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Home » NewsNation mourns for an elder prelate
Sri Lanka will observe a national day of mourning today to mark the cremation with full state honours of the Most Venerable Galagama Sri Aththadassi Thera, Mahanayake of the Asgiriya Chapter. Thousands of people have paid their last respects to him after he passed away suddenly last Sunday. Our picture captures the reverence for the [...]
Sri Lankan teller helps bust world’s biggest bank fraud
US$ 1 billion scam involves China, Bangladesh, Lanka, the Philippines and US Fed CB launches massive money laundering probe on dubious NGO here Sri Lankan authorities have launched a massive probe into a dubious NGO here that tried to sneak in millions of US dollars stolen by Chinese hackers from the Bangladesh Central Bank, government [...]
Joint plan to revive China Bay oil farm
Some 85 huge oil tanks – currently left unused – at China Bay oil farm in Trincomalee are to be revived if Cabinet approval is given for a request made by the Petroleum Resources Development Ministry. Ceylon Petroleum Corporation Chairman T.C. Jayasinghe said yesterday that the Ministry hoped to use 15 of the tanks for [...]
Prices soar, MPs get more and more
While prices are set to soar with the increase in taxes this week, a Parliamentary Businesses Committee has approved extra allowances for MPs – costing millions of rupees in taxpayers’ money. At a meeting on Wednesday, the Committee headed by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had approved a proposal for hikes in allowances after considering requests from [...]
Prices of bakery products going up
Bakery owners are considering an increase in the prices of flour-based products after Prima wheat flour prices were increased by Rs 7.20 a kilogram yesterday All Ceylon Bakery Owners Association President N.K Jayawardena said bakers would face heavy losses with the imposition of new taxes and they would have no options but to raise prices [...]
Maldivians here nabbed for multimillion cybersex crimes
Two Maldivians based in Colombo are alleged to have blackmailed their country’s politicians, private sector executives and businessmen and extorted millions of Rufiyaas, CID detectives said yesterday. They said the probe was launched after a Maldivian private sector executive complained to the CID that the racketeers had allegedly demanded Maldivian currency equivalent to Rs. 9.8 [...]
Container kills girl (23) riding pillion on boyfriend’s motorbike
A young girl riding pillion on a motorcycle with her boyfriend, died after being thrown off her seat when a container hit them from the rear in Weligampitiya, on the Negombo Road, the coroner’s court was told this week. R. Dilushika, 23, was identified as the victim.Lakshitha Madumal, 25, giving evidence before the Ragama Coroners’s [...]
Sushma shifts dates for fishing talks
India has rescheduled Fisheries Minister Mahinda Amaraweera’s visit this month to New Delhi for talks on the thorny issue of Indian fishermen poaching in Sri Lanka’s waters, but Sri Lanka is yet to be informed of the change of date. Mr. Amarawera was due to visit New Delhi this month following an official invitation from [...]
Woman knocked down by three-wheeler succumbs to her injuries
A woman who was knocked down along with her two children by a speeding three-wheeler on the Negombo Road, succumbed to her injuries, the coroner’s court was told. The woman was identified as S. Gnanawathi from Raddolugama. Her husband, L. Ratnayake, 54, giving evidence before the Coroners’ Court, said his wife and children were crossing the [...]
Police look out for 6 more suspects in Sea Eagle killing
Habaraduwa Police are on the lookout for six more suspects believed to have skinned a Sea Eagle alive, Police said Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of Habraduwa Police, Sub Inspector (SI) K.K.O. Udayakumara said that two of the eight suspects were arrested and remanded till March 24, while further investigations were under way to arrest the others. The [...]
Isolated
Located in the salubrious climes of the Ella Divisional Secretariat, the village of Udawadiya is steeped in history; with the village itself being the site of some famous battles against the Portugese when they attempted to ravage their country. Unfortunately even today, residents of this small village snuggled in a corner of the Badulla district [...]
Final rites of the Most Ven. Galagama Sri Aththadassi Thera today
The State funeral of the late Mahanayake Thera of the Asgiri Chapter of the Siyam Nikaya -Aggamaha Panditha Most Ven. Galagama Sri Aththadassi Thera- will be held at the Police Grounds in Kandy today. Government has declared today as a day of national mourning to mark the passing away of the Thera. An appeal has [...]
Game reserve in Hambantota soon
The National Zoological Department says that plans are afoot to open a game reserve at Ridiyagama in the Hambantota District – the first of its kind ever to be built in Sri Lanka at the end of this month. The foundation stone for this project was laid on December 28, 2008. It is estimated that [...]
President Sirisena hands back 700 acres from HSZ to original owners
More than 700 acres of land, earlier demarcated as areas of High Security Zones (HSZ) in Walikamam North in Jaffna, was returned to the owners by President Maithripala Sirisena, a senior official said. The residents were allowed to resettle and cultivate their lands after a lapse of more than 25 years. Additional District Secretary- Lands, [...]
Tamil detainees end hunger strike after AG’s assurance
The hunger strike by Tamil detainees at the Welikada remand prisons ended on Friday after Attorney General Department officials assured them that charges against them would be filed soon and their cases would be expedited. Officials said that all 14 detainees, who were being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, agreed to end their [...]
