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President stands on his head and cracks joke
It was dawn when Mahinda Illeperuma, a one-time journalist, walked into a room in Temple Trees where President Mahinda Rajapaksa was going through his routine exercises. He had wanted to obtain the President’s thoughts to formulate his speech for last Monday’s 65th anniversary of Independence. He was somewhat surprised to see him with head on [...]
Lobby
Opposition badgers Govt. into exact definition of ‘terrorist’, ‘terrorist act’
PSC to look into religious disharmony while ‘halaal’ certification is voluntary and non binding sans any State role: Govt. By Chandani Kirinde, Our Lobby Correspondent Government and Opposition legislators locked horns in Parliament this week on the definition of who a “terrorist” is, and what constitutes a “terrorist act”, during the debate on an amendment [...]
Political Column
Iran-style economic crisis: C’wealth summit in balance
US investors hold massive stake in stock and bond market; catastrophe if they pull out Govt. media spokespersons lack common approach; faux pas over Afghanistan story UNHRC sessions to focus on Lanka; strong resolutions and other measures likely By Our Political Editor Media should know basics to use more than one source for a story. [...]
5th Column
Courting the Commonwealth with clever cons
My Dear Queen Elizabeth, I thought I must write to you because some people in your government are trying to prevent our paradise island from hosting the next Commonwealth summit. I know that you don’t generally interfere in issues like this but as the Head of the Commonwealth, I think you really should. I am [...]
Focus on Rights
In the face of naked oppression
President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s address to the nation on Sri Lanka’s 65th Independence Day this week was remarkable, not for its tired refrains of national sovereignty which are a mockery when the State itself primarily oppresses the people, but for the utter insensitivity of his administration to the paramount concerns of the Sri Lankan citizenry. Actual [...]
From the sidelines
Kudos to the women cricketers!
From the sidelines | By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya The existence of a women’s cricket team seems to have been one of Sri Lanka’s best kept secrets till a few days ago. That was when they exploded into the media spotlight by trouncing two formidable squads in the ICC Women’s World Cup tournament, currently being played in India. [...]
The Economic Analysis
Economic challenges in the 66th year of Independence
The sixty sixth year after independence is likely to be a challenging one for the economy. It would be difficult to stop the continuance of last year’s economic slide this year due to weaknesses in macroeconomic fundamentals, a lack of recognition of these weaknesses, and consequently inadequate countervailing measures to mitigate the economic problems. The [...]