Minister Rishad Bathiudeen has shown during the past that he is more important to the Governments that have been in power than to the Muslim community.

When this column first reported that a ‘RED’ NOTICE had been issued on Mahendran, questions were asked, and eyebrows were raised!!! Now we are told that, at the request of the President, INTERPOL has issued a second notice on Mahendran!!! The MYS

As a belligerent Congress and a beleaguered Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) battle it out for the crucial general elections next month, political ethics have started hitting a new nadir in India. Taking on Congress over its comments on recent Indian air

From the boiler room level 34C in Colombo, I had just landed in the cooler levels of 20C of Kathmandu for a few days and was looking forward to the drop in heat. I was preparing for a talk with a group of transnational journalists later in the mornin

A new resolution on Sri Lanka has been adopted at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva last week with the co-sponsorship of Sri Lanka. The resolution provides another two years for Sri Lanka to implement its commitments, thrust u

Four Royal Australian Navy ships and around 1000 defence personnel have arrived in Colombo and Trincomalee for Australia’s largest -ever military exercise with Sri Lanka.Colombo is the first stop of a regional mission, Code named Indo-Pacific endea

Nepal has been slowly but surely getting into China’s orbit, enticed by some of Beijing’s policies. Among China’s policies which the Nepalese find congenial are: non-interference in internal affairs; disbursement of large amounts of money for

Fourteen-year old schoolboy Philip with his mother travelled in a horse-carriage, straight into Queen’s House, and presented a petition to Governor Robert Chalmers, who promptly released his father, Boralugoda Ralahamy who was sentenced to death, t

Globally fatalities as a result of terrorism are in decline, a key point that can be distilled from multitude of policy and academic works that are emerging from studies on terror attacks coinciding with the decline of Islamic State (ISIS) and many o

The European Economic Commission (EEC) the forerunner of the present European Union (EU) - an economic and political partnership involving 28 European countries - was set up after World War II to foster economic co-operation. Since then, it has grown

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the world’s most burdensome communicable diseases. Around 10 million people across the globe fall ill with TB every year; an estimated 1.6 million are killed by it. The WHO South-East Asia Region is particularly affected

Liberal Democracy entails in the main, the idea of ever-expanding individual rights, the tolerance of other people’s views and the duty of the State to protect and enhance them. Such expansion might one day lead to the disappearance of National bou

‘Is Mahinda playing fair by Gota in the presidential candidacy issue?’ was the title of an article by this writer that was published a fortnight ago in Daily Mirror. Let me begin this week’s article by excerpting five relevant paragraphs from t

By 1914 Europeans ruled 84% of the globe. How did they do it? Eleven hundred years ago Europe was a backwater. There were no grand cities, apart from Muslim Cordoba in Spain, and the remnants of Rome and Athens. The Middle East, India and China were

Sri Lanka actively joined the world community on Thursday to mark the International Day of Forests with the theme being Forest and Education. In a statement to mark the event, the United Nations says when we drink a glass of water, write in a noteboo

Where do I begin? I think I should start from the very first time I met Ranil when he was 4 years old. The memory is still vivid in my mind. His beautiful, stately, dignified mother, the late Nalini WIckremesinghe, the first Buddhist head girl of Bis

Following the end of the war, Sri Lanka’s economy grew at dizzying rates, some of the highest recorded in the region and, quite possibly, the world. The investment and consumption boom in the North and East, which had hitherto been shut from the re

Politics is such an interesting subject in that President Maithripala Sirisena, who in 2015 dashed former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s hopes to stay life-long in power and hand over the baton to his son Namal, seems to be hoping to come to power a

A big joke made rounds about Sri Lanka sending out two opposing but official teams for the ongoing Fortieth UNHRC Session in Geneva; one by President and another by PM. A brief stroke of sanity changed this and Sri Lanka sent one team to Geneva.

As New Zealand’s Muslims offer their first Friday prayers today after last Friday’s massacre in Christchurch, the sad reality is that racism is very much alive today. It was only yesterday that the world observed International Day for the Elimin

The hue and cry made by environmentalists and nature lovers that the authorities should look into the ‘controversial’ resettlement activities taking place within Wilpattu National Park has never been heard so loud.

Winning the first in serial elections is imperative; more valued than a singular triumph of an electorate, district or province. Win the first leg, by hook or by crook. If more elections are in the offing win the safer one.

One does not have to look beyond the banners. They tell the whole story. Either both Ranil Wickremasinghe and Mangala Samaraweera are ignorant or they are dishearteningly insensitive, or maybe both. If it’s ignorance, then one can understand.....

Bilateral talks between Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) hit a snag over the move by the latter to be absent during the Budget vote after its Second Reading in Parliament.

President Maithripala Sirisena knows where to score points as a statesman. His efforts to preserve the environment back at home came in handy during his recent visit to Kenya where he was an invitee at the United Nations Environmental Assembly.

This editorial was influenced by the statements made by the Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU) General Secretary Joseph Stalin, the Ceylon Teachers Services Union (CTSU) General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe and.....

There are words and terms that lose all meaning simply due to overuse. Sometimes, in fact, the words/terms take on meanings diametrically opposed to their original meaning. Language, friends, as we all know and often forget, is political.

The Wickremesinghe led Government is sitting pretty after having passed the second reading of Budget 2019, but it has to emerge victorious at the Budget vote, scheduled for April 5.

As the United Nations gear up to celebrate the International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination, or Anti-racism Day, as it is commonly and conveniently referred to, on March 21-- that is tomorrow -- the entire civilized world finds itself r

Monks, live with yourself as your island, yourself as your refuge, with nothing else as your refuge. Live with the Dhamma as your island, the Dhamma as your refuge, with nothing else as your refuge – Buddha in Cakkavatti Sutta