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These three women were among those arrested near the Parliament junction on Thursday when they took part in a protest against the Kotelawala National Defence University Bill. In the process of the arrest by the police, some of their clothes were torn off. They were produced in courts later in the day and granted bail. [...]
President says no more coal power
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has shot down the setting up of any coal power plants, saying he has vowed to shift Sri Lanka towards renewable energy and does not want to become a joke before the world. The decision now places in jeopardy the proposed 300 megawatt extension of the Norochcholai Lak Vijaya coal power plant. [...]
Same salary for ex-military personnel appointed to public service posts
Former military personnel who are appointed to public service or state institutions will be entitled to draw the salary they earned while in active military service, according to an amendment to the Establishment Code of Public Service. Accordingly, an amendment has been included in the Establishment Code since there are no specific provisions available in [...]
Kerawalapitiya power plant: 40 percent of shares for US company
The Finance Ministry has signed a framework agreement with a United States-based company to sell 40 percent of shares of the Treasury-owned 300MW Kerawalapitiya Yugadhanavi Power Plant instead of 51 percent as originally proposed. According to this framework agreement, the Sri Lankan Government has assigned to the US-based New Fortress Energy (NFE) the construction of [...]
Lanka goes to IMF for US$ 800m
Sri Lanka will apply to obtain up to USD 800 million worth of reserves from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) under the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) facility during August-September. A senior Treasury official said that under the current allocation, Sri Lanka should obtain reserves amounting to about USD 800 million. The SDR is an international [...]
Internet services: Complaint mechanism underused
So numerous are gripes related to internet and telecommunications in Sri Lanka that the industry regulator has started an email service for the people to send in their complaints. But a Sunday Times online survey that attracted 305 replies, mostly from disgruntled data users, found that 54 percent of respondents did not know which office [...]
Jitters over electronic items on possible ban list
The Central Bank’s move to discourage non-essential imports has raised concerns among public and businesses about which items will face a ban. “There are certain things at discussion level. The Central Bank usually submits recommendations but not all are accepted. With regard to import restrictions, items considered absolutely non-essential [of which] we have stocks for [...]
CPC proposes South Asian fuel hub in Trinco
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) has sought approval for a multibillion rupee storage and distribution terminal in a 100 acre land in Trincomalee with the aim being turning this into a South Asian petroleum hub. A Board Paper has been submitted for the proposed project which is estimated to cost more than Rs 10 billion. [...]
Slight downward trend in cases – DG
There seems to be a slight downward trend in the number of COVID-19 patients being reported but there is no room for complacency, said a top health official on Thursday. Assuring that he was not referring to the recent numbers as the testing had dropped due to strikes by healthcare workers since last Sunday, the [...]
New programme to assess student performance during pandemic
The Government has proposed several indoor activities to evaluate student performance on a weekly basis when schools remain closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said. They said the activities would be introduced under a programme titled ‘Sustaining the education of children during pandemic times’. It would be introduced on August 1. The programme calls [...]
Motorist crashes into supermarket showroom
A motorist crashed into a showroom of a super market in Colombo yesterday. Though damage was caused to the car and the showroom, the driver and the employees escaped unhurt. Pic by Nilan Maligaspe.
After COVID-19 recovery
For two weeks, a 45-year-old man has been wracked by a dry cough and shortness of breath. An RT-PCR done on him in early June had been positive for COVID-19 but he has been asymptomatic (without symptoms) during his stay in an intermediate care centre. This is while a 73-year-old continues to complain of persistent [...]
Govt. plans to import sugar from India and dhal from Australia
The Government has decided to import sugar from India and dhal from Australia. According to a cabinet paper submitted by Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena, sugar will be imported from National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) and dhal from Australia’s JANTEC Group. The objective is to provide sugar and dhal at affordable prices [...]
‘We were told to remove signboards’
Police have begun an inquiry into an incident where shopkeepers in Moragahahena, Homagama had reportedly been told to remove signboards as the President was due to travel on that route. Officer-in-Charge, Moragahahena Police, Nalin Sanjeewa said residents had complained that a group of persons in civvies claiming to be security personnel had told them to [...]
No nod from NMRA Expert Panel yet for Sinovac
Many say no hurry to expedite EUL as country getting good flow of vaccines Situation bleak in Indonesia; Thailand considers booster after two doses Sri Lanka is yet to grant emergency-use listing (EUL) for the Chinese vaccine Sinovac and many experts were of the view that this may be a good thing as countries which have [...]
Oh no not again! the internet is stuck
Data usage in Sri Lanka has exploded by a hundred percent between March 2020 and the beginning of July this year. And, as COVID-19 shifted work and school home, and drove people seeking entertainment to the internet, frustrations about deteriorating data quality skyrocketed among consumers. A consumer experiences survey by the Sunday Times drew 305 [...]
Flood, earth-slip warnings issued to several areas as heavy winds, rain wreak havoc
Friday night’s heavy winds accompanied by rains left a trail of destruction in several parts of the country, with hundreds of houses being damaged while some 400,000 people remained without electricity throughout the night. There were also mini-floods in some areas while traffic came to a halt on the Hatton-Colombo main road following an earth-slips [...]
Police action against protestors: Unions express concern, PHIs deny they gave approval
Serious concerns have been raised over the legality of the actions taken by the Police to forcibly remove protesters to Government-run quarantine centres even after they are granted bail by the courts. The Police this week arrested individuals who took part in two different protests and forcibly took several among them to quarantine centres after [...]
BASL condemns Police actions as heavy-handed and unlawful
Quarantine is a health precaution and should not be used as a punishment or mode of detention, the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) said. In a letter to the Health Services Director General Asela Gunawardena and Police Chief Chandana Wickramaratne, the BASL expressed grave concern at the arrest and detention of protesters by the [...]
