The challenges Sri Lanka has to face in its march towards development are manifold. Although the war has ended the wrong political ideologies, the proposals and timetables it created are still in operation. By Government Information Department Additional Director General Chandrapala Liyanage Similarly, various social activity groups and individuals and organisations operating under the advice ...

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 ...

Can clothes, fashion accessories and makeup make a country look democratic?Dictators have begun to dress up their autocratic regimes in the manner of democracies with all the mod cons that help to pass off a system of government, which is for all purposes a dictatorship, as a five-star democracy. This in the manner that a ...

“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps, down new roads, armed with nothing but their own vision” – Ayn Rand, Russian-American Novelist Queueing for bread Forgotten are the days when people waited in line for two to three hours to buy a loaf of bread; forgotten are the days when rice was not available ...

Reuters: Greece claimed a major success for its bond swap offer to private creditors on Friday after it won heavy acceptance for a deal that averts the immediate risk of an uncontrolled default on its massive public debt.  The finance ministry said 85.8 percent of its 177 billion euros in bonds regulated under Greek law ...

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

By Devin Jayasundera Siedles (Pvt) Ltd. in its attempt to expand the Sony customer base in Sri Lanka and to provide a world class service to its cutomers launched a state-of-the-art Sony showroom at 150/3, Ward Place, Colombo 7 last week. The flagship Sony showroom equipped with the latest modern designs and sleek interior is ...

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 ...

Reuters: Greeks greeted the latest European Union deal to rescue their debt-choked country with deep scepticism on Thursday, fearing further painful belt-tightening and years more of recession. EU leaders struck a deal with banks and insurers early on Thursday for them to accept a 50 percent loss on their Greek government bonds under a plan ...

U.S. presidential election all about the economy First bin Laden, now Iraq Obama shows he can answer the “3 a.m. call” WASHINGTON  (Reuters): President Barack Obama delivered on another foreign policy promise on Friday with plans to pull the last U.S. troops from Iraq. But in a re-election campaign all about the weak U.S. economy, ...

Reuters) – European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the European Union’s treaty should be changed to prevent one member state from destabilising the rest of the bloc, and urged stronger governance of the euro zone. “In my view it is necessary to change the treaty to prevent one member state from straying and creating ...

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 ...

I like to be an optimist. No matter what may happen around us, I would like to retain feelings of hope I have for all human-kind and on a more intimate level for you, for me, the newborn and the to-be-born. Yet, what has already happened around me, happening now and may happen in the ...

Reuters) – China’s trade surplus fell sharply in August as exports pulled back from a record high and imports jumped, indicating the world’s second-largest economy is feeling the pinch from weaker global growth while domestic demand remains resilient. China’s exports rose 24.5 percent in August from a year earlier, accelerating from the 20.4 percent rise ...

Sri Lanka in ancient times exported its elephants, peacocks, gems, spices and even monkeys (!) to the then known world. Old Europe, more precisely the writers of ancient Rome and Greece have made reference to such imports from Taprobane, the name referred to by them to Sri Lanka then. It was not only the Europe ...

JACKSON HOLE: Central bankers gathered at an annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this weekend had a message for political leaders: monetary policy alone can’t keep the global expansion going. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke urged adoption of “good, proactive housing policies” to reverse the depressed US real estate market and warned lawmakers to ...

The Economist Intelligence Unit: Asia's consumers are demanding and difficult to please. But they are getting richer, and they might help to save the world from a protracted recession, as well as bring about a long-overdue economic rebalancing. For Western multinationals, Asian consumer markets offer exciting growth opportunities. Despite the challenges of reaching Asian consumers ...