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Home » NewsPresident in North, sub-office set up for reconciliation
A Presidential Secretariat Sub office of the Northern Province Development Special Unit was declared open yesterday by President Ranil Wickremesinghe with an assurance to resolve the outstanding land and other issues. The sub-office will coordinate with the Presidential Secretariat on development activities and reconciliation matters, Vavuniya District Secretary P.A. Sarathchandra told the Sunday Times. President [...]
No police fuel for ministerial security
Cabinet ministers and state ministers will soon be asked to find their own fuel for their security escorts and not seek them from the Police Department while senior judges will be asked to get their vehicles and fuel from the Justice Ministry, according to a decision of the Ministry of Public Security. The move has [...]
Lotus Tower: Diana’s US$ 1bn in 3 years is really US$ 1.4mn a year
Lotus Tower Management Company (Pvt) Ltd (LTMC) will receive USD 1.4 million a year as part of an agreement to hire out one floor of the tower base of Colombo Lotus Tower to a Singapore-based company for a casino and entertainment area, including water sports. The agreement between LTMC and Singapore’s Kreate Design Pte. Limited [...]
Cabinet okays Govt-to-Govt coal deals and unsolicited proposals
The Cabinet has given approval for Lanka Coal Company (Pvt) Ltd (LCC) to buy coal on Government-to-Government contracts and unsolicited proposals after bids for both recent term and spot tenders were deemed unresponsive, authoritative sources said. The approval was granted this week and no offers are on the table yet. Both methods will place coal [...]
COP27 agreement on food security, but no deal on funds
After 10 years of intense talks, the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) agreed to promote a holistic approach to addressing issues related to agriculture and food security. Sri Lanka’s lead negotiator and agriculture expert Prof. Buddhi Marambe told the Sunday Times COP27 members requested the [...]
Glyphosate for all agriculture sectors
In all agriculture sectors, the use of glyphosate, for which it is recommended, was approved this week, ending a three-year limitation of the herbicide to tea and rubber plantations. A gazette was issued on Thursday by the Registrar of Pesticides, announcing the change. In August, the Finance Ministry lifted with immediate effect the import ban [...]
Police probing network connected to Zaharan’s Easter Sunday attack
Sri Lanka Police are probing whether Mohamad Irshad Mohamad Haris Nizar, recently designated by US authorities for doing business with Al Qaeda, was involved in the Zaharan Hashim-triggered Easter Sunday attack three years ago. “He is possibly in a larger network relating to the attack,” a source involved with the investigations told the Sunday Times, [...]
State officials complicit in trafficking of women into Oman for sex trade
Dozens of Sri Lankan women have been trafficked into West Asia for the sex trade drawing global attention once again to the country’s revolting reputation as a sex-trafficking hub, and Government officials are suspected to be among the perpetrators of sex-trafficking. A state official in the Sri Lankan Embassy in Muscat, Oman, has been accused [...]
Legal dispute over sale of apartment; court issues interim order
The Colombo District Court has issued an interim injunction preventing an apartment developer from transferring a unit already sold to a buyer to a third party due to a payment dispute arising from the developer demanding payment over and above the originally agreed amount. The complainant claims that the developer is trying to recover costs [...]
Youth bulge for Sri Lanka; unemployment among young people on the rise
Sri Lanka is currently heading towards a youth bulge, with an increasing unemployed youth population, when the world population passed the historic eight billion mark on November 15. The world population has increased eight fold within roughly 200 years, with the population of 1800 being one billion, said Prof. Indralal de Silva, Emeritus Professor of [...]
Uttara Lanka presents 12-point plan at its first convention
The Uttara Lanka Sabhagaya (Supreme Lanka Coalition) led by Wimal Weerawansa released a 12-point plan at its first convention at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium yesterday, describing it as the way forward for the country. The alliance said the 12-point plan is aimed at strengthening the rupee and cracking down on the foreign exchange black market; [...]
Sinopharm vaccine: RTI Commission orders NMRA to release details before December 1
The Right to Information Commission has ordered the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) to release before December 1 the minutes of meetings it held to grant approval for the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine donated by China to the Chinese people here and the technical evaluation report by the expert committee on the vaccine. Issuing an order [...]
