It was most unfortunate for President Mahinda Rajapaksa that he, of all politicians, should have his effigy burnt and stand accused of suppressing media freedom in Sri Lanka.
Today I write finis to a column that has appeared regularly for almost 10 years.
I move on to another assignment during which it would not be possible to contribute a regular column.
The high rate of inflation last year made it very clear that whatever be the causes for such increases in prices, inflation hurts. It hurt the poor and wage earners the worst. As the year advanced, the country learnt another lesson that, Sri Lanka’s competitiveness in international markets was being eroded owing to the impact of inflation.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa's strident outburst this week against dissenters in the media underscores the fact that we now live in a dictatorship cloaked in an exceedingly thin guise of a democracy.
At a news conference in Jerusalem last week, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a politically indefensible statement when he said that "Israel is one of the responsible members of the United Nations."
