warns electorate not to expect early general election By Shamindra Ferdinando Veteran politician DEW Gunasekera (22) said that there must have been a tacit understanding between the new Sri Lankan administration and the Western camp, regarding the deployment of the military and the police to remove Galle Face protesters in the early hours of yesterday. […]

By Austin Fernando I am proud that I have served all Executive Presidents of Sri Lanka from Presidents JR Jayewardene to Gotabaya Rajapaksa at some stage or another. I may be the only public ‘officer’ to have done so. With Mahinda Rajapaksa, it was secondary, but I was his ‘lifesaver’ along with Ranil Wickremesinghe. (See […]

An eye witness piece by Economy Next reporters who share what they saw in July 9 Sri Lankan revolution.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has put pressure on several state institutions against sponsoring the Sirasa Superstars programme. Therefore, co-sponsors of the programme, Sri Lanka Telecom and Sri Lanka Insurance have said they cannot sponsor the event.

“Ordered disorder, planned caprice, And dehumanised humanity…” Brecht (The Exception and the Rule) By Tisaranee Gunasekara That the ancient-city of Dambulla is not sundered by religious violence is thanks to the sense and sensibility of its ordinary inhabitants (of all faiths) and the security personnel on duty. Had the people of Dambulla been as virulent ...

By Dinouk Colombage Following the United Nations Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva, Sri Lankan state media and members of the government have been on the offensive against human rights activists and independent media groups calling them ‘traitors’. Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, acting Minister of Mass Media, in an interview with The Sunday Leader says he ...

A dramatic global theatre jam   By Nirasha Piyawadani Pinnawala Adramatist who has rendered yeoman service to the promotion of local stage drama, M. Shafeer, has a cherished wish and that is to be able to hold an international drama festival in Sri Lanka. Our protagonist M. Safeer, strove to make this dream a reality and thanks to his untiring efforts the first ever international drama festival in...

(Srilankamirror) - Former chief justice Sarath N. Silva says any suspected war criminal could be taken before The Hague despite not being a signatory to the Rome convention. He has refuted opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe’s claim that no Sri Lankan could be hauled before the International Criminal Court as he had not signed the convention as the then prime minister. Speaking to...

(Srilankamirror) -  The Black January protest is to be held at the Lipton Circus at 3.00 pm today (Jan. 25), reports say. The demonstration was earlier scheduled to be held at 2.00 pm at the Fort Railway Station compound. Speaking to 'Srilankamirror' on behalf of the Sri Lanka's Alliance of Media Organizations, convener of the FMM, Sunil Jayasekara confirmed the report. He...

Srilankamirror - Fort Magistrate Kanishka Wijeratne today decided that the ruling of the petition against the Black January protest will be handed tomorrow (Jan. 25). The Black January protest is scheduled to be held in front of Colombo Fort Railway Station tomorrow. Organised by Sri Lanka's Alliance of Media Organizations, the Black January demonstration is a mark of protest against t...

Methods to kill a Lion Newton Method: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Let, the lion catch you. This implies that you caught the lion. Einstein Method: Run in the direction opposite to that of the lion. Due to higher relative velocity, the lion will also run faster and will get tired soon. Now you can trap ...

(Srilankamirror) - Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe says the mobs who hurled stones at him at Sirikotha on December 19 missed their target and hit the Buddha statue in front of the party headquarters building. At a media briefing at his office yesterday (Dec. 20), he displayed one of the rocks, which he said was aimed at him, and said it was thrown by Keli Rajamahendran. As a Christm...

Sarath Fonseka was found guilty on the first charge in an indictment filed in the High Court of Colombo, consequent to an article carried in The Sunday Leader on December 13 2009 -  front page under the caption “Gota Ordered Them To Be Shot - Gen. Sarath Fonseka.” The case was heard at a Trial-at-Bar before ...

“There is a tide in the affairs of men.  Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; Omitted, all the voyage of their life  Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures.” – Brutus, in Julius Caesar, Act 4 Winning ...

OCTOBER 17, 2011: Status: Not Free Legal Environment: 23 Political Environment: 30 Economic Environment: 18 Total Score: 71 Despite the end of the government’s long-running war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebel group in May 2009, media freedom remained restricted in Sri Lanka, with journalists subject to myriad forms of legal harassment and physical intimidation. Altho...

The Media Organizations Collective says it unreservedly condemns the arrest of Sirasa TV journalist Indika Sri Aravinda, who was taken to Moratuwa Police Station, where his recorded video footage was deleted. It says in a statement that the journalist faced the incident yesterday (Oct. 05) after he had videoed the mourning relatives of a dead man, who was one of the suspects in the killing of...

Six Media organisations today condemned the action of the Police for forcing a TV journalist to delete pictures he had taken in relation to a news item he had covered in the Moratuwa area. The organizations said that a Sirasa TV journalist Indika Shri Aravinda had videoed the family members weeping over the death of a suspect who died in Police custody when the Police had taken him to the Moratuwa...

(Lanka-e-News -16.Aug.2011, 11.50P.M.) At the last General election ,Kili Raja Mahendran of the Maharaja Organization requested two slots in the National list of MPs at the general elections to which I did not agree . Therefore , his Sirasa media has turned hostile...