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Home » NewsHambantota Port: Investment flow begins
The Government yesterday launched the Hambantota port project, which it claims will make Sri Lanka the economic hub of South Asia. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and China Merchant Port Holding Group’s Executive Vice President Hu Jianhua holding aloft the copy of a cheque for US$ 292,097,400, the biggest single foreign exchange remittance made to Sri [...]
Debt-ridden SriLankan Airlines faces closure
The national carrier SriLankan Airlines faces closure “in the larger interest of the country’s economy” if “tangible and sustainable restructuring cannot be achieved,” its Chairman Ajit Dias has warned. Pointing out that the airlines’ principal lenders, the two state-run banks, are at a “risk situation,” he has said in a message to all SriLankan employees [...]
ICC says claims of war crimes by UK troops have ‘reasonable basis’
The chief prosecutor at the international criminal court in The Hague, Fatou Bensouda, has declared there is a “reasonable basis” to believe that UK soldiers committed war crimes against detainees during the Iraq conflict, the London Guardian newspaper said. The announcement on Monday means the ICC will press ahead with its investigation into claims that [...]
Jerusalem crisis: Lankan embassy will remain in Tel Aviv
Sri Lanka has reaffirmed its position that Jerusalem should be the shared capital of Israel and Palestine and said the country’s embassy in Tel Aviv will not be shifted. On Wednesday, the United States’ President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announced plans to relocate the US embassy there. But Sri Lanka would [...]
Part-EPF-owned company ordered to pay Rs. 1.3 billion as damages to Italian firm
A Singapore-based arbitration tribunal has ordered SinoLanka Hotels and Spa (Pvt) Ltd–a subsidiary of Canwill Holdings (Pvt) Ltd of which the shareholders are Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, Litro Gas Lanka Ltd and the Employees’ Provident Fund–to pay Euros 7.432 million (Rs 1.3 billion) in damages to an Italian company for the 2015 termination of an [...]
Local council polls: Stern warning to public officials
Public officials who fail to prevent the misuse of state resources or property during the upcoming local council elections will be liable to a fine or jail term, a senior Elections Commission official said. Additional Elections Commissioner M.M. Mohamed told the Sunday Times that the Commission, in contrast to previous elections of only issuing directives [...]
Fertiliser shortage: Minister goes for emergency spot purchases
A delay in ordering fertiliser stocks on time has compelled agriculture Minister Duminda Dissanayake to seek ministerial approval to waive laid-down tender procedures. He now wants to complete the procurement within seven days thus eliminating the seven day appeal period in terms of tender procedures. This is after it came to light that the company [...]
Budget passed with 2/3rds majority
The third reading of the 2018 Budget was passed in Parliament yesterday with a two thirds majority. Voting in favour were 155 members while 56 voted against with 13 MPs absent.
RDA grants extension to local builder under a cloud
The Road Development Authority (RDA) is granting an extension to a local builder despite protracted delay in implementing a Kuwait-funded bridge project, to avoid disruption to nine other large contracts awarded to the same company. The decision is being called into question by other RDA officials, including union members, who point out that there were [...]
Rail unions defy Govt. call to return to work, say will continue with strike until demands are met
The Government yesterday issued a fresh ultimatum for railway workers to return to work, but unions have vowed to defy the call. Railways General Manager S.M Abeywickrema told the Sunday times they have called workers to return to work by Monday or face dismissal. The railway service was declared an Essential Services by the President [...]
Heartfelt relief : Cabinet announces heart surgeries would be carried out in private hospitals at govt. expense
With Wednesday’s announcement by the Cabinet of Ministers that emergency heart surgeries would be carried out in private hospitals due to some issues that have arisen at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL), there were many sighs of relief among heart patients and their relatives. Under a joint proposal, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and [...]
Lankadeepa correspondent lodges complaint that police obstructed her from carrying out her duty
A correspondent for the Lankadeepa newspaper has lodged a complaint at the Moratuwa Police that she was allegedly obstructed from carrying out her duties by police and court officials when she went to report on the escape of a prisoner from the holding cell of the Moratuwa Magistrate’s Court. Reka Tharangani Fonseka in her complaint [...]