Give us a jab so we can do our job, industry bosses plead
As the country limps back to normalcy with the relaxation of restrictions, struggling sectors have called for the national vaccination programme to include their members and staff so that they can provide services. State services, businesses transport providers and other industries gradually resumed operations after nearly two-and-a-half months of restrictions following the third wave of [...]
North in the grip of armed gangs again
Attacks and contract jobs carried out like in South Indian movies Investigations show involvement of Switzerland-based groups linked to Aava; social activists express fear over disintegration of society On a Wednesday night two weeks ago, 14 youngsters were seen riding motorbikes at a relatively high speed. They turned into a narrow lane in Kondavil, a [...]
New police units to crack down on drug trafficking, extortion and crimes against children
Several special operations units are to be established to crack down on rising incidents of drug trafficking, extortion and crimes committed against children. The new units will be established by Inspector General of Police (IGP) Chandana Wickramaratne on the instructions of Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara, said newly appointed Senior Deputy Inspector General (SDIG) – [...]
Muslim rights groups welcome MMDA reforms; urge ministry to release the report
The Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum (MWRAF) and the Muslim Personal Law Reform Action Group (MPLRAG) have welcomed progressive decisions by the Cabinet of Ministers on substantive reform of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA). The organisations welcomed the news that the Advisory Committee on Muslim Law Reforms has submitted its report on [...]
School mid-day meal programme: A victim of pandemic
The Government’s mid-day meal programme for schoolchildren has come to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a teachers’ trade union. The Ceylon Teachers Union’s Nuwara Eliya District Secretary V. Indraselvan said that as a result of the mid-day meal programme not being implemented due to the closure of schools, poor children had [...]
Homegrown fertiliser output rises
With the government reiterating that the chemical fertiliser ban will continue for years to come, the demand for compost and other organic fertiliser is on the rise – especially in the North. Before the ban on chemical fertiliser came into effect, a lorry load of livestock compost sold between Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 – [...]
Rajarata University researchers make strides in Rat Fever study
As Sri Lanka battles the COVID-19 pandemic set off by a spiked virus, another epidemic has been holding the agricultural heartland of the country in its vice-like grip. This is the spiral-shaped bacteria spreading Leptospirosis or Rat Fever, usually the poor person’s disease for which Sri Lanka is a ‘hotspot’. Even in these challenging times [...]
The crumbling lotus-shaped dagoba
A lotus-shaped (padmakara) dagoba located in Nandimithra Nawawanguwa Raja Maha Viharaya in Pallama, Chilaw dating back to the reign of King Dutugemunu are on the brink of destruction at present; the Chief Incumbent Poththukkulame Dheerananda Thero claimed. Lotus-shaped stupas are not very common in Sri Lanka. What’s special about this shape is that it appears [...]
Lake Gregory faces two-pronged attack
The Lake Gregory area of the scenic Nuwara Eliya District is suffering an ecological devastation with the accumulation of river silt in its depths. The 147-year-old historic body of water is fed by the Nanu Oya, which has contributed large scale deposits of mud, depriving the lake of clean water. The lake has also become [...]
Air Force opens pet hospital
The newly-constructed Sky Pet Animal Hospital of the Sri Lanka Air Force was declared open at Guwanpura, Borella. On the invitation of the Commander of the Air Force, Air Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana, the hospital was declared open by First Lady Ioma Rajapaksa. Mrs Rajapaksa unveiled the plaque, after which she cut the ceremonial ribbon and [...]
Pick of the Pix
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 appreciate if you mention the camera or cellphone that was used.
Still no answers about X-Press Pearl damage
The government this week again came under sustained pressure to release information about the damage caused by the oil spill and release of toxic chemicals and plastic caused by the X-Press Pearl ship disaster. Environmentalist Pahiyangala Ananda Sagara Thera said he wrote to the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) and Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) last [...]
Enter the 7th Rajapaksa as pitched battles rage over crackdown on protesters
A joke making the rounds on social media over the past few weeks notes, that earlier the Government’s excuse for failure to resolve the many crises facing the country was because it did not secure enough power. After obtaining a two thirds majority and passing the 20th Amendment, its new excuse has been that there [...]
Come October, Govt. will sweep part-educated students into A/L exams
Despite schools being closed for more than a year and syllabuses not being covered fully the education ministry has decided to hold the Advanced Level examination in October. Last week, the Department of Examinations opened up its website to receive applications for the 2021 Advanced Level (A/L) exams to be held in the first week [...]
Kandy Esala Perahera from August 9 onwards, with COVID guidelines in mind
The Malwatta Maha Vihare Anunayake, Venerable Dimbulkumure Dhammakeerthi Thera, said in a recent sermon that people need to abide by the health authorities’ COVID restrictions, during the Kandy Esala Perahera. The Thera said the country should not face a similar crisis like on Sinhala and Tamil New Year day. He also said there were instances [...]
Health authorities say no to allowing general public at the Esala Perahera
Medical personnel have raised objections to plans to open the Kandy Esala Perahera to the public. They said the decision would be disrespectful to the historic event, if another COVID outbreak took place due to crowds in public areas. Central Province Health Services Director Dr Nihal Weerasuriya and the Central Province Epidemiologist Suranga Fernando raised [...]
Smuggling op from Maldives busted; electric items among goods seized
A racket of smuggling goods from Maldives to Sri Lanka has been busted. The coast guards at the Beruwala fishing harbour have detained six fishermen for violating customs regulations by bringing goods and equipment from Maldives via sea route. On Friday night the group of fishermen were found unloading the goods they smuggled into the [...]