people face blackout blow for the new year

The festival season is already looking bleak as the people are now dreading a tariff increase on electricity.

Editorial - Anti-Buddhist India

“At Sarnath, near Benares, I would almost see the Buddha preaching his first sermon, and some of his recorded words would come like a distant echo to me through two thousand five hundred years”

“I have not even thought about the premiership”

Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa spoke to the Daily Mirror about the ongoing development projects undertaken across the country, intra-party politics and his future political aspirations.

HUMANNESS DEVELOPED WITHIN A MATRIARCHAL SOCIETY

One has to go back in evolutionary history to understand the real nature of this problem. Obviously, there is an inequality; but should it be interpreted against the role of women?

Waste and corruption lead to economic crisis - Editorial

On a TV programme last week, JVP parliamentarian Sunil Handunnetti challenged the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) to disprove his claim that it was making a profit of Rs.69 on every litre of petrol.

leftist politics in Sri Lanka should improve: Jayagoda

The Frontline Socialist Party (FSP) is the latest leftist movement that joined left-aligned parties in Sri Lanka. The dissidents, the breakaway faction of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) or whatever it is called today the FSP is playing a significant role in the Sri Lankan political arena.

Chavez; Charismatic leader or a Chaotic Despot?

A sculptor carving a political leader’s statue has fewer problems than writers, critics and thinkers trying to figure out one’s legacy after death. So it is with Hugo Chavez. He ruled for 14 years, and would have carried on for many more if cancer hadn’t stopped him. While followers weep, opponents rejoice.

TO SRI LANKA’S GREAT FRIEND JAPAN WITH LOVE

The friendship between Sri Lanka and Japan was consolidated over six decades ago with the great speech made by J. R. Jayawardene, the then Minister of Finance, at the Conference held on the Treaty of Peace with Japan(commonly known as the Treaty of San Francisco or San Francisco Peace Treaty)

Editorial - We need a powerful force to impose checks and balances

The Supreme Court ushered 2013 as the Year of Judgment for Sri Lanka by delivering the New Year Day judgment relating to the impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. In a unanimous and clear verdict, the country’s apex court showed that the judiciary was independent off political interference....

EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a UN Agency that works to promote and protect the human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.

20 years of fostering and promoting Sri Lankan literary talent

This year the Gratiaen Prize celebrates 20 years. Founded in 1993 by the Booker-Prize-Winner Michael Ondaatje, the prize is awarded to the best work in English by a resident Sri Lankan writer and both manuscripts and published submissions are eligible.

S.G.PUNCHIHEWA CHAMPION OF A DECENT SOCIETY

Sri Lanka faces the challenge of moving from a post-war to a post–conflict situation defined in terms of the causes of conflict not being sustained and certainly not being reproduced.

New hope: A Pope of the poor - Editorial

A simple and humble lifestyle or ‘alpechchathavaya’, which is a hallowed aspect of our ancient civilisation, appears to be the most effective way to bring about social justice, equality, an equitable distribution of wealth and resources in a polluted world which is financially and morally bankrupt.

Thailand, Asian tiger, prowling

“Thai politics is a cross between Venezuela and Italy”, observed my Thai journalist friend. “Chavez and Berlusconi...

Editorial : Timely intervention

Our salute goes to Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), the oldest business chamber in the country...

War crimes: Big power politics turn human rights into human rites

The landmark Nuremberg trials and many war crimes tribunals that followed since then were largely...

need to develop scientific tests for examinations

Education can only thrive in a context of examinations. Those who deny this must probably have ignored the practical realities, behind the teaching situation in schools, examinations serve a function for society at large in attesting to standards of academic performance.

Halal Issue can pave way to better understanding

In seeking better understanding between Buddhists and Muslims we welcome the fact that issues hitherto considered highly sensitive and not subject to questions, such as  halal  products  and halal certification, have now come out in the open.

making headlines from the Hospital

For the past two years, controversial parliamentarian Duminda Silva has rarely been away from the spotlight even though  away from the public eye. Last week, he hit the headlines again with a sudden return to the country.

People cannot eat lies, it’s now the moment of truth - Editorial

While government economists are boasting about an increase in foreign reserves, the growth rate and per capita income, independent economists say Sri Lanka is surviving on borrowed money and borrowed time and this borrowed sand castle could crumble in a storm.

They hold up half the sky

Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, the two leaders and authors of what has now become an international best-seller that has been called a “brutal awakening” state that “Just as slavery was the defining struggle of the nineteenth century and totalitarianism that of the twentieth......

Sri Lanka should improve justice system: British MP

The British Labour Parliamentarian, Simon Danczuk who visited Sri Lanka last week in search of justice for one of his constituents Khuram Shaikh, a Red Cross worker who was cruelly murdered in Tangalle on  Christmas eve, 2011 raised the issue relating to the importance of improving.......

Sauce for the goose but not for the gander

The Families of the Disappeared, a joint organisation led by Brito had organised a protest in Colombo on March 6. Political leaders too were invited to participate in this event to be held opposite the Colombo Municipality near Viharamahadevi Park. The large convoy of family members of the disappeared, nearly 1000

Editorial - Those who exalt themselves shall be humbled

Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka in a widely watched 3 hour television interview has called for a new political culture where political leaders will be sincere servants of the people instead of being their lords or masters and where political leaders will look more at what they could give to the country rather than.........

International Schools a hard Act to follow

Many of the schools were set up as businesses registered through the Companies Act and with the Board of Investment. A few were committed to a more service oriented model and are not for profit organisations.

System denies Women’s potential

Nothing in the world has been spared the agony of politicisation needless to speak of its optimum exploitation of biological   differences - so very relevant to ‘Women’s Day.’ As a result, gender has come to stay.

Friend or Foe? - Editorial

As attacks continue on Sri Lankans and Sri Lankan institutions mainly in Tamil Nadu and large-scale poaching by Indian fishermen in our territorial waters go on unabated, the Rajapaksa regime needs to reflect on the importance of having friendly ties with India.

The death of a genuine patriot

The essence of Christ’s injunction is that man should not boast of his purported services or achievements. Among the many thousands of people with whom I have been acquainted, I can count on the fingers of one hand those who have followed this teaching of Jesus Christ whether knowingly or otherwise. The first of them that comes to mind is the Ven.

None can escape the day of reckoning

In a recent column, British columnist Jonathan Power commented on the ongoing war crimes trials in Cambodia. Jonathan Power is British by birth, but his outlook is international. He’s a very liberal commentator on international affairs who rarely confines himself to the politics of his home country.

UNHRC resolution A threat or an opportunity

In his book ‘Sri Lanka – What Went Wrong: J.R. Jayewardene’s Free and Righteous Society, writer and political commentator V.P. Vittachi refers to a mode of speech he describes as ‘plonking’. Quoting from Stephen Potter’s ‘Lifemanship’ he says,