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Sri Lanka will soon join several other countries that have banned burqa –a long, loose garment covering the body from head to toe – on security grounds. Describing the burqa as a symbol of extremism, Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekera on Friday said he had signed a cabinet paper to impose the ban. However, there [...]
Ministers, Cabinet bypassed to fast track development
The Government has decided to bypass the need to get approval of the minister and the Cabinet if two state institutions decide to enter into an agreement in the future. In a circular, the Treasury Secretary S. R. Attygalle says the authority to enter into such agreements without the approval of the minister concerned or [...]
Finance Ministry admits Rs. 15.9 billion “foregone revenue” on sugar imports
The Finance Ministry has admitted that the Government’s decision to drastically cut the tax on sugar in October last year had caused a “foregone revenue” of Rs 15.951bn while not achieving the desired effect of reducing retail prices. Treasury Secretary S.R. Attygalle insisted that his office did not term this as a “loss”. Rather, it [...]
Indian COVISHIELD consignment delayed; “vaccine diplomacy” in motion
Sri Lanka will not receive the expected balance of a million doses of COVISHIELD vaccine from the Serum Institute of India (SII) on the time-line earlier pledged, the Sunday Times can further confirm today. “We are unable to meet that commitment, leave alone in mid-March and April,” a top source from the Pune (Maharashtra) based [...]
UNHRC vote: President speaks to India’s PM
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday spoke to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking, among other matters, his country’s support for Sri Lanka at the ongoing United Nations Human Rights Council sessions. The voting on the Resolution on Sri Lanka is due on March 22 or the next day. India has so far remained non-committal except for [...]
BIMSTEC invitation apart, Lanka undecided whether to recognise Myanmar junta
An invitation to Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin–a retired colonel appointed to that position after the February military coup — to participate in a Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) meeting this month, did not signify Colombo had “accepted the military junta or rejected it”, says Foreign Secretary Admiral [...]
Amid moves to import Chinese vaccine sans data, four NMRA board members sacked
The lightning sacking of four respected members of the country’s drug regulator has thrown it into disarray, with the health sector being rocked by serious allegations that this is an attempt to bring in COVID-19 vaccines without reliable data. The National Medicines Regulatory Authority’s (NMRA) four board members who are serving on an honorary basis [...]
Victoria Elders’ Home residents happy to get jab
Friday’s symbolic vaccination rollout is the harbinger of the elderly vaccination programme under the COVAX initiative in the high-risk Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) areas and the Colombo and Gampaha districts Silver-haired elderly in wheelchairs in a line, all awaiting the COVID-19 vaccine – the symbolic vaccination using the first tranche of doses sent under the [...]
Prof. Malavige on second jab, concerns over AstraZeneca and more
The Sunday Times asked the Head of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Prof. Neelika Malavige for her expert opinion on some questions our readers had. Has the South African variant been detected in Sri Lanka? Yes, the South African variant has been detected in Sri Lanka in a person [...]
Health DG says strategy is to immunise every eligible person in the country
We have reserved 225,000 vaccines for the second doses of those who were given the jabs starting January 29. The round of second doses will be administered from the second week of April, reiterated the Director- General (DG) of Health Services, Dr. Asela Gunawardena. He said that up to Thursday, a little over 750,000 vaccines [...]
Ensuring safety in the vaccination programme
The ‘hot topic’ being vaccination, here Specialist in Allergy Dr. Ajith Amarasinghe speaks on ensuring safety. Sri Lanka has begun its vaccination campaign against COVID-19 infection. Our country has a strong vaccination programme lauded by the world. Its vaccine coverage percentages are one of the best in the world. The high literacy rate, excellent reception [...]
Ranil’s Secretary files FR petition against COI on political victimisation
The then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s secretary Saman Ekanayake has filed a fundamental rights (FR) Petition in the Supreme Court challenging the decisions and recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into Political Victimisation and subsequent Cabinet decisions connected to it. In his FR petition, Mr Ekanayake vehemently denies the allegations made by the CoI [...]
Light pooja for Mahasivarathri
Devotees are seen lighting lamps at the Shri Ponnambalawaneswarar Kovil at Kochchikade in Colombo to mark Mahasivarathri that fell on Thursday. Pic by M.A.Pushpa kumara
SriLankan in hot seat after unqualified pilot operated right hand seat of aircraft
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has warned SriLankan Airlines over an incident where an instructor pilot had operated on the right hand seat of an A330 aircraft without stipulated qualifications. A CAA investigation had revealed that the unqualified instructor pilot had been in the right hand seat of the A330 on December 15, 18 and [...]
