By Rohana R. Wasala This refers to the feature entitled Arrest Gota or not per the evidence: NO to fundamentalism, racial-extremism and neo-populism” (Sunday Island/December 10, 2017) by Kumar David. The title itself is extremely misleading because what it suggests is malicious fiction. No evidence has been found against Gota; given the fact that three […]

 Courtesy  The University of Alabama at Birmingham Education for young girls in Sri Lanka does more than bring the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic to an under-served population; it also can be an agent of cultural and social change.This year, Room to Read Sri Lanka will receive $9,800 to help fund its current projects because Achala […]

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy  Ceylon Today 2017-12-16 The year 2017 has been on a roller coaster ride, where the ordinary folk on it have been screaming each time there was a bump on the ride, while a few selected privileged ones have been throwing their hands up and enjoying the ride. At the end […]

Speech made by Rukshan Jayewardene at the end of the “Protect Wilpattu” protest on Friday. December 16, 2017, 7:09 pm I am speaking to you not as the honorary president of the Wild Life and Nature Protection Society of Sri Lanka but in my personal capacity as a conservationist who has worked in this field […]

 බුලිත ප්‍රදීප් කුමාර  උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින  පසුගිය දිනවල ලංකාවේ කෙරුණු අපරාධ අතර මුල් තැනක්‌ දිනා ගත් ප්‍රසිද්ධ අපරාධයක්‌ ලෙස සමාජය තුළ සාකච්ඡාවට ගැනුණේ ගල්ගමුවේ දළ පූට්‌ටුවාගේ අවාසනාවන්ත ඉරණම පිළිබඳ සිදුවීමයි.  මේ කතිකාව එතැනින් හමාර වූයේ ද නැත. ඊළඟට තවත් ආරංචියක්‌ මින්නේරිය පැත්තෙන් පැමිණියේය. මින්නේරිය වැවට ඉහළ වැව් තාවුල්ලේ හස්‌තීන් තුන්සීයක හාරසීයක රංචුවක්‌ සමඟ කෙළිදෙලෙන් ජීවත්වූ මින්නේරිය […]

 ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ හේමන්ත වර්ණකුලසූරිය උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින හොරු අල්ලන්නන්ගේ එක්‌ ප්‍රධාන අරමුණක්‌ වූයේ ගෝඨාව අල්ලා ගැනීමයි. ගෝඨා රිමාන්ඩ් කිරීමයි. ගෝඨාට නඩු පැවරීමයි. මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් මුලින්ම කතාබහට ලක්‌වූයේ ගාල්ල වරායේ තිබූ පාවෙන නැව ගැනයි. පාවෙන නැවේ තිබූ ආයුධ ගැනත්, මෙම පාවෙන නැවට නාවික හමුදාව විසින් නොයෙකුත් ආයුධ සපයා ඇති බවත්, සොයාගෙන මෙය මහා ලොකු අපරාධයක්‌ ලෙස, හොරු අල්ලන්නෝ […]

translated by : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA Given below is the translation of a speech made by the leader of the Pivithura Hela Urumaya Attorney at Law Parliamentarian Udaya Gammanpila at a media conference of the Joint Opposition held at the N.M.Perera Centre in Colombo. The nomination storm has ended.  Wards are limited.  Applications received are […]

Bodhi Dhanapala, Canada. In response to my lament (Island, 30-11-17) that Why are the likes of Dr. Kumar David, who waxed eloquent of the technical prowess of the LTTE in making little war planes, etc., contributed to the Tamil Net, worked to elect Yahapalanaya, and is ever ready to comment on the barbarism of the […]

