Immigration: to be or not to be.

The great immigration debate has to become the great re-thinking and re-structuring debate. Charlie Brown is right when he says,

If Trump cuts funds, where will UN go?

The United Nations wouldn’t be the same after January 20, roared president-elect Donald Trump in a tweet after the outgoing Barack Obama administration in a startling diplomatic manoeuvre got the UN Security Council to pass a unanimous resolution condemning Israel’s settlements in occupied Palestinian lands.

SLMC needs overhaul

The Ceylon Medical Council, instituted under colonial rule and later renamed and improved as Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC), is legally mandated to take care of the community’s and the people’s health. 

Young voices for the wilderness

Today is World Wildlife Day with the vision being to celebrate and raise awareness on the world’s wild animals and plants. On December 20, 2013 the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) proclaimed March 3, the day of signature of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Ven. Rathana Thera’s Statement Thought provoking transformation

Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) Parliamentarian Ven. Athureliye Rathana Thera, who is in the centre of a controversy over his recent statement that he would be an independent member in Parliament, has attempted to create another controversy during the inaugural conference of his organisation, the Sri Lanka National Council (SLNC) on Tuesday.

Claims and counter claims of intransigence

Leader of the Opposition and the senior citizen of Tamil Nationalism R. ww in an adjournment motion has made some interesting points as follows:   

Revisit ‘yahapalana’ fundamentals before it’s too late

Former Test Cricketer Ranjan Madugalle, long before he became a match referee, once talked of fundamentals, both in cricket and life. It was a story about values. He said whenever he suffered a drop in form, he returned to the fundamentals such as the stance and the back lift. Similarly, he advised the young boys he was addressing, ‘when you are in doubt, when you feel there’s something wrong, it is useful to go back to your basics,

“Country plunged into a State of Confusion due to contrasts within Govt”

Eminent Buddhist Monk Ven. (Prof.) Bellanvila Wimalaratana Thera, in an interview with Daily Mirror, articulates his position on the current state of affairs, the Constitution making process and what should be done for the future. Excerpts:

Military victory over LTTE The first step towards the broader goal of reconciliation Shivshankar Me

 Former Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, in an exclusive interview with  by email, affirms that Sri Lanka is important to India not only on geopolitical reasons but also as a multi-ethnic democracy.....

Outdated economic policies cannot deliver the goods - Dr. Sarath Amunugama

According to the Central Bank figures, the total outstanding government debt as at end of August 2016 was Rs. 9,316.569 billion (or 9.316 trillion)......

Should culprits be charged under Anti-Ragging Act or for attempted murder?

How do you describe a group of senior students forcibly taking freshers to an isolated house in the dead of night, stripping them naked, and assaulting them for no reason? Aren’t they brutal criminals? Why should they be described as raggers just because they are university students? But that is how things stand....

TNA’S TRAP REFERENDUM FOR EXIT

Mr. Sumanthiran spoke second, following upon Prof GL Pieris. My own speech took on more of an edge than it otherwise would have, in response to the latent note of intimidation vis–a-vis the Sinhala majority struck by both Suma and former Chief Secretary of the North Eastern Provincial Council, Dr. Wigneswaran.....   

Why SAITM issue is much more than SAITM itself

President Maithripala Sirisena says a decision on the private medical school, the South Asian Institute of Technology and.....

With nothing we come, with nothing we go - EDITORIAL

As we enter March tomorrow, instead of focusing on the cliché of Ides, we need to reflect deeply on inter-religious unity in diversity....

Hang down your head in shame need not be Tom Dooley

Faults lie in keeping mum to suffer in silence: watching holders of high office thwart the law is a prime injustice uncontained. Do not....

Courage in the face of adversity

Fortunately today, as a positive result following the recent rejection by President Maithripala Sirisena (in the much discussed National Human Rights Action Plan)....

Kim Jong Nam another notch in the list of political killings - EDITORIAL

Kim Jong Nam the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was assassinated at a crowded airport in Malaysia in broad....

I have no authority to postpone elections - Mahinda Deshapriya

The new electoral system is a hot topic of conversation with Elections Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya at the centre of it all. In a candid interview, Deshapriya sheds light on the formulation of the new electoral system and the violations of democracy brought about by the delay of elections. He shared the following:-  

Why Europe conquered the world

Eleven hundred years ago Europe was a backwater. There were no grand cities, apart from Cordoba in Spain which was Muslim. 

Latest breakthroughs in natural cures

Dr. Al Sears, MD is one of the United States’ leading anti-aging doctors. He has made it his life’s work to challenge conventional medical beliefs and bring his patients the latest breakthroughs in natural cures and remedies to diseases once thought to be incurable.   

To Rwanda with Love: A story of social service and tea

“We put Sri Lanka on the map in Rwanda” says Honorary Consul of the Republic of Rwanda in  Sri Lanka, Callistus Alles. Better known....

Saints, Sindh and ‘sins’

Poetry mixes not with bigotry. Philosophy is no honey for the fanatic. Shorn of spirituality, terrorism is antithesis of what humaneness is......

ENSURE THAT RTI DOES NOT FAIL

Sri Lanka’s achievement in having the world’s 3rd best RTI Act is without doubt mainly a result of having good Rules on Fees and Appeals, as proposed by the new Right to Information (RTI) Commission.....

Commemorating the 131st birth anniversary of D.R. Wijewardene The National Patriot

The nation reappraises her patriotic sons for their benevolent contributions rendered to safeguard the hereditary rights of the motherland. February 23 marks the birth anniversary of a great patriotic icon who was born in the year 1886 - namely Don Richard Wijewardene, the third son of Muhandiram Don Philip Wijewardene and renowned Buddhist ‘Mahoupasika’ Helena Wijewardene Lamateni of the Sedawatta Walawwa in the Kelani Valley. 

Salute to greatness

I consider this an opportunity to pay the sincerest respects to someone to whom he owes possibly his entire existence. In my case it was D.R. Wijewardene.  There are many of us to whom it was a privilege to work in an institution which is part of the history of this country. It has truly been said by somebody that it is not the mastery of language that makes a book but the mind and the man behind it. 

India asked me to halt the Port City Project

Former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, in an interview with Daily Mirror speaks about his future plans, diplomatic ties he developed during the war time and the charges levelled against him. The interview:

Golden opportunity for Student Movement to fight ragging

Youth, across continents and throughout history, more than any other segment of the population, believe that change and in particular systemic change is not only desirable but possible.  They have the idealism, the energy and the belief in quantities that others just cannot muster.  

Sinhala and Tamil traces in an Island’s history

Any discussion on claims which contain words such as ‘traditional’ or ‘historical’ can make sense only if assertions are backed by facts and not by myths. They should be buttressed by a corpus of evidence that are coherent and wholesome, and are not marked by the errors of selectivity. 

The problem with ‘justice as reconciliation’

When an historic Obama Presidency took control of Washington in early 2009, there was a wide expectation that the new administration would rectify one of the Bush administration’s greatest moral failings – its use of torture......

Politicians should lead by example

Despite the promises of large-scale Foreign Direct Investments-many have promised but few have come- Sri Lanka is facing a major economic crisis over the repayment of foreign and domestic loans, most of them obtained on high commercial interest rates.....