by Jehan Perera Government supporters appear to be satisfied at the masterful manner by which they believe they have had the local government elections postponed. They deny there was to be an election to be postponed, at all! They find fault with the Election Commission for not having minutes of the meeting they had to […]

A retired Indian Ambassador (never posted to Sri Lanka) sent me these two quotations by Nehru. “My greatest challenge has been how to make a modern nation of a people steeped in religiosity” and at the tail end of his career he was asked, ‘What has been your greatest success?” He answered, “to have taught […]

By C. A. Chandraprema We now live in a digital world dominated by the social media, where information or disinformation coming through our mobile phones has more to do with forming public opinion than the plainly visible and palpable reality and well-established facts and data. Sri Lanka recently marked the 75th Anniversary of its Independence in […]

Islamabad [Pakistan], February 6 (ANI): Former Pakistan Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has said that things on the economic front will “remain tight” as the economy faces a severe liquidity crunch, Geo News reported. Pakistan is seeking an installment of USD 1.1 billion from the International Monetary Fund to avoid default. In a tweet, Ismail stated, […]

Reforms to be introduced to end ‘media abuses’ President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said that the government was not in a position to lower the taxes. Delivering his second government policy statement to inaugurate the Fourth session of the Ninth Parliament, the President said: “Some people say that the primary taxable income should be raised from […]

Thursday 9th February, 2023 President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who presented his government’s policy statement in Parliament, yesterday, sounded like a seasoned insurance sales agent with glib phrases rolling off his experienced tongue; he sought to scare the public and infuse them with hope, at the same time, to sell his policies. The knee-jerk reaction of the […]

By Jehan Perera The government celebrated the 75th Anniversary of its independence from colonial rule under tight security.  President Ranil Wickremesinghe did not even deliver a speech on the occasion.  He had an excellent written speech, but chose not to deliver it for reasons not known.  The speech was circulated later. The exclusion of the […]

BBC reported that the United States has shot down a giant Chinese balloon that it says has been spying on key military sites across America. The Department of Defense confirmed its fighter jets brought down the balloon over US territorial waters. Three airports were shut and airspace was closed off the coast of North and […]