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Police protection for Duminda
Out on bail and cured, Duminda Silva, monitoring MP of the Defence Ministry and one of the chief suspects in the Bharatha Premachandra murder case, leaves hospital in an SUV with a senior police officer riding on its running board. (Please see story on Page 4). Pic by Indika Handuwala
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Govt. approves Rs. 315 billion deal with Airbus
Ten new aircraft for loss-making SriLankan Airlines, Boeing also seeks share in the pie The Cabinet has approved a staggering more than two and half billion US dollars (over Rs. 315 billion) for a re-fleeting programme of SriLankan Airlines which is already saddled with severe losses. The programme, approved on April 18, entails the purchase [...]
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Talks fail, railway unions on strike track
A two-day strike by railway workers gets underway midnight today after talks between the Government and trade unions ended in a stalemate yesterday. Last-minute efforts to avert a 48-hour railway strike from midnight today failed after the Government turned down the trade unions’ request for a written assurance at three hours of talks yesterday between Transport [...]
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Swimming Club acquired for US – mistakenly
By Namini Wijedasa The sale of the former British High Commission premises to the United States is to be concluded within a few days, the Sunday Times learns. Once its purchase of the 434-perch block in Kollupitiya is through, the US will hold sizeable tracts of prime property in Colombo. Not only is its embassy [...]
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Major revision in fuel-buying process
By Damith Wickremasekara Petroleum Industries Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa is making drastic changes in the fuel procurement process. He told the Sunday Times yesterday that the move was prompted by previous incidents of low quality fuel entering the market and purchasing fuel at higher prices. Under the plan, the Government is to drop several international [...]
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Special approval granted for night-race bikes
By Chris Kamalendran The Treasury gave special approval for importers to retain ten high capacity motorcycles brought down specifically for last year’s December night races on the assurance to Customs that they would be re-exported, the Sunday Times learns. The Treasury approval came ahead of a formal regulation gazetted on April 11, permitting the import [...]
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President to visit Uganda
President Mahinda Rajapaksa will undertake a short reciprocal visit to Uganda next month, the President’s office said. A spokesman said the dates of the visit would be announced shortly. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni visited Sri Lanka in November last year.
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Viral infection at maternity hospital contained, says director
An infection that caused two deaths has been effectively contained and all admissions, clinics and routine activities of the premier women’s hospital are continuing, a top official said. The viral infection which caused the two deaths has been identified as Influenza A by the Medical Research Institute (MRI) and all precautions taken to protect the other [...]
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Govt. should discuss resettlement, land issues with NPC members after poll: Ranil in Jaffna
The Government should hold discussions with those who are elected to the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) at the upcoming poll on issues such as resettlement and land allocations and not take unilateral decisions, UNP Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday. “The UNP’s position is that the resettlement of the people in the north must be [...]
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Power tariff hike to dominate rallies
May Day 2013 By Skandha Gunasekera The recent electricity price hike has emerged as a new issue to be taken up by political parties at this year’s May Day rallies on Wednesday. Among the other problems that will be addressed are the cost of living and failure of the Government to find a political solution to [...]
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Duminda leaves hospital amidst fire crackers and cheers of supporters
By Wasantha Ramanayake Parliamentarian Duminda Silva returned to public life yesterday after spending 17 months in hospitals in Singapore and Colombo. Mr. Silva is the eleventh accused in the Mulleriyawa shooting incident where Presidential Advisor Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra and three others were killed. Last morning Mr. Silva left the private hospital in which he stayed [...]
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Promotion for Appeal Court Judge: BASL voices concern
Appeal Court Judge Justice Rohini Perera Marasinghe was sworn in as a Judge of the Supreme Court by the President on Friday (26), to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice S.I. Imam. Justice Marasinghe is the third most senior judge of the Court of Appeal, preceded by Justice S. Sriskandarajah (President of the [...]
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Panicking households pull plug on everyday gadgets to beat power price hike
‘Keep calm and kaluwaray indapalla’ urge internet activists By Aanya Wipulasena The controversial electricity price hike is forcing many families to switch off staple gadgets such as fridges, shun their washing machines and share living spaces to adapt to the controversial electricity price hike. In contrast, other home owners contacted through the Colombo Housewives’ Association [...]
