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 […]

(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 […]

Udeni Kaluthantri, a 54-year-old port worker, became an overnight sensation last year for reasons that had nothing to do with his job. Days after protesters stormed the presidential palace in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, a video surfaced of Mr Kaluthantri lounging on a bed draped with the presidential flag. Pictures of young men jumping […]

As the train pulled into Peradeniya Junction station in central Sri Lanka, the man sitting opposite me leapt out of his seat and leaned out of the window, placing his thumb and forefinger in his mouth and whistling loudly. A vade seller soon appeared outside, removed a basket from the top of his head and handed it […]

The Chinese Embassy in Colombo has slammed US Ambassador here Julie Chung over her comments in an interview with the BBC. The Chinese Embassy has questioned the US policy vis-a-vis Sri Lanka struggling to overcome an unprecedented economic crisis. The following is the text of the Chinese Embassy

By Samira Hussain Pakistan’s former prime minister, Imran Khan, is threatening to dissolve two provincial assemblies in a high-stakes attempt to force the federal government to hold early elections. The dissolution of legislatures controlled by his party in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is set for 23 December, about a year before elections are due. “For […]

Tamil Guardian asks: The UK policy, regarding mainly Sri Lankan Tamils held in Diego Garcia, is likely to remain unchanged. Some of those who reached Diego Garcia, home for the strategic US military base, over a year ago, have already been sent back “voluntarily” to Sri Lanka. They returned in the wake of the UK […]

Wartime Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa is one of those who strongly believed that the LTTE could be defeated. The Gajaba Regiment veteran didn’t mince his words when he met Norwegian officials on April 06, 2006 in the run-up to the closure of the Mavil-aru sluice gates in the third week of July 2006. According to […]

Hotels charge in US dollars, I do not see why we cannot

Sri Lanka central government debt falls to US$32.4bn from US$50.5 billion rupees

[…]The post The ACF Commission: To Exorcise Ghosts Of Truth That Continued To Haunt Regardless  appeared first on Colombo Telegraph.

Pure floating exchange rates and a fixed exchange rate with a currency boards are free-market mechanisms

assport of a British national, Kayleigh Fraser, who had posted about the protests on social media, seized

by Sean GLEESON and Amal JAYASINGHE (AFP) Lankan security forces demolished the main anti-government protest camp in the capital Friday, evicting activists in a pre-dawn assault that raised international concern for dissent under the crisis-wracked country’s new pro-Western president. Troops

By Michael Rowand As Sri Lankan protesters stormed the presidential residence in Colombo, the Chinese Embassy released no statements and did not tweet. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered no comment until Monday afternoon, well behind others such as India, the European Union, and the United States. The French Embassy even retweeted a tweet […]