Blackout blow for people in the dark - Editorial

With the cost of living soaring beyond Mars and millions of people being burdened by tax after heavy tax -- the latest being the proposed toilet tax -- the biggest blackout blow since February last year has been the huge increase in electricity bills due to the imposition of the so-called Fuel Adjustment Surcharge (FAS).

Time to sanction Israel

US Secretary of State John Kerry’s foray into the politics of peace between Israel and Palestine appears to have run aground despite his tireless and single minded efforts.

Editorial-Are we that naive?

‘Mislead and distract’ appear to be the operational mechanism of the government of late...

‘From This Point Forward’ reflects Lanka’s different ethnic backgrounds

‘From This Point Forward,’ Luka Alagiyawanna’s bold photography project in Sri Lanka...

Obama in Asia to rivet the pivot

Economic warfare can be as deadly as nuclear warfare. It can kill thousands if not millions. A decade of economic sanctions imposed on Iraq prior to the United States’ invasion of that country in 2003 caused the deaths of some one million Iraqi people, half of them children. In Iran, Western sanctions kill thousands of.......

Are we really literate?

The late Mr. Athulathmudali was one leader who truly believed in holistic education. To him investing in children’s education was paramount in developing the country. His vision for Sri Lankan children was to become independent individuals with the ability to be literate in its real sense.

Are we turning Lanka into a Macau? - Editorial

Despite strong and widespread protest by Mahanayaka Theras, hundreds of Buddhist monks, leaders of other religions and civic action groups, the Rajapaksa regime made a second attempt in Parliament yesterday and succeeded in pushing through colour-washed regulations for the setting up of two huge casinos.

Editorial - EPF money is sacred: Stop this gambling

One of the most progressive laws introduced since independence was the Employees' Provident Fund Act of 1958. It was introduced and implemented by the S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike Government as the biggest ever social security scheme that today has ......

Foolish bravado:Nobody becomes a somebody

A week ago, he was virtually a political non-entity, a man who was one of many in a long list of ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) politicians who held sway in their regional strongholds. A few minutes of foolish bravado have now changed the life of Eraj Ravindra Fernando.

H’tota attack flashes international spotlight on SL

The journalists, assigned for the coverage of United National Party (UNP) MPs’ visit to Mattala International Airport last Thursday, sensed the impending danger as they noticed a gang assembled near the entrance.

EPF dwindles away in bad investments

The following observations were made in connection with the overall investment of Rs. 73,948,947,927 made by the Employees’ Provident Fund as at 31 December...

MEDIA FREEDOM IS NOT A LICENCE TO ABUSE

Conventional media — radio, television, the newspapers and now the new social or web-based media should play a positive and informative role in society.  Media freedom is in fact the

Will Lady Luck accompany a common candidate?

There is a search for a common oppositional candidate as the possibility of a presidential election has been announced by pro-government media. With the miserable election results it may be wise for the president to...........

We must not drown in a water crisis

Amid warnings that the world is running short of fresh drinking water and that the super-powers or others may go to war to grab control of fresh water resources just as they did to grab fuel supply sources, recommendations have been made for the Sri Lankan Government to introduce tough regulations to....

Pistol wielding drama in Hambantota

Attention is now drawn towards the Mayor of Hambantota - Eraj Fernando, for the alleged assault on the UNP parliamentarians who visited Mattala Air Port and Hambantota Harbour,  on a fact-finding mission on April 17 (Thursday), 2014.

Concrete dinosaurs vs human existence

“I suppose, I must walk to church”. About a hundred years ago, it happened to be a caption that appeared in every newspaper in the USA, attributing to President Woodrow Wilson (1913-21). During the First European......

Editorial - Are paper qualifications the answer?

President Mahinda Rajapaksa had said at the Getambe Rajopawanaramaya on Saturday that he hopes to introduce amendments to the Constitution with a view to absorb qualified people into politics.

Uva election is an opportunity to project UNP unity Assault on UNP MPsAnother blot on good governan

UNP Badulla district parliamentarian Harin Fernando, a vocal member of the opposition, at an interview with Daily Mirror expressed his views on the UNP crisis, the election results and the way forward for the ‘grand old party’. Below are texcerpts from the interview

Beyond Ethnicity and Religion The Challenge of Creating Social Citizenship

There are not many societies in the world that are socially and culturally uniform. This is particularly so in societies that attracted migrants from other territories. America attracted and accommodated a wide range of ethno-religious groups into its fold. The process of accommodation of diverse communities there was.....

The horror of the ‘Hambantota doctrine’ - Editorial

If further evidence was required of the breakdown of the rule of law and the politicisation of the Police Department, it came live with television footage when five UNP parliamentarians—elected representatives of the sovereign people visited the Rajapaksa homebase of Hambantota for a.....

JR’s Executive Presidency wish lives on

At the General Elections of 1977, the UNP headed by J.R. Jayawardene, presented its manifesto to the people. By its manifesto, the UNP sought a mandate from the people inter-alia “to draft, adopt and.....

Editorial - Gabriel Garcia Marquez – thank you for the inspiration

The world lost two greatest minds within the first four months of 2014. The death of the Nobel Prize-winning writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude—”the greatest revelation.....

Putin has more trumps in Ukraine gamble

Amid tough talk and military buildups by Moscow and the West, the crisis in Ukraine has now shifted from Crimea to the country’s east along Russia’s western border. Just like Crimea, the eastern regions of Ukraine are largely inhabited by Russian-speaking people. Following Crimea’s example....

This Indian government has done well

E.M. Forster, the English novelist, wrote in his “Passage to India” of India “swelling here, shrinking there, like some low, indestructible, form of life”. But the India of today is a totally different place from 1920. Economic growth was tiny in British times (even though a large network of....

Good Friday: Finding God in all things - Editorial

About 2,100 million Christians all over the world mark Good Friday today— the holiest day on which they believe the Lord Jesus willingly made himself the sacrificial Lamb of God to be crucified to show how high, how deep and how wide God’s love is which surpasses human understanding, expectation or imagination.

End of Bogambara prison Reviving debate about Capital punishment

The overwhelming endorsement to re-activate capital punishment by a large majority of visitors to the Bogambara prison after its shift to Pallekele has given food for thought to the Cabinet and President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

India’s clear message to TNA, Diaspora and Pillay

The Foreign Secretary of India in a recent interview with CNN, made India’s independent stand and pragmatic approach towards much talked about International Inquiry on war crimes to be carried out in Sri Lanka, crystal clear to the world, particularly TNA, Tamil Diaspora representing rump LTTE, UNHRC....

A unique hub of governance

It is strange that many countries do not appear to emulate the example of Sri Lanka in its policies of governance. After all we have so many systems of governance from the single unit of authority at the apex, to a parliament, provincial councils, district administration, divisional administration, city, urban and....

Good medicine to revive patient-friendly health service - Editorial

In one of the healthiest moves for the New Year, Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena is this month expected to introduce in Parliament tough new legislation for the implementation of a National Medicinal Drugs Policy based on Professor Senaka Bibile’s Essential Medicines Concept which scores of.....

Women’s participation in labour market is more important than oil for Norway - Grete Lochen

A wide-ranging interview with Grete Lochen, Ambassador for Norway in Sri Lanka on women’s contribution to national development and political participation, engagement in peace processes and the United Nations