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Governments may come and governments may go, but protests seem to go on. This week saw the first street march by university students after the Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration took over. President Rajapaksa tweeted later, “Contrary to the usual tear-gas & baton charge that greeted Uni student protestors previously, I invited the union reps to Pres [...]
Scramble to fill vacant Supreme Court seat
Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya and Attorney General Dappula de Livera have recommended two separate persons to sit on a vacant Supreme Court seat amidst a judicial service inquiry into taped conversations between judges and an MP and a string of Commissions of Inquiry into alleged misdeeds of the former government. Court of Appeal President Yasantha [...]
Emirates flight hits fox and bird at Mattala
An Emirates Boeing 777 which was diverted to Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) owing to bad weather hit a fox on landing and birds on take-off, aviation officials confirmed. MRIA no longer takes scheduled flights. It is used only for emergency purposes. On the day of the incident, November 18, there was bad weather at [...]
UNP, SLFP in shambles ahead of polls
Two of the country’s major political parties are in a serious crisis with just months to go for the parliamentary elections. Worst hit is the United National Party (UNP), now in a lockdown over leadership. Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe ceded the post of Opposition Leader to his deputy, Sajith Premadasa and wants to retain the [...]
SLAF to buy Y-12s from China
The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) is to acquire two new Y-12 aircraft from the Harbin Industry Group in China. Said to cost more than US$ 3 million, this high-wing twin-engine turboprop utility aircraft has remained an SLAF asset. One of the Y-12s crashed near Haputale last week and an SLAF Board of Inquiry is [...]
Chinese man dies from Wuhan pneumonia
China has reported the first death from a dangerous pneumonia outbreak in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, and hundreds are under observation. The infected man died on Thursday night. China reported it Saturday. Sri Lanka is on alert. Forty one people are suffering from the virus in Wuhan. Seven are critical in hospital, [...]
President visits Maligawa
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa visited the Dalada Maligawa yesterday and took part in religious observances. He also took time off to speak to devotees at the Maligawa.
Sajith’s temple donations under police probe
Opposition Leader and UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa, who held the Cultural Affairs portfolio under the previous government, is likely to face a police investigation into disbursement of large amount of funds. The matter came up for discussion at a top-level meeting where Central Cultural Fund disbursements were discussed. Earlier, it was the subject of [...]
Customs insists on scanning containers, but drivers express radiation fears
The Customs has decided to cancel permits issued to container drivers who decline to drive through the cargo scanner installed at the Colombo Port, a senior official said. The move came after several drivers declined to drive through the scanning machines installed at a cost of Rs 2.3 billion and aimed at reducing smuggling of [...]
Dubai rains cause flight delays at BIA
Several flights due to depart from the Bandaranaike International Airport to Dubai were rescheduled due to heavy rains experienced in Dubai, officials said. Accordingly five flights due to leave from the BIA were delayed by one hour while another two flights due to arrive from Dubai were delayed indefinitely. Two Emirates flights, one flight each [...]
3,000 Lankan refugees willing to return, says Dinesh after India visit
Around 3000 Sri Lankan refugees living in India are willing to return to their motherland on their own accord, International Relations Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told the Sunday Times. In his first official visit to India as minister in charge of foreign affairs early this week, Mr Gunawardena met India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and [...]
Scholars petition President to stop moves to oust National Archives DG
Several academics, researchers and practitioners have written to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa strongly condemning alleged attempts by the Cultural Affairs Ministry to remove National Archives Director General Nadeera Rupesinghe. The letter, signed by 45 eminent persons, including academics and researchers, notes with extreme concern that there has been no official communication as to why the Ministry [...]
The dazzle of Duruthu Perahera
The annual Duruthu Perahera of the Kelaniya Raja Maha Viharaya began on Thursday night under the patronage of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Mr Rajapaksa placed the relic on the main tusker of the temple. Ministers Chamal Rajapaksa, Prasanna Ranatunga and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa were also in attendance. Ven. Dr. Kollupitikye Mahinda Sangarakkitha, Chief Incumbent of [...]
Remains of Lankan students to be brought back home from Azerbaijan
The Sri Lankan Mission in Iran is coordinating with relevant authorities in Azerbaijan to repatriate the remains of the three Sri Lankan university students who were killed due to suffocation after a fire at their apartment on Thursday. Sri Lanka has no diplomatic presence in Azerbaijan and as such, the Sri Lankan Mission in Tehran [...]
Lakshman Kadirgamar journalism scholar leaves for India for MASCOM study course
Mandira Wijerathne of the Sunday Observer, the winner of the 2018 Denzil Peiris Young Reporter of the Year Award presented at the annual Journalism Awards for Excellence progarmme, left for India this week to study at MASCOM, one of India’s leading journalism academies, as the ninth Lakshman Kadirgamar scholar. Ms. Wijerathne, a resident of Badulla, [...]
Kandy, Batti, A’pura police stations lead NPC’s public complaints list
The Kandy, Batticaloa and Anuradhapura police stations had more than 20 public complaints each against them within one year, reveals the latest National Police Commission’s annual report submitted to Parliament this week. According to the report which covered police activities in 2018, more than 15 complaints each were recorded against the Polgahawela and Badulla Police [...]
Ranjan tapes drown out debate over President’s policy statement
Bombshell revelations contained in phone recordings allegedly involving United National Party (UNP) MP Ranjan Ramanayake largely overshadowed this week’s House debate on the policy statement of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. As one alleged phone conversation after another leaked onto social media and some even making their way to mainstream media, the matter was raised again and [...]
Thousands of casual workers face job losses
Thousands recruited to the state sector by the last regime are facing termination with the advent of the new government. Around 6,800 have lost their jobs at the state agencies that had employed them. UNP, MP Range Bandara, who tabled a question in Parliament on Tuesday, said the action amounted to ‘political vengeance’ and called [...]
Navy takes up mangrove plantation to preserve ecosystem
The Navy has launched a major campaign to plant mangroves to preserve and promote a productive ecosystem. More than 1000 mangrove saplings were planted by the Northern Naval Command in the past two months, the Navy said. The programme’s recent extension saw the crews of SLNS Elara, SLNS Kanchadewa and SLNS Welusumana planting 300 mangrove [...]
Amid shortage, farmers call for more fertiliser to raise harvests
A persisting shortage of fertiliser is set to reduce paddy and vegetable harvests, threatening food supplies and farming incomes. Prime agricultural areas such as Dambulla have been experiencing a shortage of fertiliser for the past three months and this is expected to continue for at least another month. Farmers visiting Dambulla regional fertiliser stores were [...]
New battle against dengue to be fought inside mozzie bodies
Dengue-killing bacteria imported from Australia – which reports huge success with its programme – will be spread through the local mosquito population this year as figures show dengue has doubled in ferocity. The Wolbachia pilot project, which was due to be tested during the dengue outbreak in 2017, will be introduced to the island next [...]
‘Don’t panic, no need for special measures in SL’
The “mystery” virus in China’s Wuhan area has been identified this week as a novel or new coronavirus, as Sri Lankan health authorities urged the people not to panic or be alarmed as there seems to be no human-to-human transmission so far. The World Health Organization (WHO) has not sent out any alerts for [...]
Colombo Port City hit by vagaries of Lankan policymaking
The Colombo Port City has become an example of how even investors with the direct backing of a powerful Government can fall victim to the vagaries of Sri Lankan policymaking. Red tape, changes in administration, geopolitics, shifting goalposts and local sensitivities are just some of the challenges the project has faced since it was launched. [...]
Nothing arbitrary in our streamlining process: HRC Chairperson
The Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Dr Deepika Udagama has drawn attention to the news item titled “HR watchdog redirects heavy volume of gripes”, published in the Sundav Times of Januarv. 5. The Chairperson said: The Commission’s decision to streamline acceptance of complaints stems from its observation that a large proportion [...]
Convict SLTB driver at the wheel for fatal Passara ride
The driver of the SLTB bus that ran off the Passara-Madulsima road and plunged down a precipice killing nine passengers and wounding 40 last week had been convicted of drunken driving in 2018. Madulsima Police said the driver had been found guilty in 2018 for dangerous driving and failing to prevent an accident in which [...]
Protecting the independence of the Judiciary should have priority over political advantage
The coming into the public domain of the recordings of conversations that Parliamentarian Ranjan Ramanayake has had with various individuals including judges, police officers, state officials and fellow politicians has set the cat among the pigeons and has become the subject of discussion among all strata of society. While the conduct of the parliamentarian has [...]
The mysteries of a tiger tribe
Many contrasts seem to meet in the single person that is Dr. Sahil Nijhawan. He studies tigers but favours lions and is intrigued by them; he is a Delhi urbanite but is equally at home in the wilds across the world; he is a mechanical engineer who should be building power machines but who has [...]
Excavations in Wanathavilluwa spreading fear among residents
Residents of Samagipura in Wanathavilluwa are calling on authorities to conduct a thorough search of “Lactowatta,” the estate where explosives used by Islamist terrorists were found last year. This is after it emerged that unidentified persons have again carried out excavations at the estate in recent days. Detectives from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) were [...]
Mechanic turns out steel and wood block cutting machine
Mr. Weerakkody, a 43-year-old father of two from Katumana in Nuwara Eliya and a mechanic by profession has turned out a block-cutting and moulding machine using discarded pieces of metal. According to Weerakkody his locally made machine is capable of molding or cutting steel or wooden blocks into different shapes and sizes. He added that [...]
Aluthsahal Mangalya offering at the Dalada Maligawa
The annual ‘Aluthsahal Mangalya‘, (Offering of new rice) took place on Duruthu poya day (Friday). The offering of freshly harvested rice to the Sacred Tooth Relic from the rice fields of the Sri Dalada Maligawa, takes place every year. The ceremony was first conducted by King Keerthi Sri Rajasinghe, to present an offering of ‘new [...]
16 local bodies directed to clean up waste, but enforcement weak
Last month the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) had issued directives against 16 local government institutions for improper waste management. The authority’s deputy director general of waste management, engineer, Mr Upali Indrarathne, said the main complaint was the failure to collect garbage on time and that they dump waste everywhere. “The 16 institutions have requested a [...]
A towering shame
Putting up clock towers in towns and city centres is a common practice in our country. The aim of course is to make the public and other passersby aware of the time. Our people not being very time-conscious, the aim of constructing the clock towers, is a very admirable one. But, unfortunately most of the [...]