Democracy cannot succeed unless people are educated and vote wisely

The People’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but the people’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary says Reinhold Niebuhr an American Reformed theologian,

What happened to Consumer protection laws?

A state of emergency is an anathema for many people in any country and a declaration of Emergency Regulations would make headlines and in most cases create a fuss among the people. Ironically, the Emergency Regulations issued by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on August 30 was big news only for the Tamil newspapers next day, while it was an ordinary story in the front page of Sinhala and English newspapers.

Do teachers miss ‘their’ children at school? - EDITORIAL

Teacher-principal unions are roaring like lions. Probably they don’t hear the silent cry of students who are stuck at home. As much....

In the aftermath of Western debacle, Taliban face dilemma over Islam

Plunged in extreme poverty with the United Nations warning that two thirds of Afghanistan’s people are facing starvation due....

Lockdowns, of no use if not strictly monitored

Is Sri Lanka making any headway in its fight against the COVID pandemic? From what we can gather from media reports, it is only too apparent that the fight has lost it momentum or the thrust we experienced at the initial stages.

Covid-19 and citizenship

What should a citizen do in a situation that is certainly worrisome and is probably reason for alarm? What should you do what should I do? These are questions to which there are many possible answers.

“Your travel plans should not come first” – Dr. Dinu Guruge

In a recent live discussion on fighting the Covid-19 pandemic hosted by Daily Mirror Twitter Spaces, Colombo Municipal Council’s...

Aren’t our rulers forgetting something? - EDITORIAL

Going through the newspapers, or its newest face – the e-Paper - a super-rich citizen could be forgiven if he/she is forced into...

The butterfly that flew away…! A Tribute to Mangala

Mangala Samaraweera was never at home in Sri Lankan politics. He was the embodiment of a political misfit. Although somemay....

Spotlight on Meegahapallama Commercial farmers demand bridge

Around 350 - 400 families live in Paranigama W.27/A Grama Niladhari Division in Ampara district. More than 350 acres of cultivation lands....

Spiraling CoL adds insult to injury

If not for the severity of the COVID 19 pandemic which has been threatening Sri Lankans as well as people in other countries with death, there could have sometimes been country wide demonstrations in Sri Lanka against the spiraling cost of livi

Tamil Nadu tinkers with Lankan Tamil refugees’ issue

The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M.K. Stalin, recently won plaudits both at home and abroad for announcing a very comprehensive welfare package totaling INR 317 crore (US$ 43.1 million) for Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in the State.

SL ranks 94 in Corruption Perception Index, so there is room to improve - US Envoy Alaina B.Teplitz

US Ambassador Alaina B.Teplitz, in an interview with the Daily Mirror, talks about the development of business environment....

Can we afford another lockdown? - EDITORIAL

The Covid-19 is rampaging through the country with 4,596 new cases and 212 deaths reported up until last night....

Khema’s Boy - a ‘Product’ of Black July’s Regal Shock?

Date—July 29, 1983 [Black July’s “koti awa” day]; Place—Fort: exactly opposite Regal cinema. Murderous hooligans roused....

A war without the knowledge of the terrain

The opposition that has been rightly blaming the government’s failure to restrict the people’s movement during the last Sinhala and Hindu New Year Period which resulted in the third wave of the COVID 19 in the country,

People’s tolerance challenged by COVID blues

Frustration growing in adults in Sri Lanka and around the world is making the controlling of the COVID pandemic tougher each day.

Tribute to a Titan

The loss of Mangala Samaraweera is a devastating blow to statesmanship in Sri Lanka. In the words of theologian James Freeman Clarke...

Gone are the days of Innocence

When one hears a single bell toll, the message become clear. Someone within your community has passed. In the last few weeks.....

Death comes like a knave at night - EDITORIAL

Three days ago, on August 24, Mangala Samaraweera Cabinet Minister of yester-year and a man of many parts and talents breathed...

Disaster capitalism booms while Afghanistan collapses in poverty

Behind the frantic efforts by the United States to evacuate tens of thousands of foreign troops and Afghans before the Taliban’s no-nonsense....

Power shift in Afghanistan

Let me share some of my thought with my own experiences and unfolding events in Kabul. Afghanistan has been in deep political divisions, structural governance challenges, and economic insecurity to impede durable peace and development progress for years.

Terror hubs from Washington DC to Kabul, London to Johannesburg

The First Anglo-Afghan War, William Dalrymple observed just a week ago (‘Britain’s fourth Afghan war is a replay of the first infamous retreat 170 years ago), was arguably the greatest military humiliation ever suffered by the West in the East.

Vietnam, Iraq, now Afghanistan; So many lives lost in vain

In moves reminiscent of April 29, 1975, which marked the end of the Vietnam War and that of US troops hurriedly vacating the country becoming an enduring symbol of defeat with thousands of Americans and their Vietnamese allies airlifted out of the city, were visuals of thousands of frightened people attempting to flee Afghanistan.

Rumble in the Sri Lankan gas market

Following the ‘manmade’ gas shortage in the country there is public opinion to say that this was allegedly manipulated by the Ministry of Trade....

Taliban 2.0

The message has been repeating on a loop. It took 20 years, four US Presidents, some three trillion dollars and 100,000 lives....

After Afghanistan, US now eyes the Far East - EDITORIAL

In February 2020, the US and the Taliban signed a deal for the safe withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan....

IS LOCKDOWN EFFECTIVE?

Based on the nature and the behavior of the coronavirus that has brought in a global pandemic, it is the duty of the medical experts to explain the effectiveness of a ten-day lock down or a curfew. Some reports say that a person who has contracted the virus would show symptoms of the COVID-19 disease 5 to 7 days after he/she was exposed to the virus. During an interview with the Daily Mirror last year, Head of Department of Immunology and molec

Difficult choices of a lockdown: Life, death and economy

Kneejerk economic measures could lead to ‘long Covid’

Upholding the Democracy (what is left of it) in Sri Lanka

The current leadership of Sri Lanka has unfortunately begun to show signs of failure a little too soon.