By Rohana R. Wasala The Sinhalese in independent Sri Lanka have been nationalistic, but never narrowly communalistic; they have never illtreated non-Sinhala minorities on the basis of race or religion. Those who are wallowing in a sea of misinformation having been swept there by tides of hostile propaganda over the decades, may bristle at this, […]

By Raj Gonsalkorale Nought from the Greeks towards me hath sped well. So now I find that ancient proverb true, Foes’ gifts are no gifts: profit bring they none – Sophocles (496 – 406 BC), Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth is a proverb about not questioning the value of a gift. The proverb refers […]

Maithripala Sirisena was not born with a silver spoon. He was no presidential material but he controversially became President with a thumbs up by 62lakh voters in January 2015 aided even by foreign governments & a coterie of civil society organizations & NGOs. Today, these entities regret that decision. His impassioned address to the Nation […]

There are some ground realities all of us need to come to terms with. While in Sri Lanka, only the TNA chants ‘Eelam’ & Pro-LTTE slogans, that too closer to some election or event, to give themselves some cheap publicity, all of the demands for Eelam are coming from Tamils living on foreign shores. Not […]

By M D P DISSANAYAKE First year of President Gotabaya Rajapakse is almost coming to an end. Firstly he had to work without a parliament, then Covid 19 followed by 19A, The poor performers of the government in the first year had a field day during the period without parliament.  Then these inefficient Ministers used […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Part 2 of this series is on international relations. The series starts with India. Despite its impressive size, India is a very young sovereign state, dating only from 1947. Before foreign rule, India consisted of a number of separate kingdoms. These vanished under Muslim and British rule. The responsibility of creating the new  […]

මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලෝක සාමය හා ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කරන ප්‍රමුඛතම සංවිධානය ලෙස ජාතීන් අතර මිත්‍ර සබඳතා වර්ධනය කරමින් ජාත්‍යන්තර සහයෝගීතාවය සාක්ෂාත් කරන එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ 75 වැනි සංවත්සරයට සුබ පැතුම් එක්කරනුයේ ඉමහත් සතුටිනි. දෙවැනි ලෝක සංග්‍රාමය අවසානයේ ලෝක සාමය සහ ආරක්ෂාවේ අවශ්‍යතාවය  පිළිඹිබු කරමින් යෝජනාවන එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ ප්‍රඥප්තිය නිල වශයෙන් බලාත්මක […]

Prime Minister’s Media Unit Oct. 23, 2020 Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, participating in the celebration to mark the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, reiterated Sri Lanka’s commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. We are firm in our commitment to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and create a greener and […]

Prime Minister’s Media Unit Calling on Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees this evening, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea Woonjin Jeong called Sri Lanka one of the safest countries,” and said he is actively encouraging Korean investors to explore opportunities in Sri Lanka. Several decades ago, Korea was one of the largest investors […]

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය දෙදහස් තිහ වසරවනවිට ගෝලීය තිරසර සංවර්ධන ඉලක්ක සාක්ෂාත් කර ගැනීම උදෙසා ශ්‍රි ලංකාව කැපවන බව ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා අද 2020.10.23 දින පැවැසීය. අන්තර්ජාල වීඩියෝ තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ 75 වැනි සංවත්සර දින සැමරුමට එක්වෙමින් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා මේ බව අවධාරණය කළේය. අනාගතය උදෙසා හරිත හා තිරසර පරිසරයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමේ […]

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය මෙරට කොරියානු තානාපති වුන්ජින් ජියොන්ග් මහතා සහ ගරු අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා අතර හමුවක් අද 2020.10.23 දින අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේදී පැවැත්විණි. මෙම හමුවේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ආරක්ෂිත රටක්” ලෙස පැවසූ කොරියානු තානාපති වුන්ජින් ජියොන්ග් මහතා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආයෝජනය කිරීමට ඉදිරිපත්වන්නැයි කොරියානු ආයෝජකයන්ට ආරාධනා කළේය. දශක කිහිපයකට පෙර කොරියාව මෙරට විශාලතම ආයෝජකයෙකි. මේ වන විට […]

Andrew Fidel Fernando Courtesy The Hindu Critics have cast Murali as a ‘generic’ Sri Lankan Tamil to inflame their biases, but his story is more deeply layered Occasionally, Muttiah Muralitharan has spoken of the anti-Tamil pogrom in 1977 when Sinhalese mobs ran a blade 12 inches across his father’s back, then burned down the family’s biscuit factory […]

Hassan M Kamal Courtesy First Post All New Delhi can hope for is that next time the Chines comes to collect, Sri Lanka doesn’t give up another portion of its sovereign territory, further strengthening the Chinese in India’s backyard File image of Sri Lankan prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Reuters India’s fears […]

By Savithri Sellapperumage Courtesy The Diplomat Can Sri Lanka live up to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s environmental commitments?  The focus on Sri Lanka’s deforestation and the conservation of forests this year can be traced back to widespread discussions about deforestation in Wilpattu  National Park back in 2019. Deforestation in Wanathawillu, Anawilundawa and Sinharaja has been the recent […]

Courtesy RT Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, Beijing, China (FILE PHOTO) © REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins As the US demands Sri Lanka make a choice over its economic allegiances, the Chinese foreign ministry has warned that Washington’s attempt to bully nations into cutting their ties with Beijing won’t succeed. Speaking on Friday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson […]

Courtesy Aljazeera Beijing says Washington acting with ‘Cold War mentality’ after US official urges Sri Lanka to make ‘difficult but necessary choices’. China says the United States is bullying other countries to pick sides over their ties to Beijing after a senior Washington official called on Sri Lanka to make difficult but necessary choices” in […]

By Umesh Moramudali Courtesy The Diplomat Both the share and the type of loans from China are changing as Sri Lanka wrestles with persistent balance of payment issues. The recent visit of Yang Jiechi, a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo member and previously China’s foreign minister, to Sri Lanka sparked interest among many. To begin with, Sri […]

Courtesy The Daily Mirror Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Diana Gamage yesterday said she would continue to support President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to build the nation. Speaking during an adjournment debate in the House, she said she decided to support President Gotabaya as she felt he is capable of building the nation. During his tenure as the […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka saw the highest daily record in Covid-19 cases today while the total number of confirmed infections surpassed the grim milestone of 7,000. As per the statistics of the Health Ministry, the confirmed cases count now stands at 7,153. The Department of Government Information said a total of 866 infections have been […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka recorded the highest daily count of Covid-19 cases today (23) as 256 more persons were tested positive for the virus. Reports revealed that 39 of these fresh cases are connected to the Peliyagoda Fish Market and the remaining 217 are contacts of Minuwangoda and Peliyagoda clusters. Thereby, positive cases reported from […]

Courtesy Adaderana Calling on Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees this evening (23), Ambassador of the Republic of Korea Woonjin Jeong called Sri Lanka one of the safest countries,” and said he is actively encouraging Korean investors to explore opportunities in Sri Lanka. In a press release, the Prime Minister’s Office said Korea was […]

Courtesy Adaderana A group of parliamentarians of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) have called for the suspension of membership of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) members who voted in favour of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution. In a letter directed to SJB’s General Secretary MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara today […]

Courtesy Adaderana The Attorney General has directed the Acting IGP to record statement of the victim of the LTTE attacks on Buddhist monks in the 1987 Aranthalawa massacre. Attorney General Dappula de Livera has also instructed police to commence criminal investigations and submit a progress report within two weeks, the AG’s coordinating officer said.  The […]