EDITORIAL - The river of no return

For thousands of years, Sri Lanka’s fresh water resources have been one of our greatest treasures. Unfortunately, this blessing and nature’s free gift to us is often taken for granted and in recent decades we have seen waste, mismanagement.......

Caliphate: Hysteria or history in the making?

On the first day of Ramadan as Muslims worldwide began their month-long fasting period, the Islamic State (IS) which was until then known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) announced the formation of a khilafah or caliphate, an Islamic state in territories conquered in Iraq and Syria.

China is not going to be a miracle

The Nobel-prize winning economist, Robert Fogel, believes that China’s economy will grow at an average rate of 8% until 2040, by which time it will be twice as rich as Europe in per capita terms. His model is based partly on so-called geometric growth.

Anti Dengue campaign: go to the gutters - EDITORIAL

With another dengue epidemic raging and this year’s number of victims being the highest ever, the Government needs to act immediately on some practical and concrete proposals made by a leading chartered architect and town planner to curb the dengue menace where the victims are mainly children.

Govt members surveyed on main elections PAFFREL inspired by Korean election model

The government members received a piece of paper with five questions mentioned, at a workshop conducted on Monday in Beruwala. The workshop, meant for all the ruling party members, was graced by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The name in the news

Opposition Parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera, never out of the limelight for long, was the focus of attention this week when he made startling accusations about the Army’s alleged involvement in the communal riots that engulfed Aluthgama and its neighbouring towns recently.

who is sick? - EDITORIAL

Conflict after conflict, conflicts within conflicts and diseases within diseases for the past few months among doctors, nurses, midwives and other paramedical personnel, have plunged Sri   Lanka’s life-or-death Public Health Services into a shameful shamble.

Buddhism existed before Mihindu thera

Buddhism existed in Sri Lanka even before the arrival of Mihindu Thera says Professor Raj Somadeva an eminent Archaeologist in an exclusive interview with the.

BBS is only the symptom

Once you’ve built the big machinery of political power, remember you won’t always be the one to run it.

EDITORIAL-The new weapons of mass deception

Politicians are often heard making lofty proclamations about the need to protect Mother Lanka. The foundation of Mother Lanka, as of any country, is Mother Earth.

I will change my old records

Minister Mervyn Silva’s son Malaka Silva who is from Kelaniya had gone to Matara and organised a Dansala there. It aroused the curiosity of almost everybody. A journalist has asked him the reason for this sudden change.

Politics moving down the generations

There is a new trend in the field of politics where the sons of the politician fathers are given opportunities to enter politics. By proving this trend, Tharu Dissanayake, the son of  Minister S. B. Dissanayake is getting ready to enter politics in the near future.

Watareka Thera’s Melodrama, Cousin spills the beans

Watareka  Vijitha Thera recently  hit the head lines of every paper and the electronic media over his abduction and the bodily harm he had encountered alleged to have been caused by his abductors. His subsequent declaration......

EDITORIAL - “Campaign” behind the riots

External Affairs Minister Prof. G. L. Peiris has said that there had been a “campaign” behind the riots that took place in Aluthgama, Beruwala and Welipenna on June 15 and 16 which has had as its aim the weakening or destabilising the Government......

EDITORIAL - This drag must end

That line is from a mob movie. Well, not those exact words of course, but that’s how the mafia operates. Covers all bases.  Don’t leave things to chance.  But there are mobs and mobs, high profile corporate entities included.

Start commune gardens in city

Increasing density of population in the Colombo metropolitan region due to rural urban migration over the last few decades has resulted in the fragmentation of land and loss of open space in the region, particularly in and around Colombo.

Fallouts on : three-term Presidency

A third term in office can have a bogey trap set for devaluation or diminution of any Presidential image in seeking to do such overtime. Therefore a new candidate was the option taken previously.

TNA must take lead in presenting evidence about ltte violations at the un probe

Out going UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Navanetham Pillay known as Navi. Pillay has presented a “fait accompli” as her parting gift to an unreceptive Sri Lanka After weeks of speculation and expectation the UN Human rights chief has formally announced the setting up of an investigative panel to...........

Demarcation of the lines of authority essential for peace

It appears from the various news reports and electronic media news clips that all is not well in our paradise island. The violence in Aluthgama and Beruwela whether they be referred to as communal, religious or pseudo communal, has raised a hornet’s nests.....

Who is pulling the strings of WHO? - EDITORIAL

The United Nations Organisation was set up after the Second World War with the vision of “turning swords into ploughshares and spheres into pruning hooks.” While the primary aim was to prevent war, the UN goals also included world poverty alleviation, the battle against environmental pollution and.....

Pakistan’s full-scale war on extremism

Nearly half a million civilians have been displaced and more than 360 suspected rebels killed in Pakistan’s two-week-old war in North Waziristan. It is the biggest military operation in Pakistan’s history and the Pakistani military appears to be determined to wipe out extremism once and for all and.......

Worse world or better world?

War is all over the place. It seems. Not just in Syria and Iraq but now inside Pakistan. Not to mention Somalia and Sudan. Yet paradoxically there has never been less war. Sweden’s Uppsala University Conflict Data programme is about to publish its results for 2013.

The Stolen Harvest: Listen to Dr. Vandana at least now - EDITORIAL

With Sri Lanka facing a crisis where some parties with vested interests, including Trans National Companies (TNCs), are trying to turn our traditional agriculture into an agribusiness largely for their benefit, the visit this week of the well-known Indian activist Dr. Vandana Shiva will hopefully open the eyes of the....

Cinnamon diplomacy and WPC revelry amid ethnic strife

Sri   Lanka is known for ‘tea diplomacy’ conducted to boost its volume of tea exports. Its renowned brand ‘Ceylon Tea’ is, in fact, Sri Lanka’s gift to the world. Now, the government, in the revision of its foreign policy, is apparently engaged in cinnamon diplomacy in its novel approach.......

Mathews gives England a run for their money

Sri Lankans, bruised after weeks of battling rampant floods, a raging dengue epidemic and religious tensions will this week unite in celebrating the sport which often brings them together, after the national cricketers won their first ever series victory in England in a nail-biting thriller on Tuesday.

Torture: vilest act of humans - EDITORIAL

The United Nations has declared today as the International Day Against Torture and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a statement has urged States that have not yet done so to ratify the Convention against Torture, which this year marks 30 years since its adoption.

BRUTALITY

Last Sunday night, Arunodhaya Mawatha at Obeysekarapura in Rajagiriya looked like a battle ground as a battalion of police attached to the Welikada Police Station

Rise of BBS and the rise of triumphalism

This has been told, not once, not twice, not thrice but an umpteen number of times. The Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) organization is not a fresh or novel manifestation of a particular sectoral thinking or a by-product of yesterday’s emotions.

EDITORIAL-Are The economic benefits reaching the masses ?

Two news items carried in the Daily Mirror on Monday, on inside pages though, warrant serious thinking and a deeper study of the Sri Lankan economy. The stories, both reported from Matara were about two hapless persons, a mother and a father in.............

For Certain Countries Any stick is good enough to hit SL: GL

Minister of External Affairs Professor G.L Peiris in an interview with the  set out the governments’ stance with regard to the recent spate of violence that arose in the South Western region of the country. He further insisted that the government’s refusal to invite the panel constituted to inquire by the Human Rights Council.....