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It’s the holiday season in Nuwara Eliya and the annual horse races are among the highlights. Here a street pooch decides to make a dash across the track, stealing the show.
Power crisis: Top official tampers with committee report
A three-member ministerial committee tasked to make urgent recommendations to end the power crisis has found that alterations have been made to its report by a senior official of the Ministry of Power and Energy. Such a move, the Sunday Times has learnt, has triggered questions on whether the alterations were intended to promote certain [...]
IRD gets new chief; tax collection back on track
Tax collections due from more than 40,000 companies — held back due to legal impediments for more than seven months — are to be revived after this week’s appointment of a Permanent Commissioner General of the Inland Revenue Department. The companies had challenged the directives given by the Acting Commissioner General, thereby preventing the Department [...]
Govt. to repeal controversial Takeover Act
The Cabinet this week approved the repeal of the controversial Revival of Underperforming Enterprises or Underutilized Assets Act of 2011 under which the previous administration abruptly took over 37 institutions, including private companies, and sent shockwaves through the investor community. The repeal Act, which is in draft form, ensures that the relevant institutions and properties [...]
Child abuse: Backlog of 17,600 cases in AG’s Dept.
There was a backlog of nearly 17,600 unresolved child abuse cases in the files of the Attorney General’s Department at the end of 2017, according to its annual performance report presented to Parliament this month. Meanwhile, the latest report of the Prisons Department shows that there were 161 direct admissions of convicted child abusers in [...]
Lanka to double air space rates, landing and other charges
The Government is planning to increase the rates for use of Sri Lanka’s air space by international airlines and other flights, ground handling and waiting charges. A cabinet paper to this effect is to be submitted by the Transport and Civil Aviation Ministry next month. Aviation Minister Arjuna Ranatunga told the Sunday Times the revision [...]
Don’t misuse media freedom through unethical conduct: President Sirisena at Media Awards ceremony
President Maithripala Sirisena requested the Media not to misuse the Media Freedom given to them, by engaging in unethical conduct. He made these remarks at the inaugural Presidential Media Awards ceremony held at the BMICH. He said he was not against constructive criticism and would welcome criticism made for the betterment of the country. The [...]
Teachers yet to get new biology syllabus book
The GCE Advanced Level new biology syllabus has yet not been printed in a book form although the examination is just four months away, a teachers’ union has complained. The Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) General Secretary, Joseph Stalin, said the Education Ministry had posted online only eight of the 10 units of the syllabus introduced [...]
Government Printer brought under Ministry of Lands & Parliamentary Reforms
The Government Printing Department which was brought under the purview of the Ministry of Defence which is under the President, during the 52-day political crisis has been brought under the Ministry of Lands & Parliamentary Reforms with effect from Friday (April 12). Lands & Parliamentary Reforms Minister Gayatha Karunathilake said he was informed this week [...]
Fishing industry rogues blowing up marine habitat
Blast fishing, commonly referred to as dynamite fishing, an illegal and destructive form of fishing, is on the rise in Sri Lanka and is a serious cause for concern, experts warn. So far this year, the Sri Lanka Navy and the Police Special Task Force have seized 700 sticks of gelignite and similar explosives from [...]
In New Year messages, leaders highlight virtues of tradition
President Maithripala Sirisena has expressed concern over traditions associated with the National New Year becoming submissive to market mechanisms. Emphasising the importance of being one with nature, the President in his message called on the people to understand the deep meaning behind New Year customs and traditions. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in his message has [...]
More buses, more trains for the holiday season
Additional buses and trains have been deployed for the convenience of commuters travelling to and from their homes during and after the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. The Road Development Authority (RDA) is also taking measures to minimise traffic congestion at entry and exit points along the Southern Expressway. Special transport arrangements made for the [...]
Multiple moves end blackout for Avurudu
A combination of emergency power purchases, repairs to existing power plants and low demand during the Sinhala and Hindu New Year enabled the authorities to lift countrywide power cuts from Wednesday. The power crisis, however is not yet over, as demand will start peaking again after about April 22, according to officials. Though power cuts [...]
Water supply can’t meet hot-weather demand
The Irrigation and Meteorology Departments are calling on the public to use water sparingly during the next few days. Below-average rainfalls and high temperatures have been reported throughout the month. Irrigation Department Director-General S. Mohanarajah said farmers have been told to use water sparingly to avoid shortages at the end of the month. “The Irrigation [...]
