‘Lanka facing disaster on mountain of debts’

UNP Parliamentarian and economist Harsha de Silva in a hard hitting interview with the Daily Mirror warned that Sri Lanka was heading for a disaster because the government was borrowing and borrowing at high interest rates, not for development , but to repay earlier debts.

DEMONISING the enemy to seem self-righteous

The Committee for the Protection of Journalists – CPJ has released a list of 19 ‘journalists’ it claims to have been killed since 1992 in Sri Lanka. CPJ says that 1008 journalists were killed since 1992.

Lessons not taught in our school curricula

With no thought for differences in race or religion a group of children from Vakarai spent three happy days as guests of a Colombo school.  How did this all happen? It was a project of the Familian Outreach - the social service arm of Holy Family Convent Bambalapitiya.

Judges’ Use of Online Social Networking; Lesson for Sri Lanka

The increasing use of Internet-based social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook by members of the judiciary raises multiple ethical issues.  For example, may judges and lawyers be connected as “friends” or otherwise through these sites, or.....

Avant-garde Reconciliation A Victory for Common Sense

Whoever said that demand must drive supply was certainly not talking about reconciliation. However, the relevance and applicability of the philosophy and its wisdom in a post-war reconciliation setting cannot be overstated.

Who requires more ministers? But who cares? - Editorial

Barely three weeks after the appointment of nine Deputy Ministers, again there are reports that the government is making arrangements to appoint another set of Deputy Ministers, this time mostly from the.....

Trapped by Medicines: Can anyone walk out?

Unnecessary drugs for simple illnesses. Prescriptions of expensive brands of pharmaceuticals. Pointless laboratory tests. Unwarranted imaging such as CT and MRI. Needless medical procedures. “Diseases” that do not exist, but are “treated”. This is a world-wide phenomenon.

Controversy over Casinos Social, Economic and Political Context

Human social life is full of contradictions, mainly due to the inherent tension between nature and culture. We are often torn between emotion and reason, between naked self -interest and compassion for others, between material greed and spirituality, etc. etc.

Editorial - Cancer in the health service

The latest scandal at the National Cancer Institute in Maharagama is a symptom of how much Sri Lanka’s health service has degenerated. It also gives a clear diagnosis of the need for the Rajapaksa regime—amid fanfare of expressways and other showpiece projects at skyrocketing costs

Help engineer a better future for sri lanka

It gives me great pleasure to deliver the keynote address at the inaugural National Engineering Conference, organised by the Institution of Engineers in Sri Lanka. The theme chosen for this conference – “Engineering Sri Lanka’s Future”- is a very timely and appropriate one.

Editorial - Crown on the head, begging bowl in the hand

For more than four years after the end of the war top government leaders, the Finance Ministry Secretary the Central Bank Chief and others have been giving economic figures and projections suggesting that Sri Lanka’s growth rate

Neither Peace Nor Process : India-Pakistan On Escalation Ladder

Since the beginning of 2013, the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir has come under severe strain. Although incidents of ceasefire violations have shown an upward trend since 2010

Master of modern short story

I hadn’t heard of Alice Mun­ro un­til last week, which is ac­tual­ly my fault, not hers. The Cana­di­an short story writ­er was awar­ded the No­bel Prize for Lit­er­a­ture be­cause the com­mit­tee con­sid­ered her to be a “mas­ter of the mod­ern short story.”

Chemical leak causes panic in Piliyandala

“It was about 2.45 a.m. when I stepped out of the house hoping to reason with my neighbours whom I thought were making a racket... but the minute I stepped outside, it felt so alien; I could not see anything around me, everything was covered in thick, white fog that smelt foul.

Big brother: Man of the ear Kill the beast but big business behind US surveillance scandal

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. This long-forgotten maxim attributed to far-thinking political philosophers such as Leonard Henry Courtney, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine and Abraham Lincoln needs to be inscribed on a plaque and placed on the.....

Saudi Arabia withdraws from UN Security Council

Diplomats at the UN were amazed last week when Saudi Arabia did the unthinkable and turned down the seat it had just won on the Security Council.

Leaders suffering from moral narcissism - Editorial

World leaders in political, religious or other areas, are elected or appointed to these high and powerful posts, essentially to serve the people, give servant leadership and work for the common good of all without seeking personal gain or glory.

Policy makers challenged by ageing population

Unlike in the 19th century the biggest demographic scare of this age is not the increasing population and the decreasing food resources. Although scarcity of food resources continues to.....

Champika mincing no words

The National Anthem is sung by one with pride and dignity about his or her country, and altering it without a complete appraisal can offend the sensitivities of a nation. Respecting such sentiments, the proposal made by National Languages and....

Ministry of Health launches SRP through free health camps

The Health Education Bureau (HEB) in collaboration with the Colombo National Hospital (CNH) conducted a two-day Free Health Camp (FHC) under its Social Responsibility Programme (SRP) for the employees of the Wijeya Newspapers Ltd (WNL)

The UN- a part of the progress of sl's journey a head

The United Nations Resident Co-ordinator in Sri Lanka Subinay Nandy spoke to the Daily Mirror on the future plans of the UN in Sri Lanka, the implications of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ visit to Sri Lanka, and the.....

A versatile politician who would have changed Sri Lanka's political destiny

  “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” - William Shakespeare from Twelfth Night

Packer and ills of gambling

The government encountered a rare spot of bother this week over regulations aimed at creating a new casino in Colombo-and the man at the centre of the controversy is Australian business magnate, James Packer.

The Budget and backdoor gazette - Editorial

The Appropriations Bill or the first reading of the 2014 Budget estimates of revenue and expenditure, presented to Parliament on Tuesday, shows that expenditure will rise to Rs. 1542 billion—about 30 percent more than the figure for this year.

Trample the Weak and Poor

What would the reaction of the United States of America and its ‘lap-dogs’ such as the once `Great’ Britain and now,

‘Unite the oppressed without racism’

The question raised by many is, who can rescue the masses from the misery that exists

Editorial-Where have the young people gone?

While towers and skyscrapers, five-star hotels, super-highways and infrastructure development projects are going on at an accelerated pace

Fishermen call for an end to the ‘invasion’

The poach­ing on Sri Lan­kan wa­ters by In­di­an fish­er­men is an is­sue that has strain­ed both the po­lit­i­cal and dip­lo­mat­ic re­la­tions of In­dia and Sri Lan­ka, how­ev­er, un­known to many and de­spite the.....

daha-The enigmatic, enchanting maverick

One this day, one hundred and eleven years ago, Wijayananda Dahanayake of Galle, the former caretaker Prime Minister of this nation came squealing into the world. He was accompanied soon after by an identical twin brother Kalyanapriya who is said to have been as precocious a handful as his elder sibling.

Beat them at their own game with heart and mind

Doctors and other health workers have been trying to get people to eat less sugar and less starch for several decades but people still eat lots of burgers and chocolates.