Courtesy The Daily Mirror Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith today expressed his dissatisfaction on the release of certain suspects held over involvement in the Easter Sunday attacks. Cardinal Ranjith told a press conference that it is sad to note the release of a suspect held in connection with the attacks.  “It is sad and unfortunate […]

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara.Mahanuwara Govt cannot escape Indian pressure”: Sampanthan TNA Leader  (news item) This is the latest statement from Sambandan on the ongoing debate about the abolition of the 13th Amendment. Although this is nothing new going by the regular statements and appeals they have made to the Indian Government and the so-called anti-Sri Lankan […]

by Rohana R. Wasala ‘At least since Rousseau’s Social Contract and the end of the divine right of kings, the state has been seen as party to a contract with the people – a contract to guarantee or supply the necessary order in society. Without the state’s soldiers, police and the apparatus of control, we […]

Laksiri Warnakula  The news about the Presidents’ surprise visit a few days ago, to the Narahenpita Office of the ‘National Housing Development Authority’ made me pen this short article.  He is said to be following a complaint by a customer, who was told by the officers that they were short of staff. And the President […]

මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලෝක අමද්‍යප දිනය අදට යෙදී තිබේ. ලොව පුරා ව්‍යාප්තව ඇති මත්පැන් නිසා ඇති වන සමාජ නපුරට ප්‍රතිචාර වශයෙන් අමද්‍යප ව්‍යාපාරයන් බොහෝ රටවල සංවිධානය විය. පළමුව එක්සත් ජනපදයේ සහ පසුව එක්සත් රාජධානියේ ආරම්භ වූ අමද්‍යප ව්‍යාපාරයන් පසුව වෙනත් රටවල් ද එය අනුගමනය කළහ. ලොව රටවල් අතරින් අමද්‍යප ව්‍යාපාරයන් […]

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය මහත්මා ගාන්ධිතුමන්ගේ 151 වැනි ජන්ම දිනය නිමිත්තෙන් ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා සහ කොළඹ ඉන්දීය මහ කොමසාරිස් කාර්යාලයේ නියෝජිත පිරිසක් ඊයේ 2020.10.02 දින අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේදී එතුමාගේ පිළිරුවට පුෂ්පෝපහාර දැක්වුහ. ඉන්දියාවේ පියා යන ගෞරව නාමයෙන් හැඳින්වෙන මහත්මා ගාන්ධිතුමන් ඉන්දීය නිදහස් සටනේ පුරෝගාමියෙකු මෙන්ම අවිහිංසාවාදයේ පියා ලෙසින් නම් දරයි. අවිහිංසා වාදය පිළිබඳ සංකල්පය ඉන්දියාවට […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The Sri Lanka Customs had seized more than 300 luxury vehicles worth more than Rs.2,000 million which were imported illegally during the COVID-19 pandemic period, Customs Media spokesman and Deputy Director Sunil Jayarathne said. He told Daily Mirror that the most number of luxury vehicles were imported from Japan and several […]

Courtesy Adaderana His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has raised concerns over the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) releasing Riyaj Bathiudeen, the brother of MP Rishad Bathiudeen, who was detained over the alleged links to the Easter Sunday terror attacks. Over the last few days, it was observed that the suspects, whose actions were investigated over the […]

Courtesy Adaderana Four more persons tested positive for COVID-19 this evening (03), taking the total number of confirmed cases to 3,392. The Department of Government Information said 02 arrivals from Kuwait and 01 each from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates had tested positive for the virus. In the meantime, the COVID-19 recoveries tally reached […]

Janaki Chandraratna I like to thank Mr. C. A. Chandraperuma for his article ‘Closure Scrutiny of Criticisms Against 20A’, Sunday Island, 20th Sept. 2020, for clarifying some of the controversies relating to 20th Amendment. In fact much of the unwanted speculation and criticisms could have been avoided if the Govt., had informed at least the […]

There is much hype about a corporate development entity under the US Government known as MCC offering Sri Lanka a ‘GIFT’ of $480m. We are supposed to be on our knees in gratitude. While the land project allocation is just $67m, Sri Lanka has to not only agree to a set of preconditions that include […]

A note from the history 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 […]

MALINDA SENEVIRATN​E 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.’ The world is not flat. Not all countries are equal in terms of financial might and […]

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග  ජෝශප් කොන්රාඩ් පෝලන්ත ජාතික බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය නවකතාකරුවෙකි.  කොන්රාඩ්ගේ කෘති රොමැන්ටික  සංකේතවාදය සහ යථාර්ථවාදී හා නූතනවාදී අදහස් මත පදනම් වේ.  ඔහුගේ සාහිත්‍ය කෘති චාල්ස් ඩිකන්ස් වැනි ලේඛකයන්ගේ යථාර්ථවාදී සාහිත්‍ය සම්ප්‍රදාය හා නැගී එන නූතනවාදී පාසල් අතර පරතරය පියවයි.   බොහෝ විචාරකයින් ඔහුව නූතනවාදයේ පුරෝගාමියෙකු ලෙස හඳුන්වති. දොස්තයෙව්ස්කි මෙන් කොන්රාඩ් මිනිසාගේ සැඟවුණු ආත්මය ගැන උනන්දු විය.  ඔහුගේ […]

