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Home » NewsMattu Pongal The milk of the cow’s kindness
All over the world, Tamil Hindus celebrated Thai Pongal or the harvest festival. The next day, they celebrate what is known as ‘Mattu Pongal’ to honour the cattle for their service to farmers and humanity. At the Sivan Temple in Kochchikade on Friday, Hindus are seen feeding and patting a cow. Pic by M.A. Pushpakumara
A new Commission of Inquiry to study human rights allegations
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is poised to name a new three-member Commission of Inquiry (CoI) mandated with looking into reports of previous panels and “finding closure to burning issues”, just days before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) takes up Sri Lanka’s case in Geneva, These will include the findings of the Lessons Learnt and [...]
UNHRC sessions: Lanka turns down invitation to co-sponsor new resolution
A new resolution will be brought before the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva by the Core Group on Sri Lanka — Canada, Germany, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Britain — after the Government turned down an invitation to co-sponsor one. While civil society sources indicated that its text is “conciliatory”, Admiral (Prof) Jayanath Colombage, [...]
Indian fisher groups to launch anti-Lankan protest near Katchatheevu
Ahead of scheduled Tamil Nadu Assembly elections on May 28, Indian fishermen groups are set to stage a protest near the Katchatheevu islet next Saturday (January 23) with black flags. Their aim is to condemn Sri Lanka’s moves to auction more than 100 Indian trawlers in custody and denial of their ‘traditional right’ to fish [...]
Sri Lanka open up for more tourists from Thursday
The country would open for tourists from most parts of the world from Thursday and continue with repatriation flights, but would remain closed for other Sri Lankans planning to return, officials said. Accordingly the country will receive upto 2,550 tourists and a maximum of 750 locals on repatriation flights a day. A senior Tourism Ministry [...]
Lanka expecting to get India’s COVID-19 vaccines within two weeks
More than a week after India’s top diplomat pledged priority for Sri Lanka in providing coronavirus vaccines, a report says that up to 20 million doses would be distributed by India to neighbouring countries in the next two weeks. It is not clear at this stage whether the vaccines will be free for Sri Lanka, [...]
Ukraine protests its tourists are blocked in hotels
The Ukraine Embassy has expressed concern to the Sri Lankan Government that many Ukrainian tourists are blocked in different hotels in Sri Lanka on the 14-day COVID-19 quarantine and are not allowed to leave their hotels even after this period despite repeated negative PCR tests. The New Delhi-based Ukrainian mission wrote to Sri Lanka’s Ministry [...]
Colombo stock market breaks all records; investors urged to trade with caution
Share prices at the Colombo Stock Exchange have soared in recent times, a performance welcomed by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) which also issued a cautionary note on prohibited conduct leading to market offences and SEC efforts to help investors avoid these pitfalls. “While there are many records broken, we would [...]
‘I have not been in hiding I am very much here,’ says Dr. Padeniya
“I have not disappeared and I have not been in hiding. I am very much here,” the President of the Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA), Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya who is in home quarantine for 14 days, told the Sunday Times last afternoon responding to criticism that he was avoiding public health officials after having a [...]
Navy’s New Chief of Staff assumes duties
Sri Lanka Navy’s new Chief of Staff, Rear Admiral Sumith Weerasinghe, assumed duties this week. Rear Admiral Weerasinghe, an old boy of Badulla Central College, joined the Sri Lanka Navy executive branch in 1985 as an Officer Cadet of 13th intake. He completed his basic training at the Naval and Maritime Academy in Trincomalee and [...]
New Chief of Staff of Army assumes duties
Major General Wasantha Senarath Bandara, appointed as the Chief of Staff of the Sri Lanka Army recently, will assume duties on Monday. He was the Commander of the Security Forces Headquarters, Jaffna until the new appointment. Educated at Vidyartha College, Kandy, he joined Sri Lanka Army in January 1986 as an Officer Cadet .He was [...]
Foreign Secretary: A familiar message to be shared at the upcoming UNHRC sessions
Sri Lanka looks set to push familiar messages of sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs whilst also offering some “deliverables”, when the country comes up before the UN Human Rights Council later this month and early next month. It has not yet been decided whether a delegation will fly from Colombo to Geneva or participate [...]
Park-and-ride and more traffic police presence to ease city traffic congestion
As working from home due to pandemic threat is gradually ending and more people reporting to work, Colombo city and suburbs are attracting crowds bringing back bitter memories of being stuck for hours in traffic. “The absence of school traffic has reduced heavy traffic congestion, but traffic police are gearing up for more crowds coming [...]
As COVID-19 haunts Parliament, Business Committee to decide fate of sessions
In the wake of three MPs testing positive for COVID-19, the fate of parliamentary proceedings for the coming week will hinge on the outcome of tomorrow’s meeting of the Parliamentary Business Committee. The meeting had been originally scheduled for last Wednesday, but was postponed after the offices of the Leader of the House and Chief [...]
Once visitors flocked, now a ghost town
Sigiriya has always been one of the major tourist attractions in the country; after the pandemic struck the place has been more like a graveyard rather than a tourist destination. As the country slowly comes to terms with the pandemic, several industries are slowly recovering. However, it will be a long uphill struggle for the [...]
COVID protector turns marine killer
While saving human lives from COVID-19, single-use surgical masks are invading our beaches and threatening the country’s marine population due to reckless disposal of the masks, experts fear. Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) Director-General P. B. Terney Pradeep Kumara said discarded masks have been seen in numbers along the western and southern coastal belts, especially [...]
Massive project to restore Deegawapiya Stupa to be launched soon
The Government is to launch a massive project soon to restore the Deegawapiya Stupa in Ampara and crown it as the fifth tallest stupa in the country. Public assistance is being sought to raise Rupees one billion for the project, said General (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne, Defence Secretary and Chairperson of the Presidential Task Force for [...]
Pick of the pix
Tabbowa Wewa: Fragrant stroll Wilpaththu: Curious chicks Beruwela: Hungry herd Colombo: Divine lights Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte: Fresh sight FROM OUR READERS Shutterbugs out there, we would once again appreciate your contributions to this picture corner. Please send your captioned photograph along with your name, and the location of the photograph, to: pictures@sundaytimes.wnl.lk We would also [...]
Nearly 70,000 migrant workers in 137 countries awaiting departure
As many as 69,000 Sri Lankan migrant workers are awaiting repatriation from 137 countries, with many people pleading with the Government to bring them back to Sri Lanka, due to difficulties they are currently facing. Labour Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told Parliament last week that so far 61,750 Lankans have been repatriated. He also [...]
“He meant what he said” court held
Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Gampaha District MP Ranjan Ramanayake could have easily corrected his controversial statement regarding judges if the word “judges” had indeed slipped out of his mouth as he claimed. He however, did not do so. Moreover, his subsequent statements indicate and clearly demonstrate that his intention was to refer to Judges, the [...]
Pillayan and others acquitted after CA decided confessions obtained under duress
A Court of Appeal order on the confessions made by two accused in the Joseph Pararajasingham assassination case led to the Batticaloa High Court’s acquittal of five accused, including former Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias ‘Pillayan’ on Wednesday. The CA had earlier decided that the confessions made by the first and second accused [...]
Lawyers as Chief Inspectors: BASL warns move will court trouble; suggests alternative
Opposing the Government’s move to recruit 150 lawyers as Chief Inspectors to the Police Department, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has said if the speedy disposal of cases is the objective of the move, there are many other alternatives. In a letter to Justice Minister Ali Sabry, BASL President Kalinga Indatissa said the move [...]
No waste disposal site in Hatton; Garbage transported 52km daily
The Hatton Municipal Council, facing an issue of disposal of garbage, currently transports its garbage for 52 km, daily. This was revealed at a recent meeting of the District Infrastructure Development Committee held at the Nuwara Eliya District Secretariat. “Due to the lack of a landfill site in Hatton, our councils have to dispose the [...]
Fans rush for Thai Pongal movie fix with latest hit, ‘Master’
Along with every Thai Pongal festival in recent years, at least one South Indian superstar movie is released across the globe, with fans gathering in large numbers to celebrate with banners and giant cutouts of stars. In Jaffna this week, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, fans streamed into cinema halls for all three daily shows to [...]
Rs 5 a kilo: Uninformed cultivation blamed for cabbage price crash
In yet another example of why uninformed cultivation leads to misfortune, cabbage farmers are selling their produce at giveaway prices though they had a super harvest. While the prices of other vegetables have gone up in recent weeks, the price of cabbage has plunged to Rs 5 a kilogram, according to farmers in Kalpitiya. Cabbage [...]
Kandy Bar chief calls for new courts complex in land earmarked by President Premadasa
A two-acre Pallekele land earmarked for the construction of a courts complex during the presidency of R Premadasa remains idle. President’s Counsel and Bar Association’s Kandy District President Shantha Ratnayake told the Sunday Times the case load at the present Kandy courts complex had increased and it was high time the authorities made use of [...]
Kalpitiya Bar Reef marine sanctuary gradually recovers
The coral gardens of Kalpitiya, known as the Bar Reef, that had suffered from bleaching, has been revived thanks to those who care, wildlife officials say. “No doubt, this will be good news for locals as well as foreign tourists,’’ said Wildlife Department officer Manjula Kumara Morathenna. The beautiful sandy sanctuary known to locals as [...]
Researcher finds formula to eradicate
A formula to eradicate the crop-destroying insect Fall Armyworm or Sena Caterpillar has been found by a Peradeniya University agriculture expert and he is willing to share it with farmers free of charge. Speaking about his successful research, researcher and entrepreneur Dhammika Wettewa said the formula had been tested and registered for patent. Mr. Wettewa [...]
An opportunity to harvest Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna sustainably
On the last day of 2020, the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) published a circular that sets out annual catch limits for Indian Ocean yellowfin tuna (kelavalla/Thunnus albacares) in the seas beyond national jurisdictions. Accordingly, Sri Lanka’s annual yellowfin tuna catch limit in the seas beyond the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) has been reduced [...]
India asks monies from seized trawler auction be handed to interlopers
India has asked Sri Lanka to return the money from auctioning the Indian trawlers, to its owners. The trawlers were seized for engaging in bottom trawling in Lankan waters in the past before a key legislation was passed in 2018 imposing hefty fines in millions. During the meeting Wednesday between Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda and [...]
Airports to open for tourists on January 21
The airports will open for tourists on Thursday (January 21), under health guidelines, the Sunday Times learns. A high-level health official said that the airports would not be open for any other passengers except tourists, while repatriation flights will continue as scheduled. Explaining the protocols that would be followed, the Director-General (DG) of Health Services, [...]