Courtesy The Island The report of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, due to be discussed at the ongoing proceedings of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva was yesterday slammed by senior politician Sarath Amunugama as “an atrocious piece of writing containing lies, half lies and highly contestable statements” on the situation in Sri […]

Courtesy Adaderana Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa stated that the opportunity to defeat the budget was lost as Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) members refrained from voting at the second reading of the Budget 2019. Attending an event held in Matale area, he said that although it has been 10 years since the defeat of terrorism, […]

By W.A.De Silva Courtesy The Daily Mirror Constitutional reforms to whose benefit? Will it provide any consolation to the national economic crisis? Was there a demand from the masses for a new Constitution? You may find answers to these questions once you peruse this article. Article 3 of Chapter 1 of the Constitution states that […]

By Goolbai Gunasekara Courtesy The Daily Mirror Can good teaching in schools outwit the tutor’s hold on students of today? Ravi Nagahawatte’s thoughtful article motivated me to make these observations on WHY tuition is so popular and why so many students (even very bright ones) seem to need this special help. There are many reasons why […]

Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana  Courtesy The Daily Mirror National List MP Venerable Athuraliye Ratana Thera yesterday urged the government to stop teaching school children from Grades one to five in the English medium. Speaking during the committee stage debate on the budget in Parliament, the Venerable Thera said Sri Lanka is currently following a concept […]

Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera  Courtesy The Daily Mirror Higher Education Minister Rauff Hakeem said yesterday 1,987 students had abandoned their education because of ragging after they were enrolled at state universities. He told Parliament that the government had adopted a zero-tolerance policy whee ragging was concerned, but it was continuing. “We are taking effective action […]

By Eurasia Review The issuance of a Sri Lankan public administration circular to prohibit the consummation and sale of products made using betel, tobacco and areca nut at state institutes has been approved by the Cabinet. The relevant cabinet paper was presented by the Minister of Health, Nutrition & Indigenous Medicine Rajitha Senaratne. Issuing a release, […]

BY FRIEZE NEWS DESK 15 MAR 2019 Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum is in talks with representatives from Sri Lanka and Indonesia about returning ten objects to their place of origin, in a move described as ‘pioneering’. The objects, taken during Dutch colonial and military campaigns, are likely to include a diamond believed to have belonged to the Sultan Panembahan […]

By Garvin Karunarathe Economist Uswatta Aratchi  criticises the role played by the Chinese in his Paper:Capital Cheap in Chong Guo and expensive in Sri Lanka”(The Island 20/2/19) If not for the support Sri Lanka received from China with the provision of weapons, all on loans, we could never have defeated the LTTE. It is true […]

The UN/UNHCR and all of its Rapporteurs & Officials love to quote from the international textbooks on how wars should be waged, the rights of the civilians, the rules of war, international humanitarian laws, human rights laws and what not. But they are quoting all of these seated in air conditioned rooms in Geneva, New […]

ආචාර්ය වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති වඩිගාගමනය ගැන කතාව කියන්නම්. දෙමළ භාෂාව කතාකළාට වඩිගයෝ කියලා කියන්නේ දෙමළ ජනවර්ගයක් නෙවෙයි. ඒ අය වැඩිපුර නෑදෑකම් කිව්වේ ආන්ද්‍රා ප්‍රදේශයේ ඉන්න තෙළිඟු මිනිස්සුන්ට. ඒත් කාලයක් තිස්සේ මධුරෙයි නගරයේ ජීවත්වෙච්ච හින්දා ඒ අය කතාකළේ දෙමළ. ඉස්සර විදිහට කියනවා නම් මධුරාපුරය කියලා කියන්නේ පාණ්ඩ්‍ය රටේ අගනුවර. ඒක දෙමළ මිනිස්සු හිටපු රටක්. ඊට අමතර ව […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුන අද දින පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුව අද දින (15) පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවට සහභාගි වූ කථිකයින්  පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී සෙහාන් සේමසිංහ මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ඉන්දික අනුරුද්ධ මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී සෙහාන් සේමසිංහ මහතා  රටේ ආර්ථිකය, ප්‍රතිපත්ති සම්පාදනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් වූ අගමැතිවරයාගේ වැය ශීර්ෂයේ විවාදය පැවත්වුනා. ඒ සාකච්ඡාවේදී අගමැතිවරයාගේ කතාව තුලත්, රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාගේ පැරණි පාර්ලිමේන්තු කතාවලත් […]

By Lucien Rajakarunanayake  Courtesy The Island Columnist Kusal Perera of the Daily Mirror has today (15) described many of the latest Budget proposals, especially on education, as fantasies — imaginary or improbable things. He has got it right. But such fantasy is now the stuff of all aspects of governance and certainly goes beyond supposed […]

By Kusal Perera  Courtesy The Daily Mirror What is a collection of fantasies called? Fantasy is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as ….Imagining impossible or improbable things”. But what is a ‘collection’ of such imaginations called? Here in Sri Lanka it simply is a Budget. The latest budget for 2019 now debated in Parliament proposes […]