Fierce sun warnings ignored by festival organisers
Despite a joint warning issued by the Health Ministry and the Meteorological Depart-ment advising that care be taken over exposure to the fierce sun, Avurudu sports celebrations are being conducted as usual. The Meteorology Department forecasts that the heatwave that began in early March will continue until mid-May 2019 but ministries and other organisations are [...]
Ground burst open and swallowed their families
A healing garden is slowly taking shape in the space where, exactly two years ago, at least 32 people were killed in a horrific chain of events when gases burst out of the ground and a huge mountain of stinking garbage toppled down on the houses built around it in Meethotamulla. Eleven people are still [...]
Enhanced traffic fines after Parliament approval: Minister
The newly gazetted enhanced traffic fines would come into force only after they were approved by Parliament and this might take at least a month, Transport Minister Arjuna Ranatunga said. The increase in fines was aimed at curbing road accidents which claim at least 8 to 9 lives a day in Sri Lanka. The Minister [...]
Permanent confiscation of Tamil Nadu fishing boats caught trespassing
Sri Lanka’s courts have started to permanently confiscate Tamil Nadu (TN) fishing boats apprehended for illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in Sri Lankan (SL) waters. On April 4, a second TN fishing boat arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) was forfeited by the Kilinochchi Magistrate’ Court. The skipper and crew pleaded guilty to [...]
“A person arriving in BMW should not get an operation free at NHSL”
The woes of men, women and children who are facing numerous challenges even though the country has a vibrant ‘free’ state health system came forth loud and clear last Sunday. Videos of ‘Voices from the field’ brought the reality of many unable to access health care, to the heart of Colombo city when World Health [...]
Brace for yet more union gripes and disruptions to life and work
Schools, hospitals and transport services including railway and buses could face serious disruptions once again, when planned strikes resume after the Sinhala Hindu New Year celebrations are over. Some trade unions that organised strikes before the nationsl cultural festival are also expected to renew their agitations. The Government Nursing Officers Association (GMNOA) has threatened to [...]
Pick of the Pix
Pix by Amila Gamage, M.A.Pushpakumara, Ishanka Sunimal, Nimalsiri Edirisinghe and Jayarathna Wickramarachchi.
Whales, dolphins draw tourists to Mirissa
The seas off the Mirissa coast have become tourist hotspots, with pods of whales and dolphins being the top attraction from December to April. In specially-designed boats, locals and foreign tourists wearing life jackets observe the giants of the deep blue ocean. The whale species sighted at Mirrisa, just 150 km south of Colombo, include [...]
Exporting electricity to India a once-upon-a-time Lankan dream
At the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the Polgolla Dam in 1970, the Minister in charge of the Mahaweli Diversion Programme, Maithripala Senanayake, expressed the hope that, once the whole project was completed, Sri Lanka would be in a position to export electricity to India. The statement hardly attracted any attention or comment. This was only [...]
Ragama Hospital launches kidney transplants
It is not a first, but it is a dire need. As such, in the interests of the public they are duty-bound to serve, a team at the Colombo North (Ragama) Teaching Hospital, amidst many challenges, has gone beyond the call of duty to initiate kidney transplants here. On Tuesday, a slip of a girl [...]
Tiny orchid with the name of a giant
April is the month of flowers and there is no better time to announce that a newly-discovered orchid named Pteroceras dalaputtuwa in memory of the iconic tusker, Galgamuwa Dala Puttuwa, tragically killed for its tusks, has been added to the list of flowers endemic to Sri Lanka. The tiny Dalaputtuwa orchid is a partially opened [...]
Police declare war on errant private bus drivers
Many road users believe that buses, both private and state-run, are among the biggest traffic offenders, though many are the times these offences go undetected by the police. Often, one observes these buses cutting directly into the lanes of other vehicles, especially smaller vehicles, paying little heed to basic traffic norms. Driving over pavements, parking on [...]
The revolt against virtue
NEW YORK – A common explanation for the rise of right-wing demagogues around the world is that many people feel “left behind” by globalism, technology, deindustrialisation, pan-national institutions, and so on. They feel abandoned by the “liberal elites,” and so they vote for extremists who promise to “take back” their countries and “make them great” [...]
NGOs blast US for undermining International Criminal Court
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – As it paves a destructive path against international institutions and multilateralism, the Trump administration is slowly but steadily undermining the United Nations and its affiliated agencies. The US has already withdrawn both from the Human Rights Council in Geneva and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in Paris while, [...]