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JVP shows the way with signature campaign
Labourers, office workers, housewives and youth join in Office workers came out alongside labourers this week to sign the JVP’s petition against high electricity tariffs, and the party says it will extend its campaign to village areas in the coming days. The party has gathered more than 50,000 signatures since launching the petition campaign on Wednesday [...]
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Crime on the rise; almost a livelihood
Political patronage of criminals, political interference in investigations alienate the public from the police By Damtih Wickremasekara Last Monday, as usual, the two female cashiers at Lanka Electricity Company’s (LECO) Nugegoda office were on duty. Consumers turning up to pay their bills were more than the usual number, due to the just ended National New Year [...]
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Dedicated staff at Neuro-trauma unit bring new hope to shattered bodies
By Kumudini Hettiarachchi It is like a scene from a science fiction movie. In walks a youth with only part of his skull, the skin covering a huge dent while on a bed elsewhere in the same building a middle-aged man smiles in hope as he gains slight sensation in his foot where earlier there [...]
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Blooming shame: flower-sellers’ arrests bring despair
B. Shiromi will be selling flowers outside the Kalutara temple again tomorrow as nine of her friends prepare to face court for the same “offence”. Shiromi, 28, a mother three, has no choice: without the Rs.500 she brings in most days her family will starve. Shiromi, her husband, 52-year-old Nihal Shantha, and their two children, aged [...]
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US embassy to acquire former UK HC property
Will forfeit and be compensated for beachfront land from new joint property for Marine Drive extension By Namini Wijedasa The United States government could conclude its purchase of the former British High Commission property in Kollupitiya, as early as Tuesday, but will lose a sizeable chunk of it once the next phase of the Marine [...]
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Hoteliers cry foul over police directive for weekly in-house guest info
Short-staffed industry finds it impractical and a violation of guests’ privacy while the law says it’s to ensure tourists’ security. Nadia Fazlulhaq reports The recent circular issued by the Inspector General of Police calling for information on tourists on a weekly basis from hotels and guest houses, have received more brickbats than bouquets from the [...]
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Pawned jewellery behind mystery of woman’s suicide
By Mirudhula Thambiah Selvaratnam Vijayalakshmi planned her death carefully: She waited until her husband had taken the two younger children to school. Then she locked up her eldest daughter in a room, secured the front door and wedged the fridge against the kitchen door to prevent rescue, and set herself on fire. Vijayalakshmi, 46, died [...]
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‘Promise’ is only a word
Story and pix by S.Siriwardane. Despite government’s assurance that it would install railway gates at unprotected level crossings, there still remain around 600 unprotected crossings which are veritable death traps. One of these death traps is the crossing at Rockland junction, Beruwala. Last week about 30 persons were injured when an express train rammed into a [...]
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Northern PC elections: Important step in reconciliation process
IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST By Javid Yusuf The announcement by President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the Northern Provincial Council elections will be held in September this year gives rise to the hope that at long last the process of devolution set in motion in 1987 will proceed towards completion. Despite an increase in the intensity of the voices [...]
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Apartment owners spend millions and end up at developers’ mercy
Driven from pillar to post for title deeds, maintenance fees’ statements, access to and use of common areas By Chandani Kirinde Eight years ago, S. de Silva and her husband, a British national, invested almost Rs. 20 million in a luxury apartment along Marine Drive in Wellawatta. Though permanent residents of Britain, they were keen [...]
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GMOA strike: No final decision yet
By Hansani Bandara The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) is yet to make a final decision on its proposed strike action even though a somewhat favourable response has been received from the Government on the demands made by it. The GMOA will decide its course of action following the general meeting to be held next [...]
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Remembering my father, a journalist of the old guard
My father Premil Ratnayake belonged to the old world order. He lived — and died by the creed of old journalism — the kind that came naturally to a generation of Sri Lanka’s journalistic greats who believed in what they wrote and stood for integrity and honesty throughout their lives. From the time I could [...]
