Politically it was a happening year for Sri Lanka with political bunglings by the Yahapalana regime ending up with a regime change just before the dawn of another year.

Sri Lanka is honoured that one of modern medicine’s prophets Prof. Senaka Bibile in 1970 promoted the principle of providing quality medicines for all at affordable prices. This was part of the plan he drew up with the then communist party leader D

Fourteen years before the foundingof the United Nations Charter (1945) included a provision for equality between men and women, the establishment of universal adult suffrage in Sri Lanka gave our women the right to vote on the same basis as men. It w

Newly appointed eastern province governor Anuradha Yahampath, in her maiden newspaper interview, spells out her plan for the job. She used to work for the nationalist movement that advocated candidacy for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

“Day after Tomorrow”, the blockbuster Hollywood film was enacted in a real life drama on 26/12, fifteen years ago when giant tidal waves lashed 3/4th of the island’s coast plunging into a crisis of unprecedented nature reminding one of the lege

In three days time; on December 25 to be precise, all over the world, Christians and others of different faith, will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ whom Christians believe is the son of God.

Developing countries are currently experiencing many problems, including climate change, corruption, drug abuse and addiction, and road accidents. We all have to pay great attention to handle these potentially catastrophic problems.

December 18, 1949 was a red letter day in the political history of Sri Lankan Tamils known as “Ilangaith Thamizhar” in their mother tongue. On that day, a group of sixty Tamils including two parliamentarians and two senators launched a new politi

Amid intensified moves to consolidate an inter-religious solidarity alliance to bring about a just society, lasting peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka, the United Nations yesterday marked the International Human Solidarity Day.

The JVP which received the support of literary critics, artists, intellectuals, and activists this year has lost the support it desperately needs now: that of the people. The shrinkage has in one sense been inevitable, partly because of the JVP and p

The new trend to beautify Colombo has attracted both bouquets and brickbats. There is new found purpose in these creations which have come up largely in the Colombo and Kandy city limits. These artists seem to have the will, skill and spending power

With the inauguration of the new President, the seventh Executive in Sri Lanka, many legitimate concerns as well as disturbing questions and issues are being raised vis-s-vis our foreign policy. On the one hand, though a very tiny tear-drop island in

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s recent statements that he would replace devolution with development as a solution to the problems facing the Tamils in the Northern and Eastern Provinces might run counter to his wishes to win over the Tamil people. I

Two Nobel Peace Prize laureates have thus far disappointed me to the core. First was Barack Obama. Awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to him was shockingly surprising. Swearing in as the 44th President of the US on January 20, 2009, he wasn’t in the

When Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa hurried home after his defeat after the 2015 Presidential polls, his supporters crowded around his residence in Medamulana and urged him to make a comeback to politics. He listened to the call and abandoned pla

There is a general perception that ethical standards in Sri Lankan public service are in serious decline. This raises the question about the cost of misconduct on the part of those who have been entrusted with guarding public interest and resources.

A general election will be held soon. That much is certain. Indeed, if not for the term-related clause in the 19th Amendment Parliament would be dissolved by now. This Parliament feels old. Older than a little over four years. Those of the UNP (Unite

We focus today on 16-year-old Swedish Environmental Activist, Greta Thunberg, who was featured on the Time’s cover page of May 27, 2019, as the ‘Teenager on Strike for the Planet’ and currently on the cover page of Time magazine as the ‘2019

“In my previous column I emphasised the need for any political party, if it were to be successful, to name its candidate well ahead of time. However, I do repeat my argument so that its appeal to the reader is surpassed by its urgency to the one le

Some time ago, kids were going to be given free TABS; why could they have not assessed what they really needed in each school district and ensured that they got it ?Moving from global warming and energy crisis to school crisis, rising prices, mega

In a new documentary on her life, Imelda Marcos, the lady with the thousand pairs of shoes comes up with a gem. She is quite deadpan when she says “perception is real, truth is not.” This is not wisdom, this is worldly experience that is talking

Dubai has its own indoor rainforest now. India is creating mini-forests in all big cities following the ‘Akira Miyawaki’ method while Brazil, the home of Amazon forest, is doing the same. China which is creating forests in major cities like Beiji

The wall painting trend that has emerged after the Presidential Election among the youth who had got together reportedly through social media is a unique phenomenon. Youth get together in their respective localities and clean public walls in towns

After Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s assuming of the office of presidency, a wave of street art sprung up and spread across the country like a bushfire. The official version is that it was spontaneous civic-minded volunteerism by disparate groups of local yo

I know a friend who can’t wait to watch Tsunami because, as the trailer makes it clear, it’s a movie with a strong anti-racist message. Exactly 18 years ago when Saroja came out, I would have been eight: younger than he was by more than a half. B

Japan, which was the single largest source of development funds for Sri Lanka before the muscular entry of China following the end of the civil war in 2009, is now keen to re-establish its presence in the island to contain China’s inroads.

Retired DIG Edward Gunewardene [EG]’s speculative allegations sans provable facts on the Jaffna library inferno in June 1981, stirred up a hornets’ nest six years ago when he accused the LTTE rebels of the crime.

Educational Reform is on every educator’s mind and already we can see that this reform is taking place. While sensible results are being sought may I say that one area has not been much mentioned....

The general elections in the UK are now over and done with. Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party whose platform was Brexit now, swept the board so-to-say, seizing seats from the Labour party in its traditional heartlands.

The Right wing slide in global politics continues with the recent parliamentary election in the UK. The victory of Prime Minister Boris Johnson is a major political shift in the UK – with the hope of a Left come back....