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය දරුවන්ට නිදහසේ සතුටින් ඉගෙන ගත හැකි අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණයක් වහාම මේ රටට අවශ්‍ය බව ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා අද 2020.10.02 දින අපේ ගම පරිශ්‍රයේ පැවති ලෝක ළමා දින ජාතික සැමරුම් උත්සවයට එක්වෙමින් පැවසීය. අධ්‍යාපන ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණය ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණයට වඩා මේ රටේ අනාගතයට බලපාන බව පැවසූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා අපි අධ්‍යාපනයට ජාතික ආදායමෙන් කොයිතරම් කොටසක් වෙන් […]

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය හෝමාගම, පිටිපන ස්ලින්ටෙක් (SLINTEC) කලාපයේ ස්ථාපිත කළ මොරිසන් ඹෟෂධ නිෂ්පාදන හා පර්යේෂණ මධ්‍යස්ථානය විවෘත කිරීමේ අවස්ථාවට ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා අද 2020.10.02 දින එක්විය. වසර තුනකට පෙර ඉදි කිරීම් ආරම්භ කළ මෙම ආයතනයේ වැඩ අවසන් කිරීම සඳහා වැය කළ මුදල අමෙරිකන් ඩොලර් මිලියන 13.8 කි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට වාර්ෂිකව ඹෟෂධ පෙති බිලියන […]

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය නාරාහේන්පිට ශ්‍රී අභයාරාම පුරාණ විහාරස්ථානයේ විහාරාධිපති බස්නාහිර පළාත් ප්‍රධාන සංඝනායක, අති පූජ්‍ය මුරුත්තෙට්ටුවේ ආනන්ද නාහිමි බැහැ දැකීමට ඊයේ 2020.10.01 දින විහාරස්ථානයට ගිය  ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා උන්වහන්සේගේ සුව දුක් විමසා බැලුවේය. රටේ ආර්ථික, සමාජීය හා දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාදාමයන්ට අදාළ ධර්මානුකූල පිළිවෙත් ගැන පූජ්‍ය මුරුත්තෙට්ටුවේ ආනන්ද නාහිමි මෙහිදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට අනුශාසනා කළහ. විහාරස්ථානයට පැමිණි […]

Verity Bowman Courtesy The Telegraph Dozens of elephants have begun foraging for food at a dump nestled in a Sri Lankan jungle after it encroached on their habitat. Photographs captured in the eastern Ampara district show the wild herd, which numbers almost 40, searching through mounds of plastic bags, which have since been discovered undigested in […]

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia The new upcoming airline was conceived by four former senior captains with SriLankan Airlines and other international airlines, citing a conducive environment to expand aviation in Sri Lanka. September 30 (Simple Flying) – Sri Lanka will be getting a new airline as of February 2021. The new startup, Spark Air, first plans to launch with […]

Courtesy Ship Technology The Chinese and Sri Lankan governments are set to discuss the progress of Colombo Port City project, which is a planned offshore city in Sri Lanka. The Chinese and Sri Lankan governments are set to discuss the progress of Colombo Port City project, which is a planned offshore city in Sri Lanka. […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror The UK’s new Student route and Child Student route will open on October 5, 2020 to the best and brightest international students from across the globe including from Sri Lanka, the British High Commission said today. British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Sarah Hulton, said, This is a great opportunity for students […]

Courtesy Adaderana Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa today declared open Sri Lanka’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturing and research facility at Pitipana, Homagama. Morison PLC, the largest oral solid dosage pharmaceutical manufacturer in Sri Lanka and a subsidiary of Hemas Holdings PLC, has invested a total of USD 18.5 million for the new Research and Manufacturing facility. Several […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Colombo has granted permission to the owners of the fire-stricken crude oil tanker ‘MT New Diamond’ to tow the vessel away from Sri Lankan maritime border. Permission has been given subject to the payment of compensation and cost incurred by the Government agencies. The Spokesperson of […]

Courtesy Adaderana Six more persons tested positive for COVID-19 this evening (02), taking the total number of confirmed cases to 3,388. The Department of Government Information said the latest positive cases include 03 arrivals from Oman, Kuwait and the United States. In the meantime, the COVID-19 recoveries tally reached 3,245 earlier today as 12 more […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) today (02) successfully completed the settlement of the maturing International Sovereign Bond of USD 1 billion along with the due coupon payments, on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka. In a statement, the CBSL said this settlement reconfirms the Government’s unwavering commitment to honour its […]

Courtesy Adaderana Former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry probing the Easter Sunday terror attacks that the value of national security was put on the back burner behind politics by the leaders of the country at the time. He alleged that the usual national security chain of command was left in […]

By Ambassador M K BHADRAKUMAR Courtesy Rediff.com Mahinda Rajapaksa is a democratically elected leader who received a massive mandate of 71% of votes, and he owes nothing to Delhi or Washington for staging his political comeback, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi holds a discussion with his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda […]

N.A. de S. Amaratunga A new constitution is being planned and a committee comprised of leading intellectuals has been appointed to draft it. One of the difficult issues the committee would have to grapple with would be the ethnic issue. Several aspects of the ethnic issue may have to be taken into consideration when tackling […]

Dilrook Kannangara Unfortunately for India, PM Modi follows the outdated approach of using Tamil problems as a negotiation tool with Sri Lanka. It never worked and does not work today. Tamil interests are neither in Sri Lanka’s nor India’s favour. Rajiv Gandhi did manage to gain some temporary leverage in 1985 and 1987 at a […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale Sri Lanka’s debt to GDP ratio is expected to be more than 90% this year, and Moody’s have downgraded Sri Lanka’s sovereign credit rating by two notches, saying the South Asian nation would be hard-pressed to secure funding to service its huge foreign debt. Sri Lanka was pushed down from “B2” (high […]