UNP General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara last week set the cat among the pigeons by saying that both the presidential and parliamentary elections should be postponed for two years by way of a referendum. This outrageous suggestion drew the predicable flak from all directions with nobody publicly expressing support for the proposal. Quite the contrary. […]

by Rajan Philips Just after 5:00 PM local time on Thursday, a jury of 12 New Yorkers, seven men and five women, found the 45th President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, guilty on all 34 counts that he had been charged with for falsifying business records to influence the outcome of […]

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is under growing pressure after leading the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to its worst election result in 30 years, forcing it to share power. With votes in from most districts, the ANC is on 40% – down from 58% at the previous election.  This is lower than the party’s […]

US President Joe Biden has urged Hamas to accept a new Israeli proposal to end the conflict in Gaza, saying that “it’s time for this war to end”. The three-part proposal would begin with a six-week ceasefire in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza. There would also be […]

National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa, MP, has questioned the inclusion of Cuba in US State Department’s “state sponsor of terrorism” list.The following is the text of an open letter MP Weerawansa has sent to US Ambassador in Colombo Julie Chung: “We would like to place on record our objection to the inclusion of […]

By Ifham Nizam Serendib Flour Mills (SFML), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dubai-headquartered Al Ghurair, one of the leading diversified family businesses in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), recently conducted a media tour of its state-of-the-art facility situated at the Colombo Port. This visit underscored SFML’s ongoing commitment to enhancing Sri Lanka’s food security, fostering innov...

Saturday 1st June, 2024 Donald Trump has become the first former US President to be convicted of a crime. On Thursday, he was found guilty by a New York court, on 34 counts, in a criminal felony case, where he was charged with having falsified business documents to cover up a hush money payment to […]

By Shamindra Ferdinando Retired Foreign Secretary H. M. G. S. Palihakkara says Sri Lanka shouldn’t hesitate to recongise a Palestine state formally against the backdrop of Spain, Ireland and Norway having done so already.The veteran Foreign Service officer was responding to The Island query regarding what Sri Lanka’s response should be to the raging Gaza […]

Sri Lanka has again requested Canada not to repeat baseless allegations of genocide here. Foreign Secretary Aruni Wijewardane took up the issue when she met Canadian Deputy Minister for International Development Christopher MacLennan at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday (28) Recently, Foreign Ministry accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of repeatedly propagating lies […...

The US embassy said yesterday that this week’s meeting with the top management of the Election Commission hadn’t been influenced by what its spokesperson called any specific concerns or statements. Asked whether there had been previous meetings with the EC during Mahinda Deshapriya’s tenure as its Chairman or after and why the Ambassador Julie Chung […]

State Minister for Finance, Shehan Semasinghe stated that only those wishing to plunge the country back into an economic crisis would oppose the Economic Transformation Bill.

Sri Lanka s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Sabry says that the western countries have shown their double standards by turning a blind eye to the crisis in Gaza and that, serious amendments must be made to the international laws on how the United Nations functions in order to protect international democracy.

The first results have been announced from what is seen as South Africa’s most closely fought elections since the African National Congress (ANC) came to power 30 years ago. With results from around 14% voting districts counted so far, the ANC is leading with 43%, followed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 26%. The radical […]