“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 ...

Reuters: President Nicolas Sarkozy used a primetime television interview on Sunday to flesh out a flurry of measures to boost employment and competitiveness which he hopes to rush through France’s parliament before a presidential election in April. Sarkozy, who is running far behind Socialist challenger Francois Hollande in opinion polls for the election, said he ...

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 ...

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: Arab foreign ministers stopped short of suspending Syria from their regional organisation on Sunday over its military crackdown on dissent, instead urging the government and opposition to negotiate an end to the violence. “We will call all of the parties of the opposition and government to hold a dialogue within 15 days,” the League’s ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Reuters: The race to pick Japan’s sixth leader in five years appeared on Friday to be shaping up as a battle between the most popular contender and a rival backed by a party powerbroker, although with five candidates in play, the outcome was hard to call. Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who came under fire for ...

Japan, heretofore a land unto itself, soothed by a unique combination of geographic isolation and Zen-Buddhist equanimity, has discovered the world can be kind. If the nation's leaders take this opportunity to encourage citizens to "open up," to emerge from their spiritual shell, Japan will become more confident, more productive and forward leaning. If not, she will retreat even deeper ...

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 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...

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...