We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children, as the Native American proverb goes. It is with this philosophy in mind that Jetwing Hotels will be participating in the Earth Hour campaign on 31 March. Jetwing will be the first Sri Lankan hotel chain to do so and ...

With the recent relaxing of the rupee exchange rate and subsequent increase in fuel prices, trade unions and the opposition parties are conducting protest campaigns against the Government, demanding a reduction in oil prices and the cost of living. This article investigates the living conditions of citizens in the recent past and present, quality and ...

Benito Mussolini, the fascist ruler of Italy, during World War II, said that his brand of fascism ‘should be more appropriately called Corporatism, because it is a merger of state and corporate power’. Compare this with the dictionary definition of capitalism: ‘A system in which a country’s business and industry are controlled and run for ...

Harsh rhetoric and emotional outbursts before the commencement of the19th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council next week in Geneva have obfuscated the objectives of the resolution to be moved against Sri Lanka at the sessions. The issue on alleged war crimes committed by Sri Lankan servicemen has polarised into a debate of ...

INSIDE STORY Former Maldivian President appeals for support from Sri Lankan public By Easwaran Rutnam Ousted Maldivian President Mohammad Nasheed says he will not seek asylum in Sri Lanka despite his family being here, but instead will continue his fight for democracy in his country. Speaking to The Sunday Leader yesterday the 42 year old ...

MALE (Reuters): The former President of the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives sat inside his house awaiting arrest on Thursday after being ousted from his post in what he said was a coup at gunpoint. About 200 supporters stood under umbrellas in the pouring rain outside as Mohamed Nasheed spoke to reporters at his ...

HAS democracy failed in the Maldives? As chaos engulfs the second closest country to Sri Lanka, it is impossible not to wonder over where this change will lead. Will the country still continue as a democracy or will it fall into extremist hands? What are the lessons that Sri Lanka can learn from what has ...

“It is unlikely that in making his overstatement on development that the President was seeking to downplay the achievements of the past by his illustrious predecessors in the governance of the country. In the 1950s there was the Gal Oya development scheme that opened up the vast territories of thick jungle land in the east ...

A group of British and Australian Parliamentarians have nominated the controversial Channel 4 video on Sri Lanka for the Nobel Peace Prize, a press statement said on Saturday. British MP Siobhain McDonagh said that she and Australian Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon have made a joint submission to the Norwegian Nobel Committee nominating the team at ...

Sydney Morning Herald: This summer’s tri-series will be played amid a backdrop of a pay dispute which sees Sri Lanka’s players owed as much as $US 5million ($4.71 million) due to a cash crisis within the country’s governing body. As Mahela Jayawardene’s team battle the world

By Manoj Ridimahaliyadda espncricinfo.com: Sidath Wettimuny, the former Sri Lanka batsman, has suggested a radical restructuring of the country’s domestic cricket structure, which involves promoting provinces over clubs. The financial uncertainty surrounding Sri Lankan cricket and the upcoming board elections could, however, overshadow Wettimuny’s proposal. As a member of Sri Lanka Cri...

By Victor Ivan This article is meant to analyse the inadequacy of traditional interpretations of the ethnic crisis and point out limitations inherent in them. It is not incorrect to treat this issue as an ethnic crisis. Yet, in my opinion, it is not correct to treat it only as a conflict based

After the recent Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, critics found three new words for the acronym ‘CWG’ – Corruption, Waste and lack of Governance. The Chairman of the Indian National Olympic Committee, who was Chairman of the Organising Committee, is presently in Tihar Jail, in Delhi with many of his acolytes, on charges regarding ...

Reuters: Italy’s president appointed former European Commissioner Mario Monti on Sunday to head a new government charged with implementing urgent reforms to end a crisis that has endangered the whole euro zone. After a frenetic weekend during which parliament passed the reforms and Prime

PARIS (Reuters): France announced 65 billion euros of tax hikes and budget cuts over five years, as President Nicolas Sarkozy seeks to protect the country’s creditworthiness in financial markets without killing his chances of re-election in six months time.  The main goal was to protect a top-notch credit rating that allows France to fund itself ...

The controversial video on the final stages of the war in Sri Lanka produced by Britain’s Channel 4 television was careened at the European Parliament yesterday (Wednesday). Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU Ravinatha Aryasinha said the timing of the screening of the film ‘Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields’ at the European Parliament  ...

A COLLEGE drop out and global genius is dead. Steve Jobs was a very private person, eccentric and brash. He was fired from the company he founded Apple and was brought back to resurrect it and make it one of the most valuable and admired companies on earth, its stock earlier this year the most ...

Banks’ Profits Up 111% The banking industry achieved a considerably high level of profits in 2010. Profit after tax amounted to Rs. 57.5 billion last year, a 111% growth in comparison to a Rs. 27.2 billion profit in 2009. The significant growth in profitability was mainly attributed to a higher increase in fee-based income, a ...

by Palitha Kohona (Text of a recent speech at Harvard University,USA by Ambassador Dr. Palitha T.B. Kohona, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, New York ) At the outset I would like to state very clearly that what happened in Sri Lanka cannot be characterized as a simple case of countering an insurgency. There was a group, proscribed by most of the democratic world as a ter...

By Malathi De Alwis On 18 May 2009, Sri Lanka officially declared the end of a 30-year civil war fought between. Sri Lankan government forces (GoSL) and Tamil militants, namely the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE). Such a sea...

by Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka “The contest is never over, the field never quite ours.”- Dave Robicheaux in James Lee Burke, ‘The Tin Roof Blowdown’ (2007) Is it only me, or is not sad that there is no review in the Sri Lankan public space, of the first decade of the 21st century and the new millennium? Should we not be looking back at the road that has been travelled by the world, by our co...

By Dr.Harsha de Silva Mr. Speaker, I am glad that important Ministers and Members from the Government side have come to listen to this speech. I must first state that I am happy to have been able to join the...

by Ranil Wickremesinghe By the 4th century BC, Asia had begun its first cycle of economic growth and power. This was the reason why Alexander the Great decided to travel eastward to establish an empire. At that time there was...

Dr. Muttukrishna Sarvanathan is the principal researcher at the Point Pedro Institute, which is a non-for-profit think tank that provides analysis and advocacy on political and economic issues afflicting the Sri Lankan Tamil population in the north. In an exclusive...

A newspaper reported on its first page, Monday, October 25, that Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa says the on-going crisis at universities is an international conspiracy. And we need to believe him since he knows what he is talking about and further, he is the third, fourth, or fifth

by Eran Wickramaratne Parliamentary oversight on Finance Article 148 of the Constitution gives Parliament full control over public finance. Since President Wijetunga retained the finance portfolio the authority of the Parliament over finance has been usurped, and created a conflict between the powers of the legislature and the Executive. Even though Article 44(2) of the Cons...

by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka Sri Lanka is a sovereign state which belongs to the international system. It must safeguard its sovereignty as well as its membership of that system. Sri Lanka’s enemies have a main objective – a separate state...

Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka Sri Lanka is a sovereign state which belongs to the international system.  It must safeguard its sovereignty as well as its membership of that system. Sri Lanka’s enemies have a main objective – a separate state – and two subsidiary objectives which are a prelude to the main objective. Those subsidiary objectives ...

By Mangala Samaraweera Mr. Speaker, The Rajapakse administration has shown an uncanny ability to create world records in the last few years; prior to the General Election, Sri Lanka had the dubious honour of having the world’s largest number of...

by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake “Just then they came in sight of thirty or forty windmills that rise from that plain. And no sooner did Don Quixote see them that he said to his squire, "Fortune is guiding our affairs better than...