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Dayan for Russia: ‘Nyet’ from High Post’s Committee

Dayan for Russia: ‘Nyet’ from High Post’s Committee

President Maithripala Sirisena has been called upon to decide whether or not Dayan Jayatilleke should be Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Russia. This was because a majority of those at the Parliamentary High Posts Committee were not in favour of his posting. The Sunday Times learns that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has written to President Sirisena telling [...]

Questions galore as premier targets the Sunday Times

Questions galore as premier targets the Sunday Times

With President Maithripala Sirisena abroad, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe functioned as the de facto head of government running the affairs of state. He was both active and aggressive though the privilege of chairing weekly cabinet meetings was not his. Sirisena had decided there would be no weekly meetings when he travels abroad. This is after [...]

Judgement will prevail, the hangman is here

My dear Maithri, I thought I must write to you when I heard that you were at the centre of the latest controversy to hit our land. Yes, I am referring to your announcement that you want the death penalty reinstated for drug trafficking, especially for those persons who are found to be doing so [...]

The Archbishop strikes back

The Archbishop strikes back

Last week the Sunday Punch commented on President Sirisena’s intention to implement the death penalty, which had been in abeyance for the last 42 years, when he declared on 10th July in a speech in Kandy that he will sign the death warrant for those convicted by the courts and sentenced to death for drug [...]

A damp squib with a smattering of mud

A damp squib with a smattering of mud

The UNP-sponsored debate in Parliament, on Thursday, based on a New York Times (NYT)-article in June, titled “How China Got Sri Lanka to Cough Up a Port”, resulted in another damp squib, with the debate’s sponsors unable to cough up sufficient numbers to retain a Quorum in the House, to sustain the debate till the [...]

An extraordinary lapse of good Judgement

An extraordinary lapse of good Judgement

The fact that the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) had accepted sponsorship from tainted primary dealer Perpetual Treasuries for the holding of the 2016 Law Asia conference led to incredulous responses in some quarters when this fact was initially disclosed some weeks ago. Before long however and in the nature of all things in [...]

Trump wouldn’t say that would he?

Trump wouldn’t say that would he?

It is a world of weird happenings. From prelates to presidents to politicians of different hues in different countries and riff raff too are rushing to explain themselves. They are all having second and even third thoughts on words they have muttered hours before. They all wish to clarify what they had said previously. As [...]

Economic implications of New York Times expose: Infrastructure development and foreign debt

Economic implications of New York Times expose: Infrastructure development and foreign debt

The New York Times (NYT) expose of June 25, 2018 on the country’s high foreign indebtedness to China has once again drawn attention to the high cost of borrowing from the Chinese and the country’s debt servicing burden. It alleges that there was a great deal of kickbacks and corruption. Consequently the country’s indebtedness to [...]

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