The occasion was the annual Budget Speech in Parliament. Unlike in the Westminster- system days, and
in terms of age-old traditions of parliamentary practices, the Finance Minister, in this instance His Excellency the President of Sri Lanka (as he could not trust to give this vital portfolio away to any other member of his sixty one-strong […]

Next week, government, business, and civil society representatives will gather at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Nairobi, Kenya to discuss
the future of the global digital space. This gathering takes place against the backdrop of growing restrictions by repressive regimes on online freedoms. The U.S. and European governments have undertaken significant initiatives to respond to […]

In the thirty-something years that Sri Lanka fought with itself, profound changes were wreaked on the country. Its institutions have been greatly weakened and some of the best achievements since independence frittered away.
In the 1960s, East Asian countries such as Singapore and South Korea visited Sri Lanka to study its social support system that provided […]

NEWSWEEK PAKISTAN: Pakistan’s mobile operators on Nov. 21 deferred implementing a ban on nearly 1‚700 “obscene” words from text messages‚ saying they were seeking further clarification from the telecoms authority.
The list‚ including words from “quickie” to “fairy“ to “Jesus Christ”‚ was distributed on Nov. 14 with operators given seven days to comply‚ but has met […]

BREAKING NEWS: Former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka was sentenced to three years imprisonment and fined Rs. 5,000 in the White Flag case in a judgement delivered in the High Court of Colombo today.
The judgment was divided 2 to 1 with Deepali Wijesundara who presided over the High Court Trial-at-bar and judge M.S Razeen finding him […]

Colombo is beefing up security ahead of the delivery of the verdict in the controversial white flag case against former
army commander General Sarath Fonseka. While there are reports that to avoid the immediate heat, a key witness against Fonseka has temporarily fled the country in fear to Singapore on a Cathay Pacific Flight bound for […]

“It is the tragedy of this country that those who should be in the forefront of espousing the public interest – mainly the corporate sector, the professionals and the religious clergy have by and large maintained a deafening silence in the face of the most heinous onslaught on the rule of law and abuse of […]

Place is important
I want to thank the Brahma Kumaris for hosting us here. I think place is really important in terms of the kinds of dialogues we are able to have, and Peace Village is certainly a wonderful place and space for this dialogue to happen. I want to process the time we had together […]

‘Life’s aspirations come in the guise of children’ – Rabindranath Tagore (Fireflies)
This column dedicated to the notion of making Sri Lanka the Wonder of Asia today turns its spotlight on another malpractice ‘The Horror of Child Abuse’ affecting the aspirations of Sri Lankan society to be free of child abuse.
Who is a child
According to the definition of […]

One cannot deny the fact that Ranil Wickremasinghe had the background to be a leader. His father, Esmond Wickremasinghe was one of the most eminent sons of the country, a close Advisor to many Prime Ministers. His paternal grand father  was a brilliant civil servant; his maternal grand father was none other than the media […]