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Home » News20,000 containers held up at Port
More than 20,000 containers are still held up at the Colombo Port as clearing of the goods has slowed down, Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) Chairman Retired General Daya Ratnayake told the Sunday Times. The move has resulted in the port finding it difficult to accommodate more cargo. He said some of vessels were [...]
PM ignores AG’s warning, gives approval for LNG power project
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his capacity as finance minister, presented a new note to Cabinet this week authorising the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) to sign up for a liquefied natural gas (LNG)/diesel-fired power plant without reference to the Attorney General (AG). This is in stark contrast to his earlier stance that the AG and [...]
Minister sacks SLMC chief and four others; medical community divided over dramatic move
The head and four others of the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) were sacked on Friday afternoon by Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi with the removal letters being delivered halfway through the SLMC’s monthly meeting which had started at 1 p.m. The dramatic removal of SLMC President Prof. Harendra de Silva and others came following a [...]
Namal not well, misses sports debate
Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa was absent at the committee stage debate of his ministry’s vote in Parliament yesterday. The speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena told the House that Minister Rajapaksa was unwell and therefore he would not be present for the debate.
Companies, factories must appoint Health Committees to monitor employees
To continue their operations, private companies and factories will be required to set up their own “Health Committees” in the next two weeks to monitor the implementation of Covid-19 health guidelines, Labour Commissioner General Prabath Chandrakeerthi told the Sunday Times. If they failed to do so, legal action would be taken against them in terms [...]
Govt. slams Fitch for downgrading Lanka
The Government yesterday hit back at a Fitch Ratings downgrade of the country’s Long-term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) which had put it in the company of Angola, Argentina, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Laos, the Maldives and Mozambique. Fitch is a leading provider of credit ratings, research and analysis for global financial markets. The downgrade [...]
Talks on the fate of J R Jayewardene’s Ward Place property
Steeped in history, the Ward Place home of late President J R Jayewardene and his wife, Elena, is crumbling. It has been ravaged by time and neglected, but on the orders of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, the groundwork is now being laid to turn the edifice into a museum and environmental centre with Government support. [...]
Illegal bottom trawling by Indians: Lanka collects data, tough action being taken
As a major step towards curbing the illegal bottom trawling by Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters, the Fisheries Ministry has taken steps through diplomatic channels to share the details of intruding Indian trawlers, a senior Fisheries Ministry official said. The Fisheries Ministry was collecting details such as satellite locations in the Palk Strait from [...]
COVID spreads in prisons: Presidential pardon for those serving long-term sentences
In a bid to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by reducing congestion within prisons, the Government has formulated criteria to grant special general amnesty for prisoners who have served a long period of their long-term sentences. The Presidential Secretary wrote to the Justice Ministry secretary this week detailing the criteria under which prisoners could be [...]
High Court Judges who were not promoted take their grievances to President and CJ
Some High Court judges who were not considered for promotions that were granted recently have made representations to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya claiming their seniority had been ignored. The promotions were granted after six vacancies were created in the Court of Appeal due to the implementation of the 20th Amendment under [...]
Ancient monastry site in Delft island declared archaeological reserve
An acre of land comprising a ruined monastry complex in Delft island, Jaffna was this week declared an archaeological reserve by the Department of Archaeology through a gazette notification. The land which comes under the Grama Niladhari Division (J01) of Delft Divisional Secretary Division was gazetted based on the Topography Preliminary Plan surveyed by the [...]
Ready for any emergency to serve patients, COVID or no COVID, while safeguarding the staff
The Karapitiya Teaching Hospital (KTH) has looked at all angles of patient care and set up pathways on how to protect its staff while serving its patients to the fullest in the challenging times of COVID-19. Hospital preparedness to face any situation is the mantra, the Sunday Times understands, with the Health Ministry’s common guidelines [...]
Explosive changes at SLMC as Minister sacks its President and 4 other members
The Sunday Times has copy of five-member committee report Report has not singled out any SLMC member, says AMS The controversial decision last Friday by Health Minister PavithraWanniarachchi has been questioned by the Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) which states the five-member committee report that inquired into the conduct of the Sri Lanka Medical Council [...]
Class bells ring with little warning, and few turn up
The government’s decision to open public schools on Monday for the final term despite the worsening pandemic came under heavy criticism by teachers, principals and parents. They declared with one voice that the decision was sudden and that teachers and principals had not been consulted. “[Education ministry] Secretary Professor Kapila Perera claimed the decision to [...]