ජාතික ඒකාබද්ධ කමිටුව මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයයි  නෙස්බි සාමිගේ ලංකාවට හිතවාදී ප්‍රකාශය පිළිබඳව ලක් රජයේ විශේෂ අවධානය යොමු නොවීම නෙස්බි සාමි යනු බි්‍රතාන්‍යයේ සාමි මණ්ඩලයට පත්වීමට පෙර වර්ෂ 1974 සිට 1997 දක්වා කොන්සර්වටිව් පක්ෂය නියෝජනය කළ බි්‍රතාන්‍ය මහජන මන්ත්‍රී වරයෙකි. එවකට ඔහු හැඳින්වුයේ මයිකල් මොරිස් යන නමිනි. 1997 සිට අද දක්වාම මොහු සාමි මන්ත්‍රී මණ්ඩලයේ සාමාජිකයෙකි. 1960 […]

Senaka Weeraratna The Funeral of Dr. Karunatilaka Amunugama, former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Germany, was held at the Borella (Kanatte) Cemetery, Colombo in the afternoon of Friday December 15, 2017. The remains of Dr. Amunugama were cremated in the presence of a distinguished gathering comprising high ranking retired diplomats, senior officials of a number […]

Courtesy The Island December 15, 2017, 10:51 pm Russia will place temporary restrictions on imports of all agricultural products from Sri Lanka, including tea, from Dec. 18, a report published by the Indian Express said quoting the Russian agricultural safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor. The IE report said: The watchdog said it had taken the decision to […]

By Hiran H.Senewiratne Courtesy The Island Stock prices at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE)  in plantation sector  counters dropped yesterday with reported restrictions on Sri Lankan agricultural exports, including Ceylon tea,  from December 18, by  the Russian agricultural safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor. On the previous day plantation sector counters picked up in the stock market but with […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The Sri Lanka Tea Board said today that the detection of an insect which led to the temporary ban of Ceylon Tea imports into Russia may have been an isolated incident, and that Plantation Industries Minister Navin Dissanayake would visit Russia to clear the situation. This Thursday, the Russian Federation banned […]

Dr Sarath Obeysekera In Russia ,Vodka with a snake  inside is quite a delicacy .To have a beetle in Tea may become quite popular in time to come? Sri Lankan women are usually with long hair and hardly use any head gear when they cook .Many times I have found long hair in our meals […]

කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් එම්. එච්. එම් අශ්රොෆ්  විසින් කරළියට ගෙනා නැගෙනහිර මුස්ලිම් බල දේශපාලනයේ අලුත්ම සිදුවීම ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කොන්ග්‍ර‍සයේ හිටපු ලේකම් හසන් අලි මහතා අමාත්‍ය රිෂාඩ් බදුර්දීන් මහතා සමග සන්ධානයකට එක්වීමය.  අද නැගෙනහිර (අම්පාර) මුස්ලිම් බල දේශපාලනයේ ප්‍ර‍ධානම බලවේගය ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කොන්ග්‍ර‍සය හා අතාවුල්ලා ය.  අශ්රෝෆ් ගොඩ නැගූ මුස්ලිම් දේශපාලනය නැගිට ආචාර කරන ගීතය […]

By Lucien Rajakarunanayake Courtesy The Island December 15, 2017, 10:06 pm Christmas is fast approaching and it’s time again for an Arjuna celebration? What celebration are you talking about? What else, but the Guinness Record – won by the tallest Christmas tree in the world, built at Galle Face for last Christmas? Do you think […]

Courtesy  Gulf Times The United Nations yesterday urged the Sri Lankan government to urgently implement reforms to end war-time arbitrary detention and strengthen independent monitoring of tough legislation. Sri Lanka has used the 1979 Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to pursue a tough line to prevent aiding and abetting terrorism in the island nation’s long […]

Prensa Latina Colombo, Dec 15 (Prensa Latina) The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, visiting Sri Lanka, today requested reforms to address the excessive use of pretrial detention and update the current legal framework. The delegation of that international organization declared in a statement that it visited prisons, police stations, institutions for minors, migrants and […]

By Sanchith Karunaratna Courtesy  adaderana The Stay Order issued by the Court of Appeal on the Financial Crimes Investigation Department (FCID) preventing any action against former Secretary of Defence Gotabhaya Rajapaksa over the misappropriation of public funds was extended till January 25, 2018. The Court of Appeal issued a stay order on the Financial Crimes Investigation Department […]