Administrative matters in govt. offices to go online
All government internal bureaucratic exchanges, including submitting leave applications and seeking approval for future and completed programmes, will be carried out through an online Office Management System. This will be done to minimise public expenditure. On Tuesday, Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government Ministry Secretary M.M.P.K. Mayadunne issued a circular instructing all [...]
No nutrition packs for pregnant women: Councillor blames UC chairman
More than 2000 pregnant mothers in the Maharagama Urban Council area have not received nutrition packs for two and half years, the council was told this week. The Rs 5000 worth nutrition pack had not been given as the UC chairman Tiraj Lakruwan Piyarathne had not forwarded a request letter to the Western Province Governor, [...]
Spare the child, spoil the rod; calls mount for education reforms
The alleged abuse of Milleniya schoolchildren by school authorities and Police officers has once again exposed how terribly vulnerable children are even in an environment where they should feel safe. The Education Ministry has issued multiple circulars instructing principals not to subject students to any form of physical punishment. The last such circular, issued in [...]
Push to ban mothers of five-year-olds from taking overseas jobs
Women and Child Affairs State Minister Geetha Kumarasinghe has vowed to continue her campaign to ban mothers of children below five years from leaving for overseas employment. Ms Kumarasinghe told the Sunday Times in an interview, she has not changed her mind and that two-year-olds cannot communicate if they are abused. Referring to the increasing [...]
Critical Zones – int’l exhibition on environment on in Colombo
An international mobile exhibition themed ‘Critical Zone – In search of common ground’ where artists give expression to environmental issues, is on at Colombo’s J.D.A. Perera Gallery until November 27. Earth’s “Critical Zone” is the near-surface environment in which complex interactions involving rock, soil, water, air, and living organisms regulate the natural habitat and determine [...]
Grand art competition for 75th National Day: President
President Ranil Wickremesinghe declared open the 50th solo art exhibition of veteran artist H.S. Sarath, at the Lionel Wendt Art Centre in Colombo on Thursday. Two girls who attended the art exhibition handed over a plan on how to improve the country’s education system to the President. Addressing the people gathered, the President said his [...]
Ministerial approval needed for official or private overseas trips
All public officials will be required to obtain respective Ministerial and Finance Ministry approval to travel overseas on an official or private visit, in future. Applications would have to be sent at least ten days ahead of the proposed visit, a recent Treasury circular said. According to the circular if Ministerial approval was not provided [...]
New appeal for concessions on temple electricity bills
A fresh appeal has been made to President Ranil Wickremesinghe by a Chief Sanganayake calling for a concession on the electricity bills of temples. The Colombo Koralaye and Nawathotmune Chief Sanganayake Pathberiya Wimalagnana thera has written to the President to say the electrity bills of temples have increased six fold. The letter pointed out that [...]
Sign language acceptance deemed meagre rights recognition
Sign language will soon take the fourth place under the Official Languages Act in Sri Lanka, embracing hearing-impaired people into mainstream society, the Government said last week. The National Secretariat for Persons Living with Disabilities (NSPD) said the Bill will be ready by 2023. The Bill, when passed, will grant people living with disabilities, access [...]
SC rejects petition against new tax bill
It is wrong to assess the constitutionality of a proposed tax system on the basis of a prior tax system that has proven to be economically flawed, the Supreme Court said. This was noted in the judgement delivered by a three-judge bench on the fundamental rights petitions filed against the Inland Revenue (Amendment) Bill. During [...]
Vulnerable groups at grave risk from seasonal flu and air pollution, warn health experts
By Nadia Fazlulhaq Older people, expecting mothers, children below the age of two and those with chronic illnesses are advised to take precautions as a nasty seasonal flu is spreading in the country. Health experts warn that this time the flu will affect the respiratory system with more intensity due to poor air quality levels [...]
Dangers of super-bugs ‘Urgent need to halt abuse and misuse of antibiotics’
By Kumudini Hettiarachchi It is chilling to know – if a urine culture report indicates an infection with the bacterium pan-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, no miracle antibiotic is available either in Sri Lanka or the world to suppress and kill it. This is why World Antimicrobial Awareness Week from November 18-24 is of utmost importance. It [...]
