanner to the Apeksha Hospital in Maharagama. The presentation was made at the annual National Volunteer Awards ceremony (V- Awards) 2019, jointly organised by [...]
Lalkantha remanded till March 14
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna politburo member K.D. Lalkantha was yesterday remanded until March 14 after he was arrested for drink driving and causing injuries to two persons in an accident on Friday. Anuradhapura Chief Inspector E M Sanjeewa Mahanama said Mr Lalkantha was produced before the Anuradhapura Acting Magistrate Nadee Kurera. He said Mr Lalkantha was [...]
Commodity traders bemoan sales slump
With the Avurudu season in the offing and the tabling of the budget in Parliament not too far away, traders continue to lament over a future which seems bleak to them. Traders who were once busy counting stashes of cash now sit inside their shops wearing grief-stricken expressions. Sales have dwindled drastically for Sri Yogeswaran, [...]
Residual immunity does not cover throat-slitting gesture: Westminster judge
The defence of residual diplomatic immunity did not apply to the throat-slitting gesture made by Brig Priyanka Fernando, former Defence Attache at the Sri Lanka High Commission in London, as it was not a part of his official duties, a judge at the Westminster Magistrate’s Court decided this week. However, the withdrawal of the arrest [...]
Sri Lanka told to hold Facebook’s feet to the fire
Former US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Samantha Power, urged the Sri Lanka Government to insist that Facebook crack down on hate speech. She made the remarks in her keynote address at a commemoration held at the BMICH on Thursday, to mark Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s 30 years in Parliamentary politics. Pointing out that [...]
Five SriLankan flights cancelled after Pakistan closes airspace
SriLankan Airlines is assessing the financial losses suffered due to the cancellation of five flights with 1,453 passengers, following Pakistan’s decision to close its airspace for civilian flights in the wake of hostilities with neighbouring India. A SriLankan Airlines spokesman said operations to that country remained suspended even yesterday, with 13 passengers stranded at the [...]
Into the ‘Beast’ they went, to shine a light on its ‘treasures’
Perpetual darkness and absolute stillness! Into these big voids under the earth, never-ever speared by sunlight, has a small group ventured through very narrow openings, to bring to the more faint-hearted Sri Lankans like us, the wonders of ‘dark caves’. “We are entering the Beast,” says one as the Sunday Times views a short video [...]
PNB looks for Bangladesh links in biggest drug seizure
Police detectives are probing a possible link between two suspects who were arrested last week, in Wellawatte, in posession of a record 294.49 kilograms (kg) of heroin, and the Bangladeshi nationals who ran a safe house in Dehiwala, which was raided late late year. This was the largest single heroin haul (278kg) until last week’s [...]
What they found in the dark caves
We found nearly 150 taxonomic groups of fauna from all 18 caves including the dark ones,” says Dr. W.S. Weliange, explaining that the top-most diverse group was ‘decomposers’ such as fungi and bacteria, with spiders coming in second and lepidopteran moths taking third place. The others included bats, rats, porcupines, reptiles, birds, fish, frogs, centipedes, [...]
Chinese gem racket exposes issues in Lanka’s legal and regulatory frameworks
The discovery that Chinese nationals are entering Sri Lanka on tourist visas, securing residency on false pretexts, earning troves of cash by purportedly trading Madagascan and local gems without licensing while failing to prove the identity of their buyers has exposed multiple issues in the country’s legal and regulatory frameworks. Su Dianzhang, Su Binghuang and [...]
Budget on Tuesday, after four-month delay due to constitutional crisis
Budget 2019, delayed for four months due to the unprecedented constitutional crisis that engulfed the country for over 50 days, will finally be presented to Parliament by Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera in his Budget Speech on Tuesday (5). A month-long Parliamentary debate will follow, with a final Budget vote scheduled for April 5. Six days [...]
Setting up of regional intelligence centre for drug busting operations postponed
An official event to mark the signing of an agreement to establish the South Asian Regional Intelligence and Coordination Centre on Transnational Organized Crime (SARICC-TOC) has been postponed indefinitely. The event was to be held on Tuesday with the President signing the agreement as the Minister of Defence The proposed centre, facilitated by the United [...]
Commission chairman notes lavish expenditure on VIP Kit, while poverty persisted
While the national carrier was struggling with poor cash flow and dwindling revenue to meet its daily expenses in 2013, the then top management requested aircraft manufacturer Airbus to fix a VIP Kit worth US$ 15 million in an A330-300 aircraft for the exclusive use of the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Though the then management [...]
Backpack users endanger others, risk their health
Backpacks, which many working people and students use, are adding to the inconvenience that commuters suffer in public transport. They also endanger passengers as they move in and out of public transport including trains. This is so even in lifts. A regular commuter of the evening train from Ratmalana to Colombo Fort Danushika Weerasekara, 21, [...]
Residual immunity does not cover throat-slitting gesture: Westminster judge
The defence of residual diplomatic immunity did not apply to the throat-slitting gesture made by Brig Priyanka Fernando, former Defence Attache at the Sri Lanka High Commission in London, as it was not part of his official duties, a judge at the Westminster Magistrate Court decided this week. However, the withdrawal of an arrest warrant [...]
Five SriLankan flights cancelled after Pakistan closes airspace
SriLankan Airlines is assessing the financial losses suffered due to the cancellation of five flights with 1,453 passengers, following Pakistan’s decision to close its airspace for civilian flights in the wake of hostilities with neighbouring India. A SriLankan Airlines spokesman said operations to that country remained suspended even yesterday, with 13 passengers stranded at the [...]
We saw him as one who maintained cooperation between Bench and Bar
the life of late Hemantha Warnakulasuriya P.C. symbolises significant achievements that brought honour and glory, not just to himself but also to the profession which he represented, Colombo Chief Magistrate Lanka Jayaratne said recently during a reference held in honour of Mr Warnakulasuriya at the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court. Excerpts of the speech made by [...]
200 vehicles removed from road after Motor Traffic raid
About 200 vehicles used in public transport were declared unroadworthy and their owners were ordered not to use them, following random checks conducted by Motor Traffic officials in three Southern districts this week. Motor Traffic examiner M. Kodagoda said the checks followed public complaints about passenger safety issues in vehicles for public transport. He said [...]
Free ambulance service goes to Central Province
Under the programme of providing free ambulance services throughout the country, ambulances were distributed to 42 police stations in the Kandy and Matale districts. This is part of a package of assistance by the Indian government to the people of Sri Lanka. Minister Harsha de Silva who initiated the programme, and Leader of the House [...]
Giving to those who have not
The first working day of each month is a day the poor and the elderly look forward to. It is the date on which they collect their monthly ‘Charity Allowance’ from post offices in their locality. For the deprived sections of our community who collect their allowance at the Thalawathugoda Post Office, situated on the [...]
The Kandy ‘night martket’ on the Daladha Veediya
Members of the Kandy Municipal Council are up in arms against the ‘night market’ organized by the Central Provincial Council. Opening the subject for discussion at the monthly meeting of the Kandy Municipal Council held on Thursday, Councillor Roshan Gunaskera said, though he was not a Buddhist, he was totally opposed to the holding of [...]