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With the train strike continuing for the fifth day today, thousands of disappointed train commuters are seen outside the Fort Railway Station, looking for other modes of transport to reach their destinations. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
IATA protests against CPC’s high jet fuel prices
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) this week criticised CEYPETCO’s opaque pricing for jet fuel and called for a transparent formula, warning that the soaring cost of refuelling in Sri Lanka was stifling the aviation industry. A team from the union of global airlines visited Sri Lanka and sounded caution to officials, including those of [...]
Dual citizens as envoys: Foreign Secretary makes contradictory statements
Appointment of dual nationals as heads of Sri Lanka’s diplomatic missions overseas has set a serious poser for Parliament’s High Post Committee. This came in the wake of contradictions following Foreign Secretary Prasad Kariyawasam’s interpretation to Parliament on the Sri Lanka Foreign Service Minute. The Minute adopted in November 2016, he says, required new entrants [...]
Sirisena appoints experts to study FTA with Singapore
President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday appointed an experts committee to study the Sri Lanka-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and submit a report. The President’s Media Division (PMD) said he appointed the committee after taking into consideration views expressed by various parties over the issue. The five-member committee is headed by W.D. Lakshman, former Vice Chancellor of [...]
Strike continues: Railway unions and Govt. on collision track
The countrywide railway strike is set to continue today, with the Government and trade unions maintaining their tough stance. The Transport Ministry is insisting that the unions should end the strike action and come for negotiations, but the unions have rejected the call. Transport Ministry Secretary G.S. Withanage told the Sunday Times that the railway [...]
Fresh bids to be called for BIA development project
The Government is to call for fresh bids for the construction of a new terminal at the Bandaranaike International Airport after the Cabinet decided to cancel the bid from Japan on grounds that it was too high, a senior official said. Airport and Aviation Service Sri Lanka Ltd Chairman Saman Ediriweera told the Sunday Times [...]
System glitch briefly shuts down interbank ATM services, money transfers
Sri Lanka’s interbank ATM services and real-time fund transfers between different banking institutions were down for several hours on Friday after LankaClear, the country’s largest payments infrastructure provider, experienced technical difficulties. Customers of one bank found that they could not use their cards to withdraw money from ATMs of other banks, while money transfers from [...]
There can never be a woman IGP in Sri Lanka
Female Inspectors of Police (IPs) are being barred from applying for promotion because there are “no vacancies” for women in the Chief Inspector (CI) rank — a sign of persistent structural gender discrimination in the 150-year-old department. Now 40 of them have lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) saying [...]
First-ever Students’ Formulary from Colombo Med Fac
Poisons and medications! They are one and the same, with only one major difference – poisons become medications only with proper prescribing and rational use. To aid proper prescribing and rational use, a team at the Department of Pharmacology of the Colombo Medical Faculty, in a first in the country and most probably in all [...]
Reparations Bill: SC finds 2 clauses unconstitutional
The Supreme Court (SC) has shot down two clauses in the Office for Reparations (OFR) Bill on the grounds that these vest judicial powers in the OFR. The Government intends to set up the OFR to provide reparations including monetary payment or material benefits to aggrieved persons. The SC determination on the Constitutionality of the [...]
RADA case: Nishantha says Alles responsible for channelling public funds to LTTE
A complaint of criminal misappropriation of State funds amounting to more than Rs 180 million, was made, as it was considered a crime against the public because the monies were channelled to the LTTE organisation for war purposes, a key witness in the High Court said. Western Provincial Council member Nishantha Shri Warnasinghe was testifying [...]
Ex-Chief of RADA Alles gave over Rs 180m to LTTE: Witness
A complaint of criminal misappropriation of State funds amounting to over Rs 180 million, was made, as it was considered a crime against the public because the monies were channelled to the LTTE organisation for war purposes, a key witness in the High Court said. Western Provincial Council member Nishantha Shri Warnasinghe was testifying in [...]
A party that went horribly wrong
In the early hours of August 5, medical workers at the Panadura Base Hospital were struggling to stabilize the condition of three grievously ill men who had been rushed in by friends and family. There were four patients in total. The High Dependency Unit (HDU) staff said the man who came first, between 3.15-and 3.30 [...]
Synthetic drug abuse on the rise; authorities drag feet over amendments to the the National Dangerous Drugs Board Act
While authorities dither over vital amendments to the 1984 National Dangerous Drugs Board Act, synthetic drug abuse in Colombo, the coastal belt and tourist hotspots is rising rapidly with nearly nine kilograms of these narcotics seized by different agencies in the first eight months of this year alone. Enforcement agencies are also vastly under-resourced, lack [...]
ST objections force reconstitution of Press Council
The Sri Lanka Press Council (SLPC) dissolved itself recently and then was reconstituted following prior objections to its composition by the Sunday Times during hearings to a complaint by the former Women and Child Affairs Ministry Secretary. When seeking an order on the preliminary objections raised by the newspaper’s lawyers, the Press Council admitted that [...]
Dispute over billion rupee Colombo 7 property
An elderly couple has sought the intervention of courts after they found that a tenant who leased out part of their premises allegedly tried to evict them from their ancestral home and property in Colombo 7 valued over a billion rupees. Eighty-six year-old Wimalsen Fernando and his wife Shiranie Fernando were first alerted by a [...]
Courts should be free from intimidation and undue influence: Court of Appeal
Delivering its judgment on the Contempt of Court case against Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Galagodaaththe Gnanasara Thera, the Court of Appeal said it was the fervent duty of the Court to “ensure that all courts and tribunal of this country are free from all forms of intimidation and undue influence to enable their smooth [...]