North East courts ban Tiger commemorative events
In the North and East, courts have issued orders preventing any form of commemorative events to mark the ‘Maveerar Naal’ or Great Heroes’ Day, a day declared by Liberation of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to remember its cadres who died in the near-three-decade separatist war. On Thursday, the Jaffna Magistrate’s Court issued an order after Kopay [...]
People’s privacy to the fore as Govt. introduces ‘Stay Safe Sri Lanka’
‘Stay Safe Sri Lanka’, the Government’s recently-introduced web solution for contact tracing of Covid-19 patients was received with deep skepticism by the public and industry experts. Such technology is a part of the battle against Covid in many countries with authorities looking for ways in which to reduce the time within which close contacts of [...]
President’s thrift sets example for Budget, MPs told, while Opposition questions treaty withdrawal
Debate on expenses for 25 institutions including the offices of the president and prime minister, parliament, judges of the superior courts and independent commissions kick-started the Committee Stage debate of the 2021 Budget on Monday. Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kirielle, joining the debate, said investors would not come to autocratic counties and where the judiciary [...]
Lockdown strategy based on scientific criteria: Ministry
A strong strategy based on scientific criteria on locking and unlocking areas was finalised this week by the Health Ministry, the Sunday Times learns. “The final decision whether to lockdown or not, based on the Health Ministry strategy can then be made by higher authorities. This strategy will ensure that we don’t need to lockdown [...]
Flag-bearer for special children
There is much joy in a humble home and primary school deep in Gampaha district, beleaguered by COVID-19. While the highest achievers at the Grade 5 scholarship examination across the country have got wide publicity with their photographs splashed across all the newspapers, in this home and school the joy is over a special 10-year-old [...]
More Lankans come home
Seven more repatriation flights have been scheduled between 28 November and 8 December with returnees from four of these flights going into paid quarantine and the others into Government-run facilities. Six of these flights will bring home migrant workers from Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain and the UAE. The other flight is repatriating Government officials, [...]
Laws bulldozed to clear way for land and forest plunder
The controversy over a circular issued by the Ministry of Wildlife and Forest Conservation empowering District and Divisional Secretaries to use selected land for economic projects continued this week, with the government defending the move and environmentalists opposing it. The latest directive was on November 4, by Secretary of the Ministry, Bandula Harischandra. It cancels [...]
Mawella’s tourism investors at bay as Fisheries Ministry moves ahead with ‘harbour’ project
Boutique hotel and luxury villa investors have urged the Government to intervene and prevent the construction of a fisheries anchorage and two offshore breakwaters, insisting they would distort the beauty of the two-kilometre-long Mawella bay in Tangalle and destroy the potential to attract tourists. The proposed 300-metre stone anchorage and two offshore breakwaters are to [...]
CMC steps in with relief packs
The Colombo Municipality Council has stepped into provide dry ration packs for low income families living in isolated areas. Shalika Ranaweera, Charity Commissioner said CMC members suggested providing 70,000 dry ration packs to low-income families who are in lockdown areas, and that they hope to complete the process by next week. “A pack includes 10kg [...]
Too little, too late?
The distribution of the Rs 5,000 allowance for persons whose incomes were affected due to the Covid-19 situation has been taking place in several areas of the Western Province. In some of the areas, the money is distributed in a methodical manner, but in some other areas the distribution of the money has been chaotic, [...]
DMT hotline to pacify customers
The Department of Motor Traffic (DMT) will set up a hotline connected to a call centre following a flood of complaints from frustrated motorists trying to get through on busy existing phone lines. This week, the department introduced about 20 mobile phone numbers to allow people to make over-the phone appointments prior to arriving at [...]
Cyclone Nivar moves away leaving behind damaged homes and properties in the north
‘Cyclone Nivar’ that formed over the southern Bay of Bengal has moved away from the island, the Meteorology Department said. Initially classified as a “very severe cyclonic storm”, Nivar weakened into a “severe cyclonic storm” after it made landfall in India. However, there is the possibility of low pressure forming in the southern bay of [...]
Green and Smart Girls’ school for Central Province
The “Green and Smart School” concept is to be introduced in the Central Province by Central Province Governor Lalith U.Gamage, with the cooperation of the Central Province Education Department. A foundation stone was laid at Rajawella in Digana for a “Green and Smart” Girls’ school, and Mass Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, Agriculture Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage [...]
Dispute over payment of damages to car sales centre hit by vehicle driven by teenager
A dispute has arisen over the payment of damages to the Colombo 7 luxury car sales centre that was damaged when a jeep driven by a teenager crashed into the building a fortnight ago. The car sales centre said the dispute was over the refusal by parties concerned to pay the damages claimed. According to [...]