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Anointing the country’s biggest tusker at the state ceremony

Anointing the country’s biggest tusker at the state ceremony

The state ceremony for the National New Year’s oil anointing took place at the Kelaniya Vidyalankara Pirivena yesterday. Minister Chamal Rajapaksa is seen anointing the country’s biggest tusker, Nadungemuwa Raja, which carries the relics casket in the Dalada Maligawa perahera. Pic by Indika Handuwala

Chinese radio system for police

The Chinese Government is to provide a grant to Sri Lanka to improve the communication facilities for the Police. As part of the Chinese grant, a widely used communication facility known as TETRA — Terrestrial Trunked Radio — will be provided to the Police to improve communication between senior officers and police stations. It also [...]

UK’s Lords send ‘historic (war) crimes’ bill back to Commons

As the United Kingdom led a global offensive at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva to prosecute ‘war crimes’ against Sri Lankan soldiers, a Bill put forward by its Government decriminalising torture and war crimes in prosecutions against its own military personnel serving overseas in respect of incidents more than five years [...]

SLA uplifts 102 tons of ‘printed material’ to Uganda, but refuses to give details

SriLankan Airlines (SLA) has opted to hold back the information on the recent airlifting of 102 metric tonnes of ‘Printed material’ to Uganda saying “It falls within commercial confidence.” The airline said in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by the Sunday Times that it has no specific details on the contents [...]

Growing tension within Govt.: Call to PM

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was due back in Colombo after attending to Avurudu protocols at his hometown of Tangalla and in Nuwara Eliya to call on Venerable Muruttetuwe Ananda Thera today amidst growing tension within the government following a verbal spat over the telephone conversation between President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and SLPP Parliamentarian Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe earlier [...]

BASL hits out: Govt. interfering with doctrine of separation of power

The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) yesterday hit out at moves by the government to interfere with the Doctrine of Separation of Powers over the motion placed on the order book of Parliament to have pending cases before courts against many of its members dropped by implementing certain decisions of the Presidential Commission of [...]

Britain falls silent in tribute to Prince Philip

Britain falls silent in tribute to Prince Philip

WINDSOR, April 17, (AFP) – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II on Saturday led Britain in a one-minute’s silence in memory of her late husband, Prince Philip, as she bid him a final farewell at a funeral restricted by coronavirus rules but reflecting his long life of military and public service. The 94-year-old monarch, dressed in mourning [...]

State employees who fail to perform under “Gama Samaga Pilisandara” to be reported to President’s Office

State employees who delay or fail to perform the duties assigned by the newly appointed Presidential Task Force for “Gama Samaga Pilisandara” (Dialogue with the Village) are to be reported directly to the Secretary to the President, according to a Presidential directive gazette issued by the Secretariat. The directive came as part of the mandate [...]

Mismanagement blamed for Agrahara insurance scheme’s failures

The Agrahara Insurance Scheme for state employees failed to ensure that beneficiaries received the intended benefits on time and turned out to be a loss-making fund over the years due to mismanagement, an audit report conducted by the National Audit Office revealed. In a special report compiled by the Auditor General Office on the operation [...]

10 dead within three days due to adverse weather conditions

10 dead within three days due to adverse weather conditions

At least 10 people were killed, more than 1000 persons displaced and over 250 houses damaged due to adverse weather conditions in different parts of the country in the past three days, officials said yesterday. Six died due to lightning strikes in the Mullaitivu and Batticaloa districts while four others drowned, officials added. Three of [...]

Gammanpila says Govt. should stick to its mandate, vows to continue struggle from within

Among those eleven political party leaders who want to ‘put the Government back on track” are two Cabinet Ministers, one of them an official spokesperson. They met at the Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP) headquarters at Darley Road last week under the chairmanship of Former President Maithripala Sirisena to discuss the issues. Now they are [...]

Ranjan’s visitation rights same as what is given to other prisoners: Prison spokesman

Ranjan’s visitation rights same as what is given to other prisoners: Prison spokesman

Former MP Ranjan Ramanayake is accorded the same visitation rights as other prisoners, the Department of Prisons insisted, in response to the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya’s complaint that his visitation rights had been curtailed. SJB MP Harshana Rajakaruna told the Sunday Times that they had been informed that they could visit Mr. Ramanayake only [...]

Ramadan’s first Jumma prayers at Devatagaha mosque

Ramadan’s first Jumma prayers at Devatagaha mosque

Muslims began the Ramadan fast on Wednesday with mosques around the country seeing a large number of devotees coming for prayers. Muslim devotees are seen here offering the Ramadan’s first congregational Jumma prayers on Friday, while adhering to health guidelines such as maintaining the physical distance. Pic by Akila Jayawadena

Wave of legal challenges against Port City Bill; petitioners say Constitution undermined

A host of petitions filed against the Colombo Port City Economic Commission Bill claiming that the proposed Commission violates Sri Lanka’s Constitution will be taken up tomorrow for hearing by a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Jayanatha Jayasuriya. The other judges are: Justices Buwaneka Aluwihare, Priyantha Jayawardena, Murdu Fernando and Janak de Silva. Among [...]

Cancer causing coconut oil: Public fear probe on slippery slope

Cancer causing coconut oil: Public fear probe on slippery slope

As Customs, police and health inspectors escalated investigations into whether toxic coconut oil has reached the market, the government defended itself against public complaints that importers who might have broken the law in sending out the oil for sale were not being punished. Customs Deputy Director Sudattha Silva said the agency was carrying out separate [...]

Govt.’s Rs. 5000 Avurudu gift tainted by chaos, confusion and conflicts

The Government’s hurriedly announced Avurudu dole of Rs. 5,000 each to three million low income families has run into much chaos, confusions and conflicts with Grama Niladharis staying away from the programme while Samurdhi officers were at a loss to identify the beneficiaries. Smurdhi officers’ union secretary Chamara Madduma-kaluge said the chaos was also due [...]

Farmers surprised by elephant reserve move

Farmers surprised by elephant reserve move

Farmers said they were taken by surprise by the gazette issued on April 9 establishing the Hambantota Managed Elephant Reserve despite having been in talks on human-elephant conflict amelioration with Irrigation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa. Walawa Left Bank Joint Farmers’ Association President Mahinda Samarawickrema said the gazette issued by State Minister Wimalaweera Dissanayake stated the reserve [...]

Jaffna traders squeeze farmers with old Tiger war chest tax

Jaffna traders squeeze farmers with old Tiger war chest tax

Seasoned Jaffna farmer Subramaniam Kandasamy stopped taking his prized vegetables to the local market because he was broken by the illegal “tax” previously forced on farmers by the separatist Tiger rebels and now exacted by local wholesale traders. The 68-year-old farmer has looked to other markets, even though they are far away from his farm [...]

Keeping a watchful eye throughout time

Keeping a watchful eye throughout time

The Kalpitiya Dutch Fort, a formidable symbol of the Dutch era, is to be preserved under a project implemented by the Archaeology Department. The project was inaugurated under the supervision of Asst Director – Archaeology, North Western Province, N M Gunatilleka. Mr Gunatilleka said the conservation project would be implemented in stages, and it was [...]

New year but old tragedy brings over 50 road deaths

New year but old tragedy brings over 50 road deaths

April 14, a day of celebration for the country, was marred by 121 road accidents in a day, and a prominent road expert emphasises that many road tragedies happen time after time in the same places. In four days – from Tuesday to Friday night this week – more than 50 people died on the [...]

Authorities beset with COVID worries after avurudu fiesta

Authorities beset with COVID worries after avurudu fiesta

From crowded shopping and large gatherings at beaches and in the hill country to reckless and drunk driving, the way people celebrated the National New Year has become a serious cause for concern among health officials and police. The country’s Chief Epidemiologist Sudath Samaraweera said people showed scant regard for the health guidelines issued in [...]

No major protest on April 21; Church calls for prayer services and two minutes silence

In the run up to the second anniversary of the Easter Sunday bombings on Wednesday April 21, the Catholic Church said there will be no major protest to mark the day, but Catholics would gather in prayer and worship seeking justice for the victims. An Archdiocese spokesperson said holy masses, holy hours and prayer meetings [...]

The tree that Prince Philip planted

The tree that Prince Philip planted

The demise of Britain’s Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth, has left traces of nostalgia in Nuwara Eliya, widely known as Little England. The late prince visited Nuwara Eliya in 1954, and mingled with the people during the royal couple’s visit to Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, a dominion within the British Commonwealth. [...]

SL may face vaccine shortage for 2nd jab

SL may face vaccine shortage for 2nd jab

Will Sri Lanka have adequate vaccines to give the second dose to 925,242 people who have got the first jab between January 29 and April 10? Health experts pointed out that if the country does not get another stock of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines the latest by mid-May, there will not be adequate vaccines as the in-hand [...]

Likelihood of more COVID-19 cases, warns PHIs’ Union

There is a strong possibility that the number of people hit by COVID-19 will rise in the near future even though currently the country is seeing around 300 cases per day, said the President of the Public Health Inspectors’ (PHIs’) Union, Upul Rohana. He pointed out that a lot of positive cases are being reported [...]

Trials to check on ‘mixing and matching’ vaccines in the UK

The United Kingdom is conducting a major clinical trial – Com-Cov – to check out the possibility whether different vaccines against COVID-19 can be mixed and matched for the two doses. Eight hundred people have been recruited for the study, with efforts to increase the number to 1,050. Those over 50 years of age who [...]

Impact of pandemic-fallout on women and children

Impact of pandemic-fallout on women and children

As the holidays of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year come to an end and Sri Lanka looks towards getting on with life in the new normal brought about by COVID-19, medical professionals spoke to the Sunday Times about the impact of the pandemic-fallout on women and children and how to alleviate it. The discussion [...]

Asela’s arrest shows Govt. will silence anyone raising uncomfortable questions, say activists

Asela’s arrest shows Govt. will silence anyone raising uncomfortable questions, say activists

They charge the arrest came fast on the heels of his criticism over quality of “relief packs” distributed by Sathosa; Police say arrest connected to incident at CAA head office in 2019 Sathosa chief says “relief pack” programme a success despite some limitations, The arrest of a consumer rights advocate who pointed out alleged issues [...]

Clogged canal breeds mosquitoes

Clogged canal breeds mosquitoes

  The Nedimala Canal is a waterway that begins from Weras Ganga and meets the Dehiwela Canal at Kalubowila. Residents living down Prathibimbarama Road have complained of clogged waters in the section of the Canal, contaminated with dirt and plastic waste, for the past three months. The area is teeming  with mosquitoes, and with the [...]

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