TNA in bid to rescue the alliance, as crisis deepens
The split within the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has widened following disagreements among alliance partners over chair positions in local councils. Last week, the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) left the TNA and formed an alliance with the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). The EPRLF has decided to contest the local council polls under [...]
Lanka takes UN pledge in sea clean-up bid
Sri Lanka has joined the United Nations CleanSeas campaign and pledged to make it marine environment free of pollutants by 2030. Representing Sri Lanka at a conference held in Nairobi, Kenya to coincide with the World Environment Day on December 6, Environment Ministry secretary Anura Dissanayake, joined 40 other countries in pledging to keep the [...]
Amendment to Local Authorities Elections Ordinance passed
Parliament yesterday approved an amendment to the Local Authorities Elections Ordinance laying down the procedure for the appointment of members to multi- member wards as well as to remove the inconsistencies between the Sinhala and English drafts of the Act. The amendment bill was passed amidst objections from both the JVP and the JO group [...]
Air Force Christmas carols
Air Force Christmas Carols 2017, organised and presented by the SevaVanitha Unit of the Sri Lanka Air Force was held on Friday at the Defence Services School Auditorium. The event featured Eshantha de Andrado conducting the choir made up of Air Force personnel and family members. The music composition and performance was by the Air [...]
Revitalised Hambantota project will boost economy, says Minister Samarawickrama
The Hambantota project will bring in an FDI inflow of US$ 1.12 billion and there will be an immediate positive impact on our foreign inflows, as the Chinese entity brings in an immediate advance payment of 30%. The balance will be received within six months, Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade Malik Samarawickrama said [...]
Prime Minister receives largest foreign currency cheque in 4 decades from China Merchant
Chinese group to manage and operate Hambantota Port Premier says the US$300 m will be used to develop Ruhuna into an industrial zone Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday received a cheque for US$ 300 million as an advance payment from the China Merchant Group Limited which will now manage and operate the Hambantota Port.The ceremony [...]
MPs’ committee slams laws’ delays as serious and shameful, proposes sweeping reforms
The average length of time between the date of occurrence of a serious criminal offence and the conclusion of prosecution in a high court takes an average of 10 years, a Parliamentary Committee has concluded. The ten-year average period has been broken down into three time frames: On an average, the time taken to file [...]
Fateful November 29: Storm brews over warning lapses
Both Dodanduwa and Hikkaduwa fisheries harbours did not receive the official red warning before destructive weather hit on November 29, highlighting serious gaps in Sri Lanka’s early warning system. Eight fishermen who set out from these harbours died that night, trapped in heavy rains and strong winds. Since the tragedy, however, authorities have been on [...]
About 4000 people mainly from Kalutara District still without power
About 4000 people are still without electricity following the severe weather conditions experienced on November 29, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) said. The vast majority are from the Kalutara District, CEB Spokesman Sulakshana Jayawardena told the Sunday Times yesterday. Over one million customers were initially without power with the majority of the outages being reported [...]
Unable to send mass SMS alerts, says DMC
Is it appropriate in this modern age to continue to rely on urgent weather alerts conveyed by facsimile–particularly when the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) has the ability to send out mass SMS alerts to all mobile phone subscribers? But this system also has limitations, argues Pradeep Kodippili, Deputy Director. The DMC has been consulting the [...]
Media should be more responsible when reporting: Anura Kumara
Chief Opposition Whip and JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayaka yesterday urged the media to be more responsible in its reporting keeping in mind the enormous influence it exerts on the public. “Unlike a time when the media consisted only of newspapers, there is radio and television as well as websites that disseminate news today. Hence [...]
Poor turnout of female candidates for local govt. polls
Lack of candidates to contest from rural areas, interference by local male politicians and cultural taboos are among issues impeding efforts to fill 25 percent of the nomination lists with female candidates at the upcoming local government elections. Female MPs from major political parties, speaking to the Sunday Times, said work on identifying female candidates [...]
President’s ire over importers lack of awareness of tea and rubber exports
President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday berated officials for not creating adequate awareness of the country’s main trade commodities specially tea and rubber and highlighted the space available in the Korean market for these products. Speaking at a function in Colombo, the President said that during his visit to Korea about two weeks ago, he was [...]
