Fear of a DDR/IFR event drive rates even higher

Westminster Abbey has space for around 2,000 people, so only heads of state and one or two guests have reportedly been invited to Britain’s first state funeral for six decades. London: Hundreds of foreign royals and leaders are expected to attend the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London on Monday in one of […]

By Uditha Devapriya Sri Lanka’s economic woes have not cast a shadow over its complex foreign relations. On August 16, the southern port of Hambantota welcomed the Yuan Wang 5, a research vessel from China. While Colombo had asked for a deferral of the visit, it eventually relented and allowed the ship to dock until […]

by Dayan Jayatilleka, PhD Watching Mikhail Gorbachev who died last week at the World Festival of Youth and Students in the Summer of 1985, I had a thought which I later recorded in an article in the Sri Lankan newspapers. I felt, and wrote, that “at last we have a Soviet leader we do not […]

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev who died last Tuesday was hardly known outside the Soviet Union when JR Jayewardene made himself Sri Lanka’s President in 1978. Seven years later, on March 11, 1985, Gorbachev would be become the General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. He was 54 years old and was the first leader of the […]

The government procurement system does not allow long term contracts.

By Shamindra Ferdinando SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva yesterday said  that he was quite disappointed that his economic revival plan, or common minimum programme, presented in parliament on 12 August hadn’t received the anticipated response from political parties, represented in Parliament. The Colombo District lawmaker said so when The Island asked him whether political parties and President […...

Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera says that 24 companies from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, USA, China, India, Russia, UK, Malaysia, Norway and the Philippines have submitted proposals for the EOIs to engage in the petroleum business in Sri Lanka.

By Ifham Nizam Sri Lankan scientists, and their foreign colleagues, had discovered a new bat species, living in Sri Lanka and India. This bat is scientifically known as Miniopterus phillipsi, and Phillip’s long-fingered bat in English. The research team was led by young biologist, a PhD candidate of Ruhunu University, Tharaka Kusuminda, currently working at […]

ByShamindra Ferdinando Sri Lanka hadn’t been able yet to convince Russia to resume Aeroflot flights and tourists from there to Sri Lanka suspended in the wake of the detention of SU 289 at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) on the afternoon of June 02, authoritative sources said. Sri

” Sri Lanka cannot do without IMF’s support. Having declared its inability to service its foreign debt, Sri Lanka is struggling to reach a consensus with lenders and the IMF. Two of Sri Lanka’s major creditors, India and China, locked horns over a port visit by a Chinese ship. Sri Lanka should be wary of […]

By Neville Ladduwahetty “Relationship Not Normal, Can’t Be…”: S Jaishankar On India-China Ties As reported by a NDTV Staff Writer (13 Aug, 2022}, “External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said that India-China relations cannot be normal unless border situation is and added that if China disturbs the peace and tranquility in border areas, it […]

The MPs’ political engagement “in a highly sensitive issue such as this” was “totally unnecessary”, Herath tweeted.

By Uditha Devapriya Divided from the Indian subcontinent, yet also deeply connected to it, Sri Lanka has never had an opportunity of forging and shaping a foreign policy of its own. The high point of its foreign relations, under the three Bandaranaike administrations over a period of 20 years, did signal an effort, and a […]

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s two years in office – a period of unprecedented political turmoil, uncertainty and further deterioration of Parliament – should be thoroughly examined. In fact, the UNP, with the support of the then President Maithripala Sirisena, paved the way for Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s candidature, at the 2019 presidential election, by blocking Mahinda Rajapaksa’s path […...