Covid-19: Unity is strength, Mr. Trump – not your sickening nonsense

There are people who learn lessons not to make mistakes; there are people who learn lessons from their mistakes and there are people.....

Give Ambassador Teplitz a dictionary, please!

It is not hard to understand US Ambassador Alaina B Teplitz’ angst. China, along with Japan, owns the debt of her country, the United States of America. China, according to the US narrative, has re-colonized Africa without a single shot being fired.

COVID-19: Health Guidelines are not to be compromised

In the wake of the harrowing months-long coronavirus-related lock-downs and curfews still lingering in our minds came a news report which caused panic in Matara after it was found that a Russian staying at a boutique hotel in Polhena, Matara tested positive for Covid-19. He was one of a 15-member aircrew of a Russian cargo flight, which landed at the Mattala Airport during the last week of September.

Govt. faces political and COVID-19 challenges

The detection of a COVID-19 patient for the first time in two months has triggered a fear psychosis regarding the possible of community transmission of the viral infection.

On the road to development dotted with history

Much effort is taken by the present regime to put the country’s shaky economy in order. Commencing from the targets given to state institutions and the efforts taken to instill discipline on the roads we see that someone is trying to do something for a country which has enough natural resources to stand tall in terms of economic growth. That someone is President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

time to rethink Our COVID-19 testing strategy

The Minuwangoda incident should come as no surprise. The problems were obvious with the Kandakadu outbreak, but I remained....

Foreign powers and Lanka’s domestic problems - EDITORIAL

Over the years, Sri Lankan political leaders have been in the habit of approaching the foreign governments when facing essentially domestic problems.

Vilification follows infection

Can there be an infodemic without social media? In theory there can be. The avalanche of information, fakes, lies and concocted....

COVID-19 Spread: It’s time to act wise and be cautious

Sri Lanka is again facing an acute situation after a female supervisor of an apparel factory in Minuwangoda was tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday. The government had immediately imposed what was earlier called police curfew and now known as quarantine curfew in two areas, Divulapitiya and Minuwangoda in order to identify those who have had close contacts with the wo

13th Amendment a minefield; don’t step in

Since coming to power, the key interlocutors of this government have been intimating a quest to ‘amend’ the 13th Amendment to the constitution. Such pronouncements are not just political theatre. They betray a real conviction born out from the nationalist ideological orientation and a belief that this is the opportune local and global moment to strike. They confide that India, the underwrit

20A Critics underscore the repercussions of Eroding AG’s independence

The anticipated plan to curtail the scope of the Auditor General’s duties and functions through the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution, is aimed at allowing politicians and their cronies to misappropriate state funds to their whims and fancies says the Sri Lanka Audit Service Association. Before the 19th Amen

CP Voted against Sirimavo’s caste-based ‘Atrocities’

C.P. de Silva belongs to the yesteryear’s old guard of great politicians of Sri Lanka. His 48th Death Anniversary falls on October 9....

Who won the first US Presidential debate? - EDITORIAL

The US will hold its presidential election in November this year. Donald Trump, the incumbent President is being challenged.....

How C.P. de Silva voted against the “Totalitarianism” of his own Government

Charles Percival de Silva known as C.P. de Silva or CP was a mercurial personality who strode across the Sri Lankan - known then as Ceylon- political scene like a colossus.

Persecution of the LGBTIQ Community: Does Sri Lanka’s Police have Nothing Better to Do?

Early last week (September 22), news emerged that the Fort Magistrate’s Court was set to sentence two men who had confessed to engaging in same-sex sexual relations.

Sorry, Mother Nature

While the state machinery is busy discussing whether or not to draft the 20A, to ban or not to ban cattle slaughter or to open or not to open the Airport, the environment is once again receiving less than what could be described as a step-motherly treatment. Having fallen from the pan to the fire during every successive regime many have come to the conclusion that there will be less greenery remaining in the country during the next five years.

The curse of child marriages - EDITORIAL

Forced child marriages are often spoken of in Sri Lanka, but could there be a solution for this much cursed social issue? Still, so many female children in Sri Lanka....

Debate or debacle, democracy dazzles

True democracy is progressively dynamic. It is healthy if it keeps improving; sick if it deteriorates. A healthy democracy entails a political system where citizens have the right to choose or replace governments, while elected leaders....

The three decade old devolution debate

The rhetoric against the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the resultant Provincial Councils by the Government ministers’ seems to be waning away. The reason or reasons for the calls for the abolition of the Constitutional.....

Narendra Modi spikes the good neighbour drink

Which country would not be happy if another country said ‘we have a you-first security policy?’ The cynical have the option of retorting ‘most countries would be terrified if, for example, the USA said something like that.’

Dereliction of duty costs three innocent lives

Shock waves ripped through Buwelikada in Kandy on September 20, an otherwise quiet Sunday morning, when a young father, mother and their infant daughter were killed in a cave-in of a 5-storey building, which then collapsed on an adjoining house.

A President exposed and the Emperor’s new clothes - EDITORIAL

Yesterday, the ‘New York Times’ (NYT) in a bombshell report, exposed the US President as a charlatan and an ‘also ran’.

Relapse in to Executive Presidency: How has it come to this?

When J.R.Jayewardene, after the landslide victory his party the UNP obtained in the 1977 elections, wanted to introduce the 1978 Constitution....

State machinery needs strong monitoring mechanism

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been stressing the need to improve the efficiency in the public sector from the day he was sworn in his office in November last year, while even paying unannounced visits to public institutions to see for hims

Easter Sunday bomber met intel agent moments before he blew himself up?

The political and intelligence bungle leading up to the Easter Sunday Attacks is one of its kind of miscarriages of national duty. Much of that oversight is public knowledge, but not all of that is officially chronicled. Now the bits and bytes are bein

THE 20TH AMENDMENT – A VIOLATION OF PROCEDURE?

Last week, the controversial 20th Amendment Bill was placed on the Order Paper of Parliament, the First Reading was moved by the Minister of Justice, and its journey through the legislature commenced. None of the legislators appear to have

Reform the proposed 20A to strengthen; not weaken, transparent and public oversight

Following parliamentary elections, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa wasted no time in obtaining cabinet approval and thereafter gazetting.....

Upholding dignity and a sense of humour in the House - EDITORIAL

Parliaments and legislative bodies around the world impose certain rules and standards during debates and Erskine May’s guide to parliamentary practice....

Murder most foul

Sixty-one years ago on September 25, 1959 Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (SWRDB) the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka known as Ceylon then was shot and seriously wounded by a Buddhist monk. Prime Minister SWRD Bandaranaike succumbed to his injuries and passed away the following day. Therefore September 26, 1959 got etched as an important date in the post-independence history annals of Sri Lanka.

The most catastrophic threat to humanity

While world attention is focused on the Covid-19 pandemic which thankfully is under control in Sri Lanka though a second wave appears to be emerging in the United States and some parts of Europe, less attention is being given to another threat that could destroy the world within minutes.