A Bill Clinton for France? - EDITORIAL

If Marine Le Pen feared something worrisome in a run off, it could not have been any worse than this. A dashing 39-year-old....

The French Kiss of Death

In France, in the aftermath of the lone wolf attack at the Champs-Élysées, the Ultra Right French Nationalist Party candidate Marine Le Pen said....

Muslim Law has a long and distinguished history in Sri Lanka

The on-going discussions on amendments to the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) and the extensive coverage being given....

Govt’s failure to regulate public affairs and its adverse consequences

The failures of a modern state can manifest in diverse forms. The worst of such manifestations is the loss of State control over....

Elections in US, EU and Britain while Democracy takes a back seat - EDITORIAL

Since June 2016, and continuing until September 2017, the ‘democratic’ western nations from Britain to the US, from Holland, to France, to....

C.V.Wigneswaran hurts Christian sentiments

Northern Province chief Minister Canagasabapathy Visuvalingam Wigneswaran, who possesses a remarkable flair for getting embroiled in controversial issues, is in the eye of a storm again. 

The amazing food that we underrate

Latest medical research is showing that our health is closely linked to the food we eat while the preventive or curative measures for various ailments could also be connected to our diet. For instance, in the case of cancer many western hospitals are no longer giving radiotherapy or 

Getting rid of North Korea’s nuclear bombs

There are 29 states which have at one time or another set about becoming nuclear weapons powers or have explored the possibility. Most have failed or drawn back. Only the US, Russia, France, UK, China, India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea have crossed the threshold. Only the first five have long range, nuclear-tipped, missiles. North Korea wants to walk in their footsteps.  

Blame the urban educated

Some “promoters” in the “Wickremesinghe camp”, think they caused Turkey’s recently held Referendum to frighten off Sri Lankans from continuing with the presently reshaped Executive Presidency. 

India awaits to invest in Trinco Oil Tank farm

Before contrasting and competing views within the government on the Hambantota Port deal are reconciled, the stage is being set for yet another debate. This is involving the move to develop the Trincomalee Oil Tank Farm with an Indian company under a joint venture. 

Gone to waste

As protests erupted in several areas across the Western Province, attempts by the various urban and municipal councils in the province to be relieved of their daily collections of rotting waste were thwarted. Tense situations were reported in Kalagedihena, Kotikawatte and Karadiyana, where residents staged protests against the decision to dump garbage in the dump sites of these respective areas.

Garbage: Don’t play dirty games

It is one week after the Meethotamulla garbage dump catastrophe which left 32 dead, scores injured, at least eight missing, hundreds of houses destroyed or damaged and more than thousand people displaced in despair and destitution. 

Tip of the dump A ‘national government’ sans one voice

As in any other case no politician in the country had the courage and the integrity to take the responsibility for the Meethotamulla garbage dump disaster that had claimed more than thirty lives. The death toll is feared to rise as a similar number of people are said to have gone missing after the collapse of the dump on the Sinhala and Hindu New Year day.

The (unreasonable) vilification of art

About 16 years ago, a political commentator observed that our liberal arts curriculum impoverished rather than enriched those who opted for the Arts stream. He was entitled to that opinion of course, but that opinion as such was and is shared by a great many other people. 

under compulsion

The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, announced the parliamentary elections for 8th June 2017 which is now being termed as a “snap election” and further being said, “as a strategic move” in the Brexit trajectory. The Prime Minister’s decision to call for a snap poll, is being viewed as one of surprise. There are several factors that have come to bear heavily on the need for a parliamentary poll in the process of m

The looming gloom after the ‘Meethotamulla Tragedy’

With a death toll that has risen to thirty two so far and with approximately 1,703 people believed to be affected as a result of the collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage dump, the National Building Research Organization (NBRO) recently issued a warning to area residents including the public in general, to refrain from visiting the Meethotamulla garbage dump; since the landslide situation experienced recently at the site has not become fully stab

Non-white Lives do Matter Mr. Trump

On Thursday April 6, US President Trump ordered US warships in the Persian Gulf to launch a unilateral and totally unexpected cruise missile strike on a Syrian airbase in Idlib in retaliation for Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons in the rebel-held province. The attack was undertaken without consulting Russia – a major player in the Syrian civil war   

Complement RTI with RTR (Right to Recall)

The stench from Meethotamulla, metaphorically speaking, is being matched by the stench of political rivals lobbing chunks of political garbage at one another. The politically dispassionate,  pointing out that there are countries where such disasters have resulted in the resignation of relevant subject ministers or officials, called for the resignation of those responsible. The most uncomfortable thing about all this is that the people don&

Of Hawks and Tomahawks: A President who came in from the cold

Power does not change who you are;  it only reveals who you are

Right to Information and Batticaloa women : Hypothesis vs Reality

On February 4, 2017, Sri Lanka became the country with the ‘Right to Information Act’. The epitome of a persistent struggle that extended over 18 years shouldered mainly by professionals and activists of media and legal fields.   

No provision detrimental to Country’s sovereignty should be included

The following are the gist of representations made by me before the People’s Commission to formulate a policy framework for international....

Calculating GDP growth: A sorry attempt by some to mislead people with ‘alternate facts’

It is bad when small-time politicians make up stories to mislead village folk. It is far worse when those with professional qualifications fabricate stories to mislead a gullible nation.

Dump, dumber, dumbest

Decent Lanka 2015, a civic organisation has sent the following statement on the tragedy that took place on Friday, April 14 night, in which 26 residents were killed.....    

Ranil Wickremesinghe untangling of a socio-political parable

Since of late, there seems to be a spate of interest in our Prime Minister. Often referred to as Ranil, instead of Prime Minister, he has managed to draw unusual attention to himself; by the nineteen eighties he had already become the darling of the Colombo cocktail circuit, parallelling Lalith Athulathmudali at the time; his laidback lifestyle which emanates an aloofness beyond a mere ‘politician-ness’ of a politician has sometimes c

RANIL MAHINDA SIRISENA Are they all the same?

Aged old boys – Ranil and Mahinda need each other to keep both politically afloat. If one is to win, is it due to the unpopularity of the other? Votes come less from the dwindling party cadres: others think twice before they vote? .....

For lasting peace, dismantle weapons industry

With the United States dropping the biggest ever 21,600-pound non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan a week after 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired at a Syrian Air Force base, the world appears to be on the brink of an Apocalypse with nuclear war drums also beating in the Korean peninsula....

Anandaya: The first 125 Years Ananda College not a station, but a moving train…

Ananda College, named after the principal disciple of Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha is, more often than not, revered for her celebrated contributions to the revival of traditional Buddhist education, reckoned for her distinct accomplishments in non-academic fields and scorned and looked down upon by condescending social-climbers who missed the rare opportunity to attend the school

Meethotamulla tragedy

The Meethotamulla residents who filed a fundamental rights petition last year stating that there were individuals and companies who were interested in purchasing the garbage for re-cycling at their own cost without harming the environment.

SDGs – do they really apply to all of us?

In September 2015, countries gathered to agree on certain goals to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. All countries therefore, are supposed to implement the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs (http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/) by 2030.

The garbage menace and its innocent victims

The collapse of the Meethotamulla garbage dump on Sinhala and Hindu New Year day on which Good Friday also fell was not a natural disaster, nor was it something unexpected. What neither the people nor the authorities knew was the date and the time of collapse of the 300 foot high mountain on the poor residents who are not responsible for the problem.