This week, China is throwing a huge party to celebrate one of its biggest experiments in engaging with the world: its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Officials and leaders from all over the globe are in Beijing to attend a high-level summit marking the BRI’s 10th anniversary. Participants expected to show up range from Vladimir […]

Friday 6th October, 2023 President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent interview with Deutsche Welle (DW), in Berlin, has been trending in the digital realm—not for all the right reasons, though. Thanks to it, the genre of interrogative interview has apparently taken on a whole new meaning, with the interviewee aggressively interrogating the interviewer! There was obviously much […]

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) is desperate to reach a consensus with political parties in the Opposition. But the Opposition is very much reluctant to do so due to the SLFP leader Maithripala Sirisena’s fickle past and now again under intense fire over the 2019 Easter Sunday attack. Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, no stranger […]

Opinion will surely be divided on whether Foreign Minister Ali Sabry should have waded into the ongoing spat between India and Canada on the assassination of a Sikh Canadian citizen allegedly by Indian agents according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Sabry got a lot of media play in India characterizing Trudeau’s statement to Parliament […]

by Shihar Aneez State revenue has seen a shortfall of Rs. 100 billion as of now compared to the revenue target agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), State Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said.Tax cuts for political reasons in December 2019 has resulted in a sharp fall in Sri Lanka’s tax revenue to GDP ratio, […]

By Shamindra Ferdinando Chairman of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security, Rear Admiral (retd.) Sarath Weerasekera, MP, yesterday (15) asked whether a comprehensive international investigation into accountability issues here could be conducted unless India, too, was subjected to the same. The former Public Security Minister was responding to the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) declaration...

Easter Sunday controversy: By Shamindra Ferdinando Former Ambassador to Germany, Switzerland and ex-High Commissioner in South Africa, Sarath Kongahage, yesterday (12) alleged that British television Channel 4 had tricked him into discussing political developments with the focus on the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage. Claiming that the Channel 4 programme didn’t reflect what he had said […]

By Shamindra Ferdinando Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC, declared in Parliament that the winners of LPL (Lanka Premier League) 2023 B-Love Kandy had been sponsored by an enterprise that was banned in the country. The statement was made in Parliament on 24th August. The one-time President of the Bar Association found fault with SLC […]

Monday 21st August, 2023 Much is being talked about ‘pyramids’ and ‘islands’, of all things, these days. Another pyramid scheme has reportedly collapsed, and those who have lost their money are letting out howls of protests via social media. The Central Bank, from time to time, issues severe warnings to the public about such frauds, […]

Cassandra in her Friday Cry-s has often noted with deep gratitude that nature has been benevolent to suffering, down and almost out Sri Lanka. Forest fires due to intemperate temperature in usually cool climes; sudden floods due to torrential rains; erupting volcanoes and earthquakes have all assiduously avoided troubling poor little Sri Lanka struggling against […]

By Jayantha Somasundaram (This articlecontinued from yesterday (25) is based on reporting by the international media on the events in Sri Lanka forty years ago.) “For day after day Tamils were beaten, hacked or burned to death in the streets, on buses, on trains – sometimes in the sight of horrified foreign tourists. Their homes […]

(Excerpted from volume ii of the Sarath Amunugama autobiography) During one of my visits to Colombo I got a call to see the President at ‘Breamar’. Gamini Dissanayake had told him of my friendship with Parathasarathy and he wanted me to help him repair the damage done to their friendship due to the abuse heaped […]

The muted, panicked voice came through the phone of a friend who croaked she was very confidentially warning Cassandra and advising her. Yours truly was immediately panic infected. With deep emphasis and concern the friend took her time to advise that Cass withdraws all money from banks. Cass was for once glad she was poor […]

Two years into the military recapturing power, there does not seem to be a let-up to the torment of the people of Myanmar. The latter are putting up sustained and spirited armed opposition to the military but the ruling junta is yet to contemplate backing down from its harshly repressive treatment of the resisting public. […]