Democracy under attack in the US

It is said that when the United States sneezes the rest of the world catches a cold. So, one can imagine the worldwide devastation....

Obtaining probables from one piece of jigsaw is a political game

Political commentary is easy. Good political commentary is rare. Think of a jigsaw puzzle. A tough one; not the one with just a dozen pieces, but one with a thousand and where the picture to be obtained has colour-line elements that are similar and scattered all over it. Poor political commentary or in fact poor analysis on anything, political or otherwise, is when the whole picture is described by looking at a single piece of the puzzle.

Fr. Stan Swamy, a martyr of our times

Human Rights are commonly known across the Globe and especially among the countries that subscribe to its shared values as the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person, regardless of where they are from, what they believe or how they choose to live their life.

China and America on the verge of confrontation? - EDITORIAL

Relations between the world’s two strongest powers; US and China - have reached a dangerously new low. Both nations are presently....

Fishbowl reality

Yesterday morning a colleague of mine Lasantha de Silva had penned a Facebook column on the latest media....

“Sri Lanka Cricket didn’t take parliament seriously” - Prof. Charitha Herath

The Daily Mirror recently spoke to Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) Prof. Charitha Herath on the recent.....

Forced quarantine a clear suppression of fundamental rights

The Ceylon Teacher Services Union (CTSU) announced on Sunday that it would refrain from conducting online teaching practices from Monday (yesterday) to protest against the Government’s move to forcibly direct Ceylon Teachers’ Union (CTU) Genera

Basil Rajapaksa’s catch 22 situation

Sri Lankan politics has been a good deal of family business. It was not even the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the progenitor of the SLPP that started it; D.S. Senanayake, the first prime minister flouted an implicit understanding of the succession and unde

Clashing perspectives on a Afghanistan under Taliban

Multiple actors—from the Taliban leadership to local commanders—have played a key role in creating and shaping the movement’s policy in Afghanistan

More Cattle to Increase Biodiversity, Improve Livelihood, and Reintroduce Agroforestry

We should restock these lands by developing herding and land-use programmes, as well as developing an agroforestry network along the forest’s perimetre

Sri Lanka sliding down a dark and slippery slope  - EDITORIAL

Somewhere after defeating separatist terrorism in 2009, Sri Lanka missed a glorious chance of turning a destructive....

How does illicit tobacco trade take place?

Very often we happen to find news published in print media about seizure of illicit cigarettes.....

“We are on the cusp of a mothers-led movement for better birth rights in Sri Lanka” – Kanya D’Almeida

Writer Kanya D’Almeida became the first Sri Lankan to win the ‘Commonwealth Short Story Prize’ awarded for the best new writing.....

Make this an opportunity for reconciliation

Youth and Sports Minister and Digital Technology and Enterprise Development State Minister Namal Rajapaksa had made an inspiring speech in Parliament on June 23 on the long standing issue of Tamils who have been detained under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act of 1979.

Creative youth the catalysts for sustainable development

In this hi-tech era young people are playing an increasingly important role in the mission for socio-economic justice including poverty alleviation, the battle against climate change, human rights and equality in educational opportunities.

A bullish regime’s inability to perceive dissent

Voices of dissent are growing in the country. The latest individuals to take to the streets were the undergraduates of Rajarata University.

Child predators and a message for parents - EDITORIAL

The late Anton Jones sang a song about ‘Podi Saman Kumara’. The lyrics of the song reveal that a child was abducted....

Another imperial debacle in Afghanistan, but another bloodbath looms

In scenes reminiscent of the United States’ humiliating exit from Saigon at the end of the Vietnam war in 1975, US soldiers left the Bagram....

“Climate Justice has been Ignored”

Sri Lankan physicist and economist Prof. Mohan Munasinghe recently received the prestigious ‘Blue Planet’ award from Japan’s.....

Island of a thousand hypocrites

A very wise man, then an undergraduate at the University of Peradeniya, once said that there are no wrongdoers in this world — everyone justifies their actions/decisions. The act or decision may be illegal or unethical respectively, but in the mind of the doer it is justified, it is right, it is even ethical, whether or not the world understands or sanctions.

MV X-Press Pearl has sunk; now the aftermath

It is sad indeed to contemplate the tragedy that befell the turtles and other much-loved marine species such as dolphins and whales in the catastrophic aftermath of the blazing inferno on board the MV X-Press Pearl. As of last week, 176 turtles, 20 dolphins and four whales had been washed ashore in various parts of the country.

Return to normal Can SL use UK, Singaporean models as templates?

The post –Covid -19 world is poised to be different to what it was before the pandemic. Fresh economic challenges and alteration of social fabric are all too visible now the world over. Coinages of new phrases are constantly done to be added to the lexicon to describe the emerging scenarios with the pandemic continuing to take its toll on human life.

Tyranny and defence of human rights and democracy - EDITORIAL

How distant the claims of concern for human rights, fair play and religiosity are from the reality of day-to-day life.

WHEN THE END BEGINS TO LOOK AS DUBIOUS AS THE MEANS

For a person who was grandiosely parachuted on to the national political scene, hailed as a master accomplisher of stupendous.....

Singapore and US show how economy can be revived while fighting COVID-19

As in other countries of the world, the outbreak of the COVID-19 led to lockdowns and severe border restrictions in Singapore.

Coat, shirt and starched collar, pocket no dollar

My paternal grandfather was the Editor of The Saturday Post in Singapore. A successful journalist in a three-piece suit, coat, shirt and....

Can learning centres be tangible substitutes for school education? - EDITORIAL

Teachers have decided to boycott the Regional Learning Centres that were to be unveiled by the Ministry of Education....

The ruin in a nation

There’s a great deal of ruin in a nation, Adam Smith once consoled a friend who remarked, after the British defeat in Saratoga....

Basil’s Advent; Pohottuwa the LOSER: Phobias and Familiocracy

Political scientists’ vocabulary describes the rule by a family as familiocracy. The dual citizenship ban on public office was removed....

Will Basil bring panacea for all economic ills?

The planned move to make the SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna) National Organizer Basil Rajapaksa a Cabinet Minister....