Lankan tuskers maybe victims of growing Chinese demand for ivory, Global wildlife watchdog warns
China is fuelling the rising demand worldwide for ivory and increased elephant poaching in Sri Lanka is probably a reflection of this, said the spokesman for a global wildlife trade monitoring network. A 2011 elephant survey (the last one to be done) found 5,879 wild elephants in Sri Lanka of which only 122 were tuskers. [...]
Environmentalists call for fast and severe crackdown on killers of Dala-Poottuwa
Sri Lanka’s psyche and conscience have been violently shaken by the “premeditated murder” of the majestic and beloved ‘Dala-poottuwa’ of Galgamuwa, with wildlife experts stridently calling for an impartial investigation and stern action, without fear or favour, against the “murderers”. There is a clear need to send a strong signal that the wanton killing of [...]
Renowned Lankan-born Buddhist monk Ven. Galagedera Pannananda Thera passes away in Lucknow
The last surviving Sri Lankan- born Buddhist monk, who administered the pancha seela to Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, independent India’s first Law Minister and architect of the country’s Constitution, at a mass rally at Lucknow on October 14, 1954, the Most Venerable Galagedera Pannananda Thera has passed away in Lucknow. His funeral will take place [...]
Ajahn Sumedho Thera in Sri Lanka to deliver sermon on Tuesday in Kaduwela
The chief western disciple of Ajahn Chah and former Chief Incumbent of Amaravati Monastery, UK, the internationally acclaimed Buddhist meditation teacher Ajahn Sumedho has arrived in Sri Lanka on a short visit. The Maha Thera is scheduled to deliver a sermon on Tuesday at the Mahamevnawa Bodhignana Meditation Monastery in Hewagama, Kaduwela from 6.30 p.m. [...]
It’s festive time in Pettah: Shoppers and traders say things could be better
Christmas celebrations are round the corner and the streets are relatively busy with shoppers and the shops decked in festive decor. Amidst this festive air the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) says it has stepped up checks and issued a gazette on December 6, under the Consumer Affairs Authority Act of 2003,to fix the Maximum Retail [...]
4 kg of heroin a day for 45,000 users: Report
One in every 257 Sri Lankan was arrested for drug related offences last year, reveals a report containing shocking statistics which stress the need for more far-reaching measures to check the disturbing situation. The Dangerous Drug Control Board’s 2016 report reveals that last year, 79,378 suspects were arrested for narcotic drug related offences, a majority [...]
Beware, your coconut oil is probably contaminated
Adulteration of coconut oil is widespread in the country today. Senior officials of the Coconut Research Institute (CRI) said the reason behind the adulteration of coconut oil was the shortfall in production which resulted in the inability to meet local demand. CRI Chairman Jayantha Jayewardene told the Sunday Times that while the country required aproximately [...]
They are marine eels, not sea snakes
Reports that swarms of what were initially mistakenly identified as venomous sea snakes had got caught in fishing nets in the east coast, had many puzzled and others worried with rumours spreading of an impending tsunami. But scientists have categorically said they are not sea snakes but a species of marine eel. These creatures had [...]
Pick of the Pix
Pix by Amila Gamage, Sameera Weerasekera, Jayarathna Wickramarachchi, Gamini Mahadura and Thusitha K De Silva.
Meethotamulla tragedy: Committee report ready
The report of the one-man Presidential Committee appointed to investigate the causes that led to the Meethotamulla garbage dump tragedy has been completed. Over 30 people died and more than 100 houses were damaged or destroyed when the garbage dump collapsed on April 14, while many families were celebrating the National New Year. On April [...]
Tsunami: A faded memory
In the aftermath of the tsunami which devastated the island’s coast in 2004, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) commenced putting up signboards in coastal areas marking ‘evacuation routes’ and ‘safe sites’ in the event a disaster strikes again. Over 5,000 signboards were put up in all three languages along the country’s entire coastline. Each signboard [...]
Physical barriers have not dimmed her enthusiasm for studies and music
The parents of an eleven-year-old girl with a deformity in her legs, are appealing for assistance to help in their daughter’s education as she has shown an aptitude for studies and is interested in music too. W.M.Ruwani from Daha-hahulhena in Udugama Galle, moves about with the assistance of her hands and her father a tea [...]