The New Year dawned with people exchanging well wishes. However, politically speaking, the country is poised to be riddled with more and more challenges in the months to come.
The United National Party (UNP), with the overt support of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the covert support of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), managed to return to power after its dismissal from power on October 26, 2018. Back in power, the UNP has to overcome many a
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday mocked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for funding a library in Afghanistan, suggesting it was of no use.
Trump brought up India's aid during a rambling press appearance at a cabinet meeting as he defended his push for the United States to invest less overseas.
While stating that he got along with Modi, Trump said the Indian leader was "constantly telling me he built a library in Afghanistan."
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"You know what that is? That's like five hours of what we spend," Trump said.
In Grade 3, my Social Studies textbook described Sri Lanka as being a multicultural country, where people of all ethnicities lived together in harmony. What is ironic, and what my eight-year-old self didn’t realise, is that this was what I was being taught while the country was in an ethnic civil war.
Fast-forward seven years to Grade 10, when I was learning about the history of the country
In the Great Game being played across the Indian Ocean, the U.S. Navy has its eye on Sri Lanka's northeastern port of Trincomalee to serve as a logistics hub for South Asian waters churned by India, Japan and China.
Western diplomats in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital, noted an upping of the stakes when a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier from the U.S. 7th Fleet dropped anchor early this month at Trincomalee, the world's second deepest natural harbor with great strategic value. The visit of
A book on ‘The Compassionate Buddha of the Rock,’ written by late Deshabandu Deivanayagam Pillai Eassuwaren, will be released on Sunday, 6 January, marking the first year remembrance of the author at a memorial ceremony to be held at the New Kathiresan Hall, Bambalapitiya.
Political developments in the Maldives and Sri Lanka, the Rohingya refugee crisis arising out of Myanmar, mending ties with Nepal's new leadership and the situation in Afghanistan - neighbourhood diplomacy took up much of India's time in the year just ending.
With the conclusion of an eventful year, climaxing with the dramatic events since October 26, one might need to anticipate another year where politics is probably going to take centre-stage.
The President has told his dwindling party faithful to look forward to an election year. It could be any one, or all three – presidential, parliamentary, provincial.
The majority of Cabinet Ministers and Parliamentarians in the Government and Opposition are enjoying vacations overseas with family members for the Christmas and New Year holiday period while, few other MPs were holidaying in the cool climes of Nuwara Eliya and are unlikely to return to Colombo till the dawn of 2019.
The Sri Lanka Immigration Officers Association (SLIOA) complains about the difficulties faced by passengers at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) due to the setting up of new passport scanner machines at immigration points at the BIA.
President of SLIOA, Aruna Kalugala said immigration clearance activities have slowed down
Despite President Maithripala Sirisena’s directives to the relevant authorities to release lands, in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, to their original owners, before 31 December, the Sri Lanka Army still holds a total 14,769 acres.
The Army has assured that 263.55 acres of lands to be released out of a total 14,769 acres being held.
Sri Lanka’s judicial institutions have been weakened by several years of authoritarian governance of the previous regime and the recent political impasse violating the Constitution, legal professionals alleged.
Since coming to power in 2015, the government has publicly committed to reforming the justice system and strengthening the rule of law but no action has been taken to accelerate judicial reforms, they said.
Money transactions among those who vandalised the Buddha statues in the Mawanella police division and any other person or parties affiliated to a political party is being investigated by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), the Sunday Observer reliably learns.
“The bank accounts of the suspects and any money transfer are being investigated by the
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said they are yet to estimate the damages caused by the heavy floods in the Vanni District last week.
Director DMC, Pradeep Kodippili said they are yet to survey the damage and the total cost the State has to bear.
The incumbent government was anticipating a Sinhala-Muslim clash in the country so that it would pave the way for them to fulfil the promises made to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader Wimal Weerawansa said today.
Addressing a news briefing, he said it was evident that there was clear political hand behind
“India is not only our closest friend, it is our largest trading partner”. With those words, Maldives’ newly elected President Ibrahim Solih shut the door on a bitter past with its closest and biggest neighbor, promising to respect India’s “red lines” that his predecessor Abdulla Yameen had transgressed by his dalliance with China.
The proposed 20th Amendment (20A) to the Constitution had its genesis soon after President Maithripala Sirisena won the 8 January, 2015 Presidential Poll (PP).
19A, unlike the proposed 20A, was passed in Parliament in April 2015. It diluted the powers of the Executive Presidency (EP). The efficacy of 19A was manifest when a full Bench Supreme Court, comprising seven Judges and chaired by the Chief Justice, unanimously
The government is using the underworld for its survival, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) said today.
MP Shehan Semasinghe said it was the duty of the government to ensure the safety of all citizens.
The Vadukkodai Police nabbed a person who was transporting a stock of Crystal Methamphetamine, the drug also known as ‘Ice’, for distribution in Madagal in Jaffna on Thursday.
Police said that they had recovered 86 grams and 410 milligrams of ‘Ice’ with a street value of over Rs 1,720,000 from the suspect.
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is currently engaged in seeking legal advice in connection with proposing new legislation to punish those involved in the 26 October conspiracy against the Constitution, including primarily President Maithripala Sirisena and Parliamentarian Mahinda Rajapaksa
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe discussing the flood situation in Kilinochchi, flanked by Public Administration and Disaster Management Ranjith Madduma Bandara, and Industry and Commerce, Resettlement of Protracted Displaced Persons and Co-operative Development Minister Rishad Bathiudeen
Sri Lanka’s vulnerability to succumb to natural disasters was probably the pick among the topics spoken on Boxing Day (December 26) as the island commemorated the horrifying tsunami experience we had 14 years ago.
The main commemoration programme this year was held at the Peraliya Tsunami Memorial
In March, the UN will hold a global conference on south-south cooperation in Buenos Aires. The Geneva-based South Centre has recently published a brief overview which assesses the state of the matter. I like to share some thoughts.
The South Centre is a think tank that belongs to the governments of more than 50 developing
Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) yesterday criticised the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for focusing on the plight of the flood affected in the north and assisting them adequately.
“While the Northern Province was affected by adverse weather, TNA MPs were celebrating Christmas in Colombo. They did not go to help people who cast their vote to send these MPs to Parliament,” MP Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena told reports at SLPP headquarters.
The American Jewish Committee and United Hatzalah have been training emergency responders in India and Sri Lanka on how to respond to situations such as terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
The training started on Sunday in Gurugram and spread to New Delhi, where the United Hatzalah team provided lessons to dozens of first responders, followed by conducting a combined drill for the participants, utilizing Israeli procedures.
There is a story that is commonly told in Britain that the colonisation of India – as horrible as it may have been – was not of any major economic benefit to Britain itself. If anything, the administration of India was a cost to Britain. So the fact that the empire was sustained for so long – the story goes – was a gesture of Britain’s benevolence.