Officials promise relief to dried up village
The Divisional Secretariat area of Nawagaththegama with 19 Grama Niladhari areas has suffered from the drought that has lingered over the past three years. According to the Divisional Secretary Dilan Guneratne, small tanks have dried up, and only five remain with little water for cultivation. Farmers in the area complain that they have not been [...]
Pricey urea imported despite cheaper alternatives
The National Fertilizer Secretariat (NFS) has yet again posted a gazette notification (No. 7/1/1/2018 dated 12 July 2018) fixing the purchase price of fertilizer at USD338 per metric tonne. This is the benchmark for the purchase of straight fertilizer triple super sulphate, urea and potassium chloride (uriate of potash) by private sector importers. The government [...]
Houses for NE war-affected: Rejected French firm’s agent now agent for Chinese company
Since 2015, the Resettlement and Reconstruction Ministry has floated two proposals for housing on a massive scale for the war-displaced in the North and East. Both are fronted by a single local agent who floated two companies, one as recently as January 2018, to manage the projects. The Ministry first attempted to grant a contract [...]
Train accident waiting to happen due to poor engine design
S11 train engines and their poor safety design will certainly be reviewed by railway authorities and the government regardless of other findings from the investigation into the Polgahawela accident, the chief investigator in a previous railway accident said. Professor R G N De S Munasinghe, professor of Materials Science and engineering at the University of [...]
Nuwara Eliya celebrates its 190th anniversary
August 11 marked the 190th anniversary of the establishment of the Nuwara Eliya town, otherwise known as ‘Little England.’ The town’s origins date back to August 11, 1828, when the British Governor of then Ceylon, Sir Edward Barnes, established a rest area in Nuwara Eliya for British troops. Though the town began to take shape [...]
Howls of protests over attempts to dissolve SLMC
Rational SLMA steps in to offer ‘a facilitator forum’ for all stakeholders to discuss amendments to Medical Ordinance on composition of SLMC Competent Authority suggestion a “conspiracy”, say doctors A storm has erupted over “controversial” attempts by “those with vested interests” to dissolve the crucial Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC), following the resignation of [...]
BoC lent Mihin Lanka Rs 1.142b sans guarantees
The State-run Bank of Ceylon (BoC) continued to lend money to budget carrier Mihin Lanka (Mihin), sometimes without guarantees or official letters of request, despite repeated failure by Mihin to settle payments on time. Documents submitted to the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) probing alleged irregularities at SriLankan Airlines (SriLankan), SriLankan Catering (SLCatering) and Mihin, this [...]
Free Media Movement condemns GMOA branding journalist a traitor
Condemning the incident where a journalist attached to a state-owned English weekend newspaper Sunday Observer was branded a ‘traitor’ by the President of the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA), the Free Media Movement (FMM) said the incident was ‘anti-democratic’ and a sign of threatening the media. According to reports, the incident occurred when the journalist [...]
IPI urges Bangladesh govt. to stop violence against journalists
The International Press Institute (IPI) has expressed concern to the Bangladesh government over the recent attacks on journalists and the detention of photojournalist Shahidul Alam, and urged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to take concrete steps to stop the violence against journalists. In a letter dated August 8, the organisation, having a global network of editors, [...]
27 Indian fishermen, 4 dhows caught poaching
Twenty-seven (27) Indian fishermen along with four dhows engaged in illegal fishing in Sri Lankan territorial waters were apprehended by the Sri Lanka Navy around 5 pm on Friday. The arrests was made in the northern seas by a Fast Gunboat attached to the Northern Naval Command. Subsequently, the Indian fishermen and their dhows were [...]
A danger to children
The children’s playground in Galle, the Dharmapala Park -a gift from the people of US to the people of Galle, in the aftermath of the devastating Boxing Day Tsunami- lies in a shambles. All the play equipment is damaged and presently poses a danger to children using the facility. Residents charge that despite the children’s [...]
‘Horrifying sight’ of thousands of commuters stranded over rail strike
A total of 374 trains carrying almost 600,000 passengers daily islandwide came to a halt on Wednesday when railway workers launched a sudden strike, and despite widespread public dismay unions are vowing to continue industrial action. Commuters were left stranded on the night the strike began, taken unawares by the stoppage. Many only reached home [...]
Rituals heralding the historic Esala Perahera take place
The traditional ‘kap’ cutting ceremony (the ritual of cutting a lactiferous tree) took place yesterday at the auspicious time of 5.20 a.m. heralding the Kandy Esala Perahera (pageant) that will parade the streets from August 16 to 25. The ceremony is traditionally held at Alutnuwara (about seventeen kilometres from Kandy) to mark the first perahera [...]
Pick of the Pix
Pix by Amila Gamage, Priyantha Wickramarachchi, Shelton Hettiarachchi, Hiran Priyankara Jayasinghe, Wasantha Chandrapala, Jayarathna Wickramarachchi.
Fisheries Minister to discuss Mullaitivu fishermen’s woes
Fisheries Minister Vijithamuni Soyza is to meet today fishermen in Mullaitivu who have been protesting for over a week demanding urgent intervention against illegal fishing activities carried out by both local fishermen and fishermen from other districts. The small-scale fishermen who use traditional methods along the Mullaitivu coastal areas allege that the Fisheries Department has [...]
Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet next UNHRC Head
UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) High Commissioner (HC) Prince Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, who presided over the Council’s resolution on a ‘War Crimes’ probe against Sri Lanka, is to be replaced by former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet who was the first woman President of her country. After a vote on Friday by the UN General Assembly [...]