By Dr. Tilak S Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today When any language is considered in a broad generalisation, the structure of words pertaining to every society, is used to express and communicate one’s opinion to another and it varies from society to society, and culture to culture. In such a backdrop, every nation tends to adapt one’s […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Tamil reached the position of a national language through an artificial route, not a natural one. Sri Lanka has not adopted the Tamil language spontaneously. Tamil became a national language overnight through the efforts of the Tamil Separatist Movement. From the 1940s onwards, the Tamil politicians wanted to get Tamil recognized on par […]

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon commissioned 3 members (Ban Ki Moon Panel of Experts) selected personally by him to submit a personal report on the ‘final months’ of Sri Lanka’s conflict. This report was not commissioned by the UNGA or UNSC. This report was never tabled at the UNGA, UNSC or even UNHRC. This […]

Courtesy Buddhistdoor On the 9th of March, Fo Guang Shan Jin Guangming Temple held a lucky lecture on the eight-pass fasting and human Buddhism, and invited the Master of the Faculty of the Faculty of Buddhism and the Ministry of Education to teach “quantum mechanics and emptiness.” Despite the continuous rain and cold weather, the scene […]

Senaka Weeraratna This is a story of a child genius who shone brilliantly at Royal College, Colombo when the school was located at St. Sebastian Hill, Hulftsdorp. A Royal College Magazine of that period devotes 3-4 pages to his invention and heaps praise on him. Bertram Elibank Devepurarathna was the inventor of a mechanism that […]

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුන අද දින පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුව පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී රන්ජිත් සොයිසා ජනාධිපති වැය ශීර්ෂය ඡන්දය ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමේදී මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් කියපු විදියට යමක් වෙයිද කියලා අපි බලන් හිටියා. ඒ වගේම පෙරේදා අයවැය දෙවෙනිවර කියැවීමේ  ඡන්ද විමසීමේදී අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වුනා යම් ආකාරයකින් තර්ජනයක් ආන්ඩුවට එල්ල කරන්න හැකිවෙයි කියලා.  නමුත් අයවැය සදහා ඡන්දය විමසීමේදී  ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් […]

කැෆේ සංවිධානයේ වැඩබලන විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ අහමඩ් මනාස් මකීන්   මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය විකුණා බලය ලබාගැනීම වෙනුවට මැතිවරණය පවත්වා නියම  ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට කටයුතු කරන්නැයි නිදහස් හා සාධාරණ මැතිවරණයක් සඳහා වන ජනතා ව්‍යාපාරය ඉල්ලයි. එහි වැඩබලන විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ අහමඩ් මනාස් මකීන් මහතා පසුගියදා කොළඹ පැවති වැඩ මුළුවකදී මේ බව අවධාරණය කළේය. වත්මන් ජනාධිපතිවරයා සහ අගමැතිවරයා ජනතාවගේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ආරක්ෂා […]

By C. A. Chandraprema  Courtesy The Island March 14, 2019, 8:56 pm We are living through an era when there is growing unease in the country due to the rise of anti-social gangs in the North. They may still be at an incipient stage, but networks are being built and a lifestyle is evolving. One never […]

By Saman Indrajith  Courtesy The Island March 14, 2019, 11:03 pm Women and children in the Northern Province were being exposed to a sinister racket of producing rape films sponsored by members of the same community who were resident abroad, JVP MP Bimal Rathnayake, yesterday, told parliament. Participating in the Committee Stage Debate of the […]

Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa today urged the government to withdraw from the proposed resolution co-sponsored by Sri Lanka to be presented at the 40th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva. He told parliament that the government should consider the true information and […]

By Ananda Ariyarathne Courtesy Ceylon Today National Prosperity is the reflection of the ultimate capacity that is maintained by a Government providing the best possible environment for the sustenance of life. A Government is the power house that should generate the energy required in turning the environment to be sustaining life with ease. When a Government […]

By sumanasiri liyanage Courtesy Ceylon Today Presenting his first budget in November 2017, Mangala Samaraweera behaved like a bull in a china shop informing that he would amend the laws that were enacted by the previous governments in order to protect the lower rung of the society for the satisfaction of the greed and needs of […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, March 14 (newsin.asia) – The state owned Sri Lanka Ports Authority, on Thursday said that it would purchase three ship-to-shore gantry cranes from China for its deep water terminal at the Colombo Port in order to handle bigger container ships this year.  The Government Information Department said that the cabinet of ministers, […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, March 13 (newsin.asia): Sri Lanka, which was earlier going to present the spectacle of being represented by two delegations with conflicting agendas to represent it at the 40 th.Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, has now announced that there will be only one combined delegation. The government on […]

By Kamanthi Wickremasinghe Courtesy The Daily Mirror It would be a nerve-wrecking experience for a 12-year-old to answer degree-level questions within seconds on a reality TV show. But it was a piece of cake for Nishi Uggalle, now 13, who was adjudged Child Genius 2019 at the recently concluded Channel 4’s Child Genius contest. Born to […]

By Kate Jackson Courtesy The Sun (UK) Last weekend Channel 4 viewers watched in awe as the teen with a higher IQ than Einstein was crowned Child Genius 2019 ON her tenth birthday, Nishi Uggalle raced into her parents’ bedroom to see if her dream could finally come true. She pleaded: Can I take the Mensa […]