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Home » ColumnsLanka’s journalists blocked by Chinese: Snapshot of things to come?
The local media corps had a rotten time covering the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping this week. Wherever they went, a posse of Chinese journalists elbowed them out of the picture. It started at the airport where local journalists were bundled onto two trucks from which they could take pictures and video footage for [...]
The daunting challenge of containing the fiscal deficit
Bringing down the fiscal deficit to below 5 per cent of GDP has been an objective for quite some time. It has not been achieved so far. Once again the need to bring down the fiscal deficit sharply was stressed by Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera at the 19th Annual Tax Oration organised by the Faculty [...]
Taking a long hard look at our ‘barbarism’
The twin elements of a properly functional judiciary and police distinguish a democracy from barbaric regimes. Surely there can be little argument about this fundamental principle. But Sri Lanka fares ill on this unyielding measure. We see this most recently in regard to the Uva provincial council polls marked by unsettling pre-poll violence and the [...]
Xi’s Asian tour – the arithmetic, chemistry and geography
On the last leg of his Asian tour in India, Chinese President Xi Jinping remarked that “When China and India speak with one voice, the whole world will take notice.” The Chinese leader was asserting the importance of the bilateral relationship not only for the region but for the world. This sense of the historic [...]
Whatever happens in Uva, more relief packages for big poll
The curtain raiser for next year’s early presidential election, the outcome of yesterday’s Uva Provincial Council polls, remains the major highlight in a week of significant political developments. Unlike the other PC polls whose outcome was obvious, Uva has caused more than a little suspense for the UPFA leadership. This is because the main Opposition [...]
JR’s legacy enlivens paradise politics
My Dear JR, I thought of writing to you as people are talking about you once again, perhaps because it was your birth anniversary this week. In doing so, they seem to realise that even though 25 years have now passed since you left office, your influence on Paradise is as great as it was [...]
Jinping’s light relief adds zing to Sino fling
Boss of Bosses, China’s President Xi Jinping’s visit to Lanka on Tuesday showed what it means to have the leader of a regional superpower on home ground. Hardly had he graced the Lankan air, President Jinping revealed China’s King Kong heart by swaying the Lankan President to open the Chinese fortune cookie he had brought [...]