Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development

Tomorrow is the United Nations World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development – virtues that are important for Sri Lanka in this post-conflict era. 

From the cold war to the cyber war - EDITORIAL

Wednesday May 17 was the United Nations World Telecommunication and Information Society Day with this year’s theme....

If India joins OBOR, we could have an Asian economic union

India last week once again spurned China’s ambitious economic agenda for the world – the US$ 950 billion One-Belt-One-Road....

Politics of India bogey

Hard on the heels of his “fast unto death” in prison calling for his release on bail, National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa was....

Policy on Reconciliation Cannot Dodge “Reconciliation”

A “National Policy on Reconciliation and Co-existence” has been drafted by the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation.....

Modi’s visit, China’s Silk Road Navigating cross currents

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe left Colombo to attend China’s One Belt One Road Forum in Beijing within hours of Indian....

Modi’s visit to the central hills brings welcome relief to a marginalised community

It was a rousing welcome befitting a celebrity. Tamils of recent Indian origin lined the streets of Dickoya in Sri Lanka’s....

Rajapaksas not yet finished; we have another battle ahead - Sarath Fonseka

Regional Development Minister Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, in an interview with Daily Mirror, speaks about the proposed role to be assigned to him, the current status of politics and his future plans. Excerpts of the interview:  

The commonalities of celebration and grief

When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected, BBC just couldn’t get enough of the protests. Wiliam Bowles, in an article titled ‘The nerve of these guys!’ quoted the BBC back then: ‘Millions of Iranians simply did not believe the result. The main demand of the protesters has been an annulment of the result and an election re-run.’ The very same BBC, Bowles noted, had ‘no wall-to-wall coverage of Afghan outrage ove

The many meanings of May 18, 2009

In some part of this island, perhaps in a humble home, or in a public place heavy with ideological fervour or political statement, someone will light a candle or lamp, someone will grieve. Someone will remember someone who was loved. Remove all the ideological and political makeup and two things will remain: Love and Grief.   

No move to form a brigade to suppress strikes

A cabinet reshuffle, setting up a special authority to suppress strikes, disciplinary action against SLFPers who attended the Galle Face rally, the controversy surrounding Minister Rajitha Senaratne’s title as cabinet spokesperson and an imminent referendum; these were some of the pertinent questions raised during a discussion held with President Maithripala Sirisena recently. Excerpts of the interview follow:   

Buddhist remains encompass all India -Director (Monuments) Archaeological Survey of India

Dr. D. Dayalan, Director (Monuments) Archaeological Survey, India, has been instrumental in the recent explorations of the rich Buddhist historical remains of India after extensive excavations....

Death of a worker

The other day, a partially decomposed body, supposed to be of an octogenarian, was discovered by ?a beggar inside a culvert on a city road in the metropolitan capital of Sri Lanka. The corpse had been clogged inside the narrow culvert due to rapid influx of flood waters caused by torrential rain and the non-clearance of city trash....

WHO WANTS YAHAPALANAYA, DESIRE A RAJAPAKSA?

Who wants the Yahapalanaya (good governance)? Not Sri Lankans, for sure. More thrive on mis-governance or are beneficiaries of serial corruption that has trickled down with the advent of free economy....

Power of positive thinking

World leaders have told us that while we keep our feet firmly planted on ground realities, we need to set our vision on the stars and have noble goals in life -- beyond selfish or self-centred agendas and ambitions...

Political predators mistakenly called the Joint Opposition

When the carcass of our polity is sprawled across the landscape of the country, when the carcass is well beyond recognition, when its heart has stopped beating, its nerves ceased to twitch and its blood has hardened so much so that it’s no redder, but eerily crimson, we know that the predators have done the job....

Unity Govt. speaking in different voices - EDITORIAL

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) faction in the government has decided to appoint its own Cabinet spokesman, indicating the....

Sri Lanka’s place in China’s ‘Silk Road’

During the last weekend, President Xi Jinping unveiled his pet project, presented in a rather confusing jargon, ‘One Belt One Road’, in....

13th Amendment took the country to the edge of the Unitary State structure - Canishka Witharana

Author and constitutional lawyer Canishka Witharana who is involved in the legal work of nationalist groups, said in an interview that attempts....

Power should be shared between the centre and the periphery : Winston Pathiraja

Secretary to the Public Representation Committee on Constitutional Reforms, Winston Pathiraja, in an interview with the Daily Mirror, says a....

Timely call to ban weapons that destroy mankind

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on April 27 cracked open one of the most horrendous problems confronting mankind-the....

China’s Charm Beckons the World

Indian Prime Minister’s visit dominated the local news headlines and spawned intense debates among analysts and politicians....

Mullaitivu Fisheries in troubled waters

The Mullaitivu fishing community went through tremendous devastation during the last phase of the war, the tsunami before that....

MACRON’S VICTORY - EDITORIAL

On Sunday, May 7, Emmanuel Macron, a centrist young former banker,  who had never held elected office, comfortably won the...

Journalist-Activist Poddala Jayantha’s White-Van Ordeal

Well-known Sri Lankan Journalist-activist Poddala Jayantha was in the news last week when he sent a letter to the Director-General of Information, Dr. Ranga Kalansuriya, who is also the Secretary to the Cabinet Sub Committee on granting measures of relief to media persons who were subjected to various types of harassment and oppression during the period 2005 to 2015. Media reports said that copies of the letter had also been sent to the respectiv

Act now or oceans may contain more plastic than fish

With so much confusion if not chaos compounded by contradictory statements – the latest being on the sacking of the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – it seems that the United States President Donald Trump is emerging as the notorious “Ugly American”.   

Day to revere Buddha’s Birth, Enlightenment and Parinibbana

Vesak is a day for humanity to revere the Birth, the Enlightenment and the Parinibbana of the Buddha, the “Tathagatha”. It is a day to rejoice in the Buddha. A day to reflect on the supreme truth and timeless relevance of the Dhamma, and the four noble truths.  

Turn holidays into holy days

For the first time, the United Nations celebrated Vesak 2017 in Sri Lanka with the highlight being the three-day international conference attended by representatives from some 85 countries. As we stressed yesterday, significantly the theme was a peaceful and just society.

Tuesday night massacre: Trump’s Watergate moment

The moment of truth has come for the United States. But in politics, truth is rarely told -- and if told, it is told for a self-centred motive. Therefore it is naïve to assume that the embattled White House will tell the truth and nothing but the truth with regard to the allegation that Donald Trump had collaborated with Russia to get elected at the November 2016 election. 

Mullivaikkal Day: To commemorate or not to

At times, there is a huge difference between the choice of issues by the Tamil and the other two national language media. This disparity is evident in handling issues related to the rights of the Tamil people including their agitations, with Tamil media, particularly newspapers, giving wide coverage to those concerns, while Sinhala and English media are overlooking them totally.