India hosts IMF’s Training and Technical Assistance Centre for South Asia
NEW DELHI – India is to play host to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s new Regional Training and Technical Assistance Centre for South Asia for the benefit of officials in the region. This will be the first fully integrated centre of the IMF and a model for its future capacity development work to be set [...]
Thieves strike at multimillion-rupee homes of absentee landlords
A well-organised racket targeting properties whose owners are either dead or abroad surfaced this week when police went to court with details of how a Rs. 700 million property in the heart of the capital changed hands through forged documentation. The four-storey residence in Kollupitiya was not only being illegally acquired but also mortgaged to [...]
Killing-spree in Lanka, ‘Dankotuwa’ bodies burnt beyond recognition hamper police investigations
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) detectives probing Friday’s discovery of five charred bodies inside a burnt-out van in Buthgampala, Dankotuwa, were yesterday trying to identify the victims and what exactly happened to them. The van’s licence plate led police to a finance company. They found that, the vehicle’s driver, Kapila Senarath Bandara from Pannala, had been [...]
Gangaramaya can help in development of the country
In these weekly articles, I wish to use information and insights I receive from the clerty or others in any part of the country. So I request you to please write to me, giving your National Identity Card number and your Grama Niladhari division. I believe that without happiness, peace and the correct attitude, we [...]
Govt. steps in to limit MSG use
Indiscriminate use of monosodium glutamate (MSG) by Sri Lankans in kitchens and on farmland has prompted the Health Ministry to limit MSG imports. The Health Ministry said imports of MSG (commonly known as Ajinomoto) had grown over the years due to excessive use of the product in restaurants, takeaway food outlets and household kitchens. It [...]
Kerala ganja via the north freely available in Kalpitiya, Puttalam despite detections
While the Jaffna Peninsula has become a ‘hub’ for the distribution of ‘Kerala Ganja (KG),’ authorities note that smugglers were increasingly attempting to land large quantities of the drug as far south as Kalpitiya and Puttalam. Navy Spokesman Captain Akram Alavi said the stretch of coastline from the islands off the North-West of Sri Lanka [...]
Increased fines among proposals to curb spate of road accidents
The National Council for Road Safety has come up with proposals to curb the increasing number of road accidents islandwide, the Sunday Times learns. “The Transport Ministry is studying our recommendations to set up new laws and regulations with immediate effect to reduce the number of accidents in the country. A decision will be taken [...]
Hybrid heart surgery on staggered basis at two locations
He has had many heart troubles in the past but on Tuesday he had come from his home in Ratnapura to the Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital in Kotte to get just two sutures removed from a small incision made on the left side of his chest. There has been no opening up of the chest [...]
South-west like a sauna as heat rises
Temperatures could soar to near 40C, the Meteorological Department warned as humidity levels shot up to more than 83 per cent in the killing heat from moisture-laden sea breezes blowing inland. Pavement hawkers and vegetable sellers searched for shade this week when customers were not in sight; beggars, usually a common sight on city streets, [...]
Private buyers swoop on paddy at low prices
Farmers expressed fears this week of a further drop in paddy prices as the harvest season reaches its peak. Harvesting in the main cultivating areas such as Polonnaruwa, Ampara and Kurunegala are expected to be completed in the next two weeks and farmers say their paddy is having to be sold to private millers for [...]
Govt. tries to sow ‘organic’ seed in farmers’ minds
The Government is promoting the use of organic fertilizer by increasing organically cultivated land from 15,000 to 500,000 hectares within three years, the Project Director of the National Food Programme at the Presidential Secretariat, said. Project Director Wijeratna Sakalasuriya said the first step to promote use of organic fertilizer was taken last week with the [...]
Experts stress importance of women’s mental wellbeing
She is the pivot around which the family revolves. Wife, mother, daughter, daughter-in-law, sister, cousin and friend – women play diverse and important roles. This is why with International Women’s Day falling on March 8, the need to focus on the mental wellbeing of women was underscored by many experts at a media briefing on [...]
Japan remembers Lanka’s help after disastrous 2011 quake 5 years ago
Japan this week appreciated the assistance extended by the Sri Lanka government and its people when one of its regions felt the enormous brunt of the 9.0 earthquake which followed the tsunami in 2011. In a special message marking the fifth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake in Tohoku, the Japanese Ambassador in Colombo [...]
Trinity welcomes rejected 6-year-old with exemplary generosity
The six-year-old boy who was refused admission to a rural school in Kuliyapitiya, because of a rumour that his father had died of AIDS, was subsequently admitted to Trinity College Kandy, which agreed to provide him free education including books and uniform up to his Advanced Levels or, until such time he decides to leave [...]
How to behave when visiting heritage sites
The Department of Cultural Affairs is in the process of issuing guidelines to ensure decent behaviour by people visiting heritage sites in the country. Cultural Affairs Dept. Director Anusha Fernando said the Independence Square in Colombo 7 should be considered a respected heritage of the country and not a park for lovers. “We have appointed [...]