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38,000 People Die Of Tobacco, Alcohol In Sri Lanka Yearly

October 22, 2019 2:29 pm

About 38,000 people have been reported dead from the excessive use of alcohol and tobacco in Sri Lanka yearly, local media reports, quoting medical experts from the Sri Lanka Medical Association.

According to statistics from the Sri Lanka Medical Association on Tuesday, an estimated 18,000 people died from the use of tobacco and an estimated 20,000 from the use of alcohol in the island country.

Head of the Sri Lanka Medical Association, Anula Wijesundara, told the local Daily News that a person addicted to alcohol consumed at least an average of 3.5 litres of alcohol on a daily basis.

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Sri Lanka MPs defy president to resume Easter attack probe

June 11, 2019 9:55 am

Sri Lanka’s parliament Tuesday defied President Maithripala Sirisena and resumed an investigation into security lapses surrounding the Easter suicide bombings that killed 258 people, officials said.

The Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) began hearing testimony from Muslim leaders who claimed they repeatedly alerted the authorities to dangerous radicalisation, a parliamentary official said.

President Sirisena last week asked his coalition cabinet to halt the hearings, which have already revealed senior police and security officials directly under him had ignored repeated intelligence warnings.

Sirisena sacked his intelligence chief over the weekend after he …

Guns exceed guests at bombed Sri Lanka hotel

May 6, 2019 7:12 am

At the Cinnamon Grand Colombo, one of six Sri Lankan targets hit by suicide bombers on Easter Sunday, the silence that reigns is not just the usual hush of a plush hotel.

Recently reopened, barely 10 of its 500 luxury rooms are occupied — down from the 300 usual at this time of year — as fears rise over the impact of the bombings on the island nation’s burgeoning tourism industry.

On April 21, the Cinnamon was one of three hotels hit by jihadi bombers along with three churches in attacks claimed by the Islamic State group that left 257 …

Easter Sunday mayhem: Sri Lanka bans face coverings

April 28, 2019 8:41 pm

Sri Lanka has banned all kinds of clothing that cover the face and prevent identification, such as niqabs and burqas, officials said on Sunday, a week after the Easter bombings that left over 300 people dead.

The ban does not directly refer to Muslim female garb, burqa and niqab, but was seen as a clear reference to the type of dress.