Eggs for festive season: Consumers face scrambled situation
Consumers are left in a scrambled state in fear of an egg shortage during the festive season, mainly due to a tug-o-war between authorities and the poultry industry over price and production. The demand for eggs from large scale cake manufacturers and hotels entertaining foreign tourists have started to increase, egg sellers say, but the [...]
President ditches popular route; says Budget 2023 aimed at youth
By Sandun Jayawardana Over the years, Sri Lankans have got used to expecting price reductions, salary increases, and more state-sector jobs in government budgets. This, however, was before the country was plunged into a crippling economic crisis. As such, Budget 2023 presented in Parliament on Monday, had to jettison proposals that went down “the popular [...]
State-run railway running on shaky ground
Worn-down rail tracks and the lack of funding to replace them may mean commuters on the State-operated train network will have to endure disruptions and trains going off track for some time to come. Locomotive Operating Engineers Union President K U Konthasinghe said engine operators have been told to reduce speed. Signal failures are a [...]
More taxes in budget raise fears of greater burdens
By Senuka Jayakody The budget for 2023, presented by the President Ranil Wickremesinghe, on November 14, has drawn mixed reactions from Sri Lankans and various economic sectors. There are concerns that proposals would trigger price increases and further worsen the unbearable cost of living. A cross section of representatives of various sectors including agriculture, fisheries, [...]
Thabbowa sand mining racket: Contradictory stories from authorities
A large scale sand mining project is taking place on farm land near the farming settlements at the left bank of the Thabbowa Tank. Environmentalists said the sand mining excavations have severely affected the area’s farmlands and the sensitive ecosystem of Mee oya. They also said State officials have allowed people to ignore the law [...]
Pick of the Pix
Bauddhaloka Mawatha Gas Paha Junction Maradana Polhengoda Colombo Puttalam Bambalapitiya Town Hall 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 appreciate if you mention the camera [...]
Developed nations turn COP27 into a climate-justice disaster
Tharushi Weerasinghe reporting from Sharm el-Sheikh What makes a COP a failure? As Thursday night rolled in with no concrete decisions on any of the key issues, whispers of this year’s climate summit failing began to emerge. The last time an air of disappointment was witnessed at a climate summit was when, during the 2009 [...]
Human and canine at risk
Roaming street pooches are causing concern as more people are being bitten by them. School children and pedestrians have become victims as packs of dogs by the roadsides in the Aluthgama- Maggona area chase people and bite them. The people who fell victim to dog bites complained that many hospitals do not have the anti-Rabies [...]
Two patients receive kidneys of Pera student who died tragically
Sachini Galappatti, an undergraduate at the University of Peradeniya’s Dental Sciences Faculty, tragically passed away on October 30. The 23-year-old’s kidneys had been donated by her parents to the Kandy National Hospital. A university official said she was hit by a vehicle while walking along the Galaha-Peradeniya road to the Ramanathan Residence Hall of the [...]
Abused Thai tusker endures multiple health challenges
It is an elephantine task to cope with Muthu Raja, the pachyderm gift to Sri Lanka by the Royal kingdom of Thailand. The zoo officials who are caring for him require an X-ray of its left front leg which is said to be stiff. They do not have a machine and the one available with [...]
Live and let live with elephants is the next wild idea
Human needs and those of wild elephants will be considered in a plan involving all those with responsibility for minimising loss of life and damage to farmland and personal property. Wildlife and Forest Conservation Ministry Secretary R.M.C.M Herath said all stakeholders need to work together. There are plans to increase the awareness of co-existence with [...]
Fiery deterrence against crop raiders
Residents of some villages in Puttalam District are continuing their struggles against wild elephants that destroy crops and their fragile homes. Some in Puttalam, Nawagattegama, Karuwalagaswewa, Maha Kumbukkadawala, Wanathavilluwa, and Pallama divisional secretary areas have resorted to lighting fires. The residents say 20,000 acres are at risk from elephant raiders. Conflicts have worsened after a [...]