A Uyghur refugee from China’s Xinjiang region died of alleged police neglect this month at the Bangkok Immigration Detention Center, raising concerns about the treatment of the more than 50 Uyghur refugees who have been held at the center since 2014. The victim was Abdulaziz Abdullah, 49. His son, Muhammad Abdullah, who lives in […]

Let no man posture as an advocate of peace if he proposes or supports any social system that initiates the use of force against individual men in any form. Ayn Rand. Does that apply to our President minus the common man’s vote? When he accepted the invitation to be President by poised-to-flee Prez Gotabaya Rajapaksa, […]

“…countries that won a war but ‘lost the peace’: gratuitously wasting the opportunities afforded them by their victory” Tony Judt (Reappraisals) By Tisaranee Gunasekara Creating incredible illusions to conceal insupportable realities is the Rajapaksa way. In this dystopian world, zero equals 8,000+; when prices go up, inflation comes down and people just love political deprivation ...

Gandhi dressed to be accepted by the poorest person in India, advocating the use of homespun cloth (khadi). He and his followers adopted the practice of weaving their own cloth. President of the United States Barack Obama in an address to a Joint Session of the Parliament of India said that:”I am mindful that I ...

  The Sri Lankan army ordered extra-judicial killings and assassinations during the final days of the country’s civil war, according to allegations made by a former member of the army. The source made the statements in an affidavit, obtained by The International as a part of an investigative report on the civil war, published today. The allegations ...

The Rajapaksa brothers, Basil and Gotabhaya, have both shown a keen sense of likened thinking with regard to the conduct of the war in Sri Lanka. In a leaked US embassy cable Basil Rajapaksa is quoted as having told members of the US Senate Foreign Relations that, ‘I’m not saying we’re clean; we could not ...

Foreign minister GL Peiris  on Sunday condemned the "preposterous" UN-commissioned report alleging war crimes and revealing he stopped Canada raising it at a Commonwealth meeting, AFP reported Foreign Minister Gamini Peiris also confirmed Sri Lanka will host the next Commonwealth leaders' meeting in 2013, saying that none of the 54-nation bloc raised the prospect of moving it during t...

Last week’s My View talked about six popular fallacies of currency or exchange rate appreciation which both the authorities and the public have tended to harbour in themselves. Of them, the following three were discussed in detail: Fallacy One: The government can fix the external value of a currency at any level it wishes. Fallacy ...

Gives comprehensive address highlighting issues of developing countries Shoots down discriminatory practices by developed countries Outlines post-war development, reiterates stance against terrorism Backs Palestine, Cuba and Africa By Nisthar Cassim in New York In his much-anticipated address to the UN, President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday took a comprehensive local, regional and world view, with...

By Dinali Goonewardene As stock markets the world over strongly slid downwards on fears of slowing economic growth, foreigners took their money out of the Colombo stock market yesterday, contributing to a seven-week low. Foreign sales were Rs. 70 million and net foreign outflows Rs. 21.8 million, albeit a relatively low component of total turnover. ...

The report of the UN Advisory Panel was finally released and the government moved into top gear to get the country behind the regime. The government informed the state media of a press conference on Thursday last week. The Ambassador for Russia in Sri Lanka was agreeable to grant an interview against the Ban panel ...