Courtesy Adaderana The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has identified significant challenges to the enjoyment of the right to personal liberty in Sri Lanka, resulting in arbitrary detention across the country. The experts recognize positive initiatives, including engagement with UN human rights mechanisms, as well as the recent accession to the Optional Protocol to […]

By Ranjith Kumara Samarakoon Courtesy Ceylon Today Deputy Minister of Finance and Mass Media, Lasantha Alagiyawanna said that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) supports devolution of power. “For that, the Executive Presidency is necessary. That is why we say if power is devolved, the unitary status of the country must be safeguarded. That was […]

By Rathindra Kuruwita, Kavindya Chris Thomas and W.K. Prasad Manju Courtesy Ceylon Today Six Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) nomination lists, for the upcoming Local Government elections, have been rejected by Election officials. A spokesperson for the Election Commission said that the SLPP lists for the Agalawatta Pradeshiya Sabha, the Badulla Urban Council, the Mahiyanganaya Pradeshiya […]

ALI SUKHANVER ‘A foreign tourist is someone traveling abroad for at least twenty-four hours’, defined the League of Nations in 1936. The United Nations did a little amendment in the definition in 1945 by extending the maximum stay to six months. However, be it a stay for twenty four hours or for six months, every […]

Susantha Wijesinghe A MELVIN JONES FELLOW. My Heart Bleeds for Thee for Thy Pain For Thy gave Thy life for Thy Tusks, Evil inhumanity even inflicts death for Gain Though Mans’ sordid satisfaction, truly ends at Dusk.   A Noble Pachyderm, thou art be venerated For Thy Innocent Majestic Demeanor, We pray your Kind be worldly disseminated […]

Sawako Utsumi and Lee Jay Walker Courtesy Modern Tokyo Times The international media in certain Western and Islamic dominated nations are awash about the Pope using a fake ethnic name,” in relation to Bengali Muslims in Myanmar. However, how come the same media isn’t asking for the Pope to raise the serious issue of de-Hinduization […]

Senaka Weeraratna(Hony. Secretary, German Dharmaduta Society) I would like to express on behalf of the German Dharmaduta Society and Das Buddhistische Haus (Berlin Vihara) our deep sadness on the sudden loss of the former Ambassador to Germany the late Mr. Karunatilaka Amunugama, who passed away on December 13, 2017.  During his period of service as […]

 lanka C news හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහහා විසින් නිකුත් කරනු ලැබූ මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයක් මෙහි දැක්වෙයි. එළඹෙන පළාත් පාලන ඡන්දය ඊළඟ ජනාධිපතිවරණය දක්වා දිවයන ඡන්ද පෙළක ආරම්භයයි. ජනතාව ඉදිරියට යෑමට තිබුණු බිය නිසාම ආණ්ඩුව විසින් අවුරුදු තුනකට ආසන්න කාලයකින් ප්‍රමාද කරන ලද පළාත් පාලන ඡන්දය සඳහා දැන් නාම යෝජනා බාරගෙන ඇත. පළාත් පාලන ඡන්දයක් යනු […]

Courtesy The Island Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday fired a broadside at the UNP, SLFP and JVP for working hand in glove to promote all anti-democratic and anti-national causes. Text of Rajapaksa’s statement: Nominations have now been accepted for the local government elections which had been delayed by nearly three years due to the government’s […]

Shenali D Waduge The World Bank says 1.4 billion people in developing countries are living under extreme poverty. All of these are former colonies drained off their wealth. Not many know or are informed of the legacy of colonial crimes committed by European colonial explorers together with the Church. Invasion, occupation, plunder, murder, elimination of […]

Charles.S.Perera Kautilya represents a People’s Forum which supports the Yahapalanaya . Kautilya, before you hasten to reply to my article , you should have understand what I said. I said that SWRD Bandaranaike’s SLFP died on the 16 January,2015, when the then President of the SLFP – the President Mahinda Rajapakse thrust the Presidency of […]