Easter attacks: AG wants probe widened
Attorney General Dappula De Livera has ordered further investigations into five individuals named in the final report of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) that probed the Easter Sunday attacks, telling police that probes conducted thus far were inadequate. Accordingly, the AG has informed Inspector General (IGP) C.D. Wickramaratne to expand criminal investigations into Abu Hind, [...]
Fallow paddy fields in Katana cultivated after 40 years
At a time when there are no puran appula or govi ralala clad in loin cloths ploughing paddy fields with traditional ploughs and buffaloes, but people clearing forests with hatchets, it is heartening to see certain paddy fields which were once barren, being cultivated once again. A 17 acre land in the Katana Divisional Secretariat [...]
Beware of that call that sells attractive insurance scheme by leading mobile operators
It took six frustrating months, during which he nearly gave up, for Kumara to secure his father’s life insurance payment. He now warns anyone signing up up for per-day insurance via mobile phone operators that claiming the benefits–large sums, in particular–can be nothing short of a nightmare. Per-day insurance is sold by leading mobile phone [...]
24 people ready to set off to Canada by boat nabbed by navy
The Kalpitiya peninsula which has become notorious for illicit smuggling of drugs, conch shells, star tortoises and turmeric has recently become a hub for human trafficking too. This is in spite of security being tightened in the lagoon area. On Thursday, the Sri Lanka navy nabbed 24 people who were preparing to travel illegally to [...]
SLBFE speeds up return of migrant workers
Plans are underway to increase distribution of airline tickets and quarantine facilities to expedite the migrant workers’ repatriation process. “We are planning to increase the amount of quarantine facilities by at least a thousand beds in local hotels,” Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) spokesperson Mangala Randeniya said. He said the SLBFE would pay [...]
EIA clears sand mining in north in spite of flagging environmental drawbacks
Insists issues can be mitigated “without causing irreparable damages” EIA carried out by GSMB Technical Services (Pvt) Ltd, a subsidiary company of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, the industry regulator Just weeks after an environmental impact assessment (EIA) backed the mining of heavy mineral sands in a three-kilometre stretch on the Akkaraipattu to Komari [...]
Lucky few start school tomorrow while others wait again
A handful of grades start school tomorrow, but many students in the populous Western Province continue to be deprived of classroom learning for more than a year. Following a green light from the COVID health authorities, the education ministry last week set March 15 as reopening day for grades 5, 11 and 13 in the [...]
Grand old N’Eliya scouts training camp gets new look
Nuwara Eliya pedro National scouts training camp which was renovated by the Sri Lanka Navy was handed over to the Sri Lanka scouts association yesterday. The 80-year-old camp which extends over two and half acres was renovated for Rs 20 million and was completed by the Sri Lanka Navy. The event was attended by Nuwara [...]
Deadly hit-and-run points to 60pc rise in drink-driving
The hit-and-run accident that tragically cost a life on Colombo’s Marine Drive last weekend came amid warnings over rising numbers of intoxicated killers behind the wheel. Marine Drive is a known attraction for joggers and cyclists, with residents from Kollupitiya to Wellawatte taking their early morning exercise. Drivers using the road are well aware of [...]
Nugegoda: Main roads repaired, by-roads ignored
Despite his onerous responsibilities President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has found time to devote to maintaining clean cities with expanded roads and paved surfaces. This is what he did along the road from Mirihana in Nugegoda, his area of residence, up to Maharagama. New colour signal lights have come up and plants in concrete containers have lined [...]
No more chasing of non-problem elephants into Wilpattu: Experts
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s offer of driving elephants away from a village area into the Wilpattu National Park has been cried down by prominent conservationists who say such drives have achieved nothing and the government should use its own science-based action plan, lying in limbo since last December. At a recent meeting with villagers of Karuwalagaswewa [...]
Essential items hard to find and cost more despite price cuts
The Trade Ministry might have reduced prices of 27 essential commodities but consumers trying to buy these goods say they cannot find them in shops, and when they do, the prices are higher. Consumers complained that although the government said the 27 items were available at Lanka Sathosa and Co-operative Wholesale Establishments (CWE), they were [...]
Women reach for power that only males enjoyed
The plight of female migrant workers stranded overseas, free trade zone workers suffering due to the pandemic, online harassment of women and the lack of female representation in politics were among issues highlighted by women’s organisations on International Women’s Day this week. Chamila Thushari of Dabindu Collective, an organisation that advocates protecting and promoting female [...]