Foot spa was a brothel

Sleuths of the Nugegoda Division Vice Squad raided a brothel which had operated under the guise of an ayurvedic spa at a luxury house Thalawathugoda on Friday night and nabbed nine young females and the manager of the outfit.

The brothel had been managed by a disabled naval rating, police said, adding that he had been aided by his wife and sister-in-law to run the place.

Police have found that the place had been rented out for Rs. 50,000 a month for three years. Police used a decoy to gain entrance to the spa.

All females nabbed in the raid were from Anuradhapura District and were between 20 and 31 years of age. They told police that they identified their regular customers from a panel of CCTV camera screens and only they would be permitted to obtain the services of sex workers while unknown customers would be provided only with massages.

Further investigations were in progress under the supervision of Nugegoda SP Prasad Ranasinghe and ASP Udaya Hemantha by OIC of Nugegoda Division Vice Squad SI Suraj, sergeants Sirikumara (25218), Chamath (27817) PCs Chandana (4853), Manamperi (38203), Wijeratne (60346), Rajamanthri (77606), Layan (87462) and WPC Madhushani (8481).

Price of lunch pack increased by Rs 10

Price of a lunch packet shall be increased by Rs.10 from today onward,the national organizer of the Canteen Owners Association Asela Sampath said.

Speaking to News Asela Sampath said that this increase follows the constant hike and fluctuation of rice prices in the market. He also requested President Maithripala Sirisena to mediate in the matter and direct an inspection on all the paddy stores.

"Not branding rice as an essential food item paves the way to this constant increase of rice prices. In the recent past, the government stocked rice and paddy at the Maththala airport saying that there is an excess of rice. The government purchased these stocks for a very cheap price of Rs.25 per kilo. Now the government is selling the very same stocks for Rs.80 per kilo. In a situation where we have to buy around 1.5 million kilos of rice per day for consumption, it is difficult to deal with the constant change in prices of rice. The price of a rice pack keep changing in the market. It is the black market that gets the advantage of these price fluctuations. Taking all these reasons into consideration, we have come to a conclusion that we should increase the price of a lunch packet," Sampath pointed out.

"The government does not have a proper plan to deal with these constant fluctuation in price. It has been proven from all the previous regimes that when the prices go high, they come up with a cabinet paper to import rice. When rice is imported, they are stored and let to rot. Now the Finance Minister is planing to do the same by importing 3 metric tons of rice as an answer to the price increase." Sampath explained.

Considering these understandings, our association has decided to increase the prices of morning,lunch and dinner packets by Rs.10 starting from today, Asela Sampath said.

"This increase is not done for a personal gain but as a warning signal to the government.

The government should take this warning in to consideration and come up with a plan to deal with the price increases and fluctuations.If you take Sathosa in to consideration, a kilo of rice is sold for Rs.74 where as in some super markets it is Rs.69. Where does the differences go to? It seems that the rice prices are meddled with as a way to defame President Maithripala Sirisena. So we request the President order an inspection to examine the paddy stores to find out how much paddy is stored hidden from the market." Sampath further said.

If the fluctuation in prices of rice come to a stop, the Canteen Owners' Association is ready to decrease the price of lunch packets as well, Asela Sampath added.

News websites give wrong impression about Sri Lanka

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday said that "irresponsible stories" published by news websites and social media have given a wrong impression to Sri Lankan expatriates as well as to the international community.

He said the government is not trying to divide the country or remove army camps from the North. Claims by these websites that the government is planning to neutralize or weaken the army are also totally baseless.

President Sirisena was speaking to Malaysia’s Chief Sangha Nayaka and Chief Incumbent of the Buddhist Maha Vihara at Bricksfield in Kuala Lumpur, Ven. Kirinde Dhammarathana thera during his three-day official visit to Malaysia.

The President’s delegation included Deputy Minister of Foreign Employment, Manusha Nanayakkara, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Wayamba Development and Cultural Affairs, Palitha Thewarapperuma and former Colombo Mayor, A. H. M. Muzammil. Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Malaysia, Ibrahim Ansar was also present.

"Websites and social media propagate baseless stories about our country, which mislead Sri Lankans living overseas who read them to keep themselves updated on developments in their motherland", President Sirisena said, adding they have no other source to know about what’s happening in Sri Lanka.

He assured that the government’s endeavor is to take the country forward through a development drive after the war and consolidate democracy and reconciliation. These websites don’t give publicity to the real policies and genuine intentions of the government.

Commenting on protests organized by a group of Tamils in Malaysia against Sri Lanka during his official visit, Sirisena said a small group of people who have personal agendas organized the protest.

"Around 10 to 15 people staged a demonstration against us as they use to earn money by organizing such protests," he said adding they were paid in dollars.

Sirisena signed the Guests’ Book after the discussion with the Chief Incumbent and Ven. Dhammarathana thera presented a memento to the President.

The President visited Malaysia on an invitation by the Malaysian government. He presided at the launch of the Sri Lanka – Malaysia Business Forum on Thursday and held bilateral talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak the following day.

Five agreements were signed on further developing the areas of foreign employment, youth activities, tourism, agriculture, culture and arts during the President’s visit.

SL’s economy grows by 4% in nine months

Sri Lanka’s economy has achieved a growth rate of a mere 4% during the first nine months of this year helped by a 3.1% growth in industry sector and a faster 6% rise in services sector but the country’s agricultural sector witnessed a disappointing 2.3% decline during the period, recent official statistics showed.

According to the National Accounts Estimates of Sri Lanka for the third Quarter of 2016 released by Department of Census and Statistics on Thursday, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Sri Lanka for the third quarter of 2016 (July, August, September) recorded an overall improvement of 4.1% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2015.

During the recent quarter, while the industry and services sectors grew by 6.8% Year-on-Year and 4.7% Year-on-Year respectively, the country’s agricultural sector however was estimated to have declined by 1.9% YoY.

"The four major components of the economy; Agriculture, Industry, Services and Taxes less subsidies on products have contributed their share to the GDP at current price by 7.6 percent, 30.5 percent, 56.0 percent and 5.9 percent respectively in the third quarter of 2016," Acting Director General at the Department of Census and Statistics, D G S G Munasinghe said commenting on the quarterly statistics.

Among the sub activities of Agriculture, the value added of ‘Growing of tea’, ‘Growing of rice’, ‘Growing of rubber’, ‘Growing of spices’ and ‘Growing of vegetables’ declined and reported negative growth rates of 20.4 percent, 20.0 percent, 17.8 percent, 9.0 percent and 7.2 percent respectively during this quarter, when compared to the same quarter in the previous year.

On the other hand, ‘forestry and logging’ and ‘fresh water fishing’ grew significantly by 30.0 percent and 20.8 percent respectively during the third quarter of 2016. ‘Marine fishing’ and ‘animal production’ also reported 7.4 percent and 6.9 percent growth rates for the third quarter of 2016, while the ‘Growing of fruits’ and ‘Growing of oleaginous fruits; including Coconut’ have shown only a slight increase in growth rates by 1.3 percent, and 0.1 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, the industrial activities which shared the GDP by 30.5 percent at current price, expanded by 6.8 percent with ‘Construction’ activity, which corresponds to a higher share of the industrial activities, increasing by 14.4 percent during the quarter. Manufacturing activities grew by 2.7 percent while service activities which gave the highest contribution of 56.0 percent to the overall GDP growth, recorded a positive growth rate of 4.7 percent, Acting Director General Munasinghe said.

The performance of the Services sector was underpinned specially by the sub activities of ‘Financial service activities’, ‘Insurance activities’, ‘Telecommunication’, ‘Education service’ and ‘Wholesale and retail trade’ which reported significantly higher growth rates of 12.9 percent, 12.3 percent, 11.7 percent, 10.2 percent and 4.6 percent respectively compared to the respective quarter in year 2015.

Issuing a communique on releasing 3rd quarter National Accounts, DCS stated that a detailed report on the National Accounts estimates for the third quarter of 2016 have been published in the DCS website

Duminda Dissanayake threatens me: Gota

Former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa claimed that Minister Duminda Dissanayake had earlier threatened him to hand over the Chairmanship of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to incumbent President Maitripala Sirisena.

 “I don’t say President Maithripala had threatened me. But Minister Duminda Dissanayake told me to hand over the party Chairmanship soon after the election. If not so, Dissanayake told me, that he knew how to take it by taking it to court. ‘The government is ours,’ he said. This is how they establish the democracy,” he said.

“Their objective was to split the main Opposition and recruit part of the members to the government,” former defence secretary said while addressing the Sri Lankans in Japan.

Speaking further the former Defence Secretary said that the previous Mahinda Rajapaksa regime had eliminated underworld activities, which were a threat to the people.

“The present government vowed to established law and order in the country. But today it is the exact opposite that is happening,” he said.

10 dead in bus and van collision in Jaffna

At least 10 persons were killed and several others wounded following an accident involving a van and a bus in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna. 

Police said that a SLTB bus traveling from Jaffna to Vavuniya had collided head-on with a van traveling from Colombo to Jaffna at around 1.00pm today (17).

Several passengers were admitted to the Chavakachcheri Hospital following the incident while 6 of them were transferred to the Jaffna Hospital.

Nilame boycotts FCID

The Basnayaka Nilame of Sri Vishnu Temple of Devundara in Matara Dilshan Wickremaratna who has been summoned twice by the FCID to question him in connection with the misuse of two vehicles given to Mineral Sands Corporation during Mahinda Rajapaksa regime and misappropriation of finances of the Vishnu Temple has avoided coming to FCID on both occasions say reports.

The Basnayaka Nilame who had been appointed a Director of the Mineral Sands Corporation during Mahinda Rajapaksa regime was last summoned to FCID on 14th December. The response by IGP Pujith Jayasundara to a telephone call stating he would not allow the ‘Nilame’ to be arrested was given publicity by the media and created uproar in the society.

When the Chief Whip of the opposition JVP Leader Anura Dissanayaka questioned regarding this telephone call in Parliament Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the telephone call was from the Minister of Law and Order Sagala Ratnayaka.

It is said that the ‘Nilame’ is a relative of retired President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Minister Sagala Ratnayaka.

Homagama Crimes OIC arrested for assaulting a woman

The Officer In Charge (OIC) of Crimes at the Homagama Police Station was arrested today (16), on charges he assaulted a woman. The arrest was made on a complaint made by the woman, saying she was assaulted while at her residence in Nawala.