Third world’s unceasing struggle with Transnational Tobacco Mafia

The believing we do something when we do nothing is the first illusion of tobacco” - Emerson Out of the tobacco related deaths of 105 million in the 20th century, an eighty per cent was from the third world. The figure is alarmingly increasing......

A public fund for workers in high risk zones

The real tragedy of some events lies in peoples’ perceptions of them rather than in the events themselves. When Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera says the loss of life and property......

Don’t let the Meeriyabedda children be statistics

Unprecedented ferocity of the Meeriyabedda landslide buried many alive whilst razing a large number of houses in one of the worst ever natural disasters to hit Sri Lanka after the Tsunami. Rescue......

EDITORIAL - Poison on our plate of rice: Who’s the culprit?

As Sri Lanka begins the National Poison Prevention Week, the head of the Toxicology and National Poisons Information Centre (TNPIC) officially revealed what people-friendly nutritionists and organic......

Chinese Boogeyman

Earlier, another Chinese submarine, a long-range deployment vehicle, which was on its way to the Gulf of Aden, docked at the Colombo Port, a day before the Sri Lankan visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was the first port call made by a Chinese submarine in the Indian Ocean region and rang....

Deeper Societal Issues and the Present Human Predicament

The world today can hardly be characterized as orderly. Yet, there appears to be some sense of order as most people carry on with their day to day activities, whether it is work, business......

EDITORIAL - Dramatic turn of events: Polls may be too close to call

Today will be one of the most important days in Sri Lanka’s history. A full bench of the Supreme Court is to give an opinion on whether President Mahinda Rajapaksa has the......

Why is the rule of law failing in this country ?

The Provincial Councils were introduced in 1988 in order to devolve powers to the provinces while the Centre retained subjects such as police,  finance and lands.  As regards devolution,  the role of successive governments does not seem to be.......

International Day of Radiology ‘Brain Imaging’

November 8 marks yet another important day in the field of modern medicine as it signifies the International Day of Radiology (IdoR). This was the day Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays in 1895.

The high cost of dying - EDITORIAL

The 2015 Budget provides unprecedented relief measures which former National Cricket Captain Sanath Jayasuriya in symbolic language has described as a Man of the Match all-round performance – good in batting, bowling and fielding. 

The balance sheet of China’s new Asian bank

Two years after the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference where 44 Allied nations gathered to form the World Bank, governors of these nations met at Savannah, Georgia in the United States.

Russia getting tough

President Vladimir Putin is often painted as an ogre in the world’s media. The seemingly eternal president of Russia has an iron grip on his nation and a foreign policy to match.

Silence of the graveyard-EDITORIAL

Philosopher Edmund Burke has said all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good and sincere people to say or do nothing. The legendary American civil rights activist Martin Luther King often lamented that what hurt more was not the sword of the enemy but the silence of the friend.

Political parties’ pulses and approaching Presidential Election

The main opposition United National Party (UNP) was in a panic  during the last couple of days after speculation was rife in political circles that its MP for the Matara district Mangala Samaraweera was planning to switch allegiance to the government, ahead of the snap presidential election.

China re-discovers priceless value of Buddhism

In as much as two global religions Christianity and Islam are given leadership today by powerful countries based in the West and Middle East respectively,...

Historic week for Lanka-EDITORIAL

Sri Lanka is facing a crucial period or even the moment of truth in its history with President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday officially seeking the opinion of the Supreme Court -..

Can Ranil knockout Mahinda No; belief only a truly ‘common’ challenger can, is growing

There is a lot of controversy about the so-called common candidate to contest the forthcoming Presidential Elections against the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Ritchiemania: popcorn taste in a pop culture

Good taste is harder to acquire than wealth. If we take good taste in art, it takes a great deal of education, and years of perseverance, to acquire it. Wealth will buy the best housing,...

SL on Nuclear Weapons Absent In Action

Sri Lanka’s foreign policy has recently been the target of much criticism and one can cite a litany of scandals and questionable departures from professionalism and our traditional Non-aligned stance.

Lanka needs to steer through stormy waters-EDITORIAL

In 1976, Sri Lanka reached the peaks of its international policy and relationships when it presided over the Non-Aligned Summit.

If our proposals are not implemented, Will decide to quit alone or with others

While the controversy ridden coal deals have become the talk of the town, former Power and Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka comes out with many revelations and allegations of corruptions related to power and energy.

End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists

The United Nations has designated November 2 as the ‘International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists’. It is important for an industry usually averse to introspection to acknowledge the deaths of journalists who have died in pursuit of the........

JHU’s emphatic no to executive presidency

Jathika Hela Urumaya parliamentarian and the Pivithuru Hetak founder the Ven. Athureliye Rathana Thera has ideologically taken on the protagonists of the executive presidency in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) head on.

Bigger picture behind the Koslanda calamity

A deadly landslide that swept through the Meeriyabedda tea plantation in Koslanda last week, buried an unknown number of plantation workers and their families under a mound of mud, wiping ......

Strategies for Deepening Democracy

Despite frequent and widespread public misgivings about the prevailing state of governance, .....

EDITORIAL - The 12% mystery!

The Budget 2015 was everyone’s ‘darling’. It seemed to have brought a bag full of goodies with something for everyone. It also tried to address a serious issue faced by pensioners and senior citizens....

Cardiovascular diseases ....

The Sri Lanka Heart Association (SLHA) is advocating the need for easily available dedicated cardiac care countrywide to reduce the annual death toll of 25,000 due to heart attacks.

An Open Letter Urging the President and ......

Dear Mr. President and Leaders of political parties, The citizens and civil society are most grateful to Reverend .........

Estate workers; focus not on votes but on wellbeing - EDITORIAL

With Sri Lanka in a state of mourning over the worst landslide in its history the .....

Oil politics: The secret US-Saudi deal

Is oil a bane or a boon? A blessing or a curse? If there had been no oil, would we have reached the advanced stage that we are in today in industrial development? There would not have been aircraft.