Tiring out the world?

The pace of the world today leaves little time for issues and events that may have a long-lasting bearing on individuals and communities. Translated, it could mean that the international community could well throw up its arms

Resisting exclusion

As the Government looks at a new law to protect the rights of the disabled, some issues need discussion. [People with physical and mental disabilities, in the words of Amartya Sen, “are not only among the most deprived human beings in the world,

The depths of depravity

Just what is this awful sickness that lies within us? What malodorous disease could lead a random mob of men to molest a minor schoolgirl, stripping her and beating her by turns in the middle of a busy downtown street,

The China problem

China allegedly has at least 1.3 billion people residing within its current ample borders. (But has anyone actually ever counted?) China also has very many problems, as befits such a gigantic country trying to maintain the extraordinary...

Editorial - Disciplining the decision-makers

Calling a spade a spade is frankness; but calling it a fork is insolence.  For some reason, the individuals who are voted into power by people seem to resort to the latter after they march to the House.

Growing Ship Traffic Threatens Blue Whales

In early April, whale watchers off this country’s southern coast were greeted by a disturbing sight: the lifeless body of a 60-foot-long blue whale floating in the water about 12 miles offshore. The body was swelling rapidly, and suckerfish swarmed across its skin.

Attracting Middle East Investment Must be a Priority

The government should urgently explore the possibilities of attracting foreign investment from the Middle East.  There are vast funds available with Middle East entrepreneurs who are looking for prospects to open businesses in the eastern part of the world.

Transnational Government Of Tamil Eelam

 After three decades of a protracted armed conflict and its invariable legacy of polarised mindsets in the parties involved, Sri Lanka now finds herself arguably in a more difficult position than in times of war, with the abundant opinions and interpretations of her various ethnic entities disturbing

Distant thunder

In remarks to this newspaper, President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka has said the elections to the country’s Northern provincial council will be held only in September 2013 because the government needs time to update 30-year-old electoral rolls.

Editorial - Alarm bells ring on unrestricted imports

Just as we swallowed wholesale the globalised capitalist market economy and are now paying a heavy price for it with a dangerous gap between the rich and the poor, we also appear to be swallowing the good and bad factors in information and communication technology.

Asia becomes flashpoint of big power conflicts

As tension builds up between China and Japan over disputed islands in the seas separating the two countries, one wonders whether the pawns are being moved to checkmate China...

An international conspiracy to block SL clergy?

The Bill to prevent Bhikkus from entering Parliament would have looked like just one of those heroic Bills by the opposition. Yet, the incidents that have come to light in the wake...

Finding the ‘right’ migrant

THE Olympic and Paraolympic Games are just around the corner and the United Kingdom is getting ready to host thousands of tourists from all corners of the globe...

Editorial - As I am their leader, I follow them

Whether political leaders and others acknowledge it or not, the most devastating or self-destructive crisis confronting them is selfishness, greed and the multitude of vices flowing from them.

Will the real socialists in Sri Lanka please step forward?

Once upon a time there was the CP, LSSP and other parties and they called themselves socialists. But, most of them like N.M. Perera, Colvin R. De Silva, Leslie Gunewardane, Peter Kenueman,

Can politics lead to emancipation?

Controversy surrounding whether Buddhist Monks should enter politics is a hotly debated topic today. It is a sensitive matter, since majority of Sri Lankans are Sinhala Buddhists who hold the order of Buddhist monks in high esteem.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa: Too full with Power to Exercise it?

The above excerpts need no elucidation. They are from two telephone conversations between the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the Editor of the Sunday Leader Frederica Jansz as reported in the Sunday Leader of 08 July 2012.

Editorial - And then there is Tamil Nadu

The southern Indian state can decide when New Delhi should reprimand Sri Lanka on speeding up reconciliation. It can urge the central government to send back the group of Sri Lankan airmen undergoing training in India.

“Regular elections needed to gauge people’s pulse”

Senior Advisor to the President and Minister of Economic Development Basil Rajapaksa, in an interview with the , discusses the upcoming elections to three Provincial Councils and responds to some of the criticisms relating to the government’s management of the economy.

stray politicians -A BIGGER WORRY, NOT SO MUCH stray dogs

Every time one of our ruling politicians opens his big mouth making sanctimonious utterances condemning unlawful acts by members of the UPFA and threatening to take action against them, we have an urge, to hurl something at him, hard.

Cycling cities

Cities across the world are rediscovering bicycles. Pushed by increasing fuel costs, the compulsion to reduce commuting time, environmental concerns, and the need to make cities livable, many are back on better wheels.

Editorial - Make the world a better place

It was President John F. Kennedy who said, “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and the best hope for the future.” Indeed, they are the ones most capable of dealing effectively with problems of today’s world and also take it to greater heights.

Minimizing electrical energy waste on the streets

There are more than 700,000 street lamps in Sri Lanka consuming 150 Giga watt hours of electricity annually. Any commuter on the streets of Colombo or the outstation areas will witness a number of these lighting apparatus alight during broad daylight.

Law and Gurus of sleep

In 2003, people at the Institute of Human Rights (IHR) due to early stages of madness complained to the Human Rights Commission of human rights violations at the only State women’s home in Sri Lanka.

A damning indictment

In a damning indictment of the Japanese nuclear establishment, including plant operators, the government and regulators, a 10-member commission appointed by parliament to inquire into the Fukushima Daiichi disaster, the worst nuclear accident in a quarter century

Editorial - Doing it like Federer

Call it complacency or resignation.In life there are times when one feels that one has already given it the best shots that they cannot be repeated, leave alone bettering them. The thought comes and goes as age catches up.

Between Govt abdication and TNA appropriation

Events and developments in post-war Sri Lanka have given the impression that mutual mistrust from the past continue to cause a deadlock in the peace process. What may be on hand is negative movement in the wrong direction,

Sri Lanka should take stern action against crude Websites

Certain websites and people who develop and write for them are in the news once again following the arrest of the owners behind it and placing the computers in custody by the authorities.

Fukushima report hides behind the cultural curtain

By claiming that the disaster was ‘made in Japan,’ an official report reinforces, without explaining, unhelpful stereotypes. More than a year after a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on March 11, 2011,

Expose Arafat’s ‘killers’

When Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died under mysterious circumstances at a Paris military hospital, at the age of 75 in November 2004, many in the Arab world suspected something was amiss following the manner