By Faraz Shauketaly
Thailand’s capital was this morning engulfed by a sea of red as thousands upon thousands gathered in the city from all parts of Thailand. Dressed in red t-shirts the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship started their demonstration at around 10 am local time from the outskirts of Bangkok. A convoy of cars, [...]
By Michael Hardy
The Sunday Leader has uncovered shocking new evidence of how expatriate-owned real estate brokers help foreigners buy valuable property on the island without paying the mandatory 100 percent transfer tax that was enacted in 2005. Over the past decade, foreigners have bought up massive swaths of Sri Lankan beachfront property, displacing local inhabitants [...]
While Trying To Retain GSP
By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema
Sri Lanka is looking at capturing emerging export markets for local exporters while continuing the dialogue with the European Union (EU) to retain the GSP+ trade concession, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said.
Bogollagama told The Sunday Leader that the government was looking at the 140 million-person emerging middle class [...]
By Nirmala Kannangara
Clashes between candidates of the ruling UPFA are reaching record levels as the campaign for next month’s general election intensifies.
Election monitors say intra-party clashes among candidates fighting for preferential votes have seen a drastic increase compared to earlier elections, election monitors told The Sunday Leader.
According to independent election monitors, more than 80 percent [...]
By Cassandra Mascarenhas
Four-year-old Amila Sandaruwan Fernando who was thrown into the Kalu Ganga in Kalutara by his mother on March 11 passed away at 11.40a.m. yesterday (20) in the Intensive Care Unit at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital after battling for his life for over a week.
“He was in a very bad state when he was [...]
The Sunday Leader hereby tenders an unqualified apology to Hon. Justice Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake for having inaccurately reported in this newspaper on February 28 that Her Ladyship was present at the scene of a motor accident involving her official vehicle at Horton Place, Colombo 7, when in fact she was presiding on the Bench at [...]
By Raisa Wickrematunge
Over 9,000 people banded together on social networking site Facebook to voice opposition to popular music artist AKON performing in Sri Lanka.
The uproar is due to a collaborative music video, in which Akon appears. The video portrays scantily clad women dancing in front of a Buddha statue.
Two groups have been started on Facebook [...]
By Cassandra Mascarenhas
The Government Epidemiological Unit has recorded over 60 deaths due to dengue this year alone with 9,653 cases of the fever recorded in just 72 days, a substantial increase from the 6557 cases recorded in the first three months of 2009.
Fourteen of the 62 deaths this year have been from the Jaffna District [...]
By Cassandra Mascarenhas
The President’s family dominates the government; two of his brothers hold key executive branch posts as defence secretary and senior advisor to the President – this is the statement made in the opening paragraph of the US State Department’s 2009 report on Human Rights in Sri Lanka. The report takes issue with a [...]
By Nirmala Kannangara
The government’s decision to import eggs and processed chicken in order to stabilise prices would have an adverse impact on the poultry industry, poultry farmers told The Sunday Leader.
According to the poultry farmers, the present price of an egg varies from Rs. 15 to Rs. 18.50 while a kilo of processed